WDTD 06

Chapter 6

“I love you!”

Clarissa shouted it as if she were actually saying, Get lost! Because of that, Daemon felt disgustingly like some kind of creep.

‘She’s definitely suspicious.’

Daemon’s brow twisted sharply. Ever since recently, the Clarissa who had constantly begged for his affection had changed.

Even now, it was the same. The original Clarissa would have been blushing bright red and trembling nervously. But this woman was cursing at him with her eyes. Hurry up and disappear.

The woman before him was undoubtedly Clarissa, so why did she feel like an entirely different person?

A chilling sensation ran through him, and Daemon grabbed the back of her head.

He intended to use his clairvoyance.

By touching something, Daemon could read the memories of objects and people.

At his touch, Clarissa’s eyes widened. Her trembling lashes and restless violet eyes looked dangerously unstable.

It was as though she were desperately trying to hide something.

“I love you, Daemon. Even while you’re standing right in front of me, I still miss you. I told myself I’d never ask for your affection, but I can’t do that anymore. I want you so badly I can’t stand it, Daemon.”

Unlike her secretive gaze, Clarissa’s voice was unbearably desperate.

Daemon had never trusted people’s words in the first place, so he let her confession go in one ear and out the other.

Instead, he read her memories through the hand gripping the back of her head.

【Where on earth has my husband gone?】

【Your Highness, the reason I’m unloved is because I’m lacking as a wife. Please don’t blame my husband.】

【There don’t seem to be any maids here, only male servants, right?】

After finishing his clairvoyance, Daemon crooked his lips into a smirk.

‘Changed? What exactly changed?’

Looking down at her arrogantly, he warned her coldly.

“Even after I’ve treated you with such contempt, you still claim to love me. Pathetic, Clarissa.”

Daemon stepped back and continued in an icy voice.

“I’ll say this one more time. Don’t expect affection from me if you want to be less miserable. If you continue interfering in my affairs or suddenly show up here like today, I won’t tolerate it anymore, Clarissa. And if you go too far… you’ll die before Duke Rakton does. Understood?”

“…What an as—”

Daemon frowned sharply at the words Clarissa mumbled under her breath.

“What did you just say?”

“I said four-leaf clover. I want to offer you a lucky clover with four leaves. As a wish for your revenge to succeed.”

“Then go pluck grass somewhere.”

“Yes, darling.”

Clarissa answered sweetly with a radiant smile.

‘Marrying a lunatic who threatens to kill his own wife. Clarissa, why on earth did you do that?’

The next day, after returning home, I immediately headed to the marketplace behind the plaza.

The market, lined with shops on both sides of the narrow alleyways, was full of goods sold by Daemon’s merchant company.

“My lady, are you looking for something in particular?”

When I started heading not toward the luxury shops but the back alleys, Miranda asked anxiously.

“I just thought I’d get some fresh air.”

I also needed to survey the market and confirm what Daemon and the Crown Prince were planning.

‘The original novel never specified the exact timing, but I’m certain it starts now.’

The trust between Daemon and Duke Rakton would gradually begin to crumble, and the cracks would only widen over time.

If I let things happen as they originally did, Daemon would pull the switch on his runaway revenge train without hesitation.

Then, before preparations were complete, even the Crown Prince would fall ill, and everything would spiral into chaos.

I had absolutely no intention of helping Daemon with his revenge. I also had no desire to win favor with the insane husband who threatened to kill me.

But for now, we were stuck in the same boat.

‘For my own safety, I have to interfere.’

There was no time. If the mana stones hidden beneath Daemon’s secret headquarters were already being distributed, I had to do something immediately.

“Then how about checking that alley over there? Magical dolls are very popular these days.”

At Miranda’s words, my eyes widened.

“Magical dolls?”

“Yes, my lady. They have dolls that can replace candles, and dolls that cool your body too.”

“Let’s go then. Which direction do we go to buy them?”

“Probably that way. I heard they’re imported from overseas rather than made in the Empire.”

No way.

There were mana stones beneath the secret headquarters in the forest.

Even in the original story, Daemon discovered a mana stone mine and used those stones to create all sorts of magical devices.

Occasionally, dangerous mana stones were found as well, but he never distributed those in the market. Instead, he safely stored them in the western laboratory of the estate.

What Daemon wanted was revenge against Duke Rakton, the Emperor, and the temple—not harm to ordinary citizens.

‘Isn’t he way too much of a humanitarian for a villain?’

That was exactly why I had loved Daemon’s character so much in the original story. Tch. But after experiencing him firsthand, he was just a terrible man to me.

A terrible husband.

With a displeased expression, I followed Miranda toward the alley where imported goods were sold.

“My lady, look at this! Isn’t it beautiful?”

Miranda pointed at the dolls displayed on a shelf. There were fairy dolls wearing hats, princess dolls in elegant dresses, farmer dolls, dogs, cats, and more. Their appearances varied widely.

Some were soft like ordinary dolls, while others were carved from marble or wood, but all of them were colored with mana stone powder and possessed magical effects.

That was why some emitted a soft glow without containing candles, while others blew cool breezes despite having no ice inside them.

“Miranda, do you really think these are pretty? To me, they’re already tiresome. They feel way too familiar.”

