Don't Want to Call It a Draw? - 1
My friend.
My servant.
My benefactor.
To Marie Antoinette, the name István was something truly special.
As special as the children she had ultimately come to love.
No—perhaps far more than that.
"Life isn't always good, but still… live well," he had said.
Back then, inside the carriage.
She heard the final words of the man who had planned to leave on a long, carefree vacation once he got home.
The voice was different. The face was different. Even his race was different… yet not a single word was out of place.
Words only Marie Antoinette could have heard.
It was as if she could hear the laughter of the man who had been set free by death.
It really is. It really is him.
Marie pressed her clenched fist against her heart and bit down hard on her lip—hard enough that sheer excitement made her squeeze her fist tight.
Calm down.
She drew a deep breath in, then let it out. Long and thin, drawing the air out like a thread, she soothed her racing excitement.
There was still so much she needed to ask.
When he had been reincarnated. How he had lived after that reincarnation. And so on.
"Your parents in this life… they passed away?"
"It was a few months before I joined the Galdo base as a janitor."
Along the way, she heard sorrowful news as well. It was inevitable in the process of deeply understanding Seo Ji-hyuk's life.
Marie sighed, her face openly pitying. Guilt at having asked something unnecessary sat thick across her features.
"I'm sorry. I asked something I shouldn't have."
Had they been speaking normally, he would have said it was fine. But under the influence of Dominate, Seo Ji-hyuk's lips showed no sign of opening. He answered when a question came, and otherwise kept silent.
Because he had not been ordered to speak.
"Oh. What was it like when you realized you'd been reincarnated? I was terribly flustered."
Marie composed her expression and asked. It was to force herself away from the atmosphere that seemed to be sinking into gloom. It was also a perfectly natural question to throw out.
"I was flustered, but I also thought, again."
Yet the moment that unimaginable answer slipped out, that naturalness flipped into shock and astonishment.
"Again" carried the meaning of "once more." In other words, it was impossible not to understand that this life was not his first reincarnation. Perhaps because of that, the corners of Marie's eyes trembled, betraying her emotion.
"Does that mean… this isn't the first time you've experienced reincarnation?"
"That's right."
"Then how many times have you been reincarnated?"
"Including this life, this is the fourth."
Gulp. Marie swallowed dryly, her eyes going wide. The more she dug, the more shocking truths surfaced, leaving the back of her head tingling.
Four reincarnations.
Among them, which life had been the one she shared with him? This life, and the life with her. What about the other two lives, after subtracting those two?
That natural question shook Marie's heart.
"Tell me in more detail. What kind of lives you lived when you were reincarnated."
And that natural question made her spit out a natural request. Perhaps from too much tension, French slipped out of her on its own.
"Understood."
Seo Ji-hyuk nodded and opened his mouth.
His life with Joan of Arc.
His life with Erzsébet Báthory.
His life with Marie Antoinette.
And finally, his current life.
For over an hour, the stories quietly passed between them.
"…That's impossible."
By the time every story had ended, the emotion in Marie's eyes was dyed with sheer astonishment.
A morning on a day when the daytime was hot but the night and dawn were cool.
As I cleaned the second floor, all sorts of thoughts came to me. Which platform to advertise on. Whether to just hang a banner outside for indirect advertising, and so on.
I'm tired.
Maybe from thinking too much, my body felt more languid than usual.
"Mm……."
It wasn't as if I'd never done business across my lives. I'd laid the foundation so that the Ystua name could thrive better, after all. But not as a merchant—rather as someone who knew the future. At the time, the power of that alien knowledge had been great.
Ah.
As I groaned and fretted, last night's conversation with Marie came to mind.
She liked Korea and wanted to stay a bit longer. But if she stayed too long at Valerie's place it would be an imposition, so she needed to find lodging. That conversation could be roughly summarized in those two lines.
If she found a place separately, too much money would drain away. It felt like needless money going out, and I didn't like the look of that. On top of that, her name was Marie and her atmosphere resembled her in many ways.
"You're hardworking."
When I finished tidying up and came down to the first floor, I ran into Valerie. It seemed she'd come for a meal since it was lunchtime.
"Cleaning is all I know how to do."
"Then how about starting a company?"
"A company? Not a bad idea, but… I don't have the money. And I can't exactly ask Janet for money either."
Give me money, I'm going to start a business. After already receiving a building, doing that looked far too trashy. The unease was that big too.
"Ah… that makes sense."
Valerie nodded as if she saw the point.
"Then for now gathering tenants first would be right. In the end the building is yours, Ji-hyuk, so that would feel the least awkward, right?"
"Probably so."
"Has the real estate agent contacted you or anything?"
"They have. But strangely no one who seems right has shown up. Maybe I'm being too picky."
If the business type looked fine, the face reading was all wrong. If the face reading looked fine, I filtered them out over the business type, so there was no one. Every time, Janet would say it was fine. If you're uncomfortable, I'm uncomfortable too, she'd console me, but that only made me feel worse.
Should I just compromise and take anyone? Even when that thought rose, I quickly shook my head and set my heart straight. Let the wrong person in and you'll have years of noise. It was a lesson I'd seen and felt across three lives.
