Chapter 1: She Wasn’t Like This Before!
“She wasn’t like this before!”
Lobrin Tenebris shouted with a very upset voice.
Her husband, Anwen Tenebris, had a very sad expression, clearly agreeing with her.
“Calm down, dear. Our daughter will be fine.”
“But still…!”
He gently hugged her and tried to calm her down. Lobrin buried her face in his chest and trembled like she couldn’t bear to say more.
The counselor sitting across from them carefully opened his mouth. His small eyes behind his glasses were darting around nervously, trying to read the mood.
“Um, so… what exactly is the problem with your daughter?”
“…Did you just say ‘problem’?”
“Eek!”
At that one wrong word, their true personalities came out.
Both parents turned to him with eyes so cold, they felt icy.
Anwen, clearly annoyed, spoke up. His frown was so deep it looked a little scary.
“Watch your words. Our child doesn’t have a ‘problem.’ She’s just going through a little phase.”
“Y-Yes…! Of course! That was careless of me! Please forgive me…!”
The frightened counselor quickly bowed his head and apologized.
Anwen wanted to fire him on the spot, but he held back.
Right now, the most important thing was understanding the sudden change in their beloved daughter, Leriel Tenebris.
They had searched for the best therapist just to solve this issue.
Sigh… Anwen let out a long breath and gently patted his wife’s back, then nodded.
“Dear, go ahead and explain.”
With his touch, Lobrin slowly calmed down. She had been staring at the counselor like she wanted to tear him apart.
Sniff… As soon as she tried to speak, she almost cried again.
“Well, our child…”
“Your child…?”
The situation seemed more serious than expected. The counselor leaned forward nervously.
But what came next was nothing like any other counseling case he had heard before.
In fact, it was completely different.
“Our daughter suddenly became kind!”
A long silence followed. The counselor tilted his head, wondering if he heard that right.
“Isn’t being kind a good thing?”
He almost said it out loud—but then quickly closed his mouth.
The mood of the Tenebris couple was clearly serious.
They really, truly believed that their daughter becoming kind was a big problem.
If I say something wrong again, I might lose my head.
These people seem like they could really do it…
Feeling his life was in danger, the counselor quickly cleared his throat.
Getting on the bad side of the Trian Kingdom’s most powerful family would be a terrible idea.
“Suddenly… kind? May I ask why you think that?”
Trying to sound as polite as possible, the counselor wrote on his chart:
“Daughter suddenly became kind”
And he added three question marks after it.
“Well, of course! She started doing things she never did before!”
Lobrin, not noticing the counselor’s worry, continued speaking with a desperate tone.
Just remembering it seemed painful. Her elegant face turned into one of fear.
“She started being nice to the maids, and even donated to an orphanage!”
“Oh… I see…”
“She even tried to cancel her engagement to the crown prince—the one we set up through blackmail! A-Ahhh…!”
“Lobrin!”
As she poured her heart out, Lobrin became dizzy and stumbled.
Anwen quickly helped her and let her lean on his shoulder.
A single tear rolled down Lobrin’s half-closed eye.
Looking like a hurt parent, she softly muttered:
“She was never like this… Leriel, why are you acting this way…”
It was the second time she said she wasn’t like this.
That meant she truly believed Leriel was normal before.
Whether it was really a “problem” or not was unclear, but the counselor wrote down everything Lobrin said in the chart.
He pretended to think deeply and lowered his head before asking:
“When did these… changes start?”
“…Hmm, let me think…”
Since Lobrin had fainted, her husband Anwen tried to remember instead.
Their daughter, who had grown up to be perfectly evil—when exactly had she started acting strange?
After thinking for a while, he finally lifted his head.
His serious voice carried a hint of hope.
“…It was about a month ago.”
Crash!
It was a peaceful afternoon.
The Tenebris family was gathered for dinner.
Suddenly, a sharp noise broke the calm.
“Ah… huff…”
A maid stood, staring at broken glass on the floor.
Her hands trembled, and her face was as pale as a ghost.
As she looked up, sharp stares stabbed into her like knives.
Everyone looked at her like she was something disgusting.
What do I do now…?
The maid looked down again in despair.
This wasn’t just a small mistake. It was a disaster.
The drink that had spilled was one Leriel especially liked.
Just dropping the glass while serving it… that alone was enough to ruin everything.
Leriel was known for being extremely cruel and scary—even in her wicked family.
Many maids had quit because they couldn’t handle her bullying.
“I-I’m sorry! I’ll clean it up right away…!”
The maid, frozen at first, moved quickly to fix things.
Even though she knew it wouldn’t help, she couldn’t stop herself.
She grabbed at the glass desperately.
Her eyes were already red.
“Stop.”
Suddenly, her hand froze.
The cold, low voice had stopped her.
A dark shadow fell over her. Leriel had gotten up from her seat and walked over.
The maid couldn’t even breathe properly.
“I-I… I really didn’t mean to…”
She tried to speak, but her words came out broken.
Tears rolled down her cheeks and stained the carpet.
She reached for the glass again. Her hand got cut, and blood appeared.
But the pain didn’t even register.
Compared to what she thought would happen next, this was nothing.
Tap!
“Didn’t you hear me? I told you to stop.”
“Ah!”
The maid’s hand froze again.
Leriel had grabbed her wrist.
Their eyes met.
Leriel’s green eyes looked flat and cold, like poison.
Her soft, reddish lips didn’t smile or frown—just stayed still.
It would’ve been easier if she yelled like the others.
Her quiet anger was even scarier.
The maid shut her eyes tightly.
She expected a slap. Then harsh insults. Then to be thrown out.
And forced to pay a huge fine for damages.
It had happened before in this house. Many times.
The Tenebris family always treated people like this—proudly.
After a long pause, Leriel finally spoke.
“If you pick up glass with your bare hands, you’ll get hurt. Be careful.”
Everyone froze. They couldn’t believe what they just heard.
Clatter.
Anwen dropped his silverware.
Lobrin’s eyes went so wide, the whites showed all around.
Heibl, another family member, spit out his drink from shock.
But Leriel didn’t seem to care.
She simply checked the maid’s bleeding finger.
It was a small cut, but her face looked deeply worried.
“Oh dear, you’re already bleeding. What should we do?”
“M-Milady…? I know I messed up, please just punish me…”
The maid couldn’t believe what was happening.
She thought Leriel was mocking her in a new, scary way.
Her pale face turned even grayer.
She felt like her life was in danger.
“Oh, I know what to do.”
But instead of getting angry, Leriel smiled softly.
She took out a fancy handkerchief and gently wrapped it around the maid’s finger.
Tight, tight.
She even tied it into a pretty ribbon before letting go.
Sunlight streamed across her face, making her look like she was glowing with kindness.
“Be more careful next time, okay?
