Chapter 143: A Reflection of the Past
Chapter 143: A Reflection of the Past
My head was tingling as I was held by Edward.
“Didn’t I personally pick out a matching dress for you?”
For a moment, I couldn’t breathe. I barely raised my head, which was tilted back by his hand, and glared at Edward. The sight of him smiling with a creepy face was terrifying.
The eyes we met contained only something as cold as frost. She had a hard time reading thoughts.
I thought he might kill me at any moment. I spoke with emphasis on every word, hoping that he would understand what I said.
“It’s unpleasant.”
“Discomfort?”
I twisted my mouth. And then I managed to escape from Edward by pulling his hair.
He answered, trying to ignore the fact that he was holding a handful of hair in his hand.
“No matter how royal you are, there are degrees. I’m sure you know that it’s rude to behave like this to your lady.”
“Who proves that? This is my territory, Duchess.”
Edward became polite again and laughed at me. If he could prove it, he had a face that suggested he give it a try.
“Do I look like your toy? Have you always treated women like this?”
“So what?”
“You have a very unique hobby. Ah, you have unique tastes.”
I was sarcastic to him too. Then he glanced at the neatly hung dresses.
It made me sick to see that the nasty noble ladies had prepared so many dresses to harass the maids.
As far as I know, Edward doesn’t have a fiancée or lover.
Still, the reason those dresses are lined up in one corner of the space is probably because of Edward Windsor’s bad play.
After roughly arranging my tangled hair, I spoke loudly, trying not to lose to him.
“What are you going to do when you get caught with such vulgar behavior? And that too, for me.”
“It’s okay. Sorry, but my toys always break. There is no place for words to escape.”
It sounded like I was his toy and I too would break down. Of course, it was said with that intention.
I took a step back from him.
“I have no intention of becoming your prince’s toy. I have no intention of being defeated by that damn Eden Blanc.”
“…….”
“Even if it goes as you said, I plan to make it the only one that won’t break down.”
Edward, who was looking at me pitifully, tilted his head.
“Then I understand this too.”
“…….”
“No matter what I really do with the Duchess here, I can come up with a lot of excuses.”
I grabbed the hem of my dress tightly.
Just a little while ago, I believed that I could easily embarrass Edward Windsor. But now he felt like he was facing a very high wall.
“How is it?”
A creepy voice reached my ears. The cool sensation at the back of her neck extended to her toes.
“Don’t you wonder if I can really do that? And don’t you wonder what kind of expression Johannes will make?”
I swallowed dry saliva.
I swear, the reason Edward Windsor only kills professional women must be because he has a sense of entitlement towards someone.
And that someone must be Christian Windsor.
‘But Christian seemed to understand Edward’s feelings for me.’
Even though we had only met twice, I knew it instinctively.
Christian knows everything and may be the most dangerous obstacle we will ever face.
“Huh? Please answer quickly.”
When I didn’t answer, Edward urged me in a soft voice.
How can something like that be so abominable?
It’s like relieving stress by pouring out your pride on a powerless woman without any intention of improving her abilities. She was very difficult to look at.
I wanted to curse him right away, calling him a pathetic, pathetic bastard.
But I came this far on my own feet. To expose Edward Windsor’s ugly face and identify his weaknesses.
To do that, I had to show Edward what he wanted me to be. That….
‘Think carefully, Edith Prim. What does Edward Windsor want from me?’
I must always be fun prey for him.
I struggled to escape from reality, but ended up being thrown back into the mud. So I had to impress upon him that he was a weak person.
That was what I was going to do now.
“Of course, Your Highness cannot make that choice. You have bigger ambitions.”
Edward’s eyes darkened for a moment, but then regained their vitality. ‘Yes, this is how you should appear,’ he seemed to say.
“I hope you think carefully. Isn’t the whole reason you called me here to keep Her Majesty the Crown Princess in check?”
A pathetic bastard who doesn’t even realize how dangerous Christian Windsor, who I’m trying to bring down, is.
I don’t know how hard I tried to hide my feelings.
Edward said, clapping his hands together as if he had only just remembered this disgusting fact.
“I see. Now is the time for us to join hands.”
A series of harmless smiles followed.
“Unfortunately, we both lament the complacency of the royal family, which was unable to stop a single spy sent from another country and allowed enormous damage to Mussen.”
“…….”
I was wondering how they were going to hold the royal family and Christian accountable, but were they planning to make it up to someone else’s actions?
If handled well, it wasn’t completely nonsense. Especially now that trust in the royal family has reached rock bottom.
Of course, it is doubtful whether Christian will leave it alone.
“Of course you will express your anger with me.”
Did you say that the enemy of your enemy is your friend?
If done well, he could take advantage of Edward’s weakness and join hands with Christian. To do that, I first had to go along with Edward’s play.
“…Of course.”
I nodded and he continued speaking with a satisfied look on his face.
“I was rude a little while ago. I went a little overboard because I wanted to give beautiful clothes as a gift, so please be generous and understand.”
“Sure.”
Edward spent a long time choosing clothes for me to wear. He then started having the maids dress me up excessively.
I let out a helpless laugh as I thought I was being treated like this when I was practically a hostage.
It was when I finally stood in front of the mirror with the heavy dress covering my body.
‘What?’
When I saw my face reflected in the mirror, I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
It looks eerily familiar.
The only time I decorated it this extravagantly was for weddings and several proms.
As I blinked a few times while looking at my reflection in the mirror, something I hadn’t felt back then struck my mind.
I slowly stretched out my hand to see myself reflected in the mirror. At that moment, the person I saw in the mirror began to change horribly.
Her neatly pulled up hair became matted and her once white face turned dark. Her body was strangely thin, and her eyes were empty.
I curled up as I felt a sharp pain in my head. I was in pain, holding my head.
After a while, when I lifted my face covered in cold sweat, I looked fine in the mirror.
‘…That wasn’t an illusion.’
I suddenly realized.
The scene from before was in my memory. I felt a terrible pain near my chest.
It wasn’t long before I realized that this feeling, which was both overwhelming and nauseating, was an unbearable sadness.
Letting out a sharp breath, I closed my eyes tightly.
‘Nonsense….’
The face of Johannes I saw for the last time flashed before my eyes.
Johannes Schulz was not like a character in a novel.
I don’t know what happened, but he was my real husband in a previous life.
And I was murdered by Edward Windsor while wearing these clothes. After being murdered, I was reborn, read a novel written about my past life, and came back again.
The question that has been on my mind all of a sudden, the pieces of the puzzle are coming together little by little.
‘That’s why my actions were sometimes restricted.’
I went to Jaywok District 1 and ran into Edward right after the murder, and sometimes I felt like I was being controlled by something invisible.
‘I was acting the same way I did in my past life when I didn’t know anything.’
I don’t know how I returned to my previous life as ‘Edith Prim’….
‘I understand this.’
As I looked at the terrible image reflected in the mirror again, my face was distorted as if it were falling apart.
In my previous life, I was used as a means to start a novel for the happiness of the female protagonist.
