Chapter 02
Why did he come back to the room at this hour?
The unexpected situation made my thoughts freeze.
“It’s a mana bullet.”
The moment he recognized the gun, Eden Croiden’s face twisted into something like a smile—half disbelief, half absurdity, laced with faint anger and humiliation.
He took a step closer.
“Did you forget the hiring condition of this estate? That we only select those incompatible with mana—”
“Don’t come any closer! If you move, I’ll shoot!”
At my pathetic threat, he seemed rather amused and closed the distance without hesitation.
“Go ahead. Shoot, if you can.”
“I-I really will!”
My sweat-soaked hand kept slipping on the gun. I tightened my grip desperately.
Step. Another step. He came closer.
“Did you forget? This estate is—”
My trembling hands readjusted their hold. My fingers had gone stiff.
Another step closer—
“I said I’ll shoot…!”
Driven by that small burst of courage as I shouted—
Bang!!
And in that instant, all breath stopped.
The expression on the man’s face turned to shock.
Thud…!
His body, exhaling its last breath, collapsed.
I stared blankly at the gun in my hand.
The faint glow that had lingered around it—proof it had just been fired—soon faded away.
“Master…?”
“……”
“…Eden Croiden?”
The owner of that name gave no response.
Staggering, I approached the fallen man.
“D-did he… die?”
Blood from his gunshot wound spread toward my feet. Only then did I flinch and step back.
My trembling gaze was drawn, as if by gravity, to his body.
Warm blood flowed, and his body was already turning cold.
Eden Croiden’s corpse.
A wave of nausea surged up, and I hurriedly covered my mouth.
He’s dead?
Just like that?
I stared again at the now-cold body of the estate’s master.
Eden Croiden is dead.
I killed him.
Me.
I killed… a person.
A sharp ringing filled my ears from the shock. My legs nearly gave out, but I forced myself to stand.
Lowering my head, I saw the gun still in my hand.
The gun that killed Eden Croiden.
Startled, I threw it far away.
It felt like all the blood drained from my body. I staggered and grabbed onto the table.
Get a hold of yourself. Get a grip, Luana Polly.
I raised my right hand and slapped my own cheek hard.
What do I do? What do I…
Eden Croiden was dead.
That didn’t simply mean my employer had died.
The villain died before the story even began. What happens to this world now?
I never imagined I’d become the protagonist of an accidental shooting incident—let alone shoot my own master.
Even if he was the mastermind who wanted to destroy the world.
The one who got shot wasn’t me, yet my whole body trembled as if I had been.
What should I do?
My mind went blank, my fingertips cold and stiff. Staring at his corpse, I fell into thought.
Should I dump the body and run?
That gunshot will bring people running soon.
Should I escape before they arrive? Stick to the original plan and rob the safe?
But all that was inside were documents.
My gaze snapped toward the safe in the corner of the bedroom. Just as I made a quick decision and turned—
A chill ran down my spine.
Something tightened around my entire body.
Creak… creak…
In a warped, unnatural form—
The mana in the room began to twist.
All living beings in this world are instinctively drawn to mana.
But how should I describe it?
That sense of discomfort—like something of this world had ceased to belong to it. As if the air had flipped upside down, as if water flowed upward instead of down.
The twisted mana suffocated me with its alien presence.
And beneath that distortion—
As if even space and time were being reversed—
Eden Croiden’s time began to rewind.
Unable to even make a sound, I watched his resurrection with wide, frozen eyes.
The blood soaking into the carpet flowed back into his body.
The hole from the gunshot closed at an astonishing speed.
The breath that had left him returned, and his stopped heart began beating again.
“…Haa.”
Eden Croiden exhaled his first breath after death and rose to his feet.
When our eyes met, I saw raw shock on his face—an emotion I had never seen from him since I began working here.
Even he seemed unable to believe what had just happened.
What we had just witnessed—could it really be a dead man coming back to life?
He looked perfectly healthy, his complexion bright. If not for the faint bloodstains on his clothes, no one would suspect he had just “died.”
But I stood there, staring blankly at the man who had been shot and killed, now alive before me.
No matter that this was a fantasy world, no one could remain sane after witnessing the dead return to life.
Just as my weakened legs threatened to collapse—
Urgent footsteps approached, followed by a knock.
“Master. It’s Robert. Is everything alright?”
People had heard the gunshot.
Only then did Eden seem to snap back to his senses and turn toward the bedroom door, his expression unfamiliar—like someone hearing sound for the first time.
Then his gaze returned to his own hands, as if he still couldn’t believe it.
“Master! Are you alright?”
As he inspected his body, his gaze landed on me.
For a brief moment, our eyes met.
To me, it felt like an eternity.
If he said “come in,” the door behind me would open, and I’d be dragged away.
But if—
He looked just as shocked as I was. If he wanted to calmly discuss what had just happened…
His sunken gaze turned toward me, observing.
Under that gaze, I lowered my head like a meek lamb.
After finishing his thoughts, his voice came from above me.
“No. There’s no need to make a fuss. That sound just now was from me. You may all return.”
That was his declaration.
A negotiation with the villain had begun.
What are the chances that an ordinary college student gets hit by a truck and reincarnates into a novel they read the day before—as a background extra?
Honestly, not that low. This is practically the age of mass reincarnation.
But what are the chances that the place you end up working is the villain’s mansion?
Well… not impossible either.
Stories like that are popular these days.
But then—after living like that for a year—you accidentally kill that very villain?
At that point, you start thinking, Wait… isn’t the plot going off track?
And then—
The dead villain suddenly comes back to life.
That’s when the cold sweat really starts.
Right now, I was with the novel’s hidden villain, Eden Croiden.
Yes—the very same man I had just killed moments ago.
In his room, I stood there, completely at a loss, watching him nervously.
Having just returned from death in less than a minute, Eden Croiden himself looked like he couldn’t believe the situation. He let out a hollow laugh, looked up at the ceiling, then down at his hands—over and over again.
Honestly, anyone would panic if their maid suddenly tried to rob the safe and shot them.
But to get shot, die, and come back to life?
How shocking must that be?
I cautiously stole glances at him.
I couldn’t believe this situation either.
A dead man coming back to life?
Whether that was even possible aside—
That wasn’t in the original story.
Does this even make sense?
