"Now, Madam, you are the heiress of the House of Rhineland. Everything in the House of Rhineland belongs to you."
The title of Countess, the beautiful and historic mansion...
And all the countless debts left behind by the Count of Rhineland.
The debt is as much as... 200 million gold.
In fact, I had somewhat expected things to turn out this way. Ever since Cliff ran away, leaving me with only the inheritance papers and emergency funds.
No, I felt uneasy from the moment they handed over all their family fortune to a man who was dying and forced me to marry him.
'I have a rough idea what happened."
I heard from Cliff that this marriage,
"I apologize for the rudeness in the process of taking care of Madam as I had to rush the marriage because I could not stand to see the Rhineland family lineage die out in the collateral line."
Although this was said to be the reason, it did not seem to be true.
Rather than worrying about the Count's debts being passed on to them, they were worried.
'But it would be foolish to bring in a commoner and make her Erne's bride.'
He must have needed a noble lady who was short on money. After asking around, he must have found out that Baron Harrington had a lot of gambling debts and that he had a younger sister of marriageable age.
'I was sold to pay gambling debts, and now I have to pay the debts of the Rhineland family.'
When it comes to debt, I'm really at a loss.
How much trouble did I have trying to escape from the mountain of debt in my past life? Debt from my father who failed in business, debt from my mother who borrowed money and gave it to a cult, debt, debt, debt!
But when I died and was reincarnated into a new body, this time I was in debt to my brother's gambling debts....
"Husband's debt? In-laws' debt?"
In fact, it was not Erne's debt but the Rhineland family's debt, so it would be more appropriate to say it was my in-laws' debt, but whose debt did it matter? What mattered was that it was now my debt.
In fact, the moment I saw the loan in the inheritance documents, I tried to run away. However, the moneylenders somehow found out and came straight away.
"Oh my, congratulations on your wedding, Madam. The day has finally come to receive the 200 million gold I lent you."
Smith, the moneylender.
Just by looking at his face, I could tell how evil he was.
"The deadline is the end of this month. If you have difficulty paying the principal, you can bring the overdue interest."
"Excuse me, Mr. Smith...That's impossible. Where can I get the interest that suddenly got overdue? Just give me a little more time."
"Hey, Ma'am, I've overlooked this too much. I hope you enjoy your honeymoon for at least a month. Even though your husband is behind."
How can I enjoy my honeymoon with a husband who is left behind?
Even at the low-quality jokes, Smith and his men would hold their stomachs and giggle.
"Madam, do you know that even if you wring a dry rag, water comes out?"
How does water come out of a rag? Let me show you.
Smith made a motion of wringing a rag in the air. His yellow teeth revealed between his thick lips gleamed greedily.
"If you don't bring it by this month, Madam will have to pay with your body. I believe you know what that means without me having to explain it to you."
The phrase 'paying with my body' meant that he was going to sell me out. The loan shark threats were the same in my previous life and here, and after a leisurely thought, anger surged up in me.
200 million gold? One silver coin here seems like it would be enough for a week's living expenses. But it's not even 200 million silver, it's gold?
I was racking my brain.
"Okay, let's sell the mansion."
Fortunately, the situation wasn't too bad. At least the mansion was still there.
When settling the debts after the Count's death, the mansion was not passed over.
Actually. I found that a bit odd. Did the 'collateral' people who arranged the wedding leave it behind for the show?
Well, it didn't matter. It was mine now, and I had no interest in saving face. All I cared about was paying off this debt and living a normal life.
A life where I wouldn't lose everything from one mistake, where I had a place to return to on tiring days. A life that was ordinary, but not easily granted to me.
'Oh, of course, it would be better if I could make a lot of money and live comfortably.'
Since I have the title of Countess, I could go somewhere and live a luxurious life if I had the money.
I cheered up as I imagined myself in the distant future. Yes, a debt that has already been paid once, can't be paid twice.
"Then let's try to resolve the debt first."
Fortunately, the Rhineland mansion was in pretty good condition. It was a beautiful, quaint, empty mansion with no caretaker, but it was clean as if someone had lived there until just recently.
There were no weeds in the garden, no cobwebs, no dust on the windowsills, no corners, no piles of dust. It looked like someone had taken care of it just a few days ago. A well-kept house is worth a lot.
