Chapter 206
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 206
Lisian Frezier.
One of Tulia’s twin older brothers and the eldest son of Marquis Aster Frezier.
He possessed silver hair as beautiful as snowflakes, and his characteristically bright, kind nature and striking looks were famous even at the Academy.
This genius young lord of the Grand Ducal House never missed first place, and though he had the fatal flaw of a stutter, even that was seen as a mysterious charm by the hundreds of ladies who harbored unrequited crushes on him.
Lisian sat in his dormitory room with the door, adorned with a brass plate, halfway open.
The voices of his classmates drifted in from the hallway in snatches.
It was a peaceful, leisurely time.
Vacation was just around the corner, and Lisian had already sent his luggage ahead through the Academy servants.
In the dormitory room, which felt slightly emptier than usual, Lisian felt a sudden, bizarre sensation.
His heart surged far beyond its allowed rhythm—an abnormal movement so violent he felt as if he might die right then and there.
And simultaneously...
“...So, my brother ate all the rose petal cookies my mother baked specifically for me, and I got so angry—”
“...”
Lisian felt everything in the world ‘stop.’
The voice of his classmate, which had been lively through the crack in the door, cut off abruptly.
The petals pouring outside the window like spring rain also froze in mid-air, unmoving.
It was an inexpressible sense of wrongness. Like a world trapped in a still-life painting, everything surrounding Lisian literally stopped.
Bewilderment seized his entire body.
Lisian slowly turned his head toward the mirror on the wall. Even that small movement was incredibly difficult.
He felt like a mouse buried deep in dense pudding, unable to even struggle.
His reflection in the mirror looked strange. His hair and features were the same, but his eyes were uniquely devoid of life.
Like a dead person’s, or the eyes of a lifeless beast, they looked as if the soul had departed.
It felt as though he were staring at his own corpse.
A strange, eerie chill washed over him, and Lisian unconsciously tightened his grip.
“...”
At that moment, something sharp pricked him, as if to wake his dulled senses.
His eyes slowly drifted downward. What had painfully pricked his hand was a necklace pendant—one of his mother’s keepsakes.
The small, cross-shaped pure gold pendant, meant to wish for victory, success, and health, was something his mother had personally placed around his neck before she left forever.
Since then, Lisian had carried it with him everywhere.
Except for once—on days like today when he had swordsmanship class.
He had just taken it out of its box to put it back on after finishing his bath...
Lisian’s brow furrowed slightly.
This dreamlike situation where the world had stopped.
A heavy, concentrated mass seemed to weigh down on him. The air now pressed against him as if it had physical weight.
Perhaps that was why?
The tip of the pure gold cross pendant, which was usually never sharp, pressed hard into Lisian’s finger...
...And finally drew blood.
“...”
The red blood bloomed like bubbles and was instantly absorbed into his eyes. He didn't even have time to avoid it.
Because he had been staring at the mirror, the sight of the crimson blood being absorbed into his pupils looked almost grotesque.
It was as if life was being added to eyes that had been eerily lifeless, like those of the dead.
Immediately after Lisian blinked very slowly...
‘...Tulia?’
The scene that dominated his vision made his heart sink.
He had only closed and opened his eyes once, but Tulia, his precious younger sister, was dying with eyes full of spite.
Reflected in those dark green eyes was none other than Lisian himself.
He was the one stabbing Tulia with a sharp sword.
‘What? Why?’
Why am I stabbing Tulia in the chest?
If a person could vomit up their organs from shock, he would have coughed up his very heart.
Lisian instinctively screamed and simultaneously dropped the keepsake he was clutching—his mother’s pure gold key.
At that moment.
Creeeeeak.
“...!”
Creeak-creeak-creeak-creeak-creeak-creeak-creeak-creeak-creeak-creeak-creeak-creeak-creeak.
A bizarre sound, like a clock spring being wound backward, echoed as the world returned to normal.
“...I’m telling you.”
“Why are you grumbling at your brother over some rose cookies? Your mother must have a hard time.”
“She baked them specifically because I’m back from the Academy for the first time in a while, so of course I’m mad!”
“Then go back and ask her to bake more.”
