Resetting Lady - Chapter 243
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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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Catherine thought.
‘What is my life?’
Catherine’s mother, Countess Katrin, advised her.
“What’s there to life? I think I’m lucky enough. We have the chance to choose as many husband candidates as we want during the one year we’re most ‘marketable.'”
How lucky is that?
For one year, you can start over no matter what man you choose. You can start over no matter what accident happens. That one year will be the golden age of your life. Prepare for that one year in your most beautiful state, then spend the next year focusing on secretly accumulating wealth and catching the best man.
“After I gave birth to you, I saw a future where you were surrounded by countless nobles and royalty.”
Countess Katrin was quite fond of her husband.
Though he was inferior compared to her, the daughter of a duke, he feared his father-in-law accordingly and tried not to go against his wife’s mood. Instead, he always seemed intimidated and often spoke ill of his wife in front of their daughter.
And he would leer at pretty maids with lecherous eyes, or show off about trivial things. After his father-in-law the duke died, he didn’t even try to hide such behaviors and became increasingly blatant. Catherine was ashamed of such a father, and disappointed in her mother who chose such a father. To think that a descendant of a saint would make such a mediocre choice.
‘Then I’ll choose a much more wonderful man. I absolutely hate anyone like dad.’
She would succeed. There were infinite opportunities. Catherine thought so at first. At first.
But after repeating her life just a few times, she realized how insignificant that power was.
Catherine approached the country’s only crown prince. And soon became his lover. It wasn’t that difficult. She had beauty that was second to none. When he called her to the garden, Catherine confidently puffed out her chest.
She was dissatisfied with counts and even dukes. She thought only the man who would rise to the highest position in this country was worthy of her. But the moment his mouth opened, her dream was shattered.
“I love you, but I won’t marry you.”
That bastard.
When Catherine heard those words, she shed tears outwardly while calculating dates inwardly.
How could she hook someone other than Prince Guiz? Next time, she shouldn’t catch Prince Guiz’s eye from the beginning. That one’s a dud.
When she died from an absurd mistake and started over again, she cheered. But soon she lamented.
Her meeting with him was before the day she started repeating her life. Due to her mother who considered pregnancy a life mission, Catherine began entering society from age 15, and Guiz had been eyeing her since then. Young Catherine, excited by the crown prince’s affection, fearlessly accepted him.
The day Catherine repeated her life was the day after she agreed to become the crown prince’s mistress.
“I love you, but I won’t marry you.”
“Won’t marry.”
“Won’t.”
No matter how many times she repeated, she couldn’t return to before that day.
Catherine’s tearful response of ‘Yes, I understand. I will accept as Your Majesty commands’ became fixed.
She wanted to consult her mother, but by then her mother had long passed away.
Eventually, after several attempts, Catherine tried to establish herself even as Prince Guiz’s mistress. Since she had already agreed, it was difficult to break up. Her life was already over.
“I want to invite you to my secret room.”
“We’re one now.”
“How about it?”
Catherine saw countless corpses hanging in the room.
At first, she screamed. Then Prince Guiz was greatly disappointed and cut off Catherine’s head. After repeating several times, she could remain calm without being surprised.
“You filthy impotent bastard… What can you even do?”
But the moment she realized he didn’t even have the ability to impregnate her, Catherine glared at Prince Guiz as she died. That time, he strangled her to death.
After barely escaping Prince Guiz and giving birth at Hyer Estate, Catherine was overwhelmed with deep doubt.
Catherine tried to love Lord Hyer, but having been entangled with Prince Guiz for too long, it was difficult to feel emotions beyond stability and peace from him. She didn’t want to think she loved him, but no one was more strongly tied to Catherine than Guiz.
She spent her whole life thinking only of breaking free from him. Breaking free and looking forward only to bearing children.
“This is completely the end.”
She wondered if a different gender might be born, but what she gave birth to was also a daughter who looked exactly like her. Catherine sighed while stroking Karen. She had lived decades as a seventeen-year-old. Nothing remained for her. She had gained neither love nor found stability. What should she live for?
“Why were you born?”
Catherine looked into her daughter’s face.
