C104
Liena turned to look at the former Duke Cassius.
"Grandpa, I'm going to talk for a moment with someone."
"With whom?"
"My sister-in-law over there."
Roland Cassius squinted his eyes and searched for me among the villagers.
"When you say your sister-in-law, do you mean Leandro's wife?"
"Yes, I have something to discuss with my sister-in-law."
Terence also looked at me.
"Ethel."
"I also have something to discuss with Liena."
"But..."
"It's fine. I have him too."
I patted the bag containing the divine beast. The divine beast made a small purring sound.
Liena and I locked eyes.
This was the first time I saw her in person since the divorce was finalized.
However, while dealing with Elliot, battling the divine beast, and thinking about my dream, I constantly felt Liena's strong presence.
The two of us faced each other.
Liena, with a relaxed attitude, told me to choose the location, so we headed to the lake shore.
Terence and Roland watched us from a distance but couldn't hear our conversation.
Viscount Cainbert, who had appeared with his soldiers as if about to start a war, was still biding his time at the village entrance.
I asked Liena, pointing with my chin in the direction where the viscount and the soldiers were.
"What are you planning?"
"What?"
"You always wanted this mine. Are you planning to take it from me, even by force?"
"I really don't know what you're talking about."
Liena showed an innocent expression as if she knew nothing.
"I passed by to recover, and I just came to see if my sister-in-law was here."
"Recover?"
"Yes, my health deteriorated after suffering in the imperial prison last time."
She looks perfectly fine. And you didn't really suffer in prison.
She continued speaking brazenly, paying no attention to my bewildered expression.
"Before leaving the capital, I visited Ambassador Leok's residence, and he told me that my sister-in-law wasn't there."
"Why did you want to see me?"
"Because it's between us, we can meet even if nothing special happens... I'd like to say that, but this time, I have matters to attend to."
Liena's fingertips pointed towards the mine.
"As my sister-in-law said, I want that mine. Sell it to me. I'll pay you generously."
She offered a huge amount of money, unimaginable for the price of an abandoned mine. Although it was a pittance compared to the mine's real value.
"What if I refuse?"
"Why would you refuse?"
Liena approached me.
"It's strange from the standpoint of common sense. I said I would give you that amount of money for a worthless abandoned mine, but you refused."
"We don't have good feelings towards each other, so I don't want to sell it to you."
"It's strange. The sister-in-law I know is a realistic person. There's no reason to reject a large sum of money you have in front of you for emotional reasons."
She said without even blinking.
"Why are you so meticulous about something like an abandoned mine? You even wrote that memorandum with your family."
You've already encountered the Wallace family.
Liena had found out that she couldn't use them to take over the mine.
I felt worried for a moment. Her suspicions about my identity became stronger.
"There's nothing I can do unless I hand over the mine..."
As long as Liena continued coveting my mine, it was inevitable that she would suspect me for not selling it.
To be honest, Liena had many other assets, so I hoped she would surrender them at the right time.
However, her obsession with the mine was much stronger than I felt while reading the book.
"In this situation, the only way to dispel Liena's suspicions would be to sell the mine."
A person who knew the true value of the mine, for example, a regressor like her, wouldn't do this even if they had died or awakened.
Of course, I had no intention of making such a foolish decision.
It wasn't just about simple greed for money. The Andala mine now meant more to me.
"This is where Terence and Vinetta, as well as I, risked our lives to defeat the divine beast."
The owner of that place recognized by the divine beast was me, not Liena.
I didn't know how Liena would react when she became convinced that I wasn't an ordinary person, but I didn't want to give away what was mine.
Moreover.
"Liena."
I stared at her.
"Is this your reward for the kindness I showed you in my last life?"
At that moment, anything that could be called an expression evaporated from Liena's face.
"E-Ethel..."
Today, for the first time, Liena called me by my name instead of sister-in-law and took a step back.
This was my plan to reveal Liena's true intentions.
If the secret was going to be revealed anyway, it was better for me to take control of the situation.
"Above all, it's an opportunity."
An opportunity to catch a glimpse of what happened in Liena's first life.
