Chapter 75
The Dawson family’s ledger was not in the secret archive they had mentioned, but in the room that Grace had once used.
Though they had admitted their circumstances were not generous, two guards stood sentinel before Grace’s room. It was a clear declaration that at least this room would allow no intrusion from anyone.
“Open it.”
At the Duchess of Dawson’s command, the bolt locking the door was released. As the three entered the room, the door closed behind them from outside.
In the sealed room, the duchess began groping along the wall. It was around here somewhere…, she muttered, and at that moment, the wall behind the bed began to shift.
The door to the hidden chamber opened.
Yet the Duchess of Dawson, who had opened the door, gestured to Angela and Kalian to check it themselves, as if she had no desire to see it again.
Angela took the first step. Then Kalian swiftly moved ahead, positioning her behind him.
Inside the opened door, stairs led downward. As they cautiously descended, a wooden door soon appeared. And beyond it was Grace’s secret chamber.
The moment the door opened, a piercing stench assaulted their noses.
On the way to Grace’s room, they had heard that it had been sealed off untouched because no one could bear to speak of it to others, and alone, it was too daunting to clean. But they hadn’t expected it to be preserved to this extent.
It was as if the incident had occurred just yesterday. The beast’s flesh was still rotting, and the scattered bloodstains still retained their reddish hue.
“It doesn’t seem like an ordinary beast was slaughtered here.”
Kalian murmured, blocking Angela’s view with his body.
He was right. From books, she had read that creatures like the Red Wolf and Alcyone they had encountered before took at least thirty years for their flesh to fully decompose. Grace had clearly butchered such monsters here. That must be why the scene remained as fresh as if it had happened yesterday.
With a deep breath, Angela nodded to Kalian to signal she was fine, then began surveying the room.
Then she spotted a book tossed haphazardly on the floor. As Angela reached to pick it up, Kalian blocked her with his arm and took it himself. His face showed clear reluctance to let her touch something ominous in such an ominous place.
Afterward, when Angela and Kalian emerged from the secret chamber and returned to the room, the Duchess of Dawson wore an expression of profound relief. Her demeanor suggested she had feared something terrible might happen inside.
As the two prepared to leave with the family’s ledger, she asked them.
“Is… Grace, that child, truly alive?”
“Yes, she is alive.”
The answer came from Kalian’s lips. Though he had only heard the story through Angela, Kalian affirmed it more resolutely than anyone. It was unconditional trust.
“I see. I hope… it resolves well.”
Nodding, the Duchess of Dawson added a word to Angela before turning away without watching them leave. Her shoulders sagged with exhaustion.
* * *
Immediately upon returning to the Florence estate, Angela immersed herself in the Dawson family’s ledger, her brows deeply furrowed. Though she was known to read books quite quickly, the pages turned at a pace that was not fast at all. In fact, it seemed rather slow.
Wondering if she was reading with extra caution, Kalian watched quietly until her face twisted completely, at which point he could no longer hold back and spoke.
“Are you alright?”
At his voice, Angela lifted her eyes abruptly, as if only then realizing someone else was there. Confirming it was Kalian, she nodded with apparent relief.
“Yeah. It’s just… a bit ridiculous.”
Not understanding what she meant, Kalian simply gazed at her steadily, prompting her to offer a faint smile. It was a weary one.
In the next moment, Angela fixed her eyes on a particular section of the book and moved her lips.
“Teeth from three rabbits, eyeballs from five deer, heads from ten crows. What can you do with these?”
Her gaze returned to Kalian. Not knowing, he shook his head. Then Angela provided the answer.
“You can make someone’s ears go deaf.”
Angela closed the book she was holding. Seeming to want a rest, she placed it on the table and curled up on the sofa.
Approaching her, Kalian gently lifted Angela’s head and positioned it to pillow on his thigh. Angela rubbed her cheek against his thigh and murmured.
“I don’t understand why someone would go to such lengths to deafen a person’s ears.”
“Don’t try to understand that woman’s thoughts.”
Kalian said, softly stroking Angela’s hair.
“That woman and Angela are different.”
How did he always know exactly what she wanted to hear? Angela tugged sharply at Kalian’s collar and pressed her lips to his.
* * *
After confirming Kalian was asleep, Angela left their bedroom. She walked down the corridor shrouded in night, clutching the book filled with curses.
Entering an empty room, Angela opened the book she had left unfinished. Unlike before Kalian earlier, the pages turned rapidly now.
‘That woman and Angela are different.’
It was because she had heard the words she longed to hear. Reading this book wouldn’t make her become like that woman.
Even after tormenting Yvonne and Beatrice for long years under the name of revenge, wielding a whip as if it were part of her hand, and cursing herself for failing to love even her own self, in the end, she had bloomed like a flower, and now she lived blended seamlessly among people.
So, even if she had been born from that woman Grace’s womb, even if she looked exactly like her, even if she had instilled fear in people just like her… even so, they could never be the same being.
Snap!
Angela closed the book after reading to the final page. There was no lie in Grace’s words. Having slaughtered a thousand beasts, she had become a curse incarnate. No need to call it something grand like a demon. She was simply an impurity in this world.
Angela now felt she knew what she could do. Having stolen Grace’s power, she should be able to perform everything written in this book. Though she wasn’t sure how far the power, now halved after being partially taken, could go.
Angela closed her eyes tightly. She pictured the place she wanted to go. The first one that came to mind.
It felt like surging water pushing at her back. Letting herself flow with it, it was as if a pitch-black velvet curtain parted, revealing the stage within.
