CH 5

— Imperial Calendar Year 588. April 19th. 8:19 in the morning.

Ophelia Bolsheik, the fourth* of the third infinite regression.

Three days after Richard cut off the head of an assassin who had infiltrated as a servant.

Ophelia was driving a carriage frantically towards the imperial palace. Of course, an actual coachman was driving it, but if she could, she would have driven it herself.

She died last night.

With a heart attack.

No, it would be more accurate to say that she died tonight and regressed.

At first, she denied reality for the first time in a long time since the founding anniversary. It was due the second infinite regression that ended so easily while she was with Richard.

However, the second time she slipped and smashed the back of her head, and the third time the bread she ate was caught in her throat, Ophelia woke up in anger.

This damn infinite regression has begun again.

Ophelia nervously gripped her fan inside the carriage.

“Somehow, everything is fine today!”

After that day where Richard created another bloodbath before the bloodshed, Ophelia had hope that she might never regress again.

(TL/N: if you hadn’t noticed, we’ve moved 3 days from the previous episode, from april 16th to april 19th~)

It was very faint, but wasn’t it freedom to dream?

It started in the morning with the news that the business that she invested slush funds in without her mother’s knowledge was experiencing a good wind. It was a very minor thing, but the tea was just right for her taste. Or miraculously not bumping into her mother though they were in the same house, and etcetera.

She was lucky.

It was too good.

Until this infinite regression.

Alhough Ophelia went through infinite regression for the third time, there was something new that she realized.

Even if she did nothing, something would change little by little.

It wasn’t that big of a deal.

The tea that was perfect for her taste sometimes tasted strange, or she suddenly ran into each other her mother even though she couldn’t even see the tip of the older woman’s hair previously.

Come to think of it, there were some minor changes in the founding anniversary, the first of her infinite regressions.

The kinds of appetizers that came out that day changed one by one, or the types of flowers differed.

Realizing that there were changes each time she returned, Ophelia started worrying that her secret investments would collapse, and that was the biggest driving force behind her throwing away her absurd escapism.

“If I regress tonight only to see my secret funds fly away…!”

Ophelia was grinding her teeth, but she soon drooped her shoulders and became sullen.

It was because this regression made it clear that it was simply Richard’s whim that ended the last regression.

If Richard made up his mind, this third infinite regression would have ended quickly.

These infinite regressions were ultimately determined by Richard’s life or death.

When he died, the cycle of infinite regression begun automatically, and if he survived, one cycle woule end, and so on.

In the second regression, thanks to him slicing the assassin’s head, he didn’t die and the regression ended with that.

With only one regression, the word ‘infinite regression’ even seemed ridiculous.

“Because I can’t see the end.”

Ophelia still didn’t know what kind of whim Richard, who seemed to have given up on everything, had acted on.

But this third infinite regression…

‘If he doesn’t die, I can’t die, so even if I can’t see him, I know he’s letting it go and dying again and again without the will to live, giving up everything.’

“No. Let’s not jump to conclusions until I see for myself.”

Ophelia sighed as though the ground went out when she faced a new difficulty

“Entry is not allowed.”

Ophelia had rushed to the crown prince’s palace, but instead of meeting Richard, she was rejected at the door.

It was a natural result.

It would be impossible for a young lady, an untitled member of a county, to meet the crown prince without prior agreement.

If Ophelia was able to come face to face with Richard so easily, she would have been worried about the security and future of the empire, which was considered the most powerful country in history.

“Lady, go back.”

At the resolute words of the soldier guarding the palace and the threatening sound of the spear colliding with the floor, Ophelia quietly retreated.

There were not just one or two people who wanted to see Richard’s face and caused a fuss in front of his palace wanting to meet him.

As a result, the soldiers guarding the crown prince’s palace had the authority to detain, regardless of rank; this fact was so famous that it was hard not to know.

“Your Highness, I just want to see you for a bit!”

“How dare you, do you know who I am!”

While Ophelia thought of some anecdotes that made her eyes blurry just by hearing it in her thoughts, she pretended to go back to the carriage and hid in the shadows.

‘Oh… I didn’t know that the first infinite regression to the National Founding Day festival would help in so many ways.’

She possessed an ordinary and incompetent noble lady, but thanks to the first infinite regression, she honed the ability to hide her presence even from assassins and to the point of being able to hide in the imperial palace.

This meant that most people wouldn’t even realize that Ophelia was there.

It was a blessing in disguise.

“Okay, now I have to figure out how to get in.”

Ophelia snorted.

Did the guard think she would give up after being denied admission once?

“Infiltration?”

No. No matter how well she managed to approach the assassins from behind without them ever noticing, it was a thoroughly calculated route.

Looking back, it was fortunate that the number and identity of the assassins did not change.

After she erased the option to sneak in, Ophelia had few options left.

The process of formally requesting a meeting would take too long. Plus the fact that she would regress later in the day, this was a method she could not use.

‘But I can’t borrow the power of someone who can see the crown prince without a prior contact…’

Ophelia thought about that, and fell flat in the shadows.

This was because the person who just passed her was one of those people who could freely enter and leave the crown prince’s palace without prior agreement.

