The Man’s 101st Bad Ending

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Giggle, giggle.

Occasionally, seeing Adriana smiling to herself was quite peculiar.

Although she wasn’t looking in my direction, she seemed quite pleased with the earlier conversation.

Come to think of it, she didn’t say we would become friends, but merely that she would respond if I called for her.

I wondered what was so great about that. However, it was quite unexpected that Adriana was showing interest in me.

Since I had spent little time with her, I never imagined she would react this way towards me.

Friends, considering she directly mentioned it, it was quite a valuable word coming from her mouth.

Although it was still unknown whether she and I would become that close.

-…I just wanted to do it for you.

I didn’t know what Adriana saw in me.

I had merely treated her ordinarily, and this was the first time I had formed a personal connection with her.

If a situation arose where I had to use her, I would use her, and if a situation came where I had to abandon her, I might have to give up on the saint.

My goal was ultimately the act of treason to kill the Crown Prince.

Since I didn’t know what the saint would think about that, I still needed to approach her carefully for now.

Moreover, there was no possibility of the saint getting caught up in a false accusation of treason and dying.

As my intentions were not purely innocent, I felt strange whenever Adriana smiled.

If we had been bound by ill fate, I would have used her mercilessly, but even that was not the case, so I smiled bitterly.

“Will Her Highness the Princess be arriving soon?”

“I told Miragen that you had something to say to her, right? She’ll probably be here soon. I told her a slightly different time.”

The reason for telling a different time in order to talk to me was quite amusing,

but since Adriana seemed to be in such a good mood, I didn’t mention it separately.

Let’s think about it a bit calmly.

My main purpose for coming here? It was none other than to talk to the princess.

Although I had inadvertently increased my schedule for this winter, my main objective was still to meet the Crown Prince through the princess.

Gaining friendship with the princess, and in the process, bringing up a topic that would pique the Crown Prince’s interest.

That was what I was aiming for, and it would probably be the flow of the conversation that would soon begin.

“By the way, how did you come to meet Lady Adele?”

When I was lost in thought for a while, Adriana’s question scattered my thoughts.

How should I answer the question of how I met Adele?

I had intended not to bring up Adele in front of her, but it was a bit unexpected that she kept asking about Adele.

If they had an awkward relationship, she wouldn’t have asked, so it seemed there was something I didn’t know.

After pondering for a moment, I told her about meeting Adele by chance during the ball, excluding the part about getting injured on my neck.

Just saying we met by chance while slipping out during the ball, this level of story should be fine.

After nodding her head for a moment, Adriana answered with drooping shoulders.

“So you met her before me. I was relieved thinking otherwise.”

“Lady Adele also said she had met you before. Do you perhaps have a bad relationship with her?”

“…It’s not that we have a bad relationship. No, it’s not bad.”

It was a strange answer, but Adriana didn’t stop there and continued.

“It’s just that there are people who are hard to get along with even at first sight. While there are people whose personalities match well, like Miragen or Lord Taylor, Lady Adele’s aura is something I find hard to endure.”

“Did our personalities match well?”

“Lord Taylor.”

At my mischievous question, Adriana, with a flushed face, pouted her lips.

Seeing her getting angry with her eyes closed, I chuckled slightly.

Since when did I simply define this woman as a saint? Now, it seemed I needed to change that thought a bit.

For a saint, her demeanor was not always solemn.

Rather, she could show a light and even foolish side at times, but when it came to her own affairs, she displayed a saintly elegance, didn’t she?

As the image of Adriana I had drawn in my mind was gradually changing, she corrected her expression and began to speak again.

“Anyway, you can think of it that way. Lady Adele probably doesn’t consider me very comfortable either, so we both have aspects that don’t suit each other.”

“I see.”

Even when Adele talked about the saint, her expression was also not quite settled.

Although I couldn’t fully understand what they meant by feeling something upon seeing each other, since what the two said matched, it was probably not a lie.

So I didn’t ask further.

Now that the person I was waiting for would be coming soon, I spent time like that to calm my mind.

