“Eirene. You killed innocent people in this life, so no further revenge is permitted. If the same events repeat, a punishment far harsher than the life you’ve lived awaits you.”

God told Eirene he would give her a chance. A chance to live again, taking pity on her unfortunate life.

“I can’t just stand by and watch.”

To not seek revenge? That was impossible for her. They were not innocent.

“You’ve already killed them once. This time, focus only on yourself. Look only to your own path, your own happiness.”

Eirene’s lips closed, and she remained silent for a while.

“If I do that, can I really live again?”

“I promise. But in exchange, I will take your divine power that harms life.”

Hearing the condition, Eirene thought of Aishe, whom she had failed to kill, and accepted God’s offer. In truth, she only pretended to accept. Considering what they had done to her, killing them twice or thrice wouldn’t be enough.

Even tearing them to pieces and devouring them wouldn’t suffice. She regretted killing them instantly, without pain. 

Moreover, Aishe hadn’t suffered at all. This time, she wanted all of them to live in excruciating pain for a long, long time before dying. Eirene deceived God.

The first meeting with God, who appeared as a voice amid light, ended. Eirene wandered in a terrible darkness of unfathomable depth.

After some time, when she regained consciousness, she heard someone whispering.

“I told you we should have killed everyone related to Eirene’s bloodline back then!”

It was the voice of the Countess Phineas, Eirene’s mother. Her voice sounded muffled, perhaps because she was covering her mouth and nose with something.

“Why did you leave one cousin or whatever alive to cause this trouble? What does that vermin want?”

“Money.”

The one who answered was Count Phineas, Eirene’s father. Eirene barely suppressed a sigh. Of all times, the opportunity to be saved came at this moment? The very day she discovered how she came to this mansion and how she had lived as the eldest daughter of the Phineas family. The day she decided to kill everyone. She couldn’t help but curse God.

“How much does he want?”

The Countess Phineas’s voice grew sharp.

“He said he’ll tell us later. He’s probably watching our reaction to increase the amount.”

“I thought a poor carpenter’s family would be simple-minded. But I suppose children from such homes learn wickedness on their own. This is why bloodline matters. Should I be thankful that thing hasn’t shown its vulgar nature yet?”

That thing. Referring to Eirene. They were conversing thinking Eirene was asleep. They lowered their voices, but perhaps believing Eirene was deeply asleep, they spoke more freely. Of course, not too loudly.

Eirene was half-asleep and half-awake. She heard footsteps approaching the bed. Count Phineas kicked the bed lightly and asked the man beside him,

“If she acts vulgarly, she should pay the price accordingly. Anyway, this girl’s vulgar nature will never be seen again after some time passes. Don’t worry. Right, Siaran?”

“Yes. You need not worry. Since you’ve endured this far, please endure a little longer. She will disappear cleanly.”

Siaran was a mage. Once a month, he helped when Eirene treated Aishe. With his handsome appearance and caring personality, he had grown close to Eirene. He had often counseled her about her worries.

He had been a trusted friend, but he was also in on it. Eirene remembered that in the past, she couldn’t kill Siaran because he wasn’t at the mansion. In this life, she would definitely include Siaran among her targets for revenge.

The past Eirene found it difficult to immediately understand what Count and Countess Phineas were talking about. She was closer to denying it, thinking it couldn’t be true. Yet she couldn’t bring herself to ask her parents.

But thinking about it briefly, answers emerged to questions she had long held. The missing puzzle pieces fell into place.

Only after calmly thinking throughout the day did she realize everything. The Count and Countess had brought Eirene to save Aishe, who was ill, and in the process, they had massacred her real family. To their knowledge, Eirene’s divine power was now depleted, and Aishe’s treatment was complete.

Eirene wondered why they hadn’t killed her immediately when she lost her usefulness, keeping her in this state instead. Regardless, Count Phineas’s words “never to be seen again” meant she would soon die.

As the three continued their conversation, Eirene, already knowing the content, fell into contemplation about what to do next. She wanted to kill them immediately, but there was nothing she could do.

She needed to calculate carefully. For now, she had to quietly wait for the right time. Eirene recalled what Aishe had said when she alone survived among the dead.

“I’m alive because I’ve been feeding on you bit by bit for a long time.”

It seemed Aishe hadn’t just been healed but had taken Eirene’s divine power. She wasn’t sure if God had also taken the divine power from Aishe in this life. If not, Aishe would be much stronger than Eirene, who had no power, so she needed to be careful.

