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The workshop I arrived at had four glass tubes filled with Ice Flowers.

Originally, there were four maids who had been turned into corpse dolls by Count William, Tristan’s father, lying there. But now, they were empty.

“Count…!”

The first to greet me was Vanessa, Albert’s granddaughter. She was with four women wrapped in blankets.

“…!”

As the blankets were pulled back, revealing their faces, I gasped.

Muiry, Cynthia, Rika, Bess.

They were the women I had seen in Tristan’s past.

When I had gone through the trial before, I had been assimilated into Tristan’s memories and shared his memories of them.

Those memories were stained with deep sorrow and anger towards William.

I knew instantly.

They were no longer emotionless corpse dolls. Their eyes held vivid emotions that the dead couldn’t possibly have.

Suddenly, I was at a loss for words.

I didn’t know what to say.

They were the result of the Ruelberta Family’s horrific deeds. Not only were they killed, but they were also turned into corpse dolls and thoroughly exploited.

They might resent me, the Ruelberta Family, for taking their lives away… That thought made me unable to speak.

But then…

“Young Master…?”

“…!”

The oldest-looking maid among them was looking at me with disbelief.

Ah… I murmured her name.

“Muiry…”

“Is it really you, Young Master? Are you Tristan, the Young Master?”

Muiry cautiously approached me.

Perhaps it was because she had just woken up after years of sleep. She walked unsteadily, as if not used to it, and then hugged me tightly.

“Ah…! Young Master…!”

Not just Muiry, but Rika and Cynthia also clung to me.

“How could you have grown so much…!”

“Time has passed enough for the Young Master to grow this tall…”

I didn’t reject them as they rushed to me in excitement. They were like nannies who had practically raised the young Tristan. It must have been like parents seeing their child grown up.

“…Welcome back.”

“Young Master!”

I tried to hide my choked-up emotions.

Because I was no longer the young Tristan, but Count Ruelberta. I couldn’t show tears so carelessly.

“The Count’s guess was right.”

That was Albert speaking.

“Their souls remained in the form of magic within the magic formula. I tried to separate their souls once, but… I soon realized it was too difficult. If I made a mistake, I could lose their souls forever, so I researched and researched. As a result…”

Albert pointed to a strangely shaped magic formula drawn on the blackboard.

“I changed my approach and overlaid a new magic formula on the existing one. It took some time, but thanks to this formula engraved on their backs, they regained consciousness.”

“Is that so…”

“Of course, there’s still a lot to solve. I have to monitor their condition until their bodies fully adapt to the formula… No matter how much I try, I can’t give them back the exact same life as before… But I’ll do what I can…”

Albert trailed off.

Looking closely, his eyes were red and swollen, as if he had been crying. It wasn’t tears of joy from succeeding in a difficult research.

Albert had lifted the weight of guilt that had been pressing on him for so long. He had taken a step on the path of atonement.

That must have been why he was moved to tears.

By the way, it seemed like a lot of people were crying around me today. First Helga, then Albert… Maybe because I was possessed by Tristan, this atmosphere felt a bit cringy.

But it wasn’t entirely unpleasant.

The stories of misfortune and sadness were changing one by one. The future would also change gradually. And this world would flow towards the ending I desired.

‘Hmm?’

I noticed a maid who hadn’t approached me yet.

“Come here too, Bess.”

“…Young Master.”

A young-looking girl hesitated. She might be a bit older than Wendy. Bess, the youngest of the four maids, gathered her courage and approached me.

There was a reason she hadn’t come to me immediately. If my memory was correct, Bess was the maid who had confessed to Tristan.

Of course, Tristan didn’t accept her confession, and the evil William killed her shortly after and turned her into a doll.

That must have been quite a trauma for Tristan too.

“You’ve… grown so tall, Young Master…”

“Yeah. I was shorter than you back then.”

“You remembered… Ugh… Sob…”

Bess burst into tears.

Feeling a bit sentimental, I gently patted Bess’s head.

These were the ones who, along with Blanshe, were treated as killing machines under the alias “Annihilation Maids” in the Ruelberta Family.

Unable to die on their own terms, they had to take countless lives under William’s orders, and to this day, they remain objects of terror in the underworld.

But they were just ordinary servants of the Ruelberta Family.

They were like caring mothers who embraced everything, always smiling even in the busy kitchen, sometimes stern like teachers, and even confessed their clumsy feelings to the Young Master they served… They were just ordinary maids.

‘It’s a relief…’

They didn’t remember that they had become Annihilation Maids and killed many people. Maybe it was because they were dead, but if they remembered those terrible times, their spirits would have been devastated.

But just because they don’t remember, it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

“Suddenly, there’s something I want to tell you.”

“Yes?”

I calmed them down, still caught up in the joy of reunion.

There was something I absolutely had to tell them.

“What is it, Young Master?”

“I have a responsibility to give you all a new life.”

“A new life…”

“Yes.”

Even if I did this, I couldn’t compensate for the lives they had lost. Unless we went back to the past, I couldn’t restore their lives that had been stripped of their personalities and exploited.

This was just an atonement I had to make as Tristan, as the head of the Ruelberta Family.

I didn’t think I could be forgiven with this late atonement. But so that they could spend the rest of their lives happily… It was only right that I prepare a new life for them. Besides…

‘Maybe this is what Tristan wanted?’

Tristan could have used them as Annihilation Maids after William.

But he didn’t.

Instead, he enshrined them in the Treasure Vault along with precious Ice Flowers. Even in someone as trashy as him, there was a human side.

This time, Tristan and I seemed to be on the same page.

“For now, stay at the mansion and rest. And think about how you want to live from now on and tell me.”

I decided to gladly give the four maids a chance.

“From now on, I, Count Ruelberta, will let you live the life you want.”

*

That night, I was drunk on satisfaction.

Ah, of course, I hadn’t been drinking, but I was satisfied with the results of what I had done so far.

[143 days until service starts]

Now, I was halfway there.

There was still a lot of preparation left to fight the players, but so far, it had been smooth sailing.

Most of all, I was relieved that there were no more threats to my life.

I must have adapted well to this world by now. Although the days passed in a flash because I was so busy… Thinking about it, a lot had happened just today.

Helga, Gale, and Maible. And when I returned to the mansion, the maids had awakened… Everything had gone smoothly.

I stretched once.

Sleepiness was creeping in. Since tomorrow would be busy too, it was time to sleep.

I looked out the window into the darkness.

There was no wind, just stillness.

Like the calm before a storm.

“But… I’m out of tea.”

Just before bed, the tea I drank every day had run out.

It was 11 PM. I couldn’t call Wendy at this hour…

“Annoying, but… I have no choice.”

I decided to go to the kitchen myself.

I walked through the dark corridor.

The Ruelberta Family’s mansion was unnecessarily large, taking over 30 minutes just to walk around it.

It was probably the result of Tristan’s “Greed” and “Pride.”

I thought I might wake up before reaching the kitchen, but then a lit area appeared before my eyes.

Huh?

It was none other than my destination, the kitchen.

Who could be there at this hour?

Curious, I entered the kitchen and my heart sank.

There, a small girl was lying unconscious.

“…Wendy!”

This world was never easy.

 

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