Chapter 47
The next day, as soon as I washed up and got ready, I left my room to find Ethan.
“Edith.”
Ethan had been looking for me as well.
I nodded as I approached him.
“Ethan, we should go find Diana and discuss when we’ll visit the office. I’m worried she might have already made a move.”
“Alright. Then where is Diana?”
“That’s the thing. Her room was empty.”
The room Diana had been using was cold, as if she had left a long time ago.
I expected at least a blanket tossed aside, but everything was neat.
Where had she gone so early?
As I tilted my head, a small figure suddenly appeared at the end of the hallway. It was Diana.
“Diana!”
When I called out happily, she ran over with a bright smile.
“Sis!”
And then—but right when I mentioned what happened yesterday, the unexpected happened.
“About the conversation we had yesterday—”
The baby-angelesque smile Diana wore quickly turned into something unbelievable as she spoke.
“Hm? Ah~ that. It was nothing, sis! Now that I think about it, I must’ve misunderstood.”
It took me a moment to understand her.
Wait… what?
“…What?”
“It’s true! Don’t you love your family? That’s only natural.”
Diana hugged my arm tightly, looking up at me with sparkling eyes.
Her gaze was completely different from yesterday’s—yesterday she had looked as though I was the only person she could rely on in the whole world.
Now she looked carefree. Normal.
“……”
“I broke the ink bottle, so of course Father might get mad. And it’s normal for the servants to work hard maintaining the castle. Right? I think I was just being too sensitive.”
She giggled as she swayed my arm playfully. She looked perfectly fine.
“As long as I have you, sis, I’m okay.”
“……”
Over a single night—Diana had changed, just like Mother and Father.
But why…?
At that moment, Ethan—watching from behind—suddenly shoved over a decorative vase in the hallway.
Crash!
“……”
The sound of the vase shattering made Diana freeze, her hand stopping mid-swing.
“……”
Then she turned toward Ethan with an expression I had never once seen on her face—cold, hostile.
“Lord Ethan, what do you think you’re doing?”
Her clear, sharp voice echoed down the hall.
Ethan casually raised his hands and nudged the broken shards aside with his foot.
“Oh dear, my mistake.”
No one would believe that was an accident. Why did he suddenly—
“Sigh.”
Suddenly, Diana dropped to the floor with a thud.
Before either of us could stop her, she grabbed a handful of glass shards with her bare hands, squeezing as she burst out in anger.
“A mistake? As if! I knew you’d ruin Crowell Castle!!”
Rage—violent, almost reflexive—flared in her eyes. Her voice, her expression… it was the exact same unnatural fury Mother and Father had shown.
“Get out of this castle right now!”
“Unfortunately, I’m a guest. I can’t just leave. My apologies, Diana.”
As Ethan responded to her, his eyes flicked briefly to me.
That look snapped me back to my senses. I understood his intention.
I nodded slightly, knelt opposite Diana, and grabbed her thin wrist.
“…Diana.”
Her wrist trembled violently. Her skin was cold as plaster.
Holding back the tremor in my voice, I whispered:
“Your hand… you’re hurting yourself.”
I waved a hand, gathering the shards with magic. Only then did Diana’s expression soften.
Even this—her calming down only when I spoke—was exactly like Mother and Father.
Diana murmured blankly:
“Ah… sis…”
“……”
I bit my lip and carefully pulled a shard from her palm. It had dug deep, too deep for a clean magical extraction.
Worse, she had squeezed the shard in her fist, leaving her palm in tatters.
Healing magic would barely work like this.
As I froze while holding her injured hand, Diana glanced at me, then jumped to her feet.
“This much is nothing! I can heal it myself! Don’t worry, sis!”
Even with blood streaming down her fingers, she smiled brightly. And before I could react, she sprinted down the hall.
As I watched her light brown hair flutter out of sight, a chill ran through my chest.
Where is she going with a hand hurt like that—?!
I reached out instinctively, but Ethan caught my other arm.
“……”
I didn’t shake him off. Following her wouldn’t be wise.
Only after Diana completely disappeared did Ethan speak slowly.
“Just as I expected.”
“…And it happened in only one night.”
Even to my own ears, my voice sounded cold enough to freeze.
Even when academy brats provoked me with childish insults, I’d never felt this level of fury.
The moment I saw Diana’s blood dripping onto the floor, hot rage surged up like boiling tar.
Quietly, I muttered:
“I won’t let this go.”
Last night, I wondered why someone would cast this brainwashing effect in Crowell Castle.
But now?
I wouldn’t be satisfied until I crushed the caster myself.
I thought I had experienced nearly everything… but it had been a long time since I was so shaken.
“I’ll find whoever dared to use this filthy trick—and I’ll end them.”
I slowly raised my chin. Maybe the anger had blinded me, because Ethan’s figure blurred and the long, dark hallway behind him seemed to waver.
This brainwashing… it was cleverly designed. Unusual. Insidious.
But who would do this?
In my previous life’s final days, only long-time servants, retainers, and high-ranking envoys were allowed into Crowell Castle.
Crowell Castle had always repelled outsiders, and I had enough trouble just holding onto the people already within my walls. I never bothered to suspect anyone outside.
Would an outsider even have reason to impose a brainwashing that rejects outsiders?
If not outsiders… then who?
Images of Crowell’s servants flashed in my mind.
Then Mother. Father. Diana.
Suspecting my own people was always cruel.
To steady my resolve, I spoke through clenched teeth:
“I’ll crush them completely. I won’t leave behind any future trouble.”
As a regressor, I had unwillingly watched too many people die, and I learned not to mourn every loss.
The only time I valued someone’s life over my own was when their survival was more beneficial to the world than mine.
Yes, there was self-destructive desire behind that, and I wouldn’t deny it.
Still—if I wanted to save someone without considering their usefulness, it was because they were “mine.”
Like my parents, Diana, and the people of Crowell Castle.
So I worked hard not to increase the number of people in my arms. I pushed away those who crossed my boundaries.
That was why I had rejected Ethan Behemoth in my past life.
Because I feared I would want to keep him too close.
…It was good I pushed him away then.
I smiled coldly and twitched my fingers.
Dark, sticky mana wrapped around them—a magic unlike my own.
Thanks to Terrion’s meddling, I could now use my abilities freely beyond their original limits. There was no reason to endure this twisted manipulation any longer.
To dare—to dare—play with me, with my people—
Just remembering Diana smiling through blood made my chest throb painfully. A bitter taste filled my mouth.
I would make them pay.
Over and over.
Until justice was done.
