Revenge Costs Interest [EN]: Chapter 55

Revenge Has Interest – Episode 55: Terran’s Fury (55/200)

Episode 55: Terran’s Fury

2023.09.24.

With each swing of the woman’s knife, the air sliced sharply.

Leah tried to dodge the blade, but with one hand gripping the woman’s sleeve, she found it hard to move nimbly.

“Get lost before your pretty face gets ruined!”

“Who ordered you to do this? Tell me now!”

“You think I’d tell you?”

The woman swung the knife with all her might, aiming to stab Leah. Leah ducked to avoid it, and the woman, losing her balance from the force, was thrown towards the window.

“Aah!”

Leah, still holding onto the woman’s clothes, was dragged out with her.

Clutch—

Fortunately, in the split second of losing balance, Leah managed to grab the window ledge with both hands. But the woman was hanging in the air, clutching Leah’s ankle.

“Let go!”

No matter how much Leah shook her leg, the woman held onto her ankle like a rope, refusing to let go.

“I’m not dying alone!”

The woman clung to Leah for dear life. It was the top floor of a five-story building, and the height between floors was quite large, making the actual height much greater than five stories. Falling from here would result in at least serious injuries.

“Help me!”

Leah shouted with all her might. But her grip strength was weak, making it difficult to hold onto the ledge for long.

Moreover, with the woman hanging onto her, she had to bear more than double the weight.

Just then, lights began to turn on one by one in the dark mansion. Leah’s hands, gripping the ledge, lost their color and trembled.

She didn’t know how much longer she could hold on. At most, a minute or so.

“Is anyone there?”

She knew that shouting would drain her strength and make her body shake more, but she couldn’t handle it alone.

The woman, also struggling, lost her grip on Leah’s shoe, and it plummeted downwards.

“Aaaaaaah!”

Thud—!

The woman’s desperate scream and the sound of her body breaking shattered the silent night air. Just then, the servants rushed out, murmuring.

“There, someone’s hanging.”

“Who is it?”

“Looks like a woman?”

“Wait! It’s Miss Grace!”

The servants, shocked to see the woman on the ground, were horrified to see Grace hanging from the window ledge. Soon, the male servants moved busily.

“Bring something to catch her!”

“Go get a mattress!”

Though they moved quickly below, Leah couldn’t hold on any longer. Her arms were losing strength, and she was about to fall.

‘I… I can’t hold on any longer!’

In the end, Leah lost her grip with one hand, and screams erupted from below.

The servants watched the precarious situation, not knowing what to do.

“Ugh…!”

Her last bit of strength was gone. Now, only a few seconds remained.

‘I don’t want to die like this.’

There was still so much she had to do. To face death before even getting started.

She really had no luck. In a flash, past events flashed through Leah’s mind like a panorama. Swept away by the waves of trials, she had come this far, only to die so futilely.

“Te… rran.”

Leah called his name and let go of the remaining hand. The sounds of people below faded away.

Leah saw her body falling downwards in slow motion.

Before letting go, she heard a familiar voice shouting something, but she couldn’t understand it at all.

‘This is the end.’

Giving up everything, she entrusted herself to the air. At the moment her body fell, a strong force grabbed Leah, stopping her fall.

She quickly looked up.

“Terran!”

He was breathing heavily, as if he had run with all his might. Soon, he grabbed Leah’s wrist with one hand and pulled her into the window in one swift motion.

With a crash, Leah fell with Terran. To be exact, she landed on top of him, using his body as a cushion.

Huff, huff, the heavy breathing of the two echoed in the dark room. Suddenly, Leah felt something was wrong.

Terran’s white shirt was soaked with blood.

“Terran, you’re bleeding!”

She cried out in a trembling voice.

“It’s not me, it’s you.”

“Huh?”

Only then did Leah see that her arm was covered in blood. It seemed she had been grazed when the woman swung the knife.

In the urgent situation of falling together, she hadn’t even realized she was hurt.

Just then, people rushed into the room. That was the last thing Leah remembered.

“Grace!”

All she could hear was Terran’s voice desperately calling her name.

* * *

Leah quickly regained consciousness. But the reality before her eyes was very bleak.

Even before waking up, she could hear Channer and Pauline crying, and the serious conversation between Terran, James, and Luke.

“What happened?”

Leah jumped out of bed and asked about the situation. Then, she frowned, feeling a tingling pain in her arm.

“Sister, are you alri…!”

Before Channer could say anything, she was dragged out by Pauline, and James and Luke also left the room with gloomy faces.

