Chapter 116
The more she read the documents, the wider Greta’s eyes grew. The color gradually drained from her face, and before long, her hands began to tremble faintly.
“These are the evidences of every corruption your parents, your uncle, your cousins, your grandfather and grandmother have committed all this time. In addition to that, we intend to thoroughly punish your family for instigating the kidnapping of Count Noxia Serdin last autumn.”
Elenenon continued speaking with a deliberately indifferent expression as he stared at Greta’s pale face.
He was not accustomed to displaying an overbearing attitude in front of others, but it wasn’t something he couldn’t manage if he tried. After all, wearing a mask and deceiving people was something he had always done.
When the prince—usually so gentle and merciful that he even seemed easy to take advantage of—looked straight at her without a trace of kindness in his eyes, Greta felt fear toward him for the first time. She swallowed dryly.
“……What must I do?”
Even in that situation, Greta was clever. After quickly turning the wheels in her head and wisely lowering herself as much as possible, Elenenon finally smiled faintly and answered in a soft voice.
“I would like you to become a witness. Testify that all this material regarding your family is true, and in return, serve as a witness to prove your own innocence—in other words, a whistleblower.”
Even his smile was different from usual. It was not the gentle, warm smile like spring sunlight, but a cold smile sharp as frost. And yet, it was a contradiction that he was still handsome enough to make one’s heart tremble.
However, the reason Greta’s heart trembled now was absolutely not because of the prince’s striking appearance. The cause of her trembling was fear toward him—and perhaps a faint sense of anticipation.
To become a witness. To report her own family and participate in bringing them down. On the surface, it sounded like a miserable situation, as though she were being urged into an act of filial impiety. But in truth, Greta felt a little pleased.
She did not love her parents or her older sister. Her indifference toward her family was not ingratitude but legitimate self-defense.
How could one know how to give love when one had never received it? At the very least, the abuse her parents had committed under the pretext of loving discipline had been nothing but nightmares to Greta.
How hard she had tried to become the perfect daughter by their standards. How desperately she had struggled to win the prince’s heart as they wished. Would anyone ever acknowledge it?
Even if no one else ever knew until the end, it did not matter. She herself knew and remembered everything.
‘Finally.’
At last, the useless second daughter who had always been oppressed and ignored by her family was given a chance for revenge. Hiding her exhilaration, Greta bowed her head.
“I will follow the will of the royal family.”
Perhaps feeling guilty for forcing such an act of impiety upon her, the ever-kind Prince Elenenon became gentle with her again after hearing those words.
In exchange for her cooperation with the royal family, they would absolutely guarantee her innocence, and the title and property confiscated from the Duke would be handed over to her. Hearing that promise, Greta smiled inwardly.
Kind-hearted and foolishly soft Prince Elenenon. There was no need to watch her reactions so carefully and soothe her so gently. Did he think she was hurt?
Far from hurt, she was delighted. Delighted that she could finally escape that loathsome family, that she could seize the opportunity for revenge with her own hands.
Even if the title she would receive were demoted by two ranks from Duke to Count, and even if the wealth were greatly reduced, it would still be more than enough to live comfortably for the rest of her life.
The twisted daughter joined in the retaliation against her parents. And the price she received was most satisfying.
People’s memories returned. The Duke of Veriton paid for his crimes. Greta Veriton, now a Count, left the capital after dropping out of the Academy and did not return to her hometown for a very long time.
Prince Elenenon, who had been caught up in the terror attack, fully recovered his health. The Herméon Council succeeded in extracting a vast sum in reparations from the Tyros royal family, and Tyros’s internal affairs remained in turmoil.
Various large and small events soaked Noxia’s life—sometimes like a fierce downpour, sometimes like a gentle drizzle.
Some rains left indelible marks upon her heart, while others dried away quickly under a little sunlight, as though nothing had ever happened.
One autumn day, when the trial of the Duke of Veriton was nearing its end, Noxia went to see Karnen. There were still things that needed to be settled.
“Karnen.”
Sitting across from a familiar person in a familiar room at the Marquess Holby’s residence, Noxia began softly.
“……Is it okay if I call you that?”
She added cautiously. The atmosphere was more rigid than ever. After learning that her long-time closest friend in this life was in fact a bond carried over from a previous life, there was no going back to how things used to be.
Karnen—or Pellene—remained silent for a moment. The suffocating awkwardness of this moment was the same for both of them. Instead of looking at Noxia, she lowered her gaze to the table and spoke quietly.
“Call me whatever is comfortable for you.”
“Mm.”
