Chapter 73: Arc II – Intermission 11: Illianna’s Impressions

Getting out of one hell and going to another, that's how I viewed my situation until a while ago.

Although my present life has not been as miserable as my previous one, it could not even be called satisfactory. Or rather, what I have experienced so far could not even be called a life.

I was forced to spend the whole day locked up like an animal, no, even the family dog got better treatment than mine.

I didn't want to continue like that anymore, that's why I ran away, but in the end, I was bound to fail. I ended up falling into the hands of bandits. If it wasn't for the fact that I was worth a lot of money because I was beautiful and virgin, I probably would have been raped and become their plaything.

When I say I'm perfect, it's not just to brag proudly. I really am an incredibly beautiful person. But this unparalleled beauty was the reason for my downfall in my past life.

Anyway, after being sold to a slave trader, I was forcibly trained to become a sex slave. But due to my resistance, I was beaten countless times. As the beatings were not even close to those I received from my father, it was easy to bear.

Probably dissatisfied with my resistance, that old man tried to sell me even though I had not completed the training. Unfortunately, the buyer was supposed to be a worse person than my father.

I know very well that rumors are not to be believed, but this is a different case. I witnessed it with my own eyes the moment he broke into my father's mansion.

It was carnage…

I clearly remembered the expression of satisfaction mixed with hatred he had on his face as he strangled my father.

Considering that the reputation about him being cruel and ruthless was true, I figured he would also be promiscuous as rumored.

But despite my initial apprehension, after interacting with him a bit, I realized that he seemed like someone easy to manipulate. In the end, I convinced him to sign a magic contract with me with favorable terms for me.

***

I thought this was finally my chance to live my life to the fullest, but I was wrong. A contract that was supposed to be impossible to unilaterally undo, was undone like it was nothing.

In the end, even though I could live two lives, it seemed I would suffer the same fate in both.

In my past life, I endured steadfastly until I had a chance to change my fate. But in this life, in front of this monster, I would probably stay as his toy forever.

Amidst the despair, I tried to provoke him in the hope that I would soon put an end to my oncoming suffering. But despite a deadly look at first, it immediately vanished from his face the moment his wife appeared.

That was something probably unknown to the world, but he had a wife and a daughter. He seems to cherish them a lot.

Seeing a loophole I could exploit, I wasn't ready to give up completely yet.

Even though I had only spent a short time with them, he seemed to be a husband controlled by his wife. So at that very moment I put a desperate plan into action.

All I hoped for was to succeed or die at his hands. Although he seemed to have no interest in my body at that moment, it wasn't guaranteed to last forever. Even if I didn't want to die, it was better than living like a toy.

In the morning, before we went to construction, even with my meager knowledge of magic, I did my best to exercise some space magic. But just when I thought I had failed, he unexpectedly looked back, vigilantly.

Truly a monster, even though I believed myself to have failed, he still noticed the slight stirring in the magic. While it's not how I wanted it, it's good enough to make him suspicious that I had used it.

When we got in the construction site, I provoked him to see how far I could use his wife's name on my behalf.

It all worked out in the end, I managed to fool him into thinking I had used space magic to leave a message in the inn room. But even though I succeeded, it was by a hair's breadth.

For a moment, I saw my whole life flash before my eyes.

***

Although at times he simply seems like a spoiled brat in an adult's body, he is not difficult to deal with as long as I use the right methods. Since I have lived in a business world in my past life, I can deal with many kinds of people.

In the end, I didn't experience as much hardship as I had expected. To be honest, even though I am his slave, this is the best time of my life since I was reincarnated.

Since there was a possibility, I started trying to make him more sociable and to not kill people as he always did without a good reason. Although he is an explosive person, it's not that hard to do it, he is more simp than I thought.

That makes the situation quite beneficial for me. Whenever Ophilia's name comes up, he ends up agreeing to most of my demands as long as they are reasonable.

"I still find it hard to believe he's the same person from the rumors."

I looked at the projected screen in front of me.

"You bunch of insects, if you want to get strong, you'd better try harder."

Even though it was night, I could see the smile stamped on Sian's face through the screen. He was beating the hell out of the ex-mercenaries while claiming that it was training for the sake of making them stronger. Although it really was effective, it still seemed cruel in a way.

After living with him for a few days, I felt that he passed the feeling of a dog that only barks and does not bite. But it seems that I was just lucky

"It was a wise choice to have turned him down when he called me to train."

