/
“What are you suddenly…”
“Hush. Calm down, Susan.”
“How did you…”
The terrible reality that I had been forced to ignore became a huge tidal wave and devoured me. It was a truth that could not be seen nor heard by anyone.
I never imagined that it would be Richton Ingord, even if he already said so. My legs weakened, making me sit on the floor.
No way. There’s no way my assumptions were true.
Still, Richton…
He leaned over her and whispered in a gentle tone, which was unlikely of him.
“I also have so many things I want to ask you. Counting it one by one, it’s more than fifteen days. Susan, have you ever seriously considered who you are and what you are? Do you think that our meeting is only a collection of bad luck and coincidence?”
My head, which became dizzy at those words, stiffened cold.
‘Wouldn’t I know if it was a demon who drove me to the end of hell?’
It was not my misunderstanding. Richton was describing me as if he knew me well from a long time ago. I grabbed him by the shoulder and asked.
“You, do you know me?”
His long platinum-colored eyelashes slowly blinked. Richton wore the strangest smile I’d ever seen.
“I know you very well. More than yourself.”
Richton knew about Agrane. Of course, I am not the real owner of this weak body. But here everything became simple.
Richton Ingord and Agrane had a relationship in the past, and they were supposed to be written in the book 『The River Where The Sun Manoeuvres』.
I seemed to have overlooked a lot of facts to adapt to the immediate situation.
It’s not about me and Richton, it’s about Agrane and Richton.
So the fact that Richton was a figure in the outside world who was in the same boat as me…Yes, it’s a stupid idea. Yet suddenly, everything felt fleeting.
‘Do you think you can go back when you die?’
What did it mean? Did he simply mean Agrane’s home? It couldn’t have been that. There was definitely something more. It was clear that Richton was giving me selective information.
“I was going to wait a little longer…But based on your condition, I’m afraid it’s too much. All right, you risked your life to come to me, so I can’t ignore your sincerity. Make a bet with me, Susan. We’ll bet on each other, not with words.”
Betting on each other. I had already forgotten my purpose of killing him.
“The bet is about whether I can tame you perfectly or not. If you win, I will tell you all the truth. I think you have a lot of questions… Am I right? Your body turned into a living poison, and the poisoning was caused by my blood, so I will completely heal you. And I will never come near you again.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Do you think I’ll fall for your smooth tongue again? What if I lose the bet? It’s obvious, I’ll be worse than a dog. I don’t gamble.”
“No, do it.”
Richton’s dark blue-grey eyes stared at me as if to pierce my eyes.
“Even if I win, I’ll do whatever you want. If you want an Empire, I’ll give you an Empire, if you want to bring down the sky, I’ll bring down the sky. Instead, you shouldn’t choose Wilhelm.”
In the last sentence, there was blood-thirsty energy that made the hair on my back stand on end. But aside from that, Richton’s persuasion was somewhat very strange.
You’re going do whatever I want, win or lose? Can we really call this a bet?
Any fool would admit that Richton was at the losing end.
“What do you get out of doing that?”
“You only need to try that.”
Richton grabbed my hand and raised it. With clean hands, free from blood. ‘Only need to try it?’ were words that were really not like him.
“There’s only one thing you have to do. To follow only me and keep your eyes on me until our bet is completely over. As time goes by, you’ll get everything at the end. Isn’t it a good condition where you have nothing to lose?.”
His supple voice was a perfect fit for the lingering anxiety. What if it ends up with taking their own life?
Then what should I do after that? There was no guarantee that I could go back to my world even if I died. What I needed was not a vague escape, but a definite one.
From the moment he offered me such a deal, I had no other option. My path only had a cliff both ahead and behind. So, once again, I am about to fall for Richton’s honey-like words, and maybe that’s…
“Why me?”
His grip on my hand seemed to have tightened, but it was only for a short time. Richton, who stepped back and hid himself in the shadows, looked as if he was about to disappear.
Is he in danger? Isn’t he the second most powerful man after the Emperor of the Grenferg Empire and is fighting for power with Crown Prince Wilhelm?
A piercing glare flashed across his bluish eyes. Richton spoke in a faint voice that II would barely notice if I didn’t listen.
“There’s no big reason. It’s just that I’ve been…longing for you for a long time.”