IBVM 09

Chapter 09

I was a well-behaved niece. Janice was a well-behaved maid.
The bustling alley fell silent in an instant. Even my wildly beating heart found its rhythm again.
I was startled when metal touched my neck.
I had considered that she might not recognize me while searching for Cho as soon as I returned through regression, but I didn’t expect her to point a knife at me.
Because before she died, Cho had been very affectionate toward me, her niece.

In my past life, I knew I had an aunt, but I had no idea where she was or what she was doing. It wasn’t until I was over twenty that I found Cho.
After that, we met often. Every time we met, Cho worried about me and said to tell her if I ever needed help.
So I thought that revealing myself as her niece would make her immediately listen to me.

“So it’s certain now. I’m the only one who’s returned.”

A few days after my regression, the thought crossed my mind: “Am I the only one who’s come back?”
My regression was unusual.
Thanks to Janice, Cho, and Kashion, I was able to return. Could it be that they had also returned? At the very least, wouldn’t they recognize me?
But Janice didn’t know, Kashion didn’t know, and neither did Cho.
I was the only one who had returned, and they had no idea how my past had unfolded.

“Did Sana send you?”
I remained silent for a moment, thinking, and Cho spoke. I expected her to get angry, saying I was impersonating her niece, but mentioning my mother’s name implied that I resembled her.

‘Enough to be hard to doubt.’

“No, my mother… passed away.”

“What? Sana died? Don’t lie!”
As Cho jumped, the knife pressed against my neck. A sting shot through me as blood ran down.

“Don’t… don’t do this!”
Janice shouted. Then, a rat suddenly darted at Cho’s leg.

“Ah! What is this!”
Cho swung her leg.
I widened my eyes, recalling the rat that fell away, the excited Janice, and how she often said, “I heard it from the rats.”
Could it be that Janice was controlling the rat?

“Miss, even if it costs me my life, I will save you!”
Meeting my aunt could not possibly justify risking her life.
Though various thoughts raced through my mind, calming Janice came first.

“Janice, I’m fine. So calm down, please.”
Janice bit her lip hard and exhaled deeply. The alley fell silent once again.

“Is it true that Sana is dead?”
Cho stared closely at the side of my face. I nodded.
Though my mother’s death happened long before my regression, my chest still tightened whenever I spoke of it.
My mother had been an extraordinarily kind and excellent person—someone I could never imitate.

“So… Sana is gone.”
Cho’s knife fell. She staggered away from me.
It was strange that someone so keen on gathering information didn’t know the situation of the Irenberg family.

“Deliberately ignoring it, you couldn’t even be there at your sister’s deathbed. You wanted to succeed and return…”
Cho’s words answered my curiosity.
The woman, who didn’t fit the aristocratic life and had left, wanted to return having succeeded.
If she missed her family, her heart might weaken, so she deliberately avoided news of them. In doing so, she lost someone precious.

Sadness flickered across Cho’s face.
As I considered offering words of comfort, Janice grabbed my wrist and pulled me back.
She hid me behind her and raised a plank as a shield.

“Do you know who this person is, so… this person is…”
“Diana Viola Irenberg, right? My niece.”
Cho finished the introduction that Janice had started. While Janice hesitated, Cho’s words allowed me to push forward.

“Miss, it’s dangerous.”
Janice whined behind me but did not stop me any further.

“Yes. I am my aunt’s niece.”
“You really resemble Sana. Your face. But why did you come? Did Sana tell you to?”
“My mother longed for you dearly in her lifetime. She searched for you for a long time as well.”
I mixed truth with lies.

If my mother had searched, why didn’t she find Cho? I realized only after meeting the young Cho.
Cho smelled of wind. She was not someone meant to be tied down.
So my mother, though she had sought Cho, did not contact her and left her be.
Though she missed her only sister, she did not bind Cho. My mother had been admirable.

‘I’m sorry, Mom.’

But I was different. I wanted Cho to stay by my side.
At least her heart, if not her body.
Let the body roam freely, but her heart stay with me.

“My mother said to seek out Aunt Cho if I faced difficulties.”
Sorry, Mom, for continuing the lies. I looked up at the sky for a moment and silently apologized.

