“Sigh…”

How did it come to this?

Was it from the moment I  possessed the body of the villainess, Rosemary Ferial?

Or from the moment I kidnapped Adriel?

Or perhaps from starting a business that was doomed to fail?

I lay on the bed, bitterly reflecting on the past days.

The soft touch of the bedspread seemed to soothe my uneasy heart.

“Well, staying here isn’t so bad after all.”

The room provided by the temple was surprisingly comfortable.

Meals that arrived punctually.

And the bookshelf, which I thought would be full of religious books since it was a temple, was surprisingly filled with a variety of books.

Plus, various fruits and desserts I’d never seen before, prepared for whenever I felt peckish.

Was the temple always such a nice place?

Being here made me suddenly want to become devout.

So this is how liberating it feels to be free from labor.

I was rolling around on the bed, grinning, when suddenly—

Poof-

“Huh?”

The magical lighting device suddenly went out.

As I was about to look around the darkened room, I heard murmuring voices from the corridor.

“What’s happening?”

“I don’t know. The lights just went out suddenly.”

From the conversations I could hear, it seemed all the lights in the temple had gone out.

I was getting up from the bed to go out to the corridor like the others when—

Knock knock-

Someone knocked on my door.

“……”

Even though it was surely one of the priests, I had an ominous feeling.

Just in case, I took something I had stored in the drawer and put it in my pocket.

Then I slowly walked over and opened the door.

“Excuse me.”

A woman with short brown hair was standing in front of the door.

“Who are you?”

“I’m a magician affiliated with the temple. There seems to be an issue with the magical lights, so we’re checking each room. May I come in?”

When I peeked my head out the door, I could see other magicians in similar attire entering and leaving the neighboring rooms.

I looked back at the magician and nodded.

“Please come in.”

The magician who entered the room immediately began checking the light fixture on the wall.

I watched from a distance.

Tension filled the darkened room.

Occasionally, creaking sounds could be heard as the magician seemed to be fixing the light.

“They say a typhoon is coming soon. Make sure to lock your windows before you sleep.”

“Yes, thank you.”

The magician, after hanging the now-lit lamp back on the wall, greeted me and left the room.

…nothing happened?

Just as my tension eased, thinking it might have been my imagination.

“Magic is truly a remarkable tool. Don’t you think?”

“…!”

Someone wrapped their arms around my shoulders from behind.

Holding my breath, I turned my head only to meet round, purple eyes.

“You, how…?”

“Surprisingly, I was once considered a promising magician. The Red Magic Tower used to visit the Marquis’s mansion almost daily.”

What is this random talk about?

Lucian continued his story as if he couldn’t see my confusion.

“Do you know what I said that day?”

Ah, this isn’t the time to be dazed.

“L-Let go…!”

Having barely calmed myself, I struggled to break free from Lucian’s embrace.

No, while pretending to struggle, I firmly pressed the button hidden inside my clothes.

Good. Stay calm…

“Disgusting old men.”

At that moment, Lucian’s smooth, unmarked left hand gripped my neck.

“Thinking of getting a cheap slave here? Stop scheming and get lost.”

Lucian’s giggling laughter spread to my ears, sending chills down my spine.

I resisted the urge to scratch my ears and glared at him.

Lucian continued speaking with a grin, completely unfazed.

“I don’t understand why people are so fascinated with magic. There’s something much closer that makes things more magical than magic itself.”

With one hand still gripping my neck, Lucian turned out the pocket of his robe with his other hand.

Clink-clink-

Countless gold coins spilled onto the floor.

“Why bother learning magic when you can have this?”

I glared at Lucian and thought.

What’s with this unlucky bastard?

I wondered what he was talking about, but he was just showing off his money?

Honestly, I was envious, but I pretended not to be and glared at him.

“What are you? Coming to the temple on your own feet… are you sane?”

Lucian looked surprised at my words.

“That’s a first.”

“What?”

“Someone evaluating me as a person with a sound mind.”

They say crazy people don’t know they’re crazy, but this man was very aware of his own insanity—a fact that surprised me more than Lucian himself.

“To think I have to kill my one and only friend with my own hands.”

Suddenly putting on a pitiful expression, Lucian asked me.

“Don’t you find me pitiful?”

Ignoring Lucian’s nonsense, I answered calmly.

“Pitiful my as$. I’m the one who’s more miserable for being caught by someone like you.”

“What? Ahaha.”

Lucian let out a small laugh at my response.

Then, staring directly into my eyes, he murmured softly.

“But it’s strange.”

I swallowed hard as I saw Lucian’s purple eyes gleaming sharply.

“Your reaction is as if you already knew I would come.”

As his hand caressed my nape, my shoulders involuntarily tensed.

“Your pulse is normal too.”

…Is he an oriental medicine doctor or what? When did he check my pulse?

I was so dumbfounded that I couldn’t say anything even when he suddenly grabbed my chin.

“What is my toy shop owner cutely planning, hmm?”

I gritted my teeth.

Don’t take the bait. Absolutely don’t take the bait.

I calmly changed the subject.

“Do you think you’ll be fine after killing me? Even if you’re a nobleman, murder is…”

“Murder?”

Lucian questioned as if he didn’t understand what I meant.

“Your cause of death will be concluded as suicide, you know?”

After casually uttering those chilling words, Lucian finally released his grip on me.

I almost fell forward from the momentum but managed to steady myself and turned around.

“Suicide?”

And seeing what Lucian held in his hands, my eyes widened in shock.

What is that?!

Lucian was slowly approaching me, holding a thick rope in both hands that was clearly meant to strangle me. Smiling like a deranged murderer.

“How much time do you think it takes for a person to die from suffocation?”

“W-What are you doing? Put that down! There should be limits even to insanity…”

“You don’t know? Well, that’s understandable. It’s okay. Actually, I don’t know yet either.”

Yet?

As I backed away, sweating coldly, Lucian approached me while pulling the rope taut.

“So I thought we could find out together.”