Chapter 35
#35
This time, I had a little expectation. Wasn't it reasonable?
Maria likes me more than Ricardo!
After talking with Maria a bit more, as soon as she left, I quickly went up to my room.
And with a pounding heart, I opened the book.
"What..."
Disappointingly, the book was the same.
Even skipping through the beginning introduction to the scene where I die was the same as before.
"Wait a minute!"
Just as I was about to close the book, I noticed a slightly unsettling part.
"Oh, it's a misunderstanding. About your mother's death..."
Bianca's time was up to there. The remaining words couldn't escape from her throat.
And they never would.
Clearly, last time I, no, Bianca in the book, didn't say those words.
Maria poisoning me was the same, but the dialogue had changed slightly.
The ending didn't change, but it was clear that something in the book had changed as Maria's heart leaned towards me.
"O-Other places!"
I quickly flipped the page a little further ahead. Then another changed part caught my eye.
"Others would say that. The kind and considerate Lady Bianca. But that's not who you really are. Selfish and ugly, a woman who doesn't hesitate to kill people, that's who you are."
"What? What are you talking about?"
"You don't deserve Ricardo."
"Me? If I don't deserve Ricardo, then who does? Don't tell me you do? A half-blooded noble whose mother is a commoner dares to say that?"
"So, that's what it was?"
Hatred was boiling in Maria's eyes as she looked at Bianca. There was no need to hide it anymore.
Finally, it was time for revenge.
Revenge for the woman who loved her the most since she was born, and the woman she loved the most.
"What did I do!"
Suddenly, Maria was talking about her mother and burning with revenge against me.
Besides, why do I, or rather Bianca in the book, cleverly change the subject whenever that story comes up?
Ask her why she's taking revenge for her mother on me!
And I need to know, so say something before you die!
Why do you mumble the crucial words and then just die!
"There must be other hints!"
Muttering desperately, I hurriedly flipped the pages forward again.
A changed place, a different place somewhere...
"There it is!"
"W-What did you say?"
Maria's expression turned pale as she heard the story.
"N-No way..."
A scream-like groan flowed from Maria's mouth, which was covered.
It was a terrible betrayal.
She trusted her, the person she trusted so much!
Maria, who no longer had the strength to stand, staggered and collapsed on the spot.
Unlike her weak legs, there was something burning like a raging fire in Maria's heart.
It was revenge.
"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."
Clear words and purpose were now flowing from Maria's mouth, which had been groaning a moment ago.
"Death for death."
Where will the clock of fate take her?
"Where are you going!"
I was furious at the scene that ended with only a strange story that I couldn't understand.
The book was too unkind.
As if it couldn't tell me the crucial things, it slyly hid the important things behind its back, only showing a faint shadow.
"Stupid! Don't you even know?"
I glared at the book, but it had no mouth, so it couldn't answer.
"I, I, Ick!"
I wanted to throw the book, which seemed to be teasing me, into the stove and make it into firewood, so I lifted it up, but I couldn't because my hands were only trembling.
Even if I threw it into the fire, it wouldn't burn, but now I had to refer to this book somehow to change my fate.
"Okay."
I didn't know what was good, but I said that to soothe myself.
"Let's take a look quietly."
I calmly put the book back down.
Before, Maria killed me to take Ricardo.
But today, Maria confessed to me that she liked me more than Ricardo.
Then the book changed. Maria kills me because I killed Maria's mother.
The situation after that was the same as before. I die, Maria lives, and she also gets Ricardo.
Damn it.
"Maria's mother, huh?"
I did something about her hospitalization, but I haven't met her yet.
I kill her? Someone I've never seen?
That couldn't be.
Whether I saw her or not didn't matter.
I wasn't a person who killed people.
Therefore, everything was Maria's misunderstanding. Like the line I said as I was dying.
"I'll go to Maria's mother right away..."
I was about to jump up from my seat and go to the hospital to see her, but I stopped for a moment.
The reason I died this time was Maria's misunderstanding.
Unless Maria suddenly received a divine revelation, there must be some reason why she would misunderstand.
So, wouldn't me going to see Maria's mother be planting the seeds of that misunderstanding?
"Hmm..."
I was about to leave the room right away, but I slowly sat back down.
Two paths lay before me.
