Chapter 102. The Play (3)
Chapter 102. The Play (3)
"I......"
I tried not to stammer.
"I intend to remain by Lady Silver Lily's side for the time being."
Silence.
"...Now that is a statement I truly cannot make sense of."
Lady Golden Thread Plum's eyes had gone still, the corners lifted. Perhaps because her emotions had frozen over. The Crown Prince, too, felt the chill in his beloved's voice, and he stopped walking.
"I asked you to come with me just now, butler. Even if flaunting my wounds is not to my taste, I endured a bit of humiliation to free you from that lady's service."
"Yes, I know."
"And yet you would refuse my request?"
A bitter taste rose in my mouth.
It was hard to tell whether this was my own tangled feelings at having lost the Heretic Questioner, or the butler's defiance at refusing his original mistress's request. But those blue eyes. Gazing at those eyes, which had become Golden Thread Plum's, was painful.
[Your immersion in the character deepens.]
[Your current Immersion Rate is 42%.]
So I lowered my head and avoided her gaze.
"I apologize."
"......."
"There is still something I must do."
"What a versatile sentence. Well, surely it isn't simply that the butler has been bewitched by the lady?"
I silently held my posture. "Ha." I heard Golden Thread Plum's mocking laugh. It was a sneer directed not at me, but at Lady Silver Lily.
"Very well. My lady, I do not know what grand scheme you are plotting this time, but you will not be able to shake the friendship between me and my butler. Do take good care of him for me."
"You are free to delude yourself. Get out of my sight, Baron's daughter."
"Yes, I shall get out."
Lady Golden Thread Plum, still cradled in the Crown Prince's arms, reached out her hand. Then she stroked the Crown Prince's cheek and spoke as if whispering. It was only feigned as a whisper—the volume was such that everyone else could hear it too.
"Will you get out with me, Your Highness?"
"Ah, ahh."
The Crown Prince's face flushed red.
[Your immersion in the character deepens.]
[Your current Immersion Rate is 43%.]
The two of them departed with their escorts.
And so the commotion that had erupted past midnight came to an end.
3
The garden fell silent in an instant.
"My lady......."
The servants worried over their mistress with sorrowful faces. The ones who had issued the order to leave were clearly the ducal household, yet the atmosphere made it seem as though this side had been the ones driven out.
"The night has grown late."
Lady Silver Lily spoke.
"You have all worked hard. Go in now."
"But what will you do, my lady......?"
"I shall look at the flowers here for a while before going in. I wish to be alone, so all of you withdraw."
Lady Silver Lily, dressed in her nightclothes, looked up at the night sky. Like a person born not in the day but in the night, her body blended well into the darkness. The attendants could not disobey their mistress's words and returned to their quarters.
"My lady."
I alone remained and approached her.
-Zombie, she's weakened right now! Can't you tell just from the atmosphere how pitiful she looks? She seems expressionless, but she's actually weakened. This is great, hey! Crisis is opportunity! The goalkeeper's gone. It's already hard enough for you to date a high-level player, so hurry up and approach her now.
'Shut up.'
The ghost was unchanged. Unchanged in his inability to read the room.
"You should go in and rest as well, butler."
"I'm fine even if I stay up for a night or two. Isn't it you, my lady, who is exhausted?"
"I would like to deny it, but....... Yes, I am a little tired."
Lady Silver Lily let out a sigh.
"This is already the 14th run. For 140 days, I have striven to set His Highness the Crown Prince on the right path. Even if I accept that my love not being fulfilled is fate, His Highness is one who will one day ascend to the imperial throne. If I can at least keep him in line, the safety of the nation will not be imperiled....... It is difficult."
"You are not alone anymore."
In this world, you are not the only regressor. I spoke with that meaning.
"You have me. If a person has even one person by their side who understands them, they can endure somehow."
"Is that so?"
"Yes, surprisingly, that's how it is."
Lady Silver Lily turned her gaze from the night sky.
Her eyes looked at me.
"You are under one misconception."
Misconception?
"I repeat the final ten days. When you die, you return to one day prior. At a glance, it appears to be the same regression, and it appears as though the two of us share time, but in truth, that is not so."
I did not stop Lady Silver Lily's words. The conversation we were having now was probably being broadcast live to the people of the Tower.
Even so, it was fine.
I had already resolved myself for the next run.
