Chapter 75 - 24. There Are Aspects That Don’t Fit the Times (2)

It was 10 minutes later. He pulled back the red curtains and entered the spacious and open terrace. As promised, he approached the second floor 10 minutes later and found her waiting.

However, when he arrived, Fanora tightly closed the curtains of the terrace where he had come in, like nobles enjoying a secret meeting, and walked to the door.

“Hey, what are you doing here? What about Aloken?”

“I saw you from afar. You didn’t dance. So, I thought you might want to get some fresh night air.

Fanora’s hair is black. The outfit she wore today was dark navy, so as he approached the terrace, it looked as if the night sky behind her and Fanora had become one.

“Naverius?”

“Uh, huh?”

“I sneaked out what you liked… Since we’re here, do you want to have a drink and talk?”

Fanora then took out two glasses that she had left on one side of the terrace. The bright red fruit juice Naverius usually drank swayed like wine.

“Did you come all the way here with this? Thank you.”

Fanora’s cheeks looked red today. Looking closely, it seems that she let out a few deep sighs. Seeing that, Naverius must have noticed that this situation was secret, and he silently accepted the glass.

“Hmm! It’s delicious.”

As usual, the handsome man turned the glass twice and gulped down the well-mixed drink. When something sweet went in, he felt better. He smiled. Fanora also smiled shyly like a child.

Look at her wagging tail…? Maybe Fanora will keep me as her lover after her marriage…?

Did he know that his past thought the same way towards Vasago?

Fanora said, “Naverius, do you remember my hobby?”

It was a rather incoherent start. But Naverius wanted to talk with her, so he answered. “Uh, that… I heard you’re going to an animal lover club these days. Ah, right. You also liked insects.”

“Not that.”

“Not that? Other than that…”

Fanora’s hobby? Naverius couldn’t easily recall her hobby, even though he was almost engaged to her.

“Reading.” Fanora, who couldn’t watch it, told him the answer.

“Ah, that’s right. Did you say that you read books often? Right. I knew it.”

Naverius actually didn’t remember the connection between Fanroa and reading at all, but he roughly bluffed about it. He drank the drink even though he was not thirsty because he was embarrassed for no reason.

“Actually, I like books too. I don’t like studying succeed my family, but I read a lot of liberal art books.”

“Oh my.”

“There’s a book that combines poems written by famous poets, and I like it.”

Then Naverius began to lead the conversation as usual to break the awkward atmosphere. Fanora listened to him, fiddling with her own glass.

“…by the way, Fanora. What is your favorite book?”

The topic of conversation has already been decided by reading, and Naverius should take this opportunity to score in front of her. He asked the question he wasn’t even curious about.

“What I’m interested in varies from time to time. I like novels now.”

“Novels? Novels are fun. I have a collection of mystery novels that are popular these days in the mansion… What do you think? If you have time later.”

“Mystery novels?”

Fanora’s expression began to change strangely when she confirmed that he had finished his drink.

“I’ve read various styles of books, and I think several genres are my taste.”

“Hmm.”

“So recently, I’ve been thinking about what common elements of works draw interest.”

Her expression looked strange. Her tingly tone changed too.

“…Fanora?”

Am I drinking alcohol? Or is it because I’m drunk on the starry landscape? For a moment, Naverius felt that his judgment of the situation was unclear.

“As expected, novels…”

While Naverius was in turmoil, Fanora raised her glass, looked intently at it, and muttered, “It’s fun… when some characters die.”

The transparent glass in her hand felt like a sharp knife at this moment. Naverius felt chills for nothing. There was no way that skinny young lady could do anything to him.

“Are you scared now?”

Fanora looked at the distant clock tower and began to speak quietly.

“I’ve always been scared because of you.”

It was a story that had already passed through time, but it was only vivid for her.

“When you became an adult, you grew taller. I was scared because I felt like I was being crushed by the sound you shouted. After all, you were bigger than me.”

“…”

“One day, I was scared to hear that you told your friends how ugly I was. I’m afraid I will be abandoned.”

“N-no. That’s…”

When Naverius tried to make an excuse, Fanora turned her eyes to look at the clock tower and made eye contact with him. It contained deep remorse and anger.

“I’m sorry, I don’t love you.”

“!”

“No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get more than a good feeling. And yet I tried to marry you. To escape from my family.”

“…”

“So when you asked to break off the engagement, I decided to tell my father after much consideration. If you don’t love me anymore, it would be right to… let you go.”

“What are you talking about?”

“But suddenly, things happened. So I couldn’t break up the engagement. I felt very, very sorry.”

It was a plausible remark at first. However, as it went on, something different from reality came out. Naverius asked back in embarrassment. But instead of answering, Fanora brought up the next line. Her throat was half choked with tears and made a very small noise.

