Chapter 18 Engagement Ceremony (3)
Engagement Ceremony (3)
At some point, I began to feel as though I was being whittled away.
The endlessly repeating regressions and the inexplicable malice directed at me seemed to gnaw at my very psyche.
By the time I gave up counting the number of regressions, I had finally grown numb to the malice.
Or so I had thought.
"...Haa."
I was wrong.
I had believed I could laugh off the malice as if it meant nothing to me. But the events of just moments ago made me acutely aware that all of it had been nothing but a bluff.
Perhaps it was because I had grown dull, intoxicated by the tranquility Duke Hardenberg had granted me.
When I turned my head, I saw him with his eyes closed, deep in sleep. His face remained unrealistically beautiful.
Though the single scar marring it was distracting, even that seemed like a mark of character—Abel's appearance was that striking.
And so, it felt alien. It stung faintly, as if it were proof that this world was not where I belonged.
The sensation of being severed from this world—one I had felt so bitterly during the countless tortures and deaths I endured—crept over me once more.
...Pull yourself together, Adel.
Just because things were progressing smoothly through my negotiations with the Duke didn't mean I could let my guard down. My misfortunes had always struck precisely when I began to hope that things might finally go well.
There was no guarantee it wouldn't happen again this time.
"You look lost in thought."
"Huh? Ah—"
Abel was watching me, his eyes now open, as I took a deep breath without realizing it. As he said, I couldn't help but be weighed down by my thoughts.
The engagement ceremony was merely the beginning of my plan for survival.
I didn't know what he was thinking, but it was probably quite different from my own. After all, Abel was just another member of this world's upper echelons.
"I was just—"
"Concerned about that young lady's fate?"
Young lady—he must have been referring to that woman, Luna, who had tried to throw wine at me.
In a situation where my own survival should have been my only concern, I had no reason to care about someone like her. But now that he had mentioned her fate, I couldn't help but be curious.
"Socially, she'll likely be ruined. Just as you were in the past."
"...What?"
"No matter how infamous you were, that was the engagement ceremony of the Hardenberg ducal family.
Most of the nobles in attendance didn't even seem aware of your so-called evil deeds."
"Are you saying—"
"She might even be disowned. The Ite County isn't known for its mercy."
Abel finished with a faint, bitter smile. That grin, so fitting for someone nicknamed the Mastermind, sent goosebumps crawling across my skin.
The way he so casually spoke of another's miserable fate felt deeply unfamiliar.
No—perhaps the face he had shown me as my fiancé had been the mask all along. The position of the Empire's Duke was not one to be taken lightly.
For all I knew, he might have endured far worse than I, a regressor, ever had.
"Don't you think it's for the best?"
"Huh? What do you—"
"Under normal circumstances, I would have had to intervene personally. But with the Ite County, things are a little different."
The Ite County had long-standing ties with the Hardenberg ducal family.
Political marriages between the two houses had been frequent—all the more reason. That woman, Luna, who had introduced herself to me, might have originally been Abel's fiancée.
Of course, those ties had been severed by the time Abel became Duke. I had heard rumors from Lily, but I never imagined they were true.
"Then—"
Had she thrown wine at me because of that? Because she believed this position should have been hers?
When I turned my head, Abel nodded as if confirming my thoughts.
"Pathetic, isn't it? Our dealings with the Ite County should have ended long ago."
He chuckled dryly.
"Still, thanks to her, our contract marriage will proceed even more smoothly. A fortunate turn of events."
I could only find his demeanor unsettling.
Though I had prided myself on having experienced every hardship as a regressor, even after all this time, I could never grow accustomed to the way nobles thought.
The way they treated people not as people, but as mere tools for trade or disposable pawns—that ruthless aspect of them.
I had known, of course, that our mindsets were different. But it was only in moments like this that I truly felt it.
The vast chasm between me, a modern person, and Duke Hardenberg, a man of the medieval era.
"I see."
With those final words, I quietly closed my eyes in the carriage filled with heavy silence.
It had been an exhausting night.
§
Deep into the night, with the moon hanging at the center of the sky, I blankly gazed out at the nightscape where faint silver light streamed through the window.
The stars shone in positions different from the constellations I knew.
My eyes were unconsciously drawn to a cluster of stars radiating an almost painfully pure white light.
There was a superstition in this world—that the night sky held as many constellations as there were people, and among them, one belonged to you.
Having read the original work, I knew it was true, but among the people, it remained just that—a superstition.
"Constellations, huh."
I knew well that the stars shining especially bright among countless others symbolized each person's fate.
And that their light would vanish the moment they died.
Then what fate did my flickering constellation, like a broken streetlamp, represent?
Was it warning me of impending death?
"What are your thoughts, Count Ite?"
"I... I'm not sure."
Count Ite answered in a trembling voice, rolling his eyes restlessly, clearly uninterested in my musings about constellations.
I could almost hear the frantic whirring of his mind.
The sight was so pitiful I let out an involuntary chuckle.
"Of course you wouldn't know. You couldn't even keep your own daughter in check."
"My apologies."
Count Ite dropped to his knees with startling simplicity. Of course, even a count wouldn't kneel so easily before a duke—nobles, regardless of rank, maintained basic decorum among themselves.
But he had once conspired with my father to assassinate me. That was why he groveled so excessively now.
The naive Young Lady Luna must have thought her father doted on her, emboldening her to act so recklessly.
'The problem was choosing the wrong opponent.'
Unfortunately, Count Ite was still a noble. He would never risk his life to shield his child.
Besides, the fact that he was still alive with his head intact was purely by my mercy.
As if reading my thoughts, I heard him gulp audibly.
"Your life or your daughter's reputation—simple arithmetic, isn't it?"
"...Yes."
His hands trembled so violently I could feel it from here. Even under such blatant threats, Count Ite could only squeeze his eyes shut without another word.
He must be in agony—realizing that his failure to discipline his child might cost him his own life.
"You may leave."
"Yes."
With that, he hastily closed the door and fled. The moment his figure disappeared, a dark silhouette emerged from beside the door.
Sheathing the dagger in his hand, the shadow immediately knelt before me on one knee.
"Will you spare him?"
"Yes. It seems he hasn't entangled himself with the Imperial puppets."
He was sharp when it came to politics.
Had there been any trace of dealings with the Imperial Court, I would have silenced him permanently on the spot.
Well, with a bomb necklace already around his neck, it was only natural.
But in a world where many failed even at the basics and died for it, Count Ite was a useful enough pawn.
And above all, he knew something of the Imperial Court's stagnation—so I didn't need to be overly wary of betrayal.
"What of the Imperial nests?"
"We located five in the provinces. Three were successfully dismantled, but the other two had already fled."
"And the capital?"
"...We couldn't find it. Some form of cognitive distortion seems to be at work."
Well, that was expected. The fact that the Crows had already raided three was impressive enough.
The Imperial Court's interference in the provinces wasn't as extensive as I'd thought.
Then again, considering the sheer size of the Arieh Empire—controlling 70% of the world's territory—it made sense.
If anything, it was surprising we'd only missed two.
'The Emperor...'
The pieces I had were Adel, the Crows, and the Black Crow Knights.
Against the Emperor, it was woefully insufficient—but with Adel's regression ability, it was possible.
And for that, I needed to build trust with her.