Divine Punishment?
Morning had dawned. From the cramped bed in the commoner dormitory—far narrower than the lavish ones used by nobles—Lulu opened her eyes as the alarm blared.
Riiing!!!
"Ahhh..."
Rubbing her eyes sleepily, she silenced the clock and soon murmured with a puzzled expression.
"...No nightmare today either."
They had plagued her without fail every single night since childhood. Her parents, gazing at her with warm smiles, suddenly looking at her like she was a bug and chasing her away. The neighborhood friends she'd played with at the playground, one by one suffering minor accidents until they began shunning her. The new friends who smiled and approached her despite it all, ending up gravely injured; the nun who embraced her to the end, falling into a coma. Scenes like these haunted her dreams, filling Lulu with all sorts of emotions.
A persecutory delusion that the world was isolating her to kill her. Despair that she could never be loved by anyone. And the impulse to end it all.
"Weird..."
But things were different now. For some reason she couldn't fathom, the nightmares had suddenly stopped a few days ago.
"........."
With the nightmares she'd thought would follow her forever now gone, what Lulu felt wasn't liberation or happiness—but bewilderment.
They had dragged her into deeper hell every day, nightmares she'd desperately wanted to stop. Yet she'd never imagined they could vanish overnight, like erasing a mistaken note with a rubber.
Knock knock.
"Lulu? Are you in?"
Lost in a daze for a while, Lulu snapped back only when the knock came.
"Ah, yes..."
She got out of bed, hastily tidying her messy hair, and opened the door. A girl in maid attire entered her view.
It was the little one Frey had brought home from the market alley one day and gifted to Lulu—a child with a sickly younger sibling.
"Are you okay, Lulu?"
"Huh? Okay how?"
Lulu tilted her head, staring down at her blankly before parroting the question.
"Your face looks so hollow."
"...Me?"
As Lulu frowned and asked, the girl nodded.
She'd never seen Lulu look so spaced out as she did today.
"Did... did he do something bad to you...?"
So the girl asked cautiously, her face pale with fear.
Though she'd been selling vegetables in the market alleys, she knew all too well the rumors about Frey, the empire's most infamous scoundrel.
And lately, mingling with the maids Frey had dubbed Lulu's "pets," her terror of him—the leader of the group that tormented them—had grown uncontrollably.
"N-no! I haven't even seen Master Frey yesterday, let alone met him!"
To the girl harboring such thoughts, Lulu frantically waved her hands.
"...Really?"
"Yes! I even went to say goodnight before bed, but he wasn't in his room."
Only then did the girl relax a bit, letting out a quiet sigh.
"Lulu, if anything hard happens, tell me. I'll help however I can."
"N-no need!!"
Lulu's face twisted in alarm as she raised her voice.
"L-Lulu...?"
"You can't help me. Remember that."
"But..."
"Please."
It was an instinctive reaction, born from watching everyone who'd tried to help her dragged into disasters big and small.
"...Ah."
The girl, looking at Lulu, bowed her head quietly.
"Thank you always, Lulu."
"Y-yes?"
"For protecting us from him."
"...?"
Lulu tilted her head in confusion at those words.
Over the past few years, her maids had endured senseless beatings and torture, treated worse than toys. She had no idea they'd concluded Frey—known for his womanizing and even keeping sex slaves in the mansion basement—showed them no interest thanks to her invisible aid.
Of course, it was a rumor Kania had deliberately spread to minimize the chances of the already frail Frey incurring more penalties.
But to the maids, it felt utterly real.
"I think you're misunderstanding... Master Frey doesn't do the things you imagine to me."
"...I see."
"Ah, no... it's true..."
Even as Lulu protested, sensing something off, the girl just nodded with a somber expression.
"Um... anyway, how's everyone doing lately?"
Lulu, eyeing her awkwardly, hurriedly changed the subject to lighten the mood. The girl smiled and began to reply.
"Me and the others... we're all living like it's a dream!"
"Really?"
"Yes! Thanks to your consideration, Lulu, my little sister's recovering in the hospital now! And the other maids say it's a miracle they don't get hit even once a day!"
As she said, the maids were indeed living dreamlike days.
A single tiny mistake—or even perfection if their master was in a foul mood—meant beatings until death. They'd been denied studies, fed garbage in cramped dark rooms, barely living as humans.
Now, perfect task completion drew no ire, and they even got paid with time to learn letters. Above all, the warm, tasty food in the commoner dormitory made their maid roles an irreplaceable treasure.
"Oh, right. A gift!"
"H-huh?"
To Lulu, who wore a strange expression listening, the girl suddenly pulled something from her bosom.
"Thank you for saving my sister!"
