After Ethan left, the room was completely empty.
I stared into the air with shaking eyes and muttered,
“Edith… was an Awakened?”
Awakening usually happens around puberty.
But in rare cases, abilities appear later in adulthood. That had happened to me.
Edith could be the same type.
The problem was that there was nothing about that in this damn novel.
“Did she not know her ability had awakened? Or maybe she didn’t know what kind of power it was, so she kept it secret for now…?”
I thought of several possibilities, then shook my head.
Both seemed unlikely.
If numbers appeared that clearly, there was no way she wouldn’t have noticed.
And even if she didn’t know what kind of power it was, Edith wasn’t the type to hide it.
If anything, she would have shouted it to the whole world.
“Unless… she died in demonic energy and came back to life?”
At that moment, a thought flashed through my mind.
— They said she was found inside a monster’s mouth. Is that even possible?
In the novel, it never explains exactly how Edith died.
But no matter what, she was exposed to demonic energy and died. Then I possessed her body and she came back to life.
Which means…
“…The awakening condition was fulfilled.”
Could that really be it?
It sounded ridiculous, but strangely believable. A dry laugh escaped me.
“Ha. I don’t even know if I should be happy about this.”
If the real Edith were here, she would have been jumping with joy.
It had been her lifelong wish.
And on top of that, being able to see the rampage rate of Awakened people…
Most Awakened feared rampage more than dying in battle.
Of course they did. Who would want to be called a hero of the era, only to fall into madness, become a mass murderer, and die like a dog?
And the higher the rank of the ability, the higher the chance of rampage.
Because the more energy they used, the faster demonic energy would corrupt them.
‘That’s why the S-rank male leads were described as extremely sensitive.’
If it were Edith, she would have revealed this ability and gladly used it for the male leads.
Not because she was purely kind. Not because she loved them.
But because she would have wanted to ease her long-standing loneliness and prove her worth.
No matter how vicious a villainess she was, she was still just a young woman who had barely become an adult.
‘She’s twenty now, right?’
I thought about Edith’s age and gave a bitter smile.
“I’m sorry.”
I spoke in a dry voice to the real Edith, whether she was truly dead or not.
This might have been your chance.
The chance to finally receive the attention and affection you always wanted.
“But I’m not that sentimental.”
I would never give anything to people who treated me like trash.
Not my power. Not my feelings.
“Sixty-four percent…”
I remembered what I had seen earlier with Ethan.
The trace of demonic energy around his waist.
‘When it fills up to his head and reaches 100%, he’ll probably rampage.’
I curled one corner of my lips in a cold smile.
“That’s still manageable, isn’t it?”
You could have at least been a little kinder to your stepsister who miraculously came back to life.
If you had, I might have told you to go see Ruellyn sooner.
No.
He wasn’t worth even that.
Before Edith died, he had ignored her too.
“Shameless bastard.”
And yet he had the nerve to ask if I had become a monster.
The novel said the male leads felt guilty about Edith’s death. Guilty? What a joke.
From what I saw, Ethan Blake was a sociopath.
The duke’s troublesome real daughter dying must have secretly pleased him.
Now that she was alive again, how annoyed he must be.
“…But what was that scene I saw earlier?”
Suddenly, I remembered the illusion I saw right before my power awakened.
Ethan clinging to Edith’s feet, groaning.
And her gently stroking him…
“Ugh, that’s disgusting!”
No, no!
I shook my head violently, trying to get rid of the image.
That kind of scene never appeared in the original story. And after seeing how Ethan glared at me with pure disgust earlier, it made no sense at all.
“Was it some kind of delusion because I was jealous of Ruellyn?”
Maybe. It was possible.
Maybe Edith once dreamed of becoming a purifier like Ruellyn.
But why him of all people?
“Ha… I don’t know.”
I held my throbbing head and collapsed onto the bed.
I had only been awake for a short time, yet too many things had happened.
“And why is the story already changing from the original?”
I had only been here for two days. Wasn’t this too cruel for someone who had just possessed a body?
I shut my eyes tightly, trying to escape reality.
When I opened them again, I wished this would all turn out to be a dream.
A strange dream with a pretty decent idea.
‘If I wake up, I’ll suggest to Dr. Kang that we develop a rampage-rate detector…’
The next day.
Sadly, my desperate wish did not come true.
