With the academy tuition and living expenses received, one could become a better person after graduating from the academy.

Perhaps even find employment in a government agency.

Theodore held onto a small hope. By then, he might be able to stand proudly before Leira…

“You’re just as shameless and clueless as your sister.”

It was a cold rebuke. Theodore’s eyes widened. Duke Andres looked like a monster with blue blood.

“Uh, I… The contract…”

Duke Andres smiled coldly.

“Who would believe the words of someone like you? Where is this contract? I never promised you anything! Bring your sister, and I’ll listen to what you have to say!”

Theodore trembled. Leira had been right.

These nobles were all monsters without shame or credibility.

Before Theodore could run away, he was pinned to the floor like a frog.

“In fact, your sister owes me millions of gold.”

Duke Andres said coldly.

“I’ll let you go when all that money is paid back!”

Duke Andres’s lips were filled with ecstasy. He thought it was a fitting price for the humiliation he suffered from Leira.

How dare these lowly beings, who could be crushed with a single finger, threaten Duke Andres.

Since Leira was already dead, shouldn’t her brother at least pay the price?

Duke Andres’s eyes flashed.

“Take this brat to the northern mines! If you lose him, you’re all dead men!”

“Yes, Your Grace!”

Theodore’s face turned pale. The northern mines were a labor camp where even healthy people came out dead.

The northern mines were on an island in the center of the northern sea.

To get out of there, one needed permission from either the Andres family in the northwest or the Vincent family in the northeast, who divided the north.

“No, please! Duke, I was wrong! Please forgive me just this once…!”

The face of the child, who seemed to have just turned 13, turned white. Seeing this, Duke Andres coldly glared.

It was their fault for being too greedy from the start. The face of the girl who had shown such petty greed flashed in his mind.

“Take him away quickly! These have-nots are always so greedy! This is the price of excessive greed!”

Theodore burst into tears. As he was dragged away, struggling, Leira’s voice flashed through his mind.

‘Blue blood flows in their bodies. They’re real bastards. Don’t worry, Theodore. Your sister will protect you!’

Sister, Leira… Where are you, what should I do?

‘Don’t trust people, Theodore.’

Those words Leira had muttered now felt real. The world without Leira was too cold and frightening for Theodore.

A blood-red sunset draped over Theodore’s head. Like someone’s tears of blood.

*

Death was not the end.

[You bad bastard! You promised!]

Leira couldn’t leave and remained. No one could see Leira or hear her voice.

Leira’s lingering attachment was only for Theodore, so she was following him around.

And Leira witnessed everything Duke Andres did to Theodore.

Even if he wouldn’t take care of Theodore, he should at least have not harmed him!

Duke Andres was an even worse bastard than Leira had calculated.

[Give me back my brother! What wrong did Theodore do to be sent to the mines! Let him go!]

No matter how much Leira swung her fists and kicked, nothing affected Duke Andres.

Duke Andres had broken his promise to take good care of Theodore.

“This is taking good care of him. Doesn’t he get meals and a place to sleep there? Isn’t that right, Watt?”

Duke Andres smirked.

“That’s right, Your Grace. The heavens will be moved by Your Grace’s kindness.”

Duke Andres nodded.

Leira screamed and cried. She knew the world was unfair.

When her father’s business failed and she had to quit the academy she was attending well, when her parents who were struggling to survive died simultaneously in a carriage accident, and when she was suffocating from the snowballing debt.

But now was the most unfair.

And she felt sorry. If it weren’t for Leira, Theodore wouldn’t have gone to Duke Andres.

If it weren’t for Leira who had insisted that he should attend the academy when they got money, he wouldn’t have made such a request.

No, they shouldn’t have joined hands with trash like Duke Andres in the first place! She should have told Theodore to run far away! To leave for a place where no one knew them!

“Tsk. I spent too much money because of that wench.”

Duke Andres sighed and put a cigar in his mouth. There wasn’t a trace of guilt on his face as he grumbled irritably.

“Well done, Your Grace. What shall we do with Troy?”

“That bastard doesn’t know his place either!”

Duke Andres exclaimed.

Troy?

Leira’s pupils shook. He was Leira’s loan shark. Her chest felt like it was burning up.

If that trash Troy hadn’t threatened to sell Leira to the red-light district, she might not have taken Duke Andres’s hand.

With cliffs in front and behind, there was only one choice…

No way.

No matter what, if Duke Andres was human, he couldn’t have done that.

“Tsk. But he did play his role well. Thanks to him, I got to use that wench comfortably. So…”

Duke Andres narrowed his eyes, chewing on his cigar. Leira let out a scream. It felt like her very soul was being torn to shreds.

“He might still be useful in the future. Give him some money and send him back.”

“Yes, Your Grace!”

If only she could, she wanted to kill Duke Andres. Even if it meant betting everything in the world!

[I, I will definitely kill you! Somehow! Aaaargh!]

It felt like she could even sell her soul to the devil if it meant being able to kill him! Deep despair pulled at Leira’s ankles.

That’s when it happened.

[I’ll save you.]

Leira turned her head, gasping for breath. It was a voice she had never heard before. A blurry figure appeared before Leira.

[Who, who are you…]

Leira mumbled in a terribly cracked voice. The blurry soul slowly smiled.

The soul gradually took form. It was a rather pretty woman.

[I’ll give you my body.]

Leira took a deep breath.

[What do you want from me?]

Leira asked in a voice that sounded like a hissing snake. Tears fell silently.

Her betrayed and thoroughly used heart could no longer believe anything.

[How can you save me! Are you a god or something?] [It’s nothing that grand, but…]

The woman with long straight hair and cosmos-like silver eyes held a faint smile.

[Unlike you, I do have a living body.] [But why…]

The woman blinked. Her eyes were empty, as if devoid of any motivation.

[I’ve already lost everything. I have nothing to protect, nothing to own. I only want one thing.]

The woman’s smile smelled of death.

[Send my stepmother and half-sister to hell. Make it so they can neither die peacefully nor live comfortably. Make it happen.]

Leira held her breath. It was a murderous intent no less than Leira’s own.

[… Why don’t you do it yourself?] [I know you, Leira. You were always at the top of your class at the academy, surpassing the descendants of prestigious families? You’re smarter than me and know more. I couldn’t even step foot in the academy because of my stepmother. Besides, you have someone to protect, but I… I’m already dead. I want to die, but I couldn’t. Even if I lived, it would be hell. I’ll die in your place, so you live in my place.]

Her words were already full of resignation. The woman seemed to have no energy at all. Leira swallowed.

Even at that moment, tears were endlessly flowing. Her mind was in turmoil.

A living body that Leira could use.

[… Can I really come back to life?]

The woman nodded.

[I just need to die in your place. It’s equivalent exchange.]

Was there any need to hesitate further? Leira gritted her teeth.

There was nowhere else to retreat. She was already dead, there was no further end she could go to.

Now that someone had appeared offering to die in Leira’s place. Leira muttered coldly.

[I’ll do it. Your revenge, and my revenge.]

Leira’s eyes met the woman’s. The woman was faintly smiling. As if relieved. The woman really wanted to die.

The woman reached out towards Leira. Feeling a white light envelop her, Leira closed her eyes.

I said I’d kill you even if I had to sell my soul to the devil. Leira had sold her soul for that purpose. Without the slightest hesitation!