No way, really, truly.
It's impossible to believe this.
She must have seen it wrong.
Right. That's the only way to comprehend this.
It appeared within only a split second. Rosetta just caught sight of it from her periphery.
She's certain that she must have just imagined it.
That goddamn divine power made her think of Urien, and that's probably why she was subconsciously reminded of even the monsters that Urien controlled.
In the first place, how could the monsters that Urien controlled be here.
'Common sense. It shouldn't be here.'
With her hands still over her eyes, Rosetta repeatedly tried to calm her racing heartbeat.
She had only been mistaken. She's sure of it.
However, these attempts didn't have much effect.
Even throughout this fruitless rumination, her cold body temperature didn't abate easily. Then, she hurriedly turned around because she felt something ominous behind her.
"…Hoh…"
All of a sudden, light poured into her sight, which had been covered by darkness just now.
She waited for her vision to adjust to the sudden light, then she opened them slowly once more.
Still, she could feel goosebumps over her skin as the same creepy feeling was on her back.
'I'm sure of it… That gaze… I felt it.'
Her golden eyes flashed and looked around in a flurry.
It definitely felt like that eerie gaze, but then all she could see some distance away were the men from earlier.
Leo, Daniel. The two other men.
They were talking, but looking this way.
No matter how you look at it, it just looked like they were watching them leave by seeing them off from a distance.
There were no suspicious glances, nor were there any strange atmospheres.
And that creepy feeling was not there as well.
'Seriously, did I suddenly go crazy.'
Too much happened in just a short period of time.
No one else noticed. She was the only one who did. But.
As Rosetta stared blankly into the air once more, Cassion had been there to hold her arm.
With her gold eyes gaining recognition once more, her gaze turned directly towards the man.
At the uncharacteristically frantic gaze, Cassion held his tongue.
He was worried about her sudden change in behavior, almost to the extent that he regretted coming here, regardless of the funeral or whichever else.
"Rosetta, let's go," he whispered.
Rosetta stared back at Cassion without an answer.
It looked as if she was looking for someone, and so Cassion removed the veil over his face.
Just in case Rosetta was looking for him.
As the flimsy piece of cloth was lifted upon his face, the summer air came into contact with his skin.
Two gazes met head-on.
Lightly rubbing her wrist as she stayed silent, Cassion opened his lips once more.
With a faint, mysterious smile on his face.
"Your hands are cold."
Only then did Rosetta nod slowly.
Then, her halted steps were slowly set into motion again.
Her bewildered gaze was no more, and instead, a look of propriety and clarity returned.
"Yes, let's go."
However, unlike the eyes that found clarity anew, her strides seemed to have slowed, and her pale face remained as white as a sheet, as though she had gotten sick.
"I must have… just imagined it."
Even when no one asked, these words were mumbled as though to imply.
Right now.
She was closer to Rita than Rosetta.
* * *
The man's eyes were fixed on the woman.
Silver hair that fluttered with every step she took.
Halting in place and blankly staring at something at the side.
When the man next to her approached, she covered her eyes with both hands.
Soon, she looked back towards this direction, on edge. Then she turned around, and her back looked weak.
The Rosetta reflected in the man's eyes grew farther and farther away.
The man captured her in his gaze without ever blinking. Until, soon, what he was looking at had already disappeared.
As he did not blink for a long time, his eyes had reddened.
Instead of shedding tears, the man laughed.
Finally, he found the woman he's been looking for.
Yes. At last, I found you.
My Rita.
My…
'Rosetta.'
* * *
'Rosetta.'
In my dreams, I heard a hazy voice echoing through my mind.
As if to act upon the words that he said like a habit, that he would never leave her side, Urien appeared in my dreams to the point that I'd become so sick and tired of it.
With him as their shepherd, even the blue monsters he controlled appeared.
After returning from the funeral, I lay sick in bed for a few days.
Violent nightmares wreaked chaos upon my mind and, as if it was a direct reaction to this, my body began to be riddled with pain as well.
A scorching fever, an inability to keep the food I've eaten down, a palpitating heart, immense waves of pain.
It was a tumultuous sickness caused by exhaustion.
Alicia came every day and cried every single time. Damian came here once.
Diana said that the duke also stopped by once…
He came by while I was sleeping, so I didn't see his face. How fortunate.
I suddenly recalled the doctor's face as he gave me a check-up.
Then, during one late evening, I recalled Cassion's face as he was staring down at me.
His lips, closed in a straight line, didn't say anything. He just watched me for a moment and left the room.
While I was sick, I lay bedridden, flitting back and forth between the realms of dream and reality—waking up and passing out every now and again. Throughout all this, I recalled what happened the day before.
To determine whether what I saw that day was true or false.
But at the end, each conclusion I made was always the same.
'I must have seen it wrong.'
Why would there be a blue monster at that place.
No, how couldn't it possibly have been there.
From the very beginning, I was in a different world, separate from the one where that thing existed.
It's only right for everything related to Urien to remain in the third transmigration. The only thing of him that could have traversed worlds was my remembrance of him.
