Resetting Lady - Chapter 34

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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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“Was that room the same room? Make sure it’s properly repaired from now on. You may go.”

Bowen lingered anxiously, but Karen paid him no more attention. A servant is a servant. Those who don’t know much about her circumstances are meaningless. Karen walked into the room. There was someone here who knew better. “Karen’s” father.

There wasn’t much of use inside the room. Documents, documents, documents. Mostly trial records and budget reports. Karen turned her eyes to the old bookshelves. This study was the lord’s personal study, so Karen rarely had occasion to enter it. And even in the past when she had snuck in, if the past Karen remembered wasn’t a fantasy, there was hardly anything worth reading.

And among those books hung a massive portrait of Catherine, displayed as if to show off.

The feeling was similar to what she had felt at Mrs. Deere’s house. An obsession with the dead. Catherine continued to influence many people even in death. The feeling of looking at the face of a woman who had been nothing more than background to Karen for all those long years was,

“Isn’t she beautiful?”

“…Yes.”

Slightly chilling.

Karen turned her head. Her father, the lord, slowly entered the room.

“Indeed. She’s truly beautiful.”

Catherine’s portrait was much larger than the one at Deere’s house. The portrait, larger than an actual person, hung high in the study, overwhelming the people in the space. But unlike Deere, he was her husband, so it wasn’t that strange.

“She truly was beautiful, my wife.”

Karen looked at the lord’s aged face. It was a face that would have been quite handsome in his youth, but now he was just an old and foolish middle-aged man. However, beneath that surface was the regional power holder who had condoned his daughter’s murder. Karen found it difficult to judge.

“She’s your mother too, after all.”

Even though he was her parent, Karen knew far too little about the lord before her. He hadn’t been an important figure. Karen chewed her lips nervously. “Important figure.” She wasn’t sure if that was an appropriate expression anymore. And what mattered was something else entirely.

“You must have already heard, but I’m currently very… confused. Father.”

Her voice trembled slightly. She cleared her throat. In truth, she wanted to grab her father’s throat right now and scream at him to spill the truth. She held back. She had waited long. She could do at least that much, she steadied herself again.

“Yes… Mrs. Deere died, I heard.”

“Yes.”

Karen felt like her heart would burst. The lord didn’t seem particularly surprised. What was he thinking? How much had he anticipated? Who was she?

“I see. I’ll have to send condolence money.”

The lord rubbed the wrinkles around his eyes. Some sweat was visible between his fingers. It was too cool to be sweating from temperature, so she could somewhat guess his state of mind.

“You must have already heard from Bowen.”

“…”

“Stop beating around the bush in front of me. I killed her.”

The flustered lord opened and closed his mouth for a moment before asking.

“…Why did you kill her?”

“Because she annoyed me.”

Though insincere, that answer was true. Even if she brought up long, elaborate reasons, the essential reason was ultimately simple. It was no different from killing someone for rubbing her the wrong way. She hadn’t been an easy target to kill either. If Bowen hadn’t appeared at just the right moment to help, it would have been really difficult to handle.

“So I killed her.”

And at this moment, Deere was nothing more than a catalyst for Karen. A figure who was merely a key. Karen was curious what answer the lord would give. The lord quietly continued speaking in response to his daughter’s answer.

“…She was someone who interfered beyond her station. She must have been quite irritating.”

It was a petty excuse for her.

Karen didn’t answer. Was he still trying to cover for her somehow? Even in front of her. She hadn’t expected this kind of response.

“It’ll be fine.”

The lord placed his hand on his daughter’s shoulder and pressed down with force. It felt more like he was trying to encourage himself rather than Karen.

“Let’s have some tea and talk. We decided to each enjoy the festival tonight, so we can have a conversation just the two of us.”

That’s right. We need to talk. A lot. Karen sat in a chair. The faint sound of fireworks could be heard from beyond the window where the sunset was fading. It was the beginning of the full-scale festival.

After the period of abstinence, the territory was generously blessing Raymond and Isella’s engagement ceremony with material abundance. While the actual owners of this land were having this strange conversation, the story of this room didn’t matter to those people at all. Completely separate stories divided by a single glass wall.

She turned her gaze to the room of reality. It was an interrogation room that couldn’t be more gentle. The lord didn’t seem to place much significance on Karen having committed murder. Was this also just to reassure himself? Had he covered everything up, soothed her, hidden things, and arranged a fiancé because she was suffering from mental illness?

“This year’s tea harvest looks promising. The weather’s been good.”

“It won’t be that good.”

She answered without thinking and closed her mouth. Karen was now trying not to be certain about anything. Such statements and thoughts were poison.

“Ah, no. I’m not sure. Please don’t trust me, Father.”

“If you say so, then it must be so.”

