Episode 4
The question lingered only briefly. Since it didn’t seem like a difficult job, I let it pass without much suspicion.
The final page detailed the working conditions and salary, just as I’d heard before coming here.
In the contract Bael handed me, the monthly salary increased. By a whopping 3 gold each month.
“These terms are much better than what Mr. Roan mentioned. Is this really okay?”
“Of course. It has the Duke’s approval.”
At this rate, I’d surely earn a fortune in just one year.
“Uh, but the retirement benefits seem to be written incorrectly…?”
A sum ten times the signing bonus!
3,000 gold was enough to buy a small mansion in the capital.
To hire someone under such conditions… Was Winspear’s wealth, like its military power, beyond imagination?
“No, you read it correctly.”
As if to confirm I hadn’t misread, Bael nodded with a smile.
I looked back and forth between the retirement benefits and him. Somehow, Bael’s tired face, marked by dark circles, began to look almost divine.
“Good heavens, these conditions! I’d bury my bones here in a heartbeat.”
I meant it. Where else could a mere baron’s daughter find a job with such pay?
Aside from the restriction on leaving the Winspear Duchy during the contract period, these were excellent—no, the best conditions.
Thinking there was no need to read further, I flipped through the pages quickly.
How long had I been skimming? An unusual clause caught my eye.
“Oh, what’s this clause?”
“Which one are you referring to?”
I read the clause related to retirement.
“After three years of service, the signing bonus is granted, and retirement can be negotiated. However, if you learn the ducal family’s secrets, you will be bound here for life.”
At my question, Bael explained with a radiant smile.
“Most high noble families have secrets that mustn’t leak out. This clause is to prevent that.”
That made sense, but… I couldn’t shake an uneasy feeling.
Cautiously, I asked Bael.
“Have you been bound here because you learned Winspear’s secrets?”
At my serious question, he burst into laughter, tears even welling up in his eyes.
“No way. I’m here of my own will.”
“Right? Haha.”
“You don’t need to worry too much about this clause. Unless something unusual happens, you’re unlikely to learn Winspear’s secrets, right?”
Unless someone blatantly told me, I wouldn’t learn the secrets of Winspear, a pillar of the empire.
Besides, in most houses, learning a secret would mean immediate death. Being bound to Winspear for life didn’t seem so bad in comparison.
As if entranced, I pulled out the seal I always carried in my pocket.
“Don’t you want to read more?”
Bael, now without his glasses, asked with a gentle smile.
The moment our eyes met, a sudden doubt arose.
‘Were his eyes always pink?’
But I couldn’t dwell on it. Ignoring the hazy feeling, I answered his question.
“Of course. I’d already decided to sign before coming here.”
“That’s a commendable mindset.”
As if urging me to hurry, he signaled with his eyes. I raised my seal and stamped it without hesitation.
Thud.
At that moment.
“Huh?”
My past life came flooding back.
It wasn’t an overwhelming emotion. Knowing this was the world of the novel Paradise’s Angel, centered on the intense romance between a holy knight hero and an angel heroine, and that demons stood in their way, only left me bewildered.
It wasn’t shocking enough to deny reality or run away.
What was curious, though, was that aside from the novel’s contents, I couldn’t recall anything about my past life.
Quickly grasping reality and focusing on the present was one of my strengths.
There was nothing more foolish than clinging to the past, so I shook my head. Then I checked the contract I’d just stamped.
In an empire that believed in angels, the fact that I was a transmigrator wasn’t reason enough to panic…
At that moment, a chill ran up from my toes.
“W-Wait… Where is this place again?”
I stammered. Bael answered as if it were obvious.
“The Winspear Ducal Family.”
I was doomed. Absolutely doomed.
The reason for my shock was clear.
The Winspear Ducal Family was the home of the final villain and demons in Paradise’s Angel!
Snapping to my senses, I trembled as I checked the ducal seal again.
‘Good heavens, Liliana. How could you stamp this without a shred of doubt!’
I wanted to tear my head apart.
The alternative to being sold off was a demon’s den.
“Miss Liliana Walker, I look forward to working with you starting today. Oh, you said you were in a hurry? Do you need to return home? You’ll need to pack your things.”
Whether he knew my feelings or not, Bael continued calmly.
My grip tightened, and the contract in my hands crumpled with a crunch.
Noticing this, Bael smiled brightly.
“By the way, no matter how tightly you grip the contract, it won’t be voided, so don’t worry.”
At his kind explanation, I ground my teeth. I realized why I’d stamped it so carelessly.
In the novel, demons and angels had unique abilities. Among Bael’s abilities was one that could sway human hearts.
So, the decisive reason I signed without suspicion was because of him.
Bael, feigning innocence, was still smiling with his eyes gently curved.
Perhaps misinterpreting my gaze, he clapped his hands.
“Oh my, Miss Walker. Are you so thrilled to work for the Winspear Ducal Family?”
Behind Bael, whose lips curled like a demon’s, the reception room’s scenery came into view.
“Haha.”
I hated the past me who’d brushed off this clearly inhuman setting as merely “unique.”
My grip didn’t loosen, so Bael tilted his head.
“Surely you’re not thinking of terminating the contract less than a minute after signing, are you?”
“…”
“If that’s your intention, I’m afraid you’d have to pay three times the signing bonus as a penalty.”
His explanation was kind, but his kindness terrified me.
“You also used the mage’s portal to get here, didn’t you? You’ll need to cover that cost as well.”
It wasn’t just about repaying the bonus; it felt like they’d wipe me out. Only then did I start to accept reality.
The deed was done, and there was no undoing it.
‘…Think positively, Liliana. Positively.’
My most urgent need was to pay off my father’s debt and shed the Walker name.
I’d have to live among demons for three years, but the main story of Paradise’s Angel was still far off.
If I earned money and safely parted ways…
[However, if you learn the ducal family’s secrets, you will be bound here for life.]
…Huh?
The ducal family’s secret was that they’re demons.
“Hup.”
I quickly covered my mouth.
‘I already know. What happens now?’
My heart pounded wildly.
If I was bound here for life, I’d still be here when the original story began.
‘Then… then I’ll die…’
In Paradise’s Angel, all the demons die. It’s only natural for the villains to meet such an end.
Just when I could finally escape the Walker name, I was facing a three-year death sentence.
Tears welled up in my eyes. Why is this happening to me!
“Shall we go meet the Duke?”
Bael, no longer looking gentle at all, said.
I ground my teeth and thought.