Her first task was to let outsiders know someone was imprisoned here, but how? There was no way to communicate with the outside world without going through the Count and Countess or the servants.

“That cousin. Couldn’t we just pretend to give him money and get rid of him?”

Countess Phineas seemed eager to eliminate Eirene’s remaining bloodline as soon as possible. No one would expect such words from a face so full of dignity. Hearing the Countess’s words, Eirene considered seeking help from her cousin.

According to their conversation, the cousin knew of Eirene’s existence. But she quickly abandoned the idea. If he knew her situation yet demanded money, Eirene meant nothing to him.

The three people, having agreed to eliminate the cousin, left. When the door closed and the lock clicked, Eirene rose from the bed. She slowly raised her heavy body. Sitting there without strength, deeply lost in thought, she remembered Clive. He was scheduled to arrive in four days. She decided to use that day.

The world Eirene had experienced existed only in books. There was nothing to do in the basement room except read. The back of the basement room was a library full of books. 

Through books, she had attended court balls and dated young nobles. Through books, she had imagined the outside air and sky. On the day she first went outside to kill everyone, despite being filled with rage, the air she breathed was truly clean. She was determined to leave this place, if only to breathe that air again.

On the day Clive would arrive, simply appearing before him would cause a stir. Though she had called him stupid Clive, she hoped he wasn’t truly stupid. Eirene had written letters on behalf of Aishe, who had long harbored a crush on Clive.

She had matched Aishe’s usual vocabulary as closely as possible. The fact that he hadn’t noticed and had gotten engaged showed he wasn’t particularly perceptive.

Still, on that busy day with guests, Clive, who outranked the Count, was the perfect person to rely on.

The biggest challenge was how to get out. Moreover, if Clive turned away from Aishe, interesting things would happen. Just as they had done to her, Eirene planned to gnaw away at the Phineas family bit by bit.

God’s voice warning against revenge flashed through her mind, but she ignored it. She planned to take revenge, and Clive was a good means. Making him sway toward her and watching Aishe crumble would be more thrilling than death. However, Eirene couldn’t sway Clive in her current state.

Looking at herself in the cracked mirror, she sighed. Aishe was truly beautiful. Flowing blonde hair and blue eyes. She had heard Aishe was renowned in social circles for her skin so fair it seemed a shame to touch.

In contrast, Eirene had tangled, stiff hair and was so pale from never seeing sunlight that she might be mistaken for a corpse. Her appearance, seen by candlelight, resembled the ghosts she had read about in books. How nice it would be to have the ability to change her appearance. 

No, she just wanted to be clean. And she wished the door to the basement room that imprisoned her would open.

How had she opened the door in the past? She couldn’t remember the answer to this sudden question. Had she used her divine power?

To try again, she approached the door and concentrated, hoping God might have forgotten to take her divine power. But nothing happened.

Betty folded two handkerchiefs diagonally to cover her nose and mouth, tying them firmly behind her head. The basement room she was entering after ten days smelled so bad that the stench penetrated even through the handkerchiefs.

It grew worse with each passing day. Especially in the past year, it had become so severe that she never wanted to enter again. The hidden lady of the Phineas family.

They had tripled her pay on the condition she wouldn’t reveal this to outsiders, and she had signed a contract along with a confidentiality agreement.

Initially, the work was easy. As Eirene’s dedicated maid, she only had to clean and bring meals. But now she was doing both mansion work and serving Eirene. It was so exhausting that she barely cleaned and only brought meals every few days, but even entering was stressful.

Before opening the door and going in, Betty took a deep breath and held it. She knew that after holding it as long as possible, the nauseating smell would hit her nostrils. But this time, when she finally breathed, Betty tilted her head in confusion.

There was no unpleasant smell. She sniffed, sniffed again. Still nothing. Yet she lacked the courage to lower her handkerchief and smell directly, so thinking “How strange,” she went to Eirene’s bed.

With a thud, Betty carelessly set down the food bowl on the table beside the bed and called out to Eirene.

“Miss. Your meal.”

Usually, Eirene would lie in bed and respond with a weak “Thank you,” but today she was quiet. The young lady no one cared about. An abandoned existence. The coldness and disregard from above was fully transmitted to the servants, and no one cared what they did to Eirene.

