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Chapter 4
When she arrived at the estate, Count Lang was still drinking.
Vanessa immediately regretted coming home early. In her previous life, she had returned late after lingering with Conrad, and by then the Count had already been too drunk to cause trouble.
“Oh! My precious Vanessa is home! Come here, tell your father everything!”
“Miss…”
Agnes hesitated and gently took Vanessa’s hand.
“It’s fine, Agnes. Go home. Your granddaughter is waiting for you.”
With no choice, Vanessa sat across from the Count at the dining table—and felt her buried anger slowly begin to resurface.
In her previous life, when she became the Crown Princess, Count Lang had demanded a considerable sum of money from the Imperial House under the excuse of “maintaining dignity.”
Of course, he had spent it all in bars and gambling dens in an instant, and not a single coin of dowry had been provided.
‘Because of him, my imperial life was ruined from the very beginning…’
Conrad was naturally a useless nobleman, and even the Emperor never expected anything from him. But unlike Conrad, Vanessa was always held to a far stricter standard.
Life in the palace was cruel for a Crown Princess with no backing. No matter what the issue was, she was always blamed.
Even after years of marriage, she had never once conceived.
That only made things worse—malicious rumors, petty bullying, endless humiliation.
‘And that man kept causing trouble even on the day I died. I must have been a thorn in the Emperor’s side too.’
“Why are you silent? How many suitors did you have? Surely they were all wealthy families?”
“None.”
“What?”
“I said none. Not a single suitor. I didn’t even dance once. Who would want to dance with a woman wearing mourning clothes at a ball?”
She was immediately slapped.
‘Ha… so even my face isn’t an exception now.’
“You useless girl! Do you know how much I suffered to get you into the palace?!”
Count Lang grabbed her arm and yanked her up. Normally, she would have stayed silent here—but Vanessa had no desire to endure it anymore.
“What exactly did you suffer?! You did nothing but ruin my life! If it weren’t for you… if it weren’t for you…”
I wouldn’t have died like that.
Another blow struck her face.
“How dare you talk back?! So you think your father is ridiculous now?”
Yes. Everything was the Count’s fault.
Lying on the floor, Vanessa thought calmly.
Every desperate attempt she made to prove herself… the marriage she was pushed into and laughed at… and even dying while being cursed until the very end.
All of it—was because of him.
She resisted, but that only fueled the Count’s rage further. Plates and glasses shattered. A cabinet toppled over.
When she saw him approaching with a broken chair leg, Vanessa felt real danger.
But she wasn’t afraid.
It wasn’t fear—it was rage shaking her entire body.
“You’re the useless one! Not me! Trash like you will only spread poison until the day you die!”
She dodged the swinging weapon, but he grabbed her ankle. The Count truly intended to kill his daughter.
‘Yes. If there’s only one thing I can change by returning to this life…’
Vanessa grabbed a sharp shard of glass with her bare hand and swung it at him.
“What the—are you insane?!”
He dodged and stepped back—but then grabbed her hair.
She struggled, but it was useless. He had once been a soldier.
And then he began to choke her.
“Your mother looked at me the same way… I should’ve killed her myself!”
‘Air… I need air…’
To die so meaninglessly just a day after returning to life.
Even as she struggled for breath, Vanessa felt a strange, absurd calm.
So this is how I die again—
“Miss!”
Agnes’s voice rang out.
Before Vanessa could even turn her head, Agnes rushed forward and struck the Count with the chair leg.
A sharp crack echoed. The Count roared and flung Vanessa aside.
“You… insects…!”
He staggered toward Agnes—but Vanessa couldn’t move in time.
Then Agnes pushed him.
The drunken Count lost balance and crashed into the cabinet.
It happened in an instant.
Crash.
A bronze angel statue from the top of the cabinet fell directly onto his head.
The Count froze, sat down in confusion… and then collapsed without a sound.
Thud.
The chair leg rolled across the floor.
Agnes gasped, trembling violently.
“M-Master…! What do we do… what do we do, Miss?! I didn’t mean to hurt him… I just… I was trying to save you…”
Vanessa looked at the spreading blood on the carpet.
The mansion was silent.
Agnes was quietly sobbing.
The Count was dead.
Legally, the law would never favor a maid—if arrested, Agnes would likely be executed immediately.
“Listen carefully, Agnes. You went home right after I arrived, understand? You know nothing about what happened here.”
“B-But Miss…”
“Think of your granddaughter. Now go. I’ll handle this.”
After sending Agnes away, Vanessa gathered whatever valuables remained in the estate and hid them beneath the hay in the stables. At dawn, she planned to throw them into the river.
‘If it looks like a robbery… maybe they’ll think a thief killed him and stole everything.’
The Count had many enemies. Perhaps no one would question it.
But then there was the next problem.
Debt.
In her previous life, creditors had come swarming as soon as her engagement to Conrad was announced.
It was strange how a drunken Count could borrow so much money. Most of them didn’t even have proper contracts.
But she had been desperate to hide scandal back then, terrified the engagement would collapse.
In the end, she had been forced to take on most of the debt herself.
Thankfully, after becoming Crown Princess, she had gained access to private assets.
She sold her mother’s inherited rural estate, earned a large sum, and multiplied it fivefold within half a year—more than enough to clear the debt.
‘That was luck… and I already know what I’m doing this time. The problem is liquidity…’
The easiest option was selling the estate that would eventually be inherited under her name.
But that property was locked in trust until marriage.
‘So in the end… marriage again.’
For a brief moment, she felt afraid of herself for thinking this way with her father’s corpse nearby.
But maybe this was the correct choice—for both of them. Even if he had lived, the Count would have ruined her life eventually anyway.
‘I’ll arrange the funeral, Father. I don’t know if anyone will come to mourn you properly…’
The next morning, the city guard captain arrived at the Lang estate with an investigator.
They were already familiar with the Count’s behavior—he often caused public disturbances while drunk.
“The messenger told me this morning… he said he always thought something like this would happen someday. Forgive me for saying this, young lady, but honestly, I thought so too.”
The captain shook his head.
“Don’t apologize. I… might have thought the same thing. I don’t even feel like crying.”
After a few formal questions, the investigator left.
The case was recorded simply: Vanessa Lang had gone to sleep after seeing her father drinking late, heard fighting during the night, and came downstairs to find him already dead.
“The authorities may visit again, but it will be procedural. Don’t worry too much.”
Agnes handled the funeral preparations. She was unnervingly composed.
“Please think of yourself first, Miss. You must be in shock even if you don’t realize it yet.”
‘If she knew I’m already thinking about money… she’d be disgusted.’
But survival was all that mattered now.
The funeral was quiet, as expected.
Late in the evening, Mason arrived, his face pale.
“Vanessa! Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine. Thank you for coming.”
“A robbery in the Lang estate… who would’ve thought? It’s tragic, but I’m glad you’re safe. The Count… well… he was… uh…”
Mason struggled to find something kind to say.
“It’s fine. We all knew this would happen eventually.”
Vanessa said it calmly.
“Really? That’s… unfortunate. I came all the way thinking I could comfort you.”
At a new voice, she turned.
A tall man with pale silver hair was looking down at her.
