NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 5 - Jealousy (2)
Jealousy (2)
05 – Jealousy (2)
A beautiful mansion and vast territory given by the main family.
Numerous servants who obey absolutely.
Wealth overflowing with no lack compared to any other family.
Countless followers whose numbers cannot be counted.
Nobles courting her every other day.
Greedy humans crawling and watching for reactions.
Even looks so beautiful they’d be hard to find searching the entire empire, not just this area.
Arein S. Asphodel was someone who could take whatever she wanted, and simply snatch away whatever she wanted to steal.
Among everything, what Rein was most interested in was ‘puppet theater.’
The essence of humans is greed.
They endlessly covet and soon lead themselves to destruction.
She had seen countless such people since she was young.
So she knew well what ugly bare faces these people would show in their puppet theater when they entered the overwhelming authority of Asphodel.
There’s a saying that ’emotions can’t be bought with money,’ but that didn’t apply to her.
But Ha-yu was special. This man didn’t easily despair, like someone who had something they devoutly believed in. In that guy’s eyes that she’d watched for 10 years, hope was always blooming. Of course, she didn’t want to subjugate him to the point of crossing the line here.
Just as hope highlights despair, it was more interesting to play with him while maintaining an appropriate line.
She thought even a human like Ha-yu was solely in the palm of her hand. In the end, she made the hasty judgment that she could get both material and mental things as she wished someday.
And then something unexpected like today happened.
“Haah.”
Rein’s mansion bedroom.
In the wide bed covered with pure white luxury blankets, buried within, she couldn’t easily fall asleep.
“Why does Ha-yu smell like the Saint?”
Rein was clearly feeling an emotion of ‘anger’ in her heart.
But it was different from the simple one-time anger she had felt until now.
It wasn’t one-directional, but a never-before-felt anger that seemed to make her feel slightly unpleasant.
“Ha-yu, how dare you……!”
Ha-yu is the only servant Rein calls by name.
Though Ha-yu is a strange name, somehow he wanted that.
“So you ate everything, huh.”
She had pressured Tresia the cook to feed him such delicious food, and even left her seat so he could eat comfortably.
“This is annoying.”
Above all, she even went directly to Ha-yu’s humble bedroom due to her sudden bloodsucking urge.
Rein thought there could be no greater honor for a slave.
She treated him so generously that she wondered if this was really her past self, if this was okay.
So why did it turn out like this?
“This is annoying. So annoying.”
Rein buried her face in the pillow.
Her black, beautiful silk-like hair scattered on the pillowcase.
“I don’t understand.”
And another question, why did she run out as soon as she smelled the Saint’s scent?
This point too, she couldn’t understand.
Shouldn’t she have gotten angry right there, asked what happened, and as the master given punishment to the slave for lying?
After all, Ha-yu is just a mere servant.
“…No. I did well. Questioning right away lacks dignity.”
She had grown up with dignity as a count’s daughter since childhood.
She prides herself on being more noble than anyone in dignity and conduct.
Though she tries to steady her heart like that, in a corner of her mind she becomes curious about what Ha-yu and the Saint might have done in the carriage.
“Should I have asked? No, I hate it.”
And somehow her chest hurts when she thinks about that situation.
She feels like she took a loss by needlessly calling the Saint for their last meeting.
-The Saint is an object of admiration to humans. -She’s someone who shouldn’t be defiled, right? -So nothing would have happened. -Above all, Ha-yu is a softie and a human.
Thinking like that, her heart felt somewhat lighter.
And Rein soon raised her head from the bed as if realizing something.
“I think I understand.”
Even her disheveled hair couldn’t hide her beauty.
“Because they touched my thing.”
Since childhood, she extremely hated others touching things she had claimed.
The music box she cherished.
When a maid accidentally broke it, she gave her severe punishment.
Ha-yu’s existence is just a mere creature.
Someone could accidentally break him.
Therefore, she could organize it as ‘The Saint is trying to seduce Ha-yu, and I’m just feeling displeasure about this.’
When Rein thought carefully, it was clear that the Saint was interested in Ha-yu.
Wouldn’t this naturally be uncomfortable as the owner?
