I Will Become the Villain’s Poison Taster

Chapter 5

I’d tried to convince him good-naturedly with a smile, but my patience finally reached its limit. Though I managed to keep my voice steady, as my life was on the line, the frustration in my gaze was impossible to hide.

The resentment in my eyes only made Reniel’s grin grow brighter. He resembled a well-fed predator toying with a trembling herbivore, lightly batting at it with his paw.

In other words, he was infuriating.

“Prove your worth in some other way. Something more useful than what I’d get from digging around in your head or turning you in for the bounty.”

How could I possibly prove my worth when my skill set had no use in this world? Gritting my teeth, I suppressed the string of curses threatening to spill out, and filtered my mouth.

“I can distinguish the taste of poison.”

“Poison?”

“Yes.”

“And what good is that?”

Reniel gave me a disappointed look. Meeting his unimpressed gaze head-on, I replied slowly and clearly, enunciating each word.

“Your boss is going to be poisoned.”

His smile vanished.

“And when that happens, the revival of dark magic will fall apart.”

Reniel’s now-expressionless face was terrifying. But within that fearsome exterior, I saw hope. My one and only path to survival in this world.

“I can be a poison taster.”

As I stared into Reniel’s darkened eyes, I thought to myself…

I’ve made it.

***

Even villains had to climb the ranks. You didn’t start out as the shadowy mastermind’s right hand! You began as the right hand’s lackey, or maybe even the lackey’s lackey.

Sure, the original Giselle Rozevin had experience, but I was the one behind the wheel now, and I was a total rookie.

I’d secretly tossed empty bottles in the streets before, but I hadn’t ever hurt anyone before. I’d lived an ordinary, unremarkable life. Just because my outer shell changed didn’t mean I could start stabbing and killing people.

So, when Reniel first shoved me into this gloomy, sinister-looking general store, I was beyond anxious. It was so dark and foreboding that I wondered if it was secretly a prison disguised as a shop.

I was worried he might tell me to rack up a criminal record, like arson or murder, to gain experience. The thought made me break out in a cold sweat.

“I still don’t trust you, so you’ll need to prove your abilities.”

He plopped me behind the store’s counter as he told me that.

“From now on, you work here.”

I hadn’t escaped the city after breaking out of prison, which meant I was still in the vicinity of where I used to be locked up. Hiding in plain sight and waiting for things to settle down could be smart, but it wasn’t exactly my dream scenario.

“In this store? Are you saying I’ll own the place?”

I didn’t know dark mages were generous bosses who gave whole stores to their subordinates—!

“Of course not! You’re just a temp. I’m the owner.”

So much for that fantasy.

I’d hoped for a second I’d maybe become an entrepreneur in this world. Feeling deflated, I scanned the store. It was packed with a hodgepodge of items so random I couldn’t tell what the main products were supposed to be.

What was with that creepy doll? And were those eyeballs in the glass jar? They had to be fake, right? And random pots? Was that clothes or fabric? Was that mold growing in that box next to it?

“This is a general store for selling curse-related items.”

Mid-reach toward one of the shelves, I immediately withdrew my hand. I’d almost gotten myself cursed—good grief!

“Can’t kill me with poison, so now you’re going for curses?”

“I said it’s a store for selling cursed items, not a place that curses people.”

I barely heard him. My focus was locked on the doll, whose eyes seemed to meet mine every time I glanced its way. The longer I stared, the more it resembled one of those haunted dolls from a horror movie.

“Your job is to identify all the poisons delivered here. While you’re at it, help any customers that come in.”

Reniel opened a drawer near the counter. Inside were several identical bottles.

“Start with these. The suppliers will bring more poisons soon.”

“Am I supposed to label and organize them or something?”

“You said you’d distinguish the poisons, right?”

Reniel smiled that bright, charming smile of his, fixing his gaze on me.

“You’re going to taste each one and tell them apart.”

And that was how I ended up in this dull and dreary shop. There was even a tiny room inside for meals and sleeping, which meant I was practically confined here.

Yawning, I sprawled across the counter. It had been ten days since I became the shop’s temp employee, and Reniel, who’d initially kept a close watch on me, hadn’t shown up for the past three days.

I’d grown oddly attached to the doll that kept meeting my gaze and secretly named it Isabel. Isabel had become my only source of entertainment in this unbearably boring shop. I was supposed to be an infamous escapee from death row, but I was stuck watching over this dreary counter.

On top of that, it was technically a general store, but no one came to buy anything. People only dropped off items instead. If they’d been pawning their belongings for cash, I might’ve thought this was also a pawnshop. But no, they simply left their stuff here.

That was even more unsettling. What kind of items would people leave at a store that sold cursed goods? I didn’t want to know.

Still, it was better than having to kill someone. All I had to do was guard the shop and occasionally taste some poison, which was a lot less of a burden. Besides, all the visitors were villains, which actually made me feel a bit more at ease.

My wanted posters were circulating in the city, but ironically, that made the criminals see me as one of their own. When they learned I was working at this shop as a temporary employee, they even praised my supposed wickedness.

Apparently, Reniel’s reputation was far more terrifying than I’d imagined.

I decided it was best not to provoke him and resolved to adapt to my new situation as best I could.

At least, that was what I thought until yesterday.

But with Reniel absent for three days now, I was starting to wonder if this might be my chance to escape.

I revisited the original story in my head every day—a habit I’d formed since I couldn’t risk writing anything down and getting caught. I’d replay the plot from start to finish in my mind. I couldn’t remember all the details, but the major storyline was still clear.

In the original, there was a yearlong time skip after Giselle’s death. From what I recalled, that period covered the protagonists’ time together in the countryside, where they built their relationship while the main antagonist worked behind the scenes.

For now, Reniel didn’t seem inclined to investigate me further even though he didn’t believe I was Giselle.

But who was to say he wouldn’t change his mind later? I was worried I’d be opened up on the table as a rare successful test subject, but I was even more worried I’d get caught up with the protagonists while in Giselle’s body.

If I’m going to hide or escape, now might be the time. Especially with Reniel gone.

As I mulled over my options, absentmindedly rubbing my chin, the shop’s bell jingled loudly.

“I’m back, Mad Giselle!”

Bursting through the shop door with far too much energy was Ten, the apprentice dark mage who delivered items here.

Apparently, he was hauling cursed goods as part of his training to become a full-fledged mage, but no matter how I looked at it, there was zero connection between delivering things and mastering dark magic. Ten called it “training,” but I was willing to bet his mentor just needed someone to run errands.

“I’m not mad.”

“Mad people never know they’re mad!”

“Wow. How is it that no one I meet ever listens to me?”

“It’s okay, since you’re nicely mad!”

In this place, I was known as “Mad Giselle.” The reason was that I had lost the viciousness the original Giselle had once shown. Every villain who visited this shop whispered that Giselle must’ve lost her mind after her downfall and a few days in prison.

When the soldiers had treated me like a lunatic, I had accepted it. But being labeled mad by villains felt a bit unfair. How could someone becoming nicer make them seem mad?

“Here, this is for today.”

Mysterious suppliers had started bringing poisons from all over the region to this place the moment I began working. Reniel had probably given them prior instructions. Thankfully, the shop wasn’t busy. Otherwise, I would’ve had to drink poison all night without any time to sleep.