I sat on the bed in my room, clutching a pillow, and stared out the window. Since then, I haven’t exchanged a single word with Carlothian.
‘Not that I have anything to say.’
Carlothian was busy reviewing documents in his office, and I, as expected, had nothing to do.
‘There are three servants standing guard outside the room, and I’m not allowed to wander around freely.’
It was no different from my life in the temple.
The only difference was that the room was larger. I got up and started pacing around the room.
‘First, I need to find out why the madness has been transferred to me.’
It couldn’t possibly be black magic, as he said. After all, Ariadeline had never actually used black magic.
‘If that’s the case, it must be related to the fact that he killed me. The regression and the transfer of madness.’
But again, I couldn’t find a common thread between the two. If Ariadeline had really used black magic, I could at least investigate that.
‘Black magic…….’
Black magic. I began to ponder deeply.
‘Oh? Wait a minute.’
At that moment, something flashed through my mind quickly.
Oatrummih
Leurchebannichve
Unintelligible pronunciations. I grabbed my head.
‘What is this? What is this?’
Reunaitiiranag
A faint memory flashed through my mind. But they weren’t clear. An indistinct image passed by, and unfamiliar pronunciations came to mind.
Only one thing was clear.
‘It’s Ariadeline’s voice.’
I found myself unconsciously repeating those pronunciations.
“Oatrummih.”
It flowed naturally, as if I had tried it before.
“Leurchebannichve.”
And then,
“Reunaitiiranag.”
Purple light began to emanate from my body. I opened my eyes wide and looked down at my hands.
“No way…….”
Does Ariadeline know how to use black magic? Why? How?
I stood there, unsure how to harness the flowing energy.
‘Ariadeline only used black magic in the prequel. And I possessed her body before the prequel.’
I quickly organized the events in chronological order in my mind.
‘In Ariadeline’s memory, Princess Yermondi was the true culprit.’
So, the conclusion is clear.
‘Ariadeline can’t use black magic, right?’
But how does she know about black magic? I grabbed my head and kneeled on the floor. First of all, I need to figure out what to do with this purple light.
Bang!
Suddenly, the door burst open with a loud noise. There stood Carlothian, his eyes wide open. I flinched and looked at him.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“Uh… I, uh…”
Damn it, I’m screwed.
“Hah.”
He let out a hollow laugh and glared at me.
“Doing something like this and claiming you’re not the culprit.”
“No, this is a real misunderstanding.”
“Were you trying to curse Dorothea again?”
“Am I crazy? You think I wanted to die in your mansion?”
Carlothian spat out his words, as if chewing on them.
“Didn’t you ask me to kill you anyway?”
“That’s……!”
That’s right!
Ah, how do I salvage this situation?
Should I just die for now? After all, I’ll regress anyway. I abruptly stood up from my spot, squeezing my eyes shut.
Then I approached him and spread my arms wide.
“If you want to stab, do it!”
“What are you doing?”
“You’re suspecting me, aren’t you? That I might harm Dorothea!”
Carlotian flinched for a moment. I was still facing him, with my arms spread wide and a deeply furrowed brow.
We glared at each other, and then the purple glow from my body began to fade. Does it just go out on its own after a while?
I gave up glaring at him and looked down at my hands. I really don’t know. What have you been doing, Ariadeline?
“Sigh…”
“You’re always lying.”
“What?”
I looked up again. But I flinched under his cold, piercing gaze. His eyes were filled with deep disdain.
‘Ah, this is the kind of look Ariadeline has always faced.’
If she had to face such a look from him every time they crossed paths, how could she have fallen in love with him?
I was at a loss for words, so I just pursed my lips.
“I, I… I’m really not.”
“Sure.”
His indifferent voice was laced with subtle mockery. Feeling choked up, I shouted at him.
“I…”
A claim I couldn’t even take responsibility for.
“What if I find the real culprit?”
“What?”
“If I find the real culprit, will you apologize?”
“So it comes to this.”