“How long has it been since she died?”
Cho, who might have seen through my lies, seemed only to be troubled by the news of my mother’s death.

“One year.”
Cho’s pupils wavered.

“Was Sana calm at the end?”
“My mother… relatively.”
I hoped she had been at peace.
In truth, my parents’ deaths were full of questions.
It was the day they planned to go to my mother’s hometown. But a heavy rain poured. Normally, they would have postponed it, but they insisted.
The journey, already difficult, became harder as the usual path flooded. On a detour, they met with an accident.
The carriage, avoiding falling rocks, plunged off a cliff. An accident. But looking back, everything seemed suspicious.

‘At the time, I only grieved and let it pass.’

“Sana told me to seek you out?”
Cho’s question pulled me from my thoughts. She exhaled a long, thin breath.

“Yes, she said you would help me. I am still young, so I need you, Aunt.”
I lowered my eyebrows and clasped my hands together to look pitiful. A lie I could never have imagined before.
But now I knew lies were sometimes necessary. I was no longer a child.

“You said Diana? Do you really need a guardian?”
Cho grabbed my hand, pressed it against her waist, and stepped back. Leaning against the wall, she lit a cigarette.
White smoke spread through the back alley, bringing light with it.

“No, I don’t need a guardian. I need other help.”
“You really are naive. You think family is enough? No, no. If I help you, what will you give me?”
What should I give? I am your niece. You sought me out without expecting anything.
The carefully crafted innocent expression almost collapsed at her words.
Cho’s left lip twitched as she noticed my change. She lightly tapped my cheek with her cigarette hand and flicked it into the gutter with a sizzle.

I lowered my gaze, clenching my teeth while watching her crush the cigarette.
I thought I had abandoned all naive appearances—but I almost slipped again, relying on someone else’s goodwill.

‘Even though I know Cho well.’

Cho always calculated gains and losses with anyone. If she sensed a disadvantage, she refused, no matter who it was.
I recalled when she later built the royal intelligence network, she was rewarded with royal treasures for her cooperation.
At the time, I didn’t even know she was my aunt, I just admired her boldness. I thought the king suffered a loss—but I was wrong.
The intelligence network she laid the foundation for became remarkably effective for the state.
Even before family, Cho demanded a fair exchange. Disappointment turned to trust.

“You need to learn this first. Help without a price does not exist.”
I tapped my shoe on the ground, splattering filth on my dress.
Yes, begging for help from emotions is for those with nothing. I had plenty.

“You want a reward?”
I lifted my head. No more innocent act.

“Of course.”
Cho straightened, intrigued by my new expression, and stepped closer. I widened my eyes and looked up at her.

“I will give it to you.”
“And what exactly?”
“You need money. I know the guild members’ wages are overdue.”
Cho’s eyes narrowed. Suspicion.

Cho’s guild, Chorni, later accumulated wealth trading information across the continent, but initially, it struggled financially.
The basics of information trading are trust. Few entrusted tasks to the early Chorni. People trusted Cho, not Chorni.
So Chorni functioned more like an errand guild, handling menial tasks. But it wasn’t so sloppy as to leak internal secrets.

Cho scrutinized me with cautious eyes.

“I inherited some information skills from my aunt. Trades are equal. Now, I’m willing to engage in a proper deal. Will you trade?”
Technically, the information I had was not purchased but experienced.
It was easy to understand Chorni’s current situation from Cho’s past stories.

Cho, who had been judging whether I lied or told the truth, stepped back and crossed her arms, lifting her chin.

“Fine. Let’s trade. Let’s hear the terms.”
A passing mark. I thought productive conversation today was unlikely when she had the knife, so this was a relief.

“As you know, I am the heir to the Irenberg family.”
“Correction. You’re the heir-in-waiting, not yet the heir. No guardian. Planning to make me your guardian? Forget it. I hate being tied down.”
“I know I cannot bind a free spirit like you to me.”

“But how exactly will you give me a large sum of money?”
“Not yet, but I will soon become the official head of the family.”
“Hahaha, so you’re not naive, just foolish, huh?”
Cho laughed, shaking her head, as if she expected this.

She brushed past me without hesitation, tapping my shoulder lightly as she went.
I spoke confidently after her, just for show.

“I will marry Prince Kashion, the third prince.”