Everything Was a Mistake

“I’ll ask you one more question, Roa. By any chance. Did you say to the Duke, ‘Aaron is more imporant than you.’, ‘You’re not imporant.’, ‘Let’s stop being friends.’ What, did you say something like that?”

Thump, it seemed like a big stone fell in my heart.

It was a feeling I had felt before.

The moment Alice caught the conversation I had on the balcony of the ballroom, the moment I heard that Nocton broke the railing.

However, the second experience was not less gruesome.

Is there a reason why Alice came to Valrose immediately before returning to the Duke’s house?

Maybe there’s a very urgent and very important business.

As a prey to speculation, my anxiety has grown once again and my heart beats have accelerated. There was thunder outside as if to inflate nervousness. Earlier, the small sound of the rain started hitting the window hard.

“Did today’s conversation come out in your dreams?”

“No, that was what you just said at the tea party. The tea party hosted by Duke Edgar.”

“Wait a minute, Alice, so … you’re saying the same thing happened in the tea party dream you saw? Yeah, well, everyone else except you, so it’s the same. But then why did you told me not to go to the tea party? For vomiting blood?”

“To be precise … it’s not the same. At the tea party, after you say that, His Grace hypnotizes Sir Claymore.”

Nocton can hypnotize Aaron?

As soon as I heard what she said, I immediately opened my mouth in a sense of defiance.

But Alice’s words are not yet finished.

“And he hypnotizes Sir Claymore to kill me and kill himself.”

“Suicide … what?”

“The form is, but it’s actually been murdered by His Grace.”

“How did you know he was hypnotized?”

“Because all of a sudden his eyes were blurred. I can tell by looking at it a few times.”

Alice’s face, who said so, was filled with conviction.

Yes, if Aaron’s eyes weren’t blurred, I would have thought the same thing if I had given such a dream.

Aaron wasn’t the kind of person who would suddenly go crazy and stab Alice and kill himself. Moreover, it was even more ridiculous if the opponent was Alice.

But I was more perplexed because I accepted her words.

Aaron can be hypnotized, too, so the assumptions I drew in the first place were completely absurd.

Based on the roles of the two in the original book, I thought Aaron’s power was stronger than Nocton.

That way, he’ll end Nocton in some way and be happy with Alice.

It was difficult to think of it as a development that he was defeated using a holy object.

If there was a difference in power enough to be killed in a flash, it would be meaningless to wear a few relics.

There’s no way < He and Alice > has a bad ending, right?

No, it couldn’t have been. In the author’s review, there was a mention that the ending of the story was a clear happy ending.

So, did Nocton surrender by knowledge, not power?

That looks more difficult. If that’s true anyway, I’ve been completely mistaken this time again.

It was meaningless either to continue his engagement with Aaron or to be shaken by his proposal.

If it’s impossible to stop Nocton with Aaron’s power—

Well, he said it himself, that it was unilaterally.

That is why I wasted my mind on something really useless.

So, could he have just been murdered?

Aaron and … maybe even me?

I was shivering at the thought of a chill in my spine, and then I raised my head at a sudden thought.

“That’s a little weird, Alice.”

“I don’t know. I’ve stayed still at the tea party anyway, so I understand that the same situation can be recreated without me. But—”

“That’s too, your dream. You said you didn’t know what I said. How did you know that I said that this time?”

“Oh, that’s … I thought it was a little weird, too. I’ve never done that before, but in that dream, I suddenly started hearing your voice. I still couldn’t see your face.”

Alice’s expression seemed urgent, perhaps because she thought I was suspicious. She grabbed my hands.

“But trust me, Roa. I’m sure. That dream is also a foresight. Otherwise, how would I have known what you were going to say?”

“….It’s not t that I doubt you, Alice. I just thought about why your dream changed. I trust you, so don’t worry.”

In soothing her, I was lost in thought for a moment.

Thanks to Memoria’s Seal, I remembered the contents of the original work more vividly, but I couldn’t believe it because there were many changes from reality.

A fact that can never be changed, a secret of Alice’s birth, I can use it as a clue.

That’s why I used Alice’s foresight dreams as an indicator, but it’s no wonder that her dreams have changed.

What’s more, if the part that has changed is Roa Valrose, and it’s me.

I don’t like to use my brain so much, why should I be in this situation? My head hurt when I wasn’t sure of anything.

“What was different?”

“I don’t know. What is it that His Grace can bleed to?”

“Well, when he came, I distanced myself. It’s not a measure. I wouldn’t have known if Nocton had been ill from the start … no, I can’t guarantee this any more. But it’s strange that he came to visit me in that condition.”

“Then can you tell me what happened in the meantime? We might know something if you take it step by step.”

