RSHTV 06

Chapter 6

While Belona was still a step behind in figuring out exactly how things had gotten to this point, Deminic continued speaking without hesitation.

“You won’t let me burn down the temple, and you tell me not to use black magic however I please. Since you expect so much from me, isn’t it fair that I stay here for a little while in return?”

Belona finally managed to collect her thoughts and barely answered.

“I only said things that are common sense. Please don’t make it sound like I was making unreasonable demands.”

“And I did exactly as you asked.”

She truly hadn’t expected him to listen this well.

Belona almost wanted to open up Deminic’s skull and inspect his thoughts to find out what on earth he was thinking.

But she gave up surprisingly quickly.

Rather than figuring out how to drive Deminic away, Belona decided to find a way to successfully carry out this unexpected short-term project of hiding a black cat.

“…Would it work as an excuse if I said I’m not feeling well and am upset over my engagement, so I wanted to shut myself away alone?”

“You’re engaged? To whom?”

Belona shot a sidelong glance at Deminic, who had stubbornly latched onto the words she’d muttered to herself.

“I’m not. I have absolutely no intention of getting engaged, so don’t worry about it.”

“Is this one of those predictable stories where you already have a fiancé chosen by your family, but you’ve fallen for someone else?”

Deminic continued his slow interrogation with the persistence of a predator that refused to release prey once it had bitten into it.

Why is he so interested in someone else’s love life? It would be less frustrating if there were actually a romance involved.

Belona answered with utter disbelief.

“Unfortunately, there isn’t.”

For some reason, Belona suddenly felt exhausted and developed a headache. She rubbed the space between her brows as she answered.

“You really don’t need to know about things like this. Whether I marry someone or not. Whether I accept an unwanted engagement or not.”

Deminic’s eyebrows rose so high they seemed to have no intention of stopping.

Apparently, he was displeased.

The way he rubbed one eyebrow with his index finger and sighed suddenly felt familiar.

Ah.

Not familiar in any warm or sentimental sense.

It was a memory of Deminic from her previous lives, always maintaining that consistently arrogant and irritating attitude.

“You speak of black magic, yet I am the man who earned credit for capturing a dark mage, Count Rosentin. I believe there has been a misunderstanding.”

“Please stop talking nonsense after bribing the temple with money, Duke Roxelln.”

“If you’re interested in my wealth, there is a way for you to become the Duchess of Roxelln.”

Belona abandoned any pretense of courtesy and shot back firmly.

“Stop saying things you don’t mean and start preparing to die.”

“You don’t even intend to use honorifics anymore. What an ill-mannered countess.”

Lately, conversations between them increasingly turned into strange battles of nerves, as though they were constantly pulling against one another.

“Don’t treat Davien carelessly, you lunatic.”

“Now you’re finally looking at me properly. It isn’t easy to capture the attention of the great Lady Rosentin, is it?”

Countless memories from her many lives began to blend together.

Which life was that memory from?

It was becoming difficult for even Belona to remember.

As her lives repeated, her fear of Deminic and her attachment to life had both gradually faded.

She could only assume that this had attracted the attention of Deminic, who tended to become interested in unusual things.

“You know so much about me, and I’ve willingly told you so much about myself. Yet I have no idea what you’re thinking… I simply want to know you completely, just as well as you know me.”

Only after hearing Deminic speak at length in a dissatisfied tone did Belona remember what they had actually been discussing.

She pulled herself away from the remnants of the past and managed to formulate an answer.

“There isn’t anything particularly special about my life. Other than what I’ve already told you in our conversations… I’m just an ordinary noble young lady. I don’t have some extraordinary background.”

In truth, she wouldn’t have minded explaining more about the people she was acquainted with.

But even though Belona had completely thrown the future off course, she still felt uneasy about being the one to mention Davien’s name directly to Deminic first.

That was how consistent Deminic’s interest in Davien—the original heroine and future saintess—had always been.

Belona already knew how Deminic would look at Davien when the sacred mark appeared on her forehead in the near future, just as he had in every previous life.

He would stare in pure admiration, and then immediately begin to desire the object of that admiration.

