Translated by Wook
Edited by Wook
Any hurriedly returned to the merchant district. She wanted to let Renier know about this, however, she was a step too late. By the time Any arrived, Priya, who had left the house, was back.
“I’m really sorry, young Madame.”
Priya shed tears like chicken droppings. Edwin, who was standing next to Priya, had a sad expression on his face as he could not wipe away those tears.
[닭똥 같은 눈물 is literally tears like chicken droppings/shit :lmaocry: As for why the author uses this expression, it is actually often used in Korea to describe tears that form around the edges of the eyes into big teardrops that eventually succumb to gravity and fall to the ground, supposedly like droppings from a chicken’s butt.]
“It’s alright, Priya,” Renier said in a calm voice.
“I’m glad you came back. I had something I wanted to tell you.”
If Priya had been alone she was going to talk about the object she found under her bed, but with Edwin, the words needed to be put off until later.
“I don’t know what you want to talk about, but a little later…”
“Edwin.”
Renier cut off Edwin’s words.
“I also want to say something to you. So, I want the two of you to listen together.”
Edwin’s handsome forehead frowned, seemingly to think it was obvious what Renier had to say was about Priya and himself.
“Have I been being too harsh all this time? I’m sorry, Priya. It’s late, but I apologize.”
It wasn’t very sincere, maybe because it was only the raising curtain of what was coming soon.
“Young Madame…?”
“I was mean to you. So, as an apology, I decided to set aside all your debts.”
Priya was so surprised that she even forgot to cry.
“And I’ll pay you for what you’ve worked so far.”
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about right now…”
Priya was so confused, making the end of her words slurred. Priya’s reaction was understandable.
It would be a bit scary if the person who seemed to want to kill you until yesterday suddenly apologizes today.
“You are now free.”
But this process was necessary. Renier wanted to settle the divorce in a good way, like flowing water, without much noise.
Because now Renier can’t even be confident. Edwin also had Priya, but he was a nobleman.
Even if a married aristocrat has a mistress, especially if that aristocrat is married only to a commoner, it wasn’t a blemish in the first place.
But what if it’s the commoner who has a mistress? Renier could lose all her fortune to Edwin. It was a dirty and shameful deed, but that was the difference in their identity.
It was also the reason why Koronne made Renier an aristocrat.
“Wife, why are you doing this all of a sudden?”
Yah, well, I want to divorce you because you won’t leave Priya behind.
“I apologize to Priya and you. You were suffering because of me, but now that won’t happen anymore.”
Renier took a deep breath that was more like a sigh and opened her mouth with difficulty. No matter how many times she practiced inwardly, it was not easy for her to put it into practice.
But she had to say it.
“Let’s divorce.”
***
After saying that, Renier couldn’t be there any longer and ran into her room. Any tried to follow her, but Edwin was one step ahead.
“Are you telling me now that you want a divorce?”
“Yes.”
Edwin shook his head violently with a puzzled look on his face.
“It’s a pretty embarrassing proposition, Wife.”
“Isn’t this what you wanted?”
Renier felt Edwin’s reaction was weird, it almost seemed like he had regrets.
“Now you live with the person you want.”
“I would have said that I wasn’t in a relationship with Priya.”
“Then do you love me?”
Edwin, who had only answered Renier’s question well so far, was speechless. It was the reaction she expected, but seeing it in person made her heart a little sore.
“Why don’t you get a divorce if you don’t even love me?”
“…We can’t get a divorce right now.”
Edwin had a complicated face.
“Emily said she was bringing someone she would marry soon. I want to put off the divorce at least until she’s engaged.”
Emilie was Edwin’s younger sister. Renier nodded her head after pondering for a moment.
It really costs a lot of money to get married.
Renier considered this to be Edwin’s last request and agreed to do so.
“I understand. Okay, then.”
Edwin, who had stood silently for a moment, left, and Renier collapsed on the bed. It’s really over. She thought she had no regrets left, but at the moment, she only felt empty.
