VWTI 14

Alright, let’s turn back time to the morning.

With Anna’s help, I returned very quietly and completed the perfect crime.

It wasn’t just a day or two that I spent holed up in my room pounding on the bed all day, so no one found it strange.

‘Should I call that fortunate or unfortunate…’

Anyway, the result is good, so let’s just call it good.

While bathing and changing clothes as usual, Anna, who was helping me dress, was startled out of her wits.

She couldn’t make a sound as if her throat were completely blocked, but perhaps because she couldn’t make a sound, her shock was felt even more.

Her hands were trembling, her eyes and mouth were wide open, and she just gaped without being able to utter a word, making me wonder what was wrong.

“A-a-a-a-ach! Y-y-y-your, your na-a-a-ame…!”

“Huh? Ah…”

Yevgenia blankly touched the area near her collarbone.

She hadn’t even considered doubting Yulan’s words, so she had assumed it would be gone, but having it confirmed through the reaction of someone around her was another matter entirely.

‘It really is gone…’

It felt different from hearing this fact last night, when she was utterly exhausted.

Hearing with a perfectly clear mind that she had truly changed the original work, changed fate—it was something like…

It felt both strangely new and disorienting.

Leaving Anna, who was still trembling, behind, she slowly walked to the mirror.

Red hair cascading down to her waist.

Golden pupils that sparkled even more under the lamplight.

Sharply upturned eyes and long lashes casting dark shadows along them.

A sharply protruding nose and annoyingly upturned lips.

Beneath a face that seemed both awkward and familiar, a long neck was visible.

Following the line of her neck with her eyes, her shoulders with their rounded curves came into view.

“…It’s gone.”

“R-right away, to the master, no, His Majesty the Emperor, no, the Pope…? The Pope…?!”

“Calm down, Anna. It’s nothing to make such a fuss about.”

Perhaps it was because I, the person most involved, was acting with a composure that bordered on coldness.

Anna, who had been fidgeting as if she might burst into tears at any moment, froze standing rigidly in place.

From Anna’s dazed expression as she stared at me, the question, ‘Why on earth are you so calm?!” was plainly readable.

‘If I said it’s actually the result I wanted… Anna might faint. Besides, Anna also knows I met Yulan last night.’

Right now, she’s too agitated to even think of connecting these two facts, but as time passes, who knows?

[Last night, the young lady met a back-alley man named Nox.

+The next morning, one letter of the young lady’s Name was erased.
= Did the back-alley man named Nox erase the Name?!]

…The moment she connects things like that, both Yulan and I could be in serious trouble.

It would be only natural for Anna, who learns such a fact, to run straight to Father.

So, to prevent suspicion from following shock, surprise, and confusion, appropriate acting was necessary.

“It was bound to happen someday. That I… and that Raymond, were not fate—God knew that.”

“A-ach…”

“He must have given me this trial to awaken foolish me, who didn’t know that fact. Fortunately, I realized it from the moment my Name manifested, but God has simply finished what He intended from the beginning.”

Telling such blatant lies made my lips feel parched.

What should I say for the final line to have impact?
I deliberately swallowed dryly to buy time to think.

Ah, this might be good.

“…That way, I can completely let go of Raymond.”

Perhaps because the time spent pondering was a bit long, my voice came out slightly cracked.

But that turned out to be a good thing.

It gave the effect of appearing emotionally overwhelmed.

Worried if my acting had worked, I casually turned my head.

“Oh, oh my, our young lady, how pitiful…! Surely God wouldn’t have done something so harsh to our young lady…!”

“…It, it just means I was that terrible a person. I’m reflecting. I really did many terrible things to Lady Aer, didn’t I? And to Raymond…”

I couldn’t bring myself to say I was sorry to that bastard, so I cut my words short.

Fortunately, Anna didn’t seem to notice my act at all.

Her eyebrows, drooping endlessly and damply, looked as if she were about to burst into tears.

