Blow after blow after blow. Bruises spread across my face under my mistress’s relentless abuse.
“Why?! Why has the duke’s son taken a fancy to a mere servant girl?!”
I lay sprawled on the floor, my dress stained with blood seeping from my wounds. I felt my vision begin to blur little by little, blurring the silhouettes of the servants who wandered through the hallways without doing anything to stop it.
It wasn’t always like this; once upon a time, the young lady and I were very close—almost like sisters with different fathers—which aroused the envy of the mansion’s servants. But they had to limit themselves to bowing their heads and treating me with special consideration, despite their true feelings.
But everything changed a couple of weeks ago, at the young lady’s fifth birthday party.
Apparently, the young lady was interested in the duke’s son, but he didn’t even spare her a glance before turning toward me.
“Answer me, you wretch!”
What do you want me to say? Is it my fault they ignored her? Didn’t you say I could count on you whenever I needed anything? Then why?
“M-Miss… I’m sorry, I…”
“You’re sorry?! Hmph! Know your place, commoner,” she growled, yanking my hair. Let’s see if Lord Damian even looks at you after this.
She left me standing in front of a mirror hanging on the wall; my eyes were swollen, with brown marks extending down to my mouth, forming a hideous scar. Even my teeth, once white, were now stained a deep red.
If anyone saw me now, I’d be no different from a pig, but it’s okay: with a little magic, I should go back to normal.
As for the young woman, she’ll probably get bored after a while.
“You thought everything would go back to normal, didn’t you?” she asked, widening her smile.
She took a pig mask handed to him by one of the servants, which sent a chill down my spine as I watched her movements through the mirror’s glass.
“I asked my father to get me a specific artifact to indoctrinate the rebellious workers,” she whispered in my ear. “Do you know what happens when that horrible mask touches your face? It will connect directly to your soul, so you won’t be able to take it off without dying.”
“Miss, please… I didn’t mean to draw Damian’s attention,” I pleaded bitterly as the employees remained indifferent, ignoring my plea.
“Alfred, hold her tight.”
“Understood, young lady,” the butler replied as he held me in front of the mirror.
No, no, no… why me? Have I offended some god to deserve this punishment?
“Ahhhh!!”
I felt the mask sink deep into the very core of my being, followed by an intense pain that shot through my face.
“Miss, please, take it off, take it off!” I pleaded in a futile attempt to escape the butler’s grip.
“Hahaha, that look suits you better.”
The butler finally let go of me, but I didn’t feel the slightest bit of relief when the young woman turned her back on me.
“Next time I won’t be so lenient. Come on, Alfred.”
Someone—anyone—help me…
Didn’t you say I should trust you? Didn’t you say we’d be sisters?
Liar…
The veins in my arm stood out beneath the mask, but I didn’t care as I stared intently at that wretch walking away down the hallways.
Liar! Liar! Liar!
I trusted you! I helped those ungrateful employees when they got into trouble with that girl! So why the hell are you just standing there watching as if this has nothing to do with you?!
“I’ll kill you all, you damned wretches… I’ll make you pay for this!!”
“Alfred, take care of her,” ordered the wretch, without deigning to turn around.
The butler lunged without the slightest hesitation, aiming his sharp sword at my heart.
“What…?” —Contrary to what I expected, it was he who was hurled against the back wall.
“Alfred, this is no time for games: kill her!”
Alfred didn’t respond; no, rather, he couldn’t respond. Why? The answer is quite amusing.
“Because I killed him,” I could see her contorted expression as she looked at the corpse, unable to contain a growing sense of euphoria welling up in my chest. “Hehehe, don’t get nervous, young lady. I’ll try to be nice to you.”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“Guards, do something!” she screamed, her eyes visibly trembling because of the deathly silence that reigned in the mansion. “Incompetent guards! If anything happens to me, your families won’t get away with this.”
“Come on, young lady,” I said gently, resting my hands on her shoulders before whispering in her ear. “We don’t want you to get wrinkles, do we?
Her blows were completely useless; no matter where she struck, she was always the one who ended up injured.
Perhaps it’s a side effect of the mask, or perhaps my mistress is too weak to even scratch me without some kind of weapon in her hand.
I don’t care about the cause, only the result and the feeling of freedom it gives me.
“Veronica, please, I was wrong. If you let me go, I swear I’ll promote you to head of the servants; I might even reward you with a pouch of gold coins.”
“Then take off that stupid mask and return my face to normal,” I told her.
“Well…”
BAM!
I didn’t let her finish her sentence before slamming her face against the polished oak floor.
“Ha, as if I care. What you’re saying now might be true, but my past sacrifices have made me realize something. What do you think it is?”
“It’s…”
BAM!
I slammed her against the floor again, listening to the sound of her teeth coming loose as I rubbed her bloodied face against the wood.
“I wasn’t talking to you. You see, there’s no such thing as absolute truth; words never belong to the present—they’re just an oath you made in the past, and you can break it as soon as you regain control,” I explained kindly to the clueless girl.
“Let me go! You won’t get away with this…!” Her words were becoming increasingly unintelligible due to the repeated loss of teeth and the blood clotting in her throat.
“It hurts, doesn’t it? Heh, heh, heh, I bet you never imagined that one day you’d choke on your own words.”
