A Runaway Villainess, Now Healing In An Enemy Country - Chapter 16

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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【Chapter 16】

* * *

It’s because you.

‘It really seems like you’ve come back to life.’

If his words hadn’t been cut off at that moment, Davuer would have helplessly blurted that out.

This wasn’t a story about resemblance or anything like that.

This was about assuming that Irene might be the reincarnation of an old specter who lived only in his memories.

Perhaps it was because he himself lived trapped in the past. Ridiculously, once that suspicion began, it had been growing larger as time passed.

He knew. It was surely nothing more than an absurd delusion.

But he couldn’t help it.

Like a hangnail under his fingernail, it bothered him, and when he quietly watched, there was a memory that invariably surfaced.

“Hey, Davuer. Do you believe in reincarnation?”

A voice trembling finely as if enduring pain. Eyes that held a strangely firm light.

“I believe in it. Because I’m the proof of it.”

The day that put a period on the war that held the world’s fate.

Just like now, snow had suddenly poured down. There was no sensation left in his entire body, but only her hand held in his was hot like a furnace.

Davuer felt fear for the first time that day.

“You can live.”

He said it because that was all he could say, but everyone knew it was a terrible lie.

The woman in his arms was disappearing very quickly. As if she wouldn’t even leave behind a corpse.

Even while dying, she was stubborn.

“Live long. I’ll be reborn and come to meet you.”

Wasn’t she just as shameless a liar as him?

He knew that wasn’t an ordinary death. Even if reincarnation or miracles truly existed, she wouldn’t be able to receive those benefits.

Her soul would be annihilated, and her existence would be erased from the world.

“…You only tell lies that are absolutely impossible to grant.”

“Why do you think it’s impossible? It might be possible.”

“If you think of me, stop this nonsense right now. Please… do as I say. Just this once…”

“No. I prefer protecting over being protected.”

I’ll protect you.

That was her catchphrase. Sometimes when he pointed out that he was stronger, she would argue back that it wasn’t a matter of strength.

Indeed, she was right. She had achieved her will until the very last moment of her life.

“You need to fix that bad habit. Take care of yourself first.”

You should do well first.

“Don’t cry. It’ll get better with time.”

That can’t be true.

“Live happily for a long, long time. It’s a promise.”

That selfish last will made Davuer, who had wanted to die with her, survive tediously.

He could have not cared whether disgusting magi was sealed in his body, whether he became a demon after death, or whether the world was destroyed.

Though happiness was difficult, Davuer lived.

He only thought about living longer. Sometimes he also did things she would have done.

Like now, troubling himself to find the tombstones of those whose faces he couldn’t even remember on each anniversary.

“…”

Even so, he didn’t expect reincarnation.

If you don’t expect it, you can’t suspect it.

Suspicion can only exist when you see possibility.

But after a hundred years had passed, he began to suspect something that would be impossible to confirm for a lifetime, even if he clung to it until the end of his life.

He felt bad for the first time in a very long while.

For a trivial reason. Because Irene, who had always acted shamelessly, had suddenly drawn an absurd line.

“Please suspect and be wary of me, Duke.”

He was already suspicious, yet she asked him to be suspicious.

He knew it wasn’t the same meaning as his suspicion. But somehow that statement was unpleasant, so Davuer muttered crookedly.

“I should grant your wish.”

* * *

“Oh my, Irene.”

Inside the castle filled with the warmth of magical tools.

Giselle called to me as she came down from the upstairs staircase. She was holding an armful of flowers as red as her hair.

“Perfect timing. Could you help me with something?”

“What is it?”

“Help me carry some of these.”

Saying that, Giselle handed me some of the flowers from her arms. I took them in bewilderment and just blinked.

Since this wasn’t the kind of burden that would require such help, I realized it was an excuse to have a conversation while walking.

“…Where are we going?”

“The graveyard. Today is a memorial day.”

Giselle naturally stood beside me and began walking with slow steps. It was the direction I had come from.

From this, I also realized that the graveyard she was talking about was that place where I had just encountered the Duke, whether it was a tomb or garden.

