chapter 8
3. Before the start begins – 02
“My lady, do you remember your name?”
dory dory.
“Well, then where are you from?”
dory dory.
“You don’t even remember how old are you?”
Nod.
Elena asked the white-haired girl, and the white-haired girl nodded or shook her head as if she were a puppy.
After that, Elena talked to the white-haired girl for a while, and then she looked in my direction.
“Well. It seems that what you said is true. The woman said she couldn’t remember why she was there or who she was. I’m curious about how he hid on my brother’s bed, but it’s true that he doesn’t have memories, so I can’t question him now.”
“…Well.”
After Sara left the Duke of Estelle with a very angry face, I couldn’t help but sigh as I looked at the white-haired lady lying on my bed. Thanks to this woman, the relationship with Sarah was ruined and ended very badly, but I think it was inevitable. Sarah Cernard was the woman who was supposed to break up with me anyway, so I felt less shocked. Even if something big happened, what would happen other than breaking up the marriage one more time? Breaking up a marriage feels quite familiar once you’ve done it a couple of times.
…Well, to be honest, in the current situation, things like engagement to Sarah weren’t important. Going through a series of situations, I came to the realization that everything I was experiencing was real. It had never been heard that this kind of vision could be applied to humans, and it was too vivid to be called a dream. As a result, there was only one thing that could clearly explain the current situation.
That I went back to the past 10 years ago. I don’t know why, but if this situation occurred because I went back to the past 10 years ago, everything can be explained clearly.
Crucially, I also get a vague sense of what caused the regression.
“Elena, I have a request for you.”
“Yes, tell me, brother.”
Elena nodded her head with her eyes shining brightly at my words. I stroked Elena’s hair once and spoke in a low tone.
“…Yes, thank you. Elena. Also, could you please leave my room for a moment?”
“Yes? Why?”
Elena’s eyes widened when I suddenly issued a congratulatory order.
“I’d like to have a little talk with this lady alone.”
I glanced at the white-haired woman, who was still looking around like a drenched puppy. The story I had to share with that woman from now on was something I had to be very careful about, so I had no choice but to issue a congratulatory order to Elena.
“…Well, I see. If you ever need me, call me anytime. Brother.”
“okay.”
Saying that, Elena quietly retreated out of my room without making a sound. It was a clean attitude befitting a young lady from an aristocratic family. Perhaps, the most aristocratic person in the Estel family might be none other than Elena.
But in the current situation, that didn’t matter. I turned my head and stared at the white-haired woman still sitting quietly on my bed. No matter how I looked at it, and no matter how I looked at it, that dense and beautiful face only reminded me of a face I knew well.
Yes. How can I forget that face purple eyes. A face so beautiful that one cannot guess its age. Although, at first I was a little nervous because she looked much younger than the face I was familiar with, but as I continued to look at her like this, I could easily guess what the identity of that white-haired woman was.
‘…witch of winter.’
Yes. She had white hair who used to make winter bloom at her fingertips. Undoubtedly, the strongest part of mankind, with the strength of a single body equaling the strength of the entire expedition.
In a world where everything was bleached white, the witch’s appearance, being hit by falling snowflakes, looked terribly beautiful. To be honest, it was good to see that I fell in love with that look. It doesn’t mean I love her. It just looked beautiful.
At the last moment, I felt pitiful for her as she looked at me with a sorrowful expression and held me in my arms. Although I knew full well that she was the witch who brought endless winter to the world and caused the deaths of many people, I couldn’t forget it.
‘thank you.’
I just couldn’t forget the woman who smiled broadly and said ‘thank you’ to the man with the knife in her chest.
“……”
I look up and look at the woman with white hair, the Witch of Winter.
“…Ah, ugh…”
As soon as my eyes reach, the witch shrinks. That figure is completely different from the witch I was acquainted with. The witches I knew were not like this. The witch was confident. In fact, it’s funny to pretend to know something like this on a subject that we’ve only encountered for half a day, but we did it anyway. The witch I knew was such a woman who maintained her dignity even when the whole world turned against her.
