The Man’s 101st Bad Ending

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How did those words that I did nothing sound to her?

Whether to believe it or not was up to Theresa herself.

If she escaped from suspicion and realized it was truly the case, it would end with just her brother’s death, but if that suspicion grew further…

Well, she probably wouldn’t be able to live a normal life.

I knew well how terrifying it was for suspicion to grow.

No matter how sane a person was, if they lost their mind, they wouldn’t be able to see anything properly.

After watching Theresa slumped on the spot, sobbing blankly for a while, I let out a small sigh.

“Go now. The sun is setting.”

Obscured by clouds, even the last ray of light only illuminated this garden with a murky red glow.

Thus, it was desolate.

The woman collapsed on the ground merely looked more wretched than anything else.

Even after calling out to her several times, Theresa, who had not answered, finally stood up from her spot, staggering.

The moon briefly reflected in her eyes, but that light soon extinguished, leaving only empty pupils.

Resentment was evident in the way she looked at me.

Naturally, after doing this much, if she had any other emotion towards me, it would be rather suspicious.

“…I will curse you.”

“Go ahead.”

“I will pray more earnestly than anyone else for you to die more miserably than anyone else. For your family, your loved ones, all those people to hate you.”

Resentment flowed from her widened eyes, then fell as tears.

It was a downpour that fell only on her.

Under this moon, it was raining for her, lingering with her forever.

“I will curse you. Robert Taylor.”

“Is that so.”

“…You know you’re really unlucky till the end? I never loved someone like you from the start.”

“I know. I knew that when I met you.”

At first, I didn’t know, but now I do.

She would never understand the meaning of these words in her lifetime either.

It wasn’t the first or second time I had received such a curse.

Words that I had heard dozens, hundreds of times, no longer even wounding me.

As such, my expression was unfazed. It would be better if she directly stabbed me with a knife.

A few mere words would pose no threat to me.

Watching Theresa’s retreating figure as she staggered away, I felt quite relieved.

The expression looking at me as if I was incomprehensible, and yet the mixed resentment and hatred.

It should have been an unsettling expression, but what was I to feel exhilaration upon seeing such a face?

Well, I had already been broken for a long time.

How many people could live with a sound mind after dying dozens of times?

If the day came when all the springs wound in my head came undone, I too would likely crumble like Theresa just now.

I could only hope that day would be the day my eternal rest arrived.

If I repeated the regression one more time, I might really go mad and kill everyone I saw then.

Even now, it was precarious.

My goal was to live this life well in my own way, so that the string I was holding onto would not break.

“…With this, Theresa will be quiet for a while.”

Although it would be apt to describe Arthur’s death as ‘soon,’ in her current mental state, she would likely rage for several months afterward.

Even if she sought my life, it wouldn’t be immediate.

I didn’t care even if an assassin came.

Not only was I not foolish enough to be unprepared for such a thing, but I had experienced assassination to the point of being sick of it.

Come at me once, and wouldn’t it be a great opportunity to show how the Taylor family responds?

Before I knew it, the garden was enveloped in complete darkness, and as I turned my head, I realized I was standing alone.

Theresa had disappeared at some point, and it seemed I had been standing there blankly for a while.

It had been well over half a month since I began my 101st life through regression.

During that period, the only person I had sent away was Theresa, so wasn’t it quite slow?

But this relieved feeling in my heart was sincere.

It was enough that I had severed the chains of fate I had forcibly tried to connect until now.

I became convinced that even if I saw her face again, I would no longer be reminded of the past.

Didn’t she say she regretted having loved me?

In the first place, she had never loved me, yet she dared to utter such words.

“Tsk.”

As I raised my head, suddenly feeling a surge of irritation, there was a refreshingly full moon in the sky.

That pale light pierced through the darkness, swallowing the surrounding starlight and emitting a chilly glow.

The moon shadow cast beneath it barely outlined me alone, making me feel strangely shabby.

I had repeated time over 100 times, but the reality was that the moon remained the same.

How much had I changed during that time? I closed my eyes for a moment and inhaled.

Unlike the cold light, the air was surprisingly warm.

That warmth soothed my body and splendidly erased even the dizzying thoughts.

Even if I had changed, in the end, I was still me.

Why was I thinking so complexly? I just needed to do my part properly.

Slapping my cheek once with a smack, I moved my feet.

On the night of the full moon, my footsteps following the moon shadow were light, unlike any other time.

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“You’ve been looking at the moon often lately. Do you have something on your mind?”

A man who seemed to be an adjutant spoke to the woman who was blankly gazing at the night sky alone.

His tone was so playful that it seemed like he was teasing her.

Adele clicked her tongue for a moment, then opened her mouth, looking at her adjutant Lothos.

“Nonsense. If you have time for that, go to sleep.”

“If I sleep now, I won’t be able to make it in time. Hmm, don’t we need to leave a bit later to arrive in time for the Full Moon Festival?”

What puzzled Lothos was the reason for attending the Full Moon Festival.

Why was she participating in the festival she always skipped, saying it was bothersome?

There was no reason for her to have business with someone.

The invasion of the barbarian tribes had not increased, and even the emperor would not care about such a thing.

Unable to understand the reason why Adele suddenly said she would go to the Full Moon Festival, Lothos merely widened his eyes and waited for Adele’s answer.

Adele roughly knew what Lothos was curious about.

Surely it would be the question of why she was going to the Full Moon Festival.

But that answer was so simple that even she found it amusing.

She just wanted to go. That was all.

The reason she hadn’t gone before was simply because she didn’t want to, and the reason she was going this time was just because she suddenly felt like going.

Doesn’t that happen sometimes?

