IBWCD 01

 Prolouge 01

The shame of the Earl of Lawrence.

A source of misery that should never have been conceived.

Evelyn, as everyone called her, is dead.

The curse of Louise, the Count’s hostess, who murdered her mother, Marcella, the Count’s maid, and left her for dead.

‘It must have been…’

She wonders if she’s really back in the past.

Her dizzying vision finally stabilizes.

Finally opening her eyes, Evelyn looked around her, sagging like a corpse whose soul had been drained.

Silver hair in the mirror, light green eyes.

The room was barely big enough for a bed, the wallpaper faded and moldy and cracking in spots.

“If only…”

She was lying in the count’s old bedroom, where she had lived until she was twenty, in early spring.

“…where did it go wrong?”

Born out of wedlock, Evelyn had suffered covert abuse and been treated like a taboo.

It wasn’t until Louise realized she had healing powers that she began to be treated as a human being, if only on the surface.

The shame of the Earl of Lawrence.

                                                                                    Chapter   01

A source of misery that should never have been conceived.

Evelyn, as everyone called her, is dead.

The curse of Louise, the Count’s hostess, who murdered her mother, Marcella, the Count’s maid, and left her for dead.

‘It must have been…’

She wonders if she’s really back in the past.

Her dizzying vision finally stabilizes.

Finally opening her eyes, Evelyn looked around her, sagging like a corpse whose soul had been drained.

Silver hair in the mirror, light green eyes.

The room was barely big enough for a bed, the wallpaper faded and moldy and cracking in spots.

“If only…”

She was lying in the count’s old bedroom, where she had lived until she was twenty, in early spring.

“…where did it go wrong?”

Born out of wedlock, Evelyn had suffered covert abuse and been treated like a taboo.

It wasn’t until Louise realized she had healing powers that she began to be treated as a human being, if only on the surface.

The cat dying while giving birth to her kittens was the final straw.

Her mother’s admonition that she shouldn’t reveal her healing powers at any cost echoed in her ears, but her misfortune had already begun.

“If the family’s finances are strained, we will not be able to pay for Dadal’s treatment under Marcella. You do realize how much it costs to prolong a person’s life with the saint’s protection, don’t you?”

Louise’s smile as she said this, holding Evelyn’s hand tightly in hers, was sinister and creepy, like that of a snake with its mouth wide open.

‘What a boon you would be to your father if you could make money out of your meager abilities. If our family is well off, Marcella will live.’

But Louise’s greedy desires soon shattered like broken glass.

Evelyn’s healing powers, which had saved the lives of dying cats, for some reason had no effect on humans.

But when a gate opened near the capital and demons began to appear, the healer’s value skyrocketed. Wounds inflicted by demons could not be healed by medicine.

Louise, who had been looking forward to using Evelyn to make a big profit, was furious.

“Worthless wench, do your best to do what you can for the grace that has been bestowed upon you, if that’s what it takes!”

Grace.

A father who never paid her any attention during her birth and upbringing.

Evelyn owed no gratitude to her stepmother and her daughter, who abused and ridiculed her for being an illegitimate child.

Her suffering did not end there.

“It seems that even when the sky falls, there is a way to rise, for someone is willing to buy your worthlessness.”

“Viscount Fairfield has offered me a handsome dowry. I’ll be leaving in a few days, so stop arguing and start packing. Oh, I suppose there’s nothing to pack.”

To become the plaything of an old man who had murdered four wives meant death.

Even knowing this, Evelyn was powerless to resist.

If she didn’t listen to him, if the family didn’t pay for her care, it would be too much.

If her presence could improve her condition, she thought, then it was all right.

Until she overheard Louise’s conversation with a visitor to the Lawrence estate.

“I heard they’re close to finalizing the refinement of the original spirit stone. It’s a relief to think I won’t have to see that disgusting face anymore. She looks so much like her mother…”

“A sacrifice that has been dead for three years. There is no good to be gained by dwelling on it, so let it go.”

“How easy is that? Anyway, my mission is over.”

The conversation was unclear, but Evelyn knew instinctively.

Her mother was already dead, and she’d been taken advantage of.