"From a landlord's position, it's only natural to be careful. I understand."
Valerie snorted a small laugh and nodded. If you looked at it with a narrow mind, it could feel like sarcasm.
"Thank you. Heading to lunch?"
"That's right. Henri is watching the shop for a bit. We'll switch after I eat. The house is right upstairs, so just ordering delivery all the time feels off, you know?"
"True enough."
Just ordering delivery food all the time was a waste of money too. Especially if the house was right upstairs.
Ding!
As if on perfect cue, the first-floor elevator doors opened.
"Aren't you getting on, Ji-hyuk?"
Valerie stepped into the elevator first and asked. Since we were on the same floor anyway, suggesting we go together was natural.
"I should."
I'd been about to take the stairs. But if I told her to go first here, I worried the atmosphere would get weird. So I boarded the elevator with Valerie.
"By the way, do you know if something happened with Marie? She's looked downcast since morning."
Her face doesn't look good? Probably because of the conversation we had yesterday.
"She wants to stay in Korea a bit longer, but it seems she wants to find another place."
"Find another place? Why?"
"She seems to think staying in one house too long would be an imposition. We talked about that yesterday."
Last night. I briefly summarized the story I'd shared with Marie.
"That girl… The house is unnecessarily big anyway, so there's no need to worry about it."
When the story ended, a shadow fell over Valerie's face. Not pretense—genuine pity showed through.
"But people's hearts don't always work that way, I guess."
"Neither Henri nor I mind much. Looks like we'll need to have a talk."
As if steeling her will, Valerie's eyes flashed strongly. Right then, ting, the elevator doors opened with a sound.
"I'll go on ahead. Thanks for telling me."
"Not at all."
When Valerie left first, I also went into my house. The moment I stepped inside, the smell of kimchi jjigae tickled my nose.
"Welcome home. Go wash your hands."
"Thanks."
I washed my hands as told, then sat right down at the table. Rolled omelet, kimchi jjigae, fresh kimchi salad, and more. A home-cooked meal that made my mouth water at a glance captured my eyes.
Ever since buying the house, she'd been practicing cooking out of boredom. Today she seemed to have made kimchi jjigae again.
"I'll dig in. Looks delicious."
"If there's anything lacking, please tell me without pressure. This isn't a battlefield, so you don't need to force yourself to eat."
As expected of a veteran of the Hundred Years' War. She laughed as she casually dropped war talk. If she were an ordinary person I would have just thought it was a joke and moved on. But because sincerity came through, a strange tension hung in the air.
"It's good."
When I ladled some stew and took a spoonful, a proper taste stimulated my tongue. And with the meat on top of that, thoughts of rice came on their own. Because of that I had to work my spoon without even room to talk. With the rolled omelet and fresh kimchi too, rice and stew kept going down.
"Eat plenty."
Janet also used her spoon and chopsticks with a gentle smile. At first she'd been a bit clumsy. Now even the way she handled chopsticks was extremely neat and perfect.
"…Hoo."
I ate well. After clearing a bowl and a half of rice, the thought that I was full came on its own. This is what sex is, the thought also rose.
Bzzzt. While Janet insisted on doing the dishes alone, the phone in my pocket vibrated. When I took out my phone, a text from Marie floated up on the screen.
That was fair enough. Even if they'd gotten a little familiar, their closeness wouldn't have risen by much.
I shifted my gaze toward Janet standing in the kitchen.
"Janet."
"Yes? What is it?"
Janet stopped the dishes and turned her eyes toward me.
"Marie says she wants to talk just the two of them. She says it's too awkward to ask herself."
"Is that so? She doesn't need to feel so burdened. Do you know what it's about?"
"Doesn't say. Just that she'd like some time tonight."
"Then please tell her I'll go. Anytime is fine."
Alright then. I nodded and sent a reply—the content was that I'd go at the time and place she wanted.
Dark night, rooftop.
At an hour when even signs of people were growing scarce, two women stood facing each other.
One was Elodie Ystua, who had been France's hero, Joan of Arc.
One was Marie Reinhardt, who had been the queen who survived, Marie Antoinette.
Marie faced Elodie and bowed her head.
"I'm sorry for calling you out at such a late hour."
"It's fine."
When she opened with the usual typical greeting, Elodie responded typically as well. It was late, but since it was the rooftop of the house there was no burden. Only questions stood at the front.
"But what is the reason you arranged this meeting? If it's a difficult matter, please speak your mind freely. It might be of some small help."
Elodie showed consideration and mercy befitting the name of Saint. Even while sensing something suspicious in Marie's demeanor. This was a factor that made it hard for the other party to reveal greed.
But that would be if it were an ordinary person.
"Since you put it that way, Saint… I'll get straight to the point."
In terms of greatness, she couldn't even compare to the tips of her toes. In the past, and in the present. But when it came to status for a time, she could confidently say she had been higher. She had merely hidden behind a new system. All the more so because this was still a world where the class system existed.
Hoo.
Marie regulated her breath for a moment, then put strength into her eyes. Thanks to the courage gained from thinking she could at least match her in one thing.
"Are you Joan of Arc?"
When that dagger-like question stabbed into her heart, Elodie's eyes went wide.