Resetting Lady - Chapter 98
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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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“Haha, that’s really interesting.”
He seemed pleased that things had been handled well. That made sense. Raymond was flustered by the urgent order from the royal palace, but it wasn’t something he hadn’t expected.
Raymond was truly on the verge of retirement. He had handed over most of his duties, and had returned most of the guns he had been issued. It would be difficult to call him a soldier anymore.
“Anyway, she had some strange aspects, but I liked her. I wanted to remain friends even after she married Hyer. It was impossible since she no longer appeared in society. Don’t do such things after you marry. When a wife goes into seclusion, it becomes troublesome later with children’s issues.”
“I see.”
“Honestly, I didn’t expect her to choose Hyer. Yes, she really married for love alone. There were men with more money and higher status, but she chose Hyer. Well, it wasn’t a bad choice for a woman. Hyer was quite handsome too.”
Raymond thought of Prince Guiz. He was obsessively clingy. At first, Raymond thought Prince Guiz, who saw him as a thorn in his side, was trying to assault Karen out of revenge. But his obsession was somewhat deeper than that.
“Did Prince Guiz also propose? Is that why he’s so obsessed with Karen?”
“What? Haha.”
Count Fankair laughed breathlessly at those words.
Raymond was slightly flustered.
“Um, yes. Sorry. Wait a moment.”
“Did I make some mistake?”
The Count shook his head.
“I can see that you love your fiancée very much. That’s right. She’s amazingly beautiful. But her mother, Catherine, was a count’s daughter. Prince Guiz was someone who would inherit the throne.”
“Lady Catherine’s maternal grandmother is Duchess Katrin, so I thought the status wouldn’t be that much lower.”
Raymond’s face reddened slightly.
“Even if she’s the granddaughter of Duchess Katrin, Catherine’s mother was the problem. She was Countess Kailin, wasn’t she? The women there married looking only at love. The more they choose for themselves, the fewer choices their daughters have.”
“I see.”
“Well, it wasn’t without precedent, so if Prince Guiz had been prepared to give up the throne and proposed to Catherine, it might have been different. But he didn’t do that.”
“Do you know this?”
“I know. Prince Guiz told me once.”
Count Fankair was a close relative of Guiz. Even if they both had feelings for Catherine, they couldn’t seriously be called rivals. Count Fankair was a practical person.
“He said he would marry Catherine to a suitable man and make her his mistress.”
“Ha.”
“That’s right. No matter how much Catherine was a count’s daughter, she was still the granddaughter of a duchess. It’s not like laundering a prostitute’s status, so what was that? She couldn’t have tolerated that.”
“I see.”
“But Guiz probably didn’t want to give up the throne either. Actually, isn’t it somewhat unreasonable? Giving up the throne for one lover.”
Knock knock.
Someone tapped on the carriage window. Raymond stood up and opened the window.
“What’s the matter?”
“Lord Raymond, there’s a problem.”
He spoke to him first in front of the Count. Raymond instantly sensed what had happened.
It’s Karen.
“We received word that Lady Karen has gone missing.”
* * *
Karen threw the knife to the floor.
“I don’t want to.”
It wasn’t even worth considering. All Guiz could offer Karen was death. Perhaps torture, perhaps rape. Karen had experienced all of that sickeningly. Only Dulan could threaten Karen. Someone who could threaten her with how she could really die in the future.
“I don’t want to do it.”
If Karen were to kill someone, it would be for herself, not for others. She didn’t want to do anything to cater to Prince Guiz’s sexual preferences.
She wanted to live according to her own will.
Risking her life.
“Hmm, unexpected.”
“…”
“I thought you alone would understand me.”
“How could I understand Your Highness?”
At Karen’s defiance, Prince Guiz bent down and picked up the bladeless dagger. The bladeless edge moved along Karen’s jawline as if caressing it, then fell back to her feet.
“Do you really not need it?”
He didn’t seem particularly displeased. But he seemed puzzled. Prince Guiz asked.
“Didn’t you kill your father, Lord Hyer?”
“…Is there evidence? You said that before too, but without evidence…”
Prince Guiz pressed Karen’s mouth with his finger. The corners of his eyes curved.
