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Chapter: 29
“My true identity is…”
“……”
“Why don’t you try to guess?”
“……!”
The Administrator broke into a grin.
“If you guess correctly, I’ll give you a reward.”
I wondered, Why bother? but kept my mouth shut.
If they were offering a reward, there was nothing bad in it for me.
“Come.”
Turning his back on the angel who was glaring at me, the Administrator took my hand and led me toward the door.
Despite his warm body temperature, his hand felt strangely cold.
“Rohesia.”
Just before the door, I turned back to look at him.
“You can survive. And you can go on living.”
At the low voice, I turned around again.
I couldn’t see his face, but for some reason I felt like he was smiling.
When the door opened, I felt as though I were being sucked somewhere—and then I woke up again inside the carriage.
“Gasp!”
“Miss, we’ve arrived at the Bellas estate.”
At the same time, I heard the coachman calling out.
* * *
After stopping by the Imperial Palace, I planned to accept the invitation from the Bellas family.
The moment I stepped down from the stopped carriage, I was left speechless.
“What… is this?”
Beneath my feet, quite literally, stretched a path of flowers.
So many red, fresh rose petals were laid from beneath the carriage all the way to the front gate of the mansion that I felt embarrassed to step on them with shoes.
“What is this? Is today the day I’m getting proposed to or something?”
Murmuring absentmindedly as I walked along the flower path, this time I was greeted by all the members of the Bellas household lined up neatly at the front gate.
“What is this? Did I return home in glory or something?”
But… I’m not even a member of this family.
“Ho ho, please don’t be startled, Miss Rose of Utel.”
“Butler?”
At the very front stood the butler, now dressed neatly.
Most of the servants lined up behind him looked new, faces I had never seen before.
Their expressions were calm and gentle.
“You are the one who allowed House Bellas to be reborn, Miss. So this is hardly something to be surprised by.”
“……?”
“The treatment owed to the benefactor of House Bellas does not end at something so trivial. Ho ho. Ho ho ho…”
“……??”
A powerful sense of obsession shone in the butler’s brown eyes.
Feeling goosebumps rise along my arm, I took a step back.
“Miss Utel, please accept this.”
When I saw what someone was holding out to me, my eyes went wide.
“It’s pretty!”
At the center of a small round cake decorated with fresh flowers, my name—Rohesia—was written in gold.
Perhaps they had used fresh cream; a sweet, delicious smell drifted up.
“If you like it, eat it.”
A sudden voice came from the steps by the front door.
Standing there was Adrian, wearing an oddly stiff expression.
“If you don’t, throw it away.”
“Adrian, is it really hot today?”
“…What?”
“Did you wait there a long time for me? Your face is really red.”
“Nonsense.”
Brushing it off as if it were nothing, Adrian walked into the mansion.
As usual, he was cool and curt. His face, however, was bright red.
“…Is he really okay?”
“Hehe, the young duke has been looking forward to your arrival more than anyone,” said the maid holding the cake.
“That is correct,” the butler added.
“He personally decorated that cake.”
“What?”
I was so shocked I almost dropped the cake I was holding.
“This one?”
Why is he so good with his hands?
For something made by such a frightening child, the cake was flawless and the flowers adorning it looked endlessly delicate.
I wanted a more detailed explanation, but the butler merely smiled and said no more.
“Please, come inside.”
It wasn’t decorated as extravagantly as the outside, but the interior, too, felt strangely bright and spotless.
The butler guided me to the room where Adrian was and then excused himself.
“Utel.”
“Yes, Adrian.”
He called me, but didn’t say anything after that.
I stroked my warm teacup for a while, then lifted my head when I felt his gaze.
“I suppose I must admit it now.”
Adrian’s eyes were still that piercingly clear blue.
But the icy chill they once held was gone.
They were lukewarm—no.
Perhaps they held an even warmer temperature.
Like a slightly chilly winter sky where a clear spring might soon arrive.
“You were right. You proved your words yourself and changed me.”
A smile naturally formed on my face.
Just as I had said, instead of taking revenge himself, Adrian made Melisandra receive the punishment she deserved.
As a result, Adrian didn’t fall into darkness, and he reclaimed his family and his house.
Honestly, I had only struggled desperately to save my own life.
But still—because of my actions, someone’s entire childhood had changed.
And in a good way, at that.
It couldn’t help but make me happy.
Besides, now Adrian probably wouldn’t kill me under most circumstances.
The penalty had been lifted.
This really was the kind of happy ending where everything turned out well.
“Rohesia.”
“Mhm.”
“House Bellas cannot simply let this debt go unpaid.”
“Yeah, yeah. I know.”
He must be grateful. Anyone would be overwhelmingly grateful.