My tiny remaining conscience seemed to ache sharply, so I quickly added.

“But, I’m okay, Anna! Rather, I want to be thankful. I’m grateful He opened my eyes.”

“Young laaady…”

“Honestly, Father must have been worried, and you must have been very worried too. What if I, I mean… what if I crossed the line…”

It was a thought anyone who knew ‘Yevgenia Martyr’ must have had at least once.

If the young lady really crosses the line like that, what will happen to the Martyr Dukedom?

…A shared, incredibly rude yet understandable imagination.

It was absolutely impossible for someone from the ducal family to voice the whispers even those completely unrelated to her or the Martyr family engaged in.

But one couldn’t stop those subtle glances and the atmosphere either.

The gazes clinging to her entire body made ‘Yevgenia’ sensitive, and the more sensitive Yevgenia became, the more gazes clung to her…

If I said I’d never thought, after causing various incidents, ‘Yeah, see? I’m the crazy b*tch you all wanted to see so badly!’ it would be a lie.

Of course, that feeling was about 0.1%, and jealousy towards Stella, who had Raymond, was 99.9%, but anyway.

“But, I’m thankful I could stop before becoming such a monster. From now on, I’ll quietly prepare to inherit the dukedom. I’ll also resume the studies I put on hold…”

“Young lady, this might be a terribly rude question, but… was a serious result found in your last check-up, or something like that…? Something kept secret just between you and the attending physician…?”

“Absolutely not. I was praised for having a body so sturdy I don’t even catch colds.”

There was something that worked like an instant remedy when calming the still-fidgeting Anna.

First, say something positive, no matter what.
“Anna, don’t worry so much. From now on, only good things are left.”

Second, hug Anna and pat her shoulder.
“…Really, young lady?”
“Of course, of course.”

Soon, I felt Anna’s body, which had been rigid with tension, slowly relax as she hugged me back.

Phew, thank goodness.

‘If even this hadn’t worked, it would’ve been truly dizzying. I just can’t go all out on Anna.’

In the original work too, Anna was always by ‘Yevgenia’s’ side, and by the time she received her death sentence, she was already a long-gone ‘villainous supporting character’, having vanished like dew on the execution ground.

In other words, along with Father, she is one of the only people in this world who cares for Yevgenia.

Perhaps because she was like a childhood friend, being the daughter of the wet nurse, ‘Yevgenia’ also had a softer side in front of Anna.

The current Yevgenia, equipped with common sense and reason after recalling her past life, was all the more helpless against Anna.

Only after comforting Anna for quite a while did I return to my room and sink into the sofa.

Only after burying my body in the soft cushions did I feel my trembling muscles.

“…Is it normal for muscle pain to spread all over the body like this originally?”

It was an awkward question to ask anyone.

All Yevgenia could do was pray that Nox was suffering the same pain.

Having barely gathered her dazed mind, she pulled the bell rope.

Ding-dong— Ding-dong—
“Young lady, did you call?”
“Yes. Did Father say when he’d be returning home today?”
“Hmm… He said he plans to return in time for dinner today. He only knows that you were heartbroken…”
“To console me?”
“……”
“Father’s thoughts, I can see right through them.”

Tsk. Yevgenia clicked her tongue briefly.

Glancing outside the window, the sky was tinged close to pink, suggesting sunset was approaching.
Father might have already left the imperial palace.

“How long on earth did I sleep?”
“You slept for almost half the day. I was very worried, thinking you might have collapsed…”
“Mmm. I guess going out at night isn’t something I’m used to, so it was a bit tough. Don’t worry, there won’t be occasions like this from now on.”

Rubbing her stiff neck, Yevgenia pondered deeply and spoke.
“That dress, the one Father gifted me last time. It’s still here, right? The light sky-blue one, the design Mother used to favor. I should wear that.”

Isn’t it just common sense to put on your armor before heading to the battlefield?