🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter – 29
At last, I was given the chance I’d been waiting for—a moment alone with Ecklet.
It felt like a narrow crack of light breaking through.
“I’m sorry. I’ll be back shortly.”
Because a retainer had arrived so suddenly, Bihan rose from his seat with a grave expression.
This was the one and only opportunity to speak with Ecklet alone without drawing suspicion in the duke’s residence.
“Ecklet.”
“Yes, Lady Rosemary.”
“This isn’t how I intended things to turn out… but I really did try my best not to get involved.”
“…I suppose there was no way for you to avoid it.”
“I wanted to protect the slums.”
“…Even if you hadn’t, you would have met me somehow. I know you’re not the kind of person who can just pass by.”
Listening quietly to Ecklet, questions kept piling up in my mind.
It made sense that I knew about you—I’d read the book.
But how did you know so much about me?
Unlike me, who kept being startled by how different Ecklet’s personality was from what I remembered, he seemed to know everything about me—my character, my actions, everything.
As if we’d known each other for a long time.
“Still, I hoped you wouldn’t get involved, Lady Rosemary. That way, I could see the ending I want.”
“…Ecklet. How do you know so much about me?”
“Huh?”
At my question, Ecklet’s eyes widened.
For the first time, his flickering violet eyes filled with confusion.
“….”
“I was reincarnated. In my past life, I read your story as a book. But I only realized this world was that book’s world around the time of the debutante ball. And I wasn’t even a supporting character in it.”
“You… didn’t appear in the book at all?”
“That’s right. So I have no idea what my fate will be. That’s why I tried not to get involved with the ‘protagonists’ as much as possible. It still turned out like this, though. But Ecklet—no matter how I think about it, I don’t understand how you know me.”
Ecklet bit his lip and looked away.
“…I can’t tell you.”
That was fine.
This was something I could learn later.
What mattered now was—
“Then let me ask you something else.”
“….”
“…I was happy, Ecklet. I thought I had protected something.”
“…”
“You said you ‘protected it’ too. Did you really mean that?”
“…Yes. You protected it.”
At that answer, which he gave with difficulty, I took a sip of tea to wet my dry lips.
I’d spent the whole night thinking, trying to rein myself in—but my heart was slowly tilting in a direction I’d never wanted.
I was already too deeply entangled to turn back.
And I’d learned the joy of protecting something.
Just thinking that I’d prevented even one of the original story’s horrific events made my chest feel unbearably full.
“Then… did what happened yesterday bring you even a little relief?”
“….”
“Thinking that you might’ve been hurt even more… even if you say I interfered selfishly and ruined your story—no matter how I look at it, I’m just so relieved by this outcome. You can call it meddling, arrogance, or selfishness. Still, I was happy, thinking I’d protected the people in the slums—and you, too. Happy enough to want to keep protecting you, as much as I can.”
After a long silence, Ecklet hesitated, his lips parting slightly.
I simply waited—until he chose to speak honestly.
“…Relief? Is a word like that really enough?”
“….”
“I told you, didn’t I? That I tried to change things. Over and over. But I couldn’t. It’s true. I tried, but I couldn’t change anything. I only grew more empty. So I wished for everything to pass as quickly as possible—so I could reach the ending faster.”
So that was why, at the masquerade ball…
“Ecklet…”
My fists clenched.
For me, it was something I could look away from if I tried.
But for Ecklet, it was reality he had to endure.
No matter how happy the ending was supposed to be, I couldn’t easily accept that it had to come only after suffering through all of that.
“…Ecklet.”
“Yes, Lady Rosemary.”
“The reason I tried not to get involved with the protagonists was because I didn’t want the people precious to me to be dragged into events and sacrificed. Protecting them mattered most.”
“….”
“At least in the story I know, Liotium wasn’t involved, and the slums were barely brushed past. So I thought that if I kept my distance from high society—the center of the incidents—I could protect them this much. Of course, that judgment was naive.”
“Then distance yourself again, Lady Rosemary. I don’t believe luck like this will happen twice. Something even more unfortunate could occur. And that would affect you too—”
“But along the way, there became more things I need to protect. More than someone known only as ‘the Liotium young lady who’s ill and living in seclusion’ could ever manage.”
The Earth Foundation.
The people of the eastern slums.
The protagonists themselves—once confined to a stage where they were injured and broken, but now drawn into my reality.
“…Lady Rosemary?”
