"Hmm. Mmm..."

The warm, pleasant sunlight shining down on my face.
Is it already morning?
I slept so well for the first time in a while.
No nightmares, just peaceful rest.

Wait a minute.

"Ah!?"

The moment that thought crossed my mind,
Irene's eyes widened, and she quickly sprang up from the bed.

A room with plenty of sunlight.
A fluffy bed.
A cozy room temperature.
Where exactly am I!?

Irene, startled, rushed to the window.
When she looked outside, her expression changed to one of confusion.
This is... the Vermont mansion...?

‘Was there such a cozy room in the Vermont mansion?’

It was strange.
The Vermont mansion I remembered was dark and gloomy, a place I didn’t want to stay in for even a moment.
Had there really been such a comfortable room here?

[...!!]
"Laura."

Only then did Irene notice Laura’s familiar floating avatar, happily hopping around on the table.
Irene gently placed Laura on her palm.
Apparently, while she was unconscious, she had been dragged all the way to the Vermont mansion.

"Damn it..."

Irene felt a sharp headache coming on and rubbed her temples.
The plan had gone awry and backfired terribly.
From start to finish, it seemed like she had been completely manipulated by Aslan, and she didn’t even feel regret.

How did it come to this?
It seems there’s no explanation except that the plan leaked out somehow...

[...!]
"Emilia managed to escape? It was her, wasn’t it? She’s in cahoots with Aslan!"
[...!!!]
"We don’t need to defend Emilia. She was obviously infatuated with Aslan, what else?"

Teeth gritted.
Something had felt off from the beginning.

She couldn’t use weapons because of the magic barrier, yet strangely, Aslan had prepared a bizarre magical sword she could absorb into her body.
She barely managed to get Sylvia off with a Stone Golem, only for an incredibly powerful girl to emerge from the shadows.
When that girl grabbed Irene’s wrist, she was absolutely terrified.
Despite resisting with all her might, she couldn’t move an inch, and the cuffs were locked on...

Moreover, the cuffs weren’t just any ordinary cuffs—they were magical tools connecting her to Aslan.
Because of that, she was dragged through the shadow world and forced to relive a year’s worth of nightmares in just ten minutes.
Because of this, she ended up showing the most disgraceful scene imaginable...

"Ugh... I want to die."

[...!!]

Now, there was no reason to live, right?
Irene felt a wave of humiliation and despair wash over her as she squatted on the bed.

If it were just shame, it would have been bearable.
But it wasn’t just that.
She had used kidnapping and threats, combined with a golem and a cursed spirit, to attack Aslan.

Even just one of these would have been considered a major crime, but she had thrown everything into the mix, and the result was total defeat.
Now Aslan wasn’t in a position to fear the discovery of his dark magic research plans.
All of that could be dismissed as mere bait to catch her.

"Ugh..."

If they handed her over to the imperial family, the worst-case scenario would be execution.
Even if she was spared, she would likely rot in prison for the rest of her life.
But Aslan wouldn’t do that, would he?
Rather than sending her to prison, he would surely use this weakness to control her until the day she died.

That might be even more painful than rotting in a prison cell.

"Laura. No more enlarging now..."

[...!]
"Yeah, it’s not possible anymore..."

Her last hope shattered into pieces and disappeared.
Now, Laura’s avatar couldn’t grow any larger.
In other words, the only strength she had left was her own body.

As for someone like Aslan, she could easily knock him down and toy with him.
But when it came to Sylvia, the knight guarding him, she was outmatched.
Moreover, when that strange sword that had come from Aslan’s neck was in Sylvia’s hand, she became much faster...

Ugh. There’s no way out.
If she were to escape now, she would have to wait for a gap in the surveillance.

Irene, calm and collected, began planning her escape when—

"Who is it!?"
"...Eek!"

The door creaked slightly.
Irene clenched her fist and reacted sharply.
The door opened just enough to reveal a silver-haired girl standing there.

Who was it again?
Yulia, right?
She seemed much softer than most necromancers.

"What’s going on?"

Irene relaxed her fist and asked in a calm voice.
She was imprisoned and dragged here, but the child was innocent.
It was Aslan, who had corrupted the innocent and turned her into a necromancer, who was at fault.

"It’s almost time for lunch... I just wanted to let you know that if you want to eat, you should come to the dining hall..."

"...What?"
"I’ll guide you to the dining hall..."

"No, it’s fine. I know the way. You can go now."

The door slammed shut again.
Irene was left speechless in astonishment.
Just telling her to come eat? Really?
What on earth is Aslan thinking...?

When she woke up, there were no restraints, and the barrier didn’t detect anything.
This only made her anxiety grow stronger.
Irene, feeling extremely tense, placed Laura’s avatar on her shoulder and left the room.

‘There’s no defense at all.’

She could break the window and escape right now.
But it seemed Aslan hadn’t put any measures in place.
After all, now that he had her cornered, did it even matter if she ran away...?

Swallowing her humiliation, Irene slowly made her way to the dining hall.

