TVOWW 77

Chapter 77

Don’t Hesitate

Miryu’s eyes were full of questions. While she was imprisoned in Roiham, she tried to think of who might come to see her.

But this person wasn’t one of them.

“Chancellor Orteka?”

“Yes, pleased to meet you.”
Chancellor Orteka pushed his glasses up and smiled kindly.

“You look like you’ve been having a very hard time lately.”

“Chancellor, I am innocent!”
Miryu reached toward him with a desperate cry.

“I was only caught in Estelle’s trap. If you help me this once, I will surely repay you—”

“Stop.”
The chancellor caught Miryu’s hand and gently twisted it. Miryu froze, silenced. The chancellor still wore that genial smile.

“I did not come here to hear the plaintive tale of Miss Miryu Juti.”

“Then why—”

“By the Emperor’s command I came to ask you one question. Your answer may decide your fate, so please answer carefully.”
His eyes flashed green.

“Do you know anything about fairies?”

The essence of dark magic is to ruin order.

That was why Johan had tried, as much as possible, not to use dark magic on Estelle.

Estelle had been frail from the beginning. On top of that, her body was the kind that didn’t conduct mana well.

Even if dark magic succeeded in curing Estelle’s illness, her weak body might not be able to withstand it.

‘I can’t do that.’

So Johan felt the need to approach more delicately.

What dark magic required was a target, a price, and a caster.

And the conditions that minimized dark magic’s side effects were quite picky. The price required by dark magic was better when it was related to the target.

But that part Johan could handle.

The important thing was the target. For Johan’s dark magic to succeed, the target had to pay the price.

In a way that would cause as little resistance as possible.

Johan even needed Estelle not to notice.

I was on edge, fearing something strange would happen on the passenger ship.

‘Why is nothing happening?’

Johan had said he prepared something, so nothing happening would be odd.

‘It’s time for it to happen now.’

Honestly, I didn’t expect him to pull something flashy right away. That would ruin the surprise later.

So at first I relaxed and enjoyed the ship and the sea.

As a tourist spot, the beach was beautiful, and the luxury liner was large and impressive. Whatever Johan did, there weren’t many people aboard.

‘We weren’t likely to bump into anyone anyway.’

Night was coming on.

The ship circled a nearby island and was returning to land. Johan and I were dining alone in the ship’s dining room.

“Is the food to your liking?”

“Yes. It’s delicious.”

“Try this.”
Johan smiled and placed a grilled scallop in front of me. I thanked him and popped it into my mouth, then asked Johan.

“You haven’t finished what you were preparing for me, have you?”

“What do you mean?”

“You said you prepared something for me. When will it come out?”

“This is everything. Was what we did up until now boring?”
Johan mockingly put on a sorrowful expression.

“I didn’t prepare the event well enough. It’s my fault.”

“No, it’s fine.”
Had I been too suspicious?

“I’m so glad I could spend today on the passenger ship with you. Like Johan said, even though there are people, we hardly encounter them so there’s nothing to worry about.”

When we lived in Libertan, I thought I might never be able to leave that area for the rest of my life.

Back then, my goal was simply to survive.

So I never dreamed of seeing the sea or traveling to a resort. Even if things went well, I didn’t expect such joy to come this far.

Even now I was afraid this moment might be a dream.

Through the window I could see the sea dyed orange by the setting sun. Gulls flew serenely in the sky, soft music played, and my husband—who cherished me—sat beside me.

It was pleasant just to look at the sea, but it was even better because Johan was with me.

His noble, gentlemanly features, the upturned corners of his mouth when he teased me, the gentle, languid look in his eyes when he watched me.

“Shall we toast?”
Johan lifted a glass of wine. I raised mine and, snapping out of my reverie, asked quietly,

“You’re not going to startle me later when I’m off guard, right?”

“If a frail wife faints because of it, what then?”

“Right, if you scare me too much I might actually pass out.”
I laughed softly, following Johan.

“So if you plan something, tell me ahead of time. Otherwise I might really faint.”

“Alright, cheers.”
Clink — the clear sound of glass touching glass.

I took a sip; a sharp, sweet taste filled my mouth.

‘This is nice.’
Just as I reached to take another sip, Johan’s large, strong hand entwined my fingers on the table.

“Now it will begin.”

“Huh?”

“I’ve kept my promise.”
The lights that had illuminated the ceiling went out all at once. The music cut off immediately. A chill settled around us, and I gripped Johan’s hand tighter.

“What promise is this? You said you had nothing else prepared!”
Even in the dark Johan’s red eyes glowed distinctly.

“This is the present I’m giving you.”

“Who gives a present like this?”

“I wanted to give you the most special gift in the world.”
Johan’s long, cool eyes folded into a smile.

Lights came on to illuminate only the stage.

‘There was an orchestra playing right there a moment ago?’

The orchestra was gone, and something wrapped in black cloth was rising from the floor. There were about twenty of them, wriggling under the black covers.