“Oh my, those words are becoming evidence. You’re not used to it yet, it seems.”
If Karen were truly innocent, she wouldn’t have asked if there was evidence. She would have just said no. Asking if there’s evidence is what a suspect says when they know there’s no evidence. At Prince Guiz’s observation, Karen bit her lip.
“When you become a little more accustomed to killing people, you’ll naturally be able to hide it.”
“…I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Prince Guiz replied with a face that didn’t believe Karen’s words at all.
“When you’re in a position like mine, you get a lot of information. Is the reason you’re being so stubborn even in this situation because you trust Lord Raymond?”
That probably wasn’t it.
“I…”
Karen knew that Raymond had chosen her despite everything, but she didn’t completely trust him. Even when she was by Raymond’s side, she had continued to die. But Karen didn’t need to tell Guiz that.
“…I wonder.”
Did he take her ambiguous answer as affirmation? Prince Guiz narrowed his eyes and turned around. Karen alternately looked at the dagger at her feet and Prince Guiz’s neck.
‘If I stab his neck…’
But the dagger had no blade. She couldn’t end his life in one blow. Then she would be immediately subdued by Guiz. And she would be hung on the wall. Karen could easily imagine that process.
“I had a gift for you.”
Donna’s arm.
“I want to give you another one. I’m looking forward to seeing how your expression changes.”
He pointed to a box for Karen.
Would it be Donna’s leg next? But looking at what Prince Guiz’s fingertip was pointing to, it probably wasn’t a leg.
Karen noticed a box that had been neglected in the corner, though she hadn’t known it was there before. It was excessively larger than the first box she had received. Karen stood in front of that box as if entranced.
“Open it.”
Prince Guiz gave Karen a key. The box was bound with chains and locked with a padlock. Karen inserted the key into the lock and turned it. There was a clicking sound. Karen lifted the heavy box’s lid with both hands. In the darkness, the identity of the gift was revealed.
* * *
“Prince Louis and Miss Karen Evans have gone missing.”
* * *
Prince Louis, Prince Guiz’s son, was inside the box.
Karen looked down at the young prince.
“Isn’t it interesting?”
Guiz laughed. He was breathing. His chest was slowly rising and falling.
Prince Louis was not dead yet. Unlike Donna, his limbs were still intact. His clothes were just dirty and he had many wounds here and there. Karen closed her eyes and slowly opened her mouth as she looked down at the prince crammed into the box.
“…Your Highness, I… am young and inexperienced, so I don’t understand what Your Highness is thinking.”
What was Prince Guiz trying to do?
Why had he put his own son in this place? Prince Guiz didn’t like his son very much. It was a fact many people knew.
The reason the current king was still holding on without passing the crown to Prince Guiz was supposedly to transfer the throne directly to the well-behaved Prince Louis. That’s why Prince Guiz hated his son.
“This… brings no benefit to Your Highness.”
But the current king was too old.
He was already at an age where movement was difficult. If there was a character with almost no age difference from Karen, it would be the king. Karen had only seen his face from a distance, but she knew he was at an age where it wouldn’t be strange if he died immediately.
Prince Guiz was a very late-born son, and Prince Louis was also a somewhat late-born son. No matter how much the current king held on, the possibility of the crown being directly transferred to Prince Louis was low.
“Do people move only for profit?”
Even so, wasn’t there such a thing as propriety and reason? Karen turned her head to Prince Guiz. She couldn’t understand Prince Guiz.
“There are various reasons why people move. It’s even more so when you’re a king.”
And the fact that Prince Guiz had Prince Louis as his son also guaranteed him a solid throne.
The royal family members of Guiz’s generation with higher succession rankings didn’t yet have sons like Prince Louis. Even if he disliked Prince Louis, this boy was beneficial to Prince Guiz. Even if he was the first in line to the throne, he was already middle-aged.
Prince Louis was a late-born child. Also, the crown princess had been dead for quite some time. The more children a royal had, the more their future was guaranteed. A royal with intelligent and sturdy children received the throne much more stably than a royal without children. With Prince Louis’s existence, Prince Guiz’s throne also became more solid. Prince Louis had to live.
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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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