280 – The Deed I Committed -1-

10 minutes ago.

From the carriage window, I saw a woman kneeling in front of the gate. Even from a distance, her silhouette seemed to carry a story, and I looked at her with a question mark hovering over my head.

‘Who could it be…?’

The lady also had a question mark above her head as she voiced her doubt.

“Ricardo, someone has come to our house.”

“…”

“…Ricardo?”

“Ah… Just a moment.”

I fell silent for a while, observing the woman’s complexion. I didn’t know who she was or why she had come to the mansion.

From afar, it was hard to guess her identity. No one would visit the mansion of a villainess.

As the carriage turned enough to reveal the woman’s face, I finally recognized the visitor’s identity.

‘Why has she come?’

The lady’s greater panic reached my ears.

“Eek…! A chocolate thief.”

“That doesn’t seem right.”

“No, there’s no one who would come to our house.”

The lady spoke somberly, and I responded with a bitter smile, bowing my head.

“That is true.”

It was an acquaintance.

The woman kneeling at the mansion.

The woman in the novel, with a sad story that couldn’t be viewed favorably, seemed to be waiting for me, sweating coldly.

With a bitter smile, I stepped down from the carriage. I felt I couldn’t give her the answer she was hoping for.

“…”

With a heavy heart, I decided to help her stand.

*

In a story unknown to all.

“…Why?”

The girl, drenched in blood, was hugging a man with red hair and crying.

“Why… Why… WHY!!!”

The girl’s cry echoed through the white canary flower field, spreading sorrowfully with a mix of hatred and affection.

Perhaps ‘ambivalence’ was the most fitting word. The emotions lingering in the girl’s eyes were too complex to be defined by a single term.

The man cradled in the girl’s arms opened his mouth with difficulty, smiling brightly.

“You would hate it if I said ‘just because,’ wouldn’t you?”

“Stop joking!!! Just tell me!”

“Ha ha… Indeed.”

The man’s breath was fading.

In the white canary flower field, the man exhaling breaths that could end at any moment caressed the girl’s cheek with a peaceful smile.

“Do you still despise me?”

“…”

“I suppose so…”

White petals fell.

Leaving nothing but deep regret behind.

***

An unwelcome guest at the lady’s mansion.

The lady furrowed her brow and raised a question mark at the visitor who had not been to the mansion in a long while.

“Hmmmm…”

“…”

“Hmmmmmm….”

The lady, flaring her nostrils and even sniffing, showed all the rudeness she could muster as the mistress of the house. I pushed my chair back and calmed the lady down.

“It’s not polite to sniff at someone when you meet them for the first time, Miss.”

“I know… I do know. Hmm…”

“Why do you ask?”

“It’s familiar.”

Surprised by the lady’s keen reaction, I composed myself and quelled her doubts.

“It’s natural to feel familiar. Didn’t you see it last time?”

The lady looked at me with an exclamation mark over her head, her mind insisting she had never met such a person.

“I don’t know, I can’t remember.”

“The owner of the new restaurant in Hamel.”

“A tasteless place?”

Startled by the lady’s icy critique, Ella flinched and bowed her head. Accustomed to verbal abuse, Ella kept her mouth firmly shut, prompting me to smile awkwardly. I didn’t know how to react, especially since I could guess what she wanted to say.

“It’s familiar but…” I murmured softly to the lady.

“Miss.”

“Hmm?”

“Could you please give some beef soup snacks from the second floor?”

“No, I want to play with Ricardo. And he’s no fun because he doesn’t listen to me.”

“I’ll take care of the snacks for you, Miss. Beef soup and your snacks. I’ll bring three bags.”

“Hmm…”

The lady nodded and smiled broadly.

“Okay. But, is that person a friend of Ricardo?”

“Not a friend, but…”

I glanced at Ella, who wore a gloomy expression, and thought of something that wouldn’t upset her.

“Shall we call him an industrial spy?”

“Oh… a spy.”

Fortunately, the lady didn’t question further and went along with what I said.

Left alone in the drawing room, just the two of us.

I looked at the empty table and exclaimed in a flustered voice.

“Oh dear… I was so distracted I didn’t even serve you tea. Please wait a moment…”

Thud.

Ella grabbed my hand as I was about to leave the drawing room and knelt down. Her actions showed she didn’t want tea, and I reached out to help her up with a somber expression. I didn’t want to see the mother of a friend on her knees.

“Please don’t do this.”

“…Please!”

“…”

“Please help me.”

“Sigh…”

“Please let me see my daughter. I’ll give you whatever money you want…! Please, just let me see my daughter once!”

An awkward silence followed.

Me, unable to respond.

And Ella’s silence, filled with hope, filled the drawing room.

I spoke to Ella in a somber voice, not yet ready to answer her question.

“Please… just go back for now.”

I couldn’t give her the answer she wanted.

It had been only a week since I returned from the Academy, and the thought of hastily arranging a reunion with Mikhail and her mother was daunting, not to mention Shuen’s affairs. I couldn’t bring myself to say it outright.

I didn’t think the meeting between the two at this time would lead to a good ending, so I believed we needed a bit more time.

With difficulty, I nodded and said to Ella, who was bursting into tears,

“We are…”

It was the best answer I could give.

“We are not close with him.”

***

Academy nights.

