Chapter 25
Chapter 25
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: The Cursed Music Box
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That was why he could act without any hesitation even in front of the priest.
“I am Enoch, servant of Lux.”
“I am Paris Emporus. Pleased to meet you.”
He offered a handshake to Enoch. Enoch accepted it. After greeting Enoch, he turned his gaze back to Rachel.
“Rachel, I heard you had an accident, so I brought you a gift.”
At the baron’s gesture, one of his attendants brought over a small box.
When the baron opened the lid, there was a music box large enough to fill both of Rachel’s palms.
Enoch took a step forward but hesitated. It was because of Rachel’s gesture. For a very brief moment, it was a hand motion signaling him not to interfere.
He recalled Rachel’s words that he should not mention anything strange even if he noticed it.
“It’s so pretty! Thank you!”
Rachel smiled as if she knew nothing and accepted the music box. Enoch wanted to point it out but couldn’t step in.
Paris Emporus laughed at that.
“Rachel, I’m glad you like it.”
Deyner stared silently at the baron.
Rachel knew the baron had nothing more prepared. That was how it had always been. He showed little interest in Deyner, who was a boy.
In the past, she had thought it was because he had two sons and no daughters, so he doted on his niece.
But the reason he treated Rachel well was to lure her in as a sacrifice.
Rachel looked at the music box sitting in her palm.
Previously, she had thought there was a problem with this music box due to the aftermath of Henri’s black magic, but now she was certain that wasn’t the case.
She smiled as she received the music box, suspected to be a Curse Medium.
“I’ll treasure it.”
‘Throw it away!’
“I’m glad you like it so much!”
Rachel’s expression and her inner thoughts were completely at odds.
During her BJ streams, she had held back curses at chat messages that made her frown while keeping up a bright voice for the live commentary.
She believed that even if she was ignorant in other areas, she was good at acting. Especially smiling in front of someone she despised.
“You must be tired from the long journey. Please rest well.”
Evelyn instructed a maid to show him to his usual room.
“Thank you.”
Even after giving instructions to the maid, the baron headed up to the second floor as if it were his own home. His attendants followed him familiarly, dragging their luggage.
“Shall we head to our room then?”
Rachel linked her arm with Enoch’s and said.
“I’ll pass!”
Deyner glanced at the two with their arms linked, said that, and ran off to his room.
“I wonder if that kid has any sense at all...”
Enoch must have heard Rachel’s mutter but didn’t show it.
He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the music box in Rachel’s hand.
“Could you hold this for a moment?”
“Yes, yes.”
The music box transferred to his hand. He was certain his feeling wasn’t wrong.
Before he knew it, he had been dragged to Rachel’s room. The door closed. Rachel took the music box back from his hand.
“Why are you taking it back?”
Before Enoch could finish his question, Rachel threw the music box down. It shattered into pieces from the impact.
[Danger Level: 68%]
Rachel glanced at the blue window and covered her mouth as she said.
“Oh dear, I dropped it by accident!”
“Yes, it looks like an accident.”
Enoch smiled, having seen her throw it, and played along.
But soon, he looked at Rachel with a serious expression.
“You knew.”
“I figured it out.”
Rachel answered as if it were obvious.
In the original story, Rachel discovers a broken music box.
In games, when you find a defective item, you usually look for parts or tools to fix it. That’s how the game progresses.
She had thought she needed to repair the music box too, so she searched everywhere for a spring and fixed it.
But it turned out to be a music box that played a melody to awaken a sleeping undead.
In horror games, music boxes or pianos usually lull enemies or calm them down. In short, she had been completely tricked by this music box.
While Rachel reminisced about the past, Enoch slowly bent down to examine the music box fragments and picked up a thin metal piece among them. The back of the comb-like metal part had a red symbol drawn on it.
“May I ask for the full details?”
“Yes. That’s why I called you, Enoch. My uncle is a Pseudo-Contractor. And he’s targeting me as a sacrifice.”
“We must tell Evelyn—”
Enoch was ready to rush to Evelyn immediately, but Rachel grabbed his arm.
“If we tell Mother, she’ll try to kill the baron right away.”
“Black Sorcerers can be punished immediately.”
“It doesn’t work that way.”
Enoch sat in a chair to hear Rachel out. He neatly crossed his legs and looked at her with a straight gaze.
“There’s no evidence linking the baron to demons, and if Mother is brought to trial, she’ll be executed without fail.”
“Why? We have the Curse Medium. We can present it as evidence.”
“The baron is no pushover. Even if we confront him directly about this, he’ll wriggle out of it. Want to give it a try?”
At Rachel’s words, Enoch nodded. The two rehearsed what to say in the dining room.
Rachel also informed Enoch that if the baron died, it would signal other Black Sorcerers; that his brother Sari was an accomplice; and that there might be someone behind them.
“Why not tell Evelyn?”
“Because I saw a future where Mother dies if we do.”
It wasn’t that Rachel was hiding it because she wanted to.
Evelyn usually suppressed it well, but she didn’t compromise when it came to family.
