The Possessed Evil Woman Wreaks Havoc - Chapter 22

The young marquis glared at me, clenching his teeth. Despite my advice, he clearly had no intention of listening to me.

Gabby, enraged by the young marquis’s attitude, started shouting. “How dare you look at our troublemaker with those eyes! I’ll smash you—!”

“Enough. Don’t waste your energy, just leave him be.”

I stopped Gabby before he could beat up the young marquis. There was no need to rush—we could hit him after getting everything we wanted.

“Young marquis, I have a proposal for you.”

“…A proposal?”

“Well, to be precise, it’s more like a threat.”

I continued, “I can cover up what your sister did. People will continue to believe I was the culprit. That way, your sister’s reputation will remain intact.”

“What do you want from me?”

Smart. The young marquis still hadn’t given up on making his sister the empress, so he couldn’t afford to refuse my proposal.

I handed him two contracts.

One was the contract the duke had given me—it detailed the transfer of a diamond mine to the Clement family in exchange for keeping quiet about the poisoning attempt attributed to me.

The second contract was…

“Sign both of them.”

The young marquis read the contracts. He quickly skimmed through the first one, but his voice began to tremble as he read the second.

“All diamonds mined monthly from the mine shall be delivered to the merchant association designated by Isabella Dunkeld, without any payment for them—”

In other words, he would have to hand over all the mined diamonds for free.

The young marquis read the contract’s contents slowly, processing each word before speaking to me.

“My lady, running a mine costs money. We need to pay miners, hire guards to protect the mine—but you’re asking us to hand over the diamonds without payment. This is absurd.”

“What you did to me was absurd too.”

Considering the costs of running the mine, the Clement family would incur astronomical losses every month.

When you provoke a demon, you should expect no less. With a bright smile, I said, “I don’t care about your circumstances. And for your information, there’s a minimum mining quota written at the bottom of the contract. Don’t think you can avoid this by neglecting the mine.”

“You damned demon of a woman!”

The young marquis couldn’t hold back and yelled at me.

Wow. I silently admired his perceptiveness.

“Hey! How dare you speak like that to our family’s troublemaker!”

Gabby got angry again, but I acted first.

On the table was the fork I had used earlier to eat dessert.

I picked it up.

And then—

Bang!

I aimed between the young marquis’s fingers, which were resting on the table.

The fork barely grazed his fingers before embedding itself in the table.

“Lady—what on earth—?”

“Your fingers must be precious, especially for someone who pushes papers around. If you want to keep them, just sign quietly.”

I gave him one last warning.

Meanwhile, Gabby blinked in surprise at my actions, then grabbed the handle of the fork and tried to pull it out.

When the deeply embedded fork wouldn’t budge, he began to panic.

“What’s with this thing? Why won’t it come out?”

***

We left the marquis’s estate with the signed contracts in my possession.

On the way back to the duke’s estate in the carriage, Gabby asked me, “Hey, Isabella. Are you really satisfied with this? What about your reputation?”

His tone seemed mocking, but there was a hint of concern mixed in.

We had agreed to receive the mine in exchange for the Clement family not pressing charges against me, but rumors had already spread through high society.

Rumors that I had tried to poison the marquis’s daughter out of jealousy. But so what? In the Demon Realm, infamy was the same as fame.

“Reputation means nothing to me. I’m after practical gains.”

I waved the contract I’d made with the young marquis in front of Gabby’s face.

“You really love money, don’t you? You really are a troublemaker. Trading your reputation for money.”

Gabby looked at me with an exasperated expression and added, “Hey, what if I tell the old man about this? What are you going to do then?”

I smirked. From the moment I decided to bring Gabby along to visit the marquis’s estate, I had already prepared for this.

Gabby couldn’t tell the duke anything about what had happened.

Because—

“You’re an accomplice.”

I declared confidently.

I didn’t know any merchant associations capable of laundering diamonds.

I needed someone who could cover up the source of the diamonds and sell them for money—someone with power and status. I decided Gabby was the perfect candidate.

