1 – My World Has Collapsed

Jade’s contact that she would cooperate came a little later.

“Ugh…”

It took me a few hours longer than that to regain my composure.

‘This is all acting.’

And the method I chose was ‘rationalization.’

‘Right. I’m an actress now. Playing a pretty girl… whatever. Something like that.’

You know how it is. When you get completely immersed in a character and even your usual lifestyle changes… that method acting or whatever it’s called.

“Oh, Young Lady Alencia! It’s been a while! Your beautiful appearance is especially radiant today…”

What I’m doing now is similar to that. A villainess from a noble northern Grand Ducal family. I just need to play that role appropriately.

“Oh, who was it again?”

Like this.

“It’s me! I came from the South…”

“Ah! It’s been a while. But I don’t particularly want to remember you? The way you look, the way you smell. You seem like some girl a washed-up aristocrat spawned. Why don’t you disappear from my sight? Forever?”

“Young Lady, you got rid of that kind of thing well. Would you like to see this? Some useful gossip from our merchant guild…”

“Just because you’re from a merchant background who only knows money, did you think that would make you any better? If you spew shit from your vulgar mouth one more time, I’ll pull out all your yellowed teeth. You know I do what I say, right?”

With a refreshing curse, the two extras disappeared, looking tearful. That makes twenty-six.

Is that not enough? Another extra is smiling at me from afar.

“Annoying bitches…”

These bitches are all hangers-on. Hangers-on trying to get a piece of the power in Virsk.

The original Alencia thought that was her charm and acted all high and mighty… but not me.

“Maid. Don’t let anyone near me for a while.”

“Understood.”

The maid nodded and drove away the extras. Good. That clears the surroundings. Ah, before that.

“You, there. Come here.”

I brought back one of the extras who was being chased away. She was being chased away with a face like death, but then she smiled brightly when she was chosen by me.

“Ah, well! I mean! I’m…”

“Where is Jade’s room?”

“…Pardon?”

“Jade. Where the hell is that bastard’s room?”

“That’s… the first room on the second floor of the men’s dormitory…”

“How kind. Then, would you mind getting lost now?”

I got rid of the last extra and headed to Jade’s room. Ah. I think there was a rule that female students couldn’t enter the men’s dormitory freely.

“I have business. Is this enough?”

A letter with the Grand Duke of the North’s seal that I handed to the dormitory supervisor. With that, I can meet Jade ‘officially,’ so it doesn’t matter.

“Here it is.”

Jade’s door was tightly closed. When I knocked on it, Jade appeared hesitantly.

“Follow me. And Maid, go back. We have something to talk about.”

“Yes, Young Lady.”

Once again, we were left alone. Jade followed me, looking like she was about to die.

Was it because she looked like livestock being dragged to the slaughterhouse?

“Was that Jade? How pathetic. To be a human toy.”

“What can you do? She caught the eye of the only daughter of the Grand Ducal family of the North. Tsk tsk.”

Some nobles were subtly clicking their tongues. Of course, I don’t care.

‘In the end, this side is in a position to have the power of the Grand Ducal family behind them.’

After walking for a while, Jade and I headed to a remote open space somewhere in the academy.

“Good. It doesn’t look like anyone is watching. You can stop acting now.”

“…”

Jade didn’t answer and straightened her hunched posture.

The commoner who was humbly bowing before the nobles was nowhere to be seen. All that was there was a vengeful spirit burning with fierce revenge.

The way she was glaring at me made it seem like she would cut me down with her sword at any moment.

“Why are you glaring like that? Do you think I’ll be scared?”

“I’m not looking at you, Young Lady.”

I tested her just in case, but thankfully, Jade didn’t seem interested in me. No, to be precise, should I say she’s interested in my ‘left half of my body’?

“How is it? Can you see something?”

“A little.”

Jade took out an old book from her arms. And then, with a rustle, she opened the old book and muttered an unknown incantation.

‘It was said to be an ancient language, right? That only certain bloodlines can interpret.’

Which novel isn’t like this, but the protagonist Jade’s bloodline is special.

The direct descendant of the hero who defeated the three demons that appeared on the continent a thousand years ago.

‘Thanks to that, as soon as one of the demons woke up, they annihilated Jade’s clan.’

Family, friends. An child whose everything she knew collapsed. That’s why Jade became a vengeful spirit.

‘So I just need to use that.’

In the end, this world is a novel. And since a novel has an end.