Just thinking about the previous round. Who would have known she’d swing a knife right after saying she’d handle it herself?
Rachel still couldn’t forget that “I messed up” remark.
“Miss, it’s time for dinner.”
A maid knocked on the door to announce dinner time.
“Okay, I’ll be out!”
Rachel shouted loudly toward the door as if heading out, then grabbed Enoch’s hand and pulled him along.
“Let’s go out for now. This is all we need to prepare, right?”
Rachel snatched the metal piece from Enoch’s hand, wedged it between her index and middle fingers, and shook it. Enoch nodded.
“That’s sufficient.”
Rachel and Enoch left the room. Mary, the youngest maid in the mansion, was waiting in front of the door. She looked puzzled to see Enoch coming out from behind Rachel.
“You two were together?”
In other noble households, maids wouldn’t ask their mistress such questions.
It showed how free the atmosphere in this mansion was. Plus, Mary was young. She couldn’t contain her curiosity.
Rachel inwardly cheered and answered nonchalantly.
“I accidentally dropped the music box Uncle gave me as a gift, and something weird was inside, so I called the priest.”
Rachel emphasized “priest,” a title she didn’t usually use.
Mary peered over Rachel’s shoulder. Shards of the broken music box were scattered on the room floor.
“Something weird?”
“Yeah, it’s a secret, though.”
Rachel pretended to look around, emphasizing “secret.” At the same time, she showed the metal piece in her hand to Mary.
“You remember that cursed item that appeared in the mansion a while ago.”
“Yes.”
“And then, something with a similar symbol came out of the gift from Uncle.”
Rachel showed the metal piece to Mary so the symbol was clearly visible. Mary gasped.
“The priest said it’s definitely an ominous item. But Uncle probably has nothing to do with it. Right? So we have to keep it a secret.”
“Yes, yes.”
Mary hesitated, as if lost in thought for a moment, not answering crisply.
Rachel had told her to keep it secret, but in reality, she wanted the rumor to spread.
‘Like, the Emporus baron gave a cursed item as a gift.’
“I’ll leave the broken music box to you.”
“Yes, understood.”
She only needed the part with the curse symbol. The rest was unnecessary.
Rachel and Enoch arrived at the dining room. Evelyn and Deyner were already seated.
As Rachel and Enoch sat in their assigned seats, Paris Emporus entered the dining room.
She put on a gloomy expression in response.
“What happened? Your face looks pale.”
Evelyn asked. Rachel liked this about Evelyn.
When she lived as Jung Yu-ri, if her expression was bad at meals, the nagging about bad manners at the table would start first. Telling her to cheer up because she was in a bad mood was standard.
But Evelyn showed concern first instead of such words. She only nagged when Rachel truly failed to mind her manners.
Emotion welled up, but now was time to act. So Evelyn wouldn’t stab the baron with a knife but would only suspect him a little.
“I accidentally dropped the music box Uncle gave me.”
“Oh dear.”
Evelyn let out a word of regret.
“You didn’t get hurt, did you?”
“No. But it was from Uncle.”
Rachel trailed off while staring at the baron. He felt her gaze, sat down, and looked at her.
“It’s fine. It wasn’t expensive. I’m just glad you’re not hurt.”
He said that. But Rachel didn’t let it go.
She looked at him shyly, head slightly bowed, eyes glancing up slyly.
“But something strange came out of it.”
Rachel pulled out the metal piece she had brought. The comb-like fragment’s front was ordinary. But when Rachel turned it over, the back with the red symbol was revealed.
“It looked like that ominous thing we saw before, so I called Priest Enoch, and he said it’s a cursed item...”
As Rachel spoke innocently as if she knew nothing, the baron’s expression hardened.
‘Now, what will you do when you personally gifted a Curse Medium?’
Paris Emporus was cunning. Rachel didn’t think he’d reveal his true colors over something this minor.
His pale face flushed red. The baron glared, twisting his gentle features, and opened his mouth.
“How dare you!”
At his gesture, an attendant brought a cane. The baron snatched it, split it open, revealing a blade inside.
Paris Emporus slashed his attendant with the sword cane. The man collapsed, bleeding.
“You call this a gift and bring it to me?”
It happened in an instant. The maids serving food screamed, and even Evelyn was taken aback.
“Rachel, are you okay? Priest Enoch, Rachel doesn’t have anything wrong with her, does she?”
As if he hadn’t just slashed a person, the baron pretended to worry about Rachel and asked Enoch if she was fine.
Enoch rushed to the fallen man and checked his pulse, but he was already dead.
“I apologize for ruining the meal. I couldn’t contain my anger thinking that such an item was given to my dear niece. My apologies.”
“N-No, it’s fine. I would have done the same.”
But Rachel wasn’t fine. She hadn’t imagined the baron would kill his own subordinate so easily.
‘No, he’s the type to kill his own brother, so of course the life of a subordinate means nothing to him.’
“I won’t forgive the merchant who sold me that item either.”
He shifted the blame to the subordinate and the merchant who sold the item.