The girl stared at me with a trembling look etched deep in her eyes, as the suffocation silenced any attempt at an apology.
I grabbed the sword that had fallen to the floor after the butler’s death, but I wasn’t going to let that bitch get away with it. There were many things I could forgive her for, but ruining my appearance… Unforgivable!
Swish!
I cut off one of her arms so she couldn’t heal herself.
Although I must admit that, since they know how to take care of their high-ranking staff, this sword didn’t require much effort on my part to mutilate her arm as if it were butter.
“Scream, scream louder!” I said, completely absorbed in dismembering her, taking great care not to tear her to pieces too soon.
“Someone help me!!! There’s a crazy woman in the mansion!!”
“It seems you still have quite a bit of energy left,” I remarked, unable to stop my smile from widening even further. “Tell me, young lady, how much time do you think you have left before you suffocate to death?”
Her eyes stared at me, like two precious jewels in the middle of a pile of shit.
No, seriously, they’re beautiful.
“Excuse me, miss, would you mind giving them to me?” I asked, pointing to the two eyeballs that glowed with their own light on her face.
“Mmm…!”
Is that a yes? Hehe, then I’m not going to be modest.
Thanks for the food.
“Enough is enough,” said an authoritative voice from the back of the room, as the rhythmic sound of his footsteps echoed off the oak floor.
He had a fierce gaze that further accentuated his aristocratic features, giving him an unusual beauty; he wore a white tuxedo that made him look like a dream, along with a red tie resting on his neck.
The owner of the mansion…
I caught the expectant glance that the vixen lying on the floor directed at the newcomer, just before I pierced her lung with a thrust.
I turned toward the man as I plunged my sword deeper and deeper into that ungrateful sow.
“What are you going to do, huh? Your daughter isn’t getting out of here alive, even if you bring the royal squad to stop me. Before that happens, I’ll make sure to end her worthless life of debauchery.”
“I see you’ve received my gift, though I must admit I didn’t expect it to provoke such a strong reaction,” he remarked, stopping a few meters away to watch his daughter bleed out. “But you should stop here, before the mask consumes you completely.”
“Aren’t you going to save your daughter?” I asked the man who seemed to be standing there just for the show while his daughter died in my hands.
“Intervene? Why would I do that? And, for starters, she’s not even my daughter,” he explained calmly. I could have sworn I even heard that wretched woman let out a scream of horror.
You have no right to be happy, bitch.
Hmph, he says she’s not his daughter, but he’s still standing here acting like the master of the house. Who’s he trying to fool?
“Well, let’s say I believe you: who are you, and what are you doing here?”
The man’s face began to contort into a grotesque mask riddled with greenish holes.
So he wasn’t lying about that…
“As you well know, that mask isn’t as simple as it seems; most people would succumb within minutes of putting it on, but you’ve done what I considered impossible decades ago: wear the Hannya mask without letting it consume you,” he said, stroking his chin, which sent a slight chill down my spine as I felt his icy gaze fixed on me. “Join us; we’ll rid the world of humanity’s sins.”
“Hmm. And why should I care about your goals? As soon as I get out of here, I’ll be able to kill anyone who gets in my way.”
The man shook his head.
“The world doesn’t work that way; the mask has connected you to the spiritual plane, granting you powers that others can only dream of in their entire existence, as well as forcing the awakening of a unique ability. Normally, you’d stand out there, but don’t cross the line. The reason you’re still alive is because I took care of the guards the moment you went crazy,” he explained, maintaining an upright posture as he walked toward me.
“So you’re telling me I should thank you? Don’t be ridiculous,” I said, adopting a defensive stance in case he tried anything.
“You don’t have to thank me,” he remarked, as the face of a handsome middle-aged man took shape in his features. “I could destroy this entire continent in the blink of an eye… why do you think I don’t rule it?”
“Lack of ambition?” I asked.
“Ambition, huh?” he repeated thoughtfully before shaking his head. “I have plenty of that, but I lack the power to achieve my goals.”
“Then what can a weakling like you possibly accomplish…?” The words caught in my throat as I felt warm breath on my ear.
The man had vanished in an instant from his original position without making the slightest sound.
“Watch your words, girl. It’s not that I’m weak; it’s just that, even though I could destroy this continent in a second, unfortunately my power doesn’t even compare to that of its defenders,” he remarked calmly.
My body had gone rigid as I sensed the overwhelming thirst for blood emanating from that serene yet terrifying man, whom I didn’t even deign to look at.
Am I going to die here? I mustn’t die yet; I haven’t even been able to remove that horrible mask from my beautiful face. How could I rest in peace knowing I died looking like this?
“There’s no need to be afraid. As I told you before, I’ve come to recruit you,” he explained as he held out his pale hand to me. “Join us, and you’ll have what you desire most.”
What I desire most…?
I looked at the girl’s corpse on the floor—she had bled out long ago—and swallowed without realizing it.
If that’s the damn condition, so be it!
I accepted his handshake, my eyes now free of doubt and filled with a comforting sense of calm whose origin I couldn’t explain.
“You’ve made the best decision,” he said as a broad smile spread across his lips. “Let me introduce myself: my name is…”