Resetting Lady

Raymond might already be searching for her, and if he couldn’t find her, he would probably commit suicide to follow her. Carynne thought about this absentmindedly and realized it was actually a good method. She decided to advise Raymond not to wait next time and just commit suicide. Waiting too long had made him cry too much.

Thinking of Raymond, Carynne slowly closed her eyes.

“But when I opened my eyes, I found myself here…”

Carynne felt the walls of the room with her hands, trying to figure out the location.

It seemed like she had been here before. As she felt along the walls, she slowly found the spot where the lantern had been hung before. With a clatter, she found the extinguished lantern.

Fortunately, there was a matchbox right next to the lantern. After several attempts in the darkness, Carynne finally managed to light a match.

“Where are we!”

“…Isella, I’ll say it again… Promise me you won’t scream.”

“Where exactly are we?”

The owner of this place was obvious. The person who held the real power in this country.

“Haa.”

Carynne sighed as she lit the lantern. The small flame illuminated the area. Isella stumbled toward the light. Her face was covered in blood. Damn. Carynne reached out to Isella, but she avoided Carynne’s hand.

“Where are we? And why are we here? Why haven’t you been telling me properly?”

“…As I said before, it’s better if you don’t know.”

Carynne answered calmly.

The owner of this room was Crown Prince Gueuze. He probably wouldn’t kill her outright. As she resembled his mother so much, she would be more useful alive than dead. Though, for someone with Carynne’s weak constitution, she had no intention of playing along with him.

‘Should I just kill myself and be done with it?’

Carynne looked toward the wall where a decorative sword was hung. But it was too high. Her arms couldn’t reach it. Last time, Crown Prince Gueuze had killed his son and left the sword on the ground, making it possible.

“What a hassle…”

Carynne thought about ways to take her own life. She knew from her past lives that biting her tongue wouldn’t kill her. Would smashing her head against the wall work? She had never succeeded in killing herself that way.

She should have replaced the necklace with a sturdy rope like last time. That would have made it easier to succeed. Carynne lamented her inadequacy. How could she die?

“…Carynne, b-blood… you have blood… on your face…”

And then there was Isella.

Seeing Isella’s blood-streaked face in the dark, Carynne felt despondent. Isella had also been kidnapped and had blood on her face from being hit on the head with something.

Carynne touched the back of her head and spoke to Isella. Fortunately, it seemed like her head wasn’t cracked open.

“Isella, your face is covered in blood too.”

“W-What? Really? Oh, so that’s why… Wait, let me see the lantern.”

Isella snatched the lantern from Carynne and hurriedly wiped her face with her sleeve. When she saw the blood soaking into her sleeve, she panicked.

“Ahhh!”

“Shh.”

“Ahhhhh!”

“Isella. Be quiet.”

“It hurts! There’s b-blood!”

The blood had been flowing all along, but now it seemed to bother her more. Carynne approached Isella and examined her head. She was bleeding from what appeared to be a blow. But seeing her moving around normally, Carynne realized there were more pressing concerns.

“Isella. Calm down…”

“…Agh.”

“Isella!”

And then, still with her mouth open, Isella fainted and collapsed to the ground.

Carynne quickly put her ear to Isella’s chest, but her heart hadn’t stopped.

“…What should I do?”

Carynne lifted the lantern higher.

The true nature of the room hidden in the darkness was revealed.

The room still had corpses hanging on the walls. Fortunately, there weren’t as many as last time. At a later date, the room would be filled… but for now, the grotesqueness was somewhat diminished due to the comparatively fewer number of bodies hanging.

“…Isella…”

It was still revolting, but given that it was her second time seeing this room, Carynne could look at it calmly without screaming. She sighed, noticing that the number of bodies, or what had once been bodies, was significantly fewer than before.

“What should we do?”

Once again, she was entangled with Crown Prince Gueuze.

* * *

“I still can’t believe it.”

Marquis Penceir cut him off before Raymond could even mention the suspect’s name. He looked like he didn’t want to hear another word. Raymond pointed to the documents he had brought and began to speak.

“Marquis, I was very hesitant about whether to inform you of this.”

“Do you understand what you’ve just said? Do you realize how dangerous this action is?”

The evidence, statistics, testimonies, and suspect sketches Raymond presented all pointed to Crown Prince Gueuze. Raymond had practically fabricated the evidence while knowing the answer from the very start, but to the unsuspecting marquis, it was disturbingly accurate.

Despite this, the marquis had no intention of accepting it. He, too, was part of the royal family.

“All this evidence points to the royal palace.”

Raymond said, staring at the Marquis.

“We must stop more people from dying.”

“You must think you have seven lives. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear any of this.”

“Marquis.”

As Raymond spent more time with the marquis, he became aware of the marquis’s cold side. It was something he hadn’t noticed when he was younger.

The marquis detested Verdic for developing weapons or managing conflicts, but he never actively opposed Crown Prince Gueuze either.

The number of victims Raymond had identified reached the thousands. Outwardly, Marquis Penceir and Crown Prince Gueuze appeared to be quite close. The marquis couldn’t have been oblivious to the crown prince’s gruesome secrets—yet, he never opposed the man.

In the end, he was just a pawn to the marquis. The marquis was someone who could discard him for political purposes. To ascend to the throne.

Prince Lewis would eventually die, and the marquis would be king. Raymond had seen the marquis’s dirty side and had even become his scapegoat. As people moved to a larger stage, the ease with which they used and discarded others increased.

Marquis Penceir rarely wanted to intervene in this matter. He pushed the documents Raymond handed him aside and advised,

“Take care. Sometimes you have to endure.”

“People are dying even now. Look at the timing of the discovered corpses and the near abductions. The people are anxious.”

“Far more people are dying on the border right now. A few disappearing in the capital isn’t even noticeable. It’s still too early.”

The marquis’s eyes were cold. To him, Raymond was still a naive youngster. Seeing Raymond with dangerous evidence made the marquis suspicious.

In the past, he had held more information than Raymond, so he could handle Raymond’s actions with ease. But now, realizing Raymond had more information, he reacted sharply. The marquis was displeased with Raymond leading the conversation.

“Marquis.”

“More importantly, it’s not your business. Why are you so concerned about those missing people? Most of them are prostitutes, aren’t they? Don’t worry about it.”

“Do prostitutes deserve to die?”

The marquis merely scoffed at Raymond’s provocative words.

“Isn’t it better than you dying? Don’t speak so arrogantly.”

“Marquis.”

Nevertheless, the current marquis didn’t seem at all inclined to accept Raymond’s opinion.

***

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