“Is that your idea of a present?”
True to Johan’s villainous taste, the choice was extraordinary.

“I don’t want a present like that.”

“Go see for yourself and you’ll understand. Want to check it out?”

“Do I have to…?”

But Johan seemed to want me to see.

‘It won’t be harmful to my body, will it?’

Johan smiled and escorted me to where the black cloth covered things. Honestly I didn’t want to look. My life felt very precious at that moment.

“Are you sure it’s a real present?”

“It’s something you’ll like the most.”

“If something weird comes out, you’re responsible.”
I imagined countless terrible things and lifted the black cloth covering the foremost object. A person was tied to a chair beneath it.

[Petty Morrison, reporter.]
The name was scribbled on the front page of a sketchbook hanging from his neck.

“Why would that be my favorite present?”
A chill ran down my spine. If there was a person here, the others must all be people too.

“These are people…”
Then I looked at the next page in the sketchbook. A clipping had been pasted in.

[Unremarkable commoner orphan adopted into the Libertan Ducal House.]
[Exclusive inside report on the Libertan Ducal Household! The common-born who became the Libertan duchess, ungrateful and wicked, takes advantage of times when the duke and duchess are not seen to torment the commoners and commit various misdeeds…]

They were my articles.

‘Petty Morrison.’

He was the reporter who had written the piece.

‘I was being written about since I was adopted into the Libertan house.’

Petty Morrison groaned and squirmed. I stared blankly at Petty Morrison, then leafed through other clippings he’d apparently written.

[Unsuitable for the nobility due to commoner origins, Estelle Libertan.]
[After disgracefully breaking her engagement with the Marquis Felsis, she now aims lowly to seduce the crown prince and become crown princess…]

The articles were crude and rude, so absurd I scarcely felt anger.

Some of the rumors I knew, but there were many I didn’t. How could there be news of my state when I hardly went outside the mansion?

I pulled back another black cloth to check the next person.

[Meiji Scofield, reporter.]
[According to a secret witness, the Libertan Household actually practiced seduction techniques every night to attract men…]
[Charleston Brook Publishing reporter.]
[Why the Libertan “villainess” is more vicious than the duke and duchess: It’s because she’s of commoner origin. Logically, one who enjoys luck more than anyone should be in a position to do charity…]

I was so incredulous I couldn’t even be angry.

They were all people who had written articles about me—reporters, publishers who’d edited strange books—people who had spread stories about me.

I studied each of their faces.

Of course, because they wore blindfolds, we didn’t make eye contact.

‘I didn’t expect to meet them like this.’
The duke and duchess of Libertan had scolded me when they heard the slander spreading about me.

‘How on earth did you behave to warrant such slander? Do you know how much you’ve dragged the family’s honor through the mud?’

In truth, I couldn’t believe the things happening around me. I was shocked every time I read the newspapers the duke and duchess handed me.

‘Why are they saying I did those things?’

Events I’d never even been involved in were treated as fact, and the household staff mocked me for it.

There was nowhere I could turn for help.

After checking the last person, I turned my head and stared at Johan. He sat with his legs crossed and smiled at me.

“Do you like my gift?”
There was a chilling charm on Johan’s shadowed face.

“Do whatever you want with them. Any method is fine.”
He blinked slowly, and Johan added in a leisurely tone.

“They all claimed to have left voluntarily for reporting or errands and took care of their own affairs before coming here. So it doesn’t matter if you deal with them here.”
His languid voice wrapped around my ear strangely.

“If you’re afraid to deal with them, leave it to me. Or we could dump them into this sea. That would be quite a satisfying revenge. How about it?”
Looking into his ominously shining red eyes, I went to Petty Morrison first and untied the blindfold and gag that bound him.

“Petty Morrison.”
He looked like an exceedingly ordinary man.

“P-please spare me.”
Petty Morrison pleaded feebly.

“I didn’t know anything. I just wrote what others did—”

“Why did you do that to me?”
I asked while looking at his eyes.

“Just look at the dates on your articles. You were the one who first spread them.”
Petty Morrison flinched and shuddered.

“It was just a coincidence. I just wrote because it was a good story.”

“That can’t be just once or twice.”
I flipped through the articles hanging from Petty Morrison’s neck with a rustling sound.

“If that were the case, you wouldn’t have spread them so persistently. There’s so many for such malicious pieces.”

“I- I’m sorry. I was just—”
Petty Morrison trembled ordinarily and begged for forgiveness.

A painful old wound from childhood rose in me. Looking at the clippings around Petty Morrison’s neck, I felt a surge of outrage.

“Just what?”
Maybe these people hadn’t been that terribly wrong.

“Because I was someone they could trample on?”
But I was hurt. Deeply hurt.

“What are you hesitating about?”
Johan whispered like a devil.

“These are the people who attacked you, smeared you, slandered you, made your life miserable. Why should you care about their circumstances?”

“……”

“Your anger is perfectly justified. Aren’t they people who deserve to die?”

“……”

“Estelle, don’t hesitate.”