Chapter 9
“…… . ”
The noise in the room stopped for a moment . But I was used to it becoming silent when Ash entered because it happened every year .
As soon as I walked in, I began looking for Agrita .
‘Where is she?’
Where are you, heroine?
The silence in the room was broken when people came up to greet us .
“Hello, Duke and Duchess Lydia . ”
“It’s an honor to meet you . ”
“You two always look like you just stepped out of a painting . Duke Weadgreen, Happy Eighteenth Birthday . ”
I became distracted as we were subjected to a torrent of greetings .
As I glanced at the people who were crowding around us, confirming that most of them were only focused on Ash, I turned away again .
Agrita Grace . I just want to see you . Where are you?
‘Ah!’
Just as I was looking in every corner of the banquet hall, I found her .
There was a lady standing near the entrance to the outside .
I recognized her immediately . There was no way I wouldn’t .
Her physical description that I had read about countless times matched up exactly to what I saw of her now .
I even knew what clothes she would be wearing to the banquet today . There had been a lengthy description of her clothing in the book .
At first look, she did not have much presence with her common brown hair and brown eyes .
But her thin face and thick eyelashes showed that she was an uncommon beauty .
Agrita was like a pear blossom . That was my first impression of her .
‘I thought the book said she was of simple beauty . ’
The book was full of lies . It had described Agrita Grace as a plain beauty who could still maintain a gentle, beautiful look without even dressing herself up .
‘What do you mean simple . It’s so hard to be pretty without dressing up . ’
Regardless, just as the book described, Agrita attracted the attention of people without even consciously trying despite not having a fancy dress or accessories .
It wasn’t just because she was pretty, rather, she had a way of pulling your attention towards her .
Her pearl-colored dress with no accessories suited her well as if it was purposely done that way .
Just by looking at her you would get a sense of purity and cleanliness . The more you looked, the harder it was to pull your gaze away .
I finally came back to my senses after being entranced by Agrita .
‘Ah, Ash . ’
Ash must have seen Agrita by now, right?
It should be past that point . Because in the book, Ash sees Agrita right after entering the banquet hall .
And, it felt like the people who were crowding around Ash weren’t getting any responses from him so they were basically just talking amongst themselves .
This meant Ash’s attention was elsewhere .
It must be Agrita!
While thinking this, I turned my head back to Ash and was surprised .
‘Wh-what is this . ’
Ash was looking at me .
‘Me? Why?’
It was so unexpected that I froze when our eyes met .
Ash looked at me for a few more moments and reached his hand out .
The tips of his fingers brushed my cheek .
“Done . ”
“…… . ”
“I was wondering what it was . It’s just a piece of thread . ”
Ash spoke lightly as if it wasn’t anything important . And of course, to me, it was a very important matter .
‘What is he doing?’
I was flustered .
‘Is the thread on my cheek important right now?’
I turned back to Agrita .
She was standing near the entrance, showing off her pure beauty .
Then I looked back at Ash .
He had now gone back to speaking with the crowd around him after taking his eyes off my cheek .
W, wait .
‘What are you doing?’
Agrita is right over there, so why are you looking over here?
Shouldn’t you be looking over there? Your sight should land there as if it was fate, right?
Confused and flustered that the situation was not unfolding as I knew it, I stared at Ash .
Noticing my gaze, his golden eyes turned to me .
“Sister?”
“…… . ”
“Do you have something to say?”
I choked back the question that I wanted to say .
I almost actually asked him . Why he wasn’t looking at Agritta .
“……no . ”
Ash must’ve felt suspicious of my attitude because he didn’t take his eyes off of me even after hearing my response .
What is this? Hurry up and look at Agrita!
Not me, not the people in front of you, right there!
‘I can’t let this continue . ’
A problem has occurred . Although it seemed like a trivial one, it also didn’t seem like one that would fix itself anytime soon .
‘I don’t know why you aren’t looking at her…… but if you’re not looking I’ll have to make you look . ’
It was a little off from the original plot where Ash finds Agrita on his own and focuses on her only, but it didn’t matter in the long run . All he had to do now was look at her for the story to move on .
It’ll go the right way once he actually looks .
I suppressed the urge to grab Ash by the hair and turn his head and instead, gently lifted my finger .
Then, I pretended to be surprised and pointed .
“Oh my! What’s that?”
Right then .
Crash!!
“Kyaaa!”
“Ack!”
Screams echoed in the hall . With my finger still pointing, I froze . I couldn’t do anything .
“The, the chandelier…… . ”
“My god, Lady Grace!”
The chandelier on the ceiling fell . It was one that was near the entrance .
