Interest Compounds on Revenge (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 6

Lea was in a foul mood. She had thought only her life had plummeted into ruin, yet everyone around her was suffering their own big or small pains.

Just then, the door opened and Pauline bustled in.

Thud!

Pauline plopped yesterday’s newspaper onto the table and grumbled.

“Young lady, you’re definitely not fully recovered yet. Suddenly getting obsessed with newspapers like this?”

“Did you bring the glue?”

“Yes, I did. Are you going to cut and paste newspaper clippings again?”

Lately, Pauline found watching Grace immensely entertaining—she’d become a completely different person since catching the flu.

The old Grace, upon waking, would always say either “Mirror” or “Where’s Terren?” first. But now, she didn’t even ask about the duke.

Last time, she’d demanded a whole week’s worth of newspapers; ever since, whenever the duke finished reading one, Grace would have Pauline fetch it so she could cut out articles and paste them.

“It’s a new hobby.”

Lea cut out only the articles about Allen and the Hamilton Trading Company and pasted them into an empty notebook. She was already on her second volume.

“What a boring hobby.”

Though Pauline complained beside her, she still neatly applied glue to the clipped newspapers.

“But the man in the paper—I actually saw him in person, and he was incredibly handsome!”

“You saw this man, Pauline?”

“Yes, I saw him entering the church on the day of the funeral.”

Pauline grinned, her eyes fixed on Allen’s picture in the newspaper.

“I see.”

‘Handsome, indeed. And I was the foolish one who fell for that face.’

She’d been utterly oblivious to the ugly greed hidden behind that picture-perfect mask, helplessly falling for him.

As she collected newspaper clippings, people connected to Allen began appearing one by one.

‘I won’t rush.’

Revenge required thorough preparation and information. Just as Allen had framed the Hamilton Trading Company, she too would wait patiently and act with utmost caution.

‘But I need to get closer to the duke…’

Her most urgent task was retrieving the necklace from Terren. To do that, maintaining a good relationship with him would be advantageous.

‘Why did he get engaged to Grace yet still delay marriage? Could it really be for the reason I overheard back then?’

Terren had once snapped at Grace, telling her harshly to stop whining and throwing tantrums.

In Lea’s intuition, he either had no interest in marriage at all or simply wasn’t emotionally ready.

Therefore, she shouldn’t pressure Terren into marriage like Grace had done. In truth, she had absolutely no intention of marrying him herself.

‘Faith, hope, love… marriage. Throw it all to the dogs.’

Just then, a knock came at the door, and Luke peeked his head in.

“The duke has arrived.”

Why had he come suddenly without warning or any apparent business? For a moment, Lea’s mind grew tangled.

“My goodness! The duke is coming all the way to your room, Miss!”

Pauline, clearly startled, scrambled about in a fluster.

Lea and Pauline hastily began tidying the messy room cluttered with scraps of newspaper.

Lea closed her notebook and shoved it to the side of her dressing table.

With no time for a proper cleanup, she hastily kicked the scattered clippings aside with her feet before greeting Terren.

“How are you feeling, Grace?”

Despite her efforts, Terren instantly grasped the situation the moment he stepped into Grace’s room.

The cut-out newspaper scraps, the smell of glue, and the thick notebook sitting far off on the dressing table.

“I’ve recovered completely.”

Yet Terren bent his tall frame to pick up a fallen newspaper clipping from the floor. The cut-out article was about someone.

‘Allen MacDowell? Is she collecting articles about that man?’

Of course, it was merely a guess. Until he saw that notebook on the dressing table with his own eyes, he wouldn’t jump to conclusions.

“A new hobby?”

“Yes…? I just thought I’d study how the world works a bit.”

“Really? That’s quite a constructive hobby.”

He gave his usual restrained smile and didn’t prolong the conversation.

His gleaming black eyes turned toward Grace.

Her bare face, neat attire—and especially the ink stains on her hands, likely from cutting newspapers.

Most of all, despite his presence, she maintained an appropriate distance, spoke carefully, and no longer made unreasonable demands like before.

[Terren, let’s go on a date with Grace. Let’s visit an amusement park, go boating, and admire pretty flowers, okay?]

“Do you remember what day tomorrow is?”

Terren asked Grace.

‘What day? Is it Grace’s birthday? What is it?’

Seeing Lea’s eyes darting restlessly, Terren’s brow furrowed slightly, his eyes narrowing.

It was as if he were thinking, ‘Of all things to forget, you don’t remember that important promise?’

“Tomorrow’s the day we go to Bern to meet your older brother, Miss!”

Quick-witted Pauline answered for her.

“Oh! Right, Pauline. Look at my absentmindedness.”

At Lea’s reply, Terren tilted his head slightly, a puzzled expression crossing his face.

Because, of all things, Grace had never forgotten about meeting Aiden.

“As always, only Grace and I will go. Make sure you’re well prepared.”

Terren gave instructions to Pauline and immediately turned to leave.

‘Why isn’t she stopping me?’

Normally, the moment he turned to leave, Grace would dash over and cling tightly to his waist.

Terren paused just past the doorway and turned his head to look back at Grace.

“Is there something else you’d like to say?”

