PWH C14

If you’ve earned money, you should make more with it. I wasn’t the kind of demon who’d be content with just a hundred gold coins.

“Lead me to a gambling den.”

I was a master of gambling. More precisely, a master of cheating. I could manipulate dice or switch cards without anyone noticing. My skills were taught directly by the Lord of Lies, and there was no one in the middle realm who could match me.

“My lady, no!” Jessie protested vehemently upon hearing my words.

“Trust me. I’ll double this money tenfold in one go.”

“My lady, that’s what a typical gambling addict would say…”

“I’m not going to gamble. This is a guaranteed investment.”

“…Do you really have no intention of earning money honestly?”

“Why bother? Earning money through devious means is much more thrilling.”

Jessie buried her face in her hands, muttering something to herself. It sounded like, “Calm down, remember the lady isn’t in her right mind right now.”

After a moment, Jessie took a deep breath as if trying to regain her composure, and spoke to me again, “If you go to a gambling den, my lady—I’ll tell the Duke.”

“Go ahead.”

“The Duke despises gambling more than anything. If he finds out you gambled, he’ll truly expel you from the family this time!”

I clicked my tongue. Getting expelled from the family wasn’t a risk I could afford.

Jessie urged me to return to the estate quickly before the Duke noticed I had left.

On the way out of the slums, I sensed a group of humans following us.

Their intent was obvious. Here I was, dressed in fine clothes, carrying a heavy purse, strolling through the slums—it was only natural I’d become a target for thieves.

If I ran into thieves, I should rob them instead. What kind of demon would pass up a purse that walked right into their hands?

I glanced at Jessie. If I knocked her out and stole whatever money those thieves had collected—

I was already formulating a plan in my mind. But before I could put it into action, someone else intervened.

Thud—!

With a cloud of dust, something fell to the ground.

Then, again*—thud!*

I quickly turned my head. The robbers who had been targeting Jessie and me were lying on the ground. All five of them.

The one who had taken them down alone was a man wearing a hood. I recognized him immediately.

‘He’s strong.’

I gripped the table knife I had hidden beneath my skirt tightly. No one would suspect weak Isabella of being a threat.

If this guy attacked me, I would seize the opportunity. I’d drive the knife into his throat. But no matter how long I waited, the hooded man made no move to attack.

“Excuse me, sir? Did you just save us?”

Jessie, finally understanding the situation, looked startled as she expressed her gratitude to the man.

“Thank you so much for helping us.”

When I remained silent, Jessie nudged me in the side, prompting me to say something.

Such an insolent maid.

“Thaaank you.” I drawled out my words in a mocking tone.

Thank him, my foot. If he hadn’t intervened, I could have robbed those thieves myself.

The man simply stared at me for a moment before speaking, “This place is dangerous. You should leave quickly.”

He had quite a pleasant voice. He left after saying that.

But at that moment, I saw something glinting beneath his hood.

“Hey, you.”

I called out to the man. He paused but did not turn around.

“Take off your hood.”

“My lady, what’s gotten into you?”

Jessie tried to stop me, but I ignored her and spoke to the man again, “The hood. Take it off right now.”

The man, seemingly deciding my words weren’t worth responding to, began walking again. I felt a sudden urgency and reached out toward him.

As my fingertips brushed it, the hood slipped off. Silver hair spilled out from beneath it.

For a moment, I forgot to breathe. That familiar silver hair.

“You—”

“……”

The man silently watched me.

Silver hair and piercing blue eyes. Seeing those familiar colors brought back memories I had hoped to seal away.

As I stared at him without saying a word, the man pulled his hood back up and left.

Even after he was gone, I stood there, frozen. If not for Jessie, I would have remained like that even longer.

“Goodness. My lady, are you in your right mind? How could you be so rude to our benefactor!”

“Silver hair. That was silver hair.”

“Yes, it was. Why does that matter?”

“Seeing silver hair makes me furious.”

And blue eyes to top it off. I had reacted on instinct when I saw the silver hair, but seeing the blue eyes made my stomach churn.

I looked in the direction the man had gone. I hoped I would never cross paths with that man with those detestable colors again.

On the way back to the estate, my mood was at an all-time low.

I had spent my entire life striking others from behind. And the first person to strike me from behind was Zachary.

‘I should have torn him to shreds.’

