“Hey, why are you tying me up? Hey!”

Robi, who had been clutching his forehead, was now tightly bound by Yuri and me, yelling loudly. I kicked his shin.

“Quiet.”

“Ouch!”

I continued kicking his shin until he stopped screaming. After taking quite a beating, Robi finally grasped the situation and gradually lowered his voice.

He should have kept quiet before getting hit; did he really need to demonstrate how clueless he was?

I sighed and asked Robi, who was glaring at me as if he wanted to kill me, in a cold voice.

“Why did you come here so early in the morning? If the shop was closed, you should have just left. Why did you keep banging on the door?”

Robi answered confidently.

“Why else? Should I sleep on the street when my sister has a perfectly good house?”

“You left with a whole pouch of money yesterday, so why don’t you have a place to stay?”

“You gave me that money to spend as I pleased. Why should I use it for hotel fees? You never told me to do that in the first place!”

So, if I didn’t specifically say to use it for hotel fees, it was okay to blow it all?

His completely illogical words almost made me laugh. How could he not have changed at all? This was a conversation we’d had countless times in my previous life. I was sick of it.

I shook my head and gestured with my chin.

“So where did you spend all that money?”

“I don’t know. And even if you knew, what would you do about it?”

Robi was defiant. It was pathetic that he didn’t notice my attitude had changed, even while his limbs were tightly bound by rope. But I had no intention of kindly explaining what was about to happen to him. I patted his shoulder and spoke brightly.

“Alright, let’s go now.”

“Where? Where are we going?”

Right on cue, the security officers arrived. It was worth asking the neighbors to report any disturbances immediately.

I waved to the officers and handed Robi over, saying, “He’s a criminal guilty of trespassing, property damage, and extortion. We just caught him.”

“T-Titiana!”

Robi turned to me with a face as pale as a sheet. Did he really think I wouldn’t turn him over to the authorities? I snorted.

In fact, this wasn’t the first time I had turned Robi over to the authorities. In my past life, I had suffered emotionally because of my incorrigible brother and eventually reported him.

‘I had shown leniency because he pleaded with tears.’

After that, my father called me a wicked woman, and Robi sought revenge after being released.

This time, I wouldn’t show leniency or let it end here. I spoke clearly to the officers.

“Moreover, this person has caused me severe financial harm. I intend to press charges.”

“What are the charges?”

“Fraud due to gambling addiction and domestic violence.”

In this country, when crimes occurred within families, the penalties were usually reduced.

However, there were two exceptions: gambling and drugs. These crimes couldn’t be excused even among relatives. That’s why I deliberately charged him with gambling.

Realizing the seriousness of the situation a bit too late, Robi’s face turned crimson as he shouted.

“You crazy woman…! What are you doing!”

But that would only add to his charges.

“Ma’am, would you mind accompanying us to the station? We need your statement as the victim. Your cooperation would be appreciated.”

“The evidence is in the shop. I’ll gather it and follow you.”

“Understood.”

Thinking there was no need to argue further, the officers promptly dragged the bound Robi to the station.

***

To write the report and file the charges, I went to the station with the evidence I had prepared in advance.

“You wish to charge this man with gambling addiction and domestic violence. Do you have any evidence?”

“Here is the IOU, and this is proof of his visits to gambling dens.”

“Usually, people don’t have things like IOUs, which makes it difficult, but you’ve been very thorough.”

“This isn’t the first time.”

The officer looked at me with a sympathetic gaze.

“Hey!”

Robi, locked in a cell, shouted loudly enough to echo throughout the station. My ears stung, but I pretended not to hear him.

The officer, who had noted my personal information and the general situation, asked in an official tone.

“Since you haven’t registered your residence, you can choose to have the trial in the capital or your hometown. Which do you prefer?”

“My hometown.”

“In that case, you’ll need to pay for the transportation costs…”

“Here it is.”

I promptly handed over the transportation fee I had prepared in advance. The officer in charge of the transportation fee looked at me with a somber expression. Receiving sympathetic looks from two people in a row felt a bit awkward.

“Hey, Titiana Este!”

I bid a final farewell to Robi, who was thrashing around in his cell and calling out my name.

“See you in court, Robi.”

Being transported from the capital to our hometown while locked in a cell would be quite painful. Well, it was a grave he had dug for himself.

Really, who told him to come all the way to the capital and act like a fool?

After dealing with Robi, I immediately grabbed Yuri’s hand and pulled him along.

“Come on, let’s head to the train station. If we leave now, we should make it just in time for the train.”

Since I had brought the bag I packed the day before when I came to the security office, there was no need to return to the shop.

Fortunately, the train station wasn’t far from the security office, so we walked side by side through the morning streets that were just starting to get busy.

Yuri, who had been quietly walking beside me, spoke in a small voice.

“You’re acting very methodically.”

“Does it seem that way?”

“Yes. You seem like someone who has been planning this for a long time.”

“That’s not entirely wrong.”

I quietly reflected on the past.

When Robi and my father demanded money from me, I initially gave it out of sympathy and a sense of duty. I thought every daughter lived like I did. My mother had done so until she died, so I believed it was only natural.

Later, I harbored false hope that they might change or even succeed.

Then I realized my reality was hell and decided I needed to escape.

When was that?

‘It must have been after a very long time had passed.’

It was a time when I was slowly worn down by pain, losing a part of myself over a long period. The time and emotions I wasted on them still hurt, even now that I had turned back time with magic.

Recalling that past, I gave a bitter smile.

“I wish I had realized sooner that people can’t change.”

At my muttering, Yuri tilted his head as if he found it hard to understand.

“Could you have realized any sooner?”

“Perhaps not.”

To Yuri, I must have appeared just barely an adult, so his question was understandable.

As we chatted about various topics, we eventually arrived at the train station.

There were about 30 minutes left before the train departed. After buying our tickets, we sat on the platform, unable to board while the train was being serviced.

‘Home.’

I rubbed my thumb over the name of my hometown printed on the train ticket. Although not much time had passed here, the thought of returning home felt distant to me.

Staring at the train ticket, I slowly began to speak.

“Do you think… I seem heartless?”

Yuri’s blue eyes quietly met mine at my question.

He didn’t ask me anything. Not why I lent money to Robi, why I tied him up and sent him to court without a break, why I was holding the trial in my hometown, or what I planned to do next.

Perhaps because he didn’t ask, I found myself spilling my family secrets, which I had never shared with anyone.

“…My family would pressure me for money even if I were swindled and left on the streets. They didn’t hassle you because they saw you as a clerk; if they thought of you as my husband, they would have demanded money from you just like they did with me.”

Though I spoke hypothetically, I was certain. These were things that had already happened in a future that would no longer come.

My first husband had invested all his wealth in a mine. After it was fraudulently taken away and he committed suicide, my family shamelessly demanded money from me.

I tried to smile as if I was at ease, but it ended up as a strange grimace when no laughter came.

“As I moved to the capital with the deed to the building, I resolved again and again that if they came after me for money this time, I would throw them in jail.”

I had thought about it long and hard. That’s why my actions today were so decisive.

Yet, despite everything going according to plan, there was no sense of triumph. I had merely responded to what I knew would happen. And now… only emptiness remained.