Having read through erotic books in the library, Hanna was walking the path under the moonlight for the first time in a while. Though it was just a path leading back to the dormitory.

“Ah!”

Breathing in the crisp air was Hanna’s idea of the perfect rest, as she loved walking.

Walking under the streetlights, Hanna murmured softly, reminiscing about the recent events.

“I want to see him again.”

She missed the butler.

Perhaps because she had spent more time than usual with him, Hanna found herself longing for Ricardo.

There were no sweet moments, but still…

“It was nice…”

Being with Ricardo always made Hanna feel alive. It was a respite from the dull and tedious life at the Academy, brimming with vitality.

“…”

Just thinking of Ricardo warmed her heart, her pulse quickened, and her cheeks flushed.

“I must be crazy…”

-Creak.

Hanna gently grasped her fluttering heart, smiling faintly. Then, touching her ear, she fiddled with the earrings Ricardo had given her.

“The greatest fortune for me was meeting the butler. How could I possibly be happier here… Hehe.”

With Ricardo’s gift, which was a greater fortune atop her greatest, Hanna smiled blissfully, feeling warmth in her heart.

And so, she walked for about three minutes.

“Ohoho…!”

From afar, I saw the figure of a mad woman walking with a giant black bundle on her back.

“Wow…”

Hanna admired the retreating figure of Shuen walking to the dormitory. It seemed like she wasn’t heavy at all, carrying a full load of luggage and laughing, reminding Hanna of ‘Santa Claus’ as the housekeeper had once described.

“Huff… Huff… Whew…!”

‘That… that… crazy woman.’

Hanna, who had approached right in front of Shuen, tried to ignore her and pass by, but at Shuen’s urgent call, “Hi… Histania Hanat!” Hanna clenched her eyes shut and turned her head.

“Why.”

“Ohoho…! Huff..huff… Hello there! Histania Hanat!”

“Uh… okay.”

“Haah… Let me catch my breath first.”

Shuen exhaled roughly and then adjusted the cloth bundle on her back before continuing.

“Are you on your way back from studying?”

“Right. And you…?”

“I’m just getting off work after closing up the convenience store!”

Shuen exclaimed, “Oh, right!” and dropped the black bundle she was carrying on her back with a thud to the ground, starting to rummage through it.

“Have you eaten yet?”

“Uh… no?”

“I thought so. If you don’t eat, you’ll get sick.”

Shuen grinned broadly and pulled out a lunch box from the cloth bundle, offering it to Hanna. From the slightly visible wrapping, it seemed to be an expired lunch box that should have been discarded.

Shuen smiled brightly, looking like she was doing a good deed.

“Take it!”

“I don’t need it.”

“Still, take it! It’s a gift from me, Shuen.”

“Th…thanks. But can you eat all this?”

“No? It’s for tomorrow’s breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”

“Uh…?”

“Thanks to my job at the convenience store, I can eat alone without anyone noticing. I, Shuen, am sharing my wealth with you.”

“Is that a good thing…?”

Shuen scratched the back of her head with a goofy smile, her carefree and simple expression suggesting she was truly happy.

“Well then, I’ll be going now…!”

Shuen smiled sweetly and grasped the corner of the bundle with her hand, biting her lip.

And then.

“Ah!”

-Whoa!

“…?”

Shuen’s face contorted in frustration as she looked at Hanna again.

Shuen glanced inside the bundle and then asked Hanna in a trembling voice.

“Maybe… you need another lunchbox, don’t you?”

“Ugh… you idiot.”

“Ha ha…”

Hanna carried the bundle on her back and walked towards the dormitory, thinking that it didn’t matter where she went.

For Hanna, a student of the martial arts department, the weight of the bundle was too light, and she walked towards the dormitory with a sense of gratitude as Shuen, who was in front of her, looked back at her with a bewildered expression.

“Thievery is bad, you know!”

“I’m just taking it!”

“Aha!”

Shuen patted Hanna’s buttocks and grinned.

“Hystanina Hanna, do you want to eat a hot bun?”

“It’s not necessary.”

“I’m giving it to you as a special treat. I actually stole it secretly because the expiration date hasn’t passed yet!”

“Uh…”

‘You don’t know that our older brother is the shop owner, do you?’

Hanna looked at Shuen, who was smirking with a wicked smile, and let out a sigh.

“No, not at all.”

“What’s up?! Are you going to report me?”

“No, I just stole it casually.”

“Ah ha! Of course not!”

Hanna walked alongside Shuen, who was making silly noises, and gazed at the approaching dormitory, suddenly having a thought.

-How many times have you died… you,,,

“…?”

Hanna asked Shuen, her voice tinged with a hint of uncertainty.

“Hey, Shuen.”

“Yes!”

“Is there, by any chance, a magic that can turn back time?”

“…What?”

Shuen looked at Hanna with a bewildered expression, muttered ‘Just a moment,’ and wore a puzzled look.

“Um…”

“…”

“It might exist?”

Shuen, not entirely sure, added hesitantly as he shared his hypothesis with Hanna.

“In theory, it’s possible. But…”

“But?”

“It’s impossible with magic.”

“What do you mean…?”

“Every miracle that humans can create…”

“Is black magic.”

And at that moment.

-Ding.

An ominous alarm rang in Hanna’s ears.