Chapter 4
For a moment, I was puzzled.
But since it wasn’t particularly difficult work, I didn’t think too much about it and moved on without any real suspicion.
The last page contained the working conditions and salary, just as I had heard before coming here.
The monthly salary written in the contract Bael had given me increased every month.
By a whopping 3 gold coins.
“These conditions are much better than what Mr. Roan told me earlier. Is this really okay?”
“Of course. His Grace the Duke approved it.”
At this rate, I would definitely be able to make an enormous amount of money even if I worked here for only a year.
“Oh, but I think the severance pay is written incorrectly…”
It was ten times the amount of the advance payment!
3,000 gold coins was enough to buy a small mansion in the capital.
I couldn’t believe they could actually hire someone under conditions like these.
Was Winsphere beyond imagination not only in terms of military power, but also in terms of wealth?
“No. You read it correctly.”
Bael smiled and nodded, making it clear that I hadn’t made a mistake.
I looked back and forth between the severance pay and Bael.
Somehow, his tired-looking face, with those dark circles beneath his eyes, had begun to look almost divine to me.
“My goodness. With conditions like these, I want to bury my bones here right away.”
I was completely serious.
Where could a mere baron’s daughter possibly find a job that paid this much?
Other than the fact that I wouldn’t be allowed to freely leave the territory of Winsphere during the contract period, these were very good conditions.
No.
They were the best conditions imaginable.
I decided there was no need to read the rest too carefully and quickly flipped through the pages.
After reading for a while, I came across an unusual clause.
“Oh, but what is this clause?”
“Which one do you mean?”
I read aloud the clause concerning retirement.
“Since the advance payment was given on the condition that I work for three years, I may negotiate my retirement after that period. However, if I come to learn the secrets of the ducal family, I will be bound to this place for the rest of my life.”
Bael explained with a bright smile.
“Most powerful noble families have at least one secret that must never be allowed to leak outside. This clause exists to prevent that from happening.”
That made sense, but…
For some reason, I couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling it gave me.
I carefully asked Bael,
“Mr. Bael, did you become bound to Winsphere because you learned its secrets?”
At my serious question, he burst out laughing.
He laughed so much that there were even slight tears in the corners of his eyes.
“Of course not. I’m here of my own free will.”
“Right? Haha.”
“You don’t need to worry too much about this clause. Unless something unusual happens, isn’t it unlikely that Miss Walker will ever learn the secrets of this place?”
Unless someone openly told me, there was no way I would learn the secrets of Winsphere, one of the pillars of the Empire.
Besides, an ordinary family would probably kill someone the moment they learned its secret.
If all that would happen to me was being forced to remain in Winsphere for the rest of my life, perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad?
Almost as if I were under a spell, I took out the seal I always carried in my pocket.
“Are you sure you don’t want to read any further?”
Bael had taken off his glasses at some point and smiled sweetly as he asked me.
The moment our eyes met, a strange thought suddenly occurred to me.
‘Were his eyes always pink?’
But I couldn’t think about it deeply.
Ignoring the hazy feeling spreading through my mind, I answered Bael’s question.
“Of course. I already decided to stamp the contract before I even came here.”
“That is a very admirable attitude.”
He gave me a look that seemed to tell me to hurry up and stamp it.
I raised the seal high.
Then, without hesitation, I slammed it down.
BANG!
At the same time…
“Huh?”
I remembered my past life.
I didn’t feel any particularly strong emotion.
I was simply confused.
This place was inside a novel called Angel of Paradise, which I had read in my previous life.
The main story was a passionate romance between a male lead who was a holy knight and a female lead who was an angel.
I also knew that demons would appear and interfere with their relationship.
Even after remembering all of that, I wasn’t so shocked that I wanted to deny reality and run away.
The only strange thing was that, aside from the contents of that novel, I couldn’t remember anything about what I had done or how I had lived in my previous life.
