Chapter 178 – Scar (1)

Scar (1)

I was startled.

Francia raised her hand and tapped her neck, perhaps not feeling my trembling.

“This, thanks to it being forcibly cut off, it has decreased for a long time. The lifespan?”

This. It was a reference to something, but I understood it at once. It was talking about ‘restraint’.

I’ve already heard about this from Jaire. That it was solved without it being under certain conditions. At that time, I remember that it was ripped forcibly with Francia’s hands.

“When did you meet Ricdorian?”

The answer to the question I asked in just in case, came back immediately. Because Francia spoke right away as if it wasn’t a secret.

“Ah, I met him in Kambrakam. At that time… I went in for a while on behalf of Father’s sins.”

Francia shortened her tone of voice.

“Actually, my father was falsely accused too.”

Meeting in the prison was the same as the original story, as I knew.

“I had a hard time back then, Sister.”

Francia was weeping. I hesitated and swept her hair.

Then Francia quickly gathered her expression. It was a bright and beautiful face like petals that just opened in spring, or like buds sprouting.

“When in prison, Ricdorian must have had a restraint around his neck.”

“That’s right.”

“When you met him, the restraint was ripped off?”

“Um, umm… right? Red Roses are crazy too. How do you do your own child with that?”

Francia put her chin on her hand and grumbled. Although not very fond of Ricdorian, the restraints seem to have left an uncomfortable impression.

“Well, isn’t that what a wandering White Rose would say?”

“Wandering?”

“Yes. Leaving an intact estate, they wander in search of the Blue Rose.”

Francia added briefly.

“That is the fate of the White Rose. The Blue Rose must be healed.”

I couldn’t find anything to say at the moment, and covered my mouth. Francia turned her words right away. She went back to her previous story.

“At that time, Grand Duke Red Rose was very, very ferocious. It was so ferocious I thought he would have eaten me without the chain.”

… In fact, he would have eaten her up. But the meaning is different

I didn’t bother to add.

Perhaps the situation has changed, so that ferocity was no longer a monstrous ferocity. No, I think it might have been the same ferocity. When I saw him for the first time, the appearance of the growling Ricdorian was quite brutal.

“Anyway, when we met back then, the restraints around his neck were forcibly taken off. How absurd, strange, and a little scary. I don’t know. I thought there was only the Black Rose who was crazy in the world.”

However, the time to reflect on the memories did not last long. Because the stone that Francia threw lightly had a heavier theme than I thought.

“The Red Roses have tattoos on their chests, and they have to stop the curse of the falling petals. Otherwise, they’ll die.”

Francia gave a slightly uncomfortable expression.

“With no companion and no guardian spirit to protect him. That was crazy.”

Francia’s words continued.

“But he asked me if I was the White Rose and to help him.”

My hand that had been stroking her stopped.

“He has to get out somehow.”

From here on, it was a story that I had not even heard from Jaire.

“There is something he must find using this damned power as a tool.”

“…”

“What did he say? He didn’t say it?”

There was no way that I didn’t know the subject and the object her words were referring to.

‘It’s me.’

That was the fact that I already knew, no. I felt like I had ruminated the fact that I had been chewing.

“He acted casually in situations where he could die. That’s when I felt it again. Of course, roses are obviously crazy people.”

At those words, I thought of Lenag for a moment, but it disappeared quickly. Considering the appearance in the book, isn’t that normal? Anyway, I pondered over Francia’s words.

<Because His Excellency endured the hell-like side effects and somehow managed to do it.>

That day, Jaire did not tell me what these ‘side effects’ were. Just for me to listen directly from Ricdorian.

I kept my lips shut.

‘The hell-like side effects, he said he endured it.’

It’s not over. I wanted to wipe my face roughly. For some reason, it felt like a puzzle that didn’t fit a little bit did fit.

In fact, there is no reason to welcome me as Ricdorian’s subordinate. Even more so, I was the younger sister of Duke Domulit, Ricdorian’s sworn enemy.

Nevertheless, a face that could not be seen at all, a face that seemed to accept it with more smirk and joy than when I saw it in the prison.

I thought it was not enough to wrap it with the Blue Roses. Did he know I was going to save Ricdorian’s life?

Instead of panicking, I carefully organized the situation.

It’s not that I’m not surprised, but if it happened anyway, it’s more efficient to find a way than to panic.

‘Alright.’

Francia freed Ricdorian’s restraints…..Wait a minute.

I lifted my head.

“Francia.”

“Huh? Huh, sister?”

