Revenge Costs Interest [EN]: Chapter 6

Revenge Comes with Interest 6

6. That Which Excites People (6/200)

2023.08.06.

Leah was in low spirits. She had thought only her life had fallen into the abyss, but she realized others were suffering from various troubles, both big and small.

Just then, the door opened, and Pauline bustled in.

Thud-!

Pauline grumbled, placing a past issue of the daily newspaper on the table.

“Miss, are you sure you’re not still sick? Suddenly getting into the newspapers like this is quite a change.”

“Did you bring the glue?”

“I did. Are you going to cut and paste newspaper articles again?”

Pauline was finding a lot of amusement in watching Leah these days, since she had become a completely different person after her illness.

Before, Leah’s first words upon waking up were, “Mirror,” or “Terran?” But now, she didn’t even ask about the Duke.

Recently, she had asked for a week’s worth of newspapers, and ever since, whenever the Duke finished reading one, she would take it and cut out articles.

“It’s a new hobby.”

Leah only cut out articles about Allen and the Hamilton Trading Company from the newspaper and pasted them into a blank notebook. It was already her second notebook.

“A boring hobby, if you ask me.”

Pauline grumbled beside her, but still neatly applied glue to the cut-out articles.

“But this man in the newspaper, I saw him in person, and he was incredibly handsome, you know?”

“Pauline saw this man?”

“Yes, I saw him entering the church on the day of the funeral.”

Pauline’s gaze lingered on Allen in the newspaper as she grinned.

“I see.”

‘He *is* handsome. And I was the foolish one who fell for that face.’

Unaware that he was hiding ugly greed behind a picturesque mask, she had fallen for him without a second thought.

As she collected newspaper articles, people related to Allen began to appear, one by one.

‘I won’t rush.’

Revenge requires thorough preparation and information. Just as Allen had framed the Hamilton Trading Company, she would wait as long as possible and be cautious.

‘By the way, I need to get closer to the Duke…….’

The most urgent task was to get the necklace back from Terran. To do that, it was advantageous to maintain a good relationship with him.

‘Even though he’s engaged to Grace, why hasn’t he rushed the wedding? Is it really because of the reason I heard back then?’

Terran had been annoyed with Grace and told her to stop complaining so much.

Her feeling was that he seemed uninterested in marriage itself or not ready for it.

If so, she shouldn’t pressure Terran into marriage like Grace did. In reality, she had no intention of marrying him at all.

‘Faith, hope, love……. Marriage. Give it all to the dogs.’ [A cynical expression indicating disillusionment with romantic ideals.]

Just then, there was a knock on the door, and Luke peeked his head in.

“The Duke has arrived.”

Why did he come so suddenly without a word? He shouldn’t have any particular business. In an instant, Leah’s mind raced.

“This is unusual. The Duke coming all the way to the Miss’s room!”

Pauline seemed greatly surprised and flustered.

Leah and Pauline hurriedly began to clean up the room, which was cluttered with newspaper scraps.

Leah covered the notebook and pushed it to one side of the vanity.

There wasn’t enough time to clean up perfectly, so she roughly kicked things around with her foot and greeted Terran.

“Grace, how are you feeling?”

Despite her efforts, Terran immediately grasped the situation as soon as he entered Leah’s room.

The traces of cut-out newspapers, the smell of glue, and the thick notebook placed on the vanity.

“I have fully recovered.”

Terran bent his tall frame and picked up a piece of newspaper that had fallen on the floor. Looking at the cut article, it was about a certain person.

‘Allen McDowell? Is she collecting articles about that man?’

Of course, it was just a simple guess. He wouldn’t make any hasty judgments until he saw the notebook on the vanity with his own eyes.

“Is it a new hobby?”

“Yes……? I’m trying to study how the world works.”

“Is that so? A very constructive hobby.”

He gave a restrained smile as usual and didn’t prolong the conversation.

His shining black eyes turned to Leah.

A face without makeup, a neat outfit. Most of all, the ink stains on her hands. Probably from cutting out newspapers.

Above all, she maintained a proper distance even when he appeared, was careful with her words, and didn’t make unreasonable demands like before.

[Terran, let’s go on a date, Grace. I want to go to the amusement park, enjoy a boat ride, and see pretty flowers, okay?] (Previous Grace)

“Do you know what day tomorrow is?”

Terran asked Leah.

‘What day? Is it Grace’s birthday? What is it?’

As Leah’s eyes darted around busily, Terran’s brow furrowed slightly, and his eyes narrowed.

It was as if he was saying, ‘There are things you can forget, but how can you not know about that important promise?’

“Tomorrow is the day we go to Bern to see the Miss’s brother!”

Pauline, quick to catch on, spoke up instead.

“Ah! That’s right, Pauline. Look at my memory.”

Terran tilted his head slightly at Leah’s answer, looking puzzled.

No matter what, Grace had never forgotten about going to see Aiden.

“As always, only Leah and I will go. Make sure to prepare well.”

Terran gave instructions to Pauline and immediately turned around.

‘Why isn’t he stopping me?’

Normally, when he turned to leave, Grace would rush over and hug his waist.

Terran stopped as he was about to pass through the door and only turned his head to look at Leah.

“Do you have anything more to say?”

She asked back. Terran looked at Leah, who was being excessively polite, and fixed his gaze on the notebook she was trying to hide.