James Gryu.

Richard’s left arm. Although James was the second son of a ducal family, he had no intention of succeeding the family, vowing to do well on his own. 

Without a second thought, Ophelia rearranged herself to look completely different from before, changing her hairstyle in an instant and taking off her cloak.

Just before James stood at the main gate of the palace, she narrowly erased her presence and followed him as closely as possible.

With James, entering the crown prince’s palace was like eating a piece of cake.

This was because the man in front of her was personally ordered by Richard, so the soldiers could not interfere with whoever or whatever he brought.

As the icing on the cake, James was an advisor who only used the pen, but he is a stoner to people. If Ophelia was erasing her presence to the extent she did when she was up against the assassins, the chance of him noticing her was infinitely close to zero.

Looking back, Ophelia wondered what Richard believed in to give such an order, but that’s Richard.

The only and perfect male lead in a fantasy novel.

Even if he said he wanted to make soybean paste with red beans, it would work in the novel.

‘By the way, I didn’t know today’s good fortune is going to turn out like this.’

There was infinite regression, but this luck was something to behold.

“You’re doing a great job.”

“No, sir.”

The eyes of the two soldiers glanced at Ophelia for a brief moment, but as expected, they did not stop her from entering the palace.

In time, Ophelia achieved what she had been aiming for. If James ever looked back, she intended to hit him on the back of the head.

She had nothing to fear.

If she regressed, it would never have happened, and even if she didn’t, he wouldn’t know who knocked him out.

How far had they walked? James stopped in front of a very thick and solid door.

—Tok tok.

“Your Highness, this is James.”

“Come in.”

The moment she heard Richard’s permission, Ophelia’s eyes flashed like that of a wild beast fixed on its prey.

And her prey was… 

Ophelia, raising her arms high, met Richard’s eyes through the door that opened in front of her.

Richard wasn’t at all surprised to see a bright redhead that seemed determined enough to strike the back of someone’s head.

He just stared at Ophelia, who had stopped.

Then the door opened wide. James entered the office and tried to close the door.

“Leave it.”

Richard waved his hand. James had a puzzled face, but he was the kind who would believe his master even if he said a stork would deliver a baby, so he immediately left the door as it was.

Ophelia shrugged and quickly hid in a corner of the office.

“The invitations to the hunting competition…”

While waiting for James’s boring report to end quickly, Ophelia closed her eyes for a moment.

—Whoosh.

The wind that made her red her hair soar like blazing fire brushed her cheeks.

When the wind from the huge wide open window behind Richard escaped through the open door, Ophelia’s hair as well as the papers on his desk began to flutter and fly.

All of them were stamped with a bright red seal of ‘Confidential’ or ‘Restricted’, but Richard and James didn’t care.

Ophelia’s nervousness reached its peak, and the second she decided to knock James out so that she can talk to Richard…

…The report was over.

“Shall we proceed like this?”

“Yes. You can go now. Before the back of your head is injured.”

“What?”

James responded instantly to Richard’s words, and Ophelia gently lowered her arm.

—Click.

As the door closed and James disappeared completely, Ophelia, who had been squatting, got up and tapped her leg.

While she rubbed her trembling legs, Richard approached her step by step and uttered,

“You’re late.”

The absurd words of ‘more than I thought’ were omitted.

After barely putting away her disguise, she calmly opened her mouth.

“What happen.”

“An arrow flew in through the window.”

Before Richard could finish speaking, Ophelia sprinted behind him.

However, Ophelia’s plan to close the window at once ran into difficulties from the start.

“Uh… Hurry!”

No matter how hard she tried, the window wouldn’t move.

After watching Ophelia exerting her strength to the point where the back of her hand turned white, Richard rose up.

“Why is it so heavy…!”

—Thud.

No matter how big and heavy the window was, the sound of closing was not normal.

Richard stood behind Ophelia and gently closed the window with one hand, which she had not moved despite doing so with all her might.

Ophelia tilted her head behind her after glancing at the closed window. She stared at his sharp jawline as if she was going to get cut, and then she slipped out under his tightly stretched arm.

“If you had closed the window earlier, you wouldn’t have died… Ack!”

—Pak.

Before she could finish her words, the crossbow that had pierced the thick window flew and stuck in Richard’s chest.

The instant Ophelia breathed in.

—Pwakak, pak.

The crossbow flew back and penetrated her chest as well.

As Ophelia fell to the floor, bleeding and dying, she pouted.

‘You said arrow, not crossbow!’

(*) What does the “fourth of the third infinite regression” or any other variation mean? 

Think of it as a game, with the condition to clear every stage/regression being Richard’s survival. If they fail at any particular stage, they’ll have to repeat it.

“[x] of the [n] infinite regression”

[n] is the “stage” they’re currently in, and [x] is the number of times they’re attempting to clear this “stage”. 

So at the start of this particular episode, Ophelia is doing this day/stage/regression for the 4th time… and well, since she and Richard died at the end of this episode, they’ll be on the “fifth of the third infinite regression” (well, 14th or 15th actually, as the author skipped past their other failed attempts)

Did I help? Or did I make things worse hahaha