Ch.241Past Stories: Olivia Eleonora – 7

Olivia was a girl who had no connection to magic.

She wasn’t born into a wealthy family that could afford to teach her magic.

She wasn’t born as a magician’s child who naturally had many opportunities to encounter magic.

She didn’t have parents interested in magic who tried to teach it to their child.

She herself had never shown any interest in magic.

Born as the youngest daughter of ordinary farmers, who were common throughout the continent, she was supposed to live an unremarkable life without any special incidents, ending just like any other ordinary farmer.

That’s how it should have been.

Olivia was someone who wasn’t particularly loved, even by her own family.

The most fundamental and biggest reason was that her appearance was absurdly beautiful. So beautiful that it was impossible to believe she was the daughter of ordinary farmers.

Her parents weren’t very decent people. They were planning to sell their daughter to some nobleman, taking advantage of her beautiful appearance. That’s how beautiful Olivia was.

After accidentally overhearing this plan one day, Olivia began to find all the special treatment from her parents disgusting.

Because it wasn’t the mindset of parents treating their child well, but that of a merchant grooming merchandise.

Olivia’s brothers and sisters also disliked her. Unlike them, who had to work to the bone all day, Olivia was allowed to stay inside the house and do nothing.

Of course, this was all because her parents prevented her from going outside to work, but since they deliberately didn’t tell their other children this fact, all the hatred was directed solely at Olivia.

If she had openly accepted it, that would have been one thing, but seeing her expression rot away while eating only the best food and receiving the best treatment made those watching feel even more disgusted.

So naturally, they could only think that she was acting that way because she was spoiled.

Her peers were the same. The boys, infatuated with Olivia’s appearance, followed her around with their mouths hanging open, which made the girls busy with jealousy.

Even when Olivia grew older, the adult men in the village often gave her lecherous looks. All those gazes were unbearably disgusting.

She had thought countless times that if only she were a little less pretty. She had no one to share her feelings with, was rejected by her brothers and sisters, and her parents thought of her as merchandise.

Olivia’s personality began to twist little by little because of this background. She desperately craved genuine affection but had no one to truly share her heart with. Her threshold began to lower gradually.

Paradoxically, Olivia’s beauty continued to bloom. She was untouchable, her parents treasured their merchandise, and her sisters and brothers couldn’t dare go against their parents’ wishes.

It seemed that in just a year or two, she could be sold as a concubine to a noble family. And the family would receive a substantial sum of money. As her parents’ smiles deepened, so did Olivia’s worries.

The tragedy struck suddenly.

It was an era when defense still relied more on village units and scattered magic towers rather than on the concepts of lords and territories.

Villages had to depend on their own forces without proper guards, and bandits often roamed in groups of hundreds, plundering villages.

This time, Olivia’s village was simply chosen as the victim of their raid.

The bandit group suddenly attacked the day before the harvest festival in the village. They were so well-equipped that they even rode horses.

The resistance of ordinary farmers was meaningless against such bandits. Parts of the village were set ablaze, and the villagers, who had been excited for the festival, were swept away like autumn leaves.

Most men were either killed or thrown around while tightly bound to be sold as slaves, and the fate of somewhat attractive women was obvious. Agonizing moans echoed throughout the village.

Olivia, who had fled to the adjacent kitchen and was trembling in fear, was about to suffer the same fate as the other women.

But Olivia absolutely did not want to endure such a thing. After being raised as merchandise to be sold her entire life, was she now to be dragged away by bandits and raped? That couldn’t happen.

Rather than being raped, she would destroy her body. This was the thought that came to Olivia as she looked at the huge cauldron emitting smoke in the kitchen. She would transform herself into someone they wouldn’t even think of violating.

Since the attack happened while they were preparing food for the festival, the oil inside was still bubbling hot. Even approaching it, one could feel the intense heat.

Olivia observed the situation outside. The shouts, cries, and agonizing moans were gradually getting closer. It meant those bandits were searching this area.

At first, she thought about splashing the oil on anyone who entered the kitchen, but she quickly changed her mind.

That would neutralize at most one person, or two if she was lucky. And then she would be caught by the others and raped even more cruelly and persistently.

It wasn’t a good future. Making her final struggle, Olivia firmly resolved and lifted the boiling oil cauldron to pour it on her face.

Or rather, she tried to.

A frail girl could never handle the weight of an oil cauldron prepared for a village festival. Instead of falling on her face, the boiling oil covered half of her body.

“AAAAAAAAHHHHH!”

No matter how prepared and resolved she was, it was only the determination of a teenage girl. The pain of flesh being seared by boiling oil was absolutely unbearable.

A rusty, metal-like scream erupted from her mouth. She collapsed on the floor, flailing her limbs in the pool of oil.

Her skin burned, her eyeballs burst, and her flesh melted. Melted flesh, blood, and muscle tissue flowed into the oil pool, creating a strange color.

