Chapter 61

Raul Berze.

The crow disappeared after leaving that name, shattering the illusion at the same time.

The crow, with its sorrowful eyes, left me with just one word.

“Stupid girl.”

But that crow didn’t matter. What mattered was that the information it showed mostly matched what I already knew. And… the part about my sister’s death was different from what I knew.

I had to confirm it. I had to force Raul Berze to wake up and confirm it. Whether it was really the truth.

I forced myself to stand up. My chest felt like it was being crushed.

I was certain of the cause. Anxiety. This is anxiety. The anxiety of what if that vision was really the truth. That’s why I had to confirm it. To throw off this guilt crushing my chest.

It wasn’t true. Just one word saying he really killed my sister out of jealousy would be enough.

“Haa… haa…”

I can run for two days and nights without rest, so why am I out of breath? What is this feeling lurking behind the anxiety?

What is this terrible feeling making my body so heavy? I… I… have never felt this before.

I didn’t want to feel it. This terrible feeling. This miserable feeling. This cold, heavy feeling that makes me feel infinitely small and ugly.

I wanted to be free. To throw all this away, I needed Raul.

I will throw it all away and be free. I will return to the past. If there’s anything I need to atone for, it’s only for tarnishing my teacher’s honor. So I can live thinking that way.

“Raul Berze… Raul Berze…”

The hateful man who took my sister. And the man I need to be free now. I have to meet him somehow.

The room he’s in must be at the end of the third-floor corridor. I just need to quietly go there and ask him. Did you kill my sister with malice? Are you a cold-blooded murderer who didn’t shed a tear after killing my sister? Just asking that will end everything.

Thinking that, I arrived at the end of the third-floor corridor, and a beast in a military uniform was guarding it.

“Colonel Kyle Benson…”

“Oh, who do we have here? Our captain’s fiancée… no, ex-fiancée, so I don’t need to be polite.”

“I have business with Raul Berze.”

I also hated this man. He stuck to Raul like glue, acting like a servant, yet his arrogance was sky-high.

“…Unfortunately, this area is off-limits to non-related personnel. How do you say ‘stop showing off and just leave quietly before you get hurt’ in noble speech?”

“Step aside. This has nothing to do with you.”

“My superior is lying in there because of you, you crazy woman… what’s that in noble speech?”

“You never fail to show your lowly origins. Do you have a disease that makes you reveal it or you die?”

“Yes, I do. And before I get the disease of smashing the head of the bitch who made my superior like that, could you please leave?”

What a vulgar man. Even though he’s a war orphan taken in by my sister and Raul, I didn’t expect him to be this low.

I don’t have time to waste on this man, so I grabbed the doorknob, but his rough hand grabbed my wrist.

“Didn’t you hear me say I have business?”

“Didn’t you hear me say it’s off-limits?”

“Separate public and private matters, Colonel Kyle. I am of a higher rank than you. I know you hate me, but…!”

“Unfortunately, I’m acting on His Majesty the Emperor’s orders.”

I didn’t expect that tyrant, who can’t even control his temper, to make the first move. He’s just like his father, excessively violent, yet he has this side to him.

“Move. I’m in a tough spot now, but stripping a man like you, who has no backing, of his uniform is nothing.”

“Oh, is that so? It’s nothing, huh? Wow, I didn’t know that. You’re so good at stripping men’s clothes. Damn, you’re amazing.”

Then he started mocking me with a smirk. The moment I tried to slap his cheek, his knee struck my stomach.

The pain was so intense I couldn’t breathe. It felt like my lungs would burst. He must have kicked me just to cause pain without knocking me out, so I couldn’t even lose consciousness.

“Keuh…! Ugh…!”

“Ooh~ Did you have pasta for breakfast?”

“What are you doing now…?”

“His Majesty, the respected lunatic… no, His Majesty ordered it. Off-limits to non-related personnel. If you break that, it’s treason. Instead of death, a knee strike for a traitor… isn’t that merciful?”