When I opened my eyes again, I was still inside this cursed novel.
And then—
“…It’s already been a week since the funeral?!”
The maid who came to attend me corrected my terrible misunderstanding.
Horribly enough, today marked my seventh day since possessing this body.
After waking up in a coffin, screaming, and fainting, not one day—but a whole week—had passed.
“Then… was I asleep the entire time?”
“Yes. I woke you from time to time to give you medicine and some porridge.”
I had no memory of it at all.
I wasn’t a hibernating bear. How could I sleep for a week and not know?
The physician had said my strength was too weak, so my body was recovering.
‘Well… I did go into cardiac arrest and come back to life. I wouldn’t be fine.’
Thinking back, after talking with Ethan yesterday, I had fallen asleep from exhaustion and only woke up this morning.
As soon as I realized that, anger flared inside me.
‘So those damn people treated someone who just woke up after a week like that?!’
Even if Edith had brought her death upon herself…
She was still family.
‘They didn’t have to make it so obvious that they weren’t sad or worried at all.’
The more I thought about it, the more ridiculous it felt. I swallowed my curses and let out a hollow laugh.
‘Family? Who am I to say that?’
There are parents who don’t care even when their own child is dying.
I had learned that lesson early in life. It was laughable for me to get angry over Edith’s situation now.
Quickly shaking off those useless emotions, I spoke to the maid.
“More importantly… thank you.”
“Pardon?”
“You were the one taking care of me this whole time.”
“Oh, no! That’s just my duty!”
She waved her hands in panic.
“What’s your name?”
“N-Nancy.”
“Nancy.”
“I don’t know if you remember… but I used to work at your country villa. Five years ago, you brought me to the ducal house.”
She added that carefully while watching my expression.
‘She did something like that? That’s unexpected.’
In the novel, it said no maid volunteered to serve the cruel young lady out of fear.
But Nancy seemed friendly toward me.
I smiled gently.
“I see. I’m glad I brought you.”
Nancy’s eyes widened.
Soon her freckled young face turned red.
“I-I’ll go bring your meal!”
Embarrassed, she hurried out of the room.
A little later, she returned with a tray and set the table.
The food was all delicious.
There were many dishes, all easy to digest. It was clear someone had been considerate.
‘I thought they would starve me and just leave me to die…’
Compared to what I expected after the duke’s cold attitude yesterday, this wasn’t bad treatment.
I had even worried that the servants would look down on me, but it didn’t seem that extreme.
Feeling somewhat relieved, I asked Nancy a few questions.
“Did anything happen after the funeral?”
“No! It was a bit chaotic, but everyone left while celebrating your recovery.”
“And Father… how is he?”
“The Duke went to the palace, and the young master left for Ezenia.”
That wasn’t what I meant. I wanted to know his reaction after I woke up.
‘Why should I care what they’re doing anyway?’
My appetite faded.
“Ezenia?”
“Yes. It’s the area where your villa is located. A gate appeared nearby…”
That caught my attention.
‘Did he rush there to see the female lead?’
Because of my supposed memory loss, Nancy told me many things without suspicion.
Ezenia was a small town near the capital. In the novel, it was described as “Ethan’s summer villa.”
But according to Nancy, the villa originally belonged to Edith.
It had been left to her by the former duchess—Edith’s grandmother.
‘The former duchess… wasn’t she the one who spoiled Edith rotten?’
— Hmph! Grandmother said it’s fine even if I don’t have powers. I’m the only daughter of the empire’s duke.
— If Grandmother were still alive, getting rid of you would be nothing…
I remembered Edith often bringing up her grandmother.
When I read the novel, I had wondered how much she had been spoiled to keep clinging to her dead grandmother even as an adult.
Sadly, after Edith’s death, the villa would fall into Ethan’s hands.
In the novel, Ethan took Ruellyn there and enjoyed secret dates.
It was nothing more than one of the romantic spots for the male and female leads.
But Nancy continued chatting about things never mentioned in the novel.
How much Edith loved that place.
How many memories she had there.
How deeply she missed her grandmother.
Listening to her, I realized something. My chest felt heavy.
‘…That’s why he took Ruellyn there.’
— What were you thinking, bringing a purifier to the site of a gate outbreak?
He hadn’t been heading to the gate.
He had been going to Ezenia.
To protect the villa that would soon be covered in demonic energy