Resetting Lady - Chapter 13
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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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“Haah…”
Karen emerged from the maze-like alley. How many times had she turned through those complicated paths? If not now, it would be difficult to find another opportunity to move alone, so she had to move her body urgently. She calmed her panting breath and walked through the darkened alley.
She was far from Raymond, and while Bowen was distracted, she had been able to get tangled up with people and pushed out. She couldn’t miss this opportunity. There would be no future where she could move alone for a while. Could she meet that woman called Mrs. Deere by herself?
“Maybe today could be different.”
It was a day when she saw an animal she hadn’t seen in 100 years.
She thought about the giant animal’s final moments. A wondrous beast that seemed to come from old tales. People being crushed by a single kick from that strange animal that was said to live in distant hot countries – their dying appearance looked like herself, like a bug being forcibly dragged between papers and crushed to death.
“…Ugh.”
She felt nauseous. It wasn’t guilt. But strangely, she felt bad. Empathy? Emotional identification? Karen chose her words. But nothing satisfied her.
Still, one thing was certain – today had changed a lot. She saw things she hadn’t seen, and those who wouldn’t die had died. If Nancy’s absence could change things this much, perhaps now was an opportunity to learn about the situation she was in. That tutor’s house was next to the hat shop. If today was when new paths diverged, she might be able to go to Mrs. Deere’s house before the next content was decided.
“Ah.”
She stopped walking. If she went further, it would be the alley where she would be ‘in danger of rape.’ Wasn’t it time yet? She looked up at the moon. Not yet. Through her story – though it was hard to call it a life, but through the similarly flowing time – Karen could predict the future in the book to some extent. No matter how she twisted things, just like how she would eventually die and start over, during this time when she went out, Karen would be in danger and Raymond would save her.
The lightest and most ordinary story was Karen watching street performances with Bowen and Nancy. Then someone would grope Karen’s buttocks, and Raymond would catch and stop them. And if it were heavier, in this alley…
“Pretty lonely, isn’t it? How old are you?”
She was harassed like this. She saw a man reciting lines so cliché they made her cringe. She hadn’t come to this alley for a while, so was it 12 years? Or 13 years?
“Don’t do this.”
“Don’t do this? What did I do?”
He cornered Karen against the wall. He grabbed Karen’s head. His breath stank.
The man’s right leg pressed against Karen’s thigh.
“Oh, you’re in pretty good condition? Good teeth, smooth skin. I bet it’s the same down there?”
“Because I eat well, sleep well, and wash well.”
“Look at this bitch’s mouth.”
Giggling, another man blocked the alley so Karen couldn’t escape.
“Hey, this one really seems to be from a rich family?”
“Let me have a taste too.”
When the man pressed against her blatantly, she somehow thought of the elephant from earlier.
“Pfft.”
“What, you like it?”
“This bitch doesn’t understand the situation.”
Elephant, elephant! Karen couldn’t hold back her laughter.
“Kek… kekekekek.”
“She must be crazy.”
“Whatever, she’s not my wife anyway.”
They tore her clothes. Karen was satisfied that she had worn the cheapest clothes.
She had once ventured into the forest. It was when she was even afraid of meeting Raymond. She headed to the forest hoping not to love, not to meet, not to die.
And after that, she never went to the forest again. The dangers in the forest were different from the dangers in the city. Karen had her stomach pierced by a wild boar’s tusk then. And Raymond saved her from that too.
At that time, Karen wasn’t relieved when she saw him aiming his rifle, but was internally annoyed, wondering why this person wasn’t in the city but doing this here. Regardless of her feelings, Karen eventually reached out to Raymond to eat painkillers and die. In the end, she died from the pierced wound becoming infected.
“Ah, thinking about it makes me annoyed. For things to turn out like this. Next time I should go somewhere else instead of here.”
“Next time? It’s too late, miss.”
The man mocked Karen’s words. Next time? The man had no intention of giving Karen another chance. But Karen denied it. It was words so informal they sounded like talking to herself.
“Huh? Ah, no. It’s not too late yet.”
The man frowned at the incomprehensible conversation and tapped her head with his finger.
“What are you saying, you crazy bitch?”
“Hey hey, don’t do useless things and finish quickly, I need to do it too.”
Karen felt anger rising as she thought of when the pierced wound had become infected.
“Think about it, Hans, wouldn’t you be angry?”
“What, what? How do you know my name…”
“No no, don’t worry about that, that’s not what’s important.”
“What Hans, you…”
“Your wife, you know. Even if you die from a gunshot, she doesn’t really care? She remarries after a month.”
“What?”
