I Proposed to My Childhood Friend After Regressing - Chapter 20

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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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After Regression, I Proposed to My Childhood Friend
Chapter 20
While Beatrice found herself an unintended local, her mind in turmoil, the Expedition Team’s preparations proceeded swiftly.
In the end, five people had been selected.
Clyde to lead the team, a knight of his choosing, two people recommended by the advisory staff, and Beatrice.
With everything falling into place and only departure remaining, the Head Maid approached.
She offered a simple farewell, as though wishing them safe travels, then whispered softly.
“I apologize for acting without consulting you first. But it seems you wished to investigate the interior directly.”
“Oh, no, that’s not it. But… will it really be alright? I’m not from the Marquessate, after all…”
“It will be fine. Once you’re inside, it won’t matter much anyway—and one of our advisors is actually from the Marquessate originally.”
The Head Maid gestured with her eyes toward one of the Expedition Team members. There stood a woman with her purple hair tied high.
“That person is…?”
“Astrid Sharon, our advisor.”
Beatrice’s eyes widened slightly at the Head Maid’s words.
‘Sharon? That dead Countess Sharon’s daughter?’
Beatrice hesitated for a moment, then quickly shook her head.
Even if she couldn’t remember every detail of the past perfectly, she certainly remembered Sharon’s hair color.
‘Well, I even attended her funeral.’
The image of her father at the funeral, greeting the deceased with an expression mixing sorrow and doubt, was still vivid.
It was while Beatrice stood gazing at the purple-haired woman, memories surfacing, that
the Head Maid, interpreting her silence differently, added lightly.
“The Crown Prince’s advisory staff know the truth and are cooperating fully, so please don’t worry. They’ll help you.”
“Oh, yes, of course!”
Just then, a knight processing procedures at the Gate raised his voice.
“This side is settled—you’re clear to depart whenever you wish!”
“Ah, thank goodness.”
No matter what pretext was used to restrict entry, with the Crown Prince involved, there was no justification for blocking the Expedition Team itself.
Beatrice glanced briefly at Clyde as he exchanged final words with the Crown Prince, then expressed her gratitude lightly.
“Well, I should join them then. Thank you for everything! We’ll return safely!”
“This is work for the Empire. We await your safe return.”
Beatrice took a short breath to compose herself, then moved toward where the expedition members had gathered.
Naturally blending in as a maid would, she had just produced her Identification Document and was about to pass through the Gate when
“Wait, you there.”
A Marquessate Soldier guarding the Gate called her to a halt.
Beatrice’s body went rigid. Even as she thought it couldn’t be, she wondered if her forged Identification Document had been discovered.
‘Damn it, this weak-willed coward’s heart!’
She ignored her foolishly thundering pulse and regarded the soldier with an expression asking what was the matter.
Meeting her eyes, he hesitated a moment, then produced a bundle from the guardhouse and handed it to her.
“…Since you’re with the Crown Prince’s Expedition Team, I felt uneasy just letting you pass. You said you’re heading to the Marquis Residence, right? You won’t reach the Marquis Residence by tonight, so you’ll stay a night in Brelin Village—you’ll need this when you get there.”
“This…?”
“Yes. Go on.”
…What is this?
She wanted nothing more than to open the bundle immediately and check its contents, but the atmosphere didn’t allow for it.
Though actually light, the pouch in her hand felt strangely heavy.
As the inspection at the Gate was taking time, Clyde approached and asked.
“Is there a problem?”
“Oh, not exactly…”
Beatrice trailed off. If she spoke at length, she feared she’d slip into addressing him as she had as Beatrice.
Instead, she extended the bundle toward him and glanced sidelong at the Gate.
It was a silent gesture, but it was enough.
As expected, Clyde grasped the situation and nodded lightly.
“If there’s no problem, let’s move.”
Beatrice followed him without further question.
It was only once the Gate had faded adequately from view that Beatrice carefully opened the bundle.
What emerged from within was none other than…
“Dolls?”
Dolls. Straw dolls that appeared hastily woven, cloth dolls, even wooden ones.
The common thread was that all the dolls were shaped like people.
“…Does the Marquessate have some custom related to dolls?”
At Clyde’s question, Beatrice immediately shook her head. As far as she knew, no such custom existed in the Marquessate.
‘Right, it shouldn’t exist…’
Suddenly uncertain of herself, Beatrice darted a glance toward Astrid Sharon to confirm.
She too looked bewildered, as though seeing this for the first time.
‘Phew. Thank goodness!’
Turning her eyes back to Clyde in relief, she saw him with his brow furrowed slightly, silent.
‘Ah, he must be remembering information from before the Regression.’
It was understandable enough.
She too had immediately recalled the pre-Regression discoverer’s account: “There were only dolls in the village.”
Clyde, who had investigated the Marquessate directly, would have far more surfacing in his mind.
Watching him intently, Beatrice opened her mouth with a timid voice.
“Um… it’s unlikely we’ll reach the Marquis Residence by tonight anyway… So wouldn’t it be better to stay in Brelin Village for now and observe the situation a bit? The dolls seem to have been given to help somehow…”
Beatrice had simply relayed what the soldier told her, but no one there knew that.
At her decidedly local-sounding remarks, the others nodded in agreement.
“Let’s go to Brelin Village. However, I suspect the situation in the Marquessate is stranger than we anticipated. If possible, stay close to each other, and if we become separated or a problem arises, we’ll follow the Knights Order protocol and use this.”
“This is…?”
“A cloth marked with special pigment.”
Ah, so this was for marking routes and such?
She’d only ever heard Clyde describe it, never actually used one before.
Beatrice took the cloth and lightly rubbed it between her fingers.
It was an emergency item, so not needing to use it would be best—yet somehow, the sensation felt wrong.
* * *
‘…Mother used to say that if even someone like me could sense something, then something was definitely there.’
So that was true.
Beatrice swallowed hard as she read the note slipped hastily through the gap in her door late at night.
In truth, when they first arrived in Brelin, she’d thought perhaps she was worrying for nothing.
The outward appearance of Brelin Village seemed no different from any gate village in any other lordship.
Inns to welcome travelers, shops displaying local goods, restaurants soliciting customers.
The only difference was that dolls were placed here and there throughout the village, just as the pre-Regression news report had shown.
‘More precisely, it looked as though the village was decorated with dolls—they were arranged as if the dolls were people going about their daily lives.’
A doll bent as if harvesting potatoes, dolls at the village entrance holding hands like friends on a stroll, dolls at the roadside as though selling flowers.
One might think a festival related to dolls had been held.
Not only Beatrice and Clyde, but the expedition members who’d sensed something off grew tense as they surveyed the village, yet no glaring anomalies appeared anywhere.
‘So we parted ways to our respective rooms, saying we’d investigate further as we headed toward the Marquis Residence tomorrow…’
And now this suspicious note.
Rather than touch the note with her hands, Beatrice crouched and began reading its contents.
[Reluctant to disturb your rest, I leave only this note.
Should you feel something pressing down upon your body, or should a chill bring cold sweat to your brow, please place the doll from the drawer in your bed and come down to the lobby.
Even if you experience none of the above, should anything strange occur, please follow the same instructions.]

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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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