With those words, she placed a small rabbit doll in Lulu's hands.
Lulu unnie, thank you.
And tucked into that rabbit doll was a clumsy but heartfelt thank-you note from a girl who'd only recently learned to write.
"N-no, I can't accept this..."
"Then, see you later~!"
"...Ah."
Lulu, panicking to return the doll, could only mutter blankly as the girl dashed out.
"Right... it wasn't just the nightmares vanishing..."
Before she knew it.
"...Misfortune's fading too."
The effects of the Misfortune Mark—one she'd thought unbreakable—were gradually weakening.
By receiving love from Frey.
......
"Hey~ Lulu, what're you doing after class today?"
"Ah, wha?!"
As Lulu quietly reviewed the complex theory magic lesson alone, a few girls approached.
"Got time? We're grabbing lunch—wanna join?"
"N-no thanks!"
They invited her to eat together, but Lulu recoiled in horror.
"I-I prefer eating alone..."
"Huh? But... we ate together yesterday?"
"Th-that was..."
But as they looked puzzled, Lulu faltered, words failing her.
"Uh, well... you see..."
Of course, she'd been eating alone when the girls suddenly sat beside her, forcing her into company. Distracted watching from afar as Frey's assigned maids ate properly with utensils via her Demon Eyes, she hadn't even noticed them until the meal ended.
"So, together again today!"
"Yeah, you were the only one in our class not eating with us. It bugged us so much."
"By the way, Lulu, something good happen lately? Your complexion's better, dark circles fading..."
The kind-hearted Class A commoners, who'd pitied Lulu's isolation, seized the chance to approach again.
"Uh, uhhh..."
With no immunity to such kindness, Lulu found herself dragged along to the cafeteria by the girls.
What's... going on?
Soon, mixed in with the group, lining up, chatting as they portioned sides onto trays, heading to tables in line.
After this utterly novel experience, Lulu stared blankly, lost in thought.
Maybe... the curse is gone?
No nightmares for days—perhaps a sign all misfortune had vanished.
The only way to lift her mark: receive another's "love."
And a month ago, Frey had begun giving her love.
Not person-to-person, but person-to-pet... still, it was love.
"Hey, girls."
"...Yes?"
Thus thinking, Lulu quietly asked the students eating beside her.
"Anything... bad happen lately?"
"Bad?"
"Yeah, like misfortune striking... accidents... getting sick..."
Not cheery lunch talk, the girls looked startled—but Lulu's face was deadly serious.
"Hmm..."
This gathering was made to keep Lulu from loneliness, so they pondered one by one.
"Nah."
"Me neither."
"Lots of good stuff... but bad? Nope."
After a moment, they chimed in unison.
Weeks ago, massive compensation wrested from Frey; days ago, an anonymous sponsor. Class A's commoners were happier than ever.
No way... really?
Lulu's heart pounded fiercely.
The curse really lifting?
Petty woes like stubbing toes, breaking plates, losing textbooks still hit several times a day.
But since receiving Frey's love... no "major misfortunes" came.
They might've struck others—but according to those beside her, no.
Normally, anyone showing her interest or love met disaster the next day.
Finally... finally...
Deep in thought, pretending to eat with head down, Lulu's eyes reddened.
She finally felt the mark strangling her since childhood easing away.
Finally free...
"Oh yeah, heard about Frey?"
"Frey?"
Suppressing tears to continue eating, Lulu froze as the girls mentioned his name.
Right... Frey.
Last she'd seen, Frey seemed heavily affected by her misfortune—coughing blood, clutching his heart, staggering after accepting her as a "pet."
No, Frey's a cheap villain anyway...
But she couldn't stop lifting the mark now, so she shook her head, muttering inwardly.
And at this rate... it'll be gone soon. Just until then...
"That bastard collapsed."
"...What?"
Lulu parroted in shock at the girl's words.
"Rumor is, he's in critical condition!"
"Karma. Heaven's punishment."
"Totally... he tried buying us last time. Just thinking about it gives me chills..."
"......Um."
Growing anxious from their talk, Lulu asked softly.
"Do you know where Frey is now?"
"His room, probably? Heard he came back at dawn..."
"Gotta go."
"Huh? Wait! Where, Lulu?"
Lulu stood, hurrying from the cafeteria toward Frey's room.
"...Probably just exaggerated rumors,"
she muttered in a trembling voice.
......
Meanwhile.
"Kuhk! Kek...!"
"Please endure a bit longer, Young Master. You must purge the tainted blood from your body to regain even a shred of health."
With Kania's aid, Frey—still unconscious—continued expelling the accumulated bad blood.
"Ugh..."
And that blood was stained black, influenced by the soul-mingling with Kania.