Her benefactor, who had brightened her life, and the enemy who had dragged her life to the most wretched depths.
Ariella Bedford.
“Dieee!”
David, who had already reached Lizzy’s nose, raised the candlestick as high as he could. Seeing David’s face, contorted with all his might and his mouth wide open, Lizzy laughed in vain.
The last face she saw was such an ugly one.
Without blinking an eye, she watched the candlestick approaching her head.
Countless emotions flashed through her mind, and at the end, only a faint regret remained.
And at that moment, an anomaly occurred.
Whoosh!
There was a sound of something cutting through the air.
But it wasn’t the sound of the candlestick being swung by David, but the sound of David himself flying into the air.
David’s ugly face was captured in her dizzy vision and gradually moved away. His not-so-small body flew past her, who was half-lying down, and backwards. As if someone had pushed him.
Behind Lizzy were the stairs leading down to the first floor, and there were no servants to catch him.
As a result, David fell down the stairs, desperately clutching only the golden candlestick.
Crash, bang, bang!
The loud noise rang in her ears, but Lizzy didn’t look back.
She just stared with a blank face, as if her soul had left her body, at the woman standing in the place where David had been just a moment ago.
It was a face that was more than familiar, it was tiresome. That elegant and graceful face that she had thought of until just before she died.
“Ariella…?”
Lizzy mumbled, stuttering.
Was she seeing a hallucination because she was dying? She even had such a delusion for a moment. It was that unbelievable.
‘Ariella is saving me.’
Lizzy was in shock, only moving her lips.
Ariella glanced at her for a moment, then shifted her gaze to David, who had fallen down the stairs.
David’s body, which was stuck in a corner at the end of the stairs, was motionless. It was no wonder, since he had rolled down the long stairs several times.
‘Could he be dead?’
Her lavender eyes trembled faintly.
She hadn’t planned to kill him.
The result, which had gone differently than expected, was both embarrassing and annoying. This was too easy a result compared to what David had done.
She even felt a moment of regret, but Ariella quickly calmed her confused mind. Even if time went back a few minutes, she would have made the same choice. So instead of regretting it, she had to sort out the situation quickly.
“You…”
Just as she was about to take a step, a sharp voice stopped Ariella.
Looking down again, Lizzy, who had been staring up at her with a blank face, was gone, and a familiar venom was noticeable in her eyes.
“Why are you helping me!”
Despite being saved from a life-threatening situation, Ariella applauded inwardly at Lizzy’s consistency in spewing out sharp accusations instead of expressing gratitude.
“So, should I have just let you die?”
“Yes, I should have! I’d rather die than be pitied by an enemy!”
When she asked indifferently, Lizzy became furious like a thunderbolt. It was terribly shameful. The fact that she had thought of her enemy just before she died, and that she had ended up being saved by him.
“Don’t have such ridiculous delusions, Lizzy. It’s not like I helped you out of pity.”
Ariella let out a low sigh and slowly swept her long bangs back.
“I was just displeased.”
Yes, it was because she was displeased. The reason why she couldn’t resist her impulse and ruined her plan herself.
It was because she was so displeased that Lizzy was ending things so futilely.
The revenge she had prepared was just about to get interesting. Lizzy, who had smiled contentedly as she watched herself being whipped on the legs, was now finally beginning to taste that pain, and if she waited just a little longer, just a little longer, the slapping would become whipping, and the whipping would turn into something even worse.
And yet, she was going to die like this.
‘Why have I been staying here without leaving until now?’
Ariella had endured here at the Bedford mansion, even enduring harsh whippings, for a more perfect revenge.
To take revenge on Lizzy, the Duke of Bedford, David, Aaron… all of them for sure. In order to leave this place without any regrets, she had endured the pain of tearing flesh and the desire to escape and find happiness right away.
Even if it was just because she didn’t want to waste the time she had endured, she couldn’t let Lizzy die.
That’s why she had intervened like this.
‘Pity, my a*s.’
I can barely take care of myself, what are you hoping for?
Facing Lizzy, who was looking up at her as if resenting her, Ariella clenched her teeth.
“What…?”
Lizzy frowned, as if she couldn’t understand Ariella’s words, and repeated the question.
But Ariella had no intention of kindly elaborating, and coldly brushed past Lizzy, descending the stairs.
“Do you have time for explanations right now? Get a grip and get up and help. We need to get rid of this guy before the servants who heard the noise come.”
David had warned the servants not to follow him, but the noise had been so loud that at least one of the butlers would surely come to investigate soon. So, they had to move quickly.
David was still motionless when she approached to check. Kneeling down to get a closer look, her eyes were drawn to the clear bite mark on his hand.
Ariella, with a serious expression, brought her hand close to the face of the thing that might or might not be a corpse.
She faintly felt a breath passing over her slender fingers.
‘He’s alive.’
David was alive. The moment she realized this, a wave of relief and joy washed over her.
Good heavens, she never knew she would be so happy that David hadn’t breathed his last.
He seemed to have hit his lower back and neck bones while tumbling down the stairs, so this life wouldn’t last long. But even so, there was still a chance for revenge.
Ariella wore a faint smile and quickly continued.
“You know that thug you’ve been close to since the slums? Jasper, the one I had you hire to take care of me last time.”
Lizzy, who had gotten up from the floor and was looking down, frowned. She knew Ariella had investigated her, but hearing it with her own ears didn’t feel good.
“Contact him. I have a use for him.”
“Why should I?”
Lizzy tightly gripped her trembling arms and crossed them. Then, forcing a confident expression, she scoffed.
“You’re the one who killed him anyway. Why should I help you?”
Ariella was the one who pushed David down the stairs, so she was the one who had to pay the price for murder. Lizzy seemed to believe that.
Ariella, amazed by her audacity, chuckled.
“If that’s how you want to play it, fine. Shall we wait here together until the servants come?”
“……”
“The servants know that David went to your room in a very angry state. They probably have a rough idea of what David might do to you.”
Ariella added casually, grabbing David’s arm.
