I Bought the Villains With Money - Chapter 2

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 2.
“……Miss, you shouldn’t sleep with your eyes open like that.”
Each time my body swayed, my head throbbed. I pressed my aching head with both hands.
‘What? My head? My hands?’
Strange. I’d just had my throat cut by a blade moments ago, yet my head was the one pounding.
“Cassion?”
“Cassssion? Where did you get that name—from a novel? Miss! I’ve told you not to read novels before bed.”
The moment I called out the name of the person I’d met just before dying, a familiar but youthful voice chided me.
‘What in the world is happening?’
I grabbed my head, struggling to gather my wits.
“Today is when we appoint Lord Colkos as your guardian, isn’t it? How can you be so unfocused on such an important day?”
The scolding continued relentlessly.
A guardian, the Royal Palace, Lord Colkos… and the voice of Jenisse, nagging me!
Lightning flashed through my mind. I bolted upright and rushed to the mirror.
My hand went straight to my throat. The neck that a scythe had cleaved clean through—it was smooth as glass, not a scar in sight. The filthy, worn appearance I’d had before death was gone, replaced by the soft, delicate face of a young child staring back at me.
“Jenisse, how old am I right now?”
“Miss, are you hurt somewhere? How old are you? You’re thirteen, of course.”
I’d come back. To the past! To when I was thirteen. Goosebumps covered my skin. My jaw fell open, and I pressed it shut with both hands.
“I came back! I came back! Jenisse!”
I threw my arms around Jenisse.
“Oh my, Miss?”
Startled by the sudden embrace, Jenisse hesitated before wrapping her arms around me in return.
‘Was that legend real? Is Salvation really the reversal of one’s life?’
Questions piled upon each other, but I brushed them aside. Now that I was alive again, the reasons didn’t matter.
In that instant, I made a decision about the course of my life.
‘The vengeance they promised in Hell—I’ll carry it out in this life.’
And,
‘Your Highness Cassion, this time it’s my turn to save you.’
I thought of Cassion, who had come to the Execution Ground and helped me.
Though he was declared dead, he was a prince. Yet he’d stood by my side, falsely accused of treason against the state.
What had become of him after my execution? I couldn’t imagine he’d had a good fate.
Compared to the meager sympathy I’d shown him, Cassion had given me far more than I deserved.
Joy at my return, relief at being alive, and hope at the prospect of revenge—tears spilled from my eyes without restraint.
“Miss? Did you have a nightmare?”
Jenisse fidgeted beside me. I didn’t bother holding back my tears; I sobbed openly.
I wished what I’d endured had only been a nightmare, but the turbulent emotions churning in my chest proved it was no dream.
So then, it was time for vengeance.
***
A week had already passed since I’d turned back time.
I lay on my bed, squirming contentedly as warm sunlight fell across my face. Bright daylight streamed through the window.
A soft, lavender-scented quilt; a vase of roses on the table. The room was so familiar that the word “familiar” itself felt strange—a sanctuary of comfort I’d long known.
That familiar comfort wrapped around me warmly. Though I wanted to sleep longer, I sat up.
“Cassion.”
Since the moment I learned I’d returned, he hadn’t left my mind.
‘The memory was just too vivid.’
He’d cast aside so much to come to the Execution Ground for me, and all over a single act of kindness. The Capital and the Palace must have exhausted him.
‘I wonder if he’s doing well. Since I’m thirteen and Cassion is two years younger, he’d be eleven now.’
At the thought of his age, a bitter taste filled my mouth. Even out of decency, I couldn’t claim he was doing well.
In his childhood, he had an unfortunate life. A prince neglected by the king was destined for hardship, but Cassion’s body was weak besides.
Skin and bones, painfully thin, and smaller in stature than his peers. And his clothes, his hygiene—his threadbare, grimy appearance flickered through my memory.
That alone was pitiful enough, but there was someone beside him who tormented him.
‘That bastard Dayson.’
At the thought of the first prince who’d driven me to death, curses came unbidden.
“Miss, Lord Colkos has come to call. Will you refuse to see him again today?”
Jenisse’s voice broke through my reverie.
Since my return, Lord Colkos had come looking for me several times. I’d turned him away each time with various excuses.
I glanced at the calendar. Today, I decided, I would have to see him.
“Tell him to wait.”
I slowly rose from the bed.
Could I face Lord Colkos without losing my temper? That seemed unlikely.
“Don’t writhe about like some wretched creature. Just die cleanly. The more you thrash, the more you diminish the Irenber name. Don’t worry about the Family—I, Colkos, shall become the Family Head and guide us well.”
Count Colkos’s words, spoken in the Prison where he’d come to flap his mouth, came back to me. Pretending to love me, gesturing as though making some grand sacrifice on my behalf—but the moment I was locked away, he’d shed his mask entirely.
He must have orchestrated my imprisonment as well. The uncle I’d trusted in childhood because of blood ties, to whom I’d entrusted my very safety, was nothing but a serpent bent on swallowing the Family and me whole.
‘No. A leech sucking the blood of others—better to call him a parasite.’
My life’s parasite.
I finished preparing to leave, pouring curses on him silently all the while.
“You came about the Guardian matter?”
“Yes, the Guardian designation we were supposed to complete last week—it’s been postponed.”
The first thing I’d done on my return was to place a hold on Guardian designation. The Family had been thrown into chaos. People came seeking an explanation.