“….Hmm.”
Elena’s words seem to be true. The Winter Witch really seems to have lost her memory. To be honest, watching that figure trembling, it was so absurd that I couldn’t help but laugh. However, I also think that that look with a childish face looking at me in fear suits me quite well. Does that mean I’m really crazy? Or was he the type to become strong in front of the weak?
I let out a sigh that I couldn’t tell how many times I had exhaled today and asked the woman in front of me in a small voice.
“You really don’t remember anything?”
The white-haired woman nodded softly at my question.
“…yes.”
“Mmm.”
Elena seemed right. No matter how I looked at it, the woman in front of me maintained a dazed attitude, as if she had amnesia.
‘…Amnesia?’
It was a symptom that I had heard countless times in old stories, but it felt fresh to hear that a person who had actually lost his memory appeared in front of me.
However, it was safe to say that the infamous Winter Witch did not need to pretend to be a harmless commoner in front of me, so there was a high probability that her words were true.
I look up and down at the witch, lost in thought. The content of the bar to worry about was simple.
How to dispose of witches. To be precise, it was such a worry about whether I should kill that woman right here and there.
“…..”
Now that the Winter Witch has lost all her memories and has become a harmless normal person, killing her is very easy. Ten years later, she was no longer a terrifying witch who brought an endless winter to the continent, but just an ordinary girl. If you thrust a sword into that thin-looking neck now, everything will end.
An endless winter will not come to the continent, and I will not be thrown into a dungeon. Or, they would not be forcibly dragged into the expedition and harassed like dogs for a year, and the nature of the Duchy of Estelle would not be reduced to dust in Bianca’s hands. Perhaps, unlike before the regression, it is clear that everything will end with a happy ending.
However, he shakes his head. Killing must be the simplest way, but not the best way. Because, to me, there are several reasons not to kill witches.
“…?”
“No, nothing.”
The winter witch who blinks and tilts her head when I look at her. yes, that’s it The reason why I came back to the past must have been related to that witch. There was no logic, no evidence, but somehow I was certain of that fact. To give an analogy, should I say the feeling that she and I are connected by something unknown?
And that feeling was whispering something to me. that you shouldn’t kill her If you kill her, the irreversible might happen this time-
“…..”
so don’t kill In the worst case, wouldn’t it be possible to go back 10 years after killing the witch? Well, the idea of flying back to the future just because you killed a witch seemed ridiculous, but to put it that way, wouldn’t it be ridiculous to return to the past 10 years ago just because you put a sword in the witch’s heart?
No matter how many times I measured it, it seemed that staying in this era was a hundred times better choice, even at the cost of embracing the anxiety factor of being a witch.
And second, actually, this is the most important one.
“One more thing, I have to ask you.”
“…yes. Please speak.”
The witch of winter answers in a quiet tone, perhaps because she is still afraid of me.
“Do you have a place to go back to?”
dory dory.
“Family, relatives. Do you really remember nothing?”
Nod.
good night. Truly perfect. Currently, witches are in a state where there is no kinship or blood ties. He even lost his memory of who he was. In other words, if witches are kicked out of Estelle’s family, they would be like outcasts with nowhere else to go.
And, in this situation, isn’t it almost obvious what kind of sentiment you will have if someone else extends a hand as if to patronize you?
With such a sinister purpose hidden deep in my heart, I gave these words in a calm tone, putting on an expression that seemed to be thinking hard for her on the outside.
Ten years later, for Duke Estelle, a seasoned regressor who has gone through all the hardships in the future, it was really no big deal to seduce such an innocent woman with flattery.
“Then, do you have any intention of working for the Duke of Estelle?”
“…yes?”
“If you have nowhere else to go, we are willing to officially hire you from the Duke of Estelle. How are you?”
That’s how the grand plan to make the Winter Witch my faithful subordinate in this lifetime began.