The familiar path.
Her body remembered the way, but the scene in front of her was completely different from what she remembered.
It wasn’t the kind of lively place she had seen before.

"...Aslan."
"Big sis, you’re here? Hey guys, greet my sister!"
"Hello!!!"
"Ah, hello..."

As soon as Irene entered the dining hall, the children, who had been eating, stood up and bowed politely at Aslan’s command.
Irene frowned immediately.

A dog’s food bowl!?
They served people’s food in a dog’s bowl!?
This degenerate had even dragged the children into his mess...!
Irene felt ready to explode, but seeing Sylvia, the knight standing next to Aslan, she suppressed her rage.

"After fainting, you slept the whole day. How many nights have you stayed up?"
"...About three days."
"You’ve slept long enough, so you must be hungry. Eat."

Aslan casually said this and went back to focusing on his meal.
Irene felt quite awkward and sat down.
She couldn’t go against Aslan now.
Her fate was in his hands...

Irene gritted her teeth, quietly eating her meal.
She wondered if he had poisoned the food.
Worrying about some prank in the food, she kept glancing at Aslan, but she couldn’t taste anything.

"Thank you for the meal! Mister, I’m going to go train!"
"I need to check on some of the old skeletons... see if the bones of the ones who fell from the mountain are healing... I’ll be back."

"Both of you can go."

The children finished their meal quickly and left, chatting loudly.
Before long, Irene and Aslan were left alone at the table.
Irene’s expression hardened.

Now, there was nothing left to watch out for.
Aslan would finally show his true intentions.

"So, what are you going to do with me?"
"I’m going to give you dessert."
"Stop joking around. What do you want me to do to satisfy you?"
"Once you finish eating, if you don’t make a scene and leave quietly, I’ll be at peace."

"Don’t make me laugh. Bringing me all the way here means you want something from me, right?"
"Bringing you here? I couldn’t just leave a fainted person in the ruins, so I brought you with me."
"It’s not a ruin, it’s my home. What are you talking about?"

[...?]
[...?]

Both Aslan and Irene tilted their heads at the same time.
It felt like their conversation wasn’t quite lining up.

"Do you live in a place like that? Why not come live here instead?"
"No. I’d never want to live in a dark, gloomy, damp place... Well, it’s not damp, but still. I wouldn’t want to live here even if I died."
"Then it can’t be helped. At least the ceiling is intact here. You might catch a cold in a place like that."
"Are you trying to get me to change my residence? Is that what you want? Fine. Where should I live? Should I live under your constant surveillance for the rest of my life?"
"I don’t want anything from you, so why are you being so clingy? Are you afraid I’ll spill family secrets? Even if I did, it would just spit on my own face. I don’t want to blame you for minor family issues, so please stop making a fuss."
[...].

Minor issues?
Was that trivial to you?
I spent my entire life preparing a strike, waiting for the day I could get my revenge on you.
Irene felt helpless, her strength draining away.

I was burning with hatred, using any means necessary to bring you down.
And to you, it was just a trivial "family issue."

‘Am I not even worth dealing with?’

I clearly sent you to the shadow world.
You could have been crippled for life, or even killed.
And now you’re acting as if nothing happened?

Irene felt her insides boiling with fury.

"Oh, by the way, I caught that Emmercia. Turns out she was one of your people. She was the one who made the marriage proposal, as you instructed."
"So you finally figured it out?"
"I knew that much. Do you know what my men found when they went after Emmercia?"
[...].
"I found Emmercia’s father. John Tales. The former head of the Tales family supposedly died of a stroke under stress when the company was on the brink of collapse. How is he still alive?"
"Wait, you found out...?"
Ah? She figured it out?
That idiot Emilia...!

Irene’s face turned crimson with rage.

"The collapse of the Tales family wasn’t because of your tricks. It was a series of bad events, and then the management failure. But here’s my theory: It was probably you who suggested faking the death of the head of the family. Just before the entire Tales family was about to be sold off as slaves, their leader died, and the family seemed to implode, which caused stock prices to plummet. Then, at that moment, you probably bought the Tales family with all your money, and resurrected it somehow."
"That’s nonsense!"
"I get why Emmercia listens so well. She doesn’t seem like someone being blackmailed. But there’s one thing I don’t get: why did she spread rumors that made it look like she destroyed the Tales family?"

"F**k, you’re making up a story! If you’re done talking, get out!"

Aslan’s sly smile made Irene feel chills running down her spine.

She thought no one would find out!
And yet Emilia, that idiot, went and caused trouble?
Irene covered her burning face and quickly stormed out of the dining hall.

Why did the rumors make me look like the villain?
It’s simple.
Because that’s how people would fear me.
That’s how no one would dare look down on me.

And that’s why I couldn’t let anyone find out.
I didn’t want to look like some stupid fool who saved the Tales family with her own money.
Especially not Aslan.

That’s exactly why...

‘Why... Why are you so happy about this...’

Why do I feel so relieved?

Irene wiped away the tears falling freely from her eyes,
Caught in an overwhelming, confusing rush of emotions.