As if seeing me, his projection on the screen looked at me and showed a positive sign.

Even though I try to be as inconspicuous as possible and camouflage my magic, he always notices when I spy on him.

Truly a monster. Even if I call him that, I don't really have a complaint about him.

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Thanks to the system and the arbitrary connection he created between us, I didn't have to go that far to get stronger. Even while I slept, the system continued to slowly but steadily increase my magical ability.

Even if I say slowly, it was nothing like that. In the past few days, the power I had acquired was the equivalent of years of continuous training. After I passed level 35, the speed decreased considerably, but my level was already close to that of the mayor of the city, who was considered as someone strong.

It wasn't just my magic that was increasing, the system was granting me countless skills. Even my unique skills that were already unimaginably useful were getting stronger and stronger.

The semi-transparent screen in front of me was the fruit of these empowerments.

"Compared to Sian's nearly 200 levels, that's an abysmal difference," I muttered to myself as I longed for the future.

But still, to think that finding the person that I thought was the worst possible for me turned out to be the best. I'm very surprised by that fact.

He turned out to be better even than my family...

With an archaic belief that women were only meant to give birth and make connections, my father prevented all his daughters from learning about magic or anything related to combat.

He even went so far as to make us wear necklaces with magic-inhibiting crystals.

Even though Sian almost killed me and I harbor some resentment, I won't express it. I believe personal feelings are just a luxury in my situation.

But well, although he seems harmless at the moment, he's not exactly a good person. Just to be safe, I need to create a guarantee against him.

Closing the screen in front of me, I left my room and went to the terrace to air my mind while watching the starry sky.

***

When I got there, I met Francionia and Ophilia, they were talking about Sian like usual. As they believe I am an old friend of his, I was invited to join in and share stories about him.

Since I need to keep up appearances about our true relationship, I told some stories about him. But only those that were common knowledge to nobles but unknown to common people.

It's interesting to find out that such a feared guy was just an ordinary, crybaby kid. For the Sian of before, violence was always the last option. Apparently, he wanted to become a strong warrior who would help children without parents like him around the world.

It's quite a contrast when I think that until recently he was one of the people who made several of these kids emerge.

Even though they can just sit back and enjoy the good life, Ophilia and Francionia insist on helping Sian, especially Francionia. She is always talking about how she doesn't want to be a nuisance or a burden and want to be of some help.

Amidst my distractions, the direction of the conversation eventually shifted to Ophilia's concerns about her being much older than Sian. While that wasn't a concern in my previous world, the situation here is quite different.

It is common for the man to be a few years older than the wife. At most, he should be the same age as the wife, but never less.

This was a superstition spread by the church. Families that do not follow this pattern are bound to face difficulties. It seems that no matter what the world, there will always be religious doctrines that don't make much sense.

While I was pensive, Fran tried to comfort Ophilia, arguing that since she was a beastkin, she had a longer life expectancy than him.

Probably due to magic, humans of this world have a life expectancy of around 110 years while beastkins can live to 130 - 150.

There are races that can live much longer than that, but they can be counted on your fingers.

Regardless, I may be being a bit hasty, but even though Sian is a human, I don't think a person like him is going to die of old age.

As for Ophilia, despite her age, she doesn't look old. The first time I saw her, she lived up to her 35 years, she was even starting to create wrinkles around her eyes.

But now, just a few days later, she looks younger, much younger. In fact, she looks younger than Francionia who is 27 years old.

In the end, the direction of the conversation ended up going to Ophilia talking about how Sian is a good person and she's happy to be able to be with him.

Poor soul, even though Sian himself has told her several times that he isn’t a good person, she always ends up deluding herself.

But I guess it's understandable, after all, love is blind. The aura of the damsel in love that she exudes when she talks about him is quite oppressive.

Not only that, even without realizing it, she exudes a very strong maternal feeling. Sometimes she treats me like a child and hugs me, but I don't really care.  To be honest, I like it when she does that, I never had someone who cared if I was eating right or not.

Somehow, this ended up filling the feeling of what it's like to have a mother that I didn't have even though I've lived two lives. Unlike the feelings I have for Sian, I have a strong appreciation for her.

Sometimes I wonder how these two ended up falling in love, they are complete opposites, or rather, is that why they are so attached to each other?

Well, I guess it doesn't matter.

Although this life was lonely and difficult in the beginning, the current situation doesn't seem to be as bad as I expected.

Maybe I can live a satisfying life this time.

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