THDR 02

THDR

Posted by Bela, Released on October 9, 2025

Chapter 2

If I had known, I would’ve said “Mr. Veilt” politely instead of “Belt.”

I only said that to show him I wasn’t easy to deal with — but instead, I accidentally scored points.

More than that, there was something odd about what he’d just said.

“Serve the boss…? Are you referring to the Duke?”

Muttering to himself, he stopped mid-sentence, bent forward, and brought his serious face close to mine before whispering softly.

“Yes. This is a highly confidential matter… I’ll explain on the way to the Duke’s mansion.”

I leaned in just as seriously and whispered back.

“I have absolutely no intention of going.”

Why was he so sure I’d go with him?

Mr. Veilt straightened up again and said, without a hint of regret,

“That’s very unfortunate.”

He adjusted his glasses and, like a true vice representative of the Eclipse Guild, twisted my arm with the perfect leverage.

“Are you aware that William Angela is still looking for you?”

“……”

I knew William wouldn’t give up easily, but I didn’t think he’d still be so persistent.

It’s already been four years since I ran away from home.

“The Marquis Kennedy has taken quite a liking to you, Miss Titia. He told William that he’s willing to wait as long as it takes, as long as he can find you and have you standing beside him at the wedding.”

“……”

“If Miss Titia marries Marquis Kennedy, William is also set to receive a hefty dowry payment.”

William… should I just kill him?

My whole body trembled with rage. Even the former Baron Angela, who never liked me much, would never have tried to sell me off for money.

As I quietly bit my lip, Mr. Veilt looked straight at me and added,

“There’s no way William Angela would miss such a golden opportunity. Even if it takes time, he’ll find you. And if he can’t—well, I could help him find you instead.”

“Why would you help him? Do you know how expensive it is to hire the Eclipse Guild?”

“I’d offer that service for free.”

“Why on earth would you do that?!”

Why would anyone go out of their way to help that despicable man?

“If you’d rather I didn’t, then please come with me. Meet the boss.”

From the look of things, if I didn’t accept his terms, he’d hand me straight over to William without a second thought.

But on the other hand… if he was resorting to threats, that meant I was valuable to him somehow.

Why?

Why would someone who could have anything he wanted come all the way here to pick up a runaway noblewoman from a minor baron’s family?
And personally, at that?

It didn’t make any sense. After sorting through my tangled thoughts, I spoke.

“If I’m that important, then I should at least hear the terms first.”

“Of course. If you accomplish what we want, we’ll reward you handsomely. Moreover, we’ll ensure that neither Marquis Kennedy nor William Angela can ever lay a hand on you again.”

Tempting. No — it was an offer I should have been thanking him for.

William would sell me off a hundred times over if there was money to be made.

I can’t keep running forever. This offer makes sense to accept.

Still, I was a little worried about what would happen if I failed. It was the Eclipse Guild, after all.

Before they became heroes, they’d ruled the underworld with merciless cruelty.

Even if they’d supposedly turned over a new leaf and were now admired across the empire — a nature like that doesn’t just vanish.

With unease in my voice, I asked cautiously,

“…What if I fail?”

“As long as you keep the secret, nothing bad will happen to you. You’ll still receive fair compensation.”

“No… killing or anything like that?”

“That might’ve been true before, but our boss is a Duke now. He can’t just go around killing people anymore.”

It was obvious that a task this difficult would come with generous conditions.

But whether I accepted or not, there was no real loss for me.

In fact, it was probably the best deal I could get — because of the empire’s ridiculous family law.

To summarize: noblewomen are not recognized as independent individuals until marriage. Their legal rights are entirely controlled by their immediate family.

In other words, until I married and changed my surname, my entire life legally belonged to my guardian — William.

What a disgusting law.

A law that trampled personal freedom like this should’ve been abolished ages ago.

But since it had been made by the “founding generation of old men,” the imperial family never bothered to do anything about it.
After all, it wasn’t their problem.

So, my deliberation didn’t last long.

“Fine.”

Mr. Veilt nodded, as if my agreement had been a foregone conclusion.

“Then let’s leave right away. Do you need to pack anything?”

“Just a few clothes.”

“Please hurry. William Angela is on his way here as we speak.”

“Excuse me?! You could’ve started with that!”

I dashed into my room and frantically threw things into a bag.

* * *

In the original story, it ended with a “And they lived happily ever after,”
so I had no idea what went wrong for them to suddenly need me.

Inside the smoothly rolling carriage, Mr. Veilt didn’t clear up my confusion. Instead, he pulled something from his briefcase and warned,

“Before meeting the boss, I must make something clear. Everything that happens at the Duke’s estate is strictly confidential. You’ll have to sign a nondisclosure agreement. Should you break it, under the Eclipse Guild’s law— yes.”

“Excuse me, what’s with the ‘yes’? You can’t just end sentences halfway like that.”

He smiled and illustrated the missing part with his hand — drawing his thumb across his throat.

Got it. Loud and clear.

“Since you understand, please press your thumbprint here.”

Not that I was the type to blab, but still — I remembered the good advice to always read contracts carefully and examined it thoroughly before pressing my thumb into the empty box.

Both copies shimmered faintly before a thin glowing thread wrapped around my thumb and vanished.

He tucked one copy into his case, kept the other for himself, and reminded me:

“If you break the contract — yes.”

Please stop ending your sentences like that.

“Now then, I can speak freely. Let me tell you about our boss’s… gloomy days.”

And with that, he began to ramble about the Duke’s melancholy diary.

“You see, the reason our once-evil boss turned over a new leaf was, as you know, because of Saint Yubelline Morté.”

But Saint Yubelline Morté… had chosen another man.

He looked out the carriage window with a wistful expression, even though it was closed.

“First loves never work out, do they?”

“Well, the Saint and the Crown Prince were each other’s first loves.”

“Ugh.”

He made a weird sound, then coughed awkwardly to cover it up.

“Ahem, well — that’s a special case. Anyway, after the Saint abandoned him, our boss became… very, very…”

“Twisted?”

“It would’ve been better if he had. I actually miss the days when he did bad things and laughed as others suffered.”

That’s… a strange thing to miss.

His eyes even shimmered nostalgically as he spoke.

“But our boss has already been…”

“Exorcised.”

“Huh? Ah, well, I suppose you could put it that way. Though frankly, he was too far gone for an exorcism to fix—”

“……”

“Confidential. Yes.”

“Yes.”

I made an “OK” sign with my fingers.

“Anyway, after whatever happened with the Saint, he locked himself in his room right after sealing the Demon of Serael. We thought he’d get over it in a few days, but no. A year passed, and he only got worse. Another year later, he still hasn’t come out.”