RSHTV 03

Chapter 3

“Because a future where you survive intact seems to be the best option for me too—at least for now.”

“Is that what the future you see is telling you? That the ideal way to achieve what you want in your life is to cooperate with me?”

His premise was wrong from the very beginning, because Belona didn’t want life in the first place.

She wanted death.

A supporting character helping the villain was something that would normally make no sense.

But if this was the right answer, Belona was desperate enough to do even that if it meant she could finally return to eternal rest.

Belona slowly closed her eyes, feeling for the heart that should have been beneath her palm—but would not exist there.

“Yes. Whether you believe me or not, I want you to survive completely. The path you’ve chosen will end in failure and ruin. Your arrogance will consume you, and even if you ultimately achieve victory…”

She curled her hand into a fist and lightly poked his chest with her index finger.

“…you’ll lose yourself. A self consumed by madness will take your place, and nothing of you will remain.”

“There’s no way I’ll become that uncontrollable.”

“That’s exactly the problem—your arrogance. If possible, I want everyone to be happy. You included.”

Deminic suddenly stepped closer without hesitation.

Belona backed away from his momentum, continuing to retreat until her back finally met a wall that radiated a chilling cold.

She could see a black vortex swirling within Deminic’s eyes.

I told him not to use black magic, and now he’s turned around and immediately cast a hypnotic spell.

“You said you wanted me to survive. Tell me more about your ability.”

His commanding tone actually made a faint smile appear on Belona’s lips.

So impatient. As greedy as ever.

Belona deliberately fiddled with the hilt of the dagger she was holding behind her back.

Then she rose onto her tiptoes, brought her lips close to his cheek as though whispering into his ear, and murmured,

“If you’re going to use black magic on me, you’d better come a little more prepared.”

With a quick downward glance, Deminic seemed to immediately notice that the other holy relic touching her fingertips—the dagger of Yekaros—was repelling his black magic.

“A dagger like this is hardly—”

Deminic reached out to grab the hand tightly holding the hilt, putting enough force behind his grip as though he intended to wrest the knife away.

Belona suddenly noticed that the hand completely covering hers was warmer than she had expected.

She had expected an icy chill to flow from him, but apparently he was still a living person after all.

“Wait.”

When Belona instinctively grabbed Deminic’s arm, he flinched almost excessively and released the tension in his hand.

Murmured voices could be heard from outside the door.

It meant that the High Priest had finished his day’s schedule and was coming here for his final inspection and prayer.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Belona slipped free from Deminic’s grasp and smiled at him as if to say, Take care of things yourself.

Then she opened the door through which she had originally entered.

The sight of Deminic’s hand wandering pointlessly through the empty air was rather amusing.

Maybe the truth is, I’m doing this because it’s fun to tease him.

The Deminic she had known originally was frighteningly thorough and intelligent, so it had been difficult to ever see him flustered.

It had taken Belona quite a long time to stop being afraid of Deminic, a man who almost never showed his back to anyone.

“I should probably make my exit now, right? Remember what I told you, and do your best.”

For all the extreme tension that had filled the room, the ending was rather anticlimactic.

Deminic remained frozen in place.

Belona turned back toward him and gave him a kind smile.

“When I go inside, don’t forget to put the carpet back so no one notices. See you again. And try not to kill people whenever possible.”

“Whenever possible?”

Considering that Deminic had already killed so many people after obtaining black magic that it would be impossible to count them all on both hands, as though simply eliminating obstacles in his way, he looked at her as if utterly dumbfounded.

“There is such a thing as self-defense.”

With Deminic staring at her in disbelief as she made an extraordinarily carefree exit, Belona closed the door without hesitation.

Soon, pitch-black darkness enveloped everything around her.

Belona didn’t leave immediately.

Instead, she listened for a moment to what was happening above her.

“You…!”

“It’s been a long time, Father. Or should I say, High Priest?”

“You’ve returned… You’ve returned… This can’t be…”

The astonished voice of the aging High Priest could be heard.

Whatever happened from here on was his problem.

Belona casually left the private prayer room and straightened her clothes.

She brushed the dust from her shoulders and checked her reflection in a mirror placed to one side.

Blue eyes that looked almost bored with life stared back at her.

As she removed a large speck of dust caught in the ends of her hair, Belona remembered Deminic’s lively red eyes from moments ago.

She soon pushed the thought aside and opened the prayer-room door.

Rose, who had faithfully been waiting in place, approached her with a relieved expression.

“Let’s go home, Rose.”

“Do you feel a little better after praying? Everything will be all right, my lady.”

Rose looked slightly puzzled because Belona, who normally found even attending temple events unbearably boring, had stayed inside for such a long time.