In the next instant.
“Mary!”
Mary appeared before her, crouched down. So astonished, Angela let out a shout uncharacteristic of her. Mary glanced at her briefly.
But that was all. Mary turned away from Angela and buried her head between her knees. Faint sobbing sounds reached her.
Angela knew from experience. Even if this was within a dream, it wasn’t a space completely isolated from reality.
Angela approached Mary and knelt down beside her, crouching low.
“Mary?”
Her voice laced with concern, but Mary shifted her huddled knees aside, turning away from Angela.
“Why would my maid, who dotes on me endlessly, act like this?”
Only then did Mary’s eyes turn toward Angela.
“I hate you, Miss!”
Mary cried out sharply.
Angela’s pupils trembled in shock. The maid who sang praises of her affection every day—could it be that deep down, she harbored resentment toward her?
Stunned into silence, Angela watched as Mary sniffled and swallowed her tears, mumbling under her breath.
“You said if I waited quietly, someone would come fetch me… I heard you arrived at the Florence estate… But you didn’t come for me… I, I…”
Gazing at the sobbing Mary, Angela suddenly snapped back to the real world.
“……”
Still clutching the book to her chest, Angela sat there in a daze before leaping to her feet. She had completely forgotten.
Bursting out of the room, Angela strode forward purposefully, only for Kalian to come running from the other end of the hall.
“Angela, what in the…!”
The stern edge in his voice suggested he had woken to find her gone and panicked. But that wasn’t what mattered now—Angela cut him off.
“This is bad.”
Lately, it seemed disasters struck one after another, so Kalian’s face hardened instantly. Meeting his grave expression, Angela declared boldly.
“I forgot Mary back at the Bilton estate.”
Kalian’s features twisted into sheer bewilderment. As Angela moved to hurry off and retrieve her, he caught her arm.
“It’s too late at night. We’ll go fetch her at first light tomorrow.”
“But the poor thing’s probably crying her eyes out right now!”
Even so, Kalian refused to release her. If anything, his grip tightened. Angela looked up at him and froze.
“How did you know? That Mary was crying her eyes out?”
* * *
Kalian’s expression was the worst she’d ever seen. He sat before her, downing shots of liquor in furious gulps. Unaccustomed to this side of him, Angela felt an inexplicable guilt creeping in, hunching her shoulders and tucking in her neck. But what had she done wrong?
“Angela.”
“Y-Yes?”
Lost in that thought, she stammered awkwardly when he suddenly called her name. Kalian met her gaze head-on. His pitch-black eyes made the surrounding darkness seem like nothing at all, deeper than the night itself.
Kalian opened his mouth to speak, then paused to let out a heavy sigh. Watching the breath mingle with the scent of alcohol, Angela hunched her shoulders another inch.
“There’s a world of difference between using something out of necessity and wielding it deliberately.”
Who didn’t know that? Angela wanted to argue, but the atmosphere was too tense; she simply listened quietly as he continued.
“It’s an unknown power. Even Grace didn’t anticipate Angela taking it from her, and only now has she figured out how to reclaim it. How can you use it so recklessly when you have no idea what effects it might have on your body going forward?”
Only then did Angela grasp the root of his worry, and she hurriedly explained her own reasoning.
“We don’t know when Grace might come for the other half. I can’t just sit there and let her take it again. That’s why I tested it once—just to see.”
At that, Kalian’s face sharpened even more.
“What kind of test is slipping into Mary’s dream? What if something went wrong and you ended up pulled into Grace’s dream instead? What then?”
“No! I was certain. It felt like it would work. I swear.”
Don’t worry, she had meant to say, but Angela swallowed the words. It would offer no comfort—eight parts of his worry were for her sake—and it would only stoke his anger further.
“It’s frightening enough that danger might come to you, but don’t throw yourself into it and terrify me like this.”
For a fleeting moment, Kalian sounded like a petulant child. Hearing the sulky tone, Angela realized his anger was ebbing and nodded vigorously.
Watching her innocent bobbing, Kalian spoke again.
“You said Grace is in the Kingdom of Taran, right?”
“Probably.”
After a brief flicker of hesitation, Kalian met Angela’s eyes with clear resolve.
“The group that tried to abduct you last time—they were acting on orders from Rasil, the first prince of the Kingdom of Taran.”
Angela pieced it together the instant she heard it. Sensing as much, Kalian pressed on.
“You were curious about Tristan’s identity. He’s an envoy from the Kingdom of Taran. Once Prince Rasil got wind that someone planned to kidnap you, he came to Phaelon to verify the truth himself. If that plot succeeded, it would be clear grounds for war.”
Angela methodically stacked the incoming information in her mind, organizing it. She gave a short nod to signal she was ready for more.
“As you might have guessed, Grace is with Rasil right now. He’s scheming to use her power to wage war on Phaelon. Rasil has always…”
“He hasn’t taken kindly to the marriage alliance. He made it painfully obvious during the wedding.”
Angela recalled Prince Rasil’s scowling face, furrowed in disdain throughout the entire national wedding ceremony, and Kalian replied, “Exactly.”
“Then…”
“So…”
Their words tumbled out in unison. Angela yielded the floor to him. Guessing what she had been about to say, Kalian continued without hesitation.
“I’m planning to go to the Kingdom of Taran. The kingdom wants to depose the crown prince who’s become a spark for war. As an allied nation, we can’t ignore their dangerous elements, so under the pretext of offering aid, I’ll deal with Grace and return.”
The moment Kalian’s words ended, Angela’s face contorted in dismay beyond words.
