CH 51

“Raise your head.”

When permission was finally granted, the man gulped and raised his head stiffly.

And in front of his eyes stood a person darker than pitch-black that he had encountered for a short while before going to work, whom he mistakenly thought was empty hair.

The man froze without making a sound. Richard just stared at him with indifferent eyes.

Facing the golden eyes lurking in the darkness, the man’s mouth dropped open and he pulled his neck forward without realizing it.

Golden?

It was such a rare eye color, so the man looked at the dark blob again with his eyes wide open, but his curiosity quickly evaporated as the eyes he met again were shadier than the darkness that lurked.

‘He told me to look up, not to look at him.’

Instinctively, the man sensed danger, and he immediately put his head back on the floor and struggled.

Richard, staring down at the man rubbing his forehead on the floor, said,

“You dealt with medicine.”

“W-What about the medicine?”

The man was so nervous that a shrill voice came out, but it was fortunate that it was an answer. With his face still on the floor, the man replied,

“Yes, yes. Yes. We deal with medicine.”

“What about people?”

“We… W-We also handle people…”

The man couldn’t finish his words and broke out in a cold sweat; it dripped like falling beans.

It was because his body was oppressed by the violent death-like pressure that made his skin tingle and peel off.

He felt dizzy, and then his vision began to blur away.

The moment he thought that he was already motionless and dead.

From the top of his head, a rope that looked like a thousand gold, no, would not be changed even if given a thousand gold, came down.

“I’ll ask you some questions.”

“Ahhh! Yes… Yes! Yes, anything!”

Unlike the man’s shrill voice, Richard’s voice remained calm and low, like at the start.

“Reveal every single transaction you made today. Everything.”

“Yes! What suddenly happened before I came here today was…!”

.

At the time Richard became the nightmare of a man who could beat his stomach like a drum… 

“Looks like I’ll live a little longer.”

Ophelia, who had escaped under the colorful lights, was breathing heavily.

As she took in the cool air, free from the heat radiating from the lights and the people, she felt her airways freshen up.

Picking up her unexpectedly easy to put on and take off rabbit mask, she took another deep breath and put her mask back on.

‘I can’t let Catherine suffer alone.’

‘Iris should be by her side, but will she really help…?’

The next second.

At the gloomy corner of the garden where dazzling lights were not present.

A rabbit and a lion met.

After two omens and going through too many regressions to count on one hand.

Finally…

The person who caused the regressions and the person who was caught up in it; both who were regressing faced each other head-on.

It wasn’t the first meeting.

Raisa accompanied Ophelia’s second infinite regression.

But at that time, Raisa and Ophelia’s line of sight contained only Richard, not each other.

Therefore, this moment must be the first time they were so clearly aware of the other’s existence.

It was an unexpected encounter, but neither of them left the spot.

It wasn’t just Ophelia who was interested in Raisa. The latter was also a little curious as to the rabbit’s identity.

“That Lady Sheffield is being so obedient!”

“Even Lady Fillite stepped forward…”

This rabbit was that rabbit.

The rabbit protected by a snake and a mongoose.

‘Isn’t it funny?’

‘A predator protecting its prey?’

It might be worth using.

‘Even if it’s disposable, isn’t it better to have more tools?’

‘Once I know who it is, I should be able to decide whether to use or dispose of it.’

Raisa did not directly ask the rabbit to take off her mask.

But she didn’t even try to guess who she was by asking a this and that question.

That was because she didn’t want to take the time.

With the idea of pinning down the target in front of her eyes, she chose the simplest and quickest method.

—Dak.

With the sound of the lock attached to the side of the lion mask opening, Raisa revealed her face first.

Actually, there was no etiquette that required the other person to remove her mask, even if she did.

But everyone had common sense that if they respected the other person, they shouldn’t wear a mask while facing a bare face.

That was exactly what Raisa was aiming for.

Who wouldn’t respect Raisa of the Marquisate of Neir?

So she waited for the rabbit to take off her mask and reveal her true identity.

A few seconds passed, then a few more minutes.

Raisa’s face slowly began to harden.

Contrary to expectations, the rabbit showed no sign of removing her mask.