‘What is it that makes people so curious?’

Terran shook his head as if it were nothing and left the room.

Whenever he dealt with the changed Leah, he felt like a small sandstorm was stirring in his life, which was as dry as an endless desert.

* * *

Early in the morning, Leah headed to Bern with Terran. It was a three-hour carriage ride.

Pauline packed a few bottles of whiskey, saying it was the Baron Aiden’s favorite liquor.

The carriage was silent. They only talked about the scenery occasionally visible through the window. About an hour passed like that.

“It’s raining.”

Leah said, wiping the abundant rainwater from her hand after holding it out the window.

“It would be troublesome if it rains more.”

Terran also seemed concerned about the rainy weather, constantly looking out the window.

Just then, the carriage stopped, and the coachman ran over.

“Duke, it’s raining heavily in Basel. It seems impossible to go this way. If you allow it, I will change direction to another road.”

The coachman reported that a carriage coming in the opposite direction had informed them.

He said that Basel was experiencing torrential rain, making the road muddy, and that the worst-case scenario could occur where the carriage wheels would get stuck, making it impossible to move forward or backward.

“Do so.”

“Understood.”

The coachman turned the horse’s head in the opposite direction and drove the carriage onto a secluded path through the forest.

Of course, it was raining there too, but it wasn’t torrential, so there was no problem with the carriage moving.

“The meadow is pretty. I can see the shepherd’s hut over there too.”

Leah unknowingly said something that seemed sentimental. But Terran didn’t respond at all.

Instead, he was just staring intently at Leah.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Leah felt nervous whenever she met Terran’s eyes, which seemed to see through everything.

When she was looking into his eyes, she felt that any pretense or hypocrisy was futile.

“It seems like Leah has changed a lot.”

“There’s a saying that humans are social animals. They can change depending on the situation and events they face.”

‘Ha! To hear those words from Leah. Did she catch the flu and have her soul swapped?’

Terran unknowingly had a ridiculous thought.

But what she said was right. He hadn’t been such a weary and pessimistic person from the start either.

He had changed while enduring the trials that befell his family since childhood and fighting in the brutal war.

At that moment, the carriage, which had been running smoothly, began to shake, and loud noises were heard from outside.

“Duke! Bandits have appeared!”

The coachman shouted urgently. It seemed that they had caught the eye of bandits after taking a secluded forest path.

Bang bang-! Bullets flew and hit the carriage as someone fired a gun from outside.

“Coachman!”

Leah saw one of the coachmen get shot and fall from the carriage.

Terran, who had quickly gotten up, pulled the handle of the chair. Then, the lid of the chair lifted, revealing a large space.

‘It wasn’t a chair, but a box?’

Terran said to Leah with a stern face.

“Get in, Leah.”

“Yes? Only……me?”

As she only stared with a bewildered face, Terran pushed Leah into the long box.

“Don’t come out until I open the door.”

Before she could say anything, Terran firmly closed the chair lid.

Terran immediately opened the opposite chair and took out a rifle.

Bang bang-! The horses and carriage were separated by the attack that the bandits were pouring down while riding.

Terran quickly reloaded the bullets and fired at the bandits. He skillfully shot, guarding the front and back.

Fortunately, the carriage’s speed was gradually decreasing, as it wasn’t on a steep slope.

If they plunged off a cliff in this situation, the carriage would be shattered before they were killed by the bandits’ guns.

So, he had to deal with the bandits quickly so they couldn’t rush in further. Because if the carriage stopped completely, they would be surrounded.

He sensed the vibration of the bullets cutting through the air with his whole body, dodged them, and estimated the bandits’ positions through the window.

Also, with excellent reflexes, he raised his gun and accurately sniped them.

As the sound of gunfire and the urgent situation filled the forest, his body moved on its own.

“Ugh!”

Finally, the bandits fell one by one after being shot. But the problem was that there were quite a few bandits.

However, there were plenty of bullets. Because of his military habits, he always kept a rifle and bullets in the carriage.

Once again, the bandits shot at the carriage, and finally, a wheel collapsed. The remaining coachman had long since fled into the forest.

The carriage was riddled with holes from the continuous gunfire, and it seemed like the roof would fly off.

“It’s been a while since I’ve stretched my body.”

Terran exuded murderous intent, broke through the ceiling, and quickly fired while rotating 360 degrees.

His marksmanship, honed by war, was so close to divine that he could immediately sense the enemy’s presence without even seeing them. Thanks to that, the bandits were annihilated in just a few minutes.

In an instant, Terran sensed a presence from behind and immediately turned and fired.

Bang bang, two gunshots and a scream. Terran’s bullet pierced the bandit’s head, but the bandit’s bullet also pierced Terran’s shoulder.

“Ugh……!”

Terran collapsed onto the carriage floor.

“Duke Courtois!”

Leah, who had been holding her breath inside the chair, listening to the situation outside, immediately jumped out at Terran’s groan. Soon, she saw him with a gunshot wound to his shoulder.

“I’ll support you.”

Leah roughly gathered only the necessary items and pulled Terran out of the carriage, supporting him.

“More bandits will come. Let’s run away before that.”

This forest must be the bandits’ base. Leah walked towards the meadow they had passed a little while ago.

“Huk……!”

Terran staggered, as the bleeding from his shoulder was severe.