“If I just kill those demons, it’s the ending.”

“…Pardon?”

“It’s nothing. More than that, is it being purified?”

I changed the subject and pointed to my left arm.

The brand of the contract remained on my left arm despite Jade’s incantation. But was it not in vain? It became a little easier to move than before.

“For now, yes, but.”

“But?”

“The rate of erosion is faster than purification. At this rate, it won’t last long.”

“How long will it take to be completely eroded?”

“At most, a little less than two weeks.”

“You can just purify me every day, right?”

“That’s including that.”

“…Ha.”

It’s not even funny. I went through the trouble of acting like a clueless young lady, and what? I’m going to die in two weeks?

“Are you sure?”

“Unless I’m always with you… yes. I’m sure.”

Jade distanced herself slightly from the word ‘every day.’

Her earlobes are flushed, what. Is it a burden?

‘!?@%#^@-‘

The ringing in my ears is coming again. I can feel it. The sound that steadily gnaws at my mind, though delayed.

The fear of death coldly grips my heart.

In the midst of all this, the protagonist is preoccupied with shyness.

‘Thinking about it, I’m getting pissed?’

A gradation of anger rising from the depths of my heart.

I hid it and looked straight at Jade.

“Heh heh.”

The villainous Young Lady’s unique smile. Jade blushed a little more when she saw it.

But what a pity. I don’t have time to care about your circumstances right now.

“Then I can just live with you.”

I grabbed Jade’s hand. I pulled her in as is.

A face that came within about a hand’s breadth. I could feel Jade’s warm breath, somewhere between a girl and a woman.

“If we live together from today, we can be together every day, right?”

“…Pardon?”

Blinking.

A look of incomprehension was etched in Jade’s eyes.

---

‘…Is this right?’

Jade thought as she entered the Virsk’s villa.

• Come in right now. I’ll have the maids bring all your luggage.

I thought it was just a probing remark, but I really didn’t expect it to turn out like this.

‘Even just the first semester was like hell.’

She remembers. Alencia’s vicious appearance. Her malice, which was literally eager to devour her.

So, how is it now?

‘It’s like she’s a different person.’

Her behavior is the same. Her sharp tone, her elegant gait. Even the blood mark on the part of her body that was eroded by the demon.

In other words, the current Alencia is showing Jade goodwill with a sound mind.

‘Why?’

I don’t know why.

Simply wanting to live, is not enough. There are ways to deal with demons all over the continent.

‘Of course, most of them would have been useless.’

If it wasn’t for the relic that Jade possessed, she wouldn’t have even dared to remove Alencia’s contract.

It’s not that choosing Jade was wrong. It’s strange that she approached her from the beginning, as if she had been waiting for it.

The Grand Ducal family of the North, Virsk.

Their power is comparable to the Calenia Empire.

No, sometimes it’s more than that. All kinds of natural resources mined from the ‘Ceiling of the Continent’ maintain the continent’s economy, so even the Empire has no choice but to bow down before Virsk.

‘Even though Grand Duke Nikolai’s momentum has waned as he has been bedridden, their intelligence is second to none.’

If it were Jade, she would have brought all kinds of occultists from all over the continent, not herself, and tried to purify her.

But no. Young Lady Alencia aimed only for Jade from the beginning. As if she knew everything, as if she was the only one who could drive the demon out of her body.

‘Maybe… the cause and effect could be reversed.’

What if she didn’t come to Jade because she was attacked by a demon, but used the demon to cooperate with Jade?

It’s crazy. There’s no reason to do that. If she needed Jade in the first place, she could just use her power to crush her.

‘But that’s what an ordinary person would think. It can’t be compared to Young Lady Alencia’s.’

Although her personality is twisted, Young Lady Alencia’s mind is brilliant. If she had planned this from the beginning, the possibility is high enough.

Swish.

A presence appeared. Jade’s gaze turned to it.

“How is it? Is there anything uncomfortable?”

Young Lady Alencia. She is smiling at her from a distance.

A mocking yet bright smile. Jade unknowingly raised her hand slightly and greeted her with a beautiful smile full of malice.

‘She is pretty.’

Shaking.

Jade shook her head at the ridiculous thoughts.

Don’t be fooled by her beauty. Above all, Jade is just dressed as a man, isn’t she a woman?

‘Maybe all of this is a trap. Wake up, Jade!’

Jade patted herself.

Nevertheless, she didn’t even know that her earlobes were flushed red.