Even the mansion’s maids exploited her weakness.

She was particularly vulnerable to those who showed her attention, so pretending to care even a little could easily get them out of bothersome tasks.

Serena wasn’t unaware of this fact.

Even before her regression.

However, before her regression, Serena had never once used Olivia.

The way she clung to hope over trivial actions.

The way she assigned excessive meaning to a single word from others.

It all reminded her of herself.

That’s why using Olivia felt like self-deception to Serena.

‘Right now she’s just easy prey, though.’

Olivia was also a perpetrator.

There was no reason for Serena, who’d been beaten to death by her hands, to understand her pain.

‘Conveniently, I don’t need the medicine anymore either.’

Serena took a deep breath, checking her body that had become strangely light since her regression.

The cold winter wind lightly filled her lungs and flowed out.

She carefully caressed the quietly beating heart in her chest.

Serena’s illness, diagnosed as incurable, was a rare disease.

Born with insufficient divine power, her life was destined to be short.

Though nothing specifically hurt, death was closer for her than for others, so she had many congenitally weak areas.

‘More importantly, someone with such an illness was chosen as a sacrifice.’

That alone made it obvious what a fraud Priest Bateron was.

Yet he’d praised Serena as the perfect sacrifice.

He’d spouted nonsense about how her fate of living a much shorter life than others meant she possessed a dense, concentrated soul.

The Count and his wife, and even Serena herself, believed his lies—fabricated to receive donations under the pretense of increasing divine power.

For her, it was an inevitable choice since she had nothing else to believe in besides his words.

Perhaps to help her endure the *buse, Bateron had personally prescribed her medicine.

A hallucinogen that dulled pain by disrupting her nerves and mind.

It had the additional effect of erasing any willpower to resist the terrible reality.

Because the effects were so strong, Serena realized what kind of drug it was not long after taking it.

No matter what the Count and his wife ordered, she couldn’t take medicine that made her lose herself.

Terrified, she’d initially just thrown the medicine away.

Dissolving and crushing it so no one would know.

But at some point, she stopped doing that.

She simply collected them carefully, deep in her wardrobe where no one would find them.

Though disgust surged up like bile whenever she saw the accumulated pills, she deliberately ignored it.

Serena never asked herself why she didn’t throw them away, not until the moment she threw herself off that cliff.

‘It was for that moment when I absolutely couldn’t endure anymore.’

Back when she believed her life only had value if offered as a sacrifice.

So the thought of dying by her own hand was precarious to Serena, like a cracked glass.

‘In the end, I went mad and jumped out of the carriage without even realizing it.’

A bitter sneer crossed Serena’s lips at the absurdity of her wretched fate.

Suddenly.

Sensing someone walking ahead had stopped, Serena—who’d been walking while looking at the corridor floor as usual—raised her head.

“……”

His brown eyelashes, holding sunlight, glowed softly.

The sight didn’t suit that devil, and Serena’s eyes naturally twisted.

She quickly lowered her head to hide her contorting expression.

Serena rarely made eye contact with Kyle to begin with.

She always had to bow her head before him and beg for forgiveness and mercy.

So thinking her behavior wouldn’t seem too unnatural, Serena stood quietly by the corridor window, waiting for him to pass.

“……Are you going to see Mother?”

It was an unfamiliar question.

About ten days had passed since that last day she’d encountered him.

During all that long time, Kyle—whom she’d expected to do something to punish her—surprisingly hadn’t sought her out.

‘Far from seeking me out, we haven’t even crossed paths.’

She couldn’t understand it, but there was no need to try.

Either something else had come up and he’d lost interest, or he was waiting for a better opportunity to punish her properly.

Kyle wasn’t important to her right now, so his unusual behavior didn’t particularly catch her attention.

‘But this.’

What was with that tone, like they were actually siblings?

Unable to read his intentions, Serena worked to compose her expression.

“Yes, she always gets sick around this time of year… I’m worried, so I’ve been taking care of her.”

