Chapter 12: Chapter 12

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Chapter 12

As if he didn’t understand Azela’s words, his face was wrinkled with an expression asking what she was saying. Then, as lightly as when he first came, he walked towards the open window with light steps as though walking in the air.

Sitting on the window sill, he crossed his long legs and tilted his head to one side.

“I won’t leave things like that… a sign that you made a contract with the devil.”

“What?”

“If I leave it like that and other humans will notice, they will be suspicious. Of course, there is nothing good for us either, so why would we do such a thing?”

“But, in the book…”

“That is old. We don’t do anything that hurts us. Oh, dear.”

Saying so, he clicked his tongue and sat down with his legs out of the window sill. Azela’s shoulder trembled without realizing it because it was like he was about to fall out of the window at any moment.

If he fell from this height, wouldn’t it hurt him no matter how much he was the ‘devil’? Would he die? That thought came to her first.

“People read too much… Oh, but it turns out that it was not without a sign at all.”

“What?”

It was impossible to not leave a sign.

At his words, Azela lifted the blanket and hurriedly glanced around her body. Though no matter where she looked at it, nothing seemed to have changed. There was no stigma, nothing to call a wound.

Seeing her checking all over her body like that, the man smiled and smiled innocently like a child.

“Where, where is it…?”

As Azela frowned at the invisible mark no matter how much she examined, he smiled as he pointed his finger at her body.

“Can’t you see the red mark engraved on that body?”

…Red mark? He lightly tapped his lips with his index fingers. At his words, she looked down at herself again. Her white skin, which did not have a small wound, was strongly engraved with red petals left by him.

“The red mark engraved on my body…”

Azela chewed on the words, raised her hand and unconsciously touched her still moist lips.

Her face turned red in an instant. She had never held any other man’s hand except for Daniel’s. It was quite a shock to Azela that she had kissed and even spent the night with another man she didn’t even know before.

She thought that if she held hands with another man other than Daniel, she would be in trouble, and if she ever kissed another, she feared that the world would fall apart.

Now, she did something even bigger than that, but nothing happened. No one pointed fingers at her, no one scolded her, and the world didn’t fall apart.

There was nothing at all.

“And, my name? You will find out about it tomorrow, so don’t worry.”

“…Tomorrow?”

She would find out tomorrow? What did that mean?

He left only nonsensical words from beginning to end. Even though she asked the questions, he didn’t seem willing to answer. Taking the pocket watch out of his arms and checking the time, he stared at Azela with an indifferent expression.

“It’s time to go. It was a pretty useful meeting, and I enjoyed it. I hope you will continue to help me in the future.”

He waved his hand and gave a brief greeting, then threw himself out the window. It happened so quickly that there was no time for her to stop it.

Startled, Azela hurriedly covered her mouth with both her hands, unable to scream.

If he fell from this height like that, it would mean instant death Forgetting that she was naked, she hurriedly ran towards the window. Her legs faltered for a moment at the stinging feeling beneath her, but then she held out her head and looked down.

However, the man’s body was nowhere to be seen.

Azela, who was glancing down, lifted her head with a surprised expression and looked at the sky. The black sky, where neither the moon nor the stars could be seen, was shining brightly with the moonlight and starlight like before.

“…Am I dreaming or, as Sylvia puts it, am I really crazy?”

Azela murmured a little and pinched her cheek hard before turning her head to look at the messy bedside meal, the blackened silver spoon, and her own dress scattered messily on the floor. With a bewildered expression on her face, she ran to the mirror and looked up to see that her lips were still wet and glistening.

All the traces on her were screaming that it was not a dream.

The next day, everyone in Todd mansion had been up and about for a long time since morning. The maids and servants ran around without being able to keep their bodies still, and the chef was also busy preparing the ingredients.

It was because guests came without an appointment. It was the same with Azela.

“Should, should, we do it like this, madam?”

“…Yes, let’s just do it this way. We won’t have time to make further changes.”

No matter how much Daniel loved and cared for Sylvia and had real power within the mansion, the official Madam of County Todd was Azela, so it was up to her to welcome the guests.

To Azela, who had been lying in bed all day, exhausted from last night’s events, Daniel left a message to her, saying, ‘We have guests coming without an appointment, so get ready.’

Eventually, she stood up, grabbed her sore back, and had to busily start dressing herself up. After all, she couldn’t go out in front of guests with a dry and twisted face.

‘I am still the Madam of this mansion.’

Azela gazed at her reflection in the mirror and pressed her closed lips together.

It didn’t matter whether what happened last night was a reality or a dream that contained her desires. She had decided to take revenge on them, and she would not act as they wished anymore.

Her heart was racing even though she had only made a decision in her heart. She had never in her life thought of harming anything, so even this small decision made her so nervous that sweat dripped down her palms.

After she had all dressed up, she left the bedroom and saw Sylvia standing at the end of the hallway, in front of the steps, with her arms crossed and an angry expression. She glanced Azela up and down with a victorious smile on her face.

“It’s as gorgeous as I’ve seen you before. I think you have decided to try to suit Daniel’s taste.”

“….”

The tone was clearly picking a fight by anyone’s standard, though Azela lightly ignored it. Because now, they meant nothing to her, neither Sylvia nor Daniel. Azela, as usual, hurriedly tried to pass her silently.

Sylvia, with a grim expression and eyebrows furrowed, blocked her way.

“Didn’t you want to die?”

“….”

“I was trying to do that because you were making a face that you wanted to die… Why didn’t you die?”

Sylvia asked with an innocent expression on her face.

As expected, it was clear that last night’s poison was Sylvia’s. Nevertheless, it didn’t change anything just because she knew because if she told Daniel, he wouldn’t believe it, anyway.

All this was just troublesome, and Azela, with a light sigh, passed Sylvia then went down the steps. Then, she suddenly stopped and turned her head to see Sylvia standing on the steps.

Sylvia, a mere mistress, would not come down from the third floor of the mansion on the day guests came. Mistresses were like that. Even though everyone knew about them, they could not be revealed. That was how it is.

“Yes, I was going to die.”

“Then, why are you here now?”

“I can’t help it. Because I want Irene to be happy in her next life so I was forced to live.”

Sylvia looked at her as if she couldn’t understand her words. She seemed to want an explanation. But, Azela thought she wouldn’t believe her if she gave an explanation, and regardless, she didn’t even want to give a lengthy explanation.

‘Did he feel like this yesterday?’

She remembered the man with a troubled expression every time she wanted an explanation last night, and a faint smile was drawn on her lips.

Azela, who shrugged her shoulders, spoke with a more relaxed expression.

“Sylvia, don’t make such a face. You still can’t come down the stairs, since I am Countess Todd and you are the mistress.”

“….!”

“Though you don’t have to worry. I don’t have any feelings or regrets for Daniel anymore. You can have him. I will give him to you.”

At her words, which seemed to be giving generosity, Sylvia bit her lower lip hard with a look of resentment. Her face burned red with anger, but she couldn’t do anything.

Staring up at Sylvia for a long time, she then walked down the stairs with an elegant and leisurely pace and headed for the parlor on the first floor.

“Who is the visitor?”

“It is Duke Ferial.”

Azela furrowed her eyebrows at the maid’s answer.

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