“Right, that makes you angry? Thinking about it makes me angry too. That little Dulan, after seeing me kiss another man, he broke off the engagement? But that’s one thing, if he learned medicine, he should provide medical care fairly to everyone. But this guy got sulky because I wouldn’t marry him and didn’t properly treat the inflammation then, really. I would have died anyway eventually… but that’s not the point, anyway it would be good to have less pus and such. Early treatment is important, but what’s the use of Raymond bringing good medical staff when it’s already too late. That guy gives up immediately when told I’m another man’s woman, ugh.”
“H-Hans, this is really a crazy bitch…”
“Shut her up!”
Smack. The man’s fist hit Karen’s head. It hurt.
But Karen shook her head once and raised it again. She couldn’t stop the desire to speak.
“Ah, Thomas, your son will become a dishwasher boy at our house. But he’s really bad at it. Last time, ah, when I say last time I mean the previous life. Right now your son is busy serving the bakery owner. Poor thing. So I’m targeting him. He’ll die soon from a sexually transmitted disease.”
“What, what? This fucking…”
He grabbed her hair.
“Hans, do you know how hard it is to maintain this hair texture? I’m Nancy’s masterpiece.”
“Kill her!”
Try your best. Karen covered her ears. She expected to hear gunshots around this timing.
“…Kkeuk.”
“Huh, huk.”
“Hurry…”
Huh? She didn’t hear gunshots.
Karen saw Thomas pull out a small knife as her head was slammed against the wall. Did she miscalculate the time? Usually when she got separated from Nancy and got lost coming here, it was around this time… As expected, since it changed from Nancy to Donna, it’s hard to calculate the time. Nancy was always by her side, so it was convenient to remember according to Nancy’s actions. Karen grumbled.
“…Hieek.”
She felt terrible pain in her side. A knife was stabbed in. Karen screamed but was blocked by Hans’s hand. It hurts! I said it hurts! Ah! Aah! Am I dying? Am I dying? This quickly? Really?
“Ha… aah…”
The blade twisted.
Bang. Finally she heard the gunshot. Too late. This is how it is. Karen felt some relief.
These guys have raped me before but never tortured me. So this is what happens when you touch their family. Interesting. For people who kill or rape others to feel attachment to their own families. Even though they don’t love their families that much.
“So, which part made you angry…? Ah, are you already dead.”
Karen watched Hans’s pupils dilate. The worthless death of a worthless person. Dying like a bug is his life.
Hans, you beat your wife every day and even got married by raping her like this. But does the talk of remarriage feel like betrayal? Is that why you got so angry? After you die, do you hate your wife’s life? The future you can’t see? Or maybe it’s just because I felt bad. But I didn’t want to do it with you. Your breath stinks too much.
And seeing the food particles between Hans’s teeth made her feel disgusted, so she closed her eyes. Karen closed her eyes and wanted to remember pleasant things. What would be good? This time she saw an elephant. It was the first time seeing one directly.
Maybe I have talent for animal training? That would be fun. Karen thought of the approaching elephant. In the end, she didn’t know whether that elephant would have harmed her or not. Karen couldn’t predict how the elephant would influence this life.
However, one thing was certain – this time Karen herself would be in danger. Meeting and interacting with Isella, and when Isella begged Raymond in a letter to come, Raymond would refuse at first but still be concerned and secretly come here.
Having faithfully followed the steps up to here, it was predictable that Karen would bicker with the coachman today and get into danger while sightseeing the town with Bowen and Nancy. However, this time she came with Donna instead of Nancy. Curious Donna, unlike Nancy who was interested in music, insisted on the circus, so she thought the danger would occur during or after the circus.
The result was that she was in danger twice. She hadn’t expected this much.
Acting beyond meeting Raymond caused such side effects. Should she have ended the day’s schedule by being saved at the circus first? Her enthusiasm was excessive. Still, she did what she had to do – face Raymond.
“…Ah.”
Her side hurt.
She should avoid choosing the circus side from next time. Still, she wanted to touch that trunk, so she felt regret. As expected, being too greedy hurts the body.
She secretly wanted to observe that person called Mrs. Deere too, but she didn’t know the schedule would get tangled like this. Still, it was an interesting sight. If she could keep seeing such things, it would be okay to die several more times. She felt like she could endure more.
“Are you alright?”
Karen closed her eyes. She didn’t want to see him, so familiar, right now.
“I’ve never seen anyone like you among the night patrol. You don’t seem like a hunter either.”
“…Reasonable suspicion is a noble’s duty, but I wouldn’t recommend it in a situation like this.”
Karen tried to send suspicious glances while adjusting her torn clothes and opening her eyes. Trying to be suspicious of a man she’d seen for 100 years as if seeing him for the first time, as if being wary, as if hurt, but her side stabbed by the knife hurt so much she wanted to cling to him like a child, like a longtime lover, and complain. You were too late. How mean.
Tears leaked out without her being conscious of it or acting. The stabbed place hurt. It was hard to breathe.
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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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