Chapter 45 - 15. The Protagonist (3)

A lot of time has passed.

Autumn has arrived in the Kingdom of Kasius. Two seasons have passed since I read the novel containing this world’s secrets. I continued to take note of the magic that appeared in front of me.

The rules of ‘Dangerous Love’ I had known was this.

First, the novel appeared at 12 P.M. every 7 days.

Second, the novel disappeared one hour after I wiped them with the palm of my hand as if I was wiping a window.

Third, if I’m unconscious at midnight, the magic doesn’t appear even if I wake up at 0.30 A.M. (If I miss it, it will appear next week.)

And when it comes to changes that have occurred over the past seasons, the gap between the time zone in the novel and reality began to widen.

‘It’s already winter in the novel.’

In reality, each day always flows at the same time, but that was not the case in the novel. In the novel, if you want to move to the future, it’s enough to write one sentence, ‘Three years have passed since then.’

There is also the characteristic that the description is omitted for the parts that the author considers unnecessary, so the time zone in ‘Dangerous Love’ will be 3 months ahead of the present.

‘Until now, I only thought I could dig up Vasago’s daily life with this magic, but with this, I can foretell the future.’

I went back to the past after killing Haures. Thanks to that, I already know the future six years later, but people aren’t always prepared to go back to the past.

In my head, the Kingdom’s big and small events were scattered all over the place. Fortunately, from now on, I could redefine the tangled timeline with that novel.

“…”

But…

“Hmm…”

Most of the content from that novel really happened in reality. It made me believe to the extent that my death in this world is nothing more than something scripted from the novel. However, there was only one part where the novel was inconsistent.

“It’s always different with the part when Aloken appears.”

The scene where Vasago and Aloken meet. In the novel, the two of them are already close enough to have a meal and talk about their family history.

“Why is this part completely different?”

Not long ago, I received a letter from Aloken. In the earlier letter, I said that I wanted to be friends with Vasago, so can’t he arrange a meeting with Lady Guelder? Aloken replied that just like he said last time, he had no such relationship with her, so don’t ask for it again. In addition, the PS he added in case I didn’t know, explained that he had never personally met with Vasago in his life.

‘It’s probably because of me, right?’

The reason why the future assumed to be the original of this world was distorted can be easily guessed.

‘He didn’t go to the first meeting in the salon because his deal with me started.’

With the memory of a 21-year-old, I predicted that the butterfly effect had occurred because I was making different choices than before.

‘No, wait. What does that mean?’

And as I accumulated more content of the novel, I noticed something. This is because Aloken himself said this in the latest chapter. 

「Vasago: Then why did you force yourself to come to the salon back then?

Aloken: At first, I just wanted to look at the head of the Royalists looks like. I had a lot of free time.

Vasago: You have a big gut.

Aloken: But if I hadn’t gone to the salon, I wouldn’t have known you were this kind. In the end, it went well. There’s no talented person like you to be my business partner.」

“Aloken first met her at the salon, and he became interested in Vasago with only one meeting.”

Where have I seen this flow before?

I immediately began to break into a cold sweat. My trauma suddenly came out of nowhere.

“Then… If Vasago and Aloken met in this life, maybe my fiancé would fall in love with Vasago again…”

Naverius Demangdwi, my former fiancé. That man had an affair from the beginning. Still, he always apologized after cheating, saying it was a mistake so I could forgive him. But how serious things got after Naverius met Vasago at the debutante and fell in love with her. Perhaps that was the beginning of my catastrophe.

“…”

Fortunately, I regained my composure after taking a deep breath. I was shocked for a moment because it was a similar situation. Still, if I think about it, it was completely different this time.

“Right, I don’t need to care whether the original partner of Aloken is Vasago or not.”

Our relationship is only contractual, so there’s no need for me to pay attention to Aloken’s love life.

“The relationship between the Guelder family and Jalier family was actually more serious than I thought. Like an idiot, I didn’t even know about this fact, and Aloken…”

I finished my thought with cold eyes. Soon I stretched out and got up from the desk.

‘Since godmother is out today, should I go out too?’

Clear sunlight pours in from outside the window. The weather was cool and clear as it was already autumn.

“Um?”

“Lady! Lady!”

But then.

A little boy came running in with a loud bang. He was a servant who had just learned to work.

“What’s the matter? Is godmother back?”

“That’s not it. A guest has arrived asking for Lady.”

“Me?”

Today wasn’t the day to meet with Carl, so I don’t know who it was.  

“If the guest comes from the Celcius family, you can ignore them. Go out and tell them I’m not in the mansion.”

But the servant shook his head at my words.

“I’m sure the guest came from different families. I can’t remember exactly, but…”

“Didn’t that person give you anything to announce their visit?”

“Gasp! I forgot about it and just came here.”

I became expressionless, and that made him scared a little bit. But the voice that came out from me was so gentle.

“Then what does the guest look like?”

If he gave the characteristics of Aloken, I would ignore that guest. But this time, the servant’s answer was also unexpected.

“A tall man with brown hair like fallen leaves in our yard is waiting for Lady.”

‘Who is it?’

Eventually, I headed to the front door to meet someone who I didn’t know their origin.

“You’re here? The servants were rude.”

“!”

