Chapter 40

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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 40
Chapter Title: Encounter (3)
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Rosette hesitated for a moment, then moved to kneel. But before she could, Joshua waved his hand again.

“Don't bother. Your kneeling won't change a thing.”

Joshua’s voice was a fraction softer than it had been during the day.

It seemed that while Rosette had been gathering her thoughts, he had been composing his emotions.

He gestured with his eyes toward a large tree stump.

“Sit down for now. I have questions, so I'll hear you out first.”

“What do you want to talk about…?”

“I believe I told you to sit.”

Rosette hesitantly sat on the stump.

Joshua, however, remained standing before her. His shadowed face appeared even colder.

“Were you the one who turned back time?”

Rosette licked her dry lips before answering.

“I believe so.”

“You believe so?”

“It’s true that I used magic to turn back time, and it’s also true that when I woke up, I was in the past. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, it must have been my doing.”

“Right. Which is why you remember the past.”

*Then how do you remember, Your Highness?*

She wanted to ask but held her tongue for the moment.

“Why did you turn back time? Were you that afraid of dying?”

“No. I wasn't afraid of dying.”

“Then?”

“I…”

Rosette lifted her head to study Joshua’s face.

Thirteen years younger, his face was certainly more youthful than the one she had seen in prison. Yet, he exuded an intimidating aura no child should possess.

*He'll see through any lie I tell.*

He was a man born to rule over others.

So, Rosette decided to be honest.

“I wanted to set things right.”

“What do you mean, ‘set things right’?”

“Many things. I made a lot of mistakes. If you’re asking what I wished for most…”

Rosette spoke directly.

“I wanted to save Dad and Daniel.”

Joshua let out a derisive laugh.

“Dad and Daniel? Do you honestly think you have the right to call them that?”

She did. After all, she had been an officially recognized Adrian.

But she couldn’t say so with confidence in front of Joshua, who remembered her past.

She was struck once again by her own shamelessness. How could she ever become part of their family, even if they had no memory of what she’d done?

When she remained silent, Joshua jeered.

“You find it ridiculous too, don't you? Do you finally see how absurd this all is?”

“But…”

Rosette lowered her eyes and mumbled an excuse.

“I know. I know I have no shame. That’s why I initially refused Dad’s offer of adoption.”

“Are you trying to say you had no choice because my master kept insisting on bringing you here?”

“That’s not it. Well, that was part of it, but…”

Her eyes shot up to meet Joshua’s directly. A flicker of something crossed his expression.

It was a breach of etiquette to look a royal directly in the eye without permission. Yet, for some reason, Joshua wasn’t particularly offended by Rosette’s demeanor.

Because while she was trembling, her effort to hide it seemed both pathetic and, to a small degree, pitiful.

*Pitiful? Don’t be ridiculous.*

She was still the woman who had committed countless wrongs in the past.

As Joshua hardened his resolve, Rosette continued, her words tumbling out in an uncharacteristically long and rapid stream.

“It wasn't just Dad; I was worried about Daniel. In the past, he was in a carriage accident and was left with a limp. I heard he was a promising swordsman, but he never became a Sword Master.”

“…That’s true.”

“Honestly, when I returned to the past, I resolved not to catch Marquis Dallas’s eye. If I didn't go to the Marquisate, Dad and Daniel wouldn’t have to die.”

“…”

“But seeing Daniel made me realize I was wrong. Marquis Dallas won’t give up on the Adrians, even without me. The same carriage accident would happen, and someone would still attack the Duchy.”

“So?”

“So I decided to go to the Adrians. It’s easier to protect them if I’m with them. And I actually did prevent the carriage accident!”

Rosette added in a slightly less confident tone.

“Although, for some reason, it was Dad who got into the accident this time, not Daniel.”

Joshua nodded.

“So it was you who saved my master.”

“It’s embarrassing, but yes. It was me.”

“Of course, I’m grateful for that. My master might not have survived without you. But so what?”

“Pardon?”

“The fact that you saved him doesn't change the fact that you killed him and Daniel.”

“But that wasn’t—!”

Rosette stammered, as if making an excuse.

“It wasn’t my choice. I really…”

*I didn’t want to kill Duke Adrian.*

If Marquis Dallas hadn’t placed that curse on her, she would never have attacked the duke, even if it meant returning to the Marquis and being killed.

“What, are you trying to say Marquis Dallas put you under some kind of mind-control spell?”

“…”

“…He actually did?”

Rosette couldn't offer a proper response, her lips pressed tightly together.

