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Chapter 9
She had to protect herself.
Until now, trying to appease the other side and keeping her head down had only been another way of killing herself.
That was what Eureine thought as she rose from her seat.
So, she would go to the person who had protected her all this time.
The only person in this mansion who had ever treated her kindly.
Rebecca.
She had to move quickly. This was truly a race against time now.
Eureine roughly found a long object and wedged it against the doorknob.
That would make it take quite some time for anyone outside to get into her bedroom.
Then she began making a mess of the room.
Crash-!
The flowerpot that had been holding flowers toppled onto the floor and shattered.
She pulled out every book within reach from the bookshelf and threw them onto the floor.
The tablecloth was shoved aside and fell to the floor as well. She even knocked over the table.
The room quickly became a complete mess.
Eureine roughly gathered some of the things around her, placed them on top of the bedsheet, and tied them together.
Once the bundle was a suitable size, Eureine dragged it across the carpet, all the way to the window.
She straightened her back and looked around the room.
It was truly a disaster. The floor was covered with all sorts of objects.
It looked as though something terrible had happened.
Satisfied with the scene she had created, Eureine opened the window.
Her room was on the second floor. And there was a tree near the window.
Yes. It was the perfect environment for an assassin—or perhaps a kidnapper—to sneak in.
And, on top of that, there were drag marks on the carpet.
As if someone had been dragged toward the window.
“Perfect.”
Before long, rumors would spread throughout the estate that Tarvargen’s eldest daughter had been kidnapped.
Eureine smiled in satisfaction as she dusted off her hands.
Once the commotion had somewhat died down, the people in the mansion would probably discover that one of the prisoners being held underground had disappeared.
Namely, ‘Rebecca,’ the suspect in the theft of the late mistress’s belongings.
Eureine smiled contentedly and approached the side of the bed.
A magnificent oil painting hung beside the bed.
It was enormous, large enough to cover nearly an entire wall.
The painting depicted a woman pouring water from a jug into a spring.
The stream of water trickling from the jug naturally blended into the spring water.
Eureine lightly tapped the stream of water the woman was pouring with her finger.
Then she pushed it firmly.
At that moment, she felt something cold at her fingertips, and her hand slipped straight into the painting.
Then her arm, her elbow… and eventually her entire body was sucked into the painting.
And just like that, Eureine disappeared into the painting.
After passing through the painting and coming out the other side, Eureine felt slightly nauseous.
Before she knew it, she was standing in the underground prison.
She had gotten there through that very painting.
Espers born in Tarvargen were unusual in that they were naturally gifted with abilities related to ‘time.’
The ‘painting’ she had just used had also been created by one of Tarvargen’s Espers.
The painting was a device that allowed people to enter a secret passage that existed in the past.
It could only be used by those who carried Tarvargen’s blood.
Of course, there was the minor side effect of nausea.
After glancing at the painting hanging behind her, Eureine quickly started walking.
Then, suddenly, she heard a groan from somewhere.
“Ugh-!”
Eureine hurriedly hid herself behind a wall.
That voice…
‘Rebecca.’
The moment she recognized the familiar voice, Eureine’s grip tightened around the wall.
She cautiously peeked her head out in the direction of the sound.
‘Oh, my God.’
She almost screamed at the sight before her.
The torturer was mercilessly shaking Rebecca by her long brown hair.
Eureine could clearly see Rebecca trembling.
She could also see the torturer grinning as he looked at Rebecca trembling before him.
Her stomach churned.
Rebecca’s face clearly showed how much she had suffered.
After being dragged here and tortured all this time, her once fair and delicate face was now covered in bruises.
Eureine’s blood boiled at the sight.
“Hey. Why don’t you confess already? Admit that you stole the mistress’s belongings.”
The torturer grabbed Rebecca by the hair and gave a nasty chuckle.
“Ah!”
Rebecca let out a short scream of pain, but the torturer didn’t flinch in the slightest.
“A fake necklace was found right on your bed. What more obvious evidence could there be? You used to be Lady Eureine’s maid, so you had opportunities to enter the room where the late mistress’s belongings were kept.”
“N-No, I didn’t!”