What does that mean?

She needed warm tea for her parched mouth. Karen sat in the chair and picked up the teacup Bowen had prepared with trembling hands. She couldn’t bear it without drinking tea.

“Are you feeling well?”

“…Yes.”

As the reddish black tea moistened her throat, she had the illusion that her mind was calming down somewhat. Karen studied the lord’s face, but it was difficult to read anything from it. It was hard to endure the time filled with meaningless pleasantries. Her tongue began to dry again. She gulped down tea repeatedly.

“I heard several things from Mrs. Deere.”

“Was she that rude?”

Rude enough to kill her. Karen nodded.

“Yes. She completely denied my entire life. She said I had gone mad and lost my memory.”

“What a rude and ill-mannered woman.”

The lord shook his head as if disgusted. He seemed to genuinely dislike her. But was it for the same reason as Karen?

“Exactly.”

Karen didn’t bother to voice the reason she suspected. Deere had wanted to become her mother. That meant she had wanted to become the lord’s mistress. She had felt responsible for Catherine and Karen. But the lord and Karen only felt annoyance. She felt a bit sorry for her. Karen felt toward her an emotion similar to what she felt toward Isella Evans. The lord had despised her.

Even at this moment when she had lost her life to his daughter, he showed no regret whatsoever.

“Honestly, I wasn’t that angry. Um… I was a bit upset then, but thinking about it again, I don’t really mind. In fact, I’m even somewhat relieved.”

“Why is that?”

“Because it would end if I died.”

A sigh and laughter came out simultaneously.

“I’d be so happy if this torture-like life ended.”

It’s not the reason you’re thinking. Whatever she was like, and whatever you who I call father are like, none of that matters to Karen. It’s all irrelevant. If Karen was mad. If everything really was a fantasy. So Karen wanted the lord to give her a definitive answer.

“I just want to end it.”

The lord quietly met Karen’s eyes.

“Don’t you feel hatred or disgust?”

“No.”

This was truly so.

She had seen too much of human goodness and evil. She only wished for one word.

“Death and life are too light for you.”

“Lighter than paper. Since years don’t accumulate, they can’t help but be light. Actually, I feel somewhat sorry about it.”

“…”

The lord fell silent again. Unable to bear that silence, Karen opened her mouth.

“Shall we have a deep conversation, Father?”

Enough to spill our guts.

“Deere had a loose tongue. Is that why you sent her away? Ah, you don’t need to answer. She’s already dead. Her life and past are far less interesting to me than my own story. Am I really Karen?”

“How about asking one question at a time?”

“…Yes.”

Karen took a deep breath. There were too many suspicions. Her head felt like it would burst from the flood of questions, but she only had one mouth. She had finally reached this point. She could start one by one.

“Is it true that I had problems since childhood?”

“…Yes.”

“And that Nancy erased my memories and put in different ones?”

“You found out well.”

Karen brought up the question she was most curious about.

“Am I Karen?”

“You’re my one and only daughter.”

That’s not what I meant. Karen frowned. Was Karen “Karen”? Did she have a place to return to? Or was that just a fantasy?

“That’s not… what I mean. Is it proper for me to call you Father?”

“Well, if you look at the portrait, you can confirm that you’re the spitting image of your mother.”

I shouldn’t ask about this. Karen looked up at the portrait. Would conversation have been easier if you were alive? Why is this outsider in front of me instead of you?

“Thinking about how much people envied me before marriage makes me sick. There really were quite a few suitors.”

Your love story isn’t important right now. Karen looked at him in disbelief. Was the public mockery that he had half lost his mind after his wife’s death somewhat accurate?

Catherine, whom Karen closely resembled, was an extremely beautiful woman as Deere had said. Even after coming down to this countryside, she heard that invitations flew in from here and there every winter. Who was it that said that? Karen struggled to suppress the memories of the past that kept surfacing. She didn’t know. She knew nothing and was certain of nothing.

Ah, if only she had a gun.

She would have put a bullet in the lord’s head right away. No wait, she shouldn’t end it immediately. She could start with threats and hear the truth.

“Father.”

“So it was so fierce that…”

“I killed Nancy too. You must know this as well.”

“….”

“Why did you hide the body?”

“Because it would be difficult for me to protect you if Evans found out.”

The Lord answered. Karen felt both relief and irritation at his response.

“I really feel like a puppet on a stage. I’ve become a spectacle all alone in this world. What on earth were you thinking while watching what I was doing?”

“It was to protect you.”

“Then you should have at least told me… Even saying this myself sounds ridiculous.”

She tapped the table with her fingers.

“Is Nancy really dead? Did Mrs. Deere really die by my hand? Can I be certain that you, Father, are actually here in front of me right now?”

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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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