“Young Madame!”
Just as she was about to burst into tears, Any slammed the door open and entered.
“Now is not the time to cry.”
“I wasn’t going to cry…”
“Do you know what I’ve seen?”
Any put her handkerchief in Renier’s hand, before pulling out a chair and sitting down. Then she explained quickly and concisely the story of her visit to Priya’s house.
“So, all the stories of Priya we know are fake?”
“It seems so.”
The tears that were about to burst out were sucked in as if they had never happened.
“Why did she make up such a lie? Was she deliberately trying to approach Edwin?”
“Or maybe she did it on purpose to get into this mansion.”
Koronne is someone who saves and hoards money to an extreme. He doesn’t let too many employees do chores in the mansion.
Instead, he brings those who owe him and cannot pay him, and let them serve as servants.
Conversely, it means that anyone who does chores in the mansion owes Koronne.
“The jewel you mentioned last time. You said it was the key to awaken the statue.”
“Yeah, what about it?”
“Why didn’t Priya look for it when it’s gone?”
For a moment, silence fell in the room. Either she didn’t know it was gone, or she knew who took it, or both.
“Isn’t it suspicious that Priya disappeared on the same day that it disappeared?”
“But she wouldn’t know I took it.”
“Maybe she thought someone else took it?”
There are more than one suspicious points.
“If it was before Priya made a wish, she would try to take the jewel back.”
But the jewel is no longer in Renier’s possession.
When she made a wish, she put it in Veldemer’s mouth, and he absorbed it.
“Actually, there is something more urgent than that.”
“What are you so anxious about, young Madam…”
Any took a deep breath as if preparing for the coming disaster.
“I think we should have a wedding.”
“… my Lady.”
As the absurd speech made her almost unable to speak, the call that had been attached to Any’s mouth for a long time came out.
She then asked seriously.
“Are you really trying to go to jail?”
***
In the evening, around dusk, Renier put on a dark robe and deliberately turned a long way to the house where Veldemer was. Renier was coming and going from the mansion to Veldemer’s house every day.
It was fortunate that she could still have a good night’s sleep, but the problem was that she had to go to and from the mansion frequently.
For fear of being recognized by someone, Renier made a lot of turns every time she was heading to Veldemer.
“…?”
Today, as always, she was trying to enter through the back door, but the shadow of the wall caught her eye. Something was sticking out in the middle of an evenly straight shadow.
There’s a shadow, so it’s not a ghost.
“Hey, the one on the wall.”
It’s not scary if it’s not a ghost.
“Hwaa!”
Someone was hanging on the tall wall, and he was surprised that he had been found by Renier.
“You better get down before you fall.”
She got a hunch as soon as she saw him. The man hanging from the wall must be the wizard who made this house haunted. He was too clumsy to be called a thief. The man stopped and landed in front of Renier.
“Why are you stealing someone’s house?”
The man said shamelessly and took off the hood he was wearing. His gray hair fluttered in static electricity.
He doesn’t look old enough to have white hair. Nevertheless, Renier’s eyes narrowed.
“This is a house owned by the Merchant Koronne.”
“Then are you that Koronne?”
The man seemed to think of Renier as an employee of Merchant Koronne.
“No, I’m his daughter.”
The energy of the spirited man had been dampened. Renier was well aware of her father’s notoriety. She would say that it was sad, but it was also useful at certain times. Like now.
“Did you cast a spell on this house? Make it look like there’s a ghost hanging around?”
Renier expected a surprised reaction from the man. Perhaps a ‘How did you know that’ with a bewildered look, but he did not look surprised.
“Is it really him?”
The man’s reaction was nonchalant, as if it would be stranger if Veldemer couldn’t guess that.
“You’re very shameless for taking over someone else’s house.”
The villagers called the house a haunted house, but the upperclassmen called it ‘Koronne’s Worry’.
