Milena froze as she stared at the man who had just introduced himself as the Tower Master.
What kind of cruel joke was this?
That man? The Tower Master?
Why would someone so powerful be here?
"...You're joking, right?"
"Why would I joke about something like that?" he replied lazily. "If you don't believe me, that's your problem. You should learn how to judge people better, Milena. You've still got a long way to go."
The shock lasted only a moment.
It wasn't just his appearance that was extraordinary.
His abilities were equally terrifying.
As if proving that he truly was the Tower Master, he created anything Lariette desired with magic alone.
Only Milena sensed something deeply unsettling about it.
Perhaps it was because his magic seemed capable of manipulating people's emotions themselves.
Lariette lived the most privileged life a noblewoman could imagine.
Men adored her.
Women adored her.
Wherever she went, powerful nobles gathered around her.
And yet, strangely—
There was no jealousy.
No envy.
No resentment.
The fact that she had no enemies in high society became a power all its own.
"Who will Lady Lariette marry?"
It became the hottest topic in Northern noble society.
Even though she rejected every proposal she received, she continued meeting with the Tower Master.
Naturally, people came to a conclusion.
She's going to become the Tower Master's wife.
For the illegitimate daughter of a count, it was the highest position she could ever hope to reach.
Even Milena, despite being her half-sister, had to admit it objectively.
She wasn't jealous.
Not at all.
And then—
Lariette made her choice.
The most powerful man in the North.
"The Grand Duke sounds nice."
She whispered it to Milena as if sharing a secret between sisters.
It was a frightening statement.
As though merely speaking it aloud would make it reality.
The King of the North.
A man like that pursuing a count's daughter from the borderlands?
Even if Lariette had been acknowledged as a noble, her illegitimate birth still carried limitations.
The surrounding nobles didn't believe it.
They refused to believe the Grand Duke was serious.
To them, it was nothing more than an impossible dream.
But—
That dream became reality.
"Lady Lariette! His Grace the Grand Duke has come to see you again!"
After Lariette first mentioned marriage, it was as if he had been waiting for permission.
The Grand Duke openly displayed his affection.
And that affection only deepened.
Deeper.
And deeper.
Until it resembled obsession.
People said love was a kind of magic.
It truly was.
Who could have imagined that a man who looked incapable of shedding a single drop of blood would wear such an enchanted expression?
Whenever he stood beside Lariette—
He no longer looked like the ruler of the North.
He looked like an ordinary man hopelessly in love.
His devotion to her was overwhelming.
When a border conflict erupted in the North, he ended it almost immediately.
Simply because he didn't want to spend time away from her.
Yet nobody found it strange.
They considered it natural.
Because it was Lariette.
When Milena turned eighteen, her father began spending fewer and fewer nights at home.
"Steward, doesn't this meal seem... rather lacking?"
She had always been treated coldly.
But she had never gone hungry before.
For the first time, stale, hard bread fit for commoners appeared on the dining table.
"The estate's stores are empty, my lady."
The territory was poor.
Resources were scarce.
The family survived on taxes collected from travelers moving between the capital and the North.
Money should never have been an issue.
Not unless—
Her father had gambled it all away.
The family's wealth vanished rapidly.
Servants' wages stopped arriving on time.
By the time Milena realized how badly things had deteriorated—
It was already too late.
There was nothing she could do.
A gambling addict could accumulate enormous debts remarkably quickly.
"I'll pay the Count's debts."
That was when the Grand Duke stepped forward.
"Y-You truly will?"
"The family of my future Duchess is worth far more than that amount. In exchange, send Lariette to me."
"There's no reason to refuse! As her father, I also believe Lariette is the woman most suited to Your Grace."
Only then did Milena understand.
The cause of everything was Lariette.
The Grand Duke had orchestrated it all.
To obtain permission for marriage.
Her father's gambling.
The crushing debts.
The miraculous rescue.
Everything.
Every single thing.
Had been arranged to obtain Lariette.
Because Milena had always kept her distance from the family, she saw the truth more clearly than anyone else.
Everything revolved around Lariette.
A man meticulous enough to turn a count into a gambling addict.
A man obsessed enough to move mountains for a single woman.
It frightened her.
Milena had no intention of watching her family's collapse to the bitter end.
She began selling her mother's belongings.
Preparing to leave.
There were only two ways to sever ties with her family completely.
Marriage.
Or an Imperial government position.
So she studied.
Imperial secretary.
Noble attendant.
Any position would do.
She simply wanted out.
At twenty years old, she finally became an adult.
No one had ever acknowledged her existence, so there was no coming-of-age ceremony.
It didn't make her sad.
Because at last—
She could take the examinations.
At last—
She could escape that miserable house.
But just as she was about to leave—
Lariette approached her.
Then whispered:
"You like my man, don't you?"
The family was collapsing.
Yet Lariette knew nothing about it.
She lived comfortably under the Grand Duke's protection.
People praised her endlessly.
The young lady who saved her family.
And now—
Standing on the verge of her magnificent wedding—
She said something utterly absurd.
Milena couldn't even believe what she was hearing.
This was the same sister who had never once looked back at the half-starved girl living worse than the servants.
And now?
"What?"
Milena stared at her.
"You think I like Grand Duke Kalion?"
She wasn't a child anymore.
She wasn't old enough to be manipulated by a few careless words.
She had barely exchanged more than a handful of conversations with the man.
"Are you insane?"
"I know the way you look at Kalion. It's not normal."
A chill ran down her spine.
Lariette's gaze never wavered.
An unnatural heat burned within it.
"You always wanted what belonged to me. You've always envied me."
Milena couldn't even laugh.
Just like always—
The mage stood beside Lariette.
"Kalion doesn't even look at you."
Lariette smiled.
"But you still want to cling to him, don't you?"
The Tower Master's magic took shape.
Like vines.
They wrapped around Milena's body.
"You like my man, don't you?"
The same question.
But this time—
The answer changed.
"Yes."
Milena heard herself speak.
"How did you know? I really love Kalion."
A hollow lie.
A complete fabrication.
Yet—
The magic transformed it into truth.
A feeling that had never existed ignited.
Like fire.
The emotion carved into her soul by force shattered the will she had protected for years.
"You must become a villainess."
Lariette's voice echoed softly.
"For me."
"Just like you've always been."
That command became chains.
It governed her thoughts.
Her emotions.
Her actions.
Everything.
And so Milena lived exactly as Lariette desired.
The perfect villainess.
Even after Lariette married.
Even after she had a child.
Even after she lived happily.
The magic never broke.
Three years later—
When Milena was summoned to the Grand Ducal Castle to visit her sick sister—
She still burned with hatred that wasn't her own.
"Damn it, Milena Rastia!"
Lexion tore through the writhing thorny vines.
But every vine he severed—
Two more grew in its place.
Black.
Sticky.
Crawling with malice.
"Unbelievable."
The moment he burned the cursed vines, his disguise collapsed.
This was high-level dark magic.
A curse crafted with terrifying cruelty.
Who...
Who hated this woman enough to do something like this?
And why—
Had he remained by her side without ever realizing?
"Wake up, my lady."
Lexion ripped apart another mass of thorns.
"This is all being added to your debt."
The shattered memories began reconnecting.
The sealed memories.
Returning at last.
There had been a moment when the magic weakened.
Just briefly.
In front of Lariette's coffin.
That day.
That moment.
Milena had remembered.
"Ah..."
A faint voice echoed through the darkness.
"So... it finally broke."