After Raijin agreed, Maerie became quiet again.
Her hands clasped together, tightening painfully. Her fair eyebrows scrunched together, giving a feeling of slight unease that normally doesn't happen. With a slight pause, she looked at Raijin.
"What can you tell me about my past life?"
Raijin raised his eyebrows. "I think Maerie knows better about her past than I."
"No, I know what I know," Maerie scowled, "however there were other factors to it, right? Nielle Warren becoming Saintess, I don't know how that ever happened. Also..."
Her eyes flashed. "I want to know why she seemed so satisfied when I was dying."
"I think a lot of people were satisfied when you were executed, Miss Maerie."
"That's not what I mean, you idiot."
Ignoring Raijin's words, Maerie thought back to the day of her execution.
She remembered looking up at the balcony where the Royals stood, watching her. Her eyes had wandered and unknowingly met with the Saintess. After staring, Maerie felt something was wrong with the Saintess' expression.
Her eyes were full of arrogance and expectation.
As the blade came down, that was when Maerie figured out that the Saintess was not as simple as she seemed.
Remembering the feeling of her head and body being separated, Maerie touched her neck quickly. She then frowned at her reflex and stiffly placed her hand down.
"That girl," continued Maerie, "was unusual for a so-called benevolent Saintess."
"How so, my Lady?"
Maerie didn't answer right away, only idly playing with a lock of her hair.
"It was like I played perfectly into her hands, based on her expression. A pawn that did their role perfectly." Maerie let go of her hair and turned to Raijin.
"What do you think?"
Raijin seemed to consider some things, though his face still held a polite smile. Suddenly, he scrunched up his face and tapped his chin.
"Is my Lady trying to ask me about the Saintess' motives?"
"Of course," answered Maerie.
"To put it simply, weren't you an easy target for her?" Raijin continued to tap his chin, acting oblivious to the interest in Maerie's face.
"What do you mean? Spit it out."
"Well, my Lady, first you must pardon this servant for speaking out of turn for this," Raijin expressed, wanting some insurance in case she gets upset with his words.
"Pardoned," said Maerie immediately.
Raijin gave a slight chuckle.
"Then let this servant explain: you were born into a high ranking family. You were spoiled all your life and grew up thinking you could have everything. You were considered insufferable, undesirable, and disliked by many of your peers. You were tyrannical and incited fear into people to earn their servitude. And last, but not least, you tried to bully and abuse the warm and caring person that everyone loved," Raijin explained while counting off on his fingers, "in the end, you were punished for your crimes, and that girl had a happy ending after getting rid of the evil being that was you. You were the classic arrogant noble that ultimately met their doom after being exposed by the kind commoner."
His words seemed to have ruffled Maerie a bit. She bit her lip as he pointed out her fault before taking a big breath, her eyes narrowing as she gave a cold smile.
"You seemed to enjoy verbally stabbing your Master," she sneered.
Raijin gave a small seated bow. "Only for my Lady."
Maerie laughed dryly at his quick response, though her eyes held no mirth.
"Alright, fine. I agree that my unruly behavior was quite the red target," she said dismissively, "but it still angers me that ants think they can overthrow a queen bee."
"So my Lady is still looking for revenge after all?"
"Of course, I want them to suffer."
She gave a frightening smile at her words.
Raijin gave an amused look. "Surely there must be reasoning for this conclusion?"
Maerie's eyes narrowed with bloodthirst.
"Reasoning? A commoner girl turned into a Saintess and ultimately stole everything from underneath me. She simply pulled my strings in order to murder me. I was so ignorant of the situation, they made a fool of me and humiliated me. I became a puppet for their amusement," Maerie expressed coolly.
Raijin grinned. "You must admit, it was something you ultimately deserved."
"Don't mock me."
"Oh but it's hard to empathize with the villain in the story, you know?"
Maerie's smile grew wider. "Think however you'd like, but my insides are festering with hatred for these people. I'd rather die again than let them get their fairy tale ending."
"Such blinding arrogance can only be produced by the one and only Maerie von Doll," sighed Raijin.
Maerie ignored him, rubbing her neck as she fell into her thoughts again.
"Do you remember your wishes?"
She looked up at Raijin, who looked her with a charming grin, and nodded. Then he held his hand up and three fingers were shown.
"Wish number one, the Power of Words," began Raijin, "This wish allows the person to be able to persuade, convince, and manipulate others with just their words. It is a wish that is used passively, so the skill user has no need to say anything to activate it. It automatically is used when the user begins speaking."
Raijin then stood up, walking to the door as he explained.
"So far, your skill is only stage one. At most, you can convince people of weak mentality. In order to get to stage two, you must be able to convince one person to do your bidding. However, it only counts if it is helpful for your revenge. This person also must be willing, not simply forced to based on your status.
With a hand on the doorknob, he gave a charming smile.
"For a noble such as yourself, this is a very important skill to have. Nobles are naturally good at sweet-talking in order to climb up the ladder in society. If you are to go through your plan of revenge, this is naturally a good wish to have. Since you're a Duke's daughter, I would imagine increasing the stages wouldn't be too hard. So far, your nasty personality is only known to the servants within your family and has yet to be openly despised. But remember, your reputation isn't the best as of right now. Even the Third Prince believes that you are nothing but a spoiled noble child who's an eyesore."
Maerie was unsure as to why he was by the door until she heard a faint knock. The smile on Raijin's face caught her eye as it grew wider. He turned the knob after saying to her,
"Congratulations, Miss Maerie, you have your first person to experiment on."
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