Resetting Lady - Chapter 127
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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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Karen saw Raymond’s face from within his embrace. Karen felt something similar to the emotion one feels when looking at a massive cliff. And she realized that an enormous amount of time had flowed through him.
“I remember everything.”
It was an incredibly exhausted voice.
“I don’t want to think about anything now except loving you.”
* * *
Raymond approached.
“Karen.”
His fiancée. I know. It’s wrong. She’s dead. You saw the height. You heard the sound. I don’t know yet. I need to check.
“Karen.”
He looked at the girl he loved, who seemed about to change from ‘love’ to ‘loved,’ who looked more like an object than a person. He placed his hand on her neck. Her pulse was still beating. Her nose and mouth were still breathing. But it would stop soon.
“Karen, it’s okay.”
It can’t be okay. It’s already over. Shut up.
“Take my hand. Karen? Keep your eyes open. You mustn’t lose consciousness. Can you move your eyes?”
“Lord Raymond…”
Sion called him from behind. Raymond turned his head toward Sion. Sion’s face was devastated. At that face that seemed to be offering comfort, Raymond screamed as if in agony.
“Call a doctor! She’s not dead yet!”
But a terrible sound slowly approached from behind him. The sound of dragging feet. The sound of a monk’s robe being dragged. That man. The only doctor existing in this place. Raymond wanted to kill him.
But there was something he had to do first.
“Priest… sir… Please… you are…”
“It’s, it’s, it’s already… too late.”
And there’s only one thing you can do for her.
* * *
The forest was dark and deep. Karen was sitting in front of Raymond. The horse wasn’t running fast, but it was still moving at a light pace.
“Ah.”
“Be careful.”
“Yes.”
Karen, who wasn’t particularly skilled at horseback riding, focused on maintaining her balance while sitting on the horse. But as the pace gradually slowed, she had the leisure to pay attention to other things.
“Lord Raymond, what are you planning to do from now on?”
“I plan to stay by your side.”
The answer was firm. But Karen was beginning to gradually realize the reality. Just like how riding a horse wasn’t comfortable for her no matter how hard she tried, impossible things are impossible.
“Um… actually… realistically speaking. Isn’t it impossible for Lord Raymond to continuously stay by my side?”
No matter how she thought about it, it was impossible. Even if Raymond gave up everything, he wasn’t a king. Even a king would find it impossible. He had places he belonged to and many people he was connected with. Even if he came back to life, it would be impossible.
Karen was the same, which is why she had become a maid under Verdick Evans several times and had to go through schedules like attending social gatherings. Moreover, Raymond had far more people entangled with him than Karen did.
No way.
Karen recalled that Raymond had lived for quite a long time. She had started killing after living for over 117 years because she had nothing to do. Since it didn’t matter much if she was executed. Was Raymond the same?
Was he just acting thoughtlessly? Karen swallowed. If she made a mistake, this time Raymond would be the death row prisoner.
“You didn’t desert, did you?”
“That’s not it.”
Raymond answered immediately.
“If I did that, they’d come to arrest me instead of you as soon as I got home.”
“I haven’t done anything wrong in this life yet, you know?”
Karen retorted with a grumbling tone.
“…Ah, that’s right. Well, anyway, it’s not desertion. Since I’m about to retire, I used up all my vacation days. The retirement will be processed automatically through paperwork.”
It was a more normal and sensible method than expected. Karen let out a small sigh.
It was from relief.
“Is that okay?”
“I postponed all possible matters as much as I could. There should be no problems for about three months. There is one matter after three months, but it’s not a big deal.”
“Are you certain?”
“Yes. I checked twice.”
“That checking you mention…”
“In my previous lives. You weren’t there, but I don’t think there will be much difference. Actually, it’s closer to hoping that’s the case.”
He added somewhat pessimistically. But it was realistic. Did it happen that way because he wasn’t there?
“…Then it would be better if I disappeared socially instead.”
“Yes, that’s also true.”
“Did you act with that in mind?”
“…Yes. I’m sorry.”
“No, you did well.”
Though she said that, Karen actually found it hard to just let it go. She tried not to ask, but whether for planning or for their relationship, it was better to ask. Karen raised her head up.
Raymond’s green eyes came into view. “…Lord Raymond.”
“Yes.”
“How old are you now?”
Raymond thought for a moment before answering.
“…I don’t really know since I haven’t been counting.”
Karen was startled by that answer.
“Perhaps… um… I was about 100 years old… I mean, I remember being 117 when I committed murder last time and having turned 100.”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“And I died briefly five times after that.”
“Yes, please don’t do that again. I thought I was late this time too.”