“Terran.”

When she called his name, Terran quietly hugged Grace. She could feel a cold rage from him.

“From now on, I won’t let you out of my sight for even a second.”

Leah understood Terran’s bitter feelings, but that wasn’t what she wanted to hear right now. But Leah stroked his trembling back, comforting him.

Terran thought he was having a nightmare. Grace’s voice was coming from somewhere. Her cries for help, begging to be saved, felt like a dream.

But when he opened his eyes, he heard it so vividly that he instinctively knew something had happened.

He searched the mansion for Grace’s faint voice. Then, a faint sound came down like a thin thread from the upper floor and entered his ear.

He ran to the fifth floor without stopping. Even as he ran with all his might, he was suffocated by the fear that Grace might have already fallen.

He had vowed never to let a precious person die in front of him again. But what if something happened to Grace?

When he arrived at the room and saw only the curtains fluttering in the wide-open window, his vision went dark.

Fortunately, when he saw Grace hanging on the narrow ledge, he thanked every god in existence.

“I almost lost you, even a little later.”

If that had happened, he would have ended the world.

“Thank you for saving me.”

“I don’t want to hear that.”

He wasn’t saying it to receive praise.

Of course, Leah knew Terran’s feelings. The man who appeared like a savior every time she was in danger.

She was just sorry that she could only express that gratitude with a single word.

Really, she couldn’t imagine her life without Terran now.

After a while, Terran released Grace from his embrace and brought water and medicine.

“It’s a tranquilizer.”

The two shared the medicine. It would be hard for Leah, the person involved, to fall asleep, but Terran was also unable to calm down.

Terran laid Grace down next to him and gave her a deep kiss. He caressed her face and said.

“Sleep today. You have to.”

Bearing the remaining pain was too harsh a punishment. Before facing reality, the two needed even just a few hours of respite.

“Yes.”

She knew very well what had happened to her, but tonight she wanted to be comforted in his arms.

She nestled like a feather in Terran’s broad chest.

The heavy breathing of the two gradually subsided, and as they found stability, sleep came.

Terran never let Grace out of his arms while he slept.

* * *

The reality that struck the mansion was cruel. Sonia and Adolf collapsed on the spot, wailing at the sight of the torn riding clothes.

“Who is that servant?”

“It’s Anna, a newly hired servant. She’s in the hospital now, but she’s unconscious.”

James’ voice was subdued.

“Make sure she doesn’t die. Assign someone to interrogate her as soon as she wakes up. And…”

Terran’s voice was as cold as ice. His black eyes, darkened with anger, were unfocused.

“Speak.”

“When that woman wakes up, cut her right arm by 10cm [approximately 4 inches] with a knife, just like she did to Grace.”

“Yes?”

James and Luke were shocked. No matter how angry he was, that was not humanly possible.

“I understand your feelings, but I’m against inflicting such cruel acts on a patient.”

“Against? Did you just say I was being cruel? Really? Have you forgotten that Grace almost died?”

Terran shouted so loudly that everyone flinched in surprise.

Leah lost her words as if she was seeing a different persona, and Channer and Pauline, frightened, hugged each other and stepped back.

“I want to tear that bitch apart right now, but I’m enduring it with all my remaining patience. If you can’t do it, I can just stab that thing’s heart myself!”

“Plea… Please calm down, we’ll take care of it.”

James tried to calm the angry Terran.

“If you don’t catch the remaining spies in the mansion, I’ll fire both James and Luke.”

“We will follow your orders, Duke.”

The two replied in an agitated tone.

Terran was greatly angered by the fact that there were more spies in the mansion than he had expected. There was still no evidence, but he had a rough idea of who was behind it.

But a hasty conclusion would only bring disaster. He had to hear it from Anna’s mouth.

“It’s all ruined. The Empress and the maids’ riding clothes are finished.”

Sonia and Adolf gave up everything in despair. Leah silently stared at the riding clothes, torn to shreds like rags.

Now there were only three days left, and including the time to go to Velis, only two days remained.

She had to somehow fix things in the meantime.

Leah mobilized all the information she knew. What was the fastest way to restore the clothes?

Even if Sonia and Adolf started making them now, it would be impossible to complete them in two days.

Then, she remembered something a merchant had brought from the New World a long time ago.

The Hamilton Trading Company had bought several of them, but they were so expensive that they didn’t sell well and were no longer handled.

“I won’t give up.”

As Leah muttered to herself, looking at the torn riding clothes, everyone’s eyes turned to her.

“It’s possible if we have a sewing machine.”