I Just Wanted Revenge, But Everyone Loves Me - 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
It all began when I recovered my memories.
‘This useless thing!’
A rough shout, and my body went flying. Cold soup and bread scattered across the floor.
Eyes glaring down at me with fury.
‘Why, why won’t you cry! You need to cry so I can recoup my losses! Damn it. You vicious creature. I’ve starved you for days and you won’t shed a single tear!’
‘……’
‘Now cough up my jewels, you ungrateful wretch!’
And those cruel words kept coming.
‘When I come back, you’ll have cleaned up every drop of that mess! If there’s a single mark left, you’ll pay for it!’
Bang.
The man who’d been shouting slammed the door and left.
Just like old times.
Snapping out of my daze, I scrambled to the corner and frantically dug through the heap of odds and ends I’d collected. The mirror I finally found showed me my reflection.
Disheveled pink hair, blue eyes. Those puffed-up cheeks…….
Anyone could see I was just a little child.
But I was certain I’d been burned at the stake and died.
‘How is this possible?’
Brosia—an empire devoted to the divine.
As the illegitimate daughter of House Amelot, which held a place of prominence there, I possessed one extraordinary ability.
The power to extract gems from my tears.
Most people’s tears simply dry up and vanish, but mine did not.
Every tear I shed became a jewel, and the type changed depending on the emotion I felt.
If I cried from anger, I wept Rubies.
If I cried from sorrow, Sapphires.
If I cried from pain, Emeralds.
And finally,
‘If I cried from joy, Diamonds.’
In my entire life, I had only produced a Diamond once.
On my birthday, when my father, the Count Amelot, gave me a gift.
Not that he intended it—my half-sister had thrown away a Teddy Bear she thought was ugly, and he gave it to me instead. It happened to be my birthday, but still, it was the first gift I’d ever received from the Count.
So I wept with joy, and the Count happened to see it—
The tear transformed into a Diamond right before his eyes.
The moment he saw it, something in him snapped.
‘Cry more. Go on. You must cry so our house can prosper. His Majesty the Emperor is very pleased with your Diamonds. We must give him more. More.’
‘Emily needs her dress tailored, and we’re a bit short on funds.’
‘I’m starting a new venture, you see. The capital is just slightly insufficient.’
And so I began to be exploited for their greed.
‘So hurry and give us the jewels.’
Under the guise of family, they demanded sacrifice, and I was used without mercy. I couldn’t refuse.
When I produced gems, they praised me.
I loved that meager affection so desperately. As though they were my real family.
A single word of approval was sweeter than anything.
Looking back now, it was all meaningless.
‘The moment I stopped crying, everything changed.’
It happened on my tenth birthday.
My tears dried up as if by deception. I never understood why. No matter what I did, tears would not come.
My tear ducts ran dry, and my emotions slowly died.
Gems? Of course they stopped appearing. Perhaps that’s why the family began to spiral into madness.
They tormented me, cursing that there were no more gems to present to the Emperor.
When I finally couldn’t endure it and ran away,
‘She’s a demon! That woman has made a pact with demons……!’
They branded me with false accusations, and then,
To hide their own misdeeds, they destroyed me.
‘……I will never forgive them.’
The memory still made my teeth grind with rage.
“What are you up to, little one?”
While I was lost in thought, Veronica wrapped her arms around me from behind.
I pointed at the paper I’d been marking with colored pencil.
“I’m counting the days.”
It had already been a month since I arrived in this prison. A considerable amount of time had passed.
“My goodness, you’re sharp! When did our baby say she’d be getting out?”
“In three months.”
“Look at that—getting out early. Must be because you’re so young.”
Veronica poked at my cheeks playfully.
“What will you do when you get out? I still have six more months to go.”
“Vengeance.”
I gripped the colored pencil tightly in my hand.
“I’m going to repay them for everything they did. I’ll make them utterly ruined.”
And.
“I’m going to crush them all into dust.”
To take my revenge, I could join hands with anyone at all.
Even if it meant allying with a Dragon—the most dangerous being in all of Brosia.
‘I absolutely have to win him over.’
I was still young and weak.
Moreover, House Amelot was outwardly a prestigious family of considerable standing, even within the capital.
If they discovered I’d escaped, they would certainly come to recapture me or worse—I needed backing to protect myself from such danger.
Which meant,
“I’m going to live with all my strength from now on.”
‘……’
“Never again will I live like that.”
If I’m caught like this, it will hurt all over again.
‘Hmph.’
Let them think I’d simply accept it.
I twisted my lips and adjusted my grip on the colored pencil.
I had to bring House Amelot crashing down completely, for the sake of survival alone…….
“Oof!”
“Our dear Karin.”
Veronica suddenly pulled me into a tight embrace.
“What if we got out together? Would you want to live with your sister?”
Oh, not this again.
“You won’t be released for six more months.”
“Then we’ll just escape.”
Veronica tossed out this outrageous suggestion as casually as commenting on the weather, grinning wickedly.
“Don’t you trust your sister?”
“I do. But I also trust the prison guards.”
“Your sister is far more capable and cool than the prison guards, little one.”
With that, she nuzzled her cheek against mine.
It had been a month already. I surrendered and allowed her the contact without resistance.
‘I never thought we’d become this close.’
At first, I had been very wary of her…….
The moment I arrived, when other inmates tried to attack me, it was she who protected me. When I fell ill and lay suffering, it was she who stayed by my side.
In all my life, I’d never been cared for like that by anyone.
Of course, I didn’t know why she went to such lengths for me, but among all the adults I’d ever met, she was the gentlest.
‘Hmm?’
In that moment, catching her eyes without thinking, I parted my lips slightly.
‘Just now…….’
“What’s wrong, dear?”
“Oh, nothing.”
‘Did I imagine it?’
For just a brief instant, her eyes—
‘Weren’t blue, but rather——’
They seemed to turn golden.
But the doubt was short-lived.
I shook my head firmly.
‘That’s not what matters.’
Right now, I need to focus on how to take my revenge,
Nothing else.
* * *
“Hmmm.”
The afternoon sun blazed brightly.
After eating lunch heartily, I turned my thoughts to the careful plan I’d drawn up.
1. Win over the Duke and make him my guardian.
2. The moment I’m released from prison, go to my aunt.
3. Extract all of House Amelot’s secrets and find leverage against them.
4. Take revenge on the Imperial family for hoarding my tears.
The first priority was clearly number one.
‘Rodrigo Bancadium.’
It had been roughly three years since he was imprisoned in Iztail.
His crime: Regicide.
He was sentenced to Life Imprisonment for assassinating the Crown Prince.
‘If he were anyone else, he would have been executed long ago.’
Behind Rodrigo stood House Bancadium.
A family so powerful it appeared consistently throughout the history books, among the top three most prestigious houses in the realm.
Descendants who inherited the blood of the Dragon from the founding myths—that was House Bancadium.
While other nobles formed alliances and waged wars among themselves, House Bancadium stood alone in pride for a thousand years.
The only place where human law did not apply. The one place even the Imperial Family could not easily suppress.
And Rodrigo was the current head of that house.
He could not escape a prison sentence, but being spared execution itself was an enormous privilege.
Yet to have killed the Crown Prince…….
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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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