When the bandits entered the kitchen, smiling, thinking their comrade was being a bit rough with a woman, all they saw was a pool of boiling oil emitting scorching heat and a girl with a horrific appearance flailing in the middle of it.

The bandits pulled the girl out since the half that the boiling oil hadn’t touched was quite beautiful, but the other half, which was horribly burned and melted, completely erased any sexual desire.

Olivia, unconscious, was stuffed into the corner of a cart and sold to a slave trader. The result was similar. Instead of being sold to a nobleman, she was sold to a slave trader.

One sack of rice. That was the value placed on her body.

Of course, no customer would buy a woman with such a hideous appearance that even bandits wouldn’t touch. Olivia was practically abandoned in the corner of a prison.

The reason her hair was so long was also because of this. A merchant wouldn’t care about a product with no market value. Whether her hair grew long or not was of no concern.

The time spent in the prison corner was best counted in years. If she had been an ordinary slave, she would have starved to death long ago. And her decomposing body would have been discovered sooner due to the smell.

The reason Olivia survived for years without any attention was because of her magical talent that had unknowingly blossomed.

Of course, she wouldn’t have wanted her talent to manifest in this way.

As she sustained her life through mana, Olivia’s mind began to slowly erode from the pain of her burned and melted skin and the helplessness of her immobile body.

At first, she fantasized that someone might come to rescue her, but she soon mocked herself and gave up. There was no way such a person would appear.

Several years passed as Olivia barely survived on mana alone, and the slave trader discovered her, still barely alive, while moving his residence to expand his business.

Due to her horrific burn scars, she had been placed in the most remote corner of the prison so as not to devalue the other slaves, and even the person who gave that order had forgotten about her.

Despite several years having passed, Olivia’s appearance was still hideously disfigured. No, due to the lack of proper treatment, she looked several times more repulsive than when she had just been injured.

Pus and discharge overflowed from the skin stuck to her muscle tissue, and an indescribably terrible stench emanated from her body, which had been confined in a place without even basic hygiene or cleanliness.

The slave trader, holding his nose, sought a way to dispose of Olivia as quickly as possible, and the conclusion he reached was to bundle her with other sales.

That was why Olivia was at the Red One Magic Tower. She had been included as a bonus with a bulk purchase of slaves for biological experiments.

The magic tower didn’t think highly of Olivia. It was understandable. They had been given an extra slave as a bonus, only to find a girl who looked like she might die at any moment.

Since she was free, it didn’t matter much, but it was essentially like being dumped with unwanted goods.

Even at the Red One Magic Tower, Olivia was neglected until the very end, and after casually using a few spells on her, they sent her to another magic tower as a so-called “gift.”

That was how Abel and Olivia met.

“……”

Abel remained silent for a while. Olivia, having finished her story, was watching him with satisfaction. After quite some time, Abel finally spoke.

“…So, why are you suddenly telling me this?”

“I wonder why, Master.”

A sinister smile crept onto Olivia’s lips. A chill ran down Abel’s spine as he saw it. Yes, that smile. The smile that made people shudder.

Despite the fact that he had only taught Olivia a few simple spells, she consistently called him “Master,” and recently, he had the feeling she was watching him from afar.

He couldn’t shake off the ominous thought. Even Abel could sense that her personality was becoming increasingly twisted. He couldn’t understand why she was acting this way towards him.

He had rejected all but the most minimal contact with her.

The recent atmosphere in the magic tower was quite unsettling. Not only because of the consecutive explosion accidents but also because Helena’s attitude had changed dramatically.

Abel had known for a long time that Helena liked him. It was impossible not to notice with how much she tried to appeal to him.

The reason he hadn’t reciprocated her feelings was solely because of a secret agreement with the tower master.

In case Helena became too engrossed in romance and neglected her training, he had agreed to accept her feelings when he handed over the position of tower master to her.

Since he had said he would retire in at most a year, it didn’t seem like Helena would have to wait too long, so he had accepted the request. But suddenly, Helena’s attitude had completely reversed.

The girl who used to come up with excuses to visit him several times a day had been holed up in her room for over a week, and even when she finally came out, she deliberately avoided Abel.

Helena’s friends had come to ask if something had happened between them, but Abel was just as puzzled.

Moreover, recently even the tower master had conveyed that Olivia’s demeanor was concerning. He had trembled pitifully, saying that even he couldn’t handle that child.

The next day, he had even begged Abel to accept if Olivia asked to live with him.

Abel had asked what on earth that meant, but “I’m afraid” was the only answer he received.

Because of these incidents, he had entered Olivia’s room with great tension when she asked him to come.

Prepared to follow the tower master’s plea in the worst-case scenario.

“Kihihit.”

Olivia laughed strangely, narrowing her eyes. Abel involuntarily shuddered at that eerie gaze. He had a bad feeling.

“Master.”

“…What?”

The atmosphere sank heavily. It felt as if even the air was becoming oppressive. Olivia’s eyes turned toward Abel.

“Who should I kill first?”

Those eyes turned black.