A Fortune-telling Princess - Chapter 29

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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“I sent Lady Sia and Lady Camilla back to the past repeatedly to give you both time to recognize each other. I also hoped that once you found your proper places, you would experience and grow accustomed to the world you would live in.”
“….”
Sia.
It was undoubtedly my name, yet it felt strangely unfamiliar now.
“But why did it take so long for you both to recognize each other?”
“I didn’t expect it to take this long either. However, my authority to intervene was quite limited….”
Dona exhaled a long sigh.
“Fortunately, Lady Camilla, who was here, properly recognized Lady Sia from the other world at the final moment, allowing us to finally end this long cycle.”
She recognized me at the end?
“Ah!”
A scene suddenly came to mind.
The day I locked eyes with Camilla, her neck severed.
That day I had an accident too. Or rather, I died.
The chandelier fell… wait.
“That ghost back then….”
The ghost hanging from the chandelier, who looked exactly like me.
“…It really was Sia.”
“If you’re referring to the spirit you saw last that day, then yes.”
As if guessing what Camilla was thinking, Dona nodded and continued.
“Had you missed that timing, you both would still be trapped in that repeating cycle. That moment when one of you perfectly recognized the other! A perfect gap opened between the two worlds, and finally I was able to return you both to your rightful places.”
Watching Dona look so proud of herself for accomplishing something so momentous, I felt my grip tighten on the shoes I was holding.
“Is that something to be proud of right now?”
Just because we’re back now doesn’t erase everything we’ve been through!
“I’ll just—”
Watching Dona flinch defensively with both arms shielding her face, I let out an involuntary sigh.
“And you’re so small too….”
Dona had a small frame for a woman. If she were at least bigger, I could at least get a proper hit in!
“Are you dissatisfied with my small size?”
Hearing Camilla’s muttered words, Dona clapped her hands together and smiled brightly.
In that moment, her body became translucent.
“Huh?”
Moments later, a different person suddenly appeared before Camilla.
The small Dona vanished, replaced by a tall, slender man standing squarely in front of her.
With his long periwinkle hair tied back and glasses perched on his nose, he smiled broadly and bowed his head.
“Allow me to introduce myself properly. I am Dorman.”
“Dull-man?”
“No, Dorman….”
“….”
“This is my true form.”
“You’re Dona?”
“Yes.”
“…No matter how I look at it, you’re male?”
“For a being like myself, gender holds little importance, but if I must specify, then yes.”
“Why did you change to female in the first place?”
“To serve Camilla more closely, I believed a female form would be more suitable than a male one.”
“…You even attended to my baths, didn’t you?”
“As I’ve said before, for a being like myself, gender is hardly—”
“Silence.”
“Yes.”
I couldn’t help but laugh—a hollow, exasperated sound that escaped despite myself.
Noticing my reaction, Dona—no, Dorman—continued.
“In any case, I was dismissed for the mistake of placing a soul incorrectly, and I’ve lost considerable power. I can no longer perceive souls now.”
His expression grew dejected.
“Is it possible that my ability to see ghosts is also because my soul was switched?”
“No, that was always your natural ability, Miss.”
“Tch.”
I’d been hoping to blame him for that too.
As Camilla clicked her tongue in disappointment, Dorman released a small sigh of relief and continued.
“If both of you complete your lives safely according to your allotted lifespans, I can be reinstated to my previous position. So I humbly ask for your cooperation….”
His voice grew quieter as the atmosphere turned ominous.
Reinstatement? What nonsense.
“Either way, all the hardship we endured, and every time we died—it was all because of you.”
“If I must be precise, that is true, but….”
“Call them.”
“Pardon?”
“Summon your superiors.”
“W-why so suddenly…?”
“When subordinates make mistakes, their superiors must take responsibility! That’s basic principle!”
Don’t you even know that?
“W-we’ve been trying to take responsibility—”
“What responsibility? What effort! What have you even done!”
The more I spoke, the hotter my anger burned.
“Every time you died, sending your souls back to the past wasn’t something we could do carelessly. We did our best to minimize damage to each world while allowing you to retain awareness of each other…!”
“That’s not my concern.”
“Sia was born with many gifts. A brilliant mind, exceptional acting talent, and beautiful looks! All we could offer was a small measure of fortune.”
“Fortune?”
“To make everything you do succeed….”
Every drama and film I chose had been a massive hit.
Was that because of their luck? Not because of the information I’d extracted from ghosts?
“Then what about Camilla?”
Fine, let’s say that’s the case for Sia in that other world.
But what about me? What about me, here and now in this place?
No matter how hard I look, I can’t find any benefit like that?
“Me, miss.”
“What?”
“I’m right here attending to you faithfully, am I not?”
