EDTATO 06

Chapter 6

In my memories, he never once let me go.

Even if I stopped breathing right in front of him, even if I fled to the farthest reaches of the world—

Somehow, he would always find me and, without fail, imprison me tightly within his broad embrace.

I want to die.

Truly, I wanted to escape from him even if it meant dying…

The thought that being alive was more horrifying than being dead kept me from falling asleep easily.

I was lying buried in the soft bedding, sighing over and over as though I could make the pristine white bed collapse beneath me, when—

“Lady Heine.”

Someone knocked on the door, accompanied by a trembling voice.

At this hour?

It was already close to midnight, but the voice sounded familiar, so I readily opened the door.

As expected, the person standing there was Bonnie, trembling in fear at the sight of my red eyes.

“What is it?”

I welcomed Bonnie inside with a gentle smile. Though she was still a young girl, she was even taller than I was.

I was wondering what had brought her here so late at night when I noticed something glinting.

It was a short dagger, slightly longer than the palm of a hand.

“I’m sorry, my lady.”

A searing pain drove itself into my chest.

“I… I heard everything that day…!”

Bonnie, despite having committed the audacious act of driving a knife into my chest, immediately burst into tears filled with fear.

“The High Priest and you…! You really are strange beings, aren’t you?!”

It was pitiful. She was trembling as she killed someone, yet she babbled on in desperation, trying to confirm something.

“Strange beings?”

As I parted my lips to repeat her words, a gush of blood spilled from my mouth.

The cruel sight, familiar to me but foreign to this girl, naturally left Bonnie’s face deathly pale.

“You… You have a body that cannot die!”

“……”

“Even for the sake of the Grand Duke’s family, someone as dangerous as you shouldn’t be staying in this mansion…!”

A body that cannot die. Someone dangerous.

“Ha…”

One after another, her words grated against my nerves, and a hollow laugh escaped me.

It was less the light laugh of an innocent young lady and more the sound a vicious woman might make while standing upon a pool of blood.

Honestly, I’m tired of this.

Out of gratitude toward Ian, I had tried to remain here as a benevolent benefactor, at least within this mansion.

If I couldn’t die right away because of the wager, then I wanted to live like a human being for as long as I was alive.

The face that had been pretending to be an innocent young lady gradually hardened.

Eventually, not even the slightest trace of emotion remained.

“Then what exactly do you intend to do?”

I grasped the blade that was buried deep in my chest and widened my eyes.

It was a cold question, spoken while enduring the tearing pain.

“Just because you know I can’t die, what do you think you can do?”

I even gave her a casual smile with my eyes, making it impossible for Bonnie to conceal her bewilderment. Even so, she revealed her plan.

“I-I’m going to call someone right away. This knife and the bloodstained clothes will both be evidence, won’t they? I don’t know what has possessed the young master, but I…!”

Judging by her actions, she really must have overheard the conversation between Payden and me.

For a mere servant to take up a knife for her master was nothing short of admirable.

At the same time, I couldn’t help but marvel at the authority of the Grand Duke’s household, which could inspire even an ordinary maid to such fierce loyalty.

My silk nightgown was gradually becoming soaked in blood.

As though the blood didn’t belong to me, as though I were someone accustomed to pain, I whispered monotonously.

“What should I do? I have no intention of allowing you to do that.”

If my breath stopped here, I wouldn’t die. I would merely fall asleep for a while.

And although I would awaken within a few hours, I had no idea what Bonnie might do in the meantime.

I endured the pain in my chest and opened and closed my eyes.

Along with a burning heat, I felt my irises turning golden.

Then, using the power I had mastered long ago and wielded hundreds of times in my endless past, I asked:

“Would you tell me your name?”

Bonnie, immediately captivated by my eyes, relaxed her distorted expression and lost focus in her gaze.

Then she quietly answered my question.

“Bonnie Enid.”

Fortunately, there seemed to be no problem with using my ability.

“Yes, Bonnie. First of all, if you want to kill someone…”

I roughly pulled the knife from my chest, and a torrent of red blood poured out.

“Simply stabbing them isn’t enough. You have to pull it out immediately and make them bleed. That way, death comes faster.”

Of course, stabbing them in several places would be even more effective.

I offered my advice as I recalled the countless deaths I had experienced over and over again. It didn’t matter, since this girl wouldn’t remember a single word of it anyway.

“You know, the person who desperately wants me dead more than anyone else is me.”

I took Bonnie’s hand and placed it over the spot where the dagger had been lodged in my chest. Then I murmured gently.

