“Should I say I got caught? Or should I say I was taken advantage of?”

The man’s eyes narrowed lazily. He leaned back against the sofa and crossed his legs.

He appeared relaxed, as if his desperate plea while holding her hand was a lie.

“It seems like you don’t know why you’re like this.”

That’s right. She doesn’t know why she became terminally ill. She thought it might just be a line from an extra, but thinking about it, isn’t it too improbable?

Her death, not even amounting to a scrap in the narrative, didn’t carry as much weight as a villainess’ death. So she didn’t even know the cure.

Until Noel told her, she couldn’t even find an answer. The doctor couldn’t even reveal why she was sick.

“Hand.”

The man extended his large hand, demanding hers.

Diana looked at him suspiciously.

“I won’t do anything, so don’t worry. The descendant has his eyes lit up.”

In one hand, she still held the unsheathed dagger. If necessary, she was willing to stab Rodrick’s body.

Diana lightly placed her hand on top of the man’s. The man stood up from his seat and led her to stand in front of a full-length mirror.

“What.”

The man turned Diana to face away from the mirror and smiled pleasantly. The carefree smile seemed out of place on Rodrick’s face.

“Shall we take off some clothes?”

“Excuse me?”

What kind of nonsense is this again? Diana’s brows furrowed as she looked up at the man. At the same time, the man’s battered lips twitched.

“Calm down, descendant. I’m not saying I’ll touch you!”

The man once again talked to himself as if conversing with Rodrick. Rodrick’s fist aimed at his own face again before lowering.

“I’m saying I’ll show you directly.”

The man ran his fingers through his bangs and swept them back as if it was a headache. Even so, his dark blue eyes remained fixed on Diana.

“Now, cover the front and just show your back. Why, aren’t there many dress designs with exposed backs too? This level of exposure isn’t even exposure.”

Excuse me, ancestor. That style went out of fashion a long time ago, you know?

Diana sighed and pulled down her thin nightgown as he instructed.

As she pulled down the front straps for a moment, she placed the tip of the dagger at the man’s chin.

“If you try anything funny, I won’t let it slide. Understood, ancestor?”

Her slightly upturned eyes curved mischievously. The man burst into a hollow laugh at her innocent cat-like appearance.

Watching her hold the lowered front and stretch the fabric at her lower back, the man shook his head.

His descendant and Angela’s descendant were no pushovers. He quite liked that. They didn’t seem like they would be easily taken advantage of.

As she gathered her long, drooping purple-black hair to one side and let it fall forward, her snow-white lower back was visible in the mirror.

The elegant lines that stimulated the man’s heart drew curves. Even the contours of her shoulder blades were alluring enough to make him want to touch them.

‘Hmm, stay calm, descendant.’

The body was more honest than the soul.

In the room enveloped by the sound of rain, a man and a woman. At a distance where he could embrace her just by reaching out, the man had to control his heart.

If he wasn’t careful, Rodrick would take over the body.

“Well, shall we begin?”

The man quickly raised his hand to show it. Dark blue magic gathered in his bare hand, wearing no rings.

“It’s Angela’s curse.”

When she looked at him with amazement, the man kindly explained.

“Excessively accumulated magic is passed down through generations as madness.”

Why on earth? This ancestor seemed to have willingly accepted the curse, not out of compulsion.

“You seem puzzled. Hmm. Anything of Angela’s was fine with me? If it was hers, I could gladly accept even terrible pain. I thought it would be good to be together with her, even in this way.”

What resided in his dark blue eyes was a sticky obsession.

She wanted to ask. Then what sin did your descendants commit?

“What continues to accumulate in this body is Angela’s power.”

However, it seemed like the crazy ancestor wouldn’t listen to anything.

“Isn’t it quite lovely?”

But because of that curse, your descendants go mad and die? It would be fortunate if they just died.

The impact of Rodrick’s death was immense. The family itself is on a train to destruction due to Felice, who has gone mad with revenge.

The villainess’ terminally ill younger brother doesn’t even have much influence on her death.

When the villainess dies, the big brother who is the mastermind goes crazy. At this rate, our family will also be utterly ruined.

To save their lives, she also had to preserve the family. Sigh, life. Nothing is easy.

“It will hurt a bit. Endure it.”

Heuk! Diana, who had been lost in idle thoughts, swallowed a gasp at the sudden pain.

The man, who held Diana as if embracing her, placed his hand at a distance from her lower back in the air.

“S-stop…!”

Diana tightly gripped the man’s clothes with trembling hands. She closed her eyes tightly at the sharp pain that ran up her spine to the tips of her hair.

‘N-no. I don’t like it. It feels gross.’

‘This is a rite of passage that direct descendants of the Beatus family must go through.’

‘I want to leave. My brother said he’s waiting for me.’

‘Ha, you mean your brother? He has no interest in you at all. Don’t worry. This is something your sister also went through. You won’t die.’

Bound by clanking chains, she was small. Not yet an adult, she stood on a magic circle.

As someone’s strong grip forced her to stand in the center of the magic circle, a flash burst out, and everything went dark as if a film had been cut.

“Ugh.”

As the pain subsided, she slid down and sat on the floor.

The man knelt on one knee, following her.

“It’s severe.”

The man rubbed Diana’s forehead, drenched in cold sweat. His touch was gentle, but his eyes were piercingly cold.

“They concealed it tightly. Making it seem like you just fell ill without even knowing you became a sacrifice. They made it so you would think you were just sick.”