I went to a real estate agent, expecting a high price.
But the reality was not easy.
***
"I'm sorry, Ma'am, but no one wants to buy that mansion."
"Yes? Why?"
"It's because of the rumor. Don't you know about the rumor, Madam? The rumor that the mansion is a place where people are eaten."
"Yes?"
"You really don't know."
Well, then you must have taken possession of the cursed mansion.
The real estate agent clicked his tongue and told me the rumors about the Rhineland mansion.
Originally, the House of Rhineland was just an ordinary family that had lost its lands long ago and had not even entered central politics.
But one day, Count Rhineland suddenly became wealthy. However, the joy was short-lived, and misfortune struck him at the same time. People began to die.
The strange deaths were confined to the Count's family. From the Count to the Countess who returned after her divorce and her son, they all died one by one.
"The Count's servants said that they all died with their blood sucked out, twisted and withered. They said that there were marks all over their bodies that looked like insect bites. There were more than a few witnesses."
That's what happened to the mansion. The cursed mansion was eating the Rhineland family.
"It's rumored to be a mansion that eats people, so even if it's put up for sale, it won't sell."
It was said that everyone who knew about it knew the rumor, as those who witnessed the strange sight spread that the cursed mansion was eating the Rhineland family.
Except for the original Judith, who was desperate to make a living.
"Well, aren't there people who don't believe the rumors? If you sell it for less than the market price, there might be interested people."
"Well."
The broker looked troubled. I went to see other brokers while I was at it, but they all said the same thing.
"Then that's right. It's my fate."
That's why only the mansion remained. Since it couldn't be sold, the moneylenders didn't take it.
I walked back with feeble steps, mumbling over the story the last broker had told me.
"It's not just rumors that keep mansions from selling."
"Sure?"
"Don't you know? That mansion is obviously haunted."
The broker's words lingered in my head. It wasn't an abandoned house, it was a haunted house. You could tell just by looking at it.
"What is the difference between a haunted house and an abandoned house?"
"Well, an abandoned house is just an abandoned house. It's dirty and rats are living there. That's okay because you can clean it up. But a haunted house..."
He said that the house had been empty for a long time, but it still looked fine as if someone had lived there until yesterday.
Like the mansion of the Count of Rhineland, without so much as a single cobweb.
"No way. The manager probably came and went to clean it."
"You really don't know anything, Ma'am. This mansion hasn't been visited for nearly two years."
Could it be that the lawyer was afraid of being cursed if he entered the mansion? No, but is the curse really real?
"But Erne died in perfect health."
His body was intact, without any insect bites. In addition, the original work was a world where curses and witchcraft existed, but ghost stories did not exist. It was a story about a mansion eating people.
Rather, it would be more appropriate to view it as a curse targeting the Count of Rhineland. If the mansion ate people, why didn't the servants die? The mansion didn't even care about bloodline.
"If the maid continues to live well and only the Count's family dies this time, it seems like it was a curse targeting the Count."
Don't you think you suddenly made a lot of money? When a lot of money comes in, things like envy and jealousy usually follow.
I don't think there's anything wrong with the mansion, but even so, seeing the mansion so clean gave me goosebumps.
But I stubbornly opened the door to the mansion.
Because there were more reasons not to believe the rumor than to believe it.
'I'm not doing this just because I can easily get 400 million gold if this mansion finds its right value.'
That's true. 400 million gold is a large sum of money that can easily pay off debt and turn my life around. After all, you have to make a lot of money in real estate.
'This is true in every life.'
In this strange world, all I had left was my mansion and my title, so I could never give them up.
Sitting outside was more terrifying than a mansion that ate people, and a loan shark demanding debts was more frightening than an abandoned house.
"Hold on! If I hold on, house prices will definitely go up!"
If I could live in this mansion for just a year, the ghost stories would die down. Then the price of the mansion would quickly return to normal.
"But even while I'm holding on, I'll have to pay interest. What should I do?"
I walked through the empty mansion, filled with a gloomy atmosphere, and through the quiet garden, devoid of even the slightest sound of insects. I found myself lost in thought.
***
A few days later, I visited the loan shark and said with a calm face.
"Please lend me some money."
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