002: The redemption system

Nora's POV

I couldn't relax after I got to the room. The golden words from the system kept floating behind my eyelids every time I closed them, and my stomach had been empty since before I died.

Out of the room and down the corridor, I followed what I guessed was the direction of the kitchens. The torches burned low in their brackets, and the wolf carvings on the walls threw long shadows across the stone.

Around a corner, I almost walked straight into Cassandra Hale.

She was holding a tray. A teapot, a single cup, and a small cloth bundle tied with ribbon. But the softness from the great hall was gone. Her arms were stiff, her chin was high, and her eyes were flat and cold.

"So you are wandering the estate now." Not a question. A verdict.

"I was looking for the kitchen."

"The kitchen." She laughed, short and sharp. "This is not a village inn, Nora. You do not just wander into the kitchen."

"Then point me in the right direction and I will stop wandering."

Her expression hardened. She stepped closer, and her voice dropped to something only I could hear.

"Let me be clear with you, since nobody else in this mansion will. Dorian is mine. He has been mine since we were children. This contract with your father is a leash around his neck, and the only reason he has not ripped it off yet is because his grandfather is still breathing." She tilted her head. "The moment Aldric dies, you are gone. Do you understand me?"

"I hear you," I said. "Are you done?"

Her lips parted. She had not expected that. She had been told the healer's daughter was quiet and timid, the kind of girl who swallowed every word pointed at her. The girl in front of her was not that girl. Cassandra opened her mouth to say something else, but her gaze flicked over my shoulder, and her whole body changed.

I did not need to turn around to know who was at the far end of the corridor.

Golden words flickered at the edge of my sight.

[New task assigned. Survive the rival's first setup. Do not lose composure.]

[Reward: Redemption points +3000.]

Three thousand dollars just to expose this lying bitch? That's too easy.

Cassandra moved fast. She shoved the tray toward me like she was offering it, then let go before I could grab it. The teapot wobbled. The cup slid off the edge and hit the stone floor. It shattered. Hot tea splashed across the front of her dress.

She gasped. Loud enough for it to carry.

"Nora!" Her voice cracked. She stumbled backward, looking down at the broken pieces. When she looked up again, her eyes were brimming with tears. "That was... Dorian gave me that cup. It was special to me. I only brought it because I wanted to do something kind for you."

Footsteps. Fast. Heavy.

"I thought we could start over," Cassandra said, her voice trembling. "But you... you think there is something between Dorian and me, and you just became so hostile. I do not understand why you would..."

Dorian appeared at my side. His eyes went from the broken cup on the floor to the tea staining Cassandra's dress to the tears on her face.

"What happened?" His voice was ice.

"I just wanted to bring her some tea." Cassandra pressed her hand to her chest. "She pushed the tray back at me. The cup you gave me, Dorian, it is broken."

In the novel, the original Nora would have frozen here. Stammered. Apologized. Cassandra would have touched his arm and whispered, "It is fine, Dorian. She did not mean it." And Nora would have been punished for a week.

I was not doing that.

"That is a lie," I said. My gaze stayed on Cassandra. "You cornered me in this corridor, told me Dorian was yours, and the second you saw him coming, you dropped that cup on yourself."

Cassandra's mouth fell open. "How can you say that? I was only..."

"If you want to mark your territory, mark it. But do not pour tea on your own dress and cry about it." I turned to Dorian. In the book, the Ashcroft estate used memory crystals to settle disputes. Every corridor, every hall, every room had them embedded in the walls. If they worked the same way here, then there was proof.

"And before you decide who to believe, this estate has memory crystals. Check them. Or better yet, tell her to stay away from me so we do not have this problem again."

Dorian stared at me. His jaw was tight, his shoulders rigid. He was not used to this. In his world, people bowed their heads and waited for his verdict. They did not look him in the eye and tell him to check the evidence.

I turned and started walking away.

His hand caught the back of my dress. He grabbed the fabric like he was stopping a servant from leaving without permission.

My feet stopped. My eyes went to his hand. Then up to his face.

"Let go."

"You do not walk away from me," he said, low and dangerous.

"I am not your dog." My gaze held his. "And I am not here to play favorites with your side piece, or compete with her for your attention. I did not ask to be in this house. Your grandfather's contract put me here. So either check the crystals and find out what really happened, or keep believing the woman who poured tea on herself in front of you. Your choice, my lord."

I pulled the fabric out of his grip and walked away.

He did not follow. He did not call out. His stare burned into my back the whole length of the corridor, and I did not turn around.

Nobody had ever spoken to Dorian Ashcroft like that. And certainly not a healer's daughter from the border.

Around the corner, out of his sight, I let out a breath I had not realized I was holding.

[Task complete.]

[Redemption points +3000.]

[Bonus. Challenged the rival's setup directly. Redemption points +5000.]

New words appeared, and the warmth in my chest pulsed once.

[Dorian Ashcroft affection: 1%.]

My eyes blinked at the number. One percent? After that?

The system's voice came quiet into my head.

[Nobody has ever challenged him before. He is... intrigued.]

[Current affection: 1%. Time remaining: 179 days.]

My back pressed against the cold stone wall.

One percent. One hundred and seventy-nine days.