YPDM
chaapter 23
“Are you going to revert it now?”
Karinne stared quietly at her real body and then finally spoke.
“No. Let me sleep for just one more day.”
“But Lady Karinne, if you do that, your body will suffer.”
“I already expected that much.”
“It’s dangerous.”
The man’s tone was as stiff as when he spoke to me.
Yet strangely enough, despite the dryness and flatness of his voice, it carried a subtle feeling of concern for her.
“You’ve already started to have chills and fever. If you keep forcing the spell without enough preparation—”
“—the human body can’t endure it. I know that, Richard.”
So the butler’s name was Richard. I shoved that name into my memory.
“Lady Karinne.”
At Richard’s scolding tone, a faint smile appeared on Karinne’s lips.
It was an ambiguous smile.
More self-mocking than sarcastic.
“But it was worth it, wasn’t it?”
I instinctively held my breath, realizing she was about to talk about me.
“Olavia. That girl.”
“Is there a problem?”
“She was secretly throwing away her tea.”
My heart sank.
Karinne tilted her head slightly and continued.
“It’s really strange. The aroma and taste were the same.”
“…”
“So why would she suddenly grow suspicious of tea she had always drunk without question?”
I bit my lower lip hard. The metallic taste of blood spread in my mouth.
“I shouldn’t have let Olavia go out. I didn’t expect her to run into Lennox Cravant of all people.”
“It’s not your fault, Lady Karinne.”
“At the very least, I was careless. And I made a grave mistake because of it.”
“The spell cast on Viscount Brienne is still active. He won’t approve the marriage anytime soon.”
Thump. My heart finally dropped.
“There should be some time before he approves the marriage. I’ll find a way before then.”
“No.”
Karinne cut in coldly and raised her head to look at Richard.
“Lennox Cravant came all the way here himself. He must have learned about the spell on the viscount.”
“…”
“Now that he’s involved, we’re out of time, Richard.”
A brief silence fell between them.
Then Richard spoke again.
“Do you think Epure figured out the true nature of the Kualum leaves?”
Epure.
The moment I heard that word, my head spun again.
I dug my fingers into the wooden column I was leaning against to support myself and gritted my teeth.
‘They knew!’
They knew I was Epure. That I was a purifier.
A truth I wouldn’t have realized myself if not for Ash.
How much did Karinne really know?
And how much more was I still unaware of?
A chill ran through my chest as cold sweat trickled down my back. My jaw trembled from the fear that washed over me like a wave, and my teeth clattered.
I clenched my lips tightly to keep any sound from escaping.
Meanwhile, Karinne’s voice flowed clearly into my ears, still functioning despite my panic.
“At the very least, he must have heard from the duke that Kualum leaves grow in the Rutolu Forest.”
“…”
“He might’ve even figured out what the leaves are used for.”
Then Richard, who had been silent, spoke up again.
“But how did he recognize the Kualum leaves mixed into the tea? They look almost identical to regular tea leaves—hard to distinguish with the naked eye.”
“Maybe, being Epure, he sensed a different energy instinctively. Or perhaps…”
Karinne’s words stopped there.
She fell silent, as if deep in thought.
It was a silence that stirred unease in anyone watching.
Just as I felt something crushing my chest like a weight on my solar plexus, Karinne finally opened her mouth again.
“If I watch a bit longer, I should be able to find a definitive answer.”
“No. You need to return now.”
Richard shook his head firmly.
“In half a day, your body will begin to collapse.”
“Don’t worry about me.”
Karinne gently soothed him.
Just like she had done to Olavia in the original novel before revealing her true nature.
“You need to get some rest yourself.”
“No, I’m fine.”
“You haven’t been sleeping well lately.”
“I’m fine.”
Karinne reached out toward Richard.
Her fingertips briefly brushed his cheek through the mask—then were immediately withdrawn.
It was an incredibly brief motion.
So brief that if I hadn’t been watching intently, I wouldn’t have noticed it.
Karinne turned away, her expression nonchalant, as if nothing had happened.
The soft atmosphere between them shattered like thin glass.
With her back turned, Karinne called him again in a composed and emotionless tone.
