Chapter 133
“…I think you often forget which family I hail from. And you’re even the one who recovered my mana,” Ca.s.sion said, chuckling.
Then, he raised one hand and placed it over my hand, which was still cupping his cheek.
His face and his palm.
My hand tingled as it was trapped between these two.
I stared at him for a moment, then shrugged.
“I haven’t forgotten. Even if it’s on the back of my mind, I just worry about you. Apparently, the more you care about someone, the more you think useless things.”
“Care about who?”
His eyes were wide open as he asked.
I pulled out my hand from underneath his, then bopped him on his nose with that same hand.
“You.”
The simple answer made Ca.s.sion jump. At the same time, his eyes immediately sought out mine.
“I continued with a smile.”
“I care about you.”
The man looked dazed.
Even in the dark, his slowly reddening ears could be seen clearly.
I don’t know if I should admire him for being so lovable, or so consistent.
The memory of what transpired between us in the cave during the hunting festival… was still fresh on my mind. As well as what we were going to do had lightning not struck.
At least, I remember.
“So, go through the door.”
Whispering so, I turned away from the stunned man.
“…Yeah. Okay.”
A small answer came back.
As I sat on the desk, Ca.s.sion slowly followed.
Tiptoeing as though to point, I gestured for him to sit down on the chair behind the desk.
“…Huu.”
He paused where he was, just staring at the chair that was pushed back from the desk. Then, he let out a sigh as he swiped a hand over his face.
Soon, he approached and sat down on the chair.
I was perched on the desk.
With Ca.s.sion, on the chair, facing me.
Our eyes met halfway—his turned upwards, mine turned downwards.
Thunk.
I placed the notebook I was holding down on the desk, then asked.
“So, what’s up, this late into the night?”
As he was met with a question, the man blinked.
The slight tension in the air disappeared with one breath.
It was replaced with concern on those slightly furrowed brows of his.
“You mentioned that you’ll be meeting Blanca today, and I got worried about whether you were able to converse well.”
In a way, Blanca was the first outsider I met after the hunting festival.
Perhaps, from his point of view, he got worried that Blanca wouldn’t believe me, or that I’d been left restless after the conversation.
In any case, I nodded and answered nonchalantly.
“We had a good conversation. I asked her about the things I was curious about, asked her to do something for me, and also received a free service from her, on the house.”
“Free service?”
I nodded again.
“She’s going to quell those frightful rumors that I’m behind the incident at the hunting festival just before Alicia’s birthday ball.”
The furrowed brows straightened out.
With a small sigh, his stiff shoulders lost their tension as well.
“Ah, that’s great then.”
The corners of his lips crept up.
I watched his face brighten up, then I glanced at the notebook on the desk.
It took me a moment to ponder whether or not I should tell him about my recent discovery. However, my rumination was only brief.
“I agree. And, there’s one other thing. I came across an unexpected clue.”
“A clue on what?”
“My transmigrations.”
Silence yawned between us.
Not paying this any mind, I continued speaking.
“My transmigrations might be related to a sacred relic. Or Rosetta.”
“When you say sacred relic… Do you mean the sacred relics of the three duchies?”
“Yes. In particular, the sacred relic of House Valentine.”
The book of aspirations.
Ca.s.sion murmured softly.
Since he was the eldest son of House Carter, he seemed to know a few things about the sacred relics.
“Why do you think they might be connected?”
“…I had a dream before. A dream where Urien followed me.”
…That b.a.s.t.a.r.d?
He whispered in a low, menacing voice.
As his black pupils quivered, our gazes met. Then, I nodded.
“Yes, a dream where I saw that b.a.s.t.a.r.d following after me. Before that, I saw a book come out of my body. What serves as a pa.s.sageway between my transmigrations is a book.”
“Ah, then…”
A look of realization flashed across his features.
“But is that enough to conclude that it has something to do with the sacred relic? It may just be another book that has no other connection with the ‘book’ of aspirations other than its form.”
“That’s why I told you— It might be related to the sacred relic or Rosetta.”
He still seemed unconvinced.
Then, I glanced to the side and picked up Rosetta’s diary.
His black eyes followed the movement of my hand.
Flutter, flutter.
The sound of the notebook’s flapping pages filled the empty silence.
I quickly flipped through the contents of the notebook, from beginning to end, then snapped it shut as I shrugged.
“I heard the voice of G.o.d saying that Rosetta wanted all of this.”
And the mention of ‘G.o.d’ was enough to paint an undeniably sh.e.l.l-shocked expression on Ca.s.sion’s face.
“…That… How is that possible?”
Many other questions remained unsaid, but I knew what they were.
I also wondered the same thing.
It happened to me four times.
In a ReadNovelFull, in a martial arts novel, in a wretched angst novel as the main character, in another wretched angst novel as a side character.
I couldn’t recall what kind of person I was in the real world, but I know this for sure—that I had borrowed someone else’s body while going through various worlds.