As repayment, just not killing me is already great.
And if possible, it’d be nice if they added some money on top.
“Still, giving money doesn’t seem necessary when Utel earns enormous wealth through alchemy.”
…Huh?
No, wait—
“That is necessary.”
“What?”
“Our family has plenty of money. So you could just give it to me personally.”
“……”
Before that moment, and ever since, I don’t think I’d ever seen Adrian’s eyes shake so much.
I still planned to run away to some quiet place once the quest ended.
For that, I need money.
Even if the three men’s corruption rates had dropped and they wouldn’t do anything dangerous, the fiery love triangle itself scared me.
I don’t want to watch it from the sidelines.
And there was no place for a villainess here anyway.
Whether Lexia chose the true male lead or ended up with all of them, I planned to leave and let them handle it themselves.
I was already sick of true leads, second leads, and reverse harems.
I wanted to forget that this place was a novel and live my own life.
Preferably far away, in a peaceful seaside villa.
Even if, by some chance, everything went wrong, as long as I stayed away from the capital—the stage of all incidents—I wouldn’t be swept up in it.
But…
A new doubt I had never had before crept into my mind.
Would this “quest” really be over by the time I wanted to leave?
* * *
Adrian, flustered, replied that he still couldn’t manage the family budget since he was young.
So he had no idea I needed cash that badly.
Was it just my imagination, or did his eyes look a little pitiful then?
Anyway, when he said I needed to meet the head of the family, I stepped nervously into the audience chamber.
“Welcome.”
Seeing the marquis waiting inside gave me a strange feeling.
It was like looking at Adrian’s future.
“First, speaking on behalf of the family—thank you for saving House Bellas.”
“You’re too kind.”
“If not for you, that woman might have succeeded in her plan.”
“……”
“If that had happened, I would have died in the provinces, and the imprisoned Adrian would have awakened his instincts and slaughtered everyone he saw.”
It was a chillingly accurate prediction.
That was exactly how Adrian lived in the original story.
Losing his family. Losing hope in the world.
Left with nothing but hatred and savagery.
Then Lexia appeared as a light in his life—but he didn’t know how to keep her by his side.
Never having learned how to love, he only sought to possess.
In a way, it was an incredibly lonely life.
“So, Miss, how would you like House Bellas to repay this debt?”
“Repay… it?”
The butler had already called me the benefactor of House Bellas, saying such grand things.
And now even the head of the family?
For a moment, it would have been a lie to say greed didn’t well up inside me.
What if I strip this family down to its foundations—what are they going to do then…?
But House Bellas’s words about repaying me were far more sincere than I expected.
“Let’s see.”
The Duke of Bellas rested his chin on his hand and looked at me.
“How about giving you the throne of an autonomous kingdom? Would that be suitable?”
“…Excuse me?”
No.
Of course, if the Duke of Bellas truly wished, he could conquer one of the northern nations and hand me its throne immediately.
That was the military might of House Bellas, known as the Empire’s sword.
“Of course, you would have to pledge loyalty to the Emperor.”
When I stared blankly, the duke lifted the corner of his mouth and lowered his voice.
“Do you dislike bowing your head to anyone?”
“N-no…”
“If you want the imperial throne, that would take a little longer.”
Who said I wanted to be emperor?! Calm down!
Even as nonsense, the scariest part was that with House Bellas’s power, it wasn’t impossible.
“Um, th-that’s not necessary.”
What was my goal again?
Turn the male leads back into normal people, then live peacefully without aftereffects.
But a king of an autonomous state? Emperor of the Empire?
Why would I bring that kind of trouble upon myself?
And having it achieved through House Bellas’s power was even worse.
Then even if I leave the capital, I’ll still be tied to Adrian’s family!
That absolutely wouldn’t do.
“I’m just Adrian’s friend.”
In the end, holding back tears, I confessed how modest my wish really was.
“I only wanted to help him. I never did this expecting something so grand.”
“Friend?”
The duke latched onto an entirely different point.
“Just a friend?”
“Pardon?”
“Even though you danced together at the banquet?”
“…Pardon?”
“…Never mind.”
“Anyway, what I want isn’t something that huge.”
I tried my best to explain my humble, ordinary wishes to the Duke of Bellas.
Personal safety.
Peace.
Financial stability.
“Only that?”
“Only that?! Do you know how important those are?!”
But the duke didn’t look convinced.
“Miss Utel, what you described are merely things one should naturally have.”
“……”
“After receiving such a great favor, to repay it with only such trivial, obvious rewards? House Bellas?”
As if he had heard something utterly ridiculous, the duke crooked one corner of his mouth.
“I can’t allow that.”