"Butler, one of us will inevitably regress [first]."
Lady Silver Lily bent down.
"If I regress first, you will forget this present life. If you regress first, then conversely, I will forget the present events. One of us will have their time devoured by the other."
Swish, swish.
She drew parallel lines on the ground with her switch.
"We are parallel lines that can never meet."
My chest ached.
"It is possible for me to understand you. You, too, can understand me. But that is all—merely understanding. It is impossible for the two of us to live together. You cannot take responsibility for me, and I cannot take responsibility for you."
Lady Silver Lily's voice was calm.
"Your confession, saying you wished to share the same time as me, was fierce and beautiful. But it cannot actually come true. Perhaps that is precisely why it sounded all the more beautiful."
"What if it could come true?"
I looked straight into Lady Silver Lily's eyes.
"What if? There is no what if."
"I keep my word, always. I did not simply use things that cannot actually be done in a proposal because I wanted to win your heart. It is not in my nature to inflate empty words like balloons to draw people in."
"......."
"If I could help you escape from the eternal ten days. If I did help you—what would you do?"
A night bird cried out sharply.
"...How arrogant. I am sufficient on my own for living my life."
"I'm sure you are. I'm the same. Even so, I want to help you. Is saying I want to help the person I love also arrogance? Then I will gladly become an arrogant man."
Lady Silver Lily closed her lips. She, too, was trying to help the Crown Prince in her own way. Whether we admitted it or not, the two of us were alike.
"What is it you desire from me?"
"Please stay with me until this world ends."
"Is that all?"
"Yes."
Seeing the Heretic Questioner hit 100 percent immersion, I realized it. The secret method to break this stage. It was a highly irregular and tricky solution, but...... it would probably be possible.
As long as I kept my wits about me.
"And if possible, I would be grateful if you would lead me to like you even more than I do now. It would be perfect if I became so smitten with you that I couldn't pull myself out."
"You are asking me for that now?"
"It's fine. I'm an easy man. Even if you just hold my hand, my heart pounds wildly."
Lady Silver Lily stared at me as if dumbfounded.
"How shameless....... Very well. Since I said I would teach you love, I must take responsibility for those words."
Lady Silver Lily took my hand. It was soft. Her hands were bare. I felt her hand close around my right hand. The memory of Lady Silver Lily applying perfume last night surfaced, and my heart raced.
"Is this sufficient?"
[Your immersion in the character deepens.]
[Your current Immersion Rate is 44%.]
My face flushed hot.
"Yes. I-it's sufficient."
"Good heavens. I'm not one to talk, having bewitched you, but you—are you not a little excessively pure? How ever did you survive in this harsh world?"
"I died. A lot."
"......."
"If I show you this weak side of me, does your heart race a little too? I read in a magazine once. That sometimes you have to pretend to be weak for it to work."
"Ha."
Lady Silver Lily let out a scoff. Although her eyes did not smile, a laugh was still a laugh. She must have been quite depressed because of the Crown Prince's blundering. If her mood improved even a little, that was a relief.
"A child who has only known love for a day is picking a fight?"
"I saw you fighting with Golden Thread Plum earlier, and I realized. You are wise, my lady, but when someone provokes you, you never let it pass quietly. Is it because of your pride? Even if it means taking a loss yourself, you crush the provocation. So, I want to provoke you too."
"...You're quite quick-witted."
"Shall I provoke you a little more?"
"Try it. If you dare."
The two of us were close.
We drew closer.
Our shadows overlapped.
Neither of us had any intention of backing down.
"You speak as though you are a master of love, my lady. But is that truly so? Isn't being loved just as important as loving? Loving the Crown Prince, and drawing out the Crown Prince's love—both are important. But you failed at the latter."
"Hmm."
"In that sense, perhaps Lady Golden Thread Plum is better at love than you are. After all, she is loved by the Crown Prince, isn't she? If we're judging who is more excellent at love, unexpectedly, Lady Golden Thread Plum might be the higher-level player."
"Oh?"
"You know well how to love. But you do not know how to be loved. At the very least, it is certain that you know less of it than Golden Thread Plum. So......."
Then.
"So?"
Lady Silver Lily's hand gripped my chin.
"......."
"Continue speaking. Your voice is not unpleasant to hear."
[Your immersion in the character deepens.]
