CH 53

An hour before the man ordered his subordinate to dig behind the agent Raisa had sent.

Raisa raised her chin as she pondered how to skin the rabbit.

—Tachak.

With the sound of the mask unlocking, the bare face under the rabbit mask was revealed.

And when Ophelia appeared, Raisa frowned.

“Bol… sheik?”

An unexpected person came out.

According to the young ladies who liked to gossip, it was clear that the young ladies of the Sheffield and Fillite families were contemptible.

‘Didn’t you even say everything you couldn’t say in front of me?’

‘Is that Bolsheik? It’s Bolsheik who is protected by Sheffield and Fillite?’

A family that was older than the empire and might have been born with the continent.

But now, only the name of the facade remained.

‘The lady of such a family? No, come to think of it…’

Word had it that she was the new aide brought in by the crown prince.

Very unusually, she skipped all the formalities.

Raisa’s eyes gleamed.

From the crown prince to Sheffield and Filite.

Indeed, it seemed to be worth using that woman herself, not her family.

‘And there’s value in stepping on it.’

She had the guts to say everything clearly even in front of her, so she wouldn’t go crazy even if she ripped off at least one limb.

It would be nice to see that stiff thing lying at her feet, bleeding and struggling, begging for help.

Also…

The quickest and most efficient way to relieve her mood wasn’t to confirm the achievements of what she had accomplished.

‘It’s killing an insect that’s right in front of my eyes by stepping on it.’

Raisa laughed like a child having fun as she tore off the wings of a dragonfly without any guilt or hesitation.

To Raisa, Ophelia and all the servants of the Neir mansion were like dragonflies flying away in front of her eyes.

If, like Richard, she had passed them as carelessly as a pebble or grass on the side of the road, the lives of those who caught her eyes would not have been so miserable.

“Bolsheik?”

No answer came back to the name of the family that she had uttered again.

But Raisa didn’t care and added.

“I’ll see you again.”

Raisa was confident, as if telling the truth that the sun would rise tomorrow as well.

“And we’re going to spend a lot of time together.”

‘We will.’

“You’ll whisper to me everything you know, even what you’ve seen and heard subconsciously.”

Raisa vowed to make it so.

She would not regress to today.

She would create her own time for the regression.

One day, the instant she faced Ophelia at a place she had prepared and at a time she wanted.

That moment would be the time to regress.

The fact that Ophelia was the crown prince’s aide was not very important to Raisa.

Whatever Raisa did to Ophelia, if she regressed to that time, it wouldn’t happen to everyone but her.

(TL/N: basically, the above and following few sentences are Raisa is thinking of torturing Ophelia.)

Thinking about it, she couldn’t relieve her mood because she was devoted to her work for quite some time.

She used to do fun things like this in the past, which she couldn’t even remember now.

“Ah, ah! Ahhhh!”

The screams spread all over the place, but there was no one but Raisa to hear the desperate cry.

It was a specially built torture chamber that only she could enter.

And even if some people heard, who among them would come to rescue him?

It was Raisa’s person anyway…

The man tied up screamed incessantly.

He didn’t even ask for help or release.

He couldn’t.

Of course, he did say that at first.

“Why… Why are you doing this?”

“Do I need a reason?”

Well, it wasn’t without reason.

This man was as annoying as a stone that caught her toes while building the village.

“If I tell you why, will your situation change?”

“Ah, no, that’s… Please spare me! my… Aaaaagh!”

The man’s voice got on her nerves, so she didn’t give him a chance to continue.

The voice was annoying, but the screams and cries weren’t bad.

Raisa, who recalled the end of the miserable and unrecognizable man, immediately stared at Ophelia.

How would that bold, shameless face and calm, unwavering voice change?

Raisa decided to look forward to that time.

“Shall we stop here for today? Oh, send my regards to Lady Sheffield. I hope she will be safe.”

As if the lion mask she was holding was cumbersome, she threw it casually onto the stone floor, leaving words that could be either a curse or a warning.