When you suddenly don’t feel like doing what you always do and want to try something you’ve always disliked.

It was a whim, but given Adele’s position as a Grand Duchess, her subordinates thought she must have had a plan.

Of course, someone as close as Lothos could guess her true intentions to some extent.

“Don’t tell me you’re going just because you want to?”

“Yes, I suddenly felt like going. There’s also someone I want to find.”

“Someone to find? There haven’t been any vicious criminals who recently fled to the capital.”

“…Do I look like someone who only goes around catching vicious criminals? I’m just saying I’m going to find a man. There was something I wanted to say, but I couldn’t say it all back then.”

At the mention of a man, Lothos’ eyes widened.

The same went for the subordinates who had been secretly hiding, and Zeek, who had been hiding under the leopard skin, poked his head out.

“Wait, a man?”

“A man!”

“She said a man! The duchess said a man!”

The room instantly became noisy, and Adele ended up rubbing her forehead with a sigh.

She thought they would be hiding, but if there were more than ten of them, could it even be called hiding?

She had deliberately pretended not to notice, but seeing them appear so blatantly made her head throb.

“So you’re not even trying to hide now? Aren’t you afraid of me?”

“We are afraid. So please, yes. Please put away that sword.”

Lothos gently pushed the sword at his neck, then answered with an awkward grin.

Adele’s face was always expressionless.

Although there were rare times when she smiled because something caught her interest, when she pointed a sword with an indifferent face… it was indeed a bit scary.

As Adele put away her sword, Lothos and the group gathered in one place and waited for Adele to speak.

A man, it was quite an interesting thing to hear from someone who seemed like she would grow old and die swinging a sword all her life.

Given the lack of topics in the north, the eyes looking at Adele began to sparkle with eagerness.

“I think I made a mistake. Pretend you didn’t hear what I just said.”

“I heard you say a man-”

“The duchess is embarrassed. Just keep quiet.”

“But doesn’t that implicitly confirm it? That she’s actually seeing a man.”

Even though she answered in a monotone, a dozen words followed her single remark.

They were already noisy fellows, but it seemed she had made a mistake.

She should have been more careful with her words.

She regretted that she should have contemplated it when she was alone, and Adele’s eyes narrowed.

The quick-witted Lothos noticed the signs and kicked Zeek’s shin.

“Ow!”

“Be quiet. Can’t you see the duchess glaring at you?”

“I’m glaring at you right now, Lothos.”

Quite shamelessly, Adele’s adjutant merely grinned.

She couldn’t point a sword at a smiling face, could she?

Suppressing her anger for a moment and taking a deep breath, Adele opened her mouth with a slightly calmer expression.

“…Before, there was someone I told to come to the north.”

At her emphasizing tone that it was not a man, the subordinates nodded their heads.

In fact, they had been with Adele since the days when she led a mercenary group before becoming a duchess.

No one knew better than those present what she wanted to say.

“I even gave him my handkerchief.”

Gasp-

As someone swallowed a gasp, Lothos glared at the culprit.

On one hand, it felt like an alarm was ringing in his head.

Adjusting his glasses, Lothos, who had various thoughts in mind, carefully opened his mouth.

At least recently, there weren’t many ‘men’ who had visited the north. Even more so for someone who had come to see Adele Igrit.

Then that meant he didn’t respond to that request.

That man must have been quite something too. To have the courage to refuse the request of the Grand Duchess of the North…

Was his family perhaps a ducal house? After much contemplation, Lothos asked.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to find that person?”

“Something like that. I need to get my handkerchief back anyway.”

“…Don’t tell me your reason for going to the Full Moon Festival is also?”

“I’m going because I want to. I suddenly felt like I had to go.”

If that was the case… it was still alright. Lothos let out a sigh of relief and wiped his forehead.

If this trip to the capital was because of a single man, an emergency would have to be declared throughout the entire northern defense forces.

He could envision the ridiculous alert that would sound, something like ‘Catch the spiteful man who didn’t come even after borrowing a handkerchief.’

In fact, hadn’t that happened a few times before?

The existence of Adele, the Grand Duchess of the North, was quite special in the north.

Not only had she risen to the position of Grand Duchess as a woman, but her unique personality had many similarities to the habits of the people settled in the north.

Didn’t they say she resembled a wolf?

Lothos, recalling the words of an elder of the northern immigrant tribe, furrowed his brow.

If rumors spread about the man of the Grand Duchess, who was so widely supported?

He felt cold sweat running down his back at the thought of what would happen immediately.

‘As long as that doesn’t happen, it’ll be fine. I can handle the rest.’

Just as Lothos was feeling relieved, thinking he had avoided that, Adele added.

“And while I’m at it, I’ll bring someone back too.”

“When you say bring back?”

“I told him to come, but he didn’t, so this time I’ll bring him. I took a liking to him, that man.”

Adele’s voice was quite serious. But what surprised Lothos was that Adele smiled, albeit faintly.

It meant her words about taking a liking to him were not a lie.

But he had no idea where she had met such a person.

Adele’s visit to the capital had been less than a day, but did that mean she had taken a liking to someone during that time?

…He would have to see for himself.

Whether the person liked it or not, if Adele had made up her mind like this, she would likely stay in the capital until she met him.

The light of the full moon entered through the window of the office, illuminating the surroundings. The moon emitting a mystical glow without a single cloud.

What kind of fate would this full moon bring? Lothos rubbed his furrowed brow and let out a sigh.

He had to believe she wouldn’t really try to bring someone back by force.

If she really did that? He would have to roll around. Roll around like a dung beetle.

His duchess did the work, but he was the one who had to worry – he could only resent this reality.

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