Chapter 57
But after saying that, Ari shook her head again.
“……no, no. I think it’s a bit too early to say it now, and if it’s not true, it’ll only bring disappointment. I’m sorry, eonni. I was going to say it, but I stopped.”
“No. Don’t apologize.”
Then a maid knocked on the door and came in.
It seemed that she was trying to replace the lukewarm tea with a new brewed hot one.
“The taste of this tea is unique. Was it originally in the mansion?”
“Oh, this is……..”
After changing the subject, I took a steaming teacup to my mouth.
The unique taste was not a word that was taken out, but a sincere one. I tasted it slowly, taking care not to burn my tongue in the hot tea.
***
‘What was she trying to say?”
I changed the subject and just let it pass, but it doesn’t mean that I wasn’t curious about what Ari was going to say.
But I didn’t want to force her.
‘The book.’
As soon as I got home, I came up to the room and took out a familiar book from the shelf and opened it.
<Spring of the Goddess Agrita.>
The story underlying this world.
But now it’s very meaningless.
‘Because the protagonist has disappeared.’
There is no Aggrita here. It’s just Ari.
It has already been verified at a time when the world is trying to kill Ari that the kernel inside is important, not its appearance.
‘It’s the story of Aggrita, but without her…….’
Several main characters such as villains and male characters still exist, but it was still the story of Aggrita at the core of the story, as the title suggests.
So now that she’s gone, the whole plot of the book designed around her has been shaken and distorted.
It’s not really about Agrita’s existence, but it’s going to go as it was originally set.
‘Yes, like my death.’
Flap flap.
The book pages went over with a cheerful sound of paper sheets.
Aggrita was absent, but my origin remains the same.
Even if her absence changes the story, the fact that I am not the blood of this family and that I am not Ash’s sister does not change.
‘So I can’t deny it, I can’t doubt it. My disastrous future.’
The fast-paced book pages stopped suddenly on a page.
I read the exposed page silently with my eyes.
[The death of Princess Widgreen.
The sudden and shocking incident left the dukedom in the silence of mourning.
The users either shed tears or paid their silent tribute.
But the flesh under his hands, the Duke of Widgreen, who should be most grieved, was, ironically, the most indifferent of them.
In fact, he had no choice but to.
Duke of Widgreen. Because he was the one who put his own sword into my sister’s heart last night.
Standing at the window of his office, he took a dim view of the mansion grieving over the portrait of the princess.
His heart and soul, knowing that he had killed the princess himself, hesitated and dared to ask before him.
“Your Excellency, why did you do that?”
But the words that came back were out of the blue.
“Amazing. Everyone is very affectionate.”
“Yes?”
“You all can truly sympathize with the death of another person who didn’t share any drop of blood, even enough to show tears.”
“…….”
“It’s a pity. That I don’t have that kind of affection.”
His right-hand realized only then. This was an answer to his question.
Princess Widgreen is not actually the Duke’s real sister.
It was a secret that only a few people knew in the mansion. The results of the revelation of the hidden truth were devastating.
The right-hand man bowed his head in mourning for the dead.]
“………”
When I first read this passage, I was so surprised that I dropped the book.
Perhaps because I read it so much, so now I have a different impression than a shock.
‘It’s no fun.’
The book was boring.
‘If this novel was put in a bookstore, it wouldn’t have been sold.’
Now I’m telling you, the book’s narrative and dialogue line are really no fun.
The psychological description of the characters is extremely lacking, and events should be able to weigh different things between drama and daily life, but there is not much of that.
Sentences often seem to be the sole purpose of delivering information.
‘Establishment, deployment……was it a crisis, a climax, an end? Sharing is very ambiguous.’
Who wrote it? It may have been a simple transcription of a character’s life, but in many ways, it was a terrible novel.
It’s missing, missing. It’s not just the main character, it’s also missing the fun.
‘……well, it’s not very important.’
I flipped down a few more pages of the book and soon covered it up.
Since that day five years ago, I have read it several times over the night.
Even if I look at it again now, chances of finding something that I haven’t found before were slim.
‘Ari said she’ll let me know when it’s the time.’
Ari said it was too early to say now.
Then, if it was time to come, she said she would bring it up again and talk about it again.