At his words, she raised her head. Tears of pain welled up in Diana’s eyes and fell pitifully with a plop.

The man pointed to the mirror with his chin. Diana’s gaze naturally turned to her back.

Diana’s eyes widened unbelievably.

On her smooth back, where there had been nothing, an unbelievable amount of whip marks and curse patterns were engraved.

[This is the timeline separator]

Felice’s face was dark as he scanned the wrecked room.

After looking at Irene, who was sitting in a daze, he ordered the head butler who followed behind.

“Clean up here. Change the water again.”

“Understood.”

“Is the annex cleaned up?”

“The guest rooms have been cleaned.”

Felice grabbed Irene’s wrist and moved to the annex. The two remained silent as they walked through the dark castle corridors.

“You will be grounded here for the time being.”

Felice practically threw Irene onto the bed. Irene, who had been spacing out, came to her senses and quickly grabbed Felice’s pants.

“B-brother. I’m sorry. I was rude.”

“You have already crossed the line.”

Yes, she had already crossed the line when she came to his room without permission. She even had the audacity to bring in the daughters of bat-like vassals using the duke’s family name. That could be forgiven. Yes, it could be forgiven. But she shouldn’t have touched Rodrick’s nerves.

“Now that brother knows, it won’t end well.”

“What did I do wrong?”

Irene, who had been pretending to be frail and trembling pitifully, raised her head again and spoke. Her eyes were full of venom.

A crooked smile appeared on Felice’s lips. The usual kind Felice was nowhere to be seen in that considerably wicked smile.

“Are you really asking because you don’t know? Did you think I wouldn’t know what rumors you spread among the servants?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

As Irene continued to speak, Felice’s face grew darker.

“Knight Commander Rodrick is practically an abandoned child, isn’t he? You are the real power in this family, brother. You will soon become the family head. What is a mere knight commander! Why is that woman taking his side!”

“Watch your mouth. If you don’t want to die a painful death.”

Felice’s eyes glowed fiercely.

“The real power? Don’t make me laugh. If it weren’t for brother, I wouldn’t have stepped up like this. This family is sustained because brother is here.”

Irene’s complexion changed at the ominous atmosphere. No. She couldn’t ruin the relationship like this. At times like this, she had to yield. She had to do whatever it took to survive. She had to appease him.

“B-brother. I misspoke!”

“Wait for your punishment.”

Felice pushed away Irene, who was grabbing the hem of his pants, and slammed the door shut as he left.

“Brother!”

Click. Click. Even when she tried to open the door, the locked door from the outside wouldn’t open. Even when she knocked on the door hard enough to make her fists bleed, no answer came.

“Why! Why did this happen!”

Irene irritably grasped the skirt of her dress. The expensive dress was pathetically crumpled in her hands, gripped tightly enough to reveal the bones.

The room only had basic furniture and felt desolate.

“Why do I have to be treated like this?!”

As Irene was about to grab and break the few furnishings to vent her frustration, her hand hesitated.

Tok- tok- The small sound that she thought was just the rain made her turn her head toward the window.

Squawk-

A bird disguised as a northern scout was tapping on the window with its beak. Irene, turning pale, hurriedly ran and opened the window.

The black bird circled the room once and landed on the empty table.

“What brings you here without notice?”

Irene’s voice was filled with tension.

[Stupid and stupid child.]

Irene knelt down and bowed her head toward the bird.

[The stone tablet I gave you has been broken.]

“That… that was unavoidable… It broke without me being able to do anything.”

[This is why I dislike simple-minded kids. Even when I give them power, they can’t use it properly. Is it because you’re dumb?]

“I apologize. If you give me something else, I can really take over this family. Please believe me.”

[You already seem to have failed. What were my orders?]

“Become the mistress of the Schwartz family.”

[Yes. You couldn’t even accomplish that simple task.]

“I succeeded in sending away the Schwartz lady, didn’t I?! I can do it. If you give me another chance!”

[What’s the fuss over that mere lady? You should have wrapped Felice Schwartz around your finger.]

Irene’s eyes darted around rapidly. The only thought was that she couldn’t be abandoned here.

“If I had put in a little more effort, he would have fallen for it! It’s true! If there were no interference, if that woman wasn’t there, I would have succeeded. Even the stone tablet broke because of that woman!”

[That woman?]

As the black bird showed interest, Irene nodded her head vigorously.

“Yes, the youngest lady of the Beatus family is here.”

Squawk- The black bird disguised as a crow cawed pleasantly.

[Haha. You’re saying the youngest of the Beatus family is there.]

“Yes! If you want, I can provide more information…”

[No.]

Irene’s face instantly stiffened at the resolute voice cutting her off.

[You can use other words. You are no longer needed.]

“T-then! What should I do from now on…!”

The black bird tilted its head, looking at Irene who was sobbing and desperately pleading without being able to finish her sentence.

[The world isn’t that simple. You should have used your head a bit more properly.]

The bird, rippling with magic power, flapped its wings and took off. It lightly pecked Irene’s forehead with its beak in response to her desperate gestures begging for her life.

And with the magic that swirled around, the curse marks surfaced. It erased all memories related to the stone tablet.

Memory manipulation happened that easily. Irene turned into an idiot due to the excessive magic power, but that was none of the black bird’s concern.

The black bird, looking down at the collapsed Irene, circled the room once more and flew far away through the rain, heading towards the capital, the center of the empire.