Chapter 80 …

So I can’t act the same way toward her as I did with Helion.

I don’t even feel like behaving like a proper villain.

It should be a good thing, but the fact that something this trivial managed to shake me still made me uncomfortable.

“Th-then that would be a huge problem…!”

“We can just kill them before they open their mouth. The dead don’t talk, you know.”

“But what if they’re someone really important?!”

“If they have a lot of enemies, we can disguise it as an assassination.”

Killing them is more convenient than awkwardly keeping them alive.
If they stay alive, there’s no telling what they might do.

Reina lightly touched the brooch attached to her waist. It wasn’t even a real flower, yet her touch was cautious.

“…I’ll be as careful as possible.”

“The ones approaching you should be the careful ones.”

Her hair had become slightly messy while making that determination—probably while she was checking her dress.

I brushed the tangled part aside with my hand and turned my head toward Katie.

“You went out again today?”

“He said someone introduced him to a promising business.”

“The introduction came from his gambling friend?”

“Y-yes…”

Just like last time. He never changes.

Because of that, my life was comfortable, but it was amazing that he never seemed to get tired.

‘It’s also amazing he still hasn’t come to his senses.’

He still hasn’t given up on those businesses that only lose money.

He’ll probably fall for it again like a fool.

‘At this rate, they’ll try to rope me in too.’

Since he’s a good source of money for them, those people wouldn’t welcome the death of the baron and his wife.

Even if I become the baron, they’ll try to squeeze money out of the estate somehow.

Dealing with those kinds of people would be troublesome too.

“He’ll come back before those people arrive.”

“Please be careful on your way!”

It wasn’t a serious problem yet.

Today, I decided to focus on the banquet.

Just in case, I glanced around, but I didn’t sense anything unusual.

‘So they’re not following me.’

I couldn’t be certain, but if my request had been granted, that must be the case.

Then what happens today wouldn’t reach Helion’s ears.

“W-we’re departing!”

The coachman, who was still afraid of me, drove the carriage.

Reina sat in front, swallowing nervously.

Her gaze kept drifting toward me.

It felt like it had something to do with me.

“Um… about that matter…”

“Did something happen?”

The only thing worth asking about would be the marriage.

“Are you really going to go?!”

Her loud voice made my ears ring for a moment.

Wasn’t this already settled?

There didn’t seem to be any reason for Reina to change her mind.

“I… saw it earlier.”

She hesitated and stared at my arm.

More precisely, the injury hidden under the black dress.

Maybe she saw the bruise.

It had been there for a while, so it had turned into a dark bruise, but it wasn’t serious.

“I fell.”

“…I’ve been hit many times too.”

Reina’s voice hardened, telling me not to try to deceive her.

It was awkward to change the topic in such an enclosed space.

And she seemed determined to keep digging.

What an annoying situation.

“If you meet him yourself, the next time you see him will probably be at the wedding ceremony. You don’t want that, do you?”

“…He might be a good person.”

That’s ridiculous.

“Someone who proposes to a person he’s never met?”

“Th-that’s…”

“And don’t misunderstand. I just don’t want rumors spreading that the suddenly adopted daughter was sold off in marriage.”

Typical Merdin.

People would pile up insults starting with, “This is why Merdin…”

They’d say we’re even doing business like this now.

They’d crown Merdin as a place without human rights.

“I’m not doing it for you. I’m doing it for myself.”

“B-but still—”

“Do you really want to meet him?”

“…I’m sorry.”

Reina’s shoulders instantly shrank as if she thought I was angry.

A familiar sense of guilt swallowed her whole.

There wasn’t really anything for her to apologize for.

Technically, I was interfering in her life.

But as the villain, I couldn’t exactly say that.

So instead, I changed the subject.

“If you weren’t being sold off in marriage, what would you do?”

“That kind of thing…”

“You’ve thought about it at least once.”

Her light pink eyes widened.

It seemed like a question she had never expected.

Reina froze.

“Um… I just… I was happy because it was my first time.”

After struggling so hard to survive, I thought she would be someone who dreamed of a hopeful future.

I thought she believed good days would eventually come if she endured.

But apparently Reina had never imagined a future.

She made meaningless gestures with her hands while trying to think about it now.

Frowning slightly, she slowly pieced together an answer.

“If… if something like that really happened… I’d like to become a free person. Yes, I want that.”

“By killing the baron and his wife?”

“N-no! Of course not! Not that kind of freedom. I just don’t want my future to be decided by someone else.”

I could see that strong determination in her eyes again.

