Resetting Lady - Chapter 36

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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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“Mother compared it to a book.”

“Yes.”

“Was it a romance novel?”

“Hmm?”

“What’s the genre? Of my life, I mean.”

The world of reason abandoned her, and the world of fantasy welcomed her. Then she should act accordingly. Karen pushed her doubts to the corner of the page, folded them, and drew a question mark. How could she escape?

“How does this story end?”

The lord pointed at himself with his finger.

“Meet someone like me.”

“…Pardon?”

“That’s what Catherine said. That after meeting me, she lived her true life.”

Even though she had decided to accept it, it wasn’t easy. Karen struggled to organize her feelings toward the lord as she carefully chose her question.

“…Does that mean it ended through marriage?”

“Love.”

Speaking and hearing aloud that one’s life was a novel was quite embarrassing. It sounded unrealistic, strange, like the conversation of fanatics who seriously believed in delusions. But still, she had to believe it.

What dominates a person’s life is not love. It’s death.

But what dominated Karen’s life had become love once again.

Karen felt nauseous inside. Those detestable letters were rising up again. Fall in love. You’re going the wrong way. Fall in love! Shut up! Karen swallowed her scream. Blood rushed to her eyes. Clear tears formed in the lord’s eyes, but blood droplets formed in Karen’s. Regardless of Karen’s condition, the lord continued speaking.

“After meeting me, she said she didn’t need to go outside the book anymore. That she didn’t need to ‘read’ repeatedly anymore.”

“…Did she really say it that way?”

The lord tapped himself with his finger.

“Yes. That I was her male protagonist. No other man was right for her. Not the Earl of Landon, not the Prince of Guiz, not the Viscount of Penkaire. Only I was her true love.”

Names of powerful figures poured from the lord’s mouth. Karen searched her memory, recalling the gossips who had spoken of their scandals with Catherine. She had met few of them due to the generational gap. She remembered the Prince of Guiz. He was famous for being a libertine.

“I was more than all of them…”

The lord’s face overflowed with pride. That expression somewhat resembled Deere, whom he despised. The way he obsessed over a dead person. Rather than simply reminiscing about someone he truly loved, it seemed like he was protecting his self-esteem through the deceased. The way the lord spoke of defeating other suitors to marry Catherine was the same expression Deere wore when looking at Catherine’s portrait.

“Her love was ultimately me.”

His claim of being the victor through marriage to Catherine had more legitimacy and confidence than Deere’s. But Karen was too old to be moved by his display.

‘In the novels I’ve read, male protagonists were usually the highest-ranking and most handsome among those of similar age.’

Lord Hyer wasn’t particularly inferior, but he wasn’t overwhelmingly superior to Catherine’s other suitors either. What if the conclusion now was that true love lay somewhere far away, and the male protagonist was one of the dying men on the battlefield? What an absurd conclusion that would be.

“Love…”

“Love. I think you haven’t found it yet. Like your mother… true love.”

Watching the lord nod, Karen clenched her fists. What an unrealistic, annoying, sickeningly sweet story. It felt like being hit on the head with a hammer made of candy.

“A truly pure and noble emotion, different from those feelings you spoke of regarding that filthy boy you didn’t even believe in yourself.”

“You know everything, so why are you saying this?”

Karen forced a smile, pulling up the corners of her mouth. After all, it was your subordinates who cleaned up the mess, so you know everything.

“That’s why you’re still wandering like this, unable to find your male protagonist.”

It wasn’t easy for such terribly fantastical, fairy-tale words to feel this unpleasant. The lord traced Karen’s fair cheek and looked at the various wounds and bloodstained clothes. His gaze lamented how lovely and pitiful she was.

There was no anguish about his daughter who had just committed murder. Only longing for his dead wife was revealed. So Karen felt slightly nauseous looking at her father’s face. Love. Love. Right now, it was a story more disgusting to her than murder.

What is this now?

“Father, weren’t you bothered at all by the idea that this world… is a book?”

“It saddens me that you’re suffering.”

“No. Not that kind of talk. Father, not that kind of story.”

Not about children, or wives. Not about others. Not such secondary, trivial stories. Something more essential and fundamental.

What did he himself think? Karen was curious about that. She was suffering. She had a world to return to. Those faint memories, different families from here, kinder worlds, more wonderful food and different cultures and animals and dreams overflowing in that world. Karen groped for those vague fantasies. True life. True world. If she could really return, if all this was just a momentary dream.

She moved her lips then closed them again.

