Chapter 129
A series of unexpected events.
Who else would know better, if not for d.u.c.h.ess Eiane Carter.
After returning to her room alone, Eiane approached a drawer.
It had already been more than ten years ever since she and the duke had started using separate chambers. This room was solely Eiane’s.
She soon pulled out a box that she had hidden deep in the drawer.
A small wooden chest, which contained a smaller music box.
Click.
As it was opened, no music flowed out from inside—and this was because its mechanism had worn out.
Or, to be more precise, it’s because the spring had been turned over and over again so as to ‘listen’ to the music… to the point that the mechanism had come loose.
In any case, the music box had not been rewound ever since then.
A pale finger reached into the music box.
The figure of a man and a woman was atop the music box, but something else was caught by her finger as she reached underneath the top plate.
A thin, gold ring.
It was not a woman’s. It was about the size that’s perfect for a man’s finger.
Nothing else.
It was a memento of her ex-lover, who had already pa.s.sed away. It had been more than two decades since.
He was a man who she abandoned—and who chose to end his own life.
“I came here to bring this to you because I thought you should have it. You see, I’ve got quite a terrible personality, and all I wish is that you keep this for a long time, and that it makes you suffer… for a long time.”
The woman who delivered the memento said this.
Underneath her veil, the woman’s lips were not smiling.
With an uncharacteristically blank stare, Eiane gazed upon the ring for a while. But soon, she smiled and placed the ring back in its original position.
Tak.
With a sharp sound, the music box was closed shut once more.
Perhaps she would open it again in a few years, just like today.
No hints of emotion could be found in her movements as he put the music box back in its small chest, and the chest back in its drawer.
Her unfeeling eyes flashed icily.
She felt sorry that he died, but even if she were to go back in time, she would have abandoned him again.
That man had not been enough to satisfy her ambitions.
The only reason she couldn’t throw away the ring and the music box was because they had a lot of memories together.
Just like the normal sentiment of a person who couldn’t bring themselves to throw away a letter that they had received.
Eiane soon turned away from the drawer.
When she had crouched down to look through the drawer, she took off her nightgown and left it on the floor.
Its thin fabric had grazed her body as it landed on the ground.
She then took out a robe for her to wear, then sat down at the tea table.
The evening sky was deep.
It’s pitch black.
Just like the hair of her stepson, who she had killed. No, she tried to kill over the course of such a long time.
Her lips drew an arc, resembling the crescent moon that was affixed in the sky in its somber solitude.
However the arc that was turned up, went down.
“Right… Life is all about not knowing what or how things will happen in the future.”
She killed her own older brother.
So, too, did she abandon the lover she had been together with for such a long time, and left him to die alone as he chose it.
She also killed her stepson.
And now, she was going to kill her husband.
All this was done with the same two hands.
Who knew that she would be a murderer.
“Ah, that’s not it.”
Perhaps she was far from ‘a life where it’s impossible to know what or how things will happen in the future’.
All those who she touched with these hands had died, and would die.
Wasn’t it that her own existence and death itself had such an inseparable fate?
The sudden realization made the woman laugh.
Her laughter echoed inside the room on this cold, autumn evening.
Until deeper into the night.
* * *
“There seems to be a general consensus about how suspicious you are, Lady Rosetta.”
Rosetta glanced towards the owner of the voice, who she was meeting face-to-face for the first time in a while.
Sitting opposite her was Blanca, now dressed up as if she was a bookstore employee.
While swinging about a long pipe.
“Don’t smoke. I hate the smell.”
“Don’t worry. I don’t smoke in front of children.”
“You think I’m a child?”
“Ah, goodness. I apologize. You just remind me of a child I once met before.”
Absurd.
Rosetta flicked the end of one shoe irritably, then picked up her teacup.
Click.
At the sound, Blanca’s eyebrows went up once, then down again.
“It’s great to see you here again. I was surprised when I heard what happened during the hunting festival.”
“I contacted you through the crystal ball though.”
“But all you mentioned was your request for me to find out more about Young Duke Daniel and Young Duke Carter. You didn’t even give me a chance to say h.e.l.lo.”
“…I had a lot on my plate back then. But I’m unscathed, as you can see. In fact, I’m completely without any injuries, to the point that people are talking about it, just as you said.”
I should have just let myself get hurt if I knew it’d turn out like this.
Her emotionless voice added the last part.
At this, Blanca giggled because Rosetta sounded so serious about it.
It wasn’t until Rosetta looked up and stared pointedly at Blanca that she stopped laughing.
“You could have let those people’s gazes turn towards another direction, but didn’t you purposely make it so that you’ll carry the weight of their attention alone?” Blanca asked.
And with this, Rosetta kept silent.
She leaned back against her seat, and her long hair brushed against her shoulder and cascaded down.
Silver eyes turned towards that silver hair.
A strange smile flashed across the woman’s lips.
In the meantime, Rosetta spoke with a languid tone.
“People say that pain can be halved if two people share it. But I don’t believe that’s true.”
“……”
“If it’s shared, then both people would just be subjected to such terrible pain. So, it’s better to just let the one who could endure it better carry the entire weight.”
Her voice was exceedingly calm and serene, as if her statement was of no consequence at all.
In the silence that followed, Blanca only stared at Rosetta for a moment, then she nodded.
‘Indeed. It would probably be too much to bear for that soft-hearted n.o.ble lady.’
In no time at all, the name ‘Rosetta’ had become widespread across the whole empire.
