Chapter 82
“You… what are you…?”
Marquis Vistavern asked.
The girl answered.
“You said to pick up one coin and offer it to the person who helped me most financially today…”
“There’s no reward for it.”
“Yes.”
Vistavern clamped his mouth shut.
He looked almost angry.
This could be dangerous for the girl.
At that moment, the young Martin slowly approached the slum girl.
“Count Vistavern, I’d like to take this girl in.”
“What did you say?”
“As you said, humans are ugly and filthy. But… this girl seems special, like a flower blooming independently in muddy water. No, even if you say no, I want to take her with me.”
Ignoring Vistavern’s attempt to respond, the young Martin extended his hand to the girl.
“Will you come with me?”
“…I, I won’t be of any help, noble sir…”
“It’s okay. What’s your name?”
“I don’t have a name.”
Martin looked at the girl in surprise.
No name.
But an idea struck him, and he brushed back her brown bangs with his hand.
Her pale purple eyes, revealed through the strands, were pure and untainted.
“Then, until you get a name, can I call you this?”
“Lilac. It’s just like your eyes.”
Martin took Lilac to the county estate, had her bathed, and dressed in proper clothes.
The young Lilac I knew… her childhood self unfolded before my eyes.
“Th-these fine clothes.
They don’t suit me…”
“No! They suit you perfectly!”
Martin stubbornly persuaded her, and thus Lilac began her life as his personal maid.
“Where are Lilac’s parents?”
“They’re gone.”
“What’s a treasure that Lilac holds dear?”
“I don’t have any.”
Lilac had nothing.
“Then I’ll be your family! Rely on me from now on!”
Martin wanted to give her everything.
It was the innate kindness of a child.
The pure desire to share what he had with someone who had nothing.
Lilac’s heart gradually opened to him, and she began to depend on Martin.
“Young Master Martin! Today, the head maid taught me how to bake cookies!”
“Young Master! I helped the head butler with cleaning today! So, as a reward… could you spend just ten minutes with me?”
“I’m so happy, Young Master Martin!”
Lilac adapted splendidly to the Ulvhadin Family.
Since they were the only two of their age in the household, Martin’s heart grew as well.
“Come here. These are numbers.”
“Are they different from the letters you taught me yesterday?”
“They’re closely related. Here, I’ll teach you.”
Lilac looked at Martin and said,
“Young Master, you’re a ‘Know-It-All’!”
They seemed to live happily like this.
‘So that’s how it happened.’
But the story couldn’t end like this.
I knew.
How Martin changed.
How he ended up buried in noble society.
And how, when I first saw Lilac after possessing Martin, she looked at me with fear.
The reason was none other than…
“Youngsik Martin, we will proceed with special education.”
“Understood…?”
It was Vistavern.
“It seems I was too lenient. From now on, I’ll educate Youngsik more thoroughly.”
Thus began the brainwashing education.
“The masses are beasts, livestock, commoners—mere parts for the nobility.”
“Yes…”
“I’ll also teach you how to sell commoners for the city’s economy.”
“Selling commoners…”
“Yes, they’re dirty and worthless, so there’s no need to hesitate.”
“Dirty and worthless…”
The talent once called prodigious and the purity that gave a girl her name began to be tainted.
His overflowing talent was stained with arrogance, losing its shine.
The radiant purity fell to corruption, extinguishing its light.
“Get lost.”
“Y-Young Master…”
“Shut up.”
Even as Lilac’s face paled with tears, the only emotion on young Martin’s face was contempt.
“I won’t cast you out to keep the childish promises I made, but that’s it. Know your place, you filth.”
Lilac collapsed to the floor, her heart wounded.
Kim An-hyun was enraged.
‘This bastard!’
But I couldn’t comfort Lilac or strike Martin.
Martin’s actions afterward were outrageous.
Kim An-hyun screamed profanities in fury.
He treated commoners worse than dogs and openly disrespected nobles who didn’t meet his standards.
Not just in thought—he acted on it, committing all sorts of atrocities.
‘What a piece of trash…!’
The mad Princess Adela?
The arrogant Elisha?
Compared to Martin, the two I’d cursed were saints.
His character seemed worse than a beast’s.
“M-Master, please have your meal…”
“Hey, you, come here.”
“Y-Yes? Why suddenly… Kyaa!”
What enraged Kim An-hyun the most was that young Martin frequently subjected Lilac and Sebastian to violence and verbal abuse.
“Martin, you bastard!”
When William, the Patriarch of Ulvhadin and Martin’s father, returned after three years, it was far too late.
Martin, with his warped beliefs firmly rooted, was beyond correction.
“Master…”
Yet Lilac stood in the same spot, always looking only at Martin.
And just as the confrontation between William and Martin was about to begin…
You have experienced memories equivalent to Lv 6, the combined level of Know-It-All and Wild Instinct.
“Urgh!”
My eyes snapped open, my upper body jolting upright as if electrocuted.
Raging anger consumed me.
I grabbed my arms with both hands.
My nails dug into my muscular forearms, drawing blood.