She must look like this too. Catherine looked exactly like her mother, and her mother also looked exactly like her grandmother. And most didn’t live very long.
Whether curse or blessing, after escaping the repeating deaths, people sometimes committed suicide from feeling no particular joy, or died from absurd mistakes. Because they weren’t afraid of dying, not paying attention had become ingrained in their bodies.
And a few days after giving birth to Karen, she realized she could see nothing in her future.
Endless darkness.
Crying sounds heard from afar.
Catherine got up.
It’s darkness.
“What is this…”
She reaches out her hand. She hears her daughter’s whimpering cries. Catherine inhaled slowly then exhaled. Her future is endless darkness. She must realize what this means.
“Just as I did, just as your grandmother did, the moment will come when you too realize everything.”
Is this fragment about the future she heard from her mother all there is? And after deep thought, she realized she saw nothing.
At that moment, hope welled up in Catherine.
She couldn’t see. No future was fixed.
That might mean fate changes in Karen’s generation, or simply her own death.
Catherine bet on the former.
Karen would end a million cycles. But Catherine felt sympathy and sadness thinking of the endless deaths her daughter would experience. Thinking that her child would just want to die at the end of continuous deaths was too terrible. Let’s think, what would make Karen live a little more.
“…Fall in love, Karen.”
Catherine stroked her daughter’s head.
May she experience pregnancy and childbirth under happiness, not as duty. May she achieve the love that she failed at, that her mother failed at, and perfectly obtain everything.
Catherine prepared while praying for Karen’s success.
And because she didn’t want to see Karen’s failure, she also prepared her own death in advance.
* * *
“Mom! Please get up already! How long are you going to sleep?”
Be quiet. It’s still morning.
But she had no choice but to open her eyes because of her daughter jumping onto the bed. What a tireless daughter. She had hoped she’d resemble her father more than herself, but she didn’t need to resemble him this much. And why did she have to inherit his overflowing energy rather than his personality?
“Rebecca, you can’t bother your mother. Come out right now.”
“Mom, you get more sleepy because you don’t even do morning exercise. How about building up your stamina a bit more?”
This is enough. What can I do about different natural stamina?
But Rebecca lay beside the bed and kicked the bed with her legs.
Her whole body shook so she absolutely couldn’t sleep.
“What’s all this commotion from morning, Rebecca. And won’t you get dirty lying on the bed in riding clothes?”
“Aw, we wash them every day anyway.”
“Still, just washing and washing blankets you climbed on with shoes aren’t the same. Since you’re up, go downstairs.”
Rebecca jumped down from the bed.
She heard Donna shouting ‘Miss! The bed!’ but Rebecca giggled and ran away.
“Sorry about that, Karen.”
“Why is she running around like a colt from morning again?”
“She can’t handle her overflowing energy… Earlier she said she wanted to enlist in the army, so we had quite a fight.”
What is this about now? Karen sat up abruptly.
“Why does she want to enlist?”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
“Didn’t you showing off your medals before give her some strange longing?”
“Strange longing? I just showed them.”
Raymond protested in an aggrieved voice.
Karen shook her head. Lately Rebecca had been arguing with her parents constantly, approaching her seventeenth birthday. This outfit is stuffy, that outfit is strange. She thought it was just complaints about clothes, but she was actually thinking of enlisting in the army instead of debuting in society? What does she plan to do on the battlefield for a whole year?
“She’s crazy, absolutely crazy… I’ll get ready and come out right away, so hold onto her. She tries to run away whenever I try to lecture her a little.”
“Understood.”
Raymond also sighed.
Karen got up and sat in front of the mirror. When she closed her eyes, three or four pretty maids came to wipe her face and sweep her hair back to tie it. Then they put powder on her face and applied rouge.
“Mom, just come out without putting that on. What’s the point of doing all that inside the house?”
“…Catch Rebecca and dress her up too.”
“Kyaak!”
Rebecca, who had been peeking her head out to watch Karen, quickly ran away again. A while later, a maid returned panting.
“Did you succeed?”
“Yes.”
“That child, really, who does she take after…”
Karen sighed.