Of course, there were some who looked at her favorably.
But most were already suspecting her, or perhaps marked her as the culprit already.
As far as the rumors had spread, even the unrelated, useless truth was revealed.
—Doesn’t she have a criminal’s blood flowing in her veins?
‘No, I’d much prefer that the truth is revealed, actually.’
Since the matter of lineage was brought up, at least not both of the ducal ladies would be smeared by it.
“But rumors are just rumors. An investigation will take place, and the incident will subside over time. Besides, when His Grace the Duke attended the state meeting at the Imperial Palace a few days ago, he sided with you after all. Isn’t that right, Ducal Lady?”
Cough, cough…
The sudden bout of coughing was from Rosetta.
She set down the cup of black tea and pressed her lips together.
She had to cough a few more times until the scratching at her throat could subside.
It suddenly felt like she was drowning, even if she was on solid ground.
After her coughs died down, her golden eyes looked towards the person sitting across from her in disbelief.
Blanca’s eyes also widened as she asked.
“Oh my, you didn’t know?”
“…When you said, ‘Duke’, are you talking about my father?”
“Yes. Duke Valentine raised his voice uncharacteristically, and even snarled at those people. Towards the people who suspect you, Lady Rosetta.”
As her expression turned grim, Rosetta rubbed her fingertips against her throbbing temples.
‘The people who suspect me…’
In other words… he raised his voice towards everyone present in that meeting.
There wouldn’t be a single n.o.ble who wasn’t doubting her.
She couldn’t imagine it.
He had always been cold and aloof, showing zero emotion on his face. But for him to raise his voice and snarl at people?
Even when he had ordered Katie’s execution back then, he showed his contempt only through his typical cold expression.
But… Him? Snapping at people?
And more than that, for Rosetta’s sake?
Momentarily reaching forward to lift her teacup, Rosetta soon leaned back against her seat once more.
‘As expected, you’re not doubting me.’
Despite having heard all those rumors, it seemed like he wasn’t suspecting her at all.
He didn’t doubt her on the day of the hunting festival itself, or ten days later, or even to this day.
Still though, it had been quite difficult to see them around ever since the hunting festival.
They would just stop by the mansion for a little while. She’d say h.e.l.lo, then they’d be gone again in a flash.
The two of them were still in charge of the aftermath in the woods, busy chasing down any trace they could find of the monsters.
She heard briefly that they wouldn’t be done until a few days later.
‘It’ll be this weekend…’
She was suddenly overcome with the urge to run away.
How laughable.
With all the rumors and false accusations surrounding her, and with all the gazes following her everywhere, she never really gave this much thought before.
But it couldn’t be helped, and it was still clear in her mind—the tremendous relief that had washed over her the moment she saw that Damian and the duke were fine.
Originally, wasn’t relief rooted in fear?
Then what she feared was…
‘Family.’
That relationship.
Now that she had realized that she was wavering in the face of the very ent.i.ty she’d been trying to push away, it was only human nature for her to want to run away.
“Since the situation has become like this, your birthday banquet might be a bit tough to get through.”
As Rosetta was restlessly thinking to herself, she was brought back from her reverie as Blanca brought up a different topic.
With her full attention back to the present now, Rosetta asked back.
“Birthday?”
Blanca nodded.
“Yes, your birthday. Your coming-of-age birthday celebration is about to be held soon, right, Lady Rosetta?”
“Ah…”
Her voice expressed how much she was in a daze.
As if she really had forgotten.
Now that she was reminded of it, Rosetta realized that her birthday was only a month later.
So distracted as she was until now, she truly forgot.
Well, it’s not actually her birthday.
“I’m not interested in my birthday anyway, so it doesn’t matter. Something like a birthday banquet or whatever, it’ll only be tiring.”
“Hmm. But coming-of-age birthday celebrations are special. Particularly within a ducal household.”
When Blanca’s voice dropped to a hushed whisper, Rosetta looked up.
‘Coming-of-age birthday celebrations are special…? And particularly within a ducal household…’
After briefly reflecting on Blanca’s words, Rosetta soon recalled something from the original novel.
“The sacred relic?”
At the answer that sounded more like a question, Blanca nodded one of her feet.
“Yes, since the descendants of the ducal households aren’t qualified to use their respective ‘sacred relics’ until they reach adulthood.”
Of course, just because one were to have their coming of age, didn’t mean that they could automatically use a sacred relic.
“…You seem to be familiar with the sacred relics?”
“Perhaps. They interest me, that’s why. Anyone who wields magic would find the sacred relics fascinating.”
Truthfully, Rosetta didn’t know much about the ‘sacred relics’.
In the original novel, the ‘sacred relics’ had only been mentioned in pa.s.sing. All that’s said was that they’re a special heirloom that’s pa.s.sed down in each of the three ducal households.
And couldn’t glean much about them from Rosetta’s memories either.
The best that she knew was that each sacred relic had the attribute of each household’s power.
‘Then I believe, House Valentine’s sacred relic is…’
Flinch.
Her thoughts stopped there.
It felt like her mind was going completely white.
A faint chill ran down her nape.
…A book.
House Valentine’s sacred relic was a book.
‘Is it just a coincidence?’
Her, who repeatedly transmigrated into books.
And the only round that was strange—this fourth novel transmigration.
The dream she had at the hunting festival.
The voice she heard.
“You know… All this is what you wanted.
Rosetta.”
The chills running straight down her spine was a clear indication.
This was not a coincidence.