Raymond’s voice was gentle. But Karen was anxious about him. Because she could guess at too enormous a number.
“Lord Raymond… perhaps… that 100th repetition… do you remember all of those lives?”
Karen held her breath. It wasn’t a human number. Her one year. If Raymond lived roughly 70 more years, then he had lived 70 years 105 times. That’s over 7000 years.
Could he be moving and talking? Could a person endure that life? 7000 years is short compared to eternity, but Karen was scared. Selfishly, she was more afraid that she might live like that than thinking about how he had endured it.
“It’s not quite that much.”
“…Phew, that’s a relief.”
Karen sighed in relief. The enormous years were frightening. 7000 years was too long. Far too long.
“But it was long enough.”
Raymond kissed Karen’s forehead.
As if it was such a relief.
* * *
Karen Evans died as a death row prisoner. Raymond was summoned by the Duke who was about to have his coronation ceremony. He expected him to be furious or tell him to die with a cold face, but it wasn’t like that.
The person who unexpectedly ascended to the throne was severely short-handed. Raymond was a useful person to him. His usefulness was still greater than that level of rebellion.
“I’ll tell you where you’re going next. I won’t accept complaints.”
“Of course, Count Fankair.”
“That title won’t last much longer either.”
“Congratulations.”
Raymond answered calmly. Count Fankair said while handing over work to Raymond.
“…Are you alright?”
He knew what he was referring to. Raymond nodded.
“Yes.”
“The funeral. What will you do about it.”
“Funerals aren’t permitted for death row prisoners.”
Raymond answered while indifferently looking at the assassination targets Count Fankair had handed him.
“Wouldn’t it be better to rest after all?”
“No.”
Of course he couldn’t be alright. But he shouldn’t believe the Duke’s words about resting, spoken while intoxicated with his own magnanimity, as really meaning to rest.
“Yes, at times like that it’s actually better to work. I was the same.”
Could it be worse than his own job of directly killing people? But Raymond just bowed his head.
He would be fine.
“It was just a few months of brief acquaintance.”
Raymond answered repeatedly.
“It’s fine.”
The situation wasn’t perfectly good for him. His senate seat was gone, and Verdick was riding high on success.
Ironically, Verdick alone had lost nothing and had actually enjoyed even more than before.
After Karen fell from the tower and soon drew her last breath, Verdick approached Raymond, who had dozens of soldiers pointing their guns at him.
“My daughter has died.”
Despite the sorrowful words, his face looked far too refreshed. Verdick spoke while looking down at Karen’s corpse.
“In any case, this is how things turned out.”
“…”
Raymond looked at Verdick. Would killing him put his mind at ease? Would killing Dulan make him feel better? Could he kill them all?
But if Raymond moved even slightly, dozens of soldiers right behind him would immediately shoot his head. They were all aiming their guns. Raymond looked at the guns while gauging their numbers. Impossible. He had already lost here.
“But I am generous.”
“…”
“A death row inmate has been executed, so now there are no problems.”
Verdick placed his hand on Raymond’s shoulder. Raymond glared at him, but far from shrinking back, he bared his teeth and smiled.
“That you don’t die here is my mercy. Be ashamed of living.”
Verdick’s decision not to lay a hand on Raymond was the result of extremely logical calculation. By killing Karen, he had achieved his purpose. He had accomplished his personal revenge and gained benefits from the aging Current King, and by not touching Raymond, he had also gained moral justification from Count Fankair.
He had lost nothing at all.
Raymond had suffered losses, but he was still alive nonetheless.
Alive.
Karen was the one who died, but he was alive. For him, there was always much work to do and time flowed on. The new king needed him and there were still things in the world he had to do.
“…”
Raymond looked back at the corpse that had been Karen. He didn’t even have the right to collect the body.
“It will be fine.”
The King of Fankeil said so.
Time would resolve all the joys and sorrows of the world. Raymond knew this too. His parents had died, his brother had died, his comrades had died.
But the heart-rending pain disappeared and diluted after a few years passed. The suffocating pain subsided and once again new life and relationships began.
So no matter how sad he was now, Karen would be forgotten.
“…”
Could that be possible?
Raymond closed the door and blocked his nose with a towel.
“Ah, damn.”
Blood was flowing from his nose. It wouldn’t stop easily.
“…”
Raymond looked in the mirror. He washed his face. The cold water touched his face, telling him to face reality.
Raymond looked in the mirror again.
“It’s okay.”
He repeated that he would be able to forget. Didn’t he have no choice but to continue living?
“I will live well.”
But really?
His eyes met with the woman in the mirror.
Lord Raymond will forget me.
“Karen, I wish I could too.”
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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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