DSFL | Chapter 14

~Chapter 14~

I carefully opened my mouth.

 “…In exchange for telling me about the illness, do you want to know where your disciples are?”

 “If that’s all it took, I would’ve gone to Dremokan myself before bothering with a lowly creature like you.”

Wow, what a flashy way of speaking.

 Dremokan was a highly restricted area. Even I, the daughter of the Roygin family, had never entered it.

 With Peril’s power, he could probably force his way in—but since he needed to stay hidden, he likely didn’t try.

“You asked about the Dremokan illness.”

 I nodded cautiously. Peril smirked at me like I was amusing.

“Dremokan isn’t an illness. It’s a curse.”

 “…What?”

 “The only way to break the curse is to kill the caster. But a mere creature like you couldn’t possibly kill them… Unfortunately, your friend who’s been cursed will die.”

Peril coldly declared my grandfather’s fate.

 A curse? Who would do that to Grandpa…?

 More importantly, who says Grandpa is allowed to die like that?

“You’re rather generous, though. You just told me how to break the curse—by killing the caster.”

 “How foolish. Do you even know who the caster is?”

 Of course not.

 But judging by how seriously Peril was speaking, it seemed like the caster wasn’t someone I’d expect.

Still, no matter who it was, I wasn’t going to sit back and watch my grandfather die.

 I bit my lower lip and stepped closer to Peril.

 “…Please. Even if we can’t cure it, there must be a way to ease his pain.”

His eyes, like a snake’s, gave me chills—but I forced myself to stay strong.

 “Just tell me that method. If you do, I’ll do anything you ask.”

Peril’s pupils narrowed slightly.

 …I can’t back down now.

 In the original story, even there, my grandfather’s illness was never cured.

As I waited silently for Peril’s reply, a panicked voice rose from the foot of the mountain.

“Call the Duke’s physician! Hurry!”

 Ricardo…?

 Did he get hurt?

Peril’s gaze shifted down the mountain toward the commotion.

 “That child came too, huh.”

He gestured with his chin, looking at Idette.

 Oh, that’s right. Idette said she’d bring cookies…

 I hadn’t even told her I was leaving. She must’ve waited a long time.

From a distance, Idette was pacing nervously near Ricardo.

 Ricardo’s fine brows were slightly furrowed—his leg looked seriously hurt.

At that moment, Ricardo looked directly at Peril and me.

 Our eyes met, and I quickly turned my head, startled.

Peril, who’d been observing me, tilted his head. His long hair swayed in the wind.

 “…You know him?”

 “Y-Yes. I do.”

 “Then why don’t you go check on him?”

I gave a bitter smile and shook my head.

 “Your answer is more important right now.”

It’s not like he’d be happy to see me.

 If it’s Ricardo, he’d definitely prefer being with Idette.

Peril’s eyes narrowed.

 “He seems to be waiting for you to come down, though.”

 …Who? Ricardo?

 That couldn’t be true.

Maybe Peril’s eyesight wasn’t that great.

 “So, your answer?”

“You must be either brave or thoughtless. You’re the only one who could rush me like this and still be alive.”

 Peril clicked his tongue.

He must’ve said that same line to the original female lead too.

 This thousand-year-old tower master didn’t seem to have great eyesight or memory.

Peril fell into thought.

 Though his face looked like someone around my age, his eyes felt like a bottomless abyss. He’d clearly lived a very long time.

 …Actually, could you even call Peril human?

At last, his lips parted.

 “Fine. Alright.”

I finally felt the tension leave me.

 “There’s something I want to ask of you too.”

Peril’s smile made me feel strangely uneasy.

 …Is this going to be okay?

***

When I came down from the mountain, the scene was pure chaos—like a busy marketplace.

 Actually, a marketplace might’ve been quieter.

“…Where’s Ricardo?”

 “Young Lady, it was a disaster!”

Emily rushed over like she’d been waiting for me.

 “The Duke got seriously injured! Apparently it was because of a mistake by Earl Owen’s son!”

So many shocking things in just one sentence.

 How was I even supposed to respond to that?

Wait… So Leon hurt Ricardo by mistake?

I tried to find Leon and Ricardo, but neither was in sight.

 “Where’s Leon?”

 “I don’t know either. But this isn’t the time for that! You need to go to the Duke right away!”

Pushed by Emily, I headed toward Ricardo’s tent.

 But my mind was in chaos.

The heir of a count hurting the Empire’s only Duke?

 This felt way bigger than I’d expected.

 …This can’t be just some ordinary incident.

The area around Ricardo’s tent was packed with people.

 The attendants rushing out were holding towels soaked in blood. It was clearly a lot of blood.

As I approached, the knights guarding the tent stepped forward and dropped their sword hilts in front of me, blocking my path.

 I was about to say something to them, annoyed—

“Lady Bianca!”

Benjamin stepped out of the tent just then and was visibly shocked to see me.
His gaze wasn’t much friendlier than the knights’.

My chest ached a little, but I focused on what mattered.

 “…How is the Duke? Is he alright?”

Benjamin nodded.

 “He should be able to walk. There’s no need to worry too much.”

Still, I couldn’t calm down.
Maybe it was all that blood on the towels…

“Lady Bianca, I understand your concern, but… this is a time when the Duke needs to focus on his treatment.”

In other words, don’t hang around—just leave.

The Hessen household servants never really liked me.
Probably because of Ricardo.

“…Please let him know I asked after him.”

 Better to leave quietly than try to force my way in.

Benjamin sighed in relief, like he’d just gotten rid of a huge problem.

***

I’ve always preferred knowing the ending before watching a movie.

 Knowing who dies and who the villain is makes it easier for me to enjoy the story. Same with games. If a character I love is going to die, I’d rather not get attached in the first place.

That rule applied to novels too.

 And this one—I already knew the ending.

Erkishian and Idette promise each other love and live happily ever after.

 Peril and Ricardo, who both love Idette, never forget her and live alone.

…But what about me?

 What happens to Bianca, the character I’ve taken over?

Sometimes I wonder if I can really live here.

 After all, I’m not Bianca.

It’s not pleasant to apologize to Ricardo for things Bianca did, when I wasn’t even the one who did them.

After I possessed Bianca’s body, I’d already settled that I had no place to return to.

 So I had to live as Bianca—and to do that, I had to change the ending I knew.

But now… it all feels pointless.

 This isn’t real. It’s just a story.

Even if I change Grandpa’s fate and somehow get lucky and go home— all of this will have meant nothing, right?

‘Wow… I really am going crazy.’

What am I even thinking right now?

 No one knows better than I do that there’s no way home.

I guess seeing the knights and Benjamin block me earlier stirred up all these useless thoughts.

A background villain falling for a secondary male lead— That was way too much for someone like me.

…Yeah. I know that too.