“Right. This needs to be taught with a sting.”
Though it was shameful to even think like this about a mere thing, she made a firm resolution while talking about the duties of being an owner.
I was dazed for a while.
The first thing I did was fix the fallen curtain.
For some reason, it makes me laugh.
“I got 5 points…sweet.”
5 points.
Risking my life to draw out Rein’s anger twice was just 2 points.
But suddenly 5 points?
I lay down on the bed.
-creak.
An ugly sound bigger than before greets me.
“It is bothering me.”
Maybe she suddenly left because the bed was in this state?
I heard women are sensitive to atmosphere.
‘Whatever. It’s good if she doesn’t rush. I need to roll around tomorrow too.’
Surely she won’t kill me over this?
When I close my eyes, thoughts lead to more thoughts.
I’ve lived so thin and long for nearly 10 years.
It would be too cruel if something like that happened now that hope has appeared.
Well, Rein isn’t the type for impulsive behavior to that degree.
‘Let’s just sleep.’
But sleep didn’t come easily.
“…Can’t resist 5 points.”
I focused my mind again and opened the status window.
Remaining Seven Deadly Sins points: 6 Strength: 5 Endurance(Mental Power): 9 Intelligence: 5 Magic Power: 0 Flexibility: 8 Luck: 1
The crude UI fitting for a trash game caught my eye.
“Hmm…… magic power after all?”
Going from 0 to 1 will surely cause something to happen.
No need to agonize over it.
‘Magic Power 1 let’s go!’
[※Magic Power 0->1 complete.]
-spark!
For a moment, a spark ran through my body.
I looked around in case there were any witnesses.
When I think my life depends on it, every single nerve cell becomes sensitive.
-rustle.
Fortunately, since it was dawn, there was just trees rustling beyond the window.
-ding
[Skill window has been opened as magic power was generated] [Magic Power: 1, Mana: None]
[Blood Magic-Basic] [Passive – Blood: Resource used instead of mana.] [Remaining Blood: 31] [※]
“That’s it?”
Mana is completely ‘None.’
And the blood magic explanation is just one line, ‘Blood.’
I knew it but they really made this game roughly.
No matter how you look at it, it’s a one-trick slave experience.
“Sigh.”
A sigh comes out automatically.
From the start, can’t even tell if it’s a romance game or action game.
Let’s be grateful there’s even a skill like this.
‘This billiard hall mark…’
When I focused on the billiard hall mark, a new window popped up.
-ding
[※Caution] [-Blood mages do not generate mana. Blood is used as a resource.] [-When magic power reaches 10 points, Blood Magic-Introduction is achieved, and skills are randomly generated accordingly.] [-Penalties occur if blood falls below 0%] [※Let’s use blood sparingly.]
Getting dizzy here.
Even phrases that wouldn’t appear in public service announcements.
Blood Magic-Introduction that seems like it would give proper skills requires 10 points.
The remaining Seven Deadly Sins points are only 5 points so it’s far from enough, and with that premise they say skills are randomly generated.
“How do I collect another 4 points……this is pissing me off.”
Am I supposed to expect luck like points suddenly dropping like today?
Setting aside penalties, I need to think about the very existence of magic that uses blood instead of mana.
For black mages, I’ve seen a few drops of specific creatures’ blood going into magic circles.
But even this is just being able to use magic through blood like vampires.
I’ve never heard of such mindless blood magic.
I wonder if I’ll get caught for forbidden magic if I use it carelessly at the Academy.
My head throbs at the overwhelmingly frustrating development.
‘The more urgent, the more roundabout.’
Right, today had enough gains.
I’ve been promoted from powerless blood donation slave -> ‘slave with blood magic potential.’
There are positive aspects that can be inferred in reverse from here.
If blood magic upgrades every 10 points,
The strength stat might also be clearly noticeable when it reaches 10 points.
The best way to prove this hypothesis would be to invest 1 point in the 9-point mental power.
In the end, the question is whether to gather points for blood magic quickly or test mental power.
Since I can’t wastefully use even 1 point, I spent about 5 minutes pondering just this.
And my conclusion was……