“I hate it even more when Mother treats me like a child.”
The conversation of his classmates drifted away through the open door.
Flutter.
Petals fluttered outside the window again like spring rain.
Lisian stared blankly at his finger.
There was no red blood, but there was a clear mark where he had been pricked.
Lisian suddenly slapped his own face several times. His cheeks quickly flushed red.
The distinct pain proved that the previous moments hadn't been a dream.
‘Then...’
Why did I kill my precious Tulia?
Why did I see such a... hallucination?
“...Brother. Brother. Brother!”
“...!”
Lisian looked up, startled.
His twin brother with jet-black hair, Leon Frezier, was looking at him with a strange expression.
“What’s up, Brother? Why are you spacing out? Is something wrong with Mother’s keepsake?”
“No. It’s, it’s not that...”
“Then why do you look so pale? Was swordsmanship class tough today?”
“Ah, yeah. It, it was...”
“Hmm.”
Leon tilted his head, then straightened his back.
“You look pretty bad. Actually, I came to say I’m heading back to the capital first today, but if you’re feeling that sick, should I wait a day and go with you? Since you’re the top scholar, the Academy might...”
“...”
“Ah, but Tulia is probably waiting for me. Never mind! Just come back on your own. You’re smart, so you’ll be fine, but she’s a bit dim, so I need to be there to help her out.”
“...”
“Tulia was so excited, saying she’d show me her salon since it’s doing well lately. If I’m even a day late, she’ll definitely curse me out. Oh, she definitely will!”
“...”
“That’s why I’m asking, Brother. Why is her personality like that? I’m so serious and you’re so quiet, she must have eaten something wrong in Mother’s womb.”
“...!”
Lisian listened blankly to his twin’s chatter, and then his heart plummeted.
Some things are realized through pure intuition.
That scene of him killing Tulia wasn't a hallucination. It was an experience he had definitely lived through.
And not just once...
‘Dozens, hundreds of times...’
It wasn't just him. Even his twin, Leon Frezier, who was currently smiling while thinking of Tulia, had mercilessly stabbed their sister to death.
Likewise, dozens, hundreds of times...
“Brother? Brother! Brother, what’s wrong?! Why aren't you breathing? Brother!”
Lisian let the cross pendant fall from his hand.
* * *
“Hey, hey? Klaus? Why aren't you saying anything?”
Did he faint from nerves?
I looked at the frozen Klaus and realized a beat late that something was wrong.
Because...
“...Why did that stop?”
Among the items Grandfather had recently received as tribute, there was a particularly beautiful and delicate small fountain.
Decorated with silver and jewels, it was perfect for a bedroom, and Grandfather had given it to me as a gift...
“Why has the water stopped...?”
I instinctively looked around the bedroom. I realized the muslin curtains, which had been fluttering in the night breeze, were frozen in their billowed state.
‘W-what? What is this?’
Time had stopped.
As if someone had pressed pause on a game, the world had come to a complete standstill!
Perhaps out of shock, the strength left my legs, and I slumped to the floor.
“Kim Ddong-byul!”
I gasped and looked up, feeling a wave of infinite relief. Kim Ddong-byul was the only one still slowly circling above me.
“What is this? What’s going on? Is this a trick by the System? What is it? Why? I’m scared!”
Just as I was shouting and grabbing Kim Ddong-byul to shake him...
Like a rainbow blooming in a world faded to the color of sand, text appeared before my eyes in vivid colors that made me want to cry.
[System] Inevitable Quest Manifested!
Quest Title: <3 Nights>
After hardship comes happiness!
You have finally raised your favorability with all the male leads to a level where a ‘political marriage’ is possible!
However, political marriages can sometimes be devoid of affection!
You didn't actually think the feelings of all the male leads who love you were ‘real,’ did you?
Reading the text quickly, my heart sank.
“I thought they were all real?”
Were they not?
Could they not be?
‘No, but so what? What do you want me to do?’
As if answering my rebellious inner thoughts, the quest text kindly continued.
Inevitable Quest Goal: Within 3 nights, severely hurt all the male leads, just like Tulia in Why Did That Lady Give the Handsome Man Milk Bread?