Yes. That’s where everything always began to go wrong.

But who was Belona, in her current position, to prevent the future Duke of Roxelln from attending the ball or stop him from seeing Davien?

As long as they were in the same place, it was inevitable that Deminic’s attention would turn toward Davien.

And understandably so.

Davien was dazzlingly radiant, kind, warmhearted, lovely, elegant, and beautiful enough that anyone could fall for her at first sight.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Belona had been resting her chin on her hand, lost in thought.

She blinked when she noticed Deminic seriously examining her expression as though dissecting every little change in it.

“If I were to become engaged and marry an ordinary man chosen by my father, just like the young ladies of other noble families, would that really seem so strange?”

She was genuinely curious.

Deminic had been strangely skeptical, repeatedly questioning her plans for marriage.

“I just don’t think you’d make such a boring choice.”

The familiar smile appeared on his lips as he leaned against the window.

“Instead of making a boring choice, why don’t you take my hand?”

Why did his words overlap with something he had once said in a distant past?

A hand had once been extended toward her, covered in someone else’s blood.

After she had ruthlessly rejected it back then, this time it was Belona who had extended her hand toward him.

There could hardly be a greater contradiction.

Feeling herself becoming unnecessarily sentimental, Belona deliberately answered as casually as possible.

“Anyway, stay as long as you want. I said I’d help you, just like you asked, so I don’t seem to have much of a choice either.”

The fact that he had suddenly barged into her room had caught her off guard, but she didn’t actually mind having him here that much.

It would have been a lie to say that seeing all those scars covering his back hadn’t softened her heart.

That didn’t justify everything he had done in the past.

But the Deminic standing before her now was not the Deminic from those previous lives.

Whether Belona had lived twenty lives or a hundred, for everyone except her, this was their first life.

Judging him hastily based on his past actions would surely be the easiest way to make another wrong decision and end up moving on to the next life.

“Even after living all this time, I never thought I’d let you into my room.”

Belona muttered absentmindedly.

A strange light appeared in Deminic’s eyes.

Belona now knew what that look meant.

Judging from what she’d just said, he was undoubtedly about to make another ridiculous remark.

“Whatever you’re thinking, don’t say it. I really don’t want to hear it.”

Belona frowned and quickly raised her hand to cover his mouth with her palm.

Deminic looked amused as he caught her wrist.

Just as he’d done when he had tried to determine whether she was a dark mage like himself, his hand moved slowly over the inside of her wrist.

Belona suddenly realized that the hand supporting her back was also moving slowly in circles.

It was almost as if he were trying to soothe or calm her.

She looked up at him with an expression that clearly asked what he thought he was doing.

He abruptly stopped and said,

“You seem unnecessarily tense. Don’t worry. I’m not going to eat you.”

Belona let out a quiet sigh and slipped out of his arms.

“I should finish reading the book I was reading.”

“I’ve never met anyone who would rather read a book with me standing right in front of them.”

His tone sounded as though he were shamelessly boasting about how handsome and attractive he was.

Belona merely picked up her book again with an indifferent expression and leaned completely back against the bed.

“Sorry to disappoint you. There has to be a first time for everything.”

She heard Deminic laugh softly from behind the pages of the book, but deliberately refused to look up.

“Are you really planning on not giving me even a scrap of attention? Really?”

“Yes.”

“My feelings are hurt.”

His smooth, casual tone made it obvious that his pride and self-esteem had not been damaged in the slightest.

The sheer absurdity finally made Belona look up.

The crimson eyes she met immediately shimmered with amusement.

“Do you really find talking to me that entertaining?”

“Of course. You never lose to me, Belona. Most people in this world, once they realize what I am, would never treat me the way you do. That means you’re very special.”

“I don’t like being special.”

The words slipped out before she could stop herself.

She wanted to live an ordinary life and die an ordinary death.

Was that really such an impossible wish?

“Then let’s call you unusual.”

Belona’s face scrunched up at Deminic’s determination to keep finding something to talk about no matter what.

One thing was certain.

This was going to be a very, very long night.