And that Giselle had ‘seen’ that incident with her ability.

“Everyone who died at Winter Castle was buried in that graveyard. The most recently erected tombstone was… hmm, sixty years ago?”

She continued speaking as if to herself.

“In the old days, this castle had a head chef, a head butler, a head maid, gardeners, servants, coachmen… even a knight order. But they were all ordinary humans, so as time passed, they were buried there one by one.”

Through the dusty windows came the pale light of the gray sky with falling snow.

Giselle maintained her turtle-like pace as she spoke.

“After the last funeral, no one has lived at Winter Castle since then. People only left and we never brought in anyone new.”

“You guys are people too, anyway…”

“Are we really? We don’t need delicious food, courteous service, neat cleaning, or beautiful gardens. We just need to be alive.”

Ah.

So that’s why there wasn’t a single servant in this vast castle, and they had been living in this state.

Because they only thought about simply sustaining life.

“How can you consider such things human?”

Because they don’t think of themselves as human.

They probably never even recognized that living this way was a problem. I was feeling a sense of crisis about their way of life.

Winter Castle must change.

Nothing can be accomplished by just avoiding and isolating oneself from the world because you’re different from others.

Of course, from their perspective, it might have been unwanted meddling. All the things I’d done so far might have been overstepping boundaries.

‘But they’re not that different from people.’

I still don’t really know their true identity.

But from what I can tell, they just live a little longer than others, are a little more extraordinary, but in the end they’re people with hearts.

So I came to think they should live like humans.

I was about to ask confrontationally but swallowed my words, and muttered while looking at the flower that resembled Giselle instead of her.

“…That’s enough. I’m an outsider anyway.”

But she ignored me just like her master would.

“You know what? My circuits are broken now, but I’m actually not from Belmayer – I was a mage from the Mage Tower. And even further back, I was the Countess of Clemente.”

“…”

“Did you know? When you enter the Mage Tower, you have to abandon your family name. Even Master wasn’t called the Duke of Belmayer back then, just by his name.”

“Giselle, stop.”

“But… something unexpected happened. Master left the Mage Tower and inherited the vacant Duke position. I followed him to Belmayer and settled there, and Jepi followed me. He’s my real younger brother.”

It wasn’t long ago that I resolved to not want to know deeply about them, to draw a clearer line.

Giselle was trying to ruthlessly erase that line. I asked back in a tone that felt even more uncomfortable because she was being so kind.

“Among us, only Master is actually Belmayer-born. So by your logic, wouldn’t the majority be outsiders?”

“That’s sophistry.”

“Thank you, Irene.”

“Giselle… Are you even listening to what I’m saying?”

“I was wrong. We weren’t unnecessary – we just failed to recognize the necessity.”

I don’t even know what expression I’m making right now.

Giselle stopped walking.

“How do you think Belmayer is being maintained?”

As if she didn’t really expect my answer, she smiled with the corners of her eyes curved and continued explaining.

“Fear is effective in maintaining order. It would be even better if there was a common enemy outside.”

The strange rumors about Winter Castle that I’d picked up from outside flashed through my mind.

…Was it intentional?

“I’m the witch who sees everything. Even at this very moment, countless events happening in Belmayer are within my sight.”

Giselle’s vivid green eyes gazed at me.

“Controlling this society is my job. That’s why I hate variables. Except for you.”

It sounded exactly like she was saying I was a person inside the line.

“Irene. You know, right? That I saw the future in you.”

Giselle took back the flowers I was holding in my arms.

With too much information input, I stopped thinking and just stared at the sight.

The witch speaks as if casting a spell.

“That future says you will be happy.”

In Belmayer.

Adding that, she left without lingering.

Giselle’s red hair swayed cheerfully as she went down the stairs, leaving me standing there stupidly.

‘She’s done saying everything she wanted to say.’

Though she explained very long and elaborately, the main point was so direct it would be harder not to understand.

So,

Belmayer has already accepted me.

This really isn’t good. I lost strength and crouched down as if collapsing.

“…Ah, really. This is driving me crazy.”

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