C119
"... I'm not sure what that means."
Terence said, with wide-open eyes at my sudden confession.
It's understandable. I'm not from this world.
From my perspective, it wouldn't be strange if he treated me like a crazy person.
"Of course, it would sadden me a lot if Terence looked at me like that. But..."
As he was sincere with me, I also had the obligation to convey my true feelings.
Above all, I didn't want to deceive Terence any longer.
"Do you know how I found out that Terence wasn't just a mercenary but the Marquis of Freeheiden?"
Terence diligently followed his memory despite the somewhat unexpected change of topic.
"You guessed my identity after hearing Jack's slip when he called me Marquis."
"In reality, it wasn't like that."
"What?"
"I knew your identity even before we met."
Yes. My confession had to start from here.
"Our meeting wasn't a coincidence. I approached from the beginning to make a deal with the medicinal tea recipe."
I presented the truth one by one to the man who still didn't seem to understand everything I said.
"The medicinal tea recipe, the fact that the medicinal tea would be effective for Terence's headaches, and even the fact that Terence usually spends time in the Wandering Forest."
After a brief pause, I continued speaking.
"I knew it all. That's why I want to apologize."
"...What?"
"I'm sorry. Even though I knew everything, I approached it systematically, pretending not to know. I deceived you."
That's why I decided to first reveal the truth about my transmigration instead of responding directly to Terence's confession.
If he found out that I had lied, he might change his opinion about me.
The day he called me a friend for the first time.
"Isn't it fascinating? The fact that the person who happened to meet you was someone who could help you and also possessed that incredible medicine."
"Wasn't it a fateful destiny?"
This is what he said about our relationship: It wasn't a coincidence, fate, or anything else.
"No, before that."
Terence shook his head confused.
"If that's true, how did you know all that?"
"That's the important part. Like I said before, I'm not from this world."
I hoped that sounded a little less crazy.
"In the world I was in, I read a novel. A novel that tells the story of this world."
"...A novel?"
"That's right. The title is 'Return and Walk on a Path of Flowers,' and the main character is Liena Cassius. It's a novel about Liena's successful life."
After saying that, I gave Terence some time to process my story.
Terence silently raised his wine glass, but it was clear that his mind was elsewhere.
What is that head thinking right now?
I started to wish that he wouldn't decide to send me to a hospital right away.
My gaze was fixed on his. Terence looked at me directly and then opened his mouth.
"You're probably hungry, so eat quickly."
"What?"
"The food prepared by the annex's chef will cool down. It's quite edible. Hurry up."
I suddenly took my fork and ate the shrimp from my plate.
I could feel the chewy texture of the shrimp and the salty taste spreading in my mouth.
It was definitely delicious, just as Terence said. The hunger I had forgotten due to tension came back to me, so I repeatedly brought the fork to my mouth.
While chewing the food in my mouth, I looked at Terence.
"I can't believe I'm eating in this situation."
I don't know if I should call myself bold or scandalous.
Still, I didn't feel bad because that meant he cared a lot about me. No, it actually felt good.
After emptying my plate a bit and leaving the fork, Terence also placed his glass on the table.
"Now, shall we continue with what we were talking about before? You said Princess Cassius was the main character of the book you read?"
"That's right."
"What can I say? I always felt like she was hogging all the love and attention, as if she had been blessed with all the blessings of this world."
Terence's eyes narrowed.
"To be honest, it's hard to believe."
Yes, it's natural. How many people would believe such absurd things?
"Then, please tell me more about it."
I looked at him with surprised eyes.
"I want to believe in you."
"...Yes, as much as you want."
Perhaps it was because of Terence's words that wanted to trust me, or because I had a full stomach, but my mouth began to spit out words more freely than before.
"Liena was originally a girl who lived an unhappy life and died. But the Goddess Miella gave her another chance."
After summarizing the novel's plot, I began the story of my fall into this world.
"The real Ethel, not me, was a supporting character who didn't have much role in the novel. After entering Ethel's body, I married Liena's brother, Leandro, as described in the novel. But..."
Terence moved his eye or lips a couple of times as if he wanted to ask a question, but he patiently listened to what I had to say.