A beast with no sense of dignity or manners struck first.

Meaning, whatever happens from now on is self-defense.

I immediately tried to transform the ring into a sword. But at that moment, Kyle grabbed my hand.

“Huh…?”

The ring didn’t transform. This has never happened before.

“Thousand Transformations… the weapon Lady Layla wielded. A cheat-like weapon that can transform into any weapon with imagination… but it doesn’t transform if two people hold it at the same time. Didn’t you know that?”

“Let go…?!”

“If I let go, you’ll stab me with a knife. What kind of idiot would let go? Sadly, I was taught by Lady Layla not to let go of the wrist of anyone who wields a blade.”

“Don’t bring up my sister with your mouth!”

Then he grabbed my other wrist and took the ring. The precious ring my sister left me.

He played with the ring, tossing it up and catching it, mocking me.

“Oops~. The precious ring is in my hands now. By the way, this is also His Majesty’s order. To confiscate any mementos that don’t suit someone who brought in demons.”

“Give it back… that’s my sister’s legacy… if you touch it, I swear your uniform…!”

“Ah, really~. Threats are so cliché.”

Then a heavy pain struck my jaw. The ceiling and floor seemed to flip. My jaw shook. Heat and cold hit me simultaneously, and my mind became hazy.

“What do you think will happen if I take off my uniform and come find you?”

“The ring… the ring… please give the ring back…”

“Take that up with His Majesty. I’m just a guy who gets paid, so I have to follow the orders of the one who pays me. Of course, there’s some personal feeling too… but the boss’s orders come first. I’m just a dog.”

I grabbed his leg, but nothing changed.

That tyrant is trying to take away my connection to my sister. I can’t allow that. That’s my sister’s legacy to me. How dare they take it away. It’s mine. My sister, her love, the ring, it’s all mine.

“Marchioness Rosie Nevermore.”

Suddenly, his voice changed. Not the playful, mocking voice, but his usual cold, emotionless voice.

“Stop it. It’s ugly.”

“What do you know…”

“It means no matter how many times you try, nothing will change. This door won’t open for you today, and you won’t be able to take this ring from me.”

His face lost all playfulness and looked utterly cold.

“Nothing is uglier than refusing to accept an unchangeable fact, Marchioness. Just like Raul and I couldn’t accept Lady Layla’s death.”

“You killed my sister… if only you hadn’t run away… if only Raul Berze had sent my sister too… my sister… my sister…!!!”

“Marchioness. Does imagining your sister alive ease your sorrow? Does blaming Raul make you feel a little better?”

“That’s why I want to go in and ask! To go in and ask and make everything clear!!!”

If that illusion was real… if Raul had no choice but to kill my sister… if he really grieved that much.

Then I’m truly the scum who did unspeakable things to my sister’s other half.

I sent assassins after him, slapped his cheek when he found my sister’s grave, deliberately increased his workload with behind-the-scenes schemes, tarnished his father’s honor, and spread his secrets everywhere.

If that’s the case… if that’s the truth…

“Didn’t you try to tell me?”

“What…?”

“Raul sent you letters every week. The truth of that day and the feelings he felt at the time. Every week, every week, he wrote about that painful memory and sent it to you.”

The letters he sent… I burned them all…

“Without even reading them. Every week, every week, you burned those letters without fail. You rejected everything first, and now you want to ask about it. Don’t you think that’s a bit shameless?”

“That’s… because I didn’t know…”

“I don’t like this kind of story. That’s why he tried to tell you, and you rejected the truth. So if you’re going to make excuses about not knowing, I’ll just take a nap. It’s a meaningless debate like the chicken or the egg.”

Should I ask him to open the door?

Should I ask him to return the ring?

He won’t do either.

No, before that, I had no right to ask for either.

“Leave while I’m still ‘a person acting on His Majesty’s orders.’ If I go back to being ‘an orphan indebted to Raul Berze,’ I might kill you.”

“…”

“Stupid woman.”

I couldn’t refute anything.

Because no words reached my ears.