TABML 23

Episode 23

The memories Katrina held from long ago felt so trivial.

“Hey, Kiki. You like flowers, right?”

She still remembered the single flower he held out to her.

“I thought of you and picked it. If you don’t like it, you can toss it.”

She had thought his hands were rough.

Only then did she remember how he always trained hard with his sword.

His tone was blunt, but Silas had a warm heart.

“What’s with that measly thing? Throw that away and take mine, Katrina.”

The single flower was quickly pushed aside, replaced by a lavish bouquet.

It was Lucifer.

He was like a child, always so jealous.

“Hey!”

“Hmph. Who told you to bring something so pitiful?”

“You bastard, you wanna die?”

That day was truly strange.

A gift? From them? So out of character.

Lucifer and Silas.

They really didn’t get along. Seeing them bicker while holding flowers was quite a sight.

So childish.

Because they argued over who’d give their gift first, Katrina ended up not receiving any flowers at all—just watched them argue.

“Katrina, do you like flowers?”

Then Raymond, who had been blankly observing from behind, asked.

“Is there anyone who doesn’t?”

They’re pretty and colorful—nice to look at.

“Ah, so that means you like them?”

Raymond suddenly held out a flower too.

“Will you take it?”

Katrina was dumbfounded.

What’s gotten into everyone?

“M-Me too…”

Niel added timidly.

And just like that, Katrina ended up with a bunch of flowers in her arms. Completely bewildered.

What’s wrong with these guys?

“D-Damian told me. That you l-liked flowers… Katrina…”

Niel handed his flower over shyly.

“Since you like them… I wanted to give you one.”

“…”

Ah.

Her chest ached.

For the first time since coming to this world, she felt overwhelmed with emotion.

“Hey! I couldn’t give mine because of you!”

“How is that my fault?”

Lucifer and Silas were still in the middle of their fight.

“Katrina, let’s go play somewhere else.”

Raymond tugged on Katrina’s arm.

“M-Me too… I-I want to go somewhere else too.”

Then Niel softly looped his arm around Katrina’s other arm.

…Should she stop them?

They had all been mean to Katrina at times.

She had often thought they were bad kids. But she had never once thought they were truly evil.

Being mean and being bad—similar, but definitely different. That’s what Katrina believed.

And later, her thoughts shifted.

They’re just still young.

She thought they’d never grow up.

She could imagine what they’d look like older, but never imagined they’d become more mature.

Maybe the most arrogant of them all had been Katrina herself.

Why didn’t she realize something so obvious?

In the end, they grew up.

And grew up to…

“Katrina poisoned Niel’s tea.”

…frame her.

It was on Katrina’s seventeenth birthday.

Looking back, nothing went right that day.

It was also the day she began to feel her mana slowly disappearing.

That day, Niel drank poisoned tea and collapsed.

And the culprit pointed out was Katrina.

“We saw it happen.”

It all happened so fast.

They all turned on her in an instant.

And that’s how their relationship ended.

From now on, Raymond would be forced to answer everything Katrina asked.

Raymond seemed to sense it too—his face looked pale.

Cold sweat dripped from his chin.

“The effect lasts about an hour, so try not to make a fool of yourself during that time.”

Raymond furrowed his brows.

It seemed he now fully understood his situation.

“I came because there’s something I want to ask you.”

Raymond’s brows rose. He clearly didn’t like this situation.

But he couldn’t resist.

“Raymond, do you remember ‘that day’?”

“…That day?”

“The day you all betrayed me.”

There’s no way he didn’t remember.

“Why did you do it?”

She’d always been curious.

What the reason was. Why they suddenly turned on her.

Katrina didn’t care what would happen to Raymond after drinking the drug-laced wine Selina had given him.

She was about to ignore him and walk into the mansion.

But then…

The memory resurfaced. The reason she’d always wondered about that day.

“You guys didn’t even see it. You never saw me poison Niel’s tea.”

“…”

“There’s no way you could’ve seen something I didn’t even do.”

It had haunted her for a long time.

Raymond stared at Katrina without speaking.

But he wouldn’t be able to resist for long.

The drug made it impossible to suppress one’s impulses. And the pain of trying to resist was unbearable.

Raymond’s breathing grew a little heavier. He seemed to be struggling.

At last, he lowered his hand.

Katrina’s eyes widened.

But he was smiling.

“That’s what made it fun.”

…What?

She couldn’t think at all in that moment.

He pulled his hand away from his mouth and smiled wide.

“It was fun. That’s why I did it.”

Was he joking? Katrina wondered. But deep down, she knew.

He couldn’t lie right now.

So it had to be the truth.

“…Ha.”

She felt ridiculous for living off the memories of long ago.

“…You falsely accused me because it was fun?”

“Yeah.”

…Wow.

You really are… the worst bastard in the world.

“Then why did you even come near me?”

Did he intend to play with her like a toy from the start?

She had received her answer, yet felt nothing but emptiness.

“Why did it have to be me?”

It was a question she had carried for so long—she needed to hear the answer.

But Raymond averted his gaze.

Instead of replying, he raised a hand to cover his mouth again.

Huh?

Raymond was trying not to answer.

“Answer me, Raymond.”

“…”

What the hell?

He answered a question he should’ve hidden at all costs, but now he was refusing to answer this?

Raymond’s golden hair was damp with sweat.

He was trying his hardest not to answer.

“Why are you hiding it?”

Katrina stepped closer to him.

His green eyes shone with an emotion she’d never seen before.

His hand clenched tighter against his lower face as if desperate to hold back.

Katrina looked down at him from close range.

His eyes were becoming glazed over. He looked on the verge of losing control.

“You really are hard to figure out.”

Katrina gave up expecting an answer.

Either way, her connection with Raymond was over.

There was no point in dragging up old memories anymore. Rehashing the past now was a waste of time.

“Raymond, you don’t know, do you?”

“…”

“I never loved you.”

Believe it or not, she had always wanted to say it at least once.

“Not even once.”

Raymond’s pupils trembled.

What’s so shocking about that?

Katrina reached out and brushed his hair back.

“You hate this kind of thing, right?”

“…”

“I hated it too. Being treated like a dog.”

She withdrew her hand. Raymond’s hair fell messily again.

“You shouldn’t toy with people like that.”

“…”

“Raymond, you really are a bastard.”

The worst man in the world.

“Let’s never see each other again.”

Raymond grabbed her wrist.

“What are you—”

Before she could react, Raymond leaned in and kissed her.

In that moment, Katrina’s eyes flew wide open.