She was an easy target. A good, weak target for venting frustrations. There was a strange pleasure in seeing a noble young lady treated worse than themselves. At some point, they had started bringing down food that was too good to throw away, and occasionally even spoiled food.

It wasn’t Betty who chose it directly, but what the kitchen prepared. At first, Eirene had questioned the food, but later she just said “Thank you” and ate it. She was completely foolish.

“Miss! I’m busy! You need to eat quickly so I can take it back!”

Betty spoke irritably, raising a candle to illuminate the bed. Eirene’s emaciated form should have been lying there, but she wasn’t visible.

“A withered piece of bread and cold soup. At least the bread isn’t moldy today, so I suppose that’s fortunate?”

Startled by the sudden voice from behind, Betty almost dropped the candlestick she was holding. It had been months since Eirene had last left her bed.

“Oh my! You scared me! Why did you appear be-behind me? We almost had a fire!”

Betty came forward and looked curiously at Eirene, who was sitting on the edge of the bed.

“You seem energetic today.”

Betty picked up the soup plate and held it out to Eirene. With her rough movement, soup spilled onto Eirene’s nightgown. But since this happened all the time, she didn’t apologize. For a moment, Eirene’s eyes gleamed in the darkness.

“How could that be? Thank you. You work so hard.”

Eirene spoke weakly. Having heard these words many times before, Betty didn’t respond, just looked down at her mistress with an exasperated sigh. She ate slowly. Trying to move gracefully like a noble lady, even in her state. How much better it would be if she just slurped it down.

“Betty! Betty! Where are you slacking off again?”

The head maid was looking for Betty from upstairs. She had left in the middle of cleaning the floor, and now they were already searching for her.

“I’m going to die from all the work because of the young lady!”

Betty snatched away the soup bowl Eirene was eating from and left. This happened frequently, but Eirene found herself laughing. The present, unchanged from the past, was bitter. Even so, Betty was among the kinder ones.

Four days later, Clive stopped his carriage after entering the Phineas domain. Before departing for the mansion, he had lit a cigar, and now he took out another.

“What’s wrong, sir?”

Ulik approached and asked.

“Have I ever been here before?”

“Not to my knowledge, unless Your Grace came separately.”

“I have no reason to move without you.”

“True. I need to be there to clean up after Your Grace’s actions…”

Seeing Clive’s glaring eyes, Ulik quickly shut his mouth.

“You’re getting cheeky.”

“I apologize.”

The Empire’s Rogue. Another name for Clive. He had stepped down after causing a serious incident during his time as Crown Prince. Known for his prickly and unpleasant nature, the rogue continued to cause trouble over the years, and cleaning up after him was always Ulik’s job.

Of course, that was his role, but sometimes it was too much. Just the other day, Clive had swept all the stakes in a gambling den, and Ulik had barely prevented some participants from filing fraud charges. It wasn’t fraud, of course, but even rumors of a lawsuit would have been damaging.

Clive himself didn’t care either way. The Emperor only verbally reprimanded this rogue. There were circumstances. How could they imprison someone who had gone to a major war and returned victorious? If another war broke out, Clive would be essential.

Born as the first prince, Clive had been intelligent from childhood. While receiving imperial education, he quickly read all the required books and showed exceptional talent in swordsmanship and physical activities, earning endless praise from his teachers.

Even Ulik, who had grown up with him since they were toddlers, didn’t know what had changed Clive. If he had kept his senses, he would still be living as the Crown Prince. Since it was a meaningless thought, Ulik shook his head. After lighting Clive’s cigar, Ulik stepped back.

“Strangely, I feel uneasy.”

It was peculiar. Clive tapped the well-maintained road with his shoe heel, trying to identify the source of his inexplicable feeling. Was it because he had come to the secretive main house of the Phineas family? Unable to shake off the uneasiness, he continued smoking his cigar.

Clive’s party passed through the main gate. Crossing the wide garden, they saw servants who had come out to greet them. Behind them, Count and Countess Phineas smiled awkwardly with tense faces.

Aishe was absent. She was so shy that meeting her was difficult, and even when they met after a long time, she always wore a veiled hat, rarely showing her face. She spoke in such a small voice that it was barely audible, so her absence from this occasion was perhaps natural.

Just as Clive dismounted and was about to shake hands with Count Phineas, the door opened, and someone peeked out. Seeing the face, Clive tilted his head. For the first time, he saw Aishe’s face without a veil.