He growled. I bared my teeth at him, too. The confrontation went on for a while. Neither of us was willing to back down.
“If you find the real culprit, I’ll kneel and apologize.”
“You promised me that.”
I hurried past him, unable to stand his face. He didn’t stop me. The sun was almost setting in the windows that lined the hallway.
No one stopped me as I ran down the hall. I felt like crying, but I tried to hold it in. He was always this kind of man.
‘I should go out and get some fresh air.’
Being confined all the time was suffocating. I went down the stairs to the first floor. The staircase window showed the now-darkened outside.
And then, at that moment,
Ping!
A sharp ringing pierced my ears.
‘Ah, that’s right.’
The madness comes at night.
I suddenly missed a step on the stairs and tumbled down.
Thud, thump, bang!
“Ugh, ow…”
My whole body ached. I landed at the bottom of the stairs, and when I tried to move my body, it wouldn’t respond properly. Had I broken something?
In the middle of this, the ringing in my ears and the unknown sounds began, and my vision gradually became blurred.
Ah, this is the worst.
After that, I was completely out of it. Carlothian, alarmed by the loud noise, picked me up.
“Healer! Get a healer!”
A frantic voice called out for a healer. Oh, what do I do? We just had a fight; this is embarrassing.
But that wasn’t my concern right now. The madness began to gnaw at me. The ringing didn’t stop, and accusing voices seemed to echo.
He always accuses you of lying.
You hate him, don’t you? You must hate him to death.
Let’s twist his neck and make him shut up.
I raised my barely responsive arm towards his neck, my nails ready to claw. The urge to scratch his throat dominated my mind.
Carlothian placed me on the bed and held my arms down. Sharp pain surged through me. Oh, it hurts. It hurts. As I screamed, Carlothian began to soothe me.
“Hang in there; the healer will be here soon.”
“Ugh, huh….”
As tears streamed down my face, I saw him furrowing his brow. I hated that frown. I wanted to dig into those eyes that looked down on me.
Don’t look at me like that. Don’t look at me if you don’t believe me.
Countless frustrations filled my chest, causing me to thrash about. My insides felt stuffy, and it hurt like a knife digging into my stomach.
“Where, where is it?”
Just then, the healer arrived. Assessing my condition, the healer immediately began to cast healing spells.
The wounds from falling down the stairs healed quickly. However, my madness seemed to resist, growing even more intense.
I twisted my body to push away Carlothian’s arms, which were holding me down.
“Everyone, get out!”
At his command, the healer and the maids closed the door and disappeared. Carlothian climbed onto the bed and started pressing down on my body.
“Ah, ah-.”
Sounds of either screams or cries continued to escape from my lips.
I resented everything. I wished everyone would just die. If it was going to be this miserable, I thought it would be better to die.
“Please kill me.”
“…….”
“If you can’t love me, just end it all with your own hands.”
“…Don’t say things you’ll regret.”
Carlothian bit his lip, his eyes trembling. I felt a slight sense of satisfaction in that trembling.
Why am I like this? Why am I begging him like this? Why do I feel satisfaction when his eyes are trembling?
Confusion filled my mind. Amidst this, the pleading continued.
“Please love me…”
“….Ariadeline.”
“I love you…”
The surging emotions felt both unfamiliar and familiar. As if they had been mine all along. But that couldn’t be.
Carlothian’s body pressed heavily against mine. No matter how much I struggled, I couldn’t resist his strength. With all his might, he pressed me down and said,
“……really. Really.”
His quivering lips were filled with hesitation.
“Is it because of me?”
Unfathomable emotions surged.
“Do you want to die because of me?”
“Hmm….”
I laughed. It was so funny that he was asking me this.
“Carlothian, my love.”
The lips moving now weren’t under my control. It felt as if some demon from the depths of my stomach was controlling me.
“My death is your fault.”
₊✩₊˚౨ৎ˚₊✩‧₊
I mean, even if it’s a demon speaking, it ain’t wrong.
Dick.
Anyone with popcorn?