I frowned as I picked up a farmer doll and set it back down.

“They look familiar to you? I can’t tell at all.”

“You still don’t recognize it after seeing these body proportions?”

The proportions were identical to the naked statue of Daemon standing in the center fountain of the estate garden.

The only difference was the farmer’s clothing. Even the face looked copied directly from the statue.

‘Looks like they hired the sculptor who made the naked statue to design the magical dolls.’

If they were personally mining mana stones and creating the dolls themselves, then why lie and claim they were imports?

My question was answered the moment we arrived at the merchant office.

“M-My lady. Did you come looking for the master? The master is currently—”

“He’s not here, is he?”

Cutting off the accountant Johan, I plopped myself into an office chair.

I had stopped by because I thought the place producing magical dolls might contain the item I was searching for.

And I absolutely had to obtain it.

“So you already knew the master had gone to the warehouse.”

“The warehouse?”

“Yes. We imported salt, but we received far more than expected, so the master has been struggling with it. If Duke Rakton discovers it, it could become dangerous.”

Johan, who had sold his soul to me for three gold coins, spilled secrets without hesitation.

At that moment, I felt my hair stand on end.

‘What if Duke Rakton finds out they’ve been importing salt from overseas?’

Seeing my expression, Johan awkwardly scratched the back of his head and explained.

“The master only ordered enough to fit in the warehouse, but the importer brought far more than expected. Since storms during the two-week voyage could dissolve the salt, they accounted for possible losses.”

“But the weather stayed clear the entire trip, so far more arrived than expected?”

“Exactly. The same thing happened last time too.”

‘So that’s why they disguised the magical dolls as imported goods.’

To conceal the fact that foreign salt was being imported, they spread false rumors about importing magical dolls instead.

There was no other way to explain the constant stream of ships entering and leaving the harbor.

And the merchant warehouse wasn’t full of magical dolls at all.

It was full of salt.

A complete bait-and-switch.

‘Just as I thought.’

The conflict briefly mentioned in the original story between Duke Rakton and Daemon was about to begin.

The circulation of cheap foreign salt, far cheaper than the duke’s own supply, would temporarily choke off the duke’s finances.

In response, Duke Rakton would order Daemon—his hunting dog—to sell only Rakton salt.

After all the hardship Daemon went through opening trade routes and importing foreign salt, he would end up utterly trapped.

And later, Duke Rakton would discover Daemon’s secret salt imports.

Because of the massive stockpile of salt that had become impossible to hide.

“The warehouses and storage yards are piled high with mountains of salt. It’s a disaster.”

At that moment, the office door slammed open and Daemon walked in.

The moment he saw me sprawled across a chair, his expression immediately darkened.

“Clarissa. I warned you.”

You said I’d die if I caused trouble. But your situation doesn’t look too good either.

I let out a deep sigh and put on a sorrowful expression.

“I missed you so much I simply couldn’t endure it.”

“Now that you’ve seen my face, go home.”

Daemon brushed past me and headed for the desk.

“It’s so hot outside, and the carriage is even worse. Can’t I stay just until the sun goes down?”

“No.”

He rejected me mercilessly.

Honestly, part of me wanted to stop caring whether he fought with Duke Rakton or whether his revenge failed.

But my own safety was tied to this too.

“Miranda. I suppose we should head home now. Though before we do, perhaps we should buy ingredients for dinner. It’s been so hot that I’ve been sweating all day. I really want something salty.”

When I finished speaking and glanced back, Daemon was clearly just waiting for me to leave already, looking thoroughly irritated.

‘What do I do if he still doesn’t get it even when I spoon-feed him the answer?’

I abruptly stood up and walked straight toward him.

“Daemon, I looked around the market earlier, and the merchants were devastated because their food had spoiled in the heat. Salt is so expensive that they must have been rationing it carefully.”

“In the kitchens of the Middle Town estate, they use salt generously, yet your food still spoiled. The rotten food you brought me, for example.”

Daemon glared at me as if telling me to stop babbling nonsense and leave.

“If people sold heavily salted ingredients, kitchen work would be easier since they wouldn’t need to stand over the fire as long. And the food wouldn’t spoil quickly either. It would be wonderful if someone sold ingredients like that cheaply.”

Salt-preserved foods did exist already, but only as small handmade goods from private shops.

What I meant was factory-produced preserved food.

Something capable of consuming massive amounts of salt.

“Salt-preserved meat, vegetables, fish… things like that. Thinly sliced potatoes fried and covered in tons of salt might sell well too. And I saw magical dolls producing cool air on the way here…”

They could build refrigerated storage, buy ingredients in bulk, and preserve them heavily with salt.

“Sell salted foods on a large scale?”

A sharp gleam entered Daemon’s eyes.

“It’ll make far more money than simply selling salt. And if Duke Rakton asks how you preserved so much food, you can just say it was preserved with seawater.”

It would consume the overwhelming mountain of salt instantly, and once preserved foods circulated widely, Rakton salt usage would naturally decline.

Instead of suddenly cutting off Duke Rakton’s income, it would slowly tighten around his throat.

And that would delay—or at least soften—the inevitable conflict between Daemon and Duke Rakton.

‘And during that time, I can come up with a plan for a safe divorce.’