I put the book back where it was, then moved a little and opened the desk drawer.
When I thought about Ari, there was something that came to my mind.
‘The time bead that turns back time.’
I was going to talk about this when I met Ari today.
And then the unexpected topic of God of the Dimension came up, so I forgot about it.
‘I can’t believe I’m only remembering it now.’
I took out the paper and unfolded it and held the quill pen in my hand.
I stole half the time beads from the temple that served the God of Time.
That meant the other half was still there.
‘Let’s have Ari steal it and keep it.’
Insurance is always better than nothing.
Right now, Dylan is taking care of Ari’s safety. However, human affairs were originally unpredictable.
What if something happens to Dylan? An unexpected accident, an incident, or whatever.
‘Cause she said she was looking for God of Dimension. Maybe we should get away from the capital.’
The fifteen time-reversing beads were too enchanting and useful insurance to let go, knowing their existence.
The fact that the bead had disappeared from the movement of the temple did not seem to have been detected until this point.
The sooner we were going to steal the rest, the better.
‘I should say I’ll visit her tomorrow morning.’
I was going to tell her the story of the bead in person.
It was better than writing because I would like to share the process in as much detail as possible and pass on the secret method (?).
Holding a pen and paper was to send a message in advance of courtesy before my visit.
Viscount Grace Mansion was located on the outskirts of the capital, so the time was vague to visit again now.
It is also best to go early tomorrow morning.
I hesitated to move my hand holding the pen.
‘…… I should’ve taken the marble down to the territory.’
If so, I would have broken the bead as soon as Ash was hit by an arrow, so Ash could have gone back to nothing.
It was foolish of me to think complacency that there would be no use for beads without Ari around.
I bit the inside of my lips to the point where it tasted a little iron (bloody), and soon shook my head as if I were shaking off the past.
Then I began to write a letter.
[Dear Lady Grace]
But I had to stop my hand again after writing it there.
It wasn’t for any other reason.
‘There’s no ink.’
I peered at the ink can where I had dipped the pen point.
When did it run out?
Come to think of it, I think I vaguely remember seeing the floor before.
‘I’ll have to replace it at this point.’
I couldn’t care less because I didn’t have much to look for.
Tell Bessie about the ink and she’ll get a new one right away.
I left the room and went down to talk to her in person because I had to make a round trip for a small errand.
But what I encountered on the first floor was Bessie, who was ready to go out.
“Bessie? Where are you going?”
“Oh, my lady. I’m thinking of going to the market. I have a few things I need.”
“Bessie alone? Without having Alex or any other servant.”
“I’m going to go out and take a break. All I have to do is put in the order form. By the way, do you need anything, my lady?”
“Oh, no big deal. I just need some ink…..”
“Oh, that’s great. That’s also during this time of year, and the quality is better than usual and there are various types of products.”
There was something strange about Bessie’s words. I pointed out the odd point aloud.
“This time?”
“It’s a harvest festival soon.”
I suddenly counted the words.
Come to think of it, it did. At the end of 9th month, it was time for autumn to ripen and the harvest festival to take place.
‘Is that already happening?’
No way.
‘My future is still like a black ink can that I saw a little while ago, but time flows like this.’
It was amazing.
I gulped down a sigh and corrected my expression.
Anyway, it was understandable that Bessie would go to the market in person, as soon as the harvest festival was held.
With the festival ahead, quality products poured out on the streets of the capital city.
‘It feels like the part before the holiday.’
Of course, the price would be higher than usual but not to an extent that it would dire the Dukedom finance.
“It’ll be fun to watch if we go out now. Would you like to come with me?”
“Huh? Me?”
“You said you needed ink. It’s not something we don’t have in the mansion, but why don’t you choose something you like and feel good about?”
“I agree.”
This wasn’t my answer. Looking around, Sir Davery stood around while I came down.
“What about that sir?”
“I thought I’d stop by the weapons store.”
“You want to change the sword?”
“I was thinking of checking a sword. Bessie, is this welfare funded?”
“Well, whatever. I’ll talk about that to the butler after coming back.”
“Okay. The answer came out. Lady, let’s go together.”
“..….”
‘Why is the answer getting out of there?’
The unexpected outing was decided so abruptly.
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