Koronne had spent a lot of money to buy the land and build this house, so when house prices fell and hit the floor, Koronne’s heartbreak was no joke.
“My father won’t let you go.”
“…I need a laboratory, but I don’t have the money.”
The man’s voice was shaking and faint as before.
“If you listen to me, I can help you. How about it? Will you do something I tell you to do?”
“What is it about?”
“This house has to be a haunted house for the time being. So, don’t go and talk about fake ghosts made with magic.”
The man who had been quietly listening to Renier opened his mouth.
“Is it to hide him?”
It was. Renier was going to hide Veldemer in this house for the time being.
If it turns out that the ghost was nothing, her father will immediately try to sell the house, and then Veldemer will have to find another place to live.
“The person you are hiding in this house is Veldemer, right?”
—
The wizard is named Chase.
He is engrossed in magic experiments, wasting all his fortune and living by occupying other people’s houses, but he has considerable knowledge of magic. And he knows about Veldemer.
‘Veldemer, the great wizard. It’s safe to say that the magic he created became the basis of current magic.’
According to Chase, he was a great wizard who is now mostly forgotten, but whoever knows him knows it.
‘And then one day, he suddenly disappeared. There is no record of why he disappeared.’
—
The great wizard suddenly disappeared one day. No one knows his whereabouts. Apparently, Veldemer was sealed to the statue and granted people’s wishes.
But, why?
“Where did Shapiro go?”
“He has a place to go.”
“Oh, I see. I brought some extra clothes.”
Renier put down a pack of clothes and glanced at Veldemer. Shapiro praised him as the great wizard, it would seem he was a really famous wizard.
He has great magic skills, and his looks are so good, he seems to have received a lot of love from God.
“Renier.”
“Yes?”
“You can’t look at me like that. You can’t share a bed with me until we get married,” Veldemer said firmly.
Renier wondered for a moment how the hell did she look at him just now. But there was something else she was really curious about. Why was he sealed in the statue? ‘Can I ask him that?’
“Hey, Veldemer, I have a question for you.”
Translated by Wook
Edited by Wook
Any hurriedly returned to the merchant district. She wanted to let Renier know about this, however, she was a step too late. By the time Any arrived, Priya, who had left the house, was back.
“I’m really sorry, young Madame.”
Priya shed tears like chicken droppings. Edwin, who was standing next to Priya, had a sad expression on his face as he could not wipe away those tears.
[닭똥 같은 눈물 is literally tears like chicken droppings/shit :lmaocry: As for why the author uses this expression, it is actually often used in Korea to describe tears that form around the edges of the eyes into big teardrops that eventually succumb to gravity and fall to the ground, supposedly like droppings from a chicken’s butt.]
“It’s alright, Priya,” Renier said in a calm voice.
“I’m glad you came back. I had something I wanted to tell you.”
If Priya had been alone she was going to talk about the object she found under her bed, but with Edwin, the words needed to be put off until later.
“I don’t know what you want to talk about, but a little later…”
“Edwin.”
Renier cut off Edwin’s words.
“I also want to say something to you. So, I want the two of you to listen together.”
Edwin’s handsome forehead frowned, seemingly to think it was obvious what Renier had to say was about Priya and himself.
“Have I been being too harsh all this time? I’m sorry, Priya. It’s late, but I apologize.”
It wasn’t very sincere, maybe because it was only the raising curtain of what was coming soon.
“Young Madame…?”
“I was mean to you. So, as an apology, I decided to set aside all your debts.”
Priya was so surprised that she even forgot to cry.
“And I’ll pay you for what you’ve worked so far.”
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about right now…”
Priya was so confused, making the end of her words slurred. Priya’s reaction was understandable.
It would be a bit scary if the person who seemed to want to kill you until yesterday suddenly apologizes today.
“You are now free.”
But this process was necessary. Renier wanted to settle the divorce in a good way, like flowing water, without much noise.
Because now Renier can’t even be confident. Edwin also had Priya, but he was a nobleman.