In the end, those words couldn’t escape the anguish of a ten-year-old child. If thinking wouldn’t change anything, better not to think.

“True love…”

How bizarre it was to say it with her own mouth.

“If I had lived for my entire life… for 100 years… only in doubt and fear, what would you say?”

About her very existence, the feeling of a wanderer drifting in emptiness, isolated from everything in the world. The feeling that there was no one like her anywhere, no evidence, no certainty growing dim. Days of torture where only pain existed.

The lord looked at her pitifully and answered.

“My beloved daughter. You have wasted your life.”

At that moment, Karen made a decision.

“Do you believe Mother?”

“Yes. Just as I believe her, I believe you.”

And you left me alone for 100 years. Karen wanted to tear up the portrait and vent her anger. Love, indeed. And fierce jealousy boiled up from deep within. It was envy toward her mother who had met death.

How nice to be dead, Mother. Did you return to your original world? Did you go back to your true family? I wish I could die soon too. Karen grasped her trembling fingers, not knowing what to do with her envy.

“…I’m older than you. Now I should… seriously start looking for my love.”

Her voice trembled with discomfort. But the lord paid no attention to Karen’s voice.

“Who is the man? The male protagonist, I mean.”

Karen hesitated briefly before answering.

“…Sir Raymond.”

“Hmm, as expected. That makes sense. Hmm… Then Verdick must have been quite irritated. That’s good.”

He was so irritated he chopped his own neck with an axe. She had no strength left to say more to the lord who spoke as if amused. Whatever happened to Verdick, what did it matter? The important thing was her male protagonist.

“You said you believe Mother.”

“Yes. I believe with all my heart.”

You’d have to. If you didn’t believe, you’d be nothing more than someone who helped madmen commit murder. Her father was a fanatic. Dead Catherine was his god, and she was her holy relic. She was merely evidence displaying her glory and divinity. To think the one who gave her this body was such a person.

“It’s already gotten dark.”

“I’ll skip dinner. I simply… cannot do it.”

There seemed to be no more information to extract from her father. He wasn’t a party to this from the beginning. He himself didn’t know if what he was saying was accurate. Even if they bound his limbs and pulled out his fingernails and toenails, what he didn’t know, he didn’t know. Now he was useless to her. No conversation was needed. Karen wanted to rest a bit. If she attended dinner, she’d have to be with them again.

“Attend tomorrow. The Countess will come with her daughter.”

“…Yes.”

Karen frowned. She wanted to rest a bit. Fantasy and reality were mixed up chaotically, making it hard to digest. Her mind felt indigestion.

But still, she had to ask this question.

“Father, what do you think about Mother saying she came from outside the book?”

Hearing those words, the lord laughed. In that moment, he looked like a young man. He laughed with purity, passion, and conviction, and answered the holy relic he had created.

“It was truly romantic.”

* * *

‘Karen’s not here?’

Isella was in a good mood. Just not seeing Karen Hyer made her feel so peaceful in body and mind. Having monopolized Raymond all day without encountering Karen once, Isella felt satisfied as if she were full without eating. Raymond had granted all of Isella’s various requests throughout the day.

“Sir Raymond, after the engagement ceremony…”

When Isella excitedly brought up plans after the engagement ceremony, Raymond immediately asked.

“Did Mr. Verdick mention anything about my situation?”

Isella, who had hoped he would cater to her more, didn’t hide her slight discomfort.

“Yes, you won’t need to suffer in the military anymore.”

“…Is that so. Withdrawing from the front lines was something that had been discussed before.”

“No, withdrawing from the front lines is natural. You should take on much more important work than the military in this country.”

Work that would benefit the Evans Family more.

Father was right.

Raymond had sold himself to her.

Even flowers have their season. It’s impossible to prevent a man’s eyes from briefly lingering elsewhere. But even when Verdick briefly enjoyed himself with other women and Mother laughed with other men, they ultimately slept in the same room and discussed household matters big and small. The important thing was the big contract called marriage.

“I’ve spent my entire life in the knights.”

“Oh my, you’re still young, aren’t you? What terrible things to say when you have a bride to marry?”

Isella laughed with an irritated nasal sound. She no longer wanted to be swayed by Raymond. Craving affection from a man who had no interest in her was too miserable. It suited her position to put a leash around his neck, feed him, and watch Raymond fawn over her.

“I’m just nervous about suddenly leaving where I’ve been. It’s a bit awkward. I thought of it as a lifetime job.”

Raymond smiled wryly and shrugged his shoulders.

“Of course, Father will support you in whatever you need, so there’s no need to worry.”

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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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