As the first episode was about Liena's life disappearing when she went back in time, she was the only person who knew the truth about that moment.
"How could you do this to me? Taking away what belongs to your friends, is that something you can call friendship?"
So, to shake Liena's spirit, I planned to portray the real Ethel.
"N-No, it can't be that you also went back in time..."
Liena seemed as embarrassed as I expected, or even more so.
"Yes. My memories returned recently."
I heard the sound of someone taking a breath. Liena shook her head thoughtfully.
"No. I didn't send Leandro to Wallace with the intention of taking the mine from you. I really didn't know."
"What is it that you didn't know?"
"I didn't know that you were from the Wallace family."
You didn't know Ethel's family?
Then, did Ethel not reveal her last name to Liena?
The possibility of it being a lie couldn't be completely ruled out, but Liena didn't seem to have the composure to invent a lie at this moment.
After holding the newly learned information in my head, I opened my mouth again.
"So, what about Cassius?"
Since I don't know the exact relationship between Ethel and Cassius in episode 1, I refrained from going into details.
In moments like this, it would have been better to simply dismiss the topic instead of repeating the story and exposing the gaps.
I let Liena imagine the background story on her own.
"C-Cassius..."
My prediction turned out to be correct again. This time, the story about Cassius flowed from Liena's mouth.
"What about Cassius?"
But her attitude was quite different when talking about the mine.
"Anyway, you abandoned Cassius, so can't I have a little?"
What does it mean that Ethel abandoned Cassius?
"You know well because you observed my situation, right? I lived an unhappy life. There was no happiness in my life."
Liena scolded her as if it were unfair.
"I want to be happy! I have the right to be happy too!"
Then, she lowered her head.
"... If you were my friend, you shouldn't blame me for Cassius."
At that moment.
"Liena!"
Roland Cassius, who was far away, heard his granddaughter's cry and shouted loudly.
"What the hell is going on! Why are you like this all of a sudden?! Are you hurt somewhere?!"
Then he looked at me and burst into anger.
"Ingrateful bitch! How dare you do this to my bunny? I won't let you go!"
I could see Terence blocking Roland, who was trying to run in that direction.
"Thank you."
I thanked him in my heart and then looked at Liena again.
I needed to get more information from Liena before unnecessary intruders intervened.
"...Yes, if you were really my friend Ethel, there's no way you would treat me like this."
But Liena muttered something and made eye contact with me. The emotion seemed to have diminished somehow.
"Lately, it's been very hot. On days like these, raspberry juice is perfect."
It was a random comment. Raspberry juice out of nowhere?
Liena grabbed my hand as I wondered how to react.
"You."
She curved the corners of her mouth.
"It's a lie that your memories came back, isn't it?"
Oh no. Only then did I realize that this time Liena had considered my reaction.
Perhaps raspberries were a topic that Liena and Ethel had in common in the first episode.
If I were really Ethel, I should have responded to Liena's words in some way, but I couldn't, so Liena noticed that something was wrong.
"As expected, my prediction was correct!"
Liena smiled happily and waved my hand.
"If your memories had returned, if you were really my friend Ethel, there's no way you would hate me so much!"
Then she suddenly hugged me.
"Ethel, please believe me. I'm not your enemy."
"…!"
"Maybe someone told you about your last life? Introduced themselves as a regressor. They're creating a rift between us!"
I felt like I knew what Liena was thinking.
Although my memories haven't returned, I do know certain information from my last life.
In other words, I had the misunderstanding that there was another regressor and that he had provided me with information.
"You told me that I took Cassius from you? But that's absurd. We were very good friends."
"Liena, let me go."
"If you had remembered my unfortunate past, you would have been willing to yield to me, right?"
"Let me go!"
I barely managed to push Liena away from me.
"Is it because she has eaten a lot of expensive food since she was young? She has quite a bit of strength."
Liena stared at her outstretched arm and gritted her teeth.
"Is that guy...?"
"What?"
"Did that man send useless wind at you? To separate us."
Liena's resentful eyes turned towards Terence, who was still facing Roland.
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