The Guide’s Trampled Purity - Chapter 6

Rayliel returned to her room immediately.

“……Hah.”

She collapsed onto the bed, exhaustion evident on her face. It was inevitable; not only had she been tormented all night, but she also had to deal with those people.

She lay there, staring blankly at the ceiling as if she were a corpse drained of all energy, and suddenly, she found herself reflecting on the past.

[Execute Duke Delsen! Execute his whole family!]

The events of her past life were as vivid as if they had happened just yesterday.

Rayliel had been sold off to Duke Delsen without a chance to resist, becoming one of his many concubines.

There was no hope, no dreams. Every day, she was forced to submit her body to that wrinkled old man covered in liver spots, and she came to understand the true meaning of despair.

The only small consolation was that about three months after she became Duke Delsen’s plaything, he began to lose interest in her.

Duke Delsen was an insane old man who was obsessively fixated on v*rg*nity and purity.

He brought in a pitiful 20-year-old new concubine, whose origins were unknown. Naturally, Rayliel was pushed aside to the back rooms.

She didn’t mind. In fact, she was relieved. She genuinely thought so.

If I just stay quiet and live like a shadow, I might at least be able to survive. Maybe, if I’m lucky, I’ll even be discarded first. She harbored such vain hopes.

The problem was Duke Delsen’s political ambitions.

The Emperor of the Allen Empire was slowly dying from a long-term illness.

He had two sons. It was common knowledge, known even by the stray dogs on the street, that a succession battle was imminent.

Strange rumors began to circulate. It was said that the Crown Prince was suffering from madness.

People whispered that his temperament was violent and extraordinarily cruel. It was said that those around him were left in shock and dismay.

In contrast, the second prince was known to be kind and gentle, someone who cared for everyone. If only he had been born first, things might have been different.

Indeed, there were those who supported the second prince as the next Emperor. The most powerful among them was none other than Duke Delsen.

Despite his age, Duke Delsen tirelessly manipulated young women and schemed to remove the Crown Prince and install the second prince as Emperor.

But it was a misguided bet.

The succession battle ended simply.

The rumors about the Crown Prince being violent and cruel seemed to be true.

The Crown Prince annihilated all of the second prince’s supporters, including Duke Delsen, fabricating charges and laying traps for each one of them.

Rayliel was among them.

[Why me. Why… Why!]

I was just sold as a concubine. Why me!

If the Adelheit family had shared the same fate as she did, she might not have been so enraged.

But Heinz was a quick-witted man. He skillfully negotiated and sold his daughter for a high price, using the proceeds and Duke Delsen’s influence to expand his power.

As soon as he sensed that the Crown Prince’s side was gaining the upper hand, he swiftly switched allegiances.

The most absurd part was that Heinz, now attached to the Crown Prince like a wet leaf, was desperately trying to make his stepdaughter Seltin one of the Crown Prince’s concubines.

In the end, the Adelheit family survived.

Except for Rayliel, who had once been part of that family.

[Revenge… I’ll have my revenge. I won’t… die like this!]

Was it revenge against Duke Delsen? Or against her own family?

Ah, maybe it was against everyone. With a burning curse on her lips, Rayliel was beheaded.

And when she opened her eyes again, she had returned to the past.

To be precise, she returned to a week before she was sold off to that wretched old man.

How could such a thing happen? What was the meaning of this regression?

But there was no time to ponder such questions. As soon as Rayliel realized she had returned to the past, she left the mansion.

And she went to a tavern on the outskirts.

There, she met that man.

He was huddled alone in a corner, drinking like a madman.

“…….”

Lost in thought, Rayliel let out a hollow laugh.

Everything just seemed absurd. The fact that she had returned to the past only to ruin herself again, her father’s plans thrown into disarray because of his daughter’s lost purity, the twisted expressions of the mother and daughter who were chasing a futile dream.

But despite it all, there was a clear sense of determination in Rayliel’s blue eyes.

‘I won’t run away.’

If she had intended to escape, she would have gone somewhere else the day she returned to the past, instead of heading to that tavern. But Rayliel chose to stay in the Adelheit family.

‘I won’t leave until I’ve reclaimed everything that was taken from me.’

A faint grinding sound came from between Rayliel’s slightly parted lips. She covered her body, still marked with bright red bite marks, with the blanket, her beautiful face quietly seething with anger.