In the wealthy district, inside a manor villa, after listening to his subordinate’s report, Penrose fell into a long silence.
After all, this was news he had never expected.
The old gentleman he had spent a great deal of money to invite had performed ritual magic in the annex last night.
As a result, the nearby flowers and grass had withered, the walls of the house and the brand-new furniture had decayed, and the servants who passed by there this morning had all fallen ill with strange diseases.
But these were not enough to render Penrose silent.
What left him speechless was that the old gentleman was no longer in the manor—he had likely left last night.
Penrose looked down at the cabinet on his right.
He pulled open the drawer and took out a box. Opening the box, inside were a few brown sticks.
He picked up one from the edge, put it in his mouth, lit it, and took a deep drag.
Leaning back in his chair, he raised his head to look at the exquisitely crafted crystal chandelier on the ceiling, then slowly exhaled a puff of white smoke.
After calming his emotions, Penrose looked at the subordinate who had come to report the news. His face showed no expression.
“Did you send people in to check?”
“Y-yes. We sent several groups in, but only one Fifth-Tier retainer came out. As for the others… they probably all remained in that accursed place.”
The man kneeling on one knee was now sweating profusely, his head bowed low, as if afraid that Penrose would send him inside.
Penrose furrowed his thick eyebrows and asked.
“Frisi left nothing behind?”
“No.”
“Nothing at all?”
“Nothing at all!”
“……”
Seeing his subordinate’s certainty, Penrose’s right eyelid twitched. He took another deep drag of the tobacco stick in his hand.
After a brief calm, there was a “bang” as it exploded.
“Damn it!”
Penrose threw the cigarette in his hand directly onto the floor.
The hand that had been holding the cigarette slammed onto the table in anger.
The intricately carved, beautifully made black-and-red lacquered wooden table was smashed with a hole.
Penrose was like an enraged lion, but he quickly stabilized his emotions.
He pressed his index finger to his brow, pondered for a moment, then turned to the subordinate still kneeling on one knee before the table and ordered.
“Go, prepare the carriage for me. I want to go meet those people…”
“Yes, my lord.”
The subordinate acknowledged the order and immediately got up to leave Penrose’s room.
Penrose looked at the closed door. Though his face was expressionless, the anger building inside him was still surging.
The reason he had spent a fortune to invite Frisi was to have an insurance policy—even if everything went south and they tore off all pretense, he would still be able to protect himself.
But now that insurance was gone!
“What exactly happened?”
Penrose only knew that last night Frisi had performed a ritual magic, summoning some undesirable things, but it hadn’t caused too much of a commotion, so he didn’t bother with it.
But he never expected to receive news of Frisi’s disappearance the next day, and Frisi left nothing behind.
‘Is he dead?’
This thought arose in his mind and startled Penrose himself.
In his eyes, the old gentleman Frisi was mysterious and powerful.
The magic he could use was almost terrifyingly divine. Penrose didn’t think such an old gentleman would die.
‘He probably didn’t die, but left…’
Perhaps the ritual last night required Frisi to take a temporary retreat and resolve some trouble. That must be it.
Penrose speculated that during last night’s ritual, Frisi encountered something, so he left in a hurry, causing the contamination of the annex. Because he left in such haste, he didn’t have time to inform him.
But even thinking this way, Penrose’s expression still didn’t look good.
Frisi had left, leaving behind a contaminated area in the manor.
How was he supposed to handle this? Causing such trouble without informing the employer—Penrose did not believe there was some unspoken difficulty.
He only felt that Frisi simply didn’t care about him, which made him feel unprecedented anger.
But what use was anger?
Penrose sat down again. His understanding of this world’s law of the jungle was deeply ingrained.
Only when one was strong enough could they have the right to vent their anger!
If Frisi appeared now, Penrose would still address him as “sir” and greet this powerful man with a smile.
Knock knock~
The door was knocked.
Penrose rose from his chair, tidied his clothes, and went out.
He took a carriage from the back gate of the manor, heading toward a certain place.
Along the way, he also learned a piece of news: the lord’s youngest son, Anthony, had died. This news shocked Penrose.
Knock knock~
The sound of knocking came again.
The bedridden girl frowned.
She slowly opened her eyes, but when she did, she found something strange about her eyes.
She couldn’t immediately identify what was odd, only feeling that her vision had improved.
Lucia woke up and found her body sticky and the place where she lay damp.
‘What happened to me?’
Just as she was puzzled, she heard Wendy’s voice from outside the door.
“Lucia, get up.”
“O-okay… I’ll get up right away.”
Lucia was dazed for a moment, then immediately realized she had overslept. Usually, it was she who woke Wendy up.
The girl rolled over on the bed and sat up by the edge.
Lucia turned her head and saw that the blanket and sheets were stained with a dirty human-shaped mark.
