CH 18

Interrogation of the Villainous Duke

“Are you Rosemary?”

“No, I am not.”

This conversation resembles a typical sentence example in a foreign language that Rosemary studied when she was little.

But I didn’t say such a thing out loud, and I maintained my original intention.

From the moment I cried in front of him, I’ve learned the hard way that an attitude that comes out in the heat of the moment is irreversible. And I had just learned how to deal with such a situation.

I have no other choice but to mislead them.

“Then why did you call Reynaldo by name?”

McClain-sama asks me with a look of impatience. As if convinced that I was Rosemary, he addresses me in a respectful manner.

“You must have misheard me. And, McClain-sama, please stop using honorifics.”

“How could I do that when you might be Rosemary!”

I had thought that the former knight who loomed over me had grown up a lot, but seeing him like this, I can see a glimpse of the youth of those days. He used to scold her loudly like this for being reckless, ignoring Rosemary’s position.

But now is not the time to indulge in nostalgia.

“Speaking of Rosemary-sama, I have heard that she is the deceased older sister of Duke Rose.”

“Yes, she was. But…!”

“Please think clearly about it. I have been in Edigma since I was born, and I’m the daughter of Baron Edigma. Both my father and my brother know that fact!”

I’m saying the most perfectly reasonable things.

That’s right.

Reincarnation, even if you think about it, you can’t put it into words.

If I told them the truth, they would think I was crazy.

McClain-sama seemed to think the same way, and was at a loss as to how to get the answer he wanted.

However, Reynaldo, looking at me from the side, kept his mouth shut for a while in thought.

Even if I was able to deceive McClain-sama, I’m not sure I can fool my smart brother.

In that case, I have to take the initiative.

“Actually, when I was talking to Reynaldo-sama earlier, my consciousness weakened suddenly. That’s why I have a fuzzy memory of what I said.”

I smiled brightly, as if beguiling them with my hands held perfectly in front of me.

“It may be hard to believe, but I believe that Lady Rosemary visited me and spoke through me.”

“That’s….”

“But it’s true. I myself don’t know why I said that.”

I put my finger near my mouth and tilted my head, drawing a confused posture.

Then, Reynaldo, who had been silent until then, started laughing loudly.

“You never cease to amaze me. Miss Marie. You are the reincarnation of my sister Rosemary, aren’t you?”

He spoke openly and proudly of a hypothesis that even McClain-sama could not say out loud.

“What are you talking about? That kind of thing…”

“I’m sure my sister doesn’t know this, but I actually tried it after her death.”

Reynaldo took something out of his pocket and showed it to me.

It was a necklace with a small jute bag attached.

“This contains the hair of my deceased sister, Rosemary. I couldn’t believe she was gone, so I went to a sorceress after she passed away.”

“Sorceress…?”

I felt a stirring in my chest.

My brother fondly stroked the jute bag. From his gesture, I was convinced that there really was a hair inside.

“I never thought it would really happen, but it was worth a try.”

“What on earth have you done?”

McClain-sama seemed to have heard it for the first time and turned to Reynaldo to ask. I put my hand on my chest to somehow calm my pounding heart.

“I asked the sorceress to pull back my sister’s soul and have her be reborn.”

I couldn’t understand Reinaldo’s words at once and ruminated over and over in my head.

Asked to be reborn?

By a sorceress?

The sorcerers were a group of people who gathered to foretell the future and disasters of the country, a secret organization that never appeared publicly.

Although it is a very shady affair, its existence is known to some of the nobles because it has predicted disasters in the country in the past and minimized the damage.

Rosemary was also taught about that knowledge as a fiancée of the royal prince.

I don’t know what a sorcerer can do, but if they can predict the future, would it be possible to execute a reincarnation?

“B-But even if so, why would Reynaldo-sama commission a sorcerer!?”

Originally, sorcerers only acted on royal missions.

It would be impossible to reincarnate Rosemary, who is considered a criminal, to fulfill the wishes of a son of a marquis.

Yes, it’s impossible.

Ah.

Oh, no.

I hurriedly looked up to see Reynaldo hugging me with an incredibly sweet smile.

“Thank you for falling for my trap. Sister.”

I’ve wanted to meet you again for a long time.

I love you.

The words that he whispered to me were deafening.

I was depressed, thinking that I had dug my own grave.

Reynaldo, still holding me in his arms, replied to McClain-sama, who still didn’t understand what was going on.

“In the first place, there is no way that a baron’s daughter could have known about the existence of a sorceress. Alberto, you too only found out about them recently, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. I was taught that when I became a Knight Commander.”

“That’s right. Even though I mentioned a sorcerer, which is such top-secret information, Miss Marie understood its existence without any questions. Only the Queen or the prince’s fiancée would know of their existence.”

Realizing that I had been set up, I could not say anything and continued to be held in a tight embrace.

“Let me see your face properly, Sister. I never thought I would be able to hold you like this again.”

Reynaldo stares at me from a close distance with a sweet tone.

“Are you really Rosemary….?”

The knight who once swore allegiance to me knelt near me, his voice trembling.

I guess it’s no longer a situation that I can avoid.

“……. Yes….”

I contemplated and affirmed it.

By the way.

“Did you really ask a sorcerer for her reincarnation?”

McClain-sama asked.

Reynaldo remained silent, with a faint smile on his face.