Episode 44

“Boss, could you please sign here?”

An employee handed her a piece of paper and a pen.

Green quickly scanned the document and signed it.

However, the ink seemed to have run out, and the signature was incomplete.

“Could you bring some ink?”

The employee quickly brought an inkwell.

Green dipped the pen in the ink and tested it by writing the word ‘ink’ on a piece of paper, then confirmed it was working before signing the document again.

I quietly observed the document Green had signed and the word ‘ink.’

I slowly lifted my gaze to meet Green’s eyes.

True to her name, Green’s eyes were green.

The innkeeper had said that Rosalind had green eyes.

If Rosalind was truly Green’s grandmother, as Green claimed, it wasn’t impossible for them to have similar eye colors.

It was common for family members to have similar eye or hair colors.

But, ‘Could their handwriting be similar too?’ That seemed unlikely.

Impossible.

“Like you, I also believe what I think is true. Perhaps we are both telling the truth in our own ways.”

I murmured as if talking to myself.

“My lady.”

Green sighed and shook her head as if she felt sorry for me.

“How can everything we say be true? We are stating completely opposite facts.”

“Green.”

“Yes, my lady.”

“If I call you Rosalind, will you then tell me the truth?”

I said as calmly as possible, but my throat tightened, and my chin trembled.

In that moment, her eyes wavered greatly.

I didn’t miss it.

Her voice, face, and body shape suggested she was at most in her thirties.

Rosalind had supposedly died two years ago, and Green claimed she moved inside the wall from outside the wall a year before Rosalind’s death, which would be about three years ago.

According to her, this was three years ago, but those who knew Green, including the employees, said they first saw her two years ago.

They all said they first saw her at Rosalind’s funeral.

This was beyond reasonable doubt.

The woman sitting before me, under the name Green, was Rosalind herself.

Then it made sense why she didn’t tell me she was Rosalind.

It must be because of the cursed laws of this world.

“I understand why you didn’t reveal yourself as Rosalind.”

Her smooth smile on the white paper-like face cracked, and her expression hardened.

“I’ve heard that people with different fates cannot speak to each other except for those who share the same fate, due to the law of causality. Is that it?”

Green closed her eyes tightly.

She pressed her closed eyelids and then dismissed all the employees and closed the reception room door.

“…Damn, damn Arteus.”

She muttered through clenched teeth.

She stomped her foot and slammed the table, unable to control her anger.

‘Bang!’

The loud noise made the table shake.

Green—no, Rosalind—looked up at me with eyes that seemed to burn with fury.

“What on earth, what on earth, what on earth!”

She screamed hysterically, pulling at her wavy black hair.

Unable to contain herself, she threw the inkwell on the table against the wall, shattering it.

I had heard from the innkeeper and those who knew her that she had a fiery temper, and it was true.

“What do you want from me? Damn it! If you knew about the law of causality, shouldn’t we just let it slide?”

I was slightly surprised to see her so enraged.

But the fortunate part was that she no longer denied being Rosalind.

I sighed and smiled.

“Why are you trying to ruin someone’s new life? What do you want? You’re living a great new life yourself!”

“Rosalind. Please calm down and listen to me. I came here to ask you for a favor.”

“Would you be calm if you were in my shoes? Damn it. If my business collapses because of the law of causality, you’ll have to take responsibility. You’re the Lady of the Rodore family, right? Take responsibility! Take responsibility!”

I was curious why she was so hysterical, and it turned out it was because of her business.

Feeling guilty, I thought, if it was about money, then losing rationality was understandable.

Her business was quite successful.

“Alright. Whatever it is, I’ll compensate you for the causality you’ll face.”

I approached her to calm her down.

I grabbed her flailing arms and clung to her.

“You must know about the wealth of the Duke’s residence, right? This kind of shop is something we can easily handle.”

Although the wealth of the Duke’s residence wasn’t all mine, I received some money like an allowance.

If I saved that, it wouldn’t be difficult to set up a shop like this again.

“So please, listen to me. Please. Calm down and listen to me…”

I had vowed not to cry and beg, but I eventually broke down.

Even as I burst into tears, I reached out and grabbed Rosalind’s sleeve tightly.

I thought she would roughly shake off my hand, but unexpectedly, she didn’t.

Seeing me cry so desperately, Rosalind only muttered curses mixed with sighs but didn’t push me away or shake off my hand.

Contrary to her appearance, she was weak to tears.

“I… You’re the only person I can ask…”

I shed tears once again, this time with only half of them being genuine.

***

Rosalind, who was watching me cry my heart out, cursed her luck and said today’s business was ruined. She locked the shop door and sent the employees home early.

She threatened to charge me the cost of closing early.

That meant she wasn’t going to kick me out even if she chased the customers away.

This was quite a significant development.

I shook my head so much that I thought it might fall off.

“How did you come to know Arteus?”

The Arteus she mentioned was likely the wizard I had seen.

“In the market. He was reading fortunes for others and called me over.”

“What a busybody…”

Her tone was different when she talked about her apprentice.

It was the softest I’d ever heard.

I continued cautiously, watching Rosalind’s reactions.

“He asked me to tell you to write to him again if I met you.”

When I mentioned his request, Rosalind let out a disbelieving laugh.

She sat down, crossing her arms, not hiding her displeasure.

“Stubborn fool…”

She clicked her tongue.

“Hey, who do you think I am?”

After a moment of thought, she suddenly turned her eyes to me.

Her green eyes, catching the light, shone strangely.

With just those eyes, she seemed like an ancient tree hundreds of years old or a dense forest.

“You call me Rosalind, but do I look like the old Rosalind to you now? Hey, that was just one of the many names I’ve used.”

Her eyes were piercing.

Looking at them felt like staring into the eyes of a night owl or the gleam of a predator met in the dark.

Her eyes shone brightly.

I swallowed dryly without realizing it.

“…The last time I sent a letter, I ended my ties with Arteus. My life will no longer overlap with his.”

“Why?”

“Lives are meant to be separated. You, me, and Arteus are living connected lives as a punishment.”

Punishment.

That was the perfect word.

I, too, considered this life a punishment.

“In my past life… I read a novel about this place.”

My fingers trembled, not knowing if it was out of fear or nervousness.

I forcibly straightened my curling fingers and continued slowly.

Rosalind neither interrupted me nor responded.

I told her everything.

I told her everything about having memories from birth, the dreams I had, and finally how I came to know about her.

I recounted every moment of my life.

Both my past life and present life, leaving out nothing I could remember.

“Yes, sometimes there are people like you.”

Rosalind said with a nonchalant face.

My eyes widened.

“There are others like me? People who enter the story they read in their past lives, like me?”

“Yes, there are. In fact, there are many. It’s just that most of them don’t remember it.”

Rosalind paused for a moment.

A very deep and blue expression passed over her green eyes.

She smiled, lifting the corners of her mouth slightly.

“There are even those who have become the witch from the story they read.”

“Wait, Rosalind, then, are you…”

“Looking at you, it seems this isn’t even your second life. You don’t remember any of the lives before the one you consider your first life, do you? Actually, even that ‘first life’ is just a vague memory for you, isn’t it?”

Not the second life?

So, does that mean I have lived more lives than the ones I remember?

Rosalind continued speaking, ignoring my state of panic.

“You came to me because you wanted to avoid your fate. You’re begging and pleading with me right now to change even a little bit of the fate you read about in your past life, aren’t you?”

“…Can it be changed?”

A faint glimmer of hope rose again.