That day was no different from the other days for Edellis. A day such as receiving an education about the sophistication of a noble from a tutor, and reading a little book in library during her break. I asked the maid to bring out a simple refreshment, and she looked around the library and wondered what book to read. I thought I had read all the romance novels in the library, but I found a book I couldn't see normally. Edellis, who was puzzled by the gleaming books as if asking for her to find it, called the maid. However, the answer could not have been heard from the maid who hasn't yet returned from the kitchen. The fact that it was a book I hadn't yet looked at attracted me and pulled it out of the bookshelf.
"The fate of flowers…?"
Inside the open book, only white paper was visible.
"What? There's only a cover?"
While grasping the book, she quickly flipped the paper and found the letters. I was curious about what kind of content would be written in this book, so I found a part with content again. When I opened the page and tried to read the contents, a bright light burst out and a clear image appeared in the air. Edellis dropped the book in surprise, but the video was still showing up.
『Your Majesty!』
『Your Majesty, how could Your Majesty the Empress… !』
Elderly middle-aged men talk to the Emperor and Empress in angry voices. A young woman was stabbed and grabbed her chest. However, the young man with a blurry face brutally pulled a knife from her chest. Then, a huge amount of blood spurted out of her chest. But the man laughed and said, as if he didn't want to care about it anymore.
『Ha! What is the Empress. Edellis Cronard, do you know what Edellis Cronard did with the position of Empress?』
Edellis was surprised while watching the video. The man was referring to the woman struggling with pain by the same name as 'Edellis Brill'. Even the woman's face, lying on the floor and vomiting blood, resembled herself a lot. Seeing a woman with the same name and the same resemblance as herself bleeding and dying, Edellis heart thumped with some anxiety. Moreover, even though it was only a video, the blood from 'Empress Edellis Brill' was vivid as if it would wet all the carpets in the study.
"My empress will be ____. If you have any complaints, come out now."
When the emperor pointed his sword at the other people and spoke, the people who had just rebelled against how to stab the empress with a knife shut their mouths like dumbs. Lastly, in the book, a bright light burst out like when the first video appeared. Then, as if nothing had happened, only the library as usual was left. I picked up the book I dropped at my feet and looked again, and now the book didn't shine.
"This, how the hell happened?"
In a flashing book that suddenly appeared, it's a video. In addition, her name appeared in the video. Edellis, unable to calm her frightened heart, said to the maid who just arrived. She held a trembling heart with anxiety and opened the book to the maid, but nothing happened.
"uh? Can't it? Apparently… !"
I opened the book and said that it couldn't be, and asked the maid to look at this, if it was written here. However, the maid asked what she was talking about, and said that she couldn't see any letters in her eyes. Edellis couldn't believe the maid's words and came out with a book. Then, as she passed by, she showed the book to the maids she encountered. But contrary to Edellis prediction, no one could read any text from the book. Edellis ordered the maids to talk about today's work and decided to think in her room. After returning to the room, Edellis sat at her desk and tapped the cover of the book with her fingertips. Unlike before, the book was not shining. Seeing it, Edellis muttered a little.
"The letters only visible to me, the same name as me, the face that resembles me… If it's a face, it could be similar, but the name and family are the same?"
Obviously, the first page of the book, which was blank when I saw it earlier, was written as 'appearance character'. Edellis picked up the book and read it up close to see what had changed. There were a total of four main characters, and only Edellis Brill and her had names. 『As the only daughter of Count Brill, she became empress after becoming emperor of ____. After committing all sorts of evil deeds by envying ____, she was stabbed to death by the sword of ____. 』
Edellis was overwhelmed by strange feelings when she saw the explanation of 'Edelis of Count Brill' like herself. This is because the woman who was stabbed by the emperor, even family relations, was the same as herself.
'This is not true, it's fiction. It's ridiculous.'
Even though I thought so, my heart pounded quickly.
'If the… What if it's true?'
She took a long, deep breath, and first turned her gaze to another person who appeared in the character to gather information. He had no name on it, only a short description of him. Edellis read aloud as she skimmed the sentence with her fingertips.
"He, with red hair and golden eyes, was kidnapped as a child and was called 'Lehan' without knowing his past, and played an active part in the arena as a gladiator."
There was only one sentence written. It was regrettable, but nothing changed because she regretted it.
"How can I do this…I will have to check it out."
As I saw in this book, rather than worrying about whether I would be stabbed and killed, I decided to do what I could do first. Edellis covered the book and hid it under her pillow. Then she pulled the string and instructed the maid to help prepare for going out. When she was ready, she got onto the waiting carriage. Edellis got into the carriage and instructed the coachman.
"Let's go to the arena."
I had to go to see if the book showed the future or if it was just fiction.
