I Decided to Kidnap the Male Lead

CH. 21: A Good Friend (VI)

"Who told you to think?"

"I apologize."

"You apologize, why didn't you do it in the first place?"

Contrary to her subdued voice, which seemed as if saying something insignificant, her gray eyes stood with a blue blade.

The messenger's neck stiffened with tension at the sharp gaze that pierced his spine.

He gulped dry saliva down his throat.

Raisa walked past the messenger.

She spoke as she sat down in her seat with her back to the window.

"You're going to have to prove you're useful."

Raisa smiled bitterly as she touched the tip of her fingernails, which had turned black from the poison.

"There isn't anywhere to go anyway. I've gathered what my mother abandoned, but should I kick you out? Or will my mother?"

The messenger pressed his forehead onto the floor.

"...in mind, I'll keep that in mind."

"You know there's someone lining up to replace you."

This messenger wasn't the only one she used in the Marquisate of Neir.

After regressing, Raisa quietly made her own people in the Marquisate of Neir, leaving no traces like a snake sliding in the water.

Among those who belonged to the marquisate, some were loyal only to her mother, but others were blinded by money and other things.

Naturally, Raisa reached out to them first.

She obtained them with the promise of giving them whatever they wanted, just like how one would pick up their favorite jewelry.

However, for such ones, if at any time better conditions than hers were offered, they would betray her.

Thus, she, too, entrusted them with less important tasks, so that they could be thrown away at any time.

Others were mobilized to do what Raisa had to do, to deceive the eyes of Marchioness Neir as well as others.

For example, those who have been driven to the brink with nowhere to go, like this messenger in front of her, or those who have been caught by a decisive weakness and turned into puppets through threats.

To them, Raisa was literally their last lifeline.

"Did I expect you to be loyal?"

"No."

"That's right. I don't need a fancy cause like loyalty."

"Yes... yes. I know."

The voice of the messenger, answering like a well-trained dog, was trembling badly.

Raisa shot back at the messenger calmly.

"Keep in mind that you're just a tool that does what I tell you to do. Tools have to be useful."

"Yes."

Now, the messenger was trembling so much that anyone could see his shoulders shaking, but Raisa didn't comfort him.

She merely contemplated his disposition with eyes glittering like snake scales.

"Wake up."

Raisa berated the messenger who jumped up from the position of lying down on his stomach like a dog.

"The count's reaction?"

"As you'd expect."

"Reaction?"