NOVEL NEXT After some time had passed, Carynne lay next to Raymond and looked up at him.
“This doesn’t seem like a good approach.”
“Am I not enough?”
“No, it’s not that. When our conversations get interrupted just to do this… the really important things get glossed over. Do you really think we can resolve things with our bodies?”
“…Yes. I was wrong.”
Raymond seemed a bit flushed. Carynne poked his chest and continued speaking.
“Anyway, there’s no way I could hate you over something so trivial.”
But perhaps that was because there was no one else for Raymond to love besides her. In Carynne’s world, there was no one else either. Just the two of them.
“Wow, Sir Raymond. Your age is showing, huh?”
“W-What?”
“People say that as one ages, one becomes more cunning. Speak clearly. Why are you so uneasy? Why do you hate the idea of me wanting to be friends with Miss Isella? You’re being too much.”
“Is this because I harmed Miss Isella before…? You’re disappointed in me, aren’t you? Your wanting to protect Miss Isella feels like that to me.”
Raymond felt this was somewhat unfair.
He had never let his personal feelings towards Isella cause problems. He restrained himself because his position made it all too easy to unleash his hatred for Verdic on her. But for Carynne, his morals or beliefs seemed to hold no value.
But if Carynne was disappointed in him, did that mean she hated him?
Raymond avoided Carynne’s gaze, feeling a bit miserable. Carynne shouldn’t be like this towards him. She hadn’t shown such an attitude before.
But people’s feelings aren’t formed by courtesy or obligation. Just as he couldn’t help but feel repulsed by Isella despite his attempts to be polite, if Carynne felt revulsion towards his cruelty… If she was inclined to feel that way…
“I’ve killed people too, you know? Why are you digging yourself into the ground?”
“It’s not a matter of logic or reason.”
“Sir Raymond.”
Carynne climbed on top of Raymond. He let out a slight moan but it’s not like her body held a crushing weight.
Carynne’s eyes sparkled in the afternoon sunlight. Looking down at Raymond, she said,
“Think about it. Do you really think I like Isella more than I like you? That there’s someone more important to me in this world than you?”
“I can’t help but think that way. I understand you need a lover as much as you need friends. There are those for whom friends are more important, and your wanting to be friends with Isella feels to me like… rejecting our previous lives.”
“…You’re more than a lover—you’re a companion. That’s why I’m doing this.”
Carynne continued, looking down at Raymond.
“Because I hate forcing you to do things you don’t want to do. Sir Raymond, you don’t want to kill Miss Isella. You don’t like killing people.”
Carynne’s hand caressed Raymond. