In her previous life, by the time Evelyn Hart was brought to the Descenders’ Guild, she had already been worn down from a person with dignity into a bottom-rung slave anyone could kick around.
Back then, she had just been “transferred” away from another small party.
The reason sounded so nice on paper.
A new group needed more members. They were short on logistics support. The guild encouraged everyone to help each other.
That was when Mina Vale appeared.
She handed Evelyn a bowl of hot soup, her voice so gentle it almost sounded like real concern.
“Don’t be scared. Stay with us, and at least you won’t starve.”
At the time, Evelyn had already been beaten numb by that world.
The smallest scrap of care or warmth was enough to make her cry with gratitude. She thought she had finally met good people.
Later, she learned the truth.
That bowl of hot soup had not been kindness.
It had been the last bit of bait offered before putting a rope around livestock.
The little group made up of Grant Vale, Mina Vale, and Rowan Keene specialized in buying “tool characters” from the guild using materials or gold.
They looked for people who couldn’t fight, couldn’t read maps, and didn’t understand the rules.
To outsiders, they claimed they were helping people level up and teaching them skills.
In reality, they sent those people to Rustfall Mines to dig crystals and gather herbs for them.
The mines were filled year-round with poisonous fog, rocksplitter worms, and swallowing rifts that could devour a person whole.
Even proper players only went in with full parties, and they always left before the danger window closed.
Unfortunately, the deepest parts of the mines held some of the richest mineral deposits and medicinal herbs on the continent.
So Evelyn naturally became disposable labor in those tunnels, digging crystal ore day and night.
Her fingers were ground raw and bloody. The mining basket cut into her shoulders and back until they bled.
If she failed to meet the quota, she was beaten.
She had tried to run.
The first time, she hadn’t made it half a mile before Rowan’s arrow punched through her calf.
Grant dragged her back into the mine and smashed her shoulder with the back of his axe in front of everyone.
She thought she was going to die.
And honestly, dying seemed fine.
If she died, at least those animals couldn’t torture her anymore.
Mina came to her side, still wearing that same gentle expression.
She said, “Evelyn, we’re doing this for your own good. It’s dangerous out there. If you run around on your own, you’ll die.”
Then she pressed a slave-control curse into Evelyn’s wrist with her own hand.
From that day on, Evelyn completely lost the right to be treated as human.
She could not disobey.
She could not run.
She couldn’t even kill herself.
The moment she had even the faintest thought of self-destruction, the curse magnified her pain tenfold and dragged her back from the edge of unconsciousness.
It wasn’t until the mine collapsed and another party casually picked her up that she finally escaped their control.
Of course, life with the new party could hardly be called bright either.
By then, Evelyn had already been ground down into something barely human.
She was like a body that had lost its soul, with only seeds of hatred growing wildly inside her hollowed-out skin.
Every day, she cursed them.
Every day, she wanted to offer up her own soul in exchange for a weapon that could judge their sins and return every bit of despair and agony they had given her.
At that thought, Isolde froze.
Then she looked down at her own palm and suddenly smiled.
So that was it.
That was why she had become Isolde.
All for this moment, wasn’t it?
Her smile was faint, resting against her pale lips, and somehow it looked colder than rage.
According to the path of her previous life, those three should not have appeared here.
At this time, they should have been in the barren woods closer to the arrival point, fighting others for resources. Only afterward would they enter the guild and become key members of that little group.
But over the past few days, while repairing the illusion array in the eastern tower, Isolde had casually changed a few guiding lines and pushed the boundary of the gray fog outward a little.
Just a little.
And somehow, that tiny change had delivered these three people, who should never have entered Sylvain Castle, right to her.
Isolde’s mood suddenly improved.
She raised her hand and slowly smoothed the sleeve of her white dress.
Since the road had already been paved to her doorstep, she naturally had to show them proper hospitality.
While she was at it, she might as well renew that rotten bond from her previous life.
The thick fog before the castle gates slowly parted.
A girl in a white dress stumbled out.
Her black hair was disheveled, her face pale. One corner of her skirt had been soaked by the gray fog, making her look as though she had been running through the dark for a very long time before finally seeing daylight again.
Grant, Mina, and Rowan all stopped at the same time.
Isolde stopped too.
Her gaze first fell on their equipment.
Mid-grade leather armor, an iron axe, a staff, and the bow on Rowan’s back.
This setup was far stronger than what ordinary new arrivals should have.
It looked like these three had already robbed a group of unlucky fools ahead of time.
No wonder they had arrived earlier than they did in her previous life.
Greedy people always moved fast, especially when they caught the scent of profit.
Through the damp fog, she clearly saw the three faces she hated to the bone.
Her hatred no longer needed to boil.
The moment she saw them, a coldness seeped from the cracks of her bones and kept her mind sharp, allowing her to temporarily rein in the urge to kill.
Isolde lifted her head.
Her eyes reddened, and she stretched a hand toward them as if using the last of her strength.
“Please… help me.”
[Passive Skill, Witch’s Mask, Activated]
[Target, Grant Vale. Wariness reduced by 60%.]
[Target, Rowan Keene. Wariness reduced by 55%.]
[Target, Mina Vale. Active suspicion detected. Effect weakened. Wariness reduced by 32%.]
All three of them looked at her.
Grant reacted first, his face lighting up with surprise.
“There really is an NPC.”
Rowan gripped his bow and looked her up and down. Excitement quickly appeared in his eyes.
They had only been thrown into this cursed place a few days ago.
They had not even seen a beginner village before stumbling into a gray fog surrounding an old castle.
At a time like this, a beautiful girl suddenly appearing and begging for help did not look like an ordinary passerby.
She looked more like a hidden quest.
Mina, however, had already raised her staff and pointed it at Isolde.
“Stop. Don’t come any closer.”
Isolde halted, as if frightened.
Her lashes trembled. Her pale fingers tightened around her skirt, and her voice grew even softer.
“I’m not a bad person… I just want to get out.”
She fit their idea of a “frail story character” far too well.
She might as well have had the words “quest reward” written across her face.
Mina was more cautious than the other two.
She asked first, “Who are you? What’s going on here?”
Isolde raised her damp eyes toward her.
Hatred flickered in them for only a heartbeat before she forced it back down.
When she looked up again, she was still the terrified noble girl.
“I’m the daughter of a western noble family. Last month, I passed through this place and was captured by the duke inside the castle.”
She bit her lip, her voice dropping lower.
“He carved a soul contract into me. I can’t leave this castle. There are so many monsters inside. I hear screams every day… I’m so scared…”
Rowan snorted.
“That plot’s so old it should come with dust.”
Isolde sneered inwardly.
The older the plot, the more it matched a player’s idea of a hidden quest.
And the more it matched their expectations, the easier it was for them to lower their guard.
Outwardly, she looked as if his words had wounded her. Her face turned even paler, and she hurried to explain.
“I’m not lying. I really am…”
Grant had already lost patience with her setup.
He stepped forward and reached out to grab her arm.
“Cut the crap. Just tell us what you want us to do.”
Isolde quickly backed away and avoided his hand as disgust surged through her heart.
“You need to enter the castle basement,” she whispered. “There’s a contract core down there. If you destroy it, I’ll be free.”