Her lips, which had been fine until then, were tightly shut. It sounded like a listening bird. Complimenting her cute appearance, I said quickly, without a second thought.

“That restraint, didn’t you release it?”

“The restraint? Oh, the Grand Duke’s?”

Francia’s strength was well known. Didn’t she prove a few years ago when she even showed off her weapon, a hammer bigger than her own body in the Domulit mansion.

It was also an opportunity to feel once more that the roses’ bodies were definitely more prominent than normal humans.

So I believed it casually that Francia had ripped it off with her bare hands. However, she said a while ago that Ricdorian had solved it ‘by himself’.

“Me? No.”

Francia blinked her eyes and tilted her head. Her face was curious about the intention of the question, but the answer flowed out.

“The only thing I did was heal a ruptured neck that almost made him die from excessive bleeding.”

Recalling that time, Francia touched her own neck. She frowned a little.

“So much blood comes out… I thought I was cleaning out the corpse of the Red Rose.”

Her eyes closed tightly and then opened.

“I used my abilities again and again and used them until I was exhausted. The grace I gave him back then will not be enough to repay for the rest of his life. I managed to save him.”

Francia muttered a little.

“It must have left a scar on his neck. It’s hard to see.”

She goes on to say that it was really troubling back then, even though she had healing powers on her own. She added that it wasn’t an ordinary wound, and if it was a normal person, they would have died of shock.

At the same time I realized why Jaire and Hernim had been desperate

“The petal tattoo, there must not be much left.”

***

The sun is setting. I like the sunset most out of the day.

The color of the sky is the same when the sun rises and when the sun sets. I liked this similar yet slightly different subtlety and contradiction.

Even in Domulit, if I was staring blankly at the sky, I didn’t realize that time was passing.

<… Aren’t you tired of this mansion?>

In fact, among those who harbored a grudge against Domulit, there were those who gave me affection or felt sorry for me.

In the end, everyone just chose revenge. They always asked me. Why are you spacing out? Isn’t it frustrating? Aren’t you afraid….

“It wasn’t scary.”

Anyway, contrary to their thoughts, I didn’t hate to spend time idly. I liked it in my own way.

But now, as usual, I was not completely immersed in the gentle dazedness brought by the serenity.

My head was complicated. It was indeed for a long time.

How many times has it been this complicated? Before Grand Duke Hernim came to the prison, they tried to hurt Ricdorian.

When I’ve just arrived at the Domulit’s mansion after being released from prison, and I’m trying hard to get out, and I’m trying hard until my third attempt.

‘It was until I realized that even if the attempt was successful, I couldn’t live comfortably outside.’

When there was a little complexity, there was always a solution in the end. Somehow.

The ‘nullification’ of the blue rose.

In fact, I didn’t know that the ability I thought was insignificant would be used like this. Unknowingly, Ricdorian’s life is slowly disappearing.

… weong.

As I stretched my hand under my knees, Pudding came and rubbed its forehead against my drooping hands.

It felt like comforting rather than acting cute as usual. The reason it didn’t speak with my head on purpose was probably because it felt my complexity through my mind.

“It’s okay.”

I stroked Pudding’s head.

“I’ve always been fine.”

I lowered my eyes and lifted it again.

“It will be fine in the future too.”

Yes. It will be. It’s always relaxing and it’s always okay.

When I looked up a little more, someone I had not seen before was standing still.

“So it’s okay if you don’t look like that.”

Why did I only realize now?

Ricdorian, your eyes resemble those who once played me and swung between revenge and compassion. It’s not that you had revenge. Those eyes that felt pitiful, I wondered why I saw them now. And they finally couldn’t turn away from the grudges that had accumulated over the years, but

you know you won’t.

I was convinced. Anyone who sees these straight, unconditional eyes will feel it.

“Come here, why are you standing there?”

Ricdorian came silently and knelt down in front of me.

I let out a small laugh.

I meant to sit across from me. The figure kneeling in front of me like a large beast reminds me of him in the prison.

I really thought that was just like him.

Francia finished her story and went back. She didn’t just want to tell about Ricdorian’s stories but a lot about herself too. She couldn’t do all of them because she didn’t have much time, and in the end, she had to go back soon, promising the next one.

He must have listened to all the conversations I had with Francia today. Even so, his face remained unchanged.

I asked once, just in case.

“Did you hear it all?”

I often said things that had neither a subject nor an object, and he understood it well.

“…if you’re talking about the White Rose, yes.”

I’m talking about the fact that your life is short. He was very calm.

I smiled bitterly.

“Why didn’t you say that?”

Ricdorian paused for a moment.

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