Gabby responded with a look of disbelief. “So, you’re asking me to launder money for you?”

“How about a 90-10 split? Of course, 90 for me.”

“Hey. Do you think I’m short on money? Unlike you, I’m a young duke without any real power. I already run several family businesses.”

I chuckled again. It was true that Gabby, unlike Isabella, wasn’t in dire need of money.

But—

“This money is different. It’s money made by swindling your own father. Aren’t you tempted by that?”

Demons are skilled at reading the desires of others.

Gabby, who was an even worse scoundrel than I was, wouldn’t pass up the opportunity for this kind of depravity.

Gabby hesitated at my words, then stared at me wide-eyed. “You—since when did you get so good at persuasion?”

After a moment of contemplation, Gabby finally made his decision.

“Sixty-forty. No less.”

“Eighty-twenty.”

“Hey. Do you even know how complicated and exhausting laundering money is? Seventy-thirty.”

“Eighty-twenty. But next time you meet the crown prince, I’ll casually mention that the duke still sleeps hugging a fluffy stuffed toy.”

“—Is that true?”

“It’s a lie. But Gabby, wouldn’t you love to see the duke become a laughingstock when that rumor spreads?”

“Damn it. You’re a master negotiator, aren’t you?”

We sealed the deal with a handshake.

At last, I had a diamond mine. My empty pockets would finally be filled.

But things didn’t go as I had expected at all.

***

Nadia Clement had forgotten how to breathe.

‘It’s scary.’

She had requested an audience with Duke Dunkeld.

The duke, who was infamous for being cold-blooded—people joked that ice water, not hot blood, flowed through his veins.

It was said that the duke only acted for the benefit of his family. So much so that people claimed a daughter who tarnished the family’s reputation was worse than no daughter at all.

The reason Nadia had come to see the duke she feared so much was none other than Isabella.

In high society, the evaluation of Isabella was beyond poor—it was the worst.

A beautiful appearance and an excellent background. But all of it wasted by her violent personality and foolish actions.

Yet, Nadia didn’t completely dislike Isabella. Perhaps it was because of the advice Isabella had given her.

“Lady, it’s best to keep your distance from the crown prince. He’s someone that an ordinary person like you can’t handle.”

At first glance, it sounded like she was belittling Nadia, but Nadia sensed a hint of concern beneath her words.

After that, Nadia found herself becoming interested in Isabella and began approaching her.

She had thought Isabella was difficult to approach because of her cold demeanor toward other nobles, but Isabella unexpectedly had a soft side.

Especially when it came to people who approached her first—it seemed she wasn’t used to that.

During their tea times together, Nadia came to realize that Isabella wasn’t as foolish as people thought.

She simply couldn’t talk about the subject she was most interested in anywhere.

That subject was demons. Isabella had extensive knowledge about demons.

She had given Nadia hints about the crown prince’s true identity.

As time passed, Nadia came to understand what Isabella had meant.

Isabella was right. Nadia was an ordinary person. She didn’t want anything to do with demons.

But her family was already negotiating with the crown prince. Her appearance as the crown prince’s partner at the imperial ball had been the first step toward an engagement.

So Nadia had taken poison. It wasn’t a lethal poison that would take her life, just enough to incapacitate her for a few days.

That way, she wouldn’t have to attend the ball as the crown prince’s partner.

‘I went this far—surely my family wouldn’t push for the engagement now?’

It had been a naive hope. Thanks to the doctor’s swift actions, Nadia had regained consciousness the next day, and the situation had only gotten worse.

After a long silence, Duke Dunkeld finally spoke.

“Say it again.”

“The young lady didn’t try to poison me. I took the poison myself. I’m truly sorry—”

“—Enough. Leave now.”

The duke dismissed Nadia from his office.

At the duke’s order, Nadia swallowed hard and left the room.

Bang!

Once the door closed, an even heavier silence filled the room.

The duke’s expression was stiffer than ever.