She looked at her hand, lowered her head to sniff it, and found the smell pungent. She quickly turned her head away.
“What’s going on?!”
Lucia felt she must have missed something.
She only remembered having a nightmare last night—the specific content forgotten—but she felt a vague pain.
Her body smelled, so she definitely couldn’t just put on her maid outfit and go to work. She hurriedly went to wash herself clean.
While bathing, Lucia noticed changes in her body.
Her skin was now smooth and fair, her figure more proportionate, and her body lighter and more agile.
Although this sleep had been tiring, it was also exceptionally comfortable.
When Lucia saw herself in the mirror, she was somewhat surprised. The person in the mirror was much prettier than before.
One of the most obvious changes was the rise and fall of her chest.
It had grown… overnight!
Lucia felt this hardly seemed like herself.
After washing and changing into her maid outfit, Lucia met Wendy. Wendy told her what had happened yesterday.
After listening, Lucia was stunned.
“You’re saying I was cursed with blood curse?”
“Yes.”
Wendy nodded seriously.
Lucia was silent for a moment. After learning from Wendy what she had looked like yesterday, she immediately thought of that assassin.
It was that person who had taken blood from her, the same person who had hidden among the group causing trouble at the factory.
She touched her shoulder, where a cut had been opened and then healed by Wendy.
Lucia remained silent for a long time.
She thought of Gro and Kalian, of their deaths, and her heart was full of hatred for Penrose of the Tea Rose Chamber of Commerce.
Why be so despicable?
The Tea Rose Chamber of Commerce had a narrow business scope and had always wanted to expand.
But every direction was already covered by the Lily of the Valley Chamber of Commerce.
For a latecomer to try to snatch market share from the Lily of the Valley Chamber of Commerce was nothing but a fool’s dream.
So they send assassins to kill? After murdering Gro, now even a small fry like her, who had no bearing on anything, had to die?
Anger filled Lucia’s chest.
She clenched her fists, but looking at her own hands, which were only the size of a sandbag, she thought that if she raised them to confront that man, she would only be mocked as a weakling, a woman unworthy of anger.
Lucia laughed bitterly at herself and muttered.
‘How weak I am.’
“I can help you, mistress.”
Wendy pursed her lips and said this.
Lucia was stunned upon hearing it.
After hesitating for a moment, she walked toward the second floor and arrived at the study door.
As soon as she arrived, Enya said “Come in.”
Enya shifted her gaze from the children’s storybook in her hand to Lucia, who entered.
She placed a bottle of black-red potion on the table, as if she had prepared it long ago.
Yes, she intended to cultivate Lucia.
Of course, she wasn’t going to teach every little detail.
Enya wanted an assistant who could help her manage the Lily of the Valley Chamber of Commerce—someone who was not only good at business but also personally very strong.
Would Lucia become something?
Enya was quite confident about that.
As Lucia approached, Enya pushed the potion to the opposite side of the table.
Lucia glanced at the potion, then looked up at Enya and said.
“Mistress, I—”
“You want to say you want to become stronger? But your talent is insufficient, and you’re a Mortalblood. Being able to cultivate Magic Power to the Second Tier is already quite good—barely enough to use some low-level magic.”
Enya seemed to see through Lucia.
“This is a potion specially prepared for you. Once you drink it, you have a chance to gain a Bloodline, but you’ll also need to take some risks. Lucia, are you ready?”
“……”
Lucia’s eyelashes trembled slightly.
She bit her lip, then opened her mouth to take a deep breath, before slowly exhaling.
“I’m ready.”
In that brief moment, she seemed to think of many things: the sadness of being sold as a child, the exhaustion of being trained as a maid in the manor, the sorrow of following Gro to Xianfeng City and encountering the assassin on the way back, the pain of having her identity stolen, of being unable to control her own fate…
The images in her memory flashed by, pushing Lucia’s emotions to a peak.
After saying that sentence, she directly picked up the potion and drank it, without any hesitation.
The black-red liquid flowed into her body, and Lucia felt a surging wave crashing against every cell of hers, as if it would wash her away into a pile of sand. She was completely dazed.
Enya frowned slightly.
She flashed to Lucia, who had already sat down on the floor with vacant eyes, placed her hand on Lucia’s head, and said to her in a deep voice.
“Lucia, hold your consciousness.”
Lucia, who had almost had her consciousness scattered, finally managed to gather her thoughts upon hearing Enya’s voice, and was not shattered by the surging tide.
Lucia felt something being poured into all her blood vessels.
Her heartbeats became difficult.
On her body, this manifested as difficulty breathing and a flushed, dark-red color all over.
Seeing this, Enya thought, should she dilute the remaining ten bottles? Looking at the girl who seemed to have overdosed, she felt this dosage might be life-threatening.