“……Just call me Karnen. Like you always have in this life. I call you Noxia, after all.”
“Okay.”
Since the other person presented a solution without her having to agonize over it, Noxia felt somewhat relieved, and her expression brightened. But only for a moment—dark emotions soon filled her eyes again.
“Karnen.”
“Yeah.”
“Do you perhaps hate me?”
“What?”
“I heard you remember your previous life completely. Then you must also remember why you were punished with reincarnation in the first place…… Promeon as well—don’t you resent me?”
Though she maintained a deliberately calm demeanor for the sake of smooth conversation, Noxia’s voice and fingertips trembled slightly. Her heart pounded just as tensely.
The fear that the friend she cherished most in this life might harbor a grudge against her from the distant past. The sense of betrayal at having been deceived all along. The guilt over what had happened in her previous life.
Although she had not taken part in Promeon’s using and deceiving of Pellene, she would have nothing to say even if Pellene held all ancient humanity collectively responsible and hated them.
She was afraid that Karnen might now cast aside the mask of a kind friend and coldly declare that she had found it disgusting to pretend to be her friend all along, or that she had approached her solely for revenge from the very beginning.
When she had asked Promeon last year, he had soothed her by saying that Pellene bore no ill will toward Hermane. Noxia desperately wanted to believe those words, yet she also wanted to hear confirmation directly from Karnen herself.
Karnen’s eyes widened. Startled, she waved her hands so hastily that she almost knocked over the teacup on the table.
“No, I don’t hate you! I have no ill feelings toward you, Noxia.”
At Karnen’s hurried confession, Noxia felt intense relief. At least in that gaze directed at her now, there was no falsehood.
“I know that stealing the fire was Promeon’s sole act. Given your personality, you would never have used such deceit. You were always a child who stubbornly clung to the straightforward path, to the point of foolishness.”
“Hey, was I really that foolish?”
Noxia grew slightly crestfallen before she could fully savor her relief. Karnen smiled softly.
“Yes, you were foolish. And lovable. If you hadn’t been such a righteous person, I would never have become your friend. Promeon wouldn’t have been drawn to you either.”
O primordial king of honesty and justice. Because you were a ruler who despised deceit, valued life, and guarded against needless conflict, even after such a long time has passed, you are still remembered as a wise and virtuous sovereign.
“And actually, it’s true that in this life, I approached you with half-impure intentions.”
Karnen added suddenly, her tone tinged with sorrow. Noxia listened with a grave expression.
“I happened to meet you and recognized you immediately. But of course, you didn’t recognize me. Back then, that irritated me so much. I hated that you alone had lost your memories of your previous life and were living so comfortably, so I grew close to you partly out of spite, wanting to see just how well you were living. It was petty stubbornness.”
“I don’t think it was petty.”
Noxia muttered gloomily. At her friend’s gentle remark, Karnen smiled again.
“I didn’t have any particular plan to do anything. As I said before, all my resentment was directed at Promeon, not truly at you. I just thought I disliked you a little.”
“……I’m sorry. For making you harbor feelings of hatred toward a friend.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
“I’m sorry you suffered alone while I knew nothing.”
“That wasn’t your fault either. If Promeon hadn’t forcibly reincarnated you in the first place, you wouldn’t have appeared before us like this, knowing nothing at all.”
At the mention of Promeon’s name, sorrow clouded Noxia’s eyes. Seeing this, Karnen guessed the truth.
“He’s gone, hasn’t he?”
At some point, the way she referred to him had shifted back from “that bastard” to “him.” Noxia nodded slowly.
“Yes. The day after you last met him, I said goodbye to him too.”
The reincarnation of Hermane chose to live on as Noxia Dekan. And the past hero Promeon, who had no share in that life, disappeared after a gentle and sorrowful kiss.
“He said he knows a way to lift the curse of immortality. I think he left to try that method.”
“I know.”
“You know?”
“Yes. We talked about everything then. When you were at the hospital in Tyros with Prince Elenenon.”
Karnen traced back her memories of that summer night. Just as Noxia had bid Promeon farewell, Karnen too had her final conversation with him then. Probably the last one.
“Actually, I’ve met Promeon before, in a reincarnated body.”
Karnen confessed abruptly, determined to reveal all the long-held secrets today—so that once they were laid bare, there would be no need to look back again.
“It was after you slit your own throat and died in front of him.”
As Karnen added in a low voice, Noxia’s shoulders stiffened. The miserable ending of her second life resurfaced, and her heart throbbed painfully.
“He appeared holding your corpse.”