If…
If these transmigrations really were related to Rosetta…
Then why the h.e.l.l did it affect ‘me’?
What did Rosetta have to do with me?
I had a few guesses of my own.
That the premise of these worlds being ‘fiction’ was just a lie, and these were all separate worlds in their own right.
That the wish of ‘Rosetta’ only happened to impact ‘me’ as I was in another world.
Or that Rosetta—as a person or as a side character—was me from a previous life, but the wish I made as Rosetta worked retroactively on ‘me’ from the modern world.
But then, the timeline would become very complicated under that a.s.sumption.
It would be a wish from a past life, which would work on my future self, yet would eventually change the past regardless.
What kind of bizarre Mobius strip would that just be.
In any case, nothing really hit home.
But I was still half-sure that either Rosetta or the sacred relic was related to my multiple transmigrations.
Despite how unfathomable and distant these a.s.sumptions were, I’d prefer to insist on these premises because of the clear voice of G.o.d that rang in my head—that Rosetta wanted this.
So.
“Somehow or another, it’s possible.”
How dare a mere human being comprehend the will of G.o.d?
Though my answer was vague, Ca.s.sion did not ask me any more questions.
He just nodded with a serious face as though he understood.
“Then, what you’re holding is related to it? Your search to find the connection between Rosetta and the book?”
His gaze dropped sharply, pointing out the diary in my hand.
“Well, similar.”
I flipped through the diary again, skimmed a little, then handed it over to Ca.s.sion.
Unlike me, he was more patient about going through the pages.
The first page was empty.
No, it wasn’t just the first page. Flipping through was enough to tell you that everything’s empty.
“As you can see, nothing’s there, so I can’t find a connection.”
After glancing back at me, his black eyes looked at the diary again.
“This is a diary, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. But nothing’s written in it, so it could hardly be called a diary.”
It was so utterly blank that I don’t see the point as to why it was hidden in the first place.
Ca.s.sion flipped through the pages silently.
“Yeah, it’s empty alright.”
But, in the middle of saying this, his hand stopped flipping the pages suddenly.
It was one of the pages towards the end.
“No, perhaps not.”
“What?”
He returned the notebook to me, opening it on a certain page without saying anything more.
I turned to look at it.
And, indeed, it’s just as he said.
At first glance, it looked blank, but something was certainly written there.
Small letters right next to the seam of the notebook.
“…horn…front…way back…”
The words were also widely s.p.a.ced out. It’s difficult to figure out what they meant.
Even if I were to read them aloud, they wouldn’t make sense.
With a wrinkled brow, I stared intently at those words and turned over another page just in case.
Because at the last page.
I stared at one clearly written word.
“Transmigration.”
Yes. What’s clearly written on this page was definitely the word ‘transmigration’.
As I murmured the handwritten word with a blank expression, I raised my head, and my gaze met Ca.s.sion’s.
I traced over the word lightly with one finger.
He stared into my eyes quietly, then soon spoke.
“Now I’m sure that you’re right. The original Rosetta must have known something.”
“Yes, I think so too…”
The voice of G.o.d in her mind was enough, but she couldn’t help but be in disbelief that there was actual evidence.
Then, was this seemingly ordinary notebook the sacred relic?
I closed the notebook and turned it over.
However, I couldn’t feel any special energy emanating from it.
It seemed very much like an ordinary notebook.
In the middle of this thoughtful silence, Ca.s.sion and I said nothing as we ruminated. Suddenly, however, we both heard a knock on the door.
At the sudden noise, the two of us looked at each other at the same time, then turned to the door.
Just in time, a timid voice came from beyond the door.
“Sister, it’s me. Are you sleeping?”
Alicia? What brings Alicia here, this late at night…
“Are you asleep?”
Another murmur followed.
The voice was trembling ever so subtly.
Wondering if something had happened, I hurriedly replied.
“No, I’m not asleep. Give me a moment.”
The same time I answered, I hid the notebook in the drawer.
And, catching on quickly, Ca.s.sion was already headed towards the window.
“Rosetta,” he whispered.
When I turned to face him, I heard the sound of the window’s latch being opened.
The autumn night’s chill quickly flooded in.
Just as he came, he stood on the windowsill with the back against the evening sky.
The man, with his back to the moonlight, looked straight at me.
“Sleep tight.”
“You as well.”
Our goodbyes were short.
His body jumped back.
Before long, the window closed by itself.
And the drapes sank slowly.
The cold night air still lingered gently inside the room.
“…I told you not to make me worry.”
I muttered unconsciously to myself as I stared at the empty frame.
Soon, I turned away from the window.
Towards the door where Alicia was waiting.
Ka-chak.
When I opened the door, I saw Alicia hugging a pillow over her chest.
As our gazes met, Alicia smiled awkwardly while blinking her wide, doe eyes.
“Sister, can I… Can I sleep beside you tonight?”
She looked shy and anxious at the same time.