“Why did you do that to me? Why did you spread such a scandal so I wouldn’t even get a new marriage partner? I knew how I would be treated if you boasted to your friends that you had conquered Fanora. I wonder if you didn’t like my stern words about not being able to sleep together before marriage.”

“…!”

“Why did you fall for Vasago? Did you really want your distant relative you couldn’t have? So you eventually broke your promise to me only to become her concubine?”

“…?!”

“You said you loved me to death, and yet you framed me in order to break our engagement…!”

Naverius tried to counter her odd remarks. But he couldn’t do it as he saw those truly heartbroken eyes.

“…Fa-Fanora?”

Soon Panora lowered her head and covered her face with her hands as if she were sobbing, and Naverius hurriedly apologized. “I’m sorry. I didn’t expect you to suffer this much…”

But then.

“Ah.”

As Naverius approached, she suddenly raised her head.

“It’s almost three minutes.”

When she saw her wide-open eyes, Naverius felt the floor completely collapse for an instant. He was standing upright, but he felt a strange sensation as if the terrace floor was quivering and rising right before his eyes.

“Ugh?”

He tried to shout what was happening, but his tongue loosened, and he couldn’t speak. That was Naverius’s last words. He fell forward as if he had fainted at once, and Fanora quickly took up his glass and body.

“…” The terrace became quiet.

Fanora laid the unconscious man down and switched the empty glass in her hand for the juice glass in her hand. She then wrapped his hand in her glass, leaving a hand mark, and put his lips on it.

“…”

Because she wore silk gloves, all left in her glass of juice were traces of Naverius.

Two more minutes. Time was running out, so she should stop fabricating evidence. She listened carefully to the terrace window. Or three minutes? 

Opening the locked terrace door and opening the heavy curtains, she looked around the hallway. As expected. There were no people. Since it was described in the midnight novel, there would be no nobles coming up to the terrace on the second floor at this ball, except for one person.

“…”

Fanora returned to the terrace for the last time and scoured through her hair and other evidence of her identity. Then, only simple things remain on the terrace. One, Naverius, who fainted. Two, half a glass of juice.  

“Hu…”

Fanora bit the handle of the empty glass she had replaced in her mouth like a rose. After that, with her free hands, she lifted Naverius, who was unconscious. Using the power of Io, it was not difficult to make him lose consciousness and lift his limp body.

It’s finally the end of the bad ties that have been entangled throughout my second life.

There was no time to think more. She didn’t aim her sword at the protagonists like a villainess in an old play. Her revenge without a threat.

Fanora threw Naverius over the terrace railing. Unlike ordinary houses, the second floor of this castle boasted a huge height, so there was no need to explain what happened to the person who fell.

She’ll be here soon!

From now on, it was a race against time. She had to come up with a solid alibi. Fanora immediately turned her body around, then headed to the terrace across from her.

“…”

She burst open the new terrace door. The terrace she arrived at was in the easter direction of the castle. The eastern wall had three terraces on the second floor, one back door on the first floor, and two small windows on the first floor.

Fanora was located on the last terrace located in the corner of the second floor. And the place she had to arrive at was the small bathroom window placed diagonally opposite her current location.

I can do it.

If she returned to the first floor and used the hallway normally, she would be caught by the knights and placed on the stairs. So, there was only one way from the beginning. Fanora decided to move, hanging from the structure on the wall like how she came up on the second floor.

I can do it…

She removed her silk gloves and put them in her pocket, fearing being swept away and damaged by property as she moved.

“…”

By the way, what if she falls from this height? Involuntarily, she looked below.

“…”

She had just seen what Naverius had become. But it wasn’t a big deal if she died.

This is the best way.

She would be suffering throughout her life unless she completed her revenge anyway. Maybe she would be punished by heaven and fall down. However, it didn’t matter because it would be a way to end her insomnia.

Fanora jumped into the railing of the next terrace without hesitation.

“Hup!?”

When she succeeded in grabbing the protruding railing, her body swayed dangerously. She felt like she was clinging to the cliff where she could see the deep blue sea again.

I would have died if it hadn’t been for Io’s power. Fanora moved to the next terrace with only her arm strength when her body stopped. As confirmed from a distance, there were no shadows of people inside the terrace.

“!”

Tuk. Fanora climbed up the middle terrace once, then ran again to reach the last terrace with all her might. She finally checked the location of the window she was supposed to enter.

Carl should be doing a good job.

Soon Fanora let go of the railing. As she fell, she felt a peculiar unpleasant sensation, and the visible scenery of castle walls flashed past her eyes. However…

“Ugh!”

By the time she reached the window sill, she had reached out her hand but couldn’t reach it. She failed to control her distance. Whether it was about marriage or anything, if you rushed to solve it because you were pressured by time, you’re going to screw things up.