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Chapter 3
After Giving Up
The atmosphere in the banquet hall froze instantly.
“…Hm.”
Rascal Admancanon removed his glove and lightly touched his cheek.
The slap had made quite a satisfying sound, but thanks to the glove, there was no scratch.
And it hurt less than expected.
Still, perhaps because his face was naturally so pale, the spot she hit had turned slightly red.
After checking his reflection in the window, he smirked and muttered,
“Seems it helps blood circulation.”
In front of him, Serenia Barishart stood there half out of her mind, breathing heavily.
Riiiiing—
A sharp ringing filled her ears.
Her hands trembled uncontrollably, and her vision turned white.
Suddenly, tears threatened to spill out, and she clenched her teeth with all her strength.
She could not bear how pathetic she felt.
‘After talking about selling myself and all that… I got angry just because he said I should repay him with my body and ended up hitting him.’
No matter how he phrased it, someone had appeared willing to buy her.
Lowering her head, Serenia laughed bitterly.
‘…Ah. I really still haven’t come to my senses at all.’
An ornament whose purpose was to be sold at a high price.
A trophy that only gained value once someone’s name was engraved onto it.
A statue that could do nothing and was not allowed to do anything.
‘Yet I kept struggling to do something anyway. How ridiculous I must have looked to everyone.’
A faint laugh escaped her lips as she quietly closed her eyes.
‘…Fine. It’s late, but I should let go of everything now.’
Her name.
Her family.
Her status.
Her dignity.
Her hopes.
Even the guilt she carried for her father.
Even her own life.
After all, statues had no need for such things.
It felt as though her eyes had finally opened.
Serenia quietly looked at Rascal, who stood before her with a crooked smile blocking her path.
Looking at his perfectly neat face without a single flaw, she suddenly regretted how weakly she had slapped him.
‘I should’ve hit him harder.’
Since she was going to die sooner or later anyway, trading her life for at least one of the duke’s teeth would have been a profitable deal.
‘…Since it’s already come to this, should I pretend to be crazy and hit him again?’
At that moment—
Smack!
With a sharp sound like thunder, Serenia’s head snapped to the right.
A burning pain spread across the left side of her face as though she had been scorched by fire.
The stinging pain pulled her back to reality.
“How dare you…! How dare someone like you forget your place and raise a hand against him!”
Red wine stains spread across the golden dress of Dahlia Admancanon, the former duchess.
‘So the sound of breaking glass earlier came from her.’
While Serenia thought that, Dahlia trembled violently, tears falling from her bloodshot eyes.
“Your father caused my husband’s death, and now his daughter dares to lay a hand on my son without knowing her place?”
Standing before the furious woman whose whole body shook with rage, Serenia simply lowered her eyes quietly.
Since the duchess had kindly brought her wandering mind back to reality, she was willing to endure at least this much abuse.
“Like father, like daughter! What a shameless and disgraceful family!”
“…”
Still, Serenia had no intention of apologizing.
She had been slapped hard enough to leave scratches on her cheek, so surely that was enough punishment for accidentally contributing to the great duke’s facial blood circulation.
Seeing Serenia stand there silently without even answering back only made Dahlia even angrier.
“Y-You shameless girl! You won’t even say you’re sorry!”
Rascal quietly stared at the back of his mother’s head standing between him and Serenia before speaking.
“Mother. You’re in the way. Please move aside.”
“…What?”
In the way?
Shocked by her son’s words, Dahlia unconsciously stepped backward.
Rascal immediately moved past her and stood before Serenia once again.
“So? Your answer?”
At his question, Serenia slowly lifted her lowered eyes and looked straight at him.
“If you say I must repay the debt, then I suppose I should.”
As if he had been waiting for that answer, Rascal smiled crookedly.
“Good. Then it’s settled.”
“But Your Grace, your calculation is wrong.”
“What?”
Looking directly into his hardened expression, Serenia calmly asked back,
“Shouldn’t a life debt be repaid with a life, rather than a body?”