“Richard.”
“Yes.”
“The plan might need to change.”
His pupils dilated slightly.
And I saw the expression in Karinne’s eyes darken behind Mary’s face.
It didn’t feel like eyes, but rather a thick, sticky swamp where fallen leaves and rotten soil sank together.
Or maybe even a bottomless abyss.
Karinne whispered,
“We may have to push Olavia off this chessboard first.”
* * *
I don’t know how I got out of there.
I only had one thought in mind: I have to get away from them.
I retraced the path I came from.
At some point, I had started running wildly.
My heart pounded as if it would burst out of my chest. Pain squeezed my lungs, but I didn’t stop running.
I couldn’t stop.
I leapt up the stairs two steps at a time, rushing toward my bedroom.
Even the darkness that usually made me cautious was no match for my terror.
[Olavia!]
And then, when I saw the small bird that had promised to be on my side when I first came to this world, relief washed over me.
[I was looking for you. Where have you been?]
As my tension unraveled, I collapsed to the floor like a marionette with its strings cut.
[What’s wrong?! What happened?!]
Ash shouted in shock.
His voice was so comforting and familiar that I almost burst into tears.
[Olavia, it’s okay. Just calm down and tell me slowly.]
I shook my head, still gasping for air, even as my chest heaved.
I had to say this. My voice came out in broken fragments between my shallow breaths.
“K-Karinne… I saw her.”
[Karinne? But she went to the retreat. She’s not supposed to be back until tomorrow—wait, how?]
“She was… Mary.”
Though my answer was disjointed, it was enough for Ash.
[Oh my god…]
His eyes widened, and a soft white wing gently covered the back of my hand pressed to the floor.
The warmth, higher than a human’s, gradually calmed my racing heart.
[Let’s go inside and talk more.]
Ash guided me into the room, gently coaxing me.
I sat on the sofa and slowly took deep breaths. The tension eased, and the muddy confusion in my mind began to clear.
‘Karinne plans to eliminate me.’
The engagement between me and the crown prince was no longer possible.
Even so, Karinne hadn’t withdrawn her goal to kill me.
No—she had revised her plan and was speeding it up.
‘Why?’
Because I’m Epure. Because I was going to marry Lennox Cravant.
‘But why?’
Since I entered this body, one question had always made me uneasy.
That question, hidden in my unconscious, now slowly rose to the surface.
Yes. Maybe I had assumed something completely wrong from the start.
I had to reassess everything from the beginning.
Like, Karinne’s ultimate goal.
‘Was her real desire truly to become crown princess?’
I had to be rational.
If that was all Karinne wanted, it would’ve been logical for her to let me go marry Lennox instead.
But she still wants me dead.
‘Then what is she really after…?’
In The Lady of Reversal, the story ended with Olavia’s death.
There was no mention of what Karinne did after the ending.
But one thing was clear.
My existence as Epure was in her way.
To Karinne, I was an obstacle to be removed.
Like she said—one of the enemy’s chess pieces that must eventually be knocked off the board.
“Ash. Karinne knows I’m Epure.”
[Are you sure?]
I calmly told him everything I had seen in the clearing.
By the time I finished, bluish light had begun to filter into the room—it was dawn.
Ash asked seriously,
[Since when has Mary been Karinne?]
“I don’t know. But I don’t think this was the first time.”
Karinne had probably been switching into others periodically, to check if Olavia was still under her control.
[It’s likely she used other servants too—not just Mary.]
I nodded.
“And with the butler helping her, using the servants must’ve been a piece of cake.”
At this point, whether willingly or not, everyone in the mansion was practically her pawn.
[To think she planned all this so meticulously…]
“If I hadn’t caught her going into the clearing, I would’ve been doomed. It’s a miracle…”
As I mumbled, a chilling thought suddenly struck me and cut my words off.
“No way…”
I stood up at once and opened the balcony doors.
In the garden bathed in the soft light of dawn, dew-covered flowers bloomed vibrantly.
“That’s why she had the rooms switched.”
A hollow laugh escaped me.
“To make sure I wouldn’t discover the clearing.”