How much time had passed? When a brief silence followed,

the attendant named Yurika spoke up.

“Her Highness the Princess has arrived. Shall I open the door?”

“Open it. And don’t forget to tell her we’ve been waiting.”

As I heard the sound of the attendant opening the door, soon the clear sound of heels approaching was heard.

Since I was well acquainted with the owner of that sound, I quietly gazed in the direction where the woman would appear.

“Adriana, I heard there is someone who wants to meet me?”

“Here is Lord Taylor. He said he has something to say to you.”

It was one of the few voices that remained in my memory.

A voice I had heard sometimes in bed, sometimes on the executioner’s platform, sometimes on horseback.

A voice that always enchantingly enveloped one’s ears, as if gently wrapping them, belonged to only one person I knew.

When I raised my bowed head, I saw eyes filled with curiosity, a golden gaze.

It was eyes I was not at all familiar with, looking at someone she was meeting for the first time today.

This was the reason I disliked regression.

I knew everything about that person, but the person in question knew nothing about me.

However, this was an unavoidable process.

There was always a greeting I used to give when meeting the princess after dying and coming back to life.

There was a woman who found the existence of a man in the Moon Tower curious.

Her name was Miragen de Artin.

To the woman who had been my former lover, my executioner, and my nemesis.

“Nice to meet you for the first time. My name is Robert Taylor.”

Thus, I gave the 101st greeting.

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“I heard you wanted to meet me. I didn’t expect you to be acquainted with Adriana.”

“Originally, I should have sought you out separately, but it ended up like this due to circumstances. I apologize.”

“I’m not ill-tempered enough to receive an apology for something like this. And since Adriana seems to view you quite favorably, you don’t need to apologize.”

As she said that, the princess’s expression clearly showed a hint of surprise.

Since I had seen such reactions enough to be sick of them by now, I could see through how Miragen viewed me to that extent.

The reason she made such an expression was probably because of the rumors about me.

Rumors… I was curious to see how long these rumors would spread.

Although I was trying to act differently, it would take quite some time for something that had already spread to disappear.

Adriana left, saying we should talk alone, and only the princess and I remained in this situation.

In this situation, what attitude should I take?

The easiest way was, of course, to bring up a topic we could talk about in common.

Putting down the teacup, I opened my mouth towards Miragen, who was staring intently at me.

“Do you think the saint views me favorably?”

“Well, yes. If Adriana thought poorly of you, she wouldn’t have called you to the Moon Tower. Come to think of it, it’s the first time she’s letting a man in… You’re not in a strange relationship, are you?”

“How could that be? She just said she would observe me a bit more.”

At those words, Miragen blinked her eyes and stared at me for a moment, then muttered.

Adriana must have really viewed me favorably-she said, then soon moved her lips.

The eyes that had shown surprise at first became even clearer,

as if trying to discern whether Robert Taylor and I were really the same person.

…Nothing had changed at all.

After regressing, the best way to confirm that time had turned back was to meet the princess.

Since I knew her actions better than anyone else, I could tell from the expressions on her face that this was the first time she met me.

The eyes that widened into circles, and the lips that trembled, about to ask who I was at any moment.

Even the expression that suppressed that question. There was not a single thing that had changed, so I inadvertently felt a bitter taste in my mouth.

Starting again from the beginning, I recalled those words in my mind and adjusted my expression.

I thought it was better to consider this as meeting the princess for the first time.

For a moment, Miragen looked at me with a puzzled expression, but soon cleared her throat and opened her mouth.

“So, may I ask what you wanted to say to me?”

“I wanted to talk to you about the content of this family head meeting.”

At the mention of the family head meeting, her brows furrowed. It was a natural reaction.

The topic discussed at this meeting was the ‘subjugation’ of the south.

Since it was a matter my father had already decided, she would feel quite uncomfortable with me bringing up that topic again in many ways.

At least in terms of political sensibility, Miragen was not lacking.

The eyes that had been indifferent until just now sparkled, and soon pierced through me coldly.

As if trying to grasp my true intentions, but there was no need to deliberately show my inner thoughts.