I simply kept my mouth sealed. I hadn’t yet considered what would come after refusing to name Count Colkos as my Guardian.
I despised the Guardian system itself.
The Guardian system existed to protect both Family and heir when the sole remaining successor to the House was still a minor.
Until the heir came of age and became the official Family Head, the Guardian exercised the Head’s authority on the heir’s behalf.
In short, a Guardian was both the minor Head’s protector and the Family’s true leader.
This made the selection process extraordinarily rigorous. Some Houses engaged in covert struggles just for the chance to appoint a Guardian.
Yet Count Colkos had become Guardian without meaningful opposition. Because I had given him my full support.
‘Back then I genuinely thought he cared for me. Never imagined he meant to devour my fortune and power wholesale.’
Foolish past self, reflect upon this!
In any case, though the Guardian system was born of good intentions, it was riddled with problems.
I muttered my discontent silently.
‘Ugh, I just don’t want to name a Guardian at all. There’s no guarantee another person would be any different from Count Colkos. I’d manage the House’s affairs better myself—isn’t there some way? This law is absolutely worthless.’
As my expression grew increasingly troubled, Jenisse spoke to me gently.
“Miss, please don’t worry so. There’s pressure to name a Guardian, but nothing can be done without your permission.”
Jenisse, having noticed my displeasure with Count Colkos, offered me comfort.
Though Jenisse looked to the future with optimism, if I took no action, Count Colkos would naturally become Guardian.
Even if the sky fell, I had no wish to make Count Colkos my Guardian—so I’d have to settle that first.
‘No more dithering. Let’s end this today.’
I checked my appearance one last time. Opening the door, I spoke to Jenisse.
“Let’s go, Jenisse.”
I needed to show the Count that I was no longer who I once was.
***
“It’s been a while, my dear niece.”
Count Colkos—tall and gaunt, his face slick with a greasy sheen—greeted me with a broad smile.
Dressed in finery, Count Colkos resembled a drowned male peacock: all pretense and no grace.
According to my investigation since the return, Count Colkos’s finances were in shambles.
He had the hunger for money and the appetite for ventures, but none of the cunning to achieve them.
Given his financial state, those designer clothes he wore and the dozen-plus rings on his fingers were fantasies he could never afford in a thousand lifetimes.
Yet there he strutted, bedecked like royalty. I could guess what he’d been boasting about.
‘He must have told everyone he’d become my Guardian. Or that he was certain to become it.’
The mere possibility of becoming Guardian to the Irenber Family changed how the banks treated him.
Knowing he’d been trading on the Family name infuriated me.
‘Maybe I should just leave? Do I even need to waste time on Count Colkos? Looking at that face any longer and I might retch.’
As I entertained that thought, the Count approached.
“You’ve been ill, I hear—your cheeks have hollowed terribly. What a pity.”
Count Colkos opened his arms wide to embrace me. I stepped back. In the past, I would have thrown myself into his arms without hesitation. The Count’s eyes narrowed.
“You seem unwell. Shall I call again another time?”
I barely swallowed the words telling him to leave at once. Better to resolve this quickly and rest afterward.
“Please, sit. I had something to discuss with you, and your coming is timely.”
“Indeed. We have much to discuss, you and I. Hah hah hah.”
Having been turned away at the door more than once, Count Colkos was delighted by my simple invitation to sit. He settled across from me, his smile never faltering.
“Shall I speak first, Uncle, or would you prefer to?”
“About what?”
“Your business—you came here for a reason, didn’t you?”
“Not precisely. I heard you’d been quite ill, and worry brought me to see you.”
Count Colkos lied without batting an eyelash.
‘Not a trace of sincerity in it.’
The drooping brows, the forced wrinkles—within them glimmered a hunger now plain for all to see.
Why hadn’t I perceived it before?
‘Swayed by false comfort offered like charity.’
The past me was truly foolish. I awarded myself a failing grade once more.
“It seems you have nothing to say, so I’ll speak for both of us.”
Count Colkos nodded, inviting me to continue.
The sight of him straightening his posture as if he were all ears made me want to turn away. I wondered whether he could maintain that benevolent expression after hearing what I had to say. I declared my words with deliberate clarity.
“I’m withdrawing my plan to appoint you as my Guardian.”
“What did you just—”
Count Colkos’s eyes bulged as though they might burst from their sockets.
He lurched upward so violently that his half-risen form trembled. I spelled it out for him once more, each word distinct and cutting.
“You cannot be my Guardian.”
The shock shattered the light in Count Colkos’s eyes into fragments.
Did my eyes look like that when he came to the Prison and told me to die? Goosebumps rose across my skin, fed by the exquisite thrill of vengeance.
I Bought the Villains with Money (Serialized)
Author │ Lee In-hye
Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyeong
Published by │ JPlusmedia Co., Ltd. – Tiramisu
Marketing │ Han Jae-hyeok
Address │ 1101, 11F, Ace Techno Tower 8th, 11 Digital-ro 33-gil, Guro-gu, Seoul
Email │ [email protected]
Website │ http://blog.naver.com/jayplemedia1
© Lee In-hye 2021
※This work is published by JPlusmedia Co., Ltd. under contract with the copyright holder,
and the contents may not be used in any form or manner without permission from the company and author.
Violation of this may result in civil and criminal legal liability.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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