When I arrived, I saw a man leaning against the mansion’s wall. It was definitely a familiar face.

“Rose Jalier-nim?”

The second son of Duke Jalier. In other words, Aloken’s younger brother visited the mansion.

‘Is it difficult to send a letter a few days before your visit?’

Whether Aloken or his younger brother… I didn’t like their attitude, but I didn’t show any sign that I didn’t like it and responded gently. Rose belongs to the duke’s family, and as long as he belonged to it, he couldn’t be treated like this.

“If I had known that you would come like this, I would have prepared tea for you.”

“It’s not too late to worry about tea from now on.”

“Then I’ll take you inside.”

It wasn’t that strange that he found out where I was. Because my education is not being kept secret, anyone could visit me if they wanted to.

By the way, why did his brother, not Aloken, come to me?

‘There must be a reason.’

I, who was guiding him to the parlor room, wondered if Aloken himself had sent this younger brother instead because of circumstances.

“The mansion’s owner is away now, so please understand if the hospitality is simple.”

“I already knew about it.”

“Yes?”

Arriving at the parlor room, Rose Jalier sat down at the guest’s seat as if it was natural. I glanced at him, settled in the opposite chair, and brewed the tea.

“So, what’s your business?”

But after a while.

I handed over the tea and asked the question, and Rose got up from his seat, locked the door of the parlor room, and returned.

“?”

“Listen carefully from now on.”

I had Io in my grasp, so there was nothing to worry about being left with him. So I will stay still for now.

“Ha… I don’t know where to start talking about this. Even though I was careful when we first met with a worried heart.”

Rose Jalier continued to speak in front of the silent me. The topic of the conversation was the continuation of what happened at the engagement ceremony.

“Did you ignore my advice? Lady Vanora.”

“…”

“Are you saying you want to get married like this?”

I remained silent.

“I see. If you’re so eager to marry Aloken, feel free to do so.”

‘He suddenly changed his opinion?’

I raised the teacup in front of me but only looked at him without putting it to my mouth. At the same time, Rose Jalier also picked up the teacup. Likewise, he didn’t drink the steaming hot tea.

“But before you two get married, there is one thing I want to tell you. Because I understand the truth of the matter.”

“…”

“I wondered before why he had chosen a woman from a humble family. I didn’t think ‘I got a fiancée’ would have been so important.”

The main point of the conversation is from now on.

“It was kind of strange. Even after the engagement, I looked carefully at your family wealth and political power, and no matter how much I looked at it, I didn’t see anything that Aloken would gain from.”

“Even though you’re Aloken’s younger brother, you don’t have the right to insult my family.”

I, who was listening to the conversation, said my first words, and Rose frowned and raised his voice.

“Who do you think is a fool! You haven’t been in the social world for less than a year, and it doesn’t make sense that the two of you are in a relationship! You must get involved with the lying too!”

“!”

Even after that, Rose continued to speak in the atmosphere and weighed on his opponent.

“Frankly speaking, my father is more caring than his looks, and he is genuinely happy that Aloken has a fiancée.”

“…”

“He thought that his flawed son would become like a human if he found his true love.”

“Flawed son?”

“Aren’t you so obsessed with his looks that you didn’t even notice the flaws of the man you were going to marry?”

Rose Jalier murmured, looking down at the teacup in his hand.

“Anyway… I can’t believe he’s trying to change father’s will with this fake relationship. I didn’t know that Aloken would use this emotional trick. He even brings a lady to act with him just in time.”

“…”

“Thanks to you, my feet are on fire. How about it? Are you happy that things are going well?”

‘Why on earth is he saying this to me?’

I searched for his intention while maintaining my expressionless face. When I didn’t respond, Rose said coldly with a cold look on his face.

“Celcius, you’re forgetting something.”

“What?”

“Who was the original successor of this duke? Somehow, I think you know about it.”

“…”

Rose tilted his head and glared at me. As the conversation was cut off in the ferocious atmosphere, the air in the room quickly cooled. A long silence passed.

“Lady Celcius.”

The one who broke the silence was Rose Jalier.

“I’ve told you the story so far because now I… didn’t have any hidden card, but I knew that you were just an actor.”

“…”

“That means I can intimidate you and your family now without hesitation. It’s’ not my business to trample on Bael’s business.”

‘Father?’

When Bael was mentioned, I showed a rare change in my expression. Rose looked at my face and raised the corners of his lips, thinking that his words had been conveyed well.

“You know what? Your fiancé actually has nothing in the corner of the house other than father’s deep compassion. The elders and vassals of the family overwhelmingly support me.”

“…”

“Who have you trusted so far? Will he be able to protect you properly?”

But then.

Rose got up from his chair and slowly approached me. As I looked at him standing next to me, Rose slowly tilted the teacup in his hand on the top of my head. 

“I will… do something like this.”

“…”

“I’m confident that no matter what I do to you, I will not be scolded.”

Drip.

Tuk, tuk, tuk.

Cold tea slowly pours over my head. The sensation of the tea dripping down my head and into my face left me with damp, unpleasant feelings.

“Lady Celcius. If you still want to get married, do it.”

“…”

“By the way, if you don’t reveal the act you played in front of the Duke with your mouth…”

The man holding the empty teacup looked down at me with a cruel face.