Dorman grinned and pointed to himself with his hand.
“You’re my benefit?”
“Yes.”
“So my benefit is you?”
“Precisely.”
“….”
I really might kill him.
* * *
“Sigh.”
I ended up throwing a shoe at Dorman and driving him out, despite his insistence on helping.
Camilla changed out of her wet clothes alone and exhaled a long, weary breath.
My body temperature had dropped considerably; my breathing felt hot against the chill.
‘So he was watching me all along.’
The moment Dona learned that I had jumped into the lake, he rushed to the Academy—specifically to Spirit Lake.
He could do that because he’d been watching me this whole time.
He claimed he came following me out of concern, not surveillance, but it amounts to the same thing.
After the semester began, he secretly observed me for a while, and when I seemed to be doing well, he withdrew his attention. But after the friction with Juide and his group, he resumed his surveillance.
Then he happened to see me jump into the water, interpreted it as a suicide attempt, and dove in to save me—or so his explanation went.
‘How thoughtful.’
I’m so grateful my teeth are grinding.
“Damn it.”
Even though he jumped in to save me, I’m not grateful in the slightest.
Whether it was jumping into the water or carefully looking after me all this time—it was all because of his restoration to duty.
If Dona hadn’t appeared at the lake in the first place, I would have emerged from the water without any problem.
I nearly drowned because I was so startled my breathing became erratic.
“Ugh.”
The mystery of why I’m trapped in this wretched world has been solved, which is satisfying, but….
“My mood is foul.”
Because of this filthy mood, my body keeps drooping with exhaustion.
I gazed at the Divine Beast’s egg, which I’d carefully set aside. At least I managed to retrieve it safely.
“Shall I go then?”
I gathered the Divine Beast’s egg.
There’s no point in holding onto something like this for long. It only invites unnecessary misunderstandings.
Click!
Camilla left the room immediately, keeping the Divine Beast’s egg safely tucked in her pocket.
But then….
“Dorman, could you carry this for me?”
“Of course, Miss.”
“Dorman, come have a snack with me later.”
“I wouldn’t miss it.”
…What was that? Such familiarity?
The moment Camilla stepped outside, she couldn’t hide her bewilderment at the scene before her.
The household staff were speaking to Dorman—now in his true form rather than Dona’s appearance—with such natural ease.
“Oh! Miss Camilla!”
Upon spotting Camilla, Dorman came scurrying over.
“What is it?”
“Yes?”
“Why does it all seem so natural?”
“Ah….”
Dorman, understanding what puzzled Camilla, smiled softly.
“It’s one of the few abilities I have left.”
“An ability?”
“Even if I appear suddenly, people naturally accept my presence. They remember me as someone they’ve known for ages—a subtle confusion of memory. It’s an ability I absolutely needed to stay by your side, so fortunately they didn’t take it from me.”
“You don’t have to stay by my side.”
“Pardon?”
“Your being there didn’t prevent me from dying anyway.”
What help was he actually providing by staying? Supporting me at the end? Crying more bitterly than anyone when I died?
‘That’s true!’
Wasn’t he crying because his own restoration failed again this time?
“If that’s the case, you should have just told me everything beforehand.”
That the souls had switched, that I should live more carefully, that I’d die again like this—if he’d given me even a hint, would that girl have died so repeatedly?
“If you had, I would have lived diligently, holding onto even a small hope that things would improve once the souls returned to their proper places.”
“That wasn’t within my authority….”
Dorman made a sorrowful expression, offering his own reasons.
“Revealing the truth before the soul returns to its rightful place is extremely dangerous. An unstable soul can shatter from even the smallest shock.”
“So.”
“Yes?”
“What help have you actually been?”
“…Shall I brew you some tea?”
….
“I-I’ll clean your room! Right away!”
….
“And laundry too…!”
“Useless.”
“You’re being too much….”
Sensing that further conversation would be pointless, Camilla moved forward.
“Hm?”
When Camilla reached Duke Sorpel’s Study, she caught sight of the butler Rube just entering with a prepared tea tray.
At her appearance, Rube’s hand, which had been about to knock, came to a halt.
“Miss Camilla.”
“Is Father inside?”
“Yes, he is currently in conversation with a guest.”
“A guest?”
“Duke Jebillen has arrived.”
“Ah.”
Having gone straight to my room earlier, I hadn’t heard that we had a visitor.
“Are you quite well?”
Butler Rube’s gaze fell upon Camilla’s hair, which still retained traces of moisture.
He was already aware that she had returned thoroughly drenched, and that she had issued orders for no one to enter her room.
However, with Duke Jebillen present as a guest, he had not yet had the opportunity to report the matter to Duke Sorpel.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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