CH 12

At the lady’s words, the eyes of several other ladies, including Catherine, were focused on Raisa.

“That’s right. Lady Neir, please tell us how you see the current situation.”

Catherine’s lips rose sharply at the voices of the young ladies who agreed like birds chirping here and there.

Given the current situation, they were very funny.

Everyone was eager to curse Ophelia, who was suddenly next to the crown prince, but they wanted someone’s permission to indulge.

Raisa’s low voice rang out with a chuckle that seemed to have come from her nose.

“Are there any other circumstances other than that the Crown Prince has hired a new aide?”

—Chak.

Her voice was so low that the dull sound of the teacup being set was clearly audible.

With her eyes half-lidded, Raisa lifted her cup again.

“I asked if there was anything else.” 

“Ah, no! However, an aide to His Highness the Crown Prince has been appointed without verification…”

“His Highness the Crown Prince is an important person, and if she is the one who protects him…”

As Raisa listened to the young ladies’ anxiety and irritation, as well as jealousy and envy, she emptied the teacup again.

Her excessively burning throat was probably due to her poisoning herself as well, to test the poison she fed her mother.

Although she took the antidote, it didn’t completely prevent the side effects.

As Raisa raised her dry lips, the sporadically ringing voice subsided.

“Of course it is. His Highness the Crown Prince…”

Richard.

What was he like when she first met him?

‘I’ve regressed so many times that I can’t even remember when it was.’

Raisa, searching for the weathered memory, closed her eyes deeply and reopened them.

“…He’s more important than anyone else.”

Her first meeting with him and almost everything else turned to dust, but it was still true.

Richard was an indispensable and important presence for Raisa.

His existence was nothing like a love game for Raisa.

He was the most important condition for her to regress.

“Uh… is that so?”

There was a commotion for a while as they did not expect Raisa’s reaction to be so blunt, but soon, the ladies began to speak again one by one.

The colorful dresses and chattering voices slowly drifted away from Raisa’s sight.

How long had it been since she got her hands on a way to regress?

Was that a coincidence?

No, it must have been fate.

Raisa grabbed the little book that was hidden under the hem of her skirt.

The hard, dry texture in her hands always gave her boiling inside a little bit of peace.

This was her chance. No, it was fate.

She didn’t even know what this book was, but one thing’s for sure was that she could regress through the book.

Of course, there were very strict conditions, but Raisa was willing to accept them.

There was only one condition for her return.

The death of the crown prince.

She didn’t know what the principle was or how this book came into her hands.

But to her, those things didn’t matter.

“Useless. It’s wrong to do things because of your greed.”

If she could undo the life that was taken away and abandoned by her mother’s words.

Since she was born to the Marquis of Neir, she was raised to overthrow the imperial family, which was the goal of the marquis.

Raisa was extremely greedy, but wasn’t that level of greed necessary for a ruler?

But her mother spit on her ground.

Maybe it was because Raisa endangered the family by coveting things that didn’t fit the goal.

As a result, everything she had was taken away and she was stabbed to death dozens of times by those who followed her mother’s orders.

—Grr.

As the grinding noise leaked from between her lips, the necks of the ladies around her shrank in unison.

But ‘now’ didn’t catch Raisa’s eye.

Her eyes keep wandering through the past before her regression.

Although she had so many regressions and other things were forgotten, her mother’s death sentence and her own death had never been erased.

While so many returns have forgotten other things, the mother’s death sentence and death for herself have never been erased.

Although she contained visceral hatred and furiousness, Raisa laid out her step-by-step plan.

The greed remained the same, but through so many regressions, she had the discernment enough not to repeat the failure she had once made.

What she had was not of ‘her own’. She only borrowed what ‘her mother’ had.

Thus, in this regression, Raisa was determined.

She decided to take everything from ‘her mother’.

Not only the Marquisate of Neir, but also her ambition of treason.

Therefore, Richard was an indispensable existence to her.

To start a regression if she wanted, or to not let a regression start if she didn’t want it.

As long as he lives, he could continue to die, as that’s the condition that allowed Raisa to regress. Also, she needed his severed head when overthrowing the imperial family, which was her final goal.

Raisa, who had been drawing the dead and torn images of Richard and her mother, shook her head.