Even if a married aristocrat has a mistress, especially if that aristocrat is married only to a commoner, it wasn’t a blemish in the first place.
But what if it’s the commoner who has a mistress? Renier could lose all her fortune to Edwin. It was a dirty and shameful deed, but that was the difference in their identity.
It was also the reason why Koronne made Renier an aristocrat.
“Wife, why are you doing this all of a sudden?”
Yah, well, I want to divorce you because you won’t leave Priya behind.
“I apologize to Priya and you. You were suffering because of me, but now that won’t happen anymore.”
Renier took a deep breath that was more like a sigh and opened her mouth with difficulty. No matter how many times she practiced inwardly, it was not easy for her to put it into practice.
But she had to say it.
“Let’s divorce.”
***
After saying that, Renier couldn’t be there any longer and ran into her room. Any tried to follow her, but Edwin was one step ahead.
“Are you telling me now that you want a divorce?”
“Yes.”
Edwin shook his head violently with a puzzled look on his face.
“It’s a pretty embarrassing proposition, Wife.”
“Isn’t this what you wanted?”
Renier felt Edwin’s reaction was weird, it almost seemed like he had regrets.
“Now you live with the person you want.”
“I would have said that I wasn’t in a relationship with Priya.”
“Then do you love me?”
Edwin, who had only answered Renier’s question well so far, was speechless. It was the reaction she expected, but seeing it in person made her heart a little sore.
“Why don’t you get a divorce if you don’t even love me?”
“…We can’t get a divorce right now.”
Edwin had a complicated face.
“Emily said she was bringing someone she would marry soon. I want to put off the divorce at least until she’s engaged.”
Emilie was Edwin’s younger sister. Renier nodded her head after pondering for a moment.
It really costs a lot of money to get married.
Renier considered this to be Edwin’s last request and agreed to do so.
“I understand. Okay, then.”
Edwin, who had stood silently for a moment, left, and Renier collapsed on the bed. It’s really over. She thought she had no regrets left, but at the moment, she only felt empty.
“Young Madame!”
Just as she was about to burst into tears, Any slammed the door open and entered.
“Now is not the time to cry.”
“I wasn’t going to cry…”
“Do you know what I’ve seen?”
Any put her handkerchief in Renier’s hand, before pulling out a chair and sitting down. Then she explained quickly and concisely the story of her visit to Priya’s house.
“So, all the stories of Priya we know are fake?”
“It seems so.”
The tears that were about to burst out were sucked in as if they had never happened.
“Why did she make up such a lie? Was she deliberately trying to approach Edwin?”
“Or maybe she did it on purpose to get into this mansion.”
Koronne is someone who saves and hoards money to an extreme. He doesn’t let too many employees do chores in the mansion.
Instead, he brings those who owe him and cannot pay him, and let them serve as servants.
Conversely, it means that anyone who does chores in the mansion owes Koronne.
“The jewel you mentioned last time. You said it was the key to awaken the statue.”
“Yeah, what about it?”
“Why didn’t Priya look for it when it’s gone?”
For a moment, silence fell in the room. Either she didn’t know it was gone, or she knew who took it, or both.
“Isn’t it suspicious that Priya disappeared on the same day that it disappeared?”
“But she wouldn’t know I took it.”
“Maybe she thought someone else took it?”
There are more than one suspicious points.
“If it was before Priya made a wish, she would try to take the jewel back.”
But the jewel is no longer in Renier’s possession.
When she made a wish, she put it in Veldemer’s mouth, and he absorbed it.
“Actually, there is something more urgent than that.”
“What are you so anxious about, young Madam…”
Any took a deep breath as if preparing for the coming disaster.
“I think we should have a wedding.”
“… my Lady.”
As the absurd speech made her almost unable to speak, the call that had been attached to Any’s mouth for a long time came out.
She then asked seriously.
“Are you really trying to go to jail?”