Because of the aftermath of his betrayal, I couldn’t leave the Demon Realm for a long time. By the time my body had fully healed, a hundred years had already passed. Considering the average human lifespan, it was unlikely Zachary was still alive.

In the end, I never got my revenge.

Zachary had silver hair and blue eyes. By human standards, he was considered handsome. Especially his silver hair. At the time, I thought it was beautiful.

When our bodies intertwined, I loved seeing his silver hair tangled with my red hair, tinged with crimson.

Thanks to Zachary, I had a visceral reaction to seeing silver hair for a long time. Because of that, demons with silver hair in the Demon Realm either had to dye it or shave it all off.

To think that even now, five hundred years later, I still reacted this way to silver hair.

It seemed the shadow of betrayal hadn’t faded from me yet.

***

As soon as I returned to the estate, I was summoned to the Duke’s office. Though the Duke had called me, he ignored my presence, focusing solely on his paperwork.

‘What an unpleasant human,’ I thought to myself as I looked around his office.

Then, something caught my eye—a necklace displayed in the cabinet behind the Duke. More precisely, the necklace itself caught my eye.

‘I think I’ve seen that somewhere before…’

“Still as unrepentant as ever?” The Duke finally looked up from his papers and spoke to me.

Why pick a fight out of nowhere? Just as I was about to snap back, I remembered what the necklace was.

‘Isabella’s late mother’s keepsake that she supposedly damaged.’

The Duke continued, “Because of your reckless actions, that necklace was almost—never mind.”

Just as I thought.

But looking at it now, it seemed perfectly repaired. I didn’t understand why the Duke was still angry with Isabella.

Humans were petty creatures. That was the conclusion I reached as the Duke spoke again, “I heard you went out today.”

Judging by the Duke’s expression, he wasn’t pleased about my outing.

“Without saying a word to me. Without even taking a guard.”

“Are you worried?”

“Not at all. If you cause another incident outside, who do you think will clean up the mess?”

‘Like father, like daughter.’

I’d heard that humans may not care much about others’ children, but they were supposedly devoted to their own. It seemed that wasn’t true for all humans, judging by the Duke.

“No one stopped me,” I shrugged, answering casually. It was true that I had left the estate without anyone’s interference.

“Who among the servants would dare try to stop you? Enough. That’s not why I called you here.”

The Duke adjusted his glasses and got to the point. “You’re well aware that the imperial ball is approaching. Under normal circumstances, you’d be under house arrest, but thanks to the Clement family’s generosity, you’ll be allowed to attend.”

I didn’t need such generosity. That was what I thought to myself.

The Clement family… that reminded me—

‘Isabella was accused of attempting to poison Lady Clement.’

Poison. I scowled.

In the Demon Realm, poison was something only weaklings used—those too afraid to fight with their own strength. Even though I wasn’t the real Isabella, I still disliked the idea of being accused of poisoning someone.

Moreover—

“The source of the poison.”

“Why are you asking me that?”

The Duke looked at me with cold eyes.

Apparently, the day before I came into this body, Isabella had met Lady Clement. The two had tea together and parted ways without incident.

The next day, Lady Clement collapsed. The cause was poison, and everyone pointed their fingers at Isabella, who had had tea with her the previous day.

Isabella’s obsessive behavior towards the Crown Prince was well-known in high society. Seeing Lady Clement, who had been invited as the Crown Prince’s partner for the imperial ball, must have made Isabella furious.

The Duke believed this and concluded that Isabella was guilty without a proper investigation.

But I thought differently. How could an ordinary noblewoman like Isabella acquire poison?

Isabella only had one maid, Jessie, who was inexperienced and had joined the estate just a few months ago. Moreover, Isabella had no money, as the Duke had cut off her allowance. It’s not like I robbed Sher’s purse for no reason.

How could Isabella, with no money and no loyal subordinates, obtain poison?

“I didn’t do it.”

“Don’t try to evade responsibility with lies.”

“Where would I even get poison?”

“Isabella.”

“If I did have poison, I’d have used it on you before anyone else.”

“Isabella!”

“What!”

The Duke yelled at me, and I didn’t hold back.

How dare he raise his voice at me? If only I weren’t trapped in this human body—!

I ground my teeth. The mere fact that a human dared to shout at me irritated me. If there was one consolation, it was that if this was a fight where the loudest voice won, then I had just emerged victorious.