When she muttered those words, the coachman, who had just opened his eyes, took a document out of his pocket and read the address.
âT-The Duchy of Wintersnow located on the north-northwest end of the city of Icebury, t-the mansion of the abyssâŠâ
The mansion of the abyss. She had hoped that wasnât the case, but unfortunately the nasty name was clearly written on the front door of the mansion in front of her.
âHaâŠâ
A curse threatened to come out, just at the tip of her tongue, but she couldnât spit it out in front of the frightened coachman. She touched her forehead instead.
âEven so, isnât this too much? Why did they built a mansion in this place to begin with?â
No matter where the place is, she thought it would be better than the beggar-like room she was locked up at.
She thought that if she could sell the gold and silver treasures she brought from the Dukeâs house, she could live happily and comfortably.
âI thought there would be no major problems until I grow old if I brought this much treasure. I even brought the golden statue.â
She was wrong.
After all, the bad waits for the worse, and the worse waits for the worst.
âThis is not a place where people can live. Even monsters will freeze to death here.â
The brisk wind tormented her exposed skin like a well-forged blade, and it seemed that even microbes wouldnât live on the snow-covered earth.
âHow the hell does he expect me to live here? No, I was sent here to die. Oh, thatâs right.
Itâs one of those, âIâm afraid to kill you with my own hands, so youâll have to die by yourselfâ. He is such a scumbag.â
As she was grinding her teeth, the coachman suddenly fell to his knees in the snowfield.
âS-Save me! Please! I have a wife and children!â
Hey, mister. I never said Iâll kill you. I told you I wouldnât kill you. Why do you keep calling people a murderer?
I have no idea what to do with him. He asks me to spare his life whenever he has time, so Iâll have to pretend Iâm really going to kill him this time.
She rolled her eyes out of irritation, but then she suddenly felt heat from below.
As she lowered her gaze, black flames fluttered all over her body. As a result, it melted all the surrounding snow.
ââŠWhat is this?â
Could it be that I unconsciously melted the snow with my power?
As she lightly stretched out her hand to the coachmanâs side as a test, the smoke that flew from her fingertips extinguished all the snow in the area, all the while making an explosive noise.
âHuh, heuk!â
The startled driver grabbed his chest. Reina, too, was startled and lost her words for a moment.
ââŠWhy is it so strong?â
She had been trying to suppress it all this time, and she had never used her power properly, so she never dreamed that such powerful magic would come out.
Baffled, Reina alternately looked at the black flame-strewn hands and the steam rising from the bare ground.
She didnât want to admit it, but now she understood why the Duke imprisoned her.
âReally, I have to use this power in moderation. This is the reason why Reina was ostracized. Wait, if Reina had such great power that she could blow up everything in one go, why did she lose?â
Well, there was actually a reason for that.
Because Reina was the final boss who raised her level to 999, the heroine leveled up to 1,000 and killed Reina.
Since day one, the female lead had to travel all over the world to surpass the Level 999 Demon King Reina.
Receiving quests, fighting monsters, gaining the favorability of the characters to get experience points and good items â she recalled memories of repeating pretty annoying tasks.
Of course, since itâs a dating simulation game, she cried and laughed to all the sad stories of the people around the heroine and while the romance with the male candidates developed.
ââŠHuh? Wait a minute.â
As she was grumbling, a random idea flashed through her mind.
She reached out over the snow-covered field. When she poured the flames with a greater reduction in power, a room-sized snow dissipated.
Iâm going to reduce my strength a little more. So if itâs about one pyeong, Iâll reduce it to half a pyeong.
(t/n:Â A pyeong is a Korean unit of area and floorspace, equal to 36 square Korean feet. Sheâs referring to her power btw, not the snowfield.)
As she repeatedly reduced the force to a fine extent, a spot-sized bare ground was revealed.
âCancel what they said, isnât this a total hit? It should be okay if I use it well?â
Should I say that I am truly fortunate to have come to a cold region?
The color is dull, but the ability itself is fire, so it was perfect for melting the snow and staying warm.
âCan the temperature be controlled? Can it keep burning? It said that I can just give the order, so letâs try it.â
To create a fireplace that would warm the mansion, the temperature and duration are important.
If only the flame is created as she thought, this hell will instantaneously transform into heaven.
She thought sheâd found a breakthrough, so she was experimenting with this and that, until she heard something collapsing nearby.
ââŠâŠ?â
When she turned her head, the coachman had collapsed.
Seeing him trembling with his pale white face and parched lips, it was obvious that he couldnât withstand the cold.
The black flame enveloped her body so she didnât feel cold at all, but the coachman who is incapable of withstanding the cold, seemed close to dying.
The condition of the horses who had driven the carriage hard are also pitiful.
She thought it would be nice to quickly take everyone and move to a warmer place.
Fortunately, there is a suitable place in front of her so thereâs no need to go looking for it.
The problem was that it was frozen solid that she couldnât even get in.
âI donât have time to practice. We have to thaw the ice in the mansion right now.â
âSo listen up. Melt only the frozen snow so that the mansion does not burn. Okay?â
Having commanded the black flame which had only destroyed everything so far, Reina outstretched her hand towards the mansion.
She hesitated a little bit because with a single mistake, the mansion could be destroyed and everyone but her would freeze to death.
âUgh, uhâŠâ
But as luck wuld have it, the tormented coachman next to her grasped his chest.
âAlright. If youâre going to die anyway, let me show you the cool look of the mansion before your death.â
To see the mansion of a nobleman being shattered⊠it must not be a bad sight as a companion on the road to the underworld.
Thinking so, Reina released her power.
At the same time, black flames fluttering like petals from her fingertips engulfed the mansion, and then quickly disappeared.
The mansion wasnât destroyed. Reina waited anxiously for the steam to disappear. A moment laterâŠ
ââŠâŠ!â
Surprisingly, whatâs inside the ice was a clean mansion.
The mansion was in such a good shape that it was questionable why it was built on a deserted snowfield.
Perhaps it was built with so much care.
âAmazing. My strength and myself.â
After praising herself, Reina quickly disconnected the carriage from the horses and placed the coachman on the horseâs back.
âYou guys, if you want to live, follow me. If you want to die, stay here.â
She wasnât physically strong. She only had destructive power because of her magic, so she didnât have the strength to drag the horses by force.
âPureung!â
Thankfully, whether they felt that Reina wasnât dangerous, or if the horses thinks thereâs no other way than this, all of them meekly followed her into the mansion.
She pushed the heavy front door open and entered. There was no wind inside so it was no longer cold enough to die.
Of course, it wasnât warm either. She needed something to warm the bodies of the coachman and the horses.
âI need an unquenchable fire to warm their frozen bodies.â
She commanded as if chanting a spell. And as she used her power, a flame appeared on the ceiling.
A huge black flame about the size of a chandelier blazed above their heads for a long time without being extinguished as ordered.
âOh my God, itâs an all-rounder, isnât it?â
What kind of idiot said it was a curse? If used properly, all people will live happily.
Thanks to the embers that radiated heat, the room was soon filled with warmth.
They will not freeze to death. It was so warm that she wondered if it was spring.
After a while, color began to return to the coachmanâs cheeks.
The four horses were resting in their seats, looking very relaxed.
Reina, too, thinks it might be a good idea to take a break and look inside the mansion, so she tried to move but the coachman woke up just in time.
âW-what, this isâŠ!â
âYouâre awake.â
Looking around, he found Reina. Frightened, he went back into pleading mode.
âS-S-Save meââ
âIâll save you, so stop it. If you bring up pleads to save you one more timeâŠâ
As she trailed off without stating a conclusion, the coachmanâs complexion became pale yet again.
It was fun to tease him, but because the complexion that had been restored with so much effort became pale again, she decided to end her teasing there.
âI will make the worst thing imaginable happen to you.â