***
In the evening, around dusk, Renier put on a dark robe and deliberately turned a long way to the house where Veldemer was. Renier was coming and going from the mansion to Veldemer’s house every day.
It was fortunate that she could still have a good night’s sleep, but the problem was that she had to go to and from the mansion frequently.
For fear of being recognized by someone, Renier made a lot of turns every time she was heading to Veldemer.
“…?”
Today, as always, she was trying to enter through the back door, but the shadow of the wall caught her eye. Something was sticking out in the middle of an evenly straight shadow.
There’s a shadow, so it’s not a ghost.
“Hey, the one on the wall.”
It’s not scary if it’s not a ghost.
“Hwaa!”
Someone was hanging on the tall wall, and he was surprised that he had been found by Renier.
“You better get down before you fall.”
She got a hunch as soon as she saw him. The man hanging from the wall must be the wizard who made this house haunted. He was too clumsy to be called a thief. The man stopped and landed in front of Renier.
“Why are you stealing someone’s house?”
The man said shamelessly and took off the hood he was wearing. His gray hair fluttered in static electricity.
He doesn’t look old enough to have white hair. Nevertheless, Renier’s eyes narrowed.
“This is a house owned by the Merchant Koronne.”
“Then are you that Koronne?”
The man seemed to think of Renier as an employee of Merchant Koronne.
“No, I’m his daughter.”
The energy of the spirited man had been dampened. Renier was well aware of her father’s notoriety. She would say that it was sad, but it was also useful at certain times. Like now.
“Did you cast a spell on this house? Make it look like there’s a ghost hanging around?”
Renier expected a surprised reaction from the man. Perhaps a ‘How did you know that’ with a bewildered look, but he did not look surprised.
“Is it really him?”
The man’s reaction was nonchalant, as if it would be stranger if Veldemer couldn’t guess that.
“You’re very shameless for taking over someone else’s house.”
The villagers called the house a haunted house, but the upperclassmen called it ‘Koronne’s Worry’.
Koronne had spent a lot of money to buy the land and build this house, so when house prices fell and hit the floor, Koronne’s heartbreak was no joke.
“My father won’t let you go.”
“…I need a laboratory, but I don’t have the money.”
The man’s voice was shaking and faint as before.
“If you listen to me, I can help you. How about it? Will you do something I tell you to do?”
“What is it about?”
“This house has to be a haunted house for the time being. So, don’t go and talk about fake ghosts made with magic.”
The man who had been quietly listening to Renier opened his mouth.
“Is it to hide him?”
It was. Renier was going to hide Veldemer in this house for the time being.
If it turns out that the ghost was nothing, her father will immediately try to sell the house, and then Veldemer will have to find another place to live.
“The person you are hiding in this house is Veldemer, right?”
—
The wizard is named Chase.
He is engrossed in magic experiments, wasting all his fortune and living by occupying other people’s houses, but he has considerable knowledge of magic. And he knows about Veldemer.
‘Veldemer, the great wizard. It’s safe to say that the magic he created became the basis of current magic.’
According to Chase, he was a great wizard who is now mostly forgotten, but whoever knows him knows it.
‘And then one day, he suddenly disappeared. There is no record of why he disappeared.’
—
The great wizard suddenly disappeared one day. No one knows his whereabouts. Apparently, Veldemer was sealed to the statue and granted people’s wishes.
But, why?
“Where did Shapiro go?”
“He has a place to go.”
“Oh, I see. I brought some extra clothes.”
Renier put down a pack of clothes and glanced at Veldemer. Shapiro praised him as the great wizard, it would seem he was a really famous wizard.
He has great magic skills, and his looks are so good, he seems to have received a lot of love from God.
“Renier.”
“Yes?”
“You can’t look at me like that. You can’t share a bed with me until we get married,” Veldemer said firmly.
Renier wondered for a moment how the hell did she look at him just now. But there was something else she was really curious about. Why was he sealed in the statue? ‘Can I ask him that?’
“Hey, Veldemer, I have a question for you.”