But unlike that gaze, her smile looked faint, as if it could disappear at any moment.

“Hmm…”

Maybe she felt strange saying such things.

Reina fiddled with her wrist.

Her lips moved again.

“I want a free life where it becomes natural for me to take responsibility for my own choices.”

“Even if someone could make you happy?”

“Someone like that probably doesn’t exist… but even if they did, that would be the happiness they think of. It wouldn’t be my happiness.”

What an ironic reality.

Reina is the heroine of the game.

Someone who is destined to become happy in the end.

In a world where everyone wants to be the protagonist, she was a special existence given the role of the protagonist.

And yet…

The thing the protagonist wanted most wasn’t happiness.

She wished for freedom—something a protagonist could never truly have.

Maybe she instinctively knew.

That she was nothing more than a puppet being controlled by someone else.

“…Lady Laila, what do you want to do?”

Reina scratched her cheek and gathered the courage to ask.

I looked out the window, continuing my thoughts.

‘I’ve never really thought about it specifically…’

Even the question of what I want to do is a choice.

Since I was never given the right to choose, I never thought about it.

But I do know why I’m living.

‘Because I want to see Helion become happy.’

I just wanted to see Helion’s ending.

I hoped for a future better than the one in the game.

If that happened… maybe I would feel better too.

Maybe I’d feel at least a little rewarded.

“There’s nothing I particularly want to do.”

“…I heard you’re going to change this place.”

“It’s not something I want to do. It’s something I have to do.”

“But you don’t have to.”

She was right.

There was no direct harm to me.

The problem was the effect it would have on Helion.

And I didn’t want that.

So I had no choice.

“It gets in the way of maintaining things. It’s safer to remove obstacles.”

“Do your parents count as those obstacles…?”

“They’re not helping me.”

“But you said you used to get along well not long ago—”

“Why? Does it seem like we were pretending?”

A family that suddenly tries to kill each other after seeming close.

It’s only natural for someone to suspect something.

Though I didn’t expect her to ask so directly.

“N-no, that’s not it. It’s just… you say it so calmly… It’s supposed to be something very painful. I don’t have a family either, but I’ve heard that it is.”

“I just learned the reality. They see me as merchandise they can sell anyway. Why should I stay still?”

We looked like a harmonious family.

But now that I knew the truth, pretending not to notice would be stranger.

“You talk as if they’re people you don’t care about at all.”

Reina murmured blankly, then quickly covered her mouth.

She watched my reaction carefully.

But it didn’t really matter to me.

To me, it was simply the truth.

Your behavior does not resemble that of a villain.

For once, I welcomed that message.

The words that were about to slip out of my mouth froze.

If I said what I honestly thought, it would probably cause another strange misunderstanding.

So I stayed silent.

Reina seemed to sense that it was difficult for me to talk about it and didn’t ask further.

Family was something I could never have.

Because I knew that, I never gave meaning even to the family that had been created for me.

‘Did I have one before coming here?’

What did I look like?

What kind of life did I live?

What was my name?

I couldn’t remember anything.

All that returned to me was a blank white letter.

Meaningless sheets of paper piling up one after another.

‘Is that fortunate… or unfortunate?’

They say forgetting is a blessing given by God.

Maybe it’s true.

Now, even if I dig into the past, it doesn’t cause any problems.

It’s better this way than remembering unnecessary things and overthinking.

‘That’s a relief.’

* * *

The banquet was still unpleasant.

The moment I entered, everyone’s attention turned toward me.

It felt like being a spectacle locked inside a cage.

Whispers never stopped.

I had only just arrived, yet I was already tired.

‘How am I supposed to change this?’

Now that I actually came here, changing my reputation seemed even harder than I expected.

Killing someone wouldn’t earn goodwill.

But smiling brightly would only make me look like a fool being manipulated.

“Long time no see.”

Someone stepped in front of me, blocking my path.

Judging from his sloppy attitude, he looked like some minor villain.

I moved Reina behind me and looked at him.

A petty-looking face, ordinary in every way.

“Who are you?”

“I heard you lost your memory, but I guess it wasn’t just an act.”

“Who are you?”

“You really don’t recognize me?”

The man exaggeratedly bowed and frowned.

“If you want to be recognized, you should at least have a less common face.”

“…So it’s true. You’ve become stupid.”

Just as expected, his true nature surfaced easily.

The smirk on his lips disappeared instantly.

People around us watched the scene as if it were something familiar.

He must have been someone who used to associate with the old me.

“It seems we’re not on friendly terms, so may I leave?”

“…Well, our relationship was never exactly clean anyway.”