What Raisa overlooked was that her current opponent knew common sense but did not hesitate to destroy it.

Ophelia kept common sense and etiquette to a minimum, and only strictly followed the line that did not cause trouble to others.

Like how her common sense deemed it not a big deal to cheer for the massacre of the bear that killed her to survive.

Then Raisa, belatedly realizing that Ophelia had no intention of taking off her mask, commented.

“That’s rude.”

It was just two words, but it was more than enough to convey the disregard and displeasure contained within.

And Ophelia did not hold back.

“No. The lady who recklessly took off her mask without the other person’s consent is much more rude.”

“What?”

“And the etiquette that I have to reveal my face just because you took off your mask doesn’t appear in any book.”

It was a true statement that could not be refuted.

That was why those words were uncomfortable and annoying, ones that made Raisa more irritated and angry.

If it was the Raisa before regressions, she would have exploded right away and grabbed that rabbit by the hair, no matter who it was.

But not now.

That thing in front of her eyes bothered her, but compared to other big problems, it was just a thorn under her fingernail.

But it was not something she could just go ‘haha’ at.

Raisa strode towards Ophelia, reaching out her hand to take off the bunny mask herself.

However, Ophelia reflexively turned her head slightly to avoid it, so it was in vain.

Raisa’s eyes changed as her fingers touched the air. It was an embarrassing situation, beyond words.

A small thorn that was nothing was starting to get on her nerves more than she thought.

Ophelia couldn’t look Raisa in the eye because the area was dark, but she noticed very quickly that her mood had changed. She couldn’t be unaware as she was focusing her attention on her.

A terribly unpleasant, foul air ran through her fingertips and threatened to strangle her.

But Ophelia neither withdrew nor fainted.

It was bearable compared to the unexpected painful and miserable deaths that she experienced during the infinite regressions.

The pressure wasn’t so little that it could be passed lightly with a smile, but it wasn’t enough to crawl on the floor and move Raisa’s will.

When Ophelia didn’t move, Raisa’s faintly crumpled face contorted like a gash.

And, like a lie, at that moment, the moon hiding behind the clouds was revealed, and through the cold light, blue eyes met gray eyes head-on.

An ice-cold chill ran down Ophelia’s back.

Then, the moon hid again, though Raisa was no longer visible in the dimly lit corner of the garden…

The terrible and nasty things that stagnated and overflowed from the gray eyes faced in an instant could not be erased.

How should it be explained?

It wasn’t just anger.

Not just red anger towards the situation right before her, it was much more terrible than that…

More of, as if the anger and hatred had pooled and stagnated within her for a very long time.

Ophelia didn’t know what to call the creepy thing that kept bubbling and seething beyond refinement.

But she did know one thing.

‘I can’t dismiss Raisa as Marchioness Neir’s puppet or as a firefly hidden in her shadow.’

And oddly enough.

No, bizarrely.

For some reason, Raisa’s gray eyes overlapped vaguely with Richard’s golden ones.

It wasn’t the overlapping of something terribly unpleasant, gooey, rotten that gnawed at her nerves.

After being with Richard, things like that… No, Ophelia had never seen anything like that before or after possessing, even after repeating infinite regression.

Ophelia felt something intersecting between Richard and Raisa. Something immeasurably old. 

It was faint, mixed with that flickering, but also old, overly old feeling which was similar to Richard.

Raisa did not reach out to the frozen Ophelia again.

The fact that she avoided her hands was humiliating to her, and she didn’t want to try again.

“You don’t want to show your face that much. It makes me want to see it even more.”

In the end, Raisa made the request directly, leaving behind her manners and common sense.

“Take off that mask.”

She glared at the rabbit mask for a second before adding.

“Before I peel off the skin on your face.”

The terrifying words were said with a calm expression and serene voice, so the sense of a gap was even more bizarre.

How long has it been like that?

Raisa’s patience was starting to run out, to the point that regardless of who the rabbit was, she thought of several ways to do what she had said.

Ame: It just occurred to me that all the major characters in this novel are as direct as a bullet train.

Dea: “Take off that mask before I peel off the skin on your face.” ….damn well, okay nice talk, i would not want to get on her bad side