Chapter 14

TW: murder, deaths of family members, manipulation from the murderer

What kind of relationship does Barkan Harmash have with her? Raeyeon focused on the situation in front of her eyes to find out.

“Why did you do that? Don’t tell me you don’t know why.”

Barkan smiled as he perched on the sofa in bloody clothes. He relaxed on the sofa with his legs crossed and picked one of the reasons for what he did based on a rhythm.

“First, you refused my proposal, insulted me as a hoodlum and I was even beaten at your doorstep. You said I’m a parasite that sucks on your vitality.”

At this point, an ordinary person would pull their sword and feel sorry for Barkan. But, instead, she looked down at Erel, kneeling at his feet and wiping the blood from his hand.

“I’m a person who can be hurt too, Miss Erel. Unfortunately, people seem to forget that fact often.”

The appealing face, with the corner of his eyes slightly lowered, was distraught. He looked surprisingly terrible. Especially given that it was Erel’s family he had just slaughtered.

“Ahh..”

Erel’s eyes broke into pieces as she looked at the bodies scattered on the floor. Her father Calbert, loving mother Louisa, and meticulous but affectionate brother Michael. Unfortunately, the bloody people couldn’t hug or comfort Erel as warmly as before.

“That’s why you should have accepted me. You know that a Masaka without a Receiver goes crazy easily.”

Barkan shrugged his shoulders as if he was sorry, smiled grimly, and laughed.  It was like a naughty boy caught playing a little prank.

Her body trembled in a seizure-like state when she looked up at the face that couldn’t find any guilt. She then crumbled to the floor and fell into pieces.

“Ah, Ahhhhh…..heungg….no…!!!”

Erel was so shocked that she couldn’t even cry properly. All of this was due to her weak self. She hid behind her family’s words that they would protect her. As always, she did nothing and waited for the problem to solve itself, acting like a child.

The result was this. Her family confronted and did not surrender their precious daughter to the strongest Masaka in the kingdom. And as a result, each and every single one of them was slaughtered by his hands.

“Father…Mother…Brother…”

It was as though she killed them herself. Erel grabbed the corpse of her family member and broke into a cry with her dry throat. She couldn’t even cry properly as hot regrets burned her throat. She was engulfed by awful self-loathing.

“Why are you crying? It is breaking my heart.”

Barkan had personally approached her and comforted her gruesomely. He then knelt romantically on the blood-stained floor and forcefully grabbing Erel’s hand that was twitching in fear.

“Erel Elorence, you are my precious Receiver.”

With a sweet expression like a man in love, he sweetened his lips. He then reached out his bloody hand and caressed Erel’s teary face with love.

“Everyone who interferes with us is now gone. So you’re going to accept my proposal this time, right?”

The whispering man’s eyes gleamed with frenzy.

***

T/N: TW ends here.

“Heuk, Heuk…!!”

Waking up from the nightmare, she stood up. An abundance of platinum hair flowed down in front of her shoulder like a cloud, and she realised that she had returned to Erel’s body.

It was an overly vivid dream. She still didn’t know whether the goosebumps on her arms and neck would subside.

It’s not just a dream.

She could feel it instinctively. What she just saw was what really happened to Erel Elorence.

Precisely, it will become the future when if she refused Barkan Harmash’s proposal.

Thanks to that, Erel grabbed the last piece of the puzzle that had not been put together before. Why Erel Elorence, whose name was also unfamiliar, was associated with the precious Receiver and how she was associated with a big shot like Barkan.

Now I know. Erel is a special supporting character in the Barkan-related favourability story.

At first, this game only gave a rough overview of the character. When the favorability was raised to a certain level, the special story related to the character was released. Things like what past this character is hiding and why it became its current character.

However, Raeyeon was not interested in Barkan when she played Salvation. That’s why she didn’t recognise him at first sight.

It was his bloody character setting background that made Raeyeon especially disenchanted.

[Masaka of fire, Barkan Hamash. Of cruel nature, he is the unknown head of the Dark Family. He murdered his first wife and annihilated her family.]

