Mad Rosetta - Chapter 51

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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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Rosette Gone Mad

Chapter 51

The Cowardly Man (3)

Do you know what they say?

When fire catches quickly, it truly makes that distinctive *whoosh* sound.

“Ahhh! Insane, no!”

“F-fire! Fire!”

Beginning from the ignition point, the flames spread with terrifying speed, fed by the pine resin powder scattered throughout the shop.

‘I knew it, I knew it—she was darting about frantically! Odette, you damned…!’

I had no choice but to be certain that she was the cause of this fire.

After all, hadn’t she been strutting through this unrelated Weapon Shop dressed in that garish canary-yellow dress?

Still, couldn’t I escape now, before the flames grew worse?

I was about to bolt toward the entrance when—

“Ah, ugh!”

At the Shop Owner’s final cry of pain, I turned to see his hair caught on the display case.

In his haste, it had become entangled, and he couldn’t free it with his own hands.

‘Damn, damn…!’

With the entrance within arm’s reach, I immediately grabbed a nearby dagger and rushed toward him.

If the innocent Shop Owner were discovered as a corpse, I’d be wracked with guilt.

As I cut through his hair caught on the display case without hesitation, the Shop Owner, his face twisted in anguish, bowed his head repeatedly.

There was no time to receive thanks, so I was about to urge us to leave quickly.

‘…Damn it. This is really damned.’

In that moment, the Entrance of the shop had transformed into a sea of flames.

The lantern hanging in front of the door had shattered, igniting the fire—an inevitable result, one might say.

I might actually die like this.

The searing heat of the flames surging relentlessly inward was secondary; the acrid smoke made my breathing grow ragged and desperate.

I hastily covered my nose and mouth with a handkerchief from my bag, seized the Shop Owner’s collar, and shouted.

“Cover your face like I am! Don’t you have a handkerchief or something?”

“I, I’m a man, so….”

“For heaven’s sake, then use your clothes! Do you want to suffocate to death?”

I hadn’t wanted to grab the collar of a middle-aged man so much my senior, but the Proprietor looked far more terrified than I was, leaving me no choice.

I had to think.

If we assume that Odette scattered rosin powder around, the flames would surely reach the second floor in no time.

Obscured by pitch-black smoke, even keeping my eyes open was agonizing.

If I couldn’t escape this place immediately, both the Proprietor and I would burn to death without question!

I coughed incessantly while pulling at the Proprietor’s collar.

“W, water! Is there any water? Or another exit!”

“U, ugh. T, there’s a Rear Door, but the key….”

With eyes narrowed just as much as mine, the Proprietor gazed toward something.

It struck me as odd that someone who had lived longer than I had seemed to be drowning in despair without any composure.

The bundle of keys hanging beside the Entrance was burning with an intense, brilliant flame.

‘…Can’t escape? Am I really going to die like this?’

Whether from the overwhelming terror creeping over me or the unbearable heat I’d never experienced before, my head suddenly spun.

I thought that if not for the Shop Owner’s desperate, panicked cry, I might have lost consciousness right then.

“…Ah, ah! Water! There should be some water left that was set out for drinking!”

The Proprietor cried out and crawled forward as low as possible toward the Counter.

I followed behind him, desperately gripping the hem of his clothes despite my obscured vision.

Just as he said, there was a glass pitcher on the platform beneath the Counter.

We quickly soaked the cloth we each carried in the water and pressed them against our faces again.

Odette apparently hadn’t ventured Behind the Counter, for the flames seemed to spread more slowly in this space.

‘…But what does that matter? I still can’t get out!’

I couldn’t even tell if the tears streaming down my face were from the burning in my eyes or from genuine despair.

My vision had already gone pitch black, and the dull sounds of weapons falling from the walls as the flames spread only intensified my terror.

“Ugh, urgh. Cough! Ah, the Lady is still alive, yes…?”

The Proprietor’s trembling voice, pleading as if begging me to confirm that what lay beside him wasn’t a corpse, was truly horrifying.

Odette. How could you possibly do this?

If your only intention had been to deceive me alone, I might have forced myself to accept it.

But the person beside me is an innocent bystander.

The thought of Odette—who didn’t hesitate to destroy this man’s property and steal his very life—made my blood boil with rage.

‘…It’s so hot. Hot, suffocating. It hurts so much, dammit…. I’m going to die….’

The rear door is right in front of me, yet I cannot escape. Must I die twice to someone like you?

With this much resentment, wouldn’t I at least become a ghost like Sing?

Despair consumed me so thoroughly that such thoughts were all I could muster.

My breath came in rapid gasps, and my consciousness was slipping away in that moment.

【Rosette, snap out of it.】

I was startled when someone suddenly grasped my face with both hands, though only for an instant.