The torturer waved the ‘fake’ keepsake in front of Rebecca.
Even though the necklace was fake, it had been crafted so meticulously that it gleamed beautifully even in the dark prison.
“Looks like you don’t listen when I’m just talking.”
With a sinister smile, the torturer raised his hand high.
It looked as though he was about to strike Rebecca in the face.
Eureine hurriedly grabbed whatever happened to be nearby.
And then—
Thud!
She brought the object in her hand down hard on the torturer’s head.
“Argh!”
The torturer screamed and tried to turn around.
Eureine watched him and struck him hard on the head once more.
At that moment—
He froze.
The torturer suddenly became completely still.
His grimacing expression and the position he had been in as he turned around remained exactly the same.
“Huh…?”
Rebecca’s eyes widened at the strange situation.
The torturer didn’t even blink.
It was as if only the torturer’s time had been ‘stopped.’
“W-What…?”
“It’s me. Rebecca.”
Eureine stepped out from behind the torturer and met Rebecca’s bewildered gaze.
“L-Lady…?”
Rebecca blinked in disbelief.
She looked utterly confused as to why Eureine had suddenly appeared here.
“L-Lady, is it really you?”
“Yeah. Rebecca.”
Eureine gave Rebecca a small smile and dropped what she was holding.
Clunk.
The bloodstained chunk of stone rolled noisily across the floor.
But Rebecca didn’t look at the stone rolling across the ground. She alternated her gaze between the torturer and Eureine before finally speaking.
“My lady, don’t tell me…”
“Yeah. I hit him a little.”
Eureine said this while dusting off her hands.
Rebecca’s mouth fell slightly open.
Eureine spoke as though it were nothing, but to Rebecca, this was an earth-shattering event.
The Lady Eureine she knew was kind.
In some ways, she was almost too kind for her own good. She was the sort of person who could never bring herself to hurt anyone else.
And yet that very person had suddenly smashed a torturer over the head with a stone?
And she was standing there with such an unconcerned expression?
Moreover…
The torturer wasn’t moving at all.
Rebecca immediately sensed that something was seriously wrong and quietly stared at Eureine.
But Eureine merely continued dusting off her hands.
‘What a horrible bastard.’
Eureine kicked the torturer a few more times for good measure.
The sight of a fully grown man grabbing a woman by the hair and violently shaking her—despite the woman being less than half his size—was infuriating.
When she turned her head, she saw Rebecca’s battered face.
She felt indignant. Her anger hadn’t subsided.
‘Maybe I should have hit him more.’
A couple of blows with a stone didn’t seem like enough. Maybe she should hit him one more ti—
Rebecca cautiously spoke up.
“L-Lady, how did you get here?”
Rebecca looked up at Eureine nervously.
Right. This wasn’t the time to get lost in her emotions.
Eureine picked up the fake keepsake lying beside the torturer and said,
“Rebecca. I’ll explain quickly. I’m a Guide.”
“What?”
Rebecca’s eyes widened in surprise. She even slightly opened her mouth and froze in place.
A Guide?
What did she mean?
Ayla was the Guide.
And there was only one Guide in the entire world.
Under any other circumstances, that would have been something to laugh at immediately.
‘B-But…’
Rebecca glanced at the torturer and briefly held her breath.
Even to her, the torturer’s condition was strange.
He was completely frozen, without even blinking.
Seeing Rebecca’s confusion so clearly, Eureine gave a faint smile.
Then she lightly kicked the torturer once more and said,
“And this is my mother’s ability. Don’t ask for details. We don’t have time right now. Get up first, Rebecca.”
“Yes, yes.”
Rebecca didn’t look convinced, but she hurriedly followed Eureine’s words and set off with her.
Eureine grabbed Rebecca’s hand and pulled her along as she walked quickly.
“Rebecca. We’re going outside now.”
“Outside?”
“Yeah. Through this painting.”
Rebecca’s expression became bewildered.
How on earth were they supposed to get outside through the painting in front of them?
At that moment, Eureine suddenly grabbed Rebecca’s hand.
Then, without hesitation, she stepped into the painting.
“Ah!”
Rebecca let out a small scream in surprise, but she too was sucked into the painting and disappeared.