Upon reading his description, she immediately gave up on him. She didn’t like it at all, so of course, she didn’t know anything about the special story about Barkan. So naturally, therefore, she didn’t notice the connection between Erel and him.

She could tell through a kind of recurring nightmare aiding her that his poor first wife, whose family was exterminated, was probably…….

It was Erel Elorence. 

Maybe that’s why. The reason why the mission quests were updated out of the blue is.

You want me to raise Barkan’s favorability by 80?

Is that so that she can avoid the catastrophe imposed on her? Thinking so, she got goosebumps all over her body.

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But there was something else that was even creepier. It was the moment when Raeyeon was about to wake up from this scary dream. Then, someone whispered in her ear, in a faint, dying voice.

Please protect them.

That must have been Erel’s voice. But, unfortunately, she had already borrowed her body several times, so she couldn’t understand it at first.

What should she do? Raeyeon shot up in a daze. She feels like she is caught in a trap that she can’t escape without knowing. No matter how hard she struggled, she was destined to be involved with Barkan from the beginning, and she wanted to let go of everything.

Creak-

For a moment, she heard the sound of the door opening. The bright light that came through the cracks wrapped around her warmly.

“Rel, are you awake?”

The first thing she saw in the light was Michael’s simple physique. His face which was dark because of the backlight, became bright the moment he saw Erel.

“You’ve come to your senses!”

At the same time, as he let out a relieved face, someone rushed in from the back.

“Rel, my baby!”

Louisa’s warm hands hugged her tightly. She kept stroking her hair and cheeks, and she didn’t know what to do.

“You were scared, weren’t you?” Don’t worry. I’ll protect my daughter with my own hands somehow.”

“……Mother.”

Erel blinked as she was held by Lousia. Then, when she turned her head casually, she could see Calbert’s face looking worriedly from the side through the gap by the door.

“Are you feeling well? Aren’t you hungry?”

She bit her lip tightly to Louisa’s loving question. How can she not like them?

She knew the person they love was Erel Elorence, not Lee Raeyeon. She wanted to protect her family if she could, regardless.

In her dream, Erel cried desperately while holding the corpse of her family. Perhaps because she was connected through her body, Raeyeon could clearly feel the sad loss and heartbreaking sorrow as if it were her own.

Erel regretted her weakness for failing to protect them. She asked Raeyeon again and again to protect them.

Recalling the pitiful voice, Raeyeon seemed to know. In what way can she move forward?….

Let’s survive and…

Let’s save the family.

This was not a decision made simply because of the mission quest. Instead, she recalled their miserable bodies in her nightmares.

The blood-stained and hardened faces that couldn’t even close their eyes properly. They were worried about the safety of Erel, the youngest, who they couldn’t keep at the end.

It was a pity that she took over the body of Erel, which they cherished so much. But what can she do? It already happened.

Raeyeon did not intend to let go of her hand.

We’ve got to do what we can do now.

Protecting her precious family in exchange for renting Erel’s body. In order to ensure their safety, she had to be cautious from now on.

No one knew what kind of ending she would draw with every little choice she made.

***

The sunny afternoon was mild.

Erel glanced under the balcony. She saw servants of the Elorence family busily moving back and forth in the corner of the garden.

“Oh my God, why are there so many flowers? My nose is going to fall off.”

“No matter how much I wash the smell on my clothes, it won’t come off.”

The servants’ complaints reached the table on the third floor. They were removing the withered lilies from the cart and disposing of them. However, the amount carried in the flower cart was so overwhelming that there was no end in sight.

Barkan Harmash.

Even among the lilies with their heads bent, the red roses embroidered with his name were still so vivid. She frowned at the ominous colour. As she kept an eye on the garden, the person sitting opposite her asked in a sharp tone.

“Are you okay, Rel? You’ve been looking a little strange for a while.”

At first glance, she seemed worried, but she was displeased. As she lifted her head, dragged by her sharp accent, she saw a beauty with bronze hair in a gorgeous dress.

“Are you listening to me?”

Beatrice Summer Alberrum Russell.

Coming in like an uninvited guest on a leisurely afternoon, she is the best friend of Erel Elorence.