However, I had to make an effort to seriously bring up this topic.

Correcting my posture, I took out a map of the south that I had been carrying and unfolded it on the table.

“Right now, I don’t understand what this means.”

It was a flat and hard voice, but there was a faint hint of curiosity mixed in it.

She would be curious about the ‘south’ that Robert Taylor, who was swayed by his father’s words, was bringing up.

It might seem like I would affirm the subjugation like my father, but that was completely wrong.

I said I would make an excuse to approach the Crown Prince.

Wasn’t the reason the imperial family had been opposing the subjugation of the south simple?

The emperor, the Crown Prince, and Miragen.

They all had negative thoughts about it.

However, due to the strong opposition from the nobles, they had no choice but to order the subjugation.

The Crown Prince and Miragen’s thoughts on the matter were the exact opposite.

“Do you really think the subjugation of the south is right?”

“…Lord Robert Taylor. I am asking what this means.”

As if deliberately angry, Miragen glared at me, and I quietly looked at her.

Given her personality, she must have already realized what this map meant long ago.

A map that only marked the south, and the symbols marked throughout the map.

If she had noticed that it was a distribution map of the ‘different races’ existing in the south, there was only one thing I could say with this map, wasn’t there?

After looking at Miragen for a moment, I slowly answered.

“Wouldn’t it be right to say it’s the grounds for opposing the subjugation of the south?”

Where did I get this? It was information Arwen had provided me in the previous cycle.

Using Miragen’s friendship to approach the Crown Prince was a method I had thought of before.

Although I failed to execute it due to being falsely accused of treason.

In this life, I thought I could make good use of it.

Miragen’s gaze was still fierce, but that intense light was slowly dissipating.

The wariness towards me was disappearing, and only a soft gaze calculating gains remained.

Eventually, when her lips drew a smile, Miragen quietly opened her mouth.

“Adriana has made a good friend.”

“Then, will you listen to me?”

“I will listen. And one more thing, before we start talking, let me tell you in advance.”

“What is it?”

When I asked that, Miragen sighed and answered as if wiping her face.

It was an expression as if a common sense she had known had been shattered.

“…That Robert Taylor is completely different from the rumors.”

What should I say in response to that? After pondering for a moment, I shrugged and retorted.

The rumors were not entirely false.

Weren’t they just referring to me before the regression?

However, the one Miragen was facing was Robert Taylor who had gone through regression. The rumors might not be entirely wrong.

“Well, the rumors might not be entirely false.”

“There’s no way that’s true.”

Miragen merely looked at me with an absurd expression.

Did it seem like I was lying? Of course, it didn’t matter.

From the moment she showed interest in this story, I could say I had definitely achieved my purpose in bringing it.

The more I explained about the map, the more Miragen became absorbed in the story.

I wondered what kind of relationship we would have in this life.

Sometimes we were bound by ill fate, sometimes we became lovers.

But this time, I couldn’t predict at all what kind of relationship we would have.

However, I hoped that she would remain in the future I would create.

Only then would the imperial family of this empire not be cut off.

After the Crown Prince died, Miragen had to become the empress of this empire.

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The Moon Tower was the closest place to the moon.

When feeling the wind while in contact with the moon, Adriana was often caught in the illusion that she was seeing the moon with her own eyes.

Of course, it was just an illusion and merely feeling a simple impression.

But the sensation of the cold light brushing over her body always felt new to Adriana.

Because she could only feel the brightness and darkness of light.

Adriana thought tonight was particularly dark.

Yet why was she here? Didn’t a strange pull call her and lead her to the top of this Moon Tower?

Adriana called this feeling the voice of God.

The sense that led her towards her destiny, but tonight, she couldn’t tell what that voice would guide her to.

Could it be that Lord Taylor would come here?

Adriana, who laughed at the thought that it was ridiculous, listened intently to the clear footsteps she heard.

…It was quite a familiar footstep she had heard today.

When she realized the owner was Robert Taylor, suddenly the wind blew.

It was a cool but quite soft wind that held moonlight.

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