Chapter 277

Translator: yun

Her skin, that was like white porcelain, seemed to glow as white as milk under the moonlight. Every time she blinked, her golden eyelashes fluttered silently. Her neckline dipped into her shoulders. She was certainly beautiful. Staring at her made me feel strangely out of place. A strange feeling I had never experienced before…

“Where I lived, we didn’t bother decorating our gardens.”

Rusbella spoke after wordlessly turning my way.

“Where I’m from, people are too tired and fatigued for that. When I was younger I didn’t know why that was the case, but I could understand that it was not something one could easily talk about. I had been withdrawn.”

“That wasn’t your fault.”

I said as I tried to get rid of the awkward air. To learn that such a bright and positive person had been withdrawn when she was younger. I did not know much about Rusbella’s childhood since her the only described her adult life in detail.

“I even wanted to ask my foster mother once.”

She wasn’t looking at me. She muttered softly as she stared into a distance away.

“Why were you like that? Why would you never look right at me?”

It wasn’t hard to assume from what she was saying. Perhaps it was because she had been adopted, everyone back at where she grew up was not welcoming of her. Before I realised it, we found ourselves in the middle of a hallway.

“Rusbella. If you ask your foster mother, you might not receive the answer you seek.”

“Is that so?”

“But you can still find closure within you.”

“Thank you.”

She gave a small smile.

“Ashley, you’re really sweet.”

“I am?”

“Yeah. I wish I could be like you. Someone more courageous, more sweet.”

“… Someone like me?”

She looked back at me gently like I was some newborn puppy but trailed off for a moment. Well, I didn’t think I was as sweet as she thought I was. Usually, you would call someone like her kind and sweet.

“I have much to say about recklessness.”

But I couldn’t agree with what she mentioned after. I continued with a smile.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. You really have a knack for disarming people.”

Facing Rusbella, we burst into laughter. As moonlight shattered upon her smile, she looked very beautiful. Bursting into laughter, there was both an extremely cosy feeling and a strange sense of incongruity intermingling in my heart.

“Thank you very much for coming all the way here to help me make medicine.”

My gut was whispering.

“No. I wanted to help.”

Erasing everything else, I took a step forward. I would never release my anxiety. That was because I had grown used to my constant misfortune. That was why I thought. Good luck would be followed by bad luck and happiness was merely a prelude to despair.

“Is this it?”

We traversed through the hallway to reach the end.

“Yeah.”

We stopped before a door. When I turned to look, I realised we were near our room. Perhaps Rusbella had been given a room close to mine since she was my friend.

“Ashely.”

Just before I entered the room, Rusbella called out to me.

“…. Is the situation now very bad? I mean…”

“Are you talking about the coup?”

I spoke on behalf of her as she hesitated. Rusbella agreed before nodding her head heavily. I smiled bitterly. The current situation… She deserved to know what was going on although I didn’t really want to say this out loud. But this concerned her safety.

“… Things are not going so well at the moment. No, it’s really bad now.”

Staring at the landscape past the pillar, I turned my head.

“Tomorrow, my brother might be executed.”

Those words forced Rusbella to draw her breath sharply. Staring at her, I noticed how her beautiful eyes seemed tinged with regret. Her sorrowful golden eyes. They reminded me of Castor’s upon first glance. No, forget it. I was sorry for even comparing her to Castor. They were of the same colour but they were clearly different. After hesitating for a long while, she finally spoke.

“Actually, Ashley, I came across someone while on a walk today. He asked me to tell you something.”

“Someone?”

“Mhm. He had black hair and was of an extremely large stature.”

My breath hitched.

“That man. What did he say?”

Don’t waver. I shouldn’t waver. I managed to suppress it and pretended to be calm.

“Just as I’ve promised, I didn’t do anything.”

“…..”

“If you need help, you can come find me whenever.”

I clenched my teeth at the sound of Castor’s words through Rusbella’s lips.

“Ashley, that man… He is your brother, isn’t he? That’s definitely what he told me. Can’t we ask him for help? He was very sweet when he offered to do anything for you.”

“He was sweet?”

Almost immediately, I grabbed her wrist. She looked flustered but she nodded her head sincerely.

“Yes. He was very sweet. He had affectionately introduced himself as someone who cared about you. After he heard my name, he suggested I come to visit the Central Palace some time. Ashley, is something the matter? Or did I do something wrong? Tell me.”

Being a smart woman, she must have noticed something strange. No, perhaps I wasn’t doing a good job hiding my expression. I controlled my expression so that she wouldn’t catch me.

“No, it’s nothing.”

I let go of her wrist before lifting my hand to smoothen the wrinkles in her forehead.

“It’s nothing, Rusbella. I was just a little flustered…”

Just as he promised, Castor didn’t do anything. And he was looking for me. But while he was searching for me, he met Rusbella and was kind to her. Yes, that friendliness was the problem. The Mad Crown Prince met the female lead earlier than stipulated in the original novel.