“If something this small were enough to kill me, I would have stabbed myself dozens of times over. I wouldn’t have needed to make some ridiculous wager in the first place.”

The bleeding from my chest had already stopped, and the wound was already healing.

“Isn’t it absurd? That death is the only way for me to escape from him.”

That I have to love someone else in order to die. That I have to win some ridiculous wager before I can finally receive my death back from him.

I lowered Bonnie’s hand and gently stroked her still unfocused face.

“If I were the person I used to be, I might have easily gotten rid of a girl like you by telling you to throw yourself off a cliff.”

But this was the Grand Duke’s household, a place overflowing with kindness toward me, and I didn’t want an unpleasant incident to trouble Ian.

Besides, I thought that having someone so deeply devoted to her master become equally devoted to me might make things easier for me in the future.

“So, will you forget everything that happened tonight and devote yourself completely to me?”

“Yes. I will.”

Bonnie quietly nodded and moved her lips.

It was an answer that had nothing to do with her own will, but I was satisfied.

I roughly grabbed the back of the girl’s neck and pulled her closer until our eyes were level.

“Still, there won’t be a second chance. You’ll have to become my hands and feet with all your strength.”

So that I could win the wager, meet a human death, and escape from him.

“I think I’ll have to make this place the stage for this lifetime.”

As those who fell under the spell of my power usually did, Bonnie soon bowed politely.

Then she put away the knife she had prepared herself, checked my disheveled appearance, and quietly left the room.

The rest of Bonnie’s night would be busy secretly disposing of every trace of what she had done.

Even if she happened to encounter someone and was questioned about the bloodstains, she would come up with a convincing excuse and slip away. She wouldn’t remember that she had done it herself, either.

Those ensnared by my power always kept secrets perfectly in this way.

Early the next morning.

I put on a pale blue dress that perfectly matched Ian’s eyes and tied my silver hair high.

Once I had been dressed so delicately, the reflection in the mirror made me look remarkably young, about Dant’s age.

“As expected, it suits you perfectly!”

Dant placed one hand against her forehead and wiped away sweat that wasn’t even there.

I brushed aside a few strands of hair that I had deliberately left loose and smiled like a little wildflower.

“Thank you. You worked hard.”

“Oh, it was nothing!”

Dant waved her hands and giggled adorably.

The maids seemed unable to contain their affection as they fussed over my clothes, chatting excitedly among themselves.

“She really is so beautiful.”

“She looks like a fairy from a myth.”

“If a god descended upon this land, wouldn’t she look just like our young lady?”

While each of them chattered as they pleased, Dant spread out the skirt of my dress, even though there was hardly anything left to adjust, and continued talking.

“The young master repeatedly told us to make sure to give the young lady everything she wanted and to take meticulous care of her so that she wouldn’t be uncomfortable. I’ve never seen him give instructions so earnestly before.”

Dant asked Bonnie, who had just entered through the door.

“Right? You heard him too, Bonnie.”

The girl who had driven a knife into my chest last night quietly smiled and nodded.

“That’s right. I definitely heard him.”

I discreetly watched Bonnie.

Unlike the other girls, she was particularly calm and quiet. With neat movements, she held several pairs of earrings against me one after another, carefully considering which ones would suit me best.

No matter how I looked at her, she seemed like an ordinary maid.

Despite her tall stature, she had a small nose and lips that gave her a modestly cute appearance. Her black hair was neatly tied back, making her look like nothing more than an ordinary servant.

To think someone who looks this innocent could have driven a knife into me.

I let out a hollow laugh.

You really can’t tell what’s inside a person.

As I followed Bonnie with my eyes and recalled what had happened the night before, Dant opened the door with a satisfied smile.

“Then, shall we go?”

When the door opened, Butler Hubert, who had been waiting outside, bowed respectfully.

“Did you sleep peacefully last night?”

“Thanks to you.”

“The young master is waiting in the garden. I will escort you there.”

I gave a small nod in response to Hubert’s kindness and followed him.

I had thought spring had only just begun, but the garden of the Grand Duke’s residence was already filled with greenery.

The fragrance of flowers in full bloom drifted away on the gentle breeze, and pure white butterflies fluttered gracefully here and there.

Amidst the beautiful scenery, I caught sight of a pristine white canopy.

Beneath it stood a marble table, laden with so much breakfast that it hardly seemed intended for only two people.

And there was a man waiting there.

“Heine!”

Ian was dressed in luxurious finery from head to toe, befitting the son of a Grand Duke.

He rose from his seat and waved brightly at me.