‘Martin, you filthy trash!’
Even just a fragment of his memories filled me with such self-loathing and disgust for Martin.
I felt gratitude toward the protagonist’s party for stopping and monitoring him.
Martin was trash in many ways, but the worst part was this:
‘He walked into it himself!’
At first, Martin seemed to resist Vistavern’s one-sided ideological education… but eventually, he found pleasure in evil deeds and indulged in their thrill.
Like an addiction to gambling or drugs, the frequency and intensity of his actions escalated.
It started with Marquis Vistavern, but the evils Martin committed afterward were entirely his own will…
“…Did you have a nightmare?”
Startled, I turned my head.
I’d clearly said no one was to enter!
My extreme anger dulled Know-It-All and Wild Instinct, so I hadn’t even noticed someone was here.
“…You.”
And an unexpected figure was seated there.
In the dark room, where no sunlight penetrated, she was the only presence faintly glowing.
But her light suited the darkness more than brightness.
“Princess Adela.”
“Quite an amusing sight.”
“….”
Asking how she got in would be a waste of breath.
She likely had help from the Shadow Knights.
“When did you arrive?”
“Three days ago. Right after you went to bed.”
“…!”
Three days.
The memory experience took three whole days?
And this princess had been watching me for three days?
“You piqued my interest. What kind of dream was it?”
“I’m under no obligation to divulge my private life.”
“Perhaps not. If you hadn’t pried into my past while I was drunk.”
Tch, she still held a grudge over the Longevity Festival.
Wasn’t the slap I got back then enough?
“You don’t have to tell me. Your sleep-talking was quite loud, so I can make some guesses.”
Damn it.
She heard everything.
“I dreamed of my past.”
It’s hot.
I’m sweating profusely, drenched.
I need to change clothes.
“Your past?”
As I turned to take off my shirt, Adela smirked.
“Can’t you see I’m here?”
“We’re not close enough to care about that, are we?”
“Fair enough.”
While I changed, Adela fell into thought.
My toned, agile body bore several scars.
‘Martin of Ulvhadin… the Trash Extra Villain, was it?’
His recent behavior showed no trace of that.
He must have reformed.
It’s common for people to suffer over their dark pasts.
‘The trigger for his reformation… was it something from the Cosmos Empire?’
Martin possessed the Cosmos Empire’s Finest Holy Diamond Bullet, a relic.
He said he obtained it as a reward from the Time Chaos Dungeon in the underground waterway, but that place wasn’t just a dungeon—it manifested the past.
He might have met the past Peacemaker and had a change of heart.
“Pfft!”
Finding it amusing, Princess Adela chuckled and praised me.
“Well done, Hound. The more I dig into you, the more fascinating you are.”
***
“So, why are you here?”
The clothes I changed into were a hunter’s armor made of oiled leather.
“From your attire, it seems you already know.”
“You’re sending me to the hunting tournament.”
“Exactly.”
Her brazen response, without a hint of hesitation, irked me.
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t consider refusing.
But Princess Adela was one of the greatest villains.
Even without the Sword Demon Sabo or the Desert Hierophant, her power, along with the Shadow Knights, wasn’t to be underestimated.
I wanted to keep her close and monitor her if possible.
…Above all, a sliver of sympathy, born from the heartbreaking story I heard during the Longevity Festival, ultimately made me agree.
“Understood. How long is the duration?”
“What, worried your precious maid will fret?”
But I wouldn’t tolerate her touching Lilac.
Lilac was my reverse scale.
If I didn’t make that clear, she’d cross the line.
As Adela’s golden eyes gleamed with madness, I met her gaze with my own ferocity.
The sharp, predatory eyes inherited from the Ulvhadin blood.
“That’s none of your concern.”
“….”
“I’ve paid my dues for the Hound armor, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t cross the line.”
“You…”
Princess Adela shot up, glaring at me.
“How pathetic, cherishing that maid like a prized jewel. No wonder you’re reduced to making promises over a mere maid’s tears.”
“Princess Adela, you’ve stepped on the line.”
“….”
“….”
A final warning not to cross further.
In the past, this would’ve been unthinkable, but things were different now.
With Nerjin, the alchemist from the Cosmos Dimension Research Institute, the Peacemaker’s leader, my mentor the Star Child, and the Elidore Marquisate, my forces were unexpectedly robust.
“Insolent hound. Two days will suffice.”
“….”
Princess Adela left, stirring up trouble until the end, vanishing as darkness enveloped her.
After she was gone, I opened the wardrobe, grabbed a dark green hood, then switched to a black one and draped it over myself.
Opening the door, I saw the lights were off.
‘They must all be out running the coffee wagon.’
With no choice, I wrote a letter, left it on the table, and stepped outside.
Using Flash, I moved to the underground waterway and headed toward the palace, where I spotted Princess Adela’s golden carriage.
‘As menacing as ever.’
It looked empty, but Shadow Knights were undoubtedly stationed around it.
Opening the carriage door, I found Princess Adela already seated inside.
As I closed the door and sat, the carriage began to move on its own.