Then, if it hadn't been a blue monster, what was that thing?
Just like how I surmised that day, perhaps Urien flashed through my mind because I witnessed Daniel's divine power, and when I thought of Urien, an apparition of the monster escaped my subconscious.
Besides that, there's also proof that she had just imagined the monster that day.
Wasn't I the only one who saw something strange at the time of the incident?
If the monster truly was there, then what of Alicia, Leo, Daniel, the two other noblemen and Cassion?
At least one of them should have seen the monster.
Just like how I did it every single day back then, my worries and doubts eventually came down to the same conclusion—that they were just 'illusory'. Even before I could think about it deeper, these thoughts would be brushed aside as mere 'delusions'.
My severe body aches came to an end.
As though my mind had regained control over my body.
Laughably enough.
However, I found out that something else more ridiculous happened.
As soon as I regained my strength, Diana carefully told me about it.
'Sir Maxwell has been ill since yesterday. Coincidentally, it happened at the same time you came to, Milady.'
Hearing Diana's words, I laughed.
It's just as she said—what a coincidence.
Didn't it look like my sickness had been transferred to him?
I ate lunch at midday.
Even after my meal, I laughed.
I drank tea with Alicia, who wasn't crying anymore for the first time in a long while—and I laughed again.
We had an early dinner together soon after teatime, and when the meal ended, the smile left my lips as I stepped out of the room.
I had an objective now, and that's to pay the sick Cassion a visit.
As I reached his door, I knocked, yet I couldn't hear an answer in return.
In any case, I only knocked for the sake of formalities, so I opened the door without any hesitation.
'…It's dark.'
It's true that it's already evening, but the room was still too dark.
Thick curtains were covering the window so that the patient could sleep soundly.
The only source of light in that room was a flickering candle.
Looking around the dim room, a slight smile tugged upon my lips because I recalled the past.
Why of course, it was the day after I went to Katie's prison cell, and Cassion awkwardly comforted me.
I walked closer to Cassion, who was asleep.
Diana, who had followed behind me, closed the door silently. Then, she stood right in front of the room, her legs stuck near the surface.
Looking at Diana once, I soon glanced at the sleeping Cassion.
Eyes, lips, closed like straight lines.
Still, this man had the visage of tranquility as he slept.
I reached out slowly and touched his forehead with my hand.
The round curve of his smooth forehead wound gently beneath the palm of my hand.
In the shadows, his dark hair tickled the back of my hand.
'Perhaps a bit warm?'
No, wasn't it a little hot?
At the indeterminable temperature, I removed my hand. When I checked the temperature of my own forehead, it seemed like Cassion's was slightly hotter.
"Isn't it soon time for Logan to give him a check-up?"
"Yes, he'll be here soon."
As soon as Diana said that, noise could be heard from the other side of the door.
Unsteady footsteps from the end of the hallway came closer and closer, then halted in front of the door.
Then, there was a courteous knock.
Knock, knock.
"Yes."
Diana answered on my behalf as she opened the door. She seemed to have guessed who that person was.
As long as I was beside Cassion, if it was any other servant, Diana would have sent them back.
But beyond the opened door, as expected, it was Logan.
His round eyes could be seen widening as he looked at Diana, but he soon nodded slightly towards the both of us. He entered the room.
"It's been a while, Logan."
"I saw you often, though you probably didn't notice I was there because your eyes had been closed, Milady."
"You paid me a sick visit?"
"The Madam was worried, you see."
"Ah, so you were there as surveillance. By any chance, is she worried that she might not get paid if the person who signed a contract with her dies?"
I chuckled quietly as I said this, but instead of answering right away, Logan adjusted his glasses, up and down with one finger.
Soon, he opened his lips and a sigh came out.
"I've said this many times, however you and my master really do resemble each other."
"And I've said this many times, but I simply cannot agree with that statement."
As I answered, I imitated him and pretended to adjust a nonexistent pair of glasses over my eyes.
Logan closed his eyes, looking as if he's tired of this. But he opened his eyes eventually and approached Cassion's side.
"So then, how did Maxwell end up like this?"
No more jokes this time. I asked him a genuine question now.
How on earth did this guy end up getting bedridden.
It didn't seem like he was wracked with cold sweat, he wasn't tossing and turning, and the vaguely warm temperature of his forehead didn't even seem like his condition was serious…
"It's simply an accumulation of fatigue. He was training intensely over the course of a short period of time until now, so of course."
"…Aha."
Hearing Logan's explanation, I let out a shallow sigh of relief.
Leaning slightly down towards Cassion, I raised one empty hand. To be exact, I was feeling the pulse of his wrist.
And it was just as Logan said. It seemed to be a case of overexertion.
He didn't sustain any internal injuries, and the flow of his energy was stable.
In fact, as soon as I entered this room, I could have just checked his pulse.
But I didn't.
It wasn't until I heard Logan say that it's not something serious that I did it.
Why was that?
The question arose belatedly, but it calmly subsided.
Again, only a short sigh of relief slipped through.