For the first time, cracks appeared in Rascal’s emotionless face.
The distorted look on his face felt strangely satisfying, and Serenia smiled brightly as she continued,
“Whenever the day comes that you wish to collect it, just let me know. I’ll repay you immediately.”
After saying that, Serenia turned around.
Without the slightest hesitation in her steps, she walked out of the banquet hall.
“T-That girl…!”
Unable to overcome her fury, Dahlia finally collapsed to the floor as if fainting.
Meanwhile, Rascal stared fixedly at Serenia’s retreating figure and clenched his fist with all his strength.
After leaving the banquet hall, Serenia headed straight toward where the carriage was waiting.
The farther she moved away from the brilliantly lit chandeliers of the ballroom, the darker the world became.
She lifted her head, trying to find even the smallest light, but instead of stars or moonlight, thick dark clouds filled the sky.
Feeling as though everything in the world was predicting her hopeless future, she let out a faint sigh.
Then—
“Ah.”
Something cold gently landed on the tip of her nose.
Snow slowly began falling, turning the dark sky white little by little.
The first snow of the year.
And it had fallen on the last day of November.
“…The roads are going to get slippery.”
Even after seeing the first snow, that was the only worn-out thought she could come up with.
Laughing bitterly at herself, Serenia finally arrived at the carriage and instinctively checked the money in her pocket.
A habit formed over the last five years truly was terrifying.
“Seriously. How pitiful…”
Just as she awkwardly tried to pull her hand out, her fingers brushed against a stiff piece of paper.
Curious, she took it out.
It was the note she had received in front of the bank before.
Serenia quietly stared at it, recalling that day.
The flashy and suspicious loan shark.
And the address written on the note.
< Pledes District 3, No. 1013 >
She stared at the paper for a long while.
There was no business name.
No owner’s name.
Only the address.
Then, as if making up her mind, she slowly nodded.
“If I die, I won’t need to repay the money anyway. Might as well throw myself a grand spending party before then!”
She walked confidently toward the coachman’s seat, held out the note, and said,
“Please take me here instead of the count’s estate.”
The coachman glanced at the address and hesitated.
“At this hour?”
Apparently, he was uncomfortable entering Pledes District 3 so late at night.
But Serenia, whose mind was already half broken, had no room left to care about someone else’s concerns.
“Yes.”
She answered firmly and even nodded once.
The coachman still looked uneasy, but reluctantly agreed.
“Understood. Please get in.”
And so, for the first time in her life, Serenia stepped away from the road that led directly home.
It was her first act of rebellion.
A short while later, the carriage stopped in front of a mansion.
It was far more elegant, grand, and beautiful than the Barishart estate.
Not some gloomy alleyway or lifeless business building, but a magnificent mansion clearly built with the finest materials money could buy.
To acquire a luxurious mansion worth at least five hundred thousand crovats, just how many people had that flashy loan shark drained dry?
The thought made Serenia unconsciously clench her fists.
“This makes it easier to take money from him without feeling guilty.”
Muttering that, Serenia raised her hand and knocked on the front door.
Knock. Knock.
After the heavy sound of metal striking metal echoed several times, the door creaked open, revealing a half-gray-haired man.
‘Maybe he’s some kind of manager working under that loan shark?’
While Serenia guessed to herself, the man politely bowed his head.
“Welcome, my lady. We have been expecting you.”
Expecting her.
That greeting sounded no different from saying they already knew she would come to borrow money eventually.
Feeling strangely irritated, Serenia replied coldly,
“Then that makes things easier. May I come in for a moment?”
“Yes. Please come inside.”
Despite the sharpness in her tone, the man’s expression never changed.
His behavior remained perfectly refined.
‘…Did he receive butler training or something?’
Though puzzled, Serenia quietly followed his guidance until they arrived before the drawing room.
The man opened the door with smooth, flawless movements.
And Serenia stepped inside.
