Chapter 100

Chapter 100

She wanted to live no matter what.

For the first time, she felt regret for her life lost in the game. Tears that hadn’t flowed since the start of her seventh life welling up in her eyes had returned, and Irene had to stop several times on the forest road that day.

With the lake no longer in sight, the forest path felt strangely dreary to it and seemed just as lonely. Perhaps that was why Irene had been overcome with the urge to run back to the lake several times.

If it hadn’t been for Otis or Ahibalt, who were walking a few steps in front of her, she would have certainly done that. She didn’t know why, but a lot of people’s words and actions were usually directed in the middle for no reason.

In any case, Irene never returned to the lake.

She returned to the villa wet with an empty basket. Since the kitchen maid had a blunt and fiery personality, Irene expected that she would get scolded quite a bit. It was obviously going to be loud.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t bring any plums back because I fell into the lake.”

“What? In the lake…?”

“Yes. I think I went out too far when I went up to pick plums. If green plums are okay, I’ll go back tomorrow. Since it’s already late, and I don’t think I can do it today…”

“What are you talking about now?! Just change your clothes and get over to the fireplace! Who will be responsible if you catch a cold! Forget the plums, just drink some mulled wine and get some rest today! Do you know how deep that lake is? You could have died if you messed up!”

The kitchen maid’s scolding had taken a completely different direction than Irene had expected.

After blaming her carelessness, the maid turned the stove and boiled water in a pot before shouting in an equally loud voice again for her to bathe in the hot water. By the time she came out from the bath, it seemed that she had made more mulled wine and placed a large glass in Irene’s hand while continuing her nagging.

“Are you going to die just because you can’t get some plums? If there are no plums within your reach, you can just say there aren’t any, but why climb up dangerous places?”

“It’s just… it wasn’t like there weren’t any ripe plums at all. Since it wasn’t that I couldn’t climb trees, I thought it seemed better than saying that there weren’t any.

“How’s it better, you almost died then?! Why do you have to do that? You don’t have to do it next time, so I’ll have to pay more attention to you!”

Then, saying that it was short-lived, the kitchen maid scowled and stormed out, keeping her blunt demeanor.

What made Irene smile was her appearance from behind, walking away.

The next day, the plum tree eventually lost its life. With a loud, dull thud, the green plums spilled into the garden. Next to it was a plum tree that had been cut down and was lying on its side, having lost its trunk.

Irene glanced at them alternately and opened her mouth.

“Fi-First Master, this is…?”

“I don’t want anyone else to fall into the water while picking plums, so I’ve decided to plant the plum tree by the villa.”

Ahibalt, the culprit who took the life of the poor plum tree, added with a smirk.

“I didn’t like the way this plum tree looked.”

No matter how much he didn’t like plum trees, was there any reason to sever the neck of a tree that was producing good fruit even though no one else was growing it? Irene knew it was an innocent excuse from Ahibalt.

“Hahaha!”

So, she burst into laughter. It was still a reflexive laugh for unknown reasons, but one thing was certain.

…She didn’t want to go back to the lake anymore.

It was then that she felt the longing for life for the first time, and it was also from then on that Ahibalt began to trust Irene. While it may have been a place where someone had gained trust, it was a place that awakened her longing for life.

And as the memories of that time came back to her now…

‘…Am I really going to die this time?’

Tears flowed from Irene’s eyes. She didn’t want to die.

She had to get out of here quickly. She wished she could move her body, even if it were a little. Still, no matter how much strength she gave, her body wouldn’t budge at all, and she resented her blurred vision.

‘Anyone is fine… please.’

…Help.

The moment she thought so—

“Miss Irene!”

—A familiar voice was heard, even the familiar silver hair and blue eyes. And of all the people she knew, there was only one person who looked like that.

Louise Orpen… Irene’s most painful finger*.

[ T/N: The whole idiom is ‘ — bite any of the ten fingers and it will hurt the same,’ but in this context, it meant ‘precious/dear.’ ]

The problem was that she couldn’t be here.

It felt like she was seeing an illusion. Even though Louise seemed to be holding her, Irene’s eyelids were gradually losing strength.

“Miss Irene, wake up…!”

Perhaps this was just a hallucination that would disappear when she opened her eyes again. As she thought so, Irene closed her eyes without regret.

That was the last memory Irene had in Lichpen.

As Irene’s head dropped in her arms, Louise’s cries became more desperate.

“Miss Irene, wake up! Miss Irene…!”

She couldn’t understand what had just happened. It had been a long time since she came back to my previous job, but her current colleague had just collapsed here like this.

‘What the hell is going on?!’

It wasn’t long before she came to Lichpen.

Even so, Louise had something she desperately wanted to discuss with Henrietta for a few days, but today she was given the order to finish work early and had some free time, so she took her time and deliberately came to Lichpen.

“You can come back anytime, Louise.”

Louise firmly believed that Henrietta, who smiled kindly, would welcome her. But when she arrived in Lichpen, it wasn’t Henrietta’s friendly smile that greeted her.

It wasn’t even the usual footman’s greeting.

The fishy smell of iron and the subtle scent of a dead body lingered throughout the entire mansion. It wasn’t too difficult for her to realize that something was wrong, even if it was Louise, who was oblivious and tactless. Most importantly, she also had a lot of experience rolling in the slums.

“Something’s not right…”

The lack of presence and the ominous atmosphere hovering around the mansion were all strange. The moment Louise was about to step inside the mansion to find out what was going on…

Kabooom!—

A loud boom came from inside the mansion.

“…Isn’t that where Madam Edith’s lab is?”

Louise instinctively turned towards the direction of the sound. It wasn’t hard to find her way since she had worked here before. However, since she had never set foot in the lab, her steps were as cautious as crossing a stepping stone until she saw the lab door wide open.

From the bloody smell that pervaded the mansion along with the suspicious bomb sounds, and now even the wide-open laboratory… without thinking, Louise hurriedly entered the laboratory.

What she saw was a lab with a blown-out door and people lying scattered around.

Ahibalt, Edith, and even Irene.

‘…What the hell happened? ‘Did they get caught in an explosion?’

Before she could even ponder deeply, Louise’s devastated steps headed towards Irene first, but she didn’t open her eyes even after seeing her.

She shook Irene, almost crying.

“Miss Irene… Miss Irene!”

Before long, someone opened their eyes.

“Even if you call her like that, ugh, do you think she will come to her senses…?”

“…Madam Edith.”

The problem was… it wasn’t Irene.

Edith, who had been shoved into the farthest corner of the laboratory while struggling with Irene, was the one who suffered the least damage from the explosion. She was largely unharmed except for the two shots. Staggering to her feet, Edith fell again because of the pain in her foot.

Louise instinctively recognized her calm demeanor, which seemed out of place in the midst of such mayhem.

…The culprit behind this situation must be Edith.

As she realized that, Louise’s tear-stained eyes shot her a sharp look.

“Madam Edith, please explain. What the hell is going on here?”

“Why are you here? Surely, Henrietta must’ve sent you to, uhk, Lavrenti?”

“…How do you know?”

“Is there any reason I shouldn’t know? I recommend that you send it to Lavrenti.”

Edith took a deep breath, trying to straighten her face, which contorted slightly in pain.

“Rather than that, why don’t you let go of that person you’re holding?”

I bet she’s dead anyway.

__

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