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Chapter 1

What Layla desired was to be completely killed.

She would’ve preferred to die painlessly if possible, if it’s not possible to feel no pain, she wanted to die neatly.

Please, she hoped that a gentle murderer would come and kill her.

She has always prayed to God that a gentle savior would appear and take her life.

Being born with a cursed body, it was ironic that she believed in God, still that was Layla’s wish.

For someone to kill her.

A beautiful and cruel savior to take her life.

***

About an hour on a mountain road, and another thirty minutes in an uninhabited plain.

From Layla’s cabin, one had to walk like that to reach the Baron’s mansion.

Even after seeing the mansion from afar, she had to walk another ten minutes to reach the entrance of the mansion.

The entrance of the mansion was visible to Layla from a distance. As well as the guard’s frown.

Layla looked at her clothes before arriving.

She knew that no one would look at her appearance, but she always checked herself again because she didn’t want to look shabby there.

The more she approached the mansion, the more the guard’s frowned. Looking at their expression, as expected, Layla’s expression hardened.

Although she had no expression on her face originally, she now has a stiff expression that was like a person’s face carved in a rock.

“Uack! Where the hell is that smell coming from? I feel like throwing up.”

Hearing the guard talked to himself, Layla stopped on her feet. However, Layla immediately hurried her feet, and eventually arrived in front of him.

“Hey. Hey. Stop there.”

The guard standing at the entrance blocked Layla with the spear that he was holding.

“This is not a place where anyone can just walk in, this is the Baron’s mansion. Get lost… huh?”

The man flared his nose as he pointed at Layla with a grim expression. He then backed away while frowning.

“Uack! What is this smell!?”

The man was nauseated and even retching.

“Did you fall in a ditch? Or did you have fun with a corpse, what is it?”

The guard looked at Layla on alert, as if he was facing a zombie that had come back from it’s tomb.

He was filled with vigilance, disgust, and was grossed out.

“Put that spear away.”

Because of that, the spear that was pointing at Layla, dangerously grazed past the tip of her nose.

However, no one paid attention to it. To the guard that almost Layla, and to Layla that almost got hurt.

“What are you doing? You couldn’t do your job properly so I had to come out. What are you doing not cleaning up that stinky thing in front of my house?”

“Ah, yes, yes. I’ll clean it up right away.”

The guard approached, as if he was about to pull Layla away at any moment, but he then frowned again and hesitated a little. It must have been because he didn’t want to touch the stinky Layla.

“Just try and touch my body. I will tell my father right away.”

Layla had changed her mind about how it would be absolutely sweet to be stabbed to death by the spear of the man just a moment ago.

It was true that she wanted to die. No matter how painful it was to die by being stabbed on her throat, it seemed to be less painful than Layla’s life.

But not in front of this woman. She doesn’t want to show how she was miserably dying.

“You, what crazy words are you saying?”

The guard dismissed Layla’s words as an insane woman’s nonsense. And putting up with his disgust, he tried to grab her arm. Only, Layla quickly pulled her arm back.

“You’re a private soldier that gets paid by Baron Valencia. I’m definitely a part of the Baron Valencia family.”

The guard, who paused for a moment at Layla’s words, scoffed.

She was a small, thin, ugly-looking woman.

She was not just thin, she was too thin that it seemed like she wasn’t eating properly, and her complexion was so bad that he wondered if she was sick just until recently.

Her clothes were shabby, and the shoes she was wearing were old and had a hole on one side.

And the most crucial thing was the unspeakable stench that she gave off.

And she says she’s a noble?

A part of the Baron? The family of the gorgeous Ariadne, who was also standing at the entrance of the mansion, with charming blonde hair, and blue eyes as beautiful as jewels? It was the sound of a passing dog’s laugh.

“Hey! Look here! Stop saying crazy things. If you have the time to talk nonsense, just go and wash up.”

Ignoring the guard’s scoff, Layla took another step towards Ariadne who was on the other side.

“I want to see my Father.”

“…”

Ariadne, who was inside the gate, was silent.

“This crazy b*tch! Don’t force the Young Lady to talk, how dare you!”

“… Not here.”

The guard trying to chase away the crazy woman forcefully, heard a noble lady’s sullen voice.

His eyes widened in surprise and looked inside. He saw the still frowning Ariadne, looking at their way with a haughty expression.

There was no one but her. The beautiful and arrogant young lady Ariadne, whom he secretly admires, answered the crazy woman’s words.

It was as if they had the same father.

“What about Mother?”

“Not here.”

He was not just hearing things.

The young lady Ariadne, who said that she takes a bath several times a day, who washes her hands a dozen of times, and the one who said that hate dirty things, was talking to the filthy stinky woman.

“Lies.”

“What would you do if I lied to you? Both Father and Mother are not here to meet important guests. If you’re done, can you please get lost?”

Ariadne started to flap her fan. As if by doing so, Layla would disappear just like the smell blown away by the wind.

“Candle… it fell down so I came here.”

“So?”

Even though she knew what she was asking for, Ariadne still asked.

Candles were valuable items. The only people in their area who could buy candles were barons or wealthy merchants. Therefore, they would order as much as they needed, and they wouldn’t even be sold in the general market.

“I don’t know just how much farther we need to look after you.”

Ariadne, who was living comfortably and being waited on by the servants in the Baron’s mansion, said so to her poor older sister who was driven out to her cabin.

“Now that you’re old enough, shouldn’t you take care of yourself? Whether you get married and beg your husband, or make you own money. Just much longer are you going to live by livving off of us?”

Both Ariadne and Layla knew that what Ariadne said just now was absurd.

No man would marry someone who smelled like her. If they were a sane man at least.

Even if someone would show up, the Valencia could not officially marry her off.

Because there was no way they could present their eldest daughter, who was rumored to be a stinky witch, in front of people.

Ariadne sneered at Layla, who was staring at her, and pulled out her small purse.

She then took out a hundred shilling from it and threw it through the bar of the gate, as if she was giving alms to a beggar. A round copper rolled over and fell down, blocked by Layla’s shoe.

“If you need something, buy and use it.”

“I… You know I can’t go to the market.”

“Why can’t you go?”

Ariadne asked, pretending like she knew nothing.

The guard saw it. Ariadne, who had a frown on her face when she first arrived, at some point, began to smile.

It was not a good-natured smile. It was a smile imbued with the vicious pleasure of mocking and ridiculing the other party. 

At that mocking smile, Layla bit her lip.

“Haa… the people in our town really don’t know anything. The people in other towns would often catch and burn witches.”

With those last words, Ariadne had already gone inside while fanning.

Layla’s hand trembled as she stared intently at the copper that she had thrown away.

Her face, filled with a mix of contempt and humiliation, was paler than when she first arrived at the mansion. She then turned around, biting her lip to the point of bleeding.

Instead of her, the guard picked up the money on the ground.

He urgently looked inside the mansion, but the owner of money, Ariadne, had already disappeared in the beautiful garden.

When he looked at the other side, the skinny woman had already gone far away. And the stench dissipates slowly as well.