‘It’s still too early.’

As she watched her mother collapse after drinking the poisoned tea she had given her yesterday, she did not smile and observe calmly.

If she failed, she could go back, but that had its limits.

She did not know the principle by which a regression could be made, just as she did not know the principle by which that regression could no longer be made.

The beginning could go as Raisa wanted, but the end doesn’t go as she pleases.

However, it didn’t matter.

Most of what she wanted was done before one regression was over.

This time, if the regression was over without the death of her mother, the plan must be scrapped.

Marquis Neir has consumed dozens of poisons for decades in preparation for poisoning.

“It’s just a headache. Back off.”

“It’s not enough to kill me, so don’t expect too much.”

That’s probably why Raisa often swallowed a light amount of poison in her tea or meals.

But wasn’t it said that even birds flying in the sky sometimes fall?

The poison used this time knocked the marquis unconscious and down.

“You’re going to die as it is.”

Be it good or bad, the words that came out of Raisa’s mouth, which was close to self-talk, dispersed without anyone being able to hear.

However, Raisa’s mother wouldn’t die as easily as she wished.

Even since she fell miserably in death and her fateful regression, Raisa had always prepared for the worst.

This time, she prepared assassins and devices to kill the crown prince in case she wanted to regress, but she hoped that this time, she wouldn’t have to use any of it… 

“My lady.”

Raisa’s face turned cold in an instant at the familiar voice from behind her.

“The master has awakened.”

She had a hunch from the moment her mother’s person from her house approached her, but when she actually heard it, she felt even worse.

Raisa tightened the hand holding the book to the point it turned white.

She whispered to her mother’s person.

“It’s time to go back.”

“What… My lady?”

Leaving him alone in embarrassment, Raisa left without answering.

.

During the time the ladies were talking about Ophelia under the tent.

Ophelia, the main character of the snack station, was working.

“This package contains beans with divine power and some medicine. Do not hesitate to use them in case of an emergency so that you do not lose your precious life ….”

A shadow fell over Ophelia, who stared at the servants mechanically repeating their explanations.

“Aide.”

When Ophelia raised her head, she saw a knight showing off his healthy teeth with a very bright smile.

“Yes.”

“The weather is really nice today.”

“Yes.”

It was unexpected, but the weather was perfect, a a clear sky without a single cloud and an occasional breeze, so Ophelia briefly affirmed.

“And…”

The knight said more, but Ophelia answered only ‘yes’ and ‘no’ with minimal expression.

“Then would you wish me good luck?”

Ophelia unwittingly spilled her heart toward the driver who was about to go.

“Return safely!”

It was the wrong answer, but the knight decided to be satisfied with that.

After sending away the knight, Ophelia had to deal with more people who stopped in front of her, not knowing that the eyes of others who lined up to receive their packages were directed towards her.

“I didn’t think the Crown Prince’s new aide would have been chosen without such a word.”

“Bolsheik? It’s a name I’ve seen often in history books, but I’ve never heard of it lately.”

“There were ongoing talks of engagement, but after becoming an aide, everything fell apart…”

Everyone’s eyes flashed at someone’s words.

Yes, they had one purpose.

To somehow make a kite with Ophelia and approach the crown prince.

If they could get the favor of an aide who could be by Richard’s side anytime, anywhere!

“By the way, she doesn’t seem to give much room for a needle to go through, even if it’s not as good as Fillite.”

“That guy wouldn’t have been the lady’s taste.”

“Then, the taste of Lady Bolsheik…”

However, the actual party involved, Ophelia, did not show any crumbs of interest to those who constantly showed curiosity and favor towards her.

She was just getting more and more nervous dealing with the increasing number of people stopping in front of her.

To her, such useless conversations were a waste of time.

Even so, before the hunting competition starts, Richard has to say that if an assassin comes to him, he will kill him.

‘I have to tell Richard to kill all the assassins before the hunting competition starts, but why isn’t work over yet?’

“Hello. Aide, today…”

“Yes, yes.”

After that, the knights and lords who were going to receive a package continued to talk to Ophelia, but whatever they said was blocked by an iron wall that returned short answers no matter what, and the conversation fell off.

How long had it been?

When the task of distributing the packages was finished and Ophelia became a free person…