[Your current Immersion Rate is 45%.]
"...So it's only natural that you ended up having the Crown Prince taken from you by Golden Thread Plum. You should have more precisely grasped the Crown Prince's tastes and hobbies and strategized accordingly."
"Your teeth really are white."
"...But you didn't. You let your guard down. So, the fact that Golden Thread Plum has been running wild like that—part of the responsibility lies with you, my lady."
"Your tongue is red, and prettily shaped."
Lady Silver Lily pulled my chin toward her.
Her gaze was looking up into my mouth.
"Why do you stop speaking again? If you close your lips, I cannot see your tongue. There is a certain pleasure in watching it. Keep talking."
"......."
"Do you concede defeat?"
"Yes......."
"[It would be perfect if I became so smitten with you that I couldn't pull myself out.]"
Those were the words I had just spoken.
"You truly are a person who chooses only the most frightening words to put in your mouth. I do not know what magnificent method you have thought of to be so confident, but you truly have no fear."
Lady Silver Lily pulled my chin a little closer.
I was drawn by her gesture as if I had lost gravity.
"Well, since I have repeated this 14 times, perhaps I too may experience a brief deviation."
"What do you mean by that......?"
"Treat a son of a bitch like a son of a bitch—that is my law. Thinking quietly over what happened tonight, His Highness the Crown Prince seems to have been a little too much of a son of a bitch to me. I cannot simply keep taking it."
My heart pounded.
Could it be.
"Are you finally thinking of giving up on the Crown Prince?"
"No. My heart has become a constellation and is fixed in the night sky, so how could I?"
It's just that, Lady Silver Lily murmured.
"I merely feel like becoming a bit of an excessive son of a bitch myself."
An excessive son of a bitch.
In my head, only the Flame Emperor's obnoxious face came to mind. Whenever I heard the words "son of a bitch," I automatically thought of Yoo Soo-ha. But becoming that kind of son of a bitch wasn't easy either. What was Lady Silver Lily talking about?
"An eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth."
Lady Silver Lily's index finger grazed my lower lip.
"Starting today, I will have an affair with you."
"......."
Huh.
"Do you love me?"
"No."
"Do you have any intention of dating me, even a little?"
"No."
"But then......."
"However, you are a servant whom Golden Thread Plum cherishes. To borrow Golden Thread Plum's words, you are her one and only butler and childhood friend. I am curious what expression Golden Thread Plum will make when she hears that you have begun a relationship with me. His Highness the Crown Prince would also be quite flustered, would he not?"
In other words.
"You intend to pretend to date me in order to screw over those two......?"
"Why?"
Her breath drew near.
"Do you dislike it?"
I could not answer. Thump. I absolutely could not think of anything to say. Thump, my heart pounded so madly loud that my head spun. I mean, this was my love. My first love. Thump. For it to happen like this... an affair was a bit much. There should have been something more romantic.
"Sit."
I carefully, carefully sat down in the garden. The moon was veiled by clouds, and the ground was dark. It felt exactly like kneeling in a bottomless swamp.
Lady Silver Lily's eye level and mine had reversed.
"I shall give you a choice."
Lady Silver Lily looked down at me.
"If you do not wish to accept my proposal, close your eyes tightly. I will quietly disappear before you open them. But if you wish to accept my proposal and pretend to be my lover. If you wish to put on this play until this life ends......."
The red moon was hidden in the night sky.
Eyes redder than that were before me.
"Say my name aloud."
Her name.
I.
"Raviel......."
Huh.
"Raviel Ivansia."
Why is my mouth open.
"Yes. Do you remember the first lesson I gave you, when I said I would teach you love?"
"Love begins with experiencing a son of a bitch......."
"You remember well."
Lady Silver Lily's two hands covered my cheeks.
And then.
"I shall become your first son of a bitch."
The moon swallowed fire.
"......."
The scent of lilies.
Soft and sweet.
A scent that felt like dying.
[Your immersion in the character deepens.]
[Your current Immersion Rate is 50%.]
I can't breathe.
How beautiful.
-You're both lunatics, so you suit each other well. I mean, even if you did date, how could you date a normal person? Birds of a feather flock together—that's an eternal truth.
The guardian spirit's voice came from far away.
-Congratulations on day one, crow-tit.
Magnolia leaves scattered and fell in profusion.
-It's an affair, though.