However, he only interrupted the flow of the story once.
"The wind has become cooler. From now on, it would be better to go inside and continue talking."
Perhaps because it was the time when summer turned into autumn, my body chilled after staying on the terrace for a long time.
We moved to the room I used as an office and continued our conversation.
Terence, who was sitting across from me, occasionally filled a glass with water and handed it to me. Strangely enough, it was just when I began to feel thirsty.
Thanks to such kind consideration, my story continued until the faint light of dawn.
"That's why I canceled my dinner date with Terence."
Before I knew it, I was explaining what had happened yesterday.
"I went to the old orphanage building and glimpsed Ethel's past life..."
Now, if I say a little more, it will end, but I keep yawning and closing my eyes.
In reality, I felt quite tired after seeing Ethel's past life.
Similar to the fatigue I felt when using my ability, seeing Ethel's past life also seemed to consume a lot of my stamina.
I had no choice but to lie down on the sofa and try to keep talking.
"In reality, Ethel and Liena... were friends who went to the same orphanage..."
But my eyelids were very heavy.
"But one day..."
In the end, I ended up falling asleep.
----------------------
"Ethel?"
After confirming that Ethel's eyes were completely closed, Terence called her by name.
However, only regular breathing could be heard, and Ethel did not respond.
"No, it's not Ethel."
If he was right, it was the name of this body, not the name of the woman.
Terence stood up and approached the woman leaning on the sofa.
Soon, soft pink hair was wrapped around his hand.
To be honest, he still didn't fully believe in her confession.
But that doesn't mean it seemed like a blatant lie or crazy nonsense.
According to the Bible, there is a divine world where gods live and a demonic world where demons live, but is there a law saying that there can't be other worlds?
Although he resisted saying that this world was just a story from a novel, she had already shown him the evidence.
"The novel says that the emerald ring, one of the treasures of the royal family, has the effect of relieving headaches. However, since it is a unique item, only His Majesty the Emperor can use it. Isn't that right?"
That was true. It is said that a long time ago, the goddess gave the first emperor an emerald stone containing divine power.
A ring crafted by processing the precious stone was the only way to alleviate the headaches caused by the power of the royal family without side effects until the arrival of medicinal tea.
Successive emperors, including Terence's father, wore the ring on their fingers and alleviated the terrible headaches.
However, this was a closely guarded secret passed down only to the immediate royal family.
He didn't know what kind of disaster would happen if the fact that the emperor's weakness was the ring was revealed to the outside world.
Others simply thought that, along with other treasures of the imperial family, such as the jeweled crown and the precious sword, the ring was also determined by tradition and always worn by the emperor.
But how did she know this information?
Terence had never spoken to her in any way about the Emperor's Ring.
There was even less chance that she had found out through the emperor or Mikhail.
There was only one answer. She could acquire knowledge that couldn't be obtained through normal means.
Thinking that way, it was entirely understandable that she knew the internal story of Iver's Guild and was the first to notice the existence of the divine beast in the mine.
The hand toying with the fine hair stopped moving.
"And you told me that great secret."
To the man who appeared as an unstoppable villain in the novel.
Although he could threaten me or misuse my information if he had ill intentions.
Even now, as she slept defenselessly in front of him, she trusted Terence a lot.
She was very happy about that.
The same applied to approaching him not by chance but by design.
She hoped for his help more than anyone else, and even though there were so many characters in the novel, she chose only that person.
It seemed that she thought he would be disappointed if their meeting wasn't a coincidence, but that wasn't the case at all.
It's better than a mere coincidence. If it were a coincidence, it means that someone other than Terence could have ended up in this current position.
That would be unacceptable. She couldn't tolerate it.
Terence smiled cheerfully and extended his hand towards the woman.
She revealed that she wasn't the real Ethel, but that was probably a good thing for him.
The Ethel he first met and knew until now was her, and the person his heart addressed was her.
For him, the person he held in his arms at that moment was Ethel.
He picked up Ethel, who was sleeping deeply, and gently placed her on the bedroom bed.
"I hope you have sweet dreams."
After carefully covering her with a blanket, Terence whispered softly into Ethel's ear.