I didn't know which path was the right one.
No, I didn't even know if there was a right path.
Clang.
A clear bell rang as I opened the door.
Looking around the cafe, I saw Reintar waving his hand from the inside seat.
Smiling slightly, I approached him, and Reintar jumped up from his seat.
"Good afternoon, Reintar."
"It's a really good afternoon for me to be with Bianca."
With a smile, Reintar pulled out a chair for me.
As soon as I sat down, he hurried back to his seat and sat across from me.
Sitting face to face, I could see that Reintar was a little excited today.
It was a slightly different look from his usual self.
His usual self was, well...
He looked a little crushed because of his too-good father. Besides, there was Ricardo in his age group, so he was even pushed around.
If he had stood up straight on his own, he would have received a much better evaluation, but Reintar was the one who was undervalued because of the shining things around him.
"It's an honor that Bianca asked me to see her first."
"Is it really that much of an honor?"
Smiling lightly, Reintar also smiled slightly.
I thought that the way he couldn't hide the corners of his mouth being pulled up was similar to Maria.
I hadn't noticed it until now, but maybe the Wensbury people smiled shyly like that.
Then, perhaps even the young Marquis of Wendsbury seduced Maria's mother with that shy smile? Certainly, that smile was attractive.
"The reason I asked Lord Wendsbury to see me today is because I wanted to ask you a little about Maria's mother."
"Ah... That person."
As if he didn't expect me to bring up this topic, Reintar was slightly embarrassed.
But soon he regained his social manners and smiled very softly and comfortably.
"I heard from Maria. Bianca introduced a very good doctor, so she moved the hospital there. Thank you so much for taking care of her."
"Yes. So, as the person who introduced her, I'm actually a little curious about how she's doing, but I don't think Maria would tell me honestly if I asked her."
I took the lead before he could ask why I was asking him instead of asking Maria directly.
"I thought that kind Maria wouldn't say anything even if there was something uncomfortable or didn't fit, so I bothered Lord Wendsbury like this."
"Ah, no. It's not a bother at all."
"Have you heard anything from Maria?"
"I heard that Maria's mother is doing very well in the hospital. I heard that she's been getting better recently."
"Oh, that's a relief!"
I was sincerely happy to hear that she was getting better.
At least there wasn't a problem with the hospital I introduced, so Maria's mother didn't die. I eliminated one possibility.
"Does your mother have any friends in the capital? It must be lonely for her to be alone in the hospital."
"I heard from Maria that she's a native of Ancheni. Maria also said that she hadn't been anywhere else before coming to the capital, so she probably doesn't have any friends."
"Oh dear, then she must be bored."
"Maria visits her every day. And the hospital is right next to the monastery, so she seems to go to worship often because she's devout. I heard her say that it's good for exercise."
"Have you ever been there, Lord Wendsbury?"
"My father seems to have gone a couple of times, but I haven't been there. It's... uncomfortable."
"Ah, I said something rude."
"It's not that. It's just..."
Reintar hesitated a little, and when he met my eyes, he opened his mouth as if he had made up his mind.
"I think love is something that doesn't change."
Reintar, who said those words, was very serious, sincere, and firm.
"Also, I don't think it's possible to hold someone else in your heart and embrace someone else with your body!"
Reintar's voice was almost like a speech or an oration.
The problem was that I, the audience, wasn't at all curious about Reintar's philosophy of love.
"I see."
"Yes. So, if I get married or engaged, I will only have that person in my heart, and I will only dedicate my body to that person."
"I see. Lord Wendsbury, you're a romantic."
"Y-Yes."
Blushing slightly, Reintar said.
That appearance also reminded me of Maria somehow. Is it true that blood is thicker than water?
"If I get married, you won't have to worry about women."
"The future Marchioness of Wendsbury must be happy."
I wanted to quickly skip over Reintar's love studies and move on to the story of Maria's mother again, so I answered roughly.
"I envy her."
To naturally move from the love story to the story of Maria's mother again, I wasn't very curious, but after moving on to the love story between the Marquis of Wendsbury and her...
"Bianca!"
When I raised my head at Reintar's shout, I finally saw that his face was not just slightly red, but his entire face was red.
And Reintar was looking at me as if he had made some kind of firm decision.
Could it be...?