Of course, the reason Olivia was sick now was because of Serena’s medicine.

Though not robust, she had a normal body, so the hallucinogenic symptoms weren’t prominent—but it did make her abnormally drowsy.

“……”

He was eerily silent.

But Serena didn’t raise her head.

Their eyes might meet accidentally and provoke his temper, which would be troublesome.

A dark shadow suddenly crossed the green eyes watching Serena with her head obediently bowed.

“Good that you’ve finally found some use.”

The sneering words became sharp thorns scratching at Serena’s heart.

A heart that had already received so many wounds there was nowhere left to hurt.

Serena swallowed a hollow laugh at the criticism more trivial than expected.

That was the end of it.

Kyle, having shown her attention worse than indifference, passed right by her.

Barely suppressing the urge to pour the tea in her hands over his arrogant head, Serena walked toward Olivia’s room.

“You’re, you’re here now, Serena!”

Before the maid could even open the door, Olivia rushed out barefoot and clung to her.

With practiced movements, Serena handed the teacup to the maid and showed a gentle eye-smile.

“It’s the same time as yesterday, Mother.”

“But I, I was waiting for you!”

With bloodshot eyes, Olivia refused to let her go and tightened her grip on Serena’s arm.

Her sharp nails dug into the tender skin, threatening to pierce through the fabric.

“I’ll stay longer today.”

Without changing expression, Serena whispered in an affectionate voice.

“I enjoy being by your side too, Mother.”

Facing someone disgusting enough to make her nauseous, she wore a lovely smile like a mask.

Finally reassured by her smile, Olivia relaxed her grip.

After consistently taking hallucinogens for the past ten days, Olivia slept more but became more sensitive.

Naturally her affection deficit worsened, and she clung obsessively to Serena, who happened to be showing her welcome affection.

‘Though it’s a bit more extreme than expected.’

The arm Olivia had gripped throbbed painfully.

But this wasn’t the time to complain about such things.

The more openly Olivia needed her, the easier it became to extract something useful from her.

Pulling Serena’s hand to sit her at the tea table, Olivia began telling stories she’d already told several times.

Having heard them multiple times, Serena knew what they were about even half-listening.

How noble a lady she’d been before becoming the Countess, how she’d met Bartholomew by chance and fallen into fateful love.

The story that peaked with Kyle’s birth continued endlessly into complaints afterward.

How they’d ignored her.

How miserable her life was.

‘How pathetic.’

To at least pretend she was listening, Serena nodded and responded appropriately.

Yet behind her eye-smile, her pupils moved secretly, busily.

Searching for anything that might help with her escape.

Though spending time with Olivia had another main purpose, there was no harm in obtaining something additional.

Even something that could be sold for money.

Serena’s gaze, completely uninterested in the conversation with Olivia, busily scanned the room.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Ah……”

Before she could answer, Olivia stood up abruptly and her rough hands reached for Serena.

During the past few days of feeding Olivia tea laced with drugs, she’d been in this state continuously.

She fluctuated unpredictably between obsession with Serena and violence toward her.

One moment she’d cling like she couldn’t live without her, the next moment she’d suddenly slap her cheek, claiming her gaze was disrespectful.

‘Whether it’s because of the drugs, or she’s fluctuating between her abusive habits and the thirst from affection deficit, I don’t know.’

Naturally standing up to avoid her hand, Serena slipped into her embrace.

Olivia’s eyes trembled at the sudden warmth of another person.

“Mother, aren’t you very tired? I think it would be nice if we took a nap together.”

More than kind words, the warmth of another person had a powerful effect on someone unaccustomed to it.

Satisfied by the mere fact that someone was beside her, Olivia soon embraced her back.

“That would be good.”

Since the drug had already spread throughout her body, it didn’t take long for Olivia to fall asleep.

The maid attending Olivia had already left the room to give them private time, so there was no one there to monitor Serena.

Gently leaving Olivia’s side, Serena moved with muffled footsteps.