One of my strengths was that I was good at quickly understanding reality and focusing on the present.
There was nothing more foolish than clinging to things that had already happened.
So I shook my head and checked the contract I had just stamped.
This was an Empire that worshipped angels.
And the fact that I was actually a transmigrator wasn’t something I needed to be shocked about either…
At that moment, a chill began creeping up from the tips of my toes.
“W-where… where was this place again?”
I stammered.
Bael, who was standing in front of me, answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“The Duke of Winsphere’s estate.”
I was screwed.
I was completely, utterly screwed.
There was a very clear reason why I was so stunned.
Because the Duke of Winsphere’s estate was where the villains and demons in Angel of Paradise lived!
I suddenly came to my senses.
My hands trembling, I checked the ducal family’s seal again.
‘Oh my god. I’m insane, Liliana. How could I stamp this without suspecting anything at all?!’
I wanted to rip every strand of hair from my head right then and there.
The alternative I had found because I didn’t want to be sold…
was a den of demons.
“Miss Liliana Walker, then I look forward to working with you from today onward. Oh, you said you came here in a hurry, didn’t you? Should you go back home? You’ll need to collect your belongings.”
Whether he knew how I was feeling or not, Bael continued speaking calmly.
I tightened my grip.
The contract in my hand crumpled with a loud crinkle.
Bael, who had been continuing his explanation, noticed it and gave me a refreshing smile.
“By the way, don’t worry. The contract won’t be torn just because you squeeze it that tightly.”
At his kind explanation, I gritted my teeth.
I had finally realized what had made me stamp the contract without a single suspicion.
The demons and angels in the novel possessed unique abilities.
And one of Bael’s abilities was the power to influence and shake the human mind.
In other words, the decisive reason I had stamped the contract without questioning it was that bastard’s doing.
Bael continued smiling sweetly as though he knew absolutely nothing.
Perhaps he misunderstood my stare, because he clapped his hands.
“My goodness, Miss Walker. Are you really that moved by the thought of working for the Duke of Winsphere?”
Behind Bael, who pulled the corners of his mouth upward in a distinctly demonic smile, I could see the drawing room.
“Ha ha.”
I hated my past self for seeing such an obviously inhuman place and simply dismissing it as being a little unusual.
When I still couldn’t loosen my grip, Bael tilted his head.
“Surely you aren’t planning to cancel the contract less than a minute after signing it?”
“……”
“If that is what you’re thinking, I’m afraid you’ll have to pay three times the amount of the advance payment as a penalty.”
His explanation was polite.
But I was terrified of his kindness.
“You also used a mage’s portal to come here, didn’t you? You’ll have to pay for that as well.”
It sounded less like he wanted me to repay the advance payment and more like he wanted to dispose of me.
Only then did I slowly begin accepting reality.
It had already happened.
And there was no way to undo it.
‘…Let’s think positively, Liliana.’
The most urgent things I needed to do right now were to pay off my father’s debt and get rid of the Walker name.
I would have to live in a place crawling with demons for three years, but the main events of Angel of Paradise were still a long way from beginning.
I could earn a decent amount of money, then leave safely once my contract ended…
[However, if you come to learn the secrets of the ducal family, you will be bound to this place for the rest of your life.]
…Huh?
The secret of the ducal family would be…
that they were demons.
“Gasp!”
I hurriedly covered my mouth.
‘But I already know! What happens now?’
My heart began pounding wildly.
If I were bound to this place for the rest of my life, that meant I would still be here when the original story began.
‘Then… then I’ll die…’
All the demons in Angel of Paradise died.
Since they were the villains, their deaths were naturally part of the story’s ending.
Just when I had finally managed to free myself from the Walker name, I had ended up with a three-year-limited lifespan.
Tears suddenly welled up in my eyes.
Why was this happening to me?!
“Then shall we go meet His Grace the Duke?”
Bael spoke.
He no longer looked gentle at all.
I ground my teeth and thought.