She was a daughter who didn’t resemble her at all. She had warned her so earnestly to be careful since she might repeat death when she turned seventeen. But Rebecca simply wouldn’t listen. She did hear it. She just laughed and giggled.
“Then if I go to the battlefield, I can come back to life a thousand or ten thousand times and become a hero!”
“Are you crazy? There’s no war happening right now!”
“Karen, that’s not the problem… Anyway Rebecca, this country doesn’t accept female soldiers.”
“Then I’ll go to The Sovereign and ask to be put in the Royal Guard.”
When she was young, she had definitely made her read romance novels like herself, but Rebecca read knight literature calling it romance novels. The problem was that she became completely captivated by the knights’ adventure tales rather than the romance.
“So the knight saved the princess and married her.”
“…Amazing…”
“Lady Rebecca, you must conduct yourself properly and become a wise and beautiful lady to meet such a knight.”
“Yes, I should start training from tomorrow.”
“Pardon?”
“Physical training and overcoming fear first!”
Then she would ignore Karen’s words about preparing for her social debut and go out to the hunting grounds with a gun.
“I’m going to surpass Father’s reputation.”
Rebecca said this after hunting a black bear at fifteen.
Raymond retorted to Rebecca that he had been hunting bears since he was ten, so she still had a long way to go, and Karen fainted upon hearing this.
“What on earth is the problem?”
I definitely don’t think I raised her like that.
Karen finished getting dressed and stood up. Even sighing wouldn’t change reality. She had no idea how to persuade her daughter to focus on finding a good husband rather than pursuing dangerous occupations.
Sighing, she went down to the greenhouse where Raymond and Rebecca were in the middle of sparring. It was sparring in name only – Raymond was unilaterally beating Rebecca. He attacked only spots that would sting without leaving marks or being fatal. Rebecca collapsed after a moment.
“You’re nowhere near ready until you can beat me.”
“Oh, Father, does that even make sense?”
“It does.”
Rebecca removed the fencing mask that had been covering her face. A young face soaked with sweat emerged from inside. Rebecca shouted complainingly toward Karen who had come down.
“Mother! Please persuade Father.”
“I told you I don’t agree either, Rebecca.”
“Ugh.”
“Don’t act like a child. I got married at your age. You need to mature now too.”
Rebecca grumbled as she walked toward Karen.
Her daughter, who suited horses better than flowers, was only seventeen but was a head taller. She had a slender but solid build and was like a boy who laughed heartily.
“But you’ll buy me that new revolver for my birthday, right? I’m counting on you, Mother.”
* * *
“A revolver is still too early for you.”
“…Karen?”
“If you take my revolver, I won’t let it slide. Understood?”
“Karen, when did you buy a revolver?”
“Pardon?”
“Karen, snap out of it.”
Her shoulders were shaken. Karen opened her eyes.
She felt dizzy. What time was it now? She had definitely been in the greenhouse just moments ago.
“Where is Rebecca?”
“Rebecca is being nursed by the new nanny.”
“…Nursed?”
How old is she? But Karen bolted upright at the strange sensation.
“…Ugh…”
“You still need to rest more. Lie down.”
Her whole body ached from her waist down. It was definitely a body that had given birth not long ago.
But she had to get up. Karen hurriedly recalled her memories to not forget the rapidly fading dream. Dreams must be awakened from, but she must not forget this dream. What she had seen was.
The future.
“Bring Rebecca… to me.”
“…Will you be alright?”
“Right now…”
“Yes, understood.”
Raymond went out and came back holding a young child in his arms.
Some time had already passed, as the child looked like a person rather than a bloody mass. Her cheeks were rosy and she opened her eyes and waved her hands. Her eyes were a vivid purple.
“…Ah.”
Karen removed the fur cap covering the child’s head.
Underneath was bright blonde hair.
It was the same hair color as Rebecca in the dream.
“…Ah.”
Karen realized at that moment that the tiresome cycle of death that had been passed down through her bloodline was completely broken. The million deaths ended with her generation. The repetition was over.
Karen embraced Rebecca. Her daughter. Her daughter who didn’t resemble her, who would be tall and spirited, wearing riding clothes and wielding a sword.
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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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