I Chose the Dead Man They Despised

The excruciating pain of a skinning knife peeling my face straight off the bone violently yanked me out of bed. I gasped for air, my hands trembling uncontrollably as I frantically clawed at my face. No bloody craters. No rotting flesh. My face was still there.

I stumbled toward the full-length mirror, staring at the reflection of the arrogant, spoiled heir of the Oberland family. A cold sweat soaked through my nightgown, chilling my back. I wasn't just alive; I had returned. Back to the moment before my descent into hell began.

Taking a deep breath, I raised my right hand, attempting to awaken the silver flame of my bloodline.

Pop. A meager spark of silver ignited at my fingertips, only to vanish in an instant. The sharp sting of depleted mana circuits pierced my brain.

In my past life, blinded by a pathetic infatuation, I had squandered all my top-tier resources on a piece of trash, neglecting my own training until I became nothing but a useless trophy. In the end, reality delivered a brutal slap to my face.

I stared at my reflection, dry-eyed. Compared to being chained in a dungeon, watching my lower half rot away, what was this? I changed my clothes and pushed the door open.

Today was the day the Oberland family selected the retainers who would accompany me to the magic academy.

As I pushed open the heavy wooden doors of the selection hall, the chaotic chatter instantly died down. The crisp clack of my boots echoed against the stone floor. My gaze swept the room before locking onto the two figures standing at the very front.

Cedric wore a neatly pressed commoner’s robe, bearing that same arrogant, self-assured smirk—the smile of a man who thought he had me completely wrapped around his finger.

Liliana stood half a step behind him, nervously twisting a white handkerchief in her hands, playing the eternal, innocent little victim. It was this exact pitiful face—exploiting my father’s life-saving debt to her biological father to leech off our manor—that had ultimately stared down at me in that dungeon, slicing my face off piece by piece to graft onto her own skull.

"Alice, you're late." Cedric smoothly slipped on a doting expression, extending his hand toward me with practiced ease.

On this exact day in my previous life, I had eagerly taken that hand, handing him my precious, family-secured academy admission slot. Fooled by his sweet-talk, I had even dragged my "poor, adopted sister" Liliana along.

Staring at his suspended hand and hearing my name roll off his tongue, my mind flashed to his condescending sneer as he forced poisoned wine down my father’s throat.

Suppressing the urge to strangle him to death right then and there, I rammed my shoulder into his chest and brushed straight past him.

Cedric’s smile froze. "Alice? Where are you going?"

I ignored him entirely, striding right through the crowd of candidates in their flashy robes, heading straight for the darkest corner of the hall.

A lone figure knelt there on one knee.

He was quiet as a post, clad in nothing but rough leather armor. His exposed arms and forearms were a crisscrossing mess of hideous scars left behind by the fighting pits. He kept his head bowed in absolute silence. Kane.

The absolute lowest rung of the family's death squad. A magicless, brutal killing machine.

In my past life, I had found his cheap, dirty existence beneath my status and refused to take him to the academy. Yet it was this very "dog" I had entirely dismissed who, on the day I died unjustly in the dungeon, defied the forged deployment orders meant to send him away. He infiltrated the castle single-handedly.

Discovered, he wielded a blunt axe against Cedric's elite guards, hacking six of them to pieces. Even with his arm cleaved open down to the bone, he kept charging toward the dungeon door, desperate to carry my rotting corpse away.

In the end, right here in this very hall, Cedric used magic to butcher him alive, reducing him to pieces of meat for the hounds.

I stopped in front of him. Lifting my foot, I pressed the tip of my boot under his stubbled, blood-grimed chin and gently tipped it upward.

Kane was forced to look up, his dead, fathomless eyes crashing into my gaze. His muscles coiled on instinct, but he remained perfectly still, allowing the sole of my boot to dictate his posture.

"What the hell is Cedric anyway?" I looked down at the god of death kneeling at my feet. "Kane. You are my sword. In this life, wherever I go, you follow. Stand up."

A collective gasp echoed across the hall.

"This is absurd!" Cedric’s composed facade completely collapsed as he stormed over. "Alice, you need top-tier companion retainers for the academy! He doesn't have an ounce of magic in him! If you bring a slave guard who only knows how to brawl in the mud, how do you think the other nobles will mock the Oberland family?!"

"Sister..." Liliana jogged over with red-rimmed eyes, timidly reaching for my sleeve. "Cedric is right. Don't risk your future out of spite just because you two had a little argument last night. This death-sworn is filthy. He'll ruin your shoes..."

I turned my head, staring at Liliana's hand. With a violent flick of my arm, I swatted her away. Liliana let out a yelp, stumbling back two steps and staring at me in sheer disbelief.

"Did I give you permission to touch me?" I glared at her coldly, then shifted my gaze to Cedric, whose face had turned a livid shade of purple.

"Mock me?" I scoffed, stepping right into Cedric's personal space. I watched my familiar, domineering reflection surface in his eyes. "Cedric, did you forget who pays your stipend? Which dog the Oberland family decides to bring to the academy is none of your damn business. Since when is it your place to tell me what to do?"

Cedric’s jaw clamped shut, his molars grinding. Beneath that hypocritical mask, the humiliation and venom were impossible to hide.

I turned my back, disregarding them both, and issued my final command in the most arrogant tone I could muster. "However. You two are coming with me to the academy."

Cedric and Liliana both froze, a flash of wild ecstasy darting through their eyes—they actually thought I was still that spoiled little girl who couldn't live without them.

"After all..." I paused, my peripheral vision catching Kane. "My guard gets an itchy sword-hand, and he'll need some durable, living punching bags for practice. Since you both want to go to the academy so badly, grab your bags and get to the carriage. Keep me waiting for even a second, and you can walk your way up the mountain."

I didn't spare another glance to see their expressions, turning on my heel and walking out the door.

Two silhouettes stretched out in the corridor behind me, one trailing the other.

From the corner of my eye, I checked Kane, who was walking exactly half a step behind me. He kept his head down and remained mute, but I saw it clearly: on the hand gripped tightly around the hilt of his broadsword, violent veins bulged high beneath the skin.

Magic could be relearned with blood and sweat. But this time, Cedric, Liliana, I was going to make you kneel at my feet, and watch helplessly as you dragged yourselves into the abyss.