—Pujeok.

Then she lightly lifted her foot and stepped on the crown of the lion mask.

Like that, the lion mask, which was illuminated by the light and emitted a faint golden glow, was split from the top and rolled around randomly.

How long had it been?

Ophelia couldn’t move an inch even after Raisa left.

“I’ll see you again.”

“And we’re going to spend a lot of time together.”

It wasn’t a prediction based on any grounds or a wish for it to happen.

It was an affirmation that seemed to speak of a proposition that morning would come tomorrow as well.

As if there would be no situation where they couldn’t meet or spend a long time together… 

For an instant, goosebumps appeared on the skin beneath the thin layer of fabric.

It was certain.

It must happen.

Like there was no situation at all where she would avoid her or that they could not meet each other.

Was such a thing possible? For a moment, the back of Ophelia’s neck stiffened as she recalled the nasty and disgusting things that swarmed deep in Raisa’s eyes.

And the intersection that passed by.

Time.

Yes. The point where she and Richard vaguely overlapped was time.

The shapeless, no, indescribable, unpleasant and repulsive things that had been seething inside Raisa seemed too old.

An excessively old and twisted thing that should not be alive, like remnants that should have disappeared.

It was like a ghost wandering around the heavens in the middle of the day.

Richard and Raisa.

The protagonist and villain.

A very old time.

The shards swirling around in Ophelia’s head got on her nerves.

The lion mask that was terribly broken by Raisa’s feet came into Ophelia’s field of vision… 

‘Right. There’s such a thing.’

It was said that the most effective way for a horror movie to make the audience tremble in fear was to hide the source of fear so that it was unknown.

Since ancient times, people inevitably felt fear when they encountered something they did not know or could not understand.

And now.

Ophelia was overcome by a visceral fear of Raisa, or rather, the mysterious thing that had vanished before her eyes.

Feeling the distance in her vision, Ophelia bit the inside of her mouth as hard as she could.

—Pudeuk.

The taste of blood spread throughout her mouth, with the sound of the tender flesh inside being bitten and torn.

“Uh… Breathe. Hah… Huh.”

Only then did the clogged throat open up, and Ophelia collapsed.

She put her hands on the ground for a moment, then positioned her weight on her knees before she raised her head.

In a corner of the garden where only dim light flowed, only Ophelia’s eyes were burning bright with blue flames.

Raisa Neir…

‘I’m scared? Am I afraid?’

Yes. Surely.

The unidentifiable terribly nasty things that rotted in stagnant water were frighteningly scary.

But would she turn a blind eye to that?

“Absolutely not. Never.”

Ophelia’s lips curled up.

Nothing was certain yet.

It was natural that she didn’t know anything.

But was there something else she was not sure and didn’t know anything about?

It was this damn loop of infinite regression. 

Ophelia was now struggling against this irritating bridle.

So, that unknown, terrible thing, and how Raisa revealed she was targeting her…

“I’m not going to sit still and hang out my neck and wait to be bitten to death.”

Ophelia took a deep breath, staring straight in the direction Raisa had disappeared.

She seemed to have a fishy smell.

It was sort of like blood, maybe even a very old, stale smell.

After glancing at the lion mask, which Raisa had casually discarded, Ophelia grabbed her rabbit mask and headed for the main section of the garden.

Then, when she rejoined the party with her bare face…

“When will Sir Sheffield come back…”

“Let’s talk about the vineyards that he tends as a hobby which produces very good wine…”

The murmur of their voices suddenly stopped.

This was because the rabbit that disappeared at some point revealed its identity, which was everyone’s concern, and returned like the wind.

The young ladies were not the only ones who widened their eyes in surprise.

Catherine and Iris hurriedly approached Ophelia, leaving their opponents alone.

“Ophelia.”

“Ophelia? Are you okay? I should have gone with you…”

“No. I’m okay. Even if I’m not okay, I’ll be okay.”

“What?”