Still, seeing the light and refreshing smile on Belona’s face seemed to reassure her.

“I think so. I feel like things are going to be interesting.”

“Pardon?”

“It’s just something.”

If death wasn’t going to come, then Belona needed something interesting to make life worth living.

Even as she left the temple, Belona calmly gazed at the peaceful scenery and instinctively realized that, for the first time in a very long while, she had truly made a choice that would completely alter the future.

If every choice I’ve made until now was wrong, then why not choose something I’ve never tried before?

If things continued like this, perhaps this life really would lead to the most ideal ending—and perhaps Belona herself could finally stop regressing.

The sun had completely set, and by the time Belona returned to the estate and finished dinner, no urgent report had arrived about any major incident at the temple.

He seems to be listening to me better than I expected.

And so, for the first time, an entire day passed without anything happening at the temple.

After taking a bath, Belona put on a robe and sat by the window, leisurely flipping through a book.

As she gazed out at the quiet darkness beyond the window, she suddenly turned her head.

“My father has a younger sister, right?”

Rose, who was making the bed, let out a small sigh at Belona’s deliberately casual question.

“You know talking about her is forbidden.”

“It’s fine as long as Rose doesn’t tell Father.”

Belona smiled sweetly.

With an expression that suggested she had no choice, Rose properly propped up the pillows and answered,

“Why are you suddenly curious about that?”

“Just because. If my aunt got married, wouldn’t that mean I have a cousin? I’m all alone right now.”

“I don’t really have the right to speak about this freely, but… You do know that the Count’s younger sister ran away from home because she wanted to marry a knight from a family of commoners, and never came back, right?”

Of course, Belona knew very well.

She also knew that the truth wasn’t that her aunt had simply never returned.

Her father had abandoned his own younger sister when she fell into difficult circumstances, claiming that because she had gone against the family’s wishes, it was essentially the same as abandoning the Rosentin family name.

Her husband’s knighthood under House Rosentin was revoked, and after working as a mercenary, he died young.

Aristi Rosentin, once the young lady of House Rosentin, struggled greatly to raise her son Julian, who was Belona’s younger male cousin.

“She does have a son, though. Lady Aristi became very ill, so she sent a letter asking the Count to at least take her son back into the family. But apparently, the Count ignored all of them.”

Rose’s quiet voice filled the room.

“I see.”

Belona already knew everything that happened afterward.

Aristi eventually died from her illness.

Julian then headed to the capital in order to join the Rosentin family, but every time, the people sent by Belona’s father drove him away before he could even enter the capital and attempt to reach the Count’s estate.

“I understand that you’re curious, but please never mention him to the Count. He’ll absolutely hate it. Understand?”

“I understand.”

Belona answered with a calm smile.

She intended to bring Julian back and officially register him as a member of House Rosentin.

While she was occupied with Deminic, she needed someone who could take care of the count’s household affairs.

Julian was an excellent candidate in many ways.

Julian, Deminic. Deminic, Julian.

Somehow, they’re both similar in that neither of them has been able to live the life they should have had.

It seemed that, unintentionally, Belona was going to become an extraordinarily kind person in this life.

Help Deminic.

Help Julian.

She was certainly designing a very busy life for herself.

Belona snapped her book shut and fell into thought.

During her previous few lives, she had thought that even if she brought Julian into the family, she couldn’t achieve anything meaningful.

Since her life would only repeat itself anyway, she hadn’t paid much attention to him.

But now that she had decided to help Deminic, she wanted to cause a major upheaval in this life.

She wanted to walk down a path she had never once attempted before.

It was also partly a habit born from her repeated regressions.

She had come to believe that she needed to change her life in as many ways as possible from her previous lives.

“Hmm?”

Something moving in the garden below the window brought Belona out of her thoughts.

Unlike bushes swaying in the wind, the foliage moved as though someone were hiding there.

Then—

She saw a pitch-black figure standing beneath a tree.

The moment Belona realized who it was, she abruptly stood up and opened the window.

“Is something wrong?”

“No. I was feeling a little suffocated.”

Even though the distance between them was considerable, Belona somehow felt as though he was letting out a quiet chuckle.

Without realizing it, Belona leaned against the window and murmured,

“It looks like a black cat has snuck in.”

A foot stepped out from the shadows.

Under the moonlight, pitch-black hair became visible, and beneath it, crimson eyes shone unusually brightly.

The person who lazily lifted the corners of his mouth as though he had spotted his prey and arrogantly raised his sharp chin was none other than Deminic.

It was unexpected that he had come back so quickly.

A faint smile spread across Belona’s face as she rested her chin on her hand and looked down at him.

“Looks like you’ve decided to cooperate with me?”