“If you have to go through those things against your will… I don’t think I can just stand by and watch, Ecklet.”
He was the protagonist I’d pitied so much.
If I could help—
“I want to help you.”
“….”
“I know it might be rude. But I’m someone who knows. And you and I—we’re talking like this right now. Pretending not to know, just because getting involved is hard… now that I know things can change, I don’t think I can do that anymore.”
“Lady Rosemary.”
“…That’s why I wanted to talk to you—to get your permission. Because this will change your story, one way or another.”
Ecklet shook his head.
“I told you. I want to see the happy ending.”
“Then I’ll help you reach it.”
“….”
“So you won’t have to go through all the suffering that was supposedly set in stone.”
It was the conclusion I reached after much thought.
If Ecklet hadn’t truly wanted to go through those events.
If he’d felt even a little relief when things changed.
Then—what if I became Ecklet Adrian’s helper?
What if I used everything I knew to support him?
“…What if your family gets hurt in the process, Lady Rosemary?”
“Then I’ll make sure they don’t. I have more power than you might think.”
I smiled brightly and shrugged.
I heard Ecklet inhale sharply.
“…You really haven’t changed, Lady Rosemary. You’ve always been like this. Honest—and unable to pass by people in need.”
“I’m not that kind, though…?”
Just how does Ecklet know the real me?
Could it be that we met when I was young, during charity work in the slums…? Like with Amy?
My childhood memories are patchy… but still—him knowing his own story, too—
“Ecklet, did you… by any chance regress, or something—”
“Please do.”
“Huh?”
“…Please help me, Lady Rosemary.”
At his almost overwhelming answer, I bit my lip.
I hadn’t expected such an immediate response.
“Thank you for trusting me.”
“Lady Rosemary really is…”
“Really?”
“…You’re this kind to the other three as well, aren’t you?”
“Huh? No. Not really…?”
By “the other three,” he meant the duke, the crown prince, and the knight commander.
If Ecklet knew how much I’d lied and acted rude just to avoid getting entangled with them, he’d probably be shocked.
For some reason, he seemed to think of me as a very good person…
But asking that meant—was he misunderstanding something?
“Please don’t misunderstand, Ecklet. I’m only involved with those three because of work. And you—I just want to help you.”
“What?”
“There won’t be anything else. Once all of this is over—”
Ah. There was something I absolutely needed to tell him.
To avoid misunderstandings like this with others, too.
“Right. I was going to say this once Lord Bihan left. Ecklet, you know how easily those three misunderstand things. Wouldn’t it be better not to say things that could be misinterpreted about our relationship, like earlier? Causing unnecessary misunderstandings on either side could—”
“…Lady Rosemary.”
“Yes?”
“…Do you really have absolutely no idea…?”
Ecklet began to speak with a look close to shock, then pressed his lips shut again.
Soon after, he shook his head.
“What is it that I don’t know this time?”
“…Nothing. I won’t say.”
“What…?”
Just as I was about to press him about my unanswered questions, the sound of approaching footsteps drew my attention.
Seeing Bihan stride toward us with long steps, I nodded inwardly.
Judging by how hurried he looked, leaving Ecklet and me alone must have made him uneasy.
“Rosemary. Ecklet. I’m sorry for the delay.”
“No, it’s fine.”
“…What were you discussing?”
“Hmm…”
I glanced at Ecklet, then looked at Bihan.
Before Bihan could ask about the “fire” I already knew was coming, I needed to change the subject.
Since I’d decided to help Ecklet, I needed to build power.
And by power, I didn’t mean learning swordsmanship or magic.
“We were talking about Liotium hosting a banquet.”
Surprise filled both Ecklet’s and Bihan’s eyes.
Naturally—it had never happened.
Since my mother passed away, Liotium had not hosted a single banquet.
“Rosemary… as far as I know, Liotium hasn’t held banquets—”
“For a very long time, yes.”
“…Don’t tell me—”
“I think it’s about time I started socializing again.”
I had wealth and business acumen, but what mattered most among nobles was influence in high society.
It was the most urgent problem for someone like me, who’d abandoned all of that for nearly two years.
And it was exactly what I needed to protect Ecklet from the princess.
Not the influence of House Liotium—but the influence of Rosemary Liotium.
If I was going to become the protagonist’s helper, I needed to grow that power.
Just like my father once did—strengthening Liotium’s influence to protect his family.