Instead, she asked him first. Terren, seeing Grace’s unusually polite demeanor, fixed his gaze on the notebook she was trying so hard to hide.

‘What is it about this that makes me so curious?’

Terren shook his head as if it were nothing and left the room.

Every time he encountered this changed version of her, he felt as though a small sandstorm had stirred within the endlessly dry desert of his life.

[This is the timeline separator]

Early in the morning, Lea set off for Bern with Terren. It was a three-hour carriage ride.

Pauline packed several bottles of whiskey, saying it was Baron Aiden’s favorite drink.

Silence filled the carriage. They only occasionally exchanged words about the scenery outside the window. About an hour into the journey—

“It’s raining.”

Lea wiped the heavy rainwater from her hand, which she’d extended out the window.

“This could be troublesome if it gets heavier.”

Terren, also concerned about the rain, kept glancing out the window.

Just then, the carriage stopped, and the coachman ran over.

“Your Grace, it’s pouring heavily in Basel. Taking this route seems impossible. With your permission, I’ll take a different path.”

The coachman reported that an oncoming carriage had informed them of the situation.

Heavy rain had turned Basel’s roads into mud, and if they proceeded, the carriage wheels might sink deep into the mire, leaving them stranded with no way forward or back.

“Do as you say.”

“Understood.”

The coachman turned the horses around and drove the carriage down a remote path through the woods.

Though it was raining there too, it wasn’t a downpour, so the carriage could still move without difficulty.

“The meadow is beautiful. I can even see a shepherd’s hut over there.”

Lea found herself speaking sentimentally without realizing it. But Terren gave no reply.

Instead, he kept observing Grace intently.

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

Lea always felt tense under Terren’s piercing gaze, as if he could see straight through everything.

Whenever she met his eyes, she felt that any pretense or hypocrisy was utterly futile.

“You seem very different, Grace.”

“There’s a saying that humans are social creatures. Depending on their circumstances and experiences, anyone can change.”

‘Hah! To think I’d hear such words from Grace. Did the flu swap her soul?’

Terren couldn’t help but imagine something absurd.

Yet her words were correct. He himself hadn’t always been this worn-down and pessimistic.

He’d changed after enduring his family’s trials from a young age and fighting through brutal wars.

Just then, the smoothly running carriage began to jolt violently, and loud noises erupted from outside.

“Your Grace! Bandits have appeared!”

The coachman cried out urgently. By taking the deserted forest path, they’d apparently caught the bandits’ attention.

Bang bang! Gunshots rang out outside, and bullets struck the carriage.

“The coachman!”

Lea saw one of the coachmen hit by a bullet and fall from the carriage.

Terren quickly stood and pulled the armrest of his seat. The seat’s lid lifted, revealing a large hidden compartment.

‘So it wasn’t a seat—it was a box?’

Terren, his expression grim, spoke to Lea.

“Get in, Grace.”

“What? Just… me?”

When she stared at him in confusion, Terren pushed Grace into the long box.

“Don’t come out until I open the lid.”

Before she could even reply, Terren firmly shut the seat lid.

He immediately opened the opposite seat, pulled out a musket, and took aim.

Bang bang! As the bandits galloped closer, firing relentlessly, the horses detached from the carriage.

With swift movements, Terren reloaded and fired toward the bandits, skillfully covering both front and rear.

Fortunately, the road wasn’t steep, so the carriage was gradually slowing down.

If they tumbled off a cliff now, the carriage would shatter long before the bandits’ bullets could kill them.

Thus, he needed to eliminate the bandits quickly before the carriage came to a complete stop and they got surrounded.

He sensed the vibrations of bullets slicing through the air with his whole body, dodged them, and gauged the bandits’ positions through the window.

With exceptional reflexes, he raised his gun and precisely picked off his targets.

As gunfire echoed through the forest and the situation grew dire, his body moved instinctively.

“Aaah!”

Finally, the bandits began falling one by one from gunshot wounds. But their numbers were still considerable.

Fortunately, he had ample ammunition—he always kept a musket and bullets in the carriage out of military habit.

Again, the bandits fired at the carriage, and this time the wheels collapsed. The remaining coachman had long since fled into the woods.

Continuous gunfire tore holes in the carriage, nearly blowing off the roof.

“It’s been a while since I’ve stretched my limbs.”

Terren burst through the roof, spinning 360 degrees as he fired rapidly.

His marksmanship, honed in war, was near-supernatural—he could sense enemies without even seeing them. Thanks to this, the bandits were annihilated within minutes.

In an instant, Terren sensed movement behind him and immediately turned to fire.

Bang bang! Two shots rang out, followed by screams. Terren’s bullets pierced a bandit’s head, but the bandit’s bullet also pierced Terren’s shoulder.

“Ugh…!”

Terren sank onto the carriage floor.

“Duke Courtois!”

Lea, who had been silently listening to the chaos from inside the seat, rushed out at the sound of Terren’s groan. She quickly saw him with a gunshot wound in his shoulder.

“I’ll help you up.”

Lea grabbed only the essentials and pulled Terren out of the carriage.

“More bandits might come. We need to run before they do.”

This forest was likely the bandits’ base. Lea headed toward the meadow they’d passed earlier.

“Hah…!”

Terren staggered, his legs unsteady from severe bleeding in his shoulder.