A high, sharp voice called out Agrita’s name .
The place where the chandelier was not directly above where Agrita had been standing, but she must’ve moved directly below it when she went to greet the host of the banquet .
A few people who were extremely frightened fell to the ground in a dead faint .
“How did this happen…… . ”
I thought to myself as I heard the whispers of shock from the people around me .
Something was very wrong .
The banquet had to stop . It had to be .
Since a chandelier fell and caused a scene .
As soon as the accident occurred, the people of the household began sending messengers out .
There was no way to know if the banquet would be held the next day, so the people who were promised a room in the house were also sent away with apologies .
Servants also had to be called to take the Grace couple away because they had fainted at the scene .
While the butler and Ash did all this, I was in the hallway leading to the banquet hall, my back against the wall, gazing off into nothing .
I couldn’t do anything because my head felt like it would explode .
‘Something…… something is terribly wrong . ’
Agrita was dead . She was crushed under a chandelier that fell at the wrong time .
I hadn’t checked Agrita’s body personally, but I had heard someone call out for a doctor only to quickly dismiss them .
There was only one thought in my head as I leaned against the cold wall .
‘Strange . ’
It was strange .
This was really strange . It was already a problem that Agrita died, but the way she died was even stranger .
‘A novel that kills its heroine by crushing her under a chandelier?’
You wouldn’t even kill an extra that way .
This incident was an unlucky occurrence . The servants who checked the broken chandelier and ceiling had said that the chain connecting the two was rusty .
But he had a befuddled look on his face while saying this .
Of course, he would . There was no way something like a chandelier wouldn’t be checked before an important banquet like this .
And there were five chandeliers in the banquet hall .
The only one with an issue was the one that had fallen on top of Agrita .
Is that even possible even if she’s really unlucky?
Not to mention, this was her third time dying .
‘If it keeps on going this way…’
A thought she had deemed impossible took place in the corner of her mind .
‘It seems like it’s Agrita’s fate . ’
Her fate to die .
I had seen a movie about this in my past life .
The main characters were fated to die in some accident but they were lucky and avoided the accident and survived .
It was a plot without dreams or hope for the characters who thought they had safely secured their lives, but the world could not leave them alone because they were meant to die . And they all did die one by one by their decided fate .
The world continues to kill her because it was her fate to die .
‘Wait, why?’
I shook my head . It was impossible . I couldn’t understand .
I could understand everything up till now .
I was speechless and angry but I just assumed that anything could happen if you met a crazy psycho and accepted it .
But this was something I couldn’t accept in any way . It would be the same for anyone else .
What would be the reason for the heroine of the novel to just suddenly die?
Why is the world trying to kill Agrita?
I couldn’t think of any reason even after thinking for a long time . I earned nothing and my head hurt .
I could only think of stupid things like ‘my brain’s gonna overload on my thought processes’ .
While I was thinking, the cleaning of the banquet hall was almost complete .
Ash came out into the hall and asked .
“You don’t look too good . Are you okay?”
I shook my head . My head and heart were suffering too much that I just pretend I was okay .
Ash didn’t ask any further and he gave me his hand instead .
“Go upstairs and rest . I’ll take you . ”
“…… . ”
I held his hand . My room was on the second floor .
I thought as I held his hand past the hallway and up to one staircase .
‘As I thought…… . ’
I hadn’t gotten an answer but one thing was clear .
‘I need Agrita . ’
I needed her . So I needed to save her .
I needed to if I could . Even if an adult psychopath’s hand was filled with warmth, just like a normal human .
Ash let go of my hand in front of my room and turned around .
I stared at his back for a moment, watching him move further and further away before I closed my door .
* * *
It is the person who is in regret that tries their hardest . You could dig up a pond if you’re thirsty, so what couldn’t you do if you wanted to live?
I waited before cracking the marble .
If I turned the time too fast I would have to go see the clock tower again .
I waited to turn the time back so I would return one hour before the banquet .
“Miss, now for the makeup…… . ”
“Sorry, Bessie!”
When I returned to the past, I was sitting in front of my dresser .
After checking that I had gone back a day, I got up and ran out of the room .
Practically running down the stairs, I went straight to the banquet hall .
I had sacrificed a third marble but I felt even less guilter than the last time .
If back then I had thought that it was a waste to use it, now, I felt like I was just using something that would be used anyway . So I was more confident about using it this time .
Of course, I still thought it was a waste to use it but I tried to focus on the more important matter .
“Alex! Come here and take a look at the chandelier . ”
“Miss Lydia?”
“Hurry . Could you bring a ladder and look at the connecting parts?”
Comments