*****
When Edellis arrived at the arena, she sat down with a trembling heart, following the guidance of the guide. Watching in the arena was in the limelight as a hobby of boring nobles. Therefore, many nobles filled their seats even though it was a special class seat where only nobles above the county rank could sit. In the arena, the crew grabbed the gladiator's ankle and dragged it out, which seemed to have already lost his breath. The floor was filled with bloodstaining from the beginning, and new bloodstains appeared where the gladiator passed. Edellis, who swears deeply for not knowing why she is coming to see this kind of thing, barely sat down at the sight of blood.
"This game is red Lehan and white Jacques!"
When the moderator called 'Lehan', Edellis got up from the seat without her knowledge. Then the person sitting next to hee said with his eyes that he didn't understand.
"Dear, the last game is the most fun, but you want to get up now?"
"… … no."
Edellis seemed to have a cold sweat on her back. In fact, there was a gladiator named Lehan in the arena! The place where she was sitting right now was still a place where the game could be seen well, but because Lehan was wearing a helmet, she couldn't confirm whether his appearance was the same as the main characters in the book.
'Please, I hope it is not that person!'
Each of the gladiators who were fighting wearing red and white cloaks exchanged swords many times, leaving deeper and deeper scars on each other's bodies. Blood gushed from their wounds, and the audience cheered whenever they made deeper wounds. With bleeding more and more, the floor was creating a pool of blood they had made.
'gold? is not it? What color is it?'
Edellis desperately tried to check the color of Lehan's eyes, but momentarily a bright light reflected off her eyes, closing her eyes tightly. And Lehan fell to the floor, spilling blood from his chest to his abdomen, cut wide from the chest to the abdomen, who was waiting for that moment.
"No!"
I cried out to Lehan, who was going down without knowing. Her voice, buried in the shouts, could not have reached him, but Lehan stood up momentarily and poked his sword into the abdomen of Jacques, who was smiling, confident of victory. And finally, Lehan lost his mind and fell to the floor. Jacques, who couldn't understand what was going on in this situation, alternately looked at the sword and Lehan and in his abdomen several times, tried to pull out the sword in his abdomen and fell to the floor.
"Wow ahhhhhh!!!!"
"Lehan! Lehan!"
"Jac! Jacques!"
The audience cheered with excitement, chanting the names of the gladiators each paid for. The moderator who came up the stadium looked at both of them. Lehan felt a weak breath, but Jacques' pulse was completely stopped.
"The winner!"
The audience held their breath and waited for the host's words to follow.
"… … This is Lehan! Lehan is alive!"
When the moderator's words were over, the crews came up the stadium at random, pulling their swords at random from Jacques' body, grabbing both ankles and dragging them out of the field. This wasn't that different for Lehan either. It was not possible to distinguish who was the winner and who was the loser when both ankles and wrists were being carried by the operator holding each other. The place they passed by was full of new bloodstains today. The audience screamed in enthusiasm for the terrible scene. Edellis endured what she wanted and cover her ears, packed her pockets she had prepared in case she didn't know, and told the guide waiting in the special class.
"Please guide me to the manager."
The guide looked at Edellis thick pocket and smiled brightly, leading her to the janitor. As Edellis followed him, the name of a gladiator named Lehan continued to linger in her mind.
'There really was a gladiator Lehan. So, am I stabbed to death as I saw in the book? No, it can't be… Could it be someone with the same name?'
I thought it wasn't going to happen many times in my mind, and I was in front of the manager's office. Inside, a manager wearing a black mask covering more than half of his face greeted her with a smile.
"Welcome, young lady. Why are you looking for me who is humble?"
The caretaker greeted her, struggling to hide her heart beating in anticipation. When I saw the manager's greed-soaked smile, I got goosebumps for nothing.
"I heard there is a gladiator named Lehan."
When Edellis came up with Lehan's name, the manager was delighted. If Lehan is sold today, there is no cost to clean up the body.
"Can I see him now?"
"Well, I'm sorry, but he's an important product."
"Wouldn't you like to sell that 'good' to the 'buyer'?"
When the story of 'buy' came out of Edellis mouth, the manager's smile grew deeper.
"It would be possible."
They came out of the office and went down to the basement where the smelly smell came. The janitor knocked on the door twice and suddenly opened the door without waiting for an answer. As soon as he opened the door, there was a smell of fishy iron. When the door opened, the guide and a gladiator who was exercising inside the room went out of the room, following the instructions of the guide. Two of them were lying on the bed, and both were lying unconscious after the match. The janitor guided Edellis to the inner bed of it. On the bed in front of her was a red-haired gladiator. It was Lehan. The main character in the book. He was clearly a person who had a direct connection to her death. This made Edellis undeniable. That what I saw in the book was her future, that she would be stabbed to death by the emperor's sword.