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Chapter 21
“I will live the rest of our family’s life happily for you.”
“Miss, I wrote what you asked for!”
In Millie’s hands, who was waiting for me in the room, was a thick bundle of papers with “Report about Lady Ries” written on the cover.
“Wow, you worked really hard. You must have suffered. Thank you!”
I didn’t expect her to write it so properly.
Feeling touched, I took it, and Millie wiped her teary eyes with the back of her hand.
“Miss, it must be confusing and hard since your memory hasn’t returned… I will pay more attention and take better care of you in the future!”
“Even now, you are taking very good care of me.”
“This was written by all of us. Please read it later!”
Millie gave me one more rolled paper like a scroll, then quickly stepped back shyly.
Curious, I opened it. It was a rolling paper message shared among the servants.
‘Even this… I’m really moved.’
Thinking about how to repay this kindness, I decided to give Millie a generous bonus incentive for this month. Financial care is the best treatment.
The , written by her over several days, was filled with many kinds of information.
It recorded Ries’s growth process, family relationships, friendships, likes and dislikes, hobbies, and talents.
It also detailed the big events during the five years Millie served as Ries’s exclusive maid.
“Before sleeping, the lady sometimes wrote a diary.”
The report itself was helpful, but learning that Ries wrote a diary was the biggest gain.
I searched the room immediately and found the diary hidden very carefully.
By grabbing the small groove at the bottom of the drawer and lifting it, a light brown diary with a double bottom appeared.
‘It’s okay to read it, right, Ries?’
Since I will continue your life, I need to understand how you lived and what you thought.
With a nervous heart, I opened the first page of the diary.
Honestly, my dopamine also rose because it felt like reading someone else’s secret diary.
The diary started about three years ago.
X month X day.
No matter what I eat, it doesn’t taste good. No matter what I learn, I feel no interest.
Even reading the new volume of my favorite novel series isn’t fun.
I waited six months for the next book, but maybe it’s because there is no one to talk about books with… Still, I was happy when I saw the iris flowers my mom and I planted last year bloom.
I imagined a childish, random diary typical of elementary school students, but I was surprised to see the writing was neat and logical.
Maybe because she was a book lover, her writing skill was also special.
X month X day.
Father invited the family of Baron Lastin to our house. Maybe he was worried because I always stay in the study.
He told me to get along with the young lady from that house.
But after exchanging a few words, Kien Lastin said I was a boring child and left.
All he talked about was the latest fashion and boys’ stories.
How can I become close with someone so different from me?
At first I read lightly, but as I turned the pages, I became emotionally immersed in her feelings.
Today, I got angry and fought badly with my noisy older brother who keeps lecturing me.
That arrogant man became even more annoying after entering the military academy as the top student.
I hope the second-place student works harder and crushes that proud nose.
Some parts were relatable. The second place was probably Darius.
Today is my mother’s death anniversary.
It has been three years since she left, but I still miss her terribly.
Father and brother seem to have adapted well to life without mother.
When I visited mother’s grave today, they also looked calm. How can they be like that?
Even if I sometimes hate father and brother, I should treat them well while they are still here so I won’t regret it later.
They are precious family. I hope they stay healthy and happy for a long, long time.
When I read the last line of the diary, which stopped at the beginning of this year, my eyes became moist without me realizing it.
Ries, you were suffering for three years because of longing for your mother.
Now I finally understood why she strongly refused to have her birthday celebrated.
The Ries I knew after possession was just a quiet bookworm.
But after reading the diary, I could clearly picture a more delicate, thoughtful, and emotionally rich girl.
Ries, who was just an extra character in , was a proper human being in this world.
She was a girl who was happy about small things, like flowers blooming in the garden or looking at constellations on summer nights.
“Of course, this child was also the main character in her own life.”
I felt sorry for the real Ries who died of fever at the age of eleven.
After organizing my emotions from reviewing Ries’s life, memories of the last day I met Kyle came back.
What was Kyle thinking and feeling now?
Putting aside right and wrong, I realized my own mistake when dealing with Kyle.
I rushed toward him with the belief that we had to become close quickly, without adjusting my pace.
I tried to visit him whenever I wanted and control him toward my own direction.
‘Rules for handling Kyle’… things like that.
And underneath that was contempt.
Because he was a character in a novel and a child, I looked down on him.
I did not respect him as a complete human being.
So I thought I could control and correct him, acting arrogant and self-centered.
Just because I had once handled a bad child as a babysitter in my past life, I tried to act like a teacher.
How arrogant and self-centered I was.
“I should have looked deeper into Kyle’s circumstances. I think it was wrong to force him to go out and play.”
Regret rose slowly.
“Even after living 25 years, human relationships are still hard…”
If I meet him next time, I should apologize for the parts I did wrong.
Even if becoming friends again might already be impossible, I hope any wound caused by me can heal even a little.
I opened the rolling paper message at the very end.
Each line of encouragement written by the Brant county servants moved my heart deeply.
“Although the lady has changed more than I expected after losing your memory, I like both the previous lady and the current lady. Recently you have been looking tired again, so I am worried. Please tell me anything if there is something I can help with!”
Seeing Millie’s writing at the end made me feel grateful and sorry.
Probably Simon, Count Brant, and other servants also noticed that I had changed a lot.
Still, they did not show it and took good care of me.
To repay their expectations, I thought I couldn’t stay depressed forever.
They were my family along with the new life I received.
I must live my life properly as Ries ver 2.0.
“If I cannot restore my relationship with Kyle, I should find another way to protect Darius. And I will also build my own life independently.”
After engraving the last diary page in my heart several times, I closed it firmly.
I wanted to grow closer to the Brant family according to Ries’s last wish.
That night, after reading Millie’s report and Ries’s diary and crying, I had another dream like a mirage I had seen before.
The person in the dream was still covered in fog and unclear, but now I could intuitively guess who it was.
“Thank you. I will leave now and go to my mother.”
A quiet voice flowed through our warm, held hands.
“Please become me and live happily with the remaining family.”
After smiling and leaving her last request, she scattered into the sky like smoke.
At that moment I woke up suddenly.
In the dim morning sunlight, I felt tears flowing down my cheeks.
Soon, Ries’s 11 years of memories rushed into my brain.
Like photos being inserted tightly into a photo album, scenes from childhood were stored one by one.
Even among peaceful daily life, the time reading books and talking with mother in the study was especially warm and affectionate.
The pain of missing mother for a long time felt vivid as if it was my own sensation.
When the storm of memories calmed down, I slowly relaxed.
After wiping my wet cheeks and taking a deep breath, I felt why she came to my dream.
It was because she worried and loved the father and brother who would be left behind.
“Ries…”
So that was why you couldn’t disappear all this time.
And now you entrusted everything to me and left to be with mother.
‘My last wish was to see my favorite character. Ries hoped that father and brother wouldn’t suffer because she left to be with mother.’
Maybe it was God’s careful arrangement that my soul was possessed into Ries’s body.
I looked into the mirror and smiled faintly.
Now that I had complete memories, this body didn’t feel like someone else’s.
“From now on, I will become you and continue your precious life.”
The eyes in the mirror shone like young spring sprouts after rain.
