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Chapter 81 Part 4 – The rose blooming in the shadows. Countess Rosenthal is prepared to die a horrible death as a villain. Her heart-wrenching determination struck our hearts like moonlight.

At first glance, it sounded as if Bradd was admonishing the arrogant countess and Seraphy was telling him to stay out of the way and avoid unnecessary conflict. But Countess Rosenthal knew this was not the case.

Bradd wanted to save the countess and Seraphy told him not to let her resolve go to waste. Seraphy is a sailor in the open seas. He knew many brave captains who did not run away from a sinking ship until the end and shared their fate in order to fulfill their responsibilities. He saw that same determination and steel will in the countess.

The two boys sensed that the countess was about to give up her life and sacrifice herself as the villain.

How clever and discerning these children are. Her heart trembled. Since the countess was prepared to go that far, they kept their mouth shut so that no one would know. Sympathy would only make her miserable. It was the kindness of a grown man.

So the countess gratefully accepted their thoughtfulness and without saying a word of thanks, she simply looked forward and started walking as if nothing had happened. She hid her tears with the feather fan and wiped them away. If she was a child with a future, she could have taken a different path. But it’s too late now. No matter how much she wishes to, she could never get back the past that she had lost. She strongly believes that getting older means having fewer paths to choose from.

‘When you two come of age, I am sure that you guys will make the hearts of many girls flutter. When seeing boys like you, girls can’t help but fall in love.’

And then she said inside her heart, ‘If Ronny was still here, I’m sure he would have gotten along with you guys. He was such a sweet younger brother.’ He was a younger brother who smiled as he disappeared in the midst of the flames in order to protect his older sister. Countess Rosenthal thought she had gotten over that incident, but when she saw boys like her younger brothers, she couldn’t help but remember that sorrowful night of fire.

At that moment, eyes redder than the memory of the fire from the past stood in front of Countess Rosenthal. Her long, lustrous red hair fluttered in the wind and reflected the bright moonlight. The crimson color was so vivid that it made her gasp.

It was the same eye color and hair color as Wendell in her memories when he came to save her when she was about to be burned at the stake in a witch hunt.

Scarlet spread her arms open to block Countess Rosenthal.

「Countess, tell me. Are you really my mother’s enemy ……!! Or are you ……!! The expression you have right now is the face of a martyr ready to sacrifice themselves for their beliefs. Not the face of someone who enjoys bullying others. I …… am well aware of that. If there is a reason as to why you’re doing this, please tell me ……!!」

The wind whistling through the clouds of the night is like a curtain that blocked their conversation from being heard by the red nobles. The tips of Scarlet’s red hair and Countess Rosenthal’s brunette hair fluttered in the wind and gently came in contact with each other.

Unbeknownst to Countess Rosenthal, Scarlet has experienced being the queen of Hydrangea numerous times in the previous 「108 times」. Even though the people criticized her for being tyrannical, even though all her allies had fallen, she did not run away from her duties until the very end. That’s why she resonated with the countess who was equally determined. Compared to Bradd and Seraphy, Scarlet was a little late in noticing this because the current Countess Rosenthal and the cruel Countess Rosenthal in the previous 「108 times」 that she knew were so different that she got confused.

Countess Rosenthal stopped in her tracks. She looked down a little to hold back her feelings. The words Scarlet said were the words she had longed to hear from Wendell himself saying it to her. If Wendell’s misunderstanding could be cleared up, if he would smile at her just one more time as he did when he was a boy, she would be willing to die for it. And now, Scarlet, who reminded her more than anyone else of Wendell that day, said those words to her.

‘…… Thank you. For saying that to a person like me …… It seems like my longtime dream has come true. However, I can’t accept your kindness. Because if I accept it, I’m sure it will break my heart. I won’t be able to curse at you as the villain. That’s why I …… I’m sorry …… I’m so glad I didn’t end up trying to kill a kind girl like you like in that dream ……’

How happy I would be if I could run up to Cornelia and Scarlet and tell them everything and then break down in tears. It would make me feel better. I am sure this mother and daughter pair would be willing to forgive me. I would be able to spend the little time I have left being surrounded by kindness. I would be able to die with no regrets and the two of them may even cry for me.

Countess Rosenthal desperately endured the tantalizing sweet temptation.

But that is not enough. If she did not play the villain, she would not be able to do anything for Cornelia. Even if she ended her life as a villain and there is no one to mourn her death, that would be the last stage she has chosen. With a fierce heart, the countess raised her head and glared at Scarlet.

「…… I haven’t fallen down so far as to be pitied by a little girl like you. Rather than worrying about wrong things, you should worry about the future of your own poor breasts.」

「…… What ……!?」

Scarlet was flustered by Countess Rosenthal’s words, who had an arrogantly pointed breast. It was a direct hit.

「…… Uuh ……!!」

Cornelia, who had been kept on tenterhooks as she watched the situation, stepped back unsteadily. She got hit by a stray bullet.

Countess Rosenthal mocked herself, while sincerely saying sorry to the flat-chested pair of mother and daughter whose faces had gone pale inside her heart.

‘…… I am the worst kind of woman. I’m like the vicious Countess Rosenthal in that horrible dream.’

It was a nightmare that caused Countess Rosenthal to wake up screaming many times since she had acquired the evil eye.

In that dream, Cornelia died giving birth to Scarlet after withdrawing from society for ten years. Afterwards, Wendell continued to mourn the loss of his beloved wife and frequently visited her grave located under a large tree until he died in an accident by an out-of-season large avalanche. Having lost her purpose in life and the person she loved, Countess Rosenthal’s heart broke with a thud, then in an effort to forget everything, she ended up indulging in her lust for sex and power. She also came to intensely hate Cornelia, considering her as the culprit that was responsible for killing Wendell.

That woman is the cause of the majority of Wendell-sama’s suffering in life. She was not satisfied with just having him suffer heartache over her death and finally took away his life as well ……!!

This crazed hatred was poured out on Scarlet as she was the only person with Cornelia’s blood in her veins. In the end, Wendell’s child, Scarlet, who had been living courageously after her father’s death was ……

I can hear my own laughter filled with hatred.

‘…… A candidate for queen? Someone like her who has that woman’s blood flowing in her veins …… I’m sure she’ll be a pushover, just like her mother.’

The remnants of the young Rona remaining in the innermost depths of her heart cried out.

‘Stop it!! Don’t destroy the one and only treasure that Wendell-sama left behind!! I …… never wanted to do this ……!!’

However, her cries did not reach Countess Rosenthal. And ……

「……!!」

Countess Rosenthal suddenly woke up from her sleep, then she stared in a daze at her hands and breathed a deep sigh of relief at the fact that this had been a dream.

‘This is the worst dream …… There is no way that I would try to kill Wendell-sama’s child ……’

The Countess was proud of the activities of Wendell’s child, who was known as a child prodigy. Whenever she moved the royal family and made the red nobles tremble with fear, it made her feel so excited to the point that she nearly could not resist the urge to go around boasting about it. It was impossible for her to hate that child, much less kill her.

But the dream was too vivid to be laughed off and a chill ran down her spine as she wondered if she had resentment toward Wendell and Cornelia in a deeper level of consciousness of which she was unaware of. She knew better than anyone the horror of how resentment can turn people into demons.

There was no way she could have known that this had actually happened in the previous 「108 times」 and that she had caught a glimpse of it because of her approaching death and the influence of her evil eye.