The feeling of my fingernails digging into my palm had gotten too familiar to me now. He had been sweet and kind to Rusbella? Were they following the original novel? I was getting dizzy.

I couldn’t just stay and watch.

“R-Rusbella, I’m sorry but I have to go now.”

“Ashley!”

But for some reason, Rusbella grabbed onto me while I tried to hurry off.

“You know, I heard that it’s not safe to be about in this country right now.”

She had jumped out of the shadows beneath a lamp to grab onto me. Had she been shocked? I guess she would have been anxious because I was suddenly leaving.

“Do you have to stay here?”

“What?”

“I mean, I know how this sounds right now. I actually have a special ability. The bad feelings I get always turn out to be right.”

After a short pause, she quickly continued.

“And my gut is telling me that something bad is going to happen. So… Why don’t you return to Walter with me?”

With my vision still yet to adapt to this darkness, I could barely see her lips. Even though I couldn’t see myself, I was certain I must have looked extremely bewildered at the moment.

“You can even come with your loved ones. If I talk to Slon, I’m sure he’ll help. Ah, I haven’t told this to you yet but Slon is actually a prince of the Kingdom of Walter. Won’t you come with me? It’s a nice place to live and I’ll be there too. The one you love has also regained his health now.”

“Rusbella.”

The good-natured female lead was worrying about me because she was too caring. I couldn’t treat her concern about me lightly. I found her hand before clasping it.

“I appreciate your offer but I can’t. There are too many people I love here to take everyone.”

The aedile, the patrols, the maids in Terena Palace, Dane, Fleon and Amor. There are so many people I would need to bring there it would be hard to count on my fingers alone. I had once faced this choice before and I had already decided not to run away a long time ago. Forever.

“If I run away from here, I would never be able to return to the same position I’m in.”

Regressing didn’t mean I was running away nor did it mean my torturous memories would disappear.

“Thank you, Rusbella. I won’t forget this. No, I will return the favour once this is all over.”

I was serious. After this all ends, that’s right, with a happy ending, I still wanted to remain good friends with her. I wasn’t even a supporting character in the original novel but I had met her and had received so much of her help. I wanted to return the favour.

“So, please wait for me here. I have something very important to do tomorrow.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

I held her hand before letting it go.

“I’ll finish it up before sending you back.”

“… Back to where?”

So that she would be comforted, I whispered softly with a calm smile.

“To the person you love.”

“That important thing, tomorrow, your brother…Are you going to do something about your brother’s execution?”

She sounded as if she was afraid I would be disappointed but her voice remained unwavering. I nodded slowly before nodding. I managed to walk one, two, three steps.

I let out the groan I had been suppressing. Now of all times! No, I couldn’t fall asleep here. I walked with much difficulty. As I felt the ground getting closer, I sat down before I could realise it.

“Ashley, there’s something you’ve misunderstood. I don’t have someone I love.”

It was at that moment.

Chime, chime, chime.

The bell rang. The old bell tore through the air and rang loudly. Through my blurred vision, I could see Rusbella glancing at me before smiling slightly.

“That clock rings when it’s three minutes past 12. This is not an object that follows time but something that has been abandoned by it.”

The clock continued to tick.

“It’s not broken, it has already been fixed by divinity.”

Just then, I froze.

“I had died in front of that clock. That was my first death.”

I couldn’t believe my ears so I tried to force my head up. But I didn’t have the strength.

“You know, even if you go to the execution site tomorrow, you won’t be able to save Fleon.”

The sound of her footsteps getting closer.

“Because that future has been ‘fixed’.”

When her footsteps echoed in the quiet hallway, my mind that had been giddily falling asleep cleared up instantly. I raised my head in a daze.

“What…”

I noticed Rusbella right in front of my eyes.

“What are you talking about…”

Shrouded in the shadows, she smiled softly.

“You don’t know?”

It was at that moment. Even with half of her face cast in the shadows, light spilled from her smile and that very light was dazzlingly gold.

“Rusbella.”

“Do you really not know? Or… is it that you don’t want to know?”

Like melting gold, the golden colour of her hair that glittered like a golden leaf peeled off. Finally, the remnants of her brilliant gold settled on the ground around her like Saturn’s rings to reveal a faded blonde hair that reminded me of rye illuminated by the moonlight.

She swept all her hair back. Yet she managed to sweep it all back neatly. Her brilliant golden eyes turned to me.

“I wonder if you recognise me now.”

She lifted her hand before covering my eyes and removing them. Now, orbs of purple were staring back at me.

“You. Who… Who are you?”

I clenched my fist before talking. But it was a question to which I already knew the answer to. I just didn’t want to believe the answer that popped into my head.