From that resolute voice, I immediately recognized who it was—Sing.

“S-Sing? Is that you?”

I had no time to wonder why Sing, whom I’d left to watch Lianna, was here.

I was simply overwhelmed with sorrow, and seeing him before me filled me with such relief that….

Even knowing I shouldn’t, I burst into tears.

“Sob, sob! O-Odette, that damned— cough! Wail! I-I can’t see anything. I don’t want to die…! Sniff.”

【Don’t waste breath on useless words…. Focus on your breathing.】

“Sob….”

That cold bastard.

He pressed my hand holding the handkerchief deeper and issued his commands coldly, yet nothing brought me more reassurance than his presence.

【We’re breaking through the rear door and escaping, Rosette. Remember my words. Push with all your strength, understand?】

“H-How am I supposed to break a door with my strength? I can’t even see… Oh!”

Suddenly my entire body was drenched. When I wondered what was happening, I realized Sing had taken my hand and poured the remaining water from the pitcher over me.

Following where he guided my hand, my fingers grasped something thick and smooth, though I couldn’t discern what it was.

Without time to explain to me, Sing hastily made me take hold of it.

Shocked by the tremendous weight, I soon realized the object was a shield that had been hanging on the wall behind the Counter.

【I will be your eyes. Trust me and jump.】

“Ugh, yes… Listen, Proprietor! Get up first! Help me hold this!”

As I reached out my hand, discarding even the handkerchief I’d been gripping so tightly, the Shop Owner’s flailing hand was instantly caught.

I pressed myself firmly against the Proprietor and gripped the shield. I felt Sing brace my lower back solidly.

One, two, three…!

“Aaaahhhhh!”

I shut my eyes tightly and pushed off with all my strength.

An impact so violent my entire body resonated with the force.

The sharp crack of splintering wood followed immediately, along with air so cold it burned my lungs.

Whether from the shock to my lungs or the sudden pressure, my chest tightened painfully.

As the external air rushed in to fill the interior, flames erupted from behind us.

My body ached so intensely I wanted to lose consciousness.

Yet despite the pain, I was overwhelmed by a profound sense of liberation—as though I were someone who had emerged into the world and seen sunlight for the first time in years.

“Kyaaah! A, a person came out!”

“Security Bureau, here! Here!”

Chaos erupted.

Lying flat among the splintered wood fragments, I could make out Cessia rushing toward me with a shout.

And standing quietly behind him was…

‘…It’s Odette.’

She neither showed the shock that Cessia did, nor did she feign a frightened expression as if worried about her sister.

“…Disgusting…. I’m sick of it….”

As though she found me utterly repulsive for daring to return alive, Odette gazed down at me with a cold expression and muttered under her breath.

‘…Where have I seen that expression before?’

The moment that thought crossed my mind, Odette’s face overlapped with that of someone nameless.

A splitting headache erupted, and I lost consciousness amidst voices urging me to come to my senses.

* * *

Thirteen years old. An age of capricious whimsy.

“You’re lying, aren’t you? Cessia?”

“…Haven’t you heard such ghost stories before? It’s a common rumor at the Academy.”

“I haven’t! A specter wandering the Academy—it’s pure nonsense.”

Of course, I was still young enough to tremble at such trivial ghost tales.

That day began peacefully, no different from any other.

I had dressed up since morning due to Cessia’s scheduled visit, and spent the afternoon hours in my room with him.

If I had to name one thing that troubled me…it was hearing the rumor that after the second-ranked student—who had always missed the top position—died, she became a ghost that cursed only the high-performing students.

At my visibly shrinking form, Cessia laughed aloud.

“Ahahaha! So Rosetta is afraid of ghosts.”

“N-no, that’s not it…. Besides, ghosts don’t exist anyway.”

That’s right—I was terrified.

How terrified I must have been to eat three cookies while clinging to Marahan and still not sleep a wink that night.

That day happened to be several days after Father had left to attend the state council meeting for the New Year.

Moreover, it was the depths of winter, so the biting wind kept rushing through the windows in sudden gusts.

‘C-cursing only children who study well? What kind of pretentious ghost does that? They should be doing more spiritual training instead…!’

Contrary to my harsh criticism of the nameless specter, part of me also wondered if I—being clever and beautiful—might become the ghost’s target.

A dark and desolate night.

Despite my forced attempts to fall asleep, the ghost story I’d heard during the day kept churning through my mind, and I eventually bolted upright in bed.

“M-Mother must be lonely too….”

Thirteen-year-old Rosetta Coco, dressed in pajamas with only a coat thrown over them, set out resolutely toward the Main Manor.

My intention was to share a bed with Mother, who would surely feel Father’s absence.

I had no way of knowing that day would become Mother’s death anniversary.

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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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