*I can’t cry…*

Recalling that day, tears welled up in her eyes uncontrollably. She took a deep breath through her nose, but it was no use. Fat tears soon began to fall from her eyes.

“I just don't get it. I wondered about this before, too. Why are *you* the one crying? You're the one who did wrong.”

“I’m sorry. I tried not to cry…”

Rosette roughly wiped her eyes with her palms.

“But I truly regret my past, and I want to atone for it. *Sniff*, I really do.”

“…”

“It’s okay if you don’t forgive me. No, *sob*, you probably can’t. But can’t you give me a chance to set everything right?”

Rosette dropped to her knees before Joshua. Tears streamed down her face as she pleaded desperately, her hands clasped together.

“I’m begging you. I can’t just stand by and watch Marquis Dallas hurt Dad again. I’ll handle everything.”

Joshua’s lips were a thin line.

Before he’d turned back time, when he had visited Rosette in her prison cell, she had wept just as sorrowfully. Seeing her then had filled him with rage.

Why was the person who killed his master and Daniel crying? It might have been different if she had been framed, but her guilt was certain.

They were nothing but crocodile tears.

He was the one who should have been crying and protesting. Yet she acted as if she were the one who had lost those closest to her.

But he had never imagined there was this side to the story. Until now, he had naturally assumed that Rosette, acting on Marquis Dallas’s orders, had killed them of her own free will.

But if she hadn't wanted to and had been forced by a mind-control spell, then the story changes a little…

*Changes? What changes?*

He gritted his teeth.

*She must have some other ulterior motive.*

It was an undeniable fact that Rosette had saved Duke Adrian. However, Joshua didn't take her words about working for the Duchy’s future at face value.

As a prince, he had met countless people before returning to the past. If there was one thing he learned, it was that people rarely changed.

Could Rosette truly have changed in an instant just by turning back time?

*Impossible. She must be scheming something.*

Even if she was genuinely trying to change the future for the sake of the Adrians, there had to be another reason.

Regretting her actions and seeking atonement? Utter nonsense.

*Besides, her attitude could change when she meets Marquis Dallas again.*

Could Rosette see Marquis Dallas and not be swayed? He was, at one point, her family.

Therefore, the only answer was to remove Rosette, a dangerous and unpredictable variable, from the equation entirely.

Joshua forced himself to ignore the still-sobbing Rosette and spoke coldly.

“It doesn’t change anything. Do you think your tears solve everything? The fact remains that you killed them with your own hands. Do you think I’m just going to stand by and let you live in the same mansion as them?”

“Then…?”

Joshua stated his terms unequivocally.

“Leave the Duchy.”

“But…!”

“I’m giving you a chance to disappear quietly in recognition of your efforts to turn back time. If not for that, I would have turned the entire Duchy upside down by now.”

“What will you do if I say I’m staying?”

“I’ll have to tell them everything.”

“To whom?”

“Who do you think? My master and Daniel. I’ll tell them every single thing you did.”

“…!”

It was a lie. Even if Rosette insisted on staying, Joshua had no intention of telling them the truth.

It was an unbelievable story.

Of course, they would be shocked but would likely believe him because he was Joshua. That was the kind of people they were.

*And that’s the problem.*

Joshua knew Duke Adrian’s character well. He was a man who had died at Rosette’s hands without even fighting back. He was certain that even if the duke knew everything, he would still accept Rosette as his daughter.

That was why he couldn't tell him.

*But this little brat should be easy to fool.*

The Rosette he saw was remarkably naive. She looked nothing like someone who remembered a life that had stretched to the age of twenty.

At a glance, she seemed like any other eight-year-old girl. To put it kindly, she was innocent. To put it bluntly, she was dim-witted.

*It seems Marquis Dallas never bothered to educate her in anything but magic.*

Her inability to even properly greet a royal proved as much.

Thus, he was confident this method would work on Rosette.

And indeed, her face went pale as she pleaded.

“Anything but that.”

“Then do as I say.”

“…”

“I’ll give you a week. Leave naturally, so my master doesn’t suspect anything.”

“No matter what I say, Dad will find it strange!”

“Say you miss your friends from the orphanage, that you can’t stand the noble life, or that the studies are too hard. There are plenty of reasons.”

“It won’t work if I say that now!”

“That’s not my problem. You come up with a reason. Or just run away in secret. If you want, I can help you with that much. This is my final act of mercy.”

“…”

“I’ll send my familiar again in a week. Make your decision by then.”

With his final words, Joshua turned and walked away without a hint of warmth.