Chapter 83. Testing And Trial, Part XXIV

Translator: Khan

Editor Group: Liber Reverie

But no matter how hard she tried, if she would take the same steps… If nothing would change… then she had no more reason to live. Anyway, she was the last one to get a cut on her head.

Aria clenched her fists. Her beautifully trimmed nails dug into her palms and she seemed to feel nothing. So Aria was shocked for a while and stood alone in the cold night wind brought by Oscar because she could do nothing.

Then, after calming down, her whole body trembled so much that she went back to her room. Her body that was lying on the bed was as heavy as that of the dead.

'If I fall asleep and wish to never wake up forever… If the future doesn't change anyway, I'll die soon, and what's the reason for living now? Mielle will marry Oscar, and after becoming the Frederick family's mistress, she will use Isis's power and cut my head, the wicked woman's neck.'

She was afraid of the painful future that would come over again, sneeringly. If such a future was waiting, it was better to die as it was now. Tears poured down as she reached that conclusion. She cried silently with her face on the pillow, and then she fell asleep. In her dream, Aria was decapitated several times over and over again regardless if it was the future or the past. No matter how hard she turned the hourglass over, no one moved according to her will.

Everyone laughed at her as if they were all expecting this to happen. She shouted for help to Oscar who turned around several times, but her voice did not come out because her head was cut off. She struggled through this hell and poured blood out. "Please, please, somebody, help me." She shouted a silent cry for help.

When Aria, who was suffering in so much pain, opened her eyes again, the blue dawn had already filled her room. It was a deep night near three in the morning when she checked the time.

She was in a semiconscious state because she had only slept for a few hours. She thought that maybe she was still dreaming since her eyes were foggy, and she was distracted. Hell was continuing.

Aria, who was sitting on her bed for a while, escaped from her room. In the dark dawn in which no one moved, her destination was the guest room on the second floor. When she opened the door of the sixth room, she found what she wanted.

"... Who?!"

Oscar, who was so surprised by someone's unexpected presence, suddenly rose. His upper body was stiff to a half-upright position, and he didn't even move at all. He wasn't moving at all as if time had stopped. It was because he was faced with a very unexpected person.

It was Aria, and she was dressed in a light chemise dress because she came there soon after she woke up.

Her arms, shoulders, and legs that were exposed without protection shone mysteriously in the moonlight. As she grew up from a girl to a woman, she stole Oscar's attention with the help of the moonlight.

"Mr. Oscar...?"

Aria, who found Oscar, took a slow step toward his bed. A languid glance proved that she was less awake, but Oscar couldn't even think of stopping her from approaching him. He was already asking himself why she came to visit him at this hour.

He tried to neglect and avoid her gaze on purpose. He had run away without telling her why. He thought his heart would burst if he had eye contact with her. As if to destroy his efforts, Aria came to him on her own.

Aria, who came up to the edge of the bed and put her hand on a bright quilt, stopped moving. Her thin shoulders and her sad face soon crumbled. Oscar's heart was shaken because of the look on her face, which could not be compared to that of Mielle, who had cried bitterly after being insulted.

"Please... please don't abandon me..."

She had a hard time bringing out a very small voice and was crying a little. As soon as he was about to answer, she fell down on the bed.

Oscar hurriedly reached for her body. She had been exposed to the night air, and as he touched her cold skin, he felt like someone stabbed him in the heart with a dagger. Because of the false rumor, she became sad, pathetic, and pitiful that there was nothing to love anymore. Because of the miserable reality, he couldn't easily convey his mind.

'But if I disobey my sister's words...'

It wouldn't end just by grieving like this. It was clear that she would suffer so thoroughly that it would be useless to regret. So it was better now if he could hear the news about her even if he was very sick.

Moreover, if he married Mielle, the connection of both families would continue and he would never lose his relationship. So he had to endure this pain now. Oscar closed his eyes tightly.

Aria couldn't open her eyes until daybreak.

* * *

The next morning, it was in her room where Aria opened her eyes.

Oscar hugged Aria and took her to her room before she came to her senses. As he had looked at her shadow reflected on the third-floor window, it was easy to see where her room was. Furthermore, the door was wide open, so there was no need to find it.

Quite boldly, she had done something, but could not remember what had happened last night. She thought she had fallen asleep on the bed, and she wondered when she would have slept covered with her blanket.

For a while Aria didn't leave her room. It was because of Mielle, who had been so excited and laughed for days. She flamboyantly stirred up the mansion and told Oscar's story, even if she had invited her acquaintances to a party.

'You've been stuck in your room and how long have you been looking forward to this day?'

She did nothing without even getting out of the quilt under the pretext of being sick. She actually felt a little sick.

In the meantime, the count, who had expressed concern to his new daughter for her way of solving the tax problem, brought her valuable medicine, saying, "I hope you will recover soon." And Lane also visited her several times. He brought in a bunch of tulip flowers and quickly returned when he heard about Aria's stay indoors.

'Oscar is not walking on a tightrope between me and Mielle, he just turned around against me, and what can I do with him who is in such a state…?'

As she lost her fighting spirit, she was like a stuffed doll in the rain. She had been lying down for a while, so she felt she was creaky and sick. Without getting out of bed, she wiped herself with a wet towel and covered herself with the quilt again, and Jessie asked Aria, stamping her feet.

"Miss... don't you think you'd better have the sunlight today?"

"No, it's okay. Get out."

"Miss..."

Annie, who had been worried with Jessie, no longer showed up. Aria said, "You don't have to come because I don't have anything to ask for," but it made her feel even more empty when Annie turned against her so coldly.

"Miss!"

Annie, who had not been seen for days, reappeared with a bright smile. Aria, buried in a blanket, told her to leave, but she didn't mind how many times she had told her to leave, making a fuss that she had obtained good information.

"Then just listen! I'm sure you'll soon be refreshed!"

Aria wondered what it meant when Annie said so. Nevertheless, she didn't express her feelings but pricked up her ears and listened to Annie's words.

"On the last birthday party of the princess, Lady Mielle was greatly insulted!"

"Oh, my God! That was why her eyes got swollen..."

Mielle's swollen eyes went for two days so that everyone in the mansion could confront her. If it hadn't been for Oscar, it would have been better for her to stay in the room until she was healed, but because of Oscar, she had walked around the mansion with her eyes swollen, like she had bragged about it.

"That's right, Jessie. That day, the Crown Prince attended the party, and he pressed Lady Mielle with som reasons!"

'His Highness? Mielle? Why...?'

Aria opened her eyes round and fell into thought. 'Why did he push her so hard, even if he wouldn't even have seen her before? Isn't she called a model of aristocratic ladies? There was no reason he was disrespectful…'