“You’re like a detective, Alice.”

“Don’t make fun of me, Ruru!”

Alice exclaimed with a blushing face. It didn’t suit the situation, but it was cute and I laughed out loud.

Then, before Alice made a protest, I hurriedly opened my mouth.

The story started from the fact that I couldn’t participate in the tea party because I was unconscious. I originally planned to be absent, but I pretended I couldn’t go because I was asleep. The reason for swallowing Memoriah’s Seal couldn’t be said in detail, so I confessed that it was just to reflect on what I had with Nocton Edgar in moderation.

Then on the day of the tea party, Nocton sent someone to find out that I was sick.

Later, Nocton came to visit me with holy water, and he suddenly drank a glass of it to confirm that there was no poison over the holy water … that’s what I said.

At this point, Alice’s face turned pale.

“Drinking holy water? Nocton Edgar?”

It’s fresh to hear Nocton Edgar without honorific title.

The joke rose under my tongue, but Alice’s temper was so serious that I swallowed the words.

“Aaron proved it, the holy water is real. You can see that in the display shelf over there, I’ve never seen it that big—”

“That can’t be true, Roa!”

It sounds strange to me, too, but Alice’s reaction was more intense than I thought. As if something had happened that shouldn’t have happened.

But what came out of Alice’s mouth was, in fact, a story that would make someone react that way.

“For a black wizard, holy water is like poison!”

What?

“A poison, what … so it’s not holy water? He drank it himself, I didn’t even tell him to try it first. I didn’t even know it was holy water until he drank it….”

That’s absurd.

The holy water that cures people, the holy water that can perform miracles depending on its purity can be poisonous to someone.

And that someone is Nocton Edgar.

It’s incomprehensible.

If that’s true, Nocton would have never drunk it himself.

It’s strange, even if he didn’t know that holy water was poison to him.

At least, he knew the moment it went into his mouth.

He can’t do that, unless he enjoy hurting himself.

“Roa, did Sir Claymore say he was sure?”

“What did he say, in the case of real holy water, there is a reaction with mana, so it can’t be manipulated. He told me clearly. So, it’s that why Nocton vomited blood? It’s really weird.”

“He was trying to prove to you that he’s not a black wizard….”

“I also found out today he uses black magic. Of course I didn’t know that holy water was poison to black wizard. And even so, it’s too, too abnormal.”

If that were the intention, if he was trying to tell me that he’s not a black wizard, he wouldn’t have even confessed to brainwash Sadie in front of me in the first place.

So it doesn’t add up at all.

Why did Nocton Edgar need to drink holy water in front of me?

My stomach is stuffy.

Like me, Alice sighed.

“I don’t know, I only found out about it because I went to Ernhart and read several books about black magic.”

“Then what, really.”

Things that I can’t say for sure have been going on all these years, but the most incomprehensible moment was now.

The thread in my head unravels a little, and then slips out a larger, more complicated knot. It was so frustrating that I felt like I was getting black and blue inside.

“It doesn’t make sense for him to have brought holy water in the first place, but with what thought….”

“Holy water … maybe, Roa. Maybe Lord Edgar….”

“Maybe?”

“No, I’ll tell you when I’m a little sure.”

Maybe Aaron’s way of speaking has been transferred. Although it seems a little different.

Being nervous about Alice’s words, I sighed.

“If you have any ideas, tell me now. I need a good guess.”

“Yeah, it’s not much, but it’s a little too vague. Maybe my thoughts are too stupid. I just …. thought about why he’s doing that.”

“So?”

“When you come to think about it in a simple way, without any complicated thought, maybe His Grace is … in love with you. That’s why he brought holy water when you said you were sick, and because he knew you’re suspicious of him—”

I’m a fool to expect.

My pulse suddenly eased. It was the least likely conjecture among possible reasons.

“That was a good joke, Alice.”

“Roa!”

Only

“From now on, I’ll tell you why this can’t be the case. Number 1. Nocton doesn’t even call me by name. Number 2. Nocton has only been here twice, although I invited him to visit my mansion for many times before. After I heard about his story from you, and after I didn’t come to the tea party a while ago. Number 3. Nocton tested me whenever he had time.”

As I lifted my finger one by one, I could not help but notice that the expression on Alice’s face faded away.

“And number 4. Who would treat their loved one like that, Alice. The only thing that’s okay to love that way is a child.”

“I’m just … I’m just assuming. Why he’s so obsessed with you, it’s the simplest reason. If you say no, then it’s not.”

“It’s really not that, Alice. I could swear.”

“I don’t need an oath for such a useless thing.”

Even as a joke, Alice shook her head right away.

It’s not a knight’s oath anyway, and it wouldn’t mean much, but I was adamant.