103. Betrayal (2)

A gust of wind blew in from the window left open to ventilate the sickroom.

Wind. As it brushed her cheek, a memory surfaced.

〈Darius Inkheart offered half his lifespan in exchange for borrowing my power.〉

The truth Sylphid had revealed to her.

Without being a spirit mage, Darius paid a price greater than anything else in the world.

For the miracle that neither she nor even the first Inkheart could perform, Darius gave up half his lifespan. Without any hesitation.

〈He didn’t even do it with certainty that he would see you. It was only for the possibility.〉

Anette tenderly stroked Darius’s forehead as he slept soundly on the bed.

Peacefully sleeping, he didn’t look at all like someone who had thrown away half his lifespan.

〈His life isn’t in danger. He’ll have no problem wielding his sword as before. Only the lifespan heaven granted him has been shortened.〉

〈How could you let him pay with half his lifespan! Knowing who he is, knowing what will happen to him! You always talk about the only bloodline of your friend, how could you!〉

〈It was his will.〉

〈You should have stopped him.〉

〈It would have been useless.〉

〈In the end, it’s your power, isn’t it? No matter how much he insisted, you could have refused!〉

〈I would have done so if you hadn’t returned then. But you suddenly came back just as suddenly as you had disappeared. And I felt an intuition that you would be in danger.〉

It was a pointless argument anyway.

Because Darius had risked everything to come to Anette, she was able to avoid the fate of death immediately after returning from the past.

The deed was already done, and the deal was over.

“You didn’t need to do that for me.”

Anette whispered to Darius. She sincerely believed he shouldn’t have done it.

〈He knew you would be sad if you found out about this. That you wouldn’t accept it.〉

He is the protagonist, she is an extra. No protagonist sacrifices their life for an extra.

‘If anyone should sacrifice their life, it should have been me for you, according to our roles.’

Then why are you lying here?

“Sylphid said he tried to stop you, and people told you not to do it. But why……”

Perhaps I stayed in Darius’s life for too long.

Maybe because I, who should have left Darius’s side long ago, enjoyed being with him and thought I could stay a little longer as his wife, I remained.

That might have led him to make the wrong choice.

Yes, Evangeline should be by Darius’s side, not me. It’s all my fault for missing the right time.

Perhaps this was the world’s warning and punishment for her.

If so, if that were the case.

If she didn’t correct it right now, greater misfortune might befall Darius. She needed to prevent that quickly.

“……I need to fix this.”

Anette rose, staggering. She remembered asking Barbarossa to track down Evangeline’s whereabouts.

* * *

“My lady.”

Someone called out to Anette as she left Darius’s bedroom looking like she might collapse at any moment, but she ignored the call.

Her two feet, which had been slowly treading the corridor, soon couldn’t hold back and began to run.

This damn corridor, she thought it would be better if it broke and shattered just because she kicked it.

The familiar corridors of Castle Inkheart passed behind her in a blur.

What did she care that Count Alexei suddenly appeared with monsters and tried to kill her? Whether he had turned traitor at some point, or had been a person of the demon tribe from the beginning, Anette didn’t care.

Nothing was surprising compared to Darius collapsing before her eyes.

Even when Sir Lucion, who had collected Count Alexei’s corpse, reported finding a seal of contract with the demon tribe on his arm, Anette’s mind was focused solely on the collapsed Darius.

〈My godfather was a contractor of the demon tribe? And he tried to…… kill the Grand Duke?〉

〈Do you truly know nothing about this, young count?〉

〈Are you suspecting me now?〉

She had no interest in how young Alexander was shocked to learn his godfather’s true identity upon returning to the castle, or even how Alexander himself came to be suspected of being connected to the demon tribe.

Whether Arshama, who had recovered his health, came down to the castle to announce the end of the curse to the foreigners or not.

The entire world except for him appeared blurry.

* * *

“Barbarossa.”

Barbarossa, who was staying in his room at the castle, turned to look at Anette. His expression was full of perplexity and sympathy.

“What happened with Evangeline Stockwork?”

“My lady, I heard about the Grand Duke. The doctor examined him and said it’s simple fatigue. The circumstances are surprising and unbelievable, but since he’s just sleeping from exhaustion, you should calm down first……”

“Shut up and tell me about Evangeline.”

Anette growled at Barbarossa like a wounded beast.

Her gaze was fiercer than ever before. Barbarossa was inwardly surprised at the change in Anette, who had never lost her sense of humor that could cut people even in her most tired moments.

“Where is she? Any means will do. I need to bring her here. Since she has good relations with the temple, they’ll cooperate, right? If she’s unwilling, even if we have to use somewhat forceful means……”

“I couldn’t find her.”

“That’s impossible.”

Anette let out a sharp snort.

“Blonde, deeply religious, lives in the capital, works at the temple, a beautiful woman. I gave you enough information to find one person.”

“Evans, Evgenia, Evelyn. I searched for countless similar names, but there was no one named Evangeline in the temple registry.”

“Then she must be somewhere other than the temple. Yes…… she could have changed that much. I’ve altered the original work this much after all.”

Original work? Barbarossa looked at Anette with a strange gaze as she spoke incomprehensibly.

“Of course, there was no Stockwork family either. Who exactly are you looking for?”

“I’ll widen the range and conditions, so search again.”

“I already asked the temple directly, my lady.”

Anette’s footsteps, which had been about to turn away ignoring Barbarossa, suddenly stopped.

“They said she was a childhood friend you used to play with, but that’s a lie, isn’t it? The eldest daughter of a marquis family like yourself couldn’t have had a friend from the temple orphanage. Who exactly are you looking for?”

“It’s none of your business who I’m looking for.”

“I’m saying this because the person you’re looking for doesn’t exist.”

“You’re crazy.”

Was it crazy to say someone who doesn’t exist doesn’t exist? Barbarossa couldn’t understand Anette’s sharp reaction.

“Now I see you’re lying that such a person doesn’t exist to hide your incompetence?”

“No. The imaginary friend you’re trying to bring to the North never existed in this world in the first place.”

“No!”

Anette had an outburst.

“That can’t be! Absolutely not! Everyone else might not exist, but she has to! She, she!”

“What makes you so certain that person exists in this world? Why do you insist someone exists when they can’t be found?”

“She……”

Barbarossa saw Anette’s breath catch as she shouted with all her might.

“Is she really not there?”

Anette asked carefully, as if afraid of the answer. She looked anxious, like a lost child.

“Then what should I do?”

Hesitantly, Anette backed away.

Before Barbarossa could confirm the moisture rising in his blue eyes, Anette ran out of his room.

“My lady!”

* * *

The original work I believed in was crumbling.

The world that constituted me was collapsing.

A romance novel without a female protagonist, does that make sense? No, before that, is the genre of this novel even romance?

‘Actually, this is just a very long dream.’

After all, it’s absurd that I transmigrated into a book.

Isn’t it more plausible that I fell asleep holding my phone while reading a web novel and had this dream?

If I open my eyes now, I’ll wake up from this dream and face the step-family I really hate.

〈He said he didn’t care about the price he had to pay.〉

No, I hate this.

Who said it doesn’t matter?

I’m the one who cares.

I hate and regret that you paid a price because of me.

You are the protagonist of this world who should have a happy ending.

If Darius loved Evangeline according to the original work, I could watch him with peace of mind. Because I know he would overcome any difficulties in the end.

Because I know all the dangers, I could even prepare for them on his behalf if they were too dangerous……

“But now the original work is messed up……”

Just look at this.

Without Evangeline in this world, things that weren’t in the original work are already happening.

I can no longer guarantee Darius’s happy future. I don’t know where this world is heading, not just Darius.

‘If only I had been transmigrated as Evangeline, I would have been proud that the lonely Northern Grand Duke Darius would be my man in the future.’

Her past self who thought that way seemed ridiculous now.

No, actually, I knew. That there are romance fantasies where one transmigrated as an extra.

In almost all transmigration stories where they were extras, the protagonist laments an extra rather than the female lead, then actively intervenes when major events occur to change the novel.

And then at the decisive moment, they cry out:

Why do you like me instead of the female lead? The protagonist of this novel is not me but the female lead!

Am I in that situation now?

‘But they didn’t confess their love while the male lead was dying.’

This is too cruel.

The extra transmigration stories I remember were much more peaceful, pleasant, and happy.

This cursed world.

I should have known when medieval medicine popped up instead of the high priest healing with a poof. That even if I transmigrated into a romance fantasy, my life wouldn’t be easy.

Evangeline.

I once worried that when she eventually appeared, she’d make me pay for ‘flirting with another woman’s man all this time, you vixen!’

Now I think it would be better if you existed in this world, even if you beat me and dragged me away from Darius’s side.

Where did things go wrong that I pushed you out of this world?