Chapter 004
When she arrived at the manor, her father, Count Lang, was still drinking.
Vanessa instantly regretted her early return. In her past life, she had come back late after spending the night teasing Konrad, by which time Count Lang had already fallen into a deep, drunken stupor.
“Oh! My jewel Vanessa has returned! Come, tell your father everything!”
“My Lady…….”
Agnes hesitated, holding Vanessa’s hand.
“It’s alright, Agnes. Go home; your granddaughter is waiting for you.”
Vanessa was forced to sit across from the Count at the table, but she felt an old rage beginning to stir deep within her once more.
When Vanessa became the Princess of the Empire in her past life, Count Lang had demanded exorbitant sums from the Imperial Court under the guise of maintaining his prestigious status.
But that money had evaporated quickly in taverns and gambling dens, and he hadn’t contributed a single penny toward her dowry.
‘And that’s why my life in the palace was turned upside down from the very beginning……’
Konrad was a profligate man by nature, and the Emperor held no hopes for him. But unlike him, the expectations placed on Vanessa were always far harsher.
The life of a Princess without a strong background was a living hell in the palace.
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t conceive even once during her long marriage. That only served to worsen the situation. Malicious rumors, vile bullying, ridicule, and ostracization.
‘On top of that, that man kept causing chaos in the capital until the day I died. I must have been a thorn in the Emperor’s eye as well.’
“Why aren’t you speaking? How many suitors came forward for you? They must be from wealthy families, right?”
“There was no one. Not a single one.”
“What?”
“No one came forward, Father. I didn’t even dance once. Who would want to dance with a woman who came to the ball in a mourning dress?”
Then came the slap, instantaneous.
‘Hah, so even my face isn’t safe anymore.’
“You useless thing! Do you know how much I struggled just to get you into the Imperial Court?!”
The Count grabbed Vanessa by the arm and forced her to stand.
Normally, she would have fallen silent at this point, but she could no longer restrain herself.
“And what ‘struggle’ are you talking about?! You’ve been nothing but a hindrance in my life! If you hadn’t existed…… if it wasn’t for you……”
‘I wouldn’t have ended up dying that way.’
Another slap came, or rather, a punch this time.
“You insolent girl, how dare you talk back to me?! Yes, you see your father as pathetic now, don’t you?!”
Yes, it was all because of Count Lang. Vanessa thought this as she lay sprawled on the floor.
Everything she did to prove herself, her forced marriage that brought her ridicule, her humiliating death amidst accusations and blame. All of it—all of it was because of him.
She tried to resist, but that only fueled his anger. The few remaining plates and glasses shattered, and the vanity overturned.
The Count approached, gripping a broken chair leg. Vanessa felt her life was in danger. But she didn’t feel fear. Instead, it was rage that made her body tremble.
“The useless one isn’t me, it’s you! Scum like you do nothing but spread their poison until the day they die!”
She dodged a strike, but her foot tripped, and he grabbed her by the ankle.
The Count truly intended to kill his daughter now.
‘Right, if there is one thing I must change after coming back to life……’
Vanessa grabbed a sharp shard of glass with her bare hand and swung it toward the Count.
“You crazy b*tch……!”
He recoiled, evading the stab, and she seized the chance to run toward the door, but he caught her by the hair.
She tried to break free with all her might, but to no avail. Although he was just a drunkard now, he was a former soldier.
Then he began to choke her with his hands.
“Yes, even your mother used to look at me with those eyes. I should have killed her with my own hands too!”
‘Air…… I can’t breathe……’
To die like this, less than a day after coming back to life, seemed so absurd that she laughed through her tears even as she suffocated.
Just when she thought everything was over—
“My Lady!”
She heard Agnes’s voice. Before she could turn, the old maid rushed toward the Count and struck him with all her strength using the chair leg he had been holding earlier.
The wood splintered and shards flew; the Count threw Vanessa to the ground, shouting in rage.
“You filthy insects……!”
He stumbled to his feet and reached for Agnes. Vanessa tried to intervene, but her body wouldn’t obey.
“Huh…… what?”
In that moment, Agnes shoved Count Lang with every ounce of strength she possessed. Being drunk to the bone, he lost his balance and slammed into the vanity from behind.
The fall of the vanity was a matter of a single second, and then—
Thud—
The brass angel statue sitting on top of it fell and struck the Count directly in the head. The drunkard sat on the floor with a dazed face for a moment, then collapsed, motionless.
The chair leg rolled from Agnes’s hand onto the floor, making a soft sound. Agnes gasped for air, her entire body trembling with terror.
“The— the Count……! What…… what do we do now, My Lady?! I didn’t want to hurt him…… I just wanted…… just to save you…….”
Vanessa looked at the blood beginning to seep slowly into the carpet. The silent manor was completely empty except for Agnes’s muffled sobs.
The Count was dead. Since Imperial law would never side with a maid against her master, if Agnes were caught, she would be executed immediately without trial.
“Listen to me carefully, Agnes. You went home the moment I arrived at the manor, do you understand? You know nothing of what happened here, right?”
“But, My Lady……”
“Think of your granddaughter. Go, leave now. I will handle this myself.”
After sending Agnes away, Vanessa gathered the remaining jewelry in the manor and hid it under a pile of hay in the stable. She planned to throw it into the river at dawn.
‘If they think a thief broke into the manor, killed the Count, and stole his property…… it would be perfect.’
Count Lang had many enemies. Perhaps it would pass without much suspicion.
But the problem that would follow was…… the debts.
In her past life, immediately after her engagement to Konrad was announced, creditors flooded their home like a torrent.
Vanessa hadn’t understood back then how that drunkard managed to borrow all that money. Most of them didn’t even have official papers to prove the loan.
But she was busy suppressing the scandal at the time. She feared her marriage to the Prince would be canceled, so she was forced to take most of those debts upon her own shoulders.
Fortunately, after becoming Princess, she managed to acquire her own wealth. She sold the rural lands she inherited from her mother and invested the money; in just six months, she quintupled it, paid off all the debts, and had a surplus.
‘Well, luck was on my side then…… and now I know exactly what to do. The only problem is how to get liquidity now…….’
The easiest way was to sell the land she was supposed to inherit. But the problem was that it would remain frozen in the bank until she married.
‘So, marriage again…….’
She felt momentary fear of herself for thinking this way in front of her father’s corpse, but—
Perhaps it was the right decision, for her and for the human being that was her father. For even if he had lived, he would have ultimately been the cause of her destruction once again.
‘I will handle your funeral myself, Father. I don’t know if anyone will come to offer condolences, but at least I will give you a funeral befitting your rank.’
* * *
The following morning, the Chief of the Imperial Police arrived at the Lang manor with an investigator after receiving a report of the incident.
He had known the Count before. He had frequently caused trouble while intoxicated.
“The messenger who brought the news this morning told me he knew this would happen one day. And I apologize for my bluntness, My Lady, but I thought so as well.”
The Police Chief said this, shaking his head in pity.
“It’s alright. Perhaps I thought the same thing. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be watching this scene without shedding a single tear.”
After some formal questioning, the investigators left.
The incident was recorded as: “Miss Vanessa Lang saw her father drinking late and went to sleep; she woke up to the sound of a struggle at dawn, and when she went down, she found him dead.”
“Some officials may come later to follow up on formalities, so don’t worry too much. We will take our leave now.”
Agnes then took over the funeral arrangements. She was surprisingly calm.
“Think of yourself first, My Lady. You may not feel it now, but you must be in shock.”
‘Agnes must find it suspicious. If she knew all I’m thinking about right now is how to make money……’
But for Vanessa, survival was the only priority. There was no longer time for regret or fear. All she could do now was work.
The funeral was exactly as she expected—quiet and devoid of attendees.
In the evening, Mason arrived in a hurry, his face pale from shock.
“Vanessa! Are you okay? Were you hurt?”
“I’m fine, thank you for coming.”
“I can’t believe a thief broke into the Lang family manor…… it’s unbelievable. The Count’s death is tragic, but the important thing is that you’re safe. Because the Count was…… I mean…… he was……”
Mason was trying in vain to find kind words to say about the Count.
Perhaps “he was a good man”? No, he wasn’t.
“That’s enough, Mason. We all knew it would end like this.”
Vanessa said this with a bitter smile.
“Is that so? How unfortunate then, I had prepared a long eulogy for nothing.”
Vanessa turned sharply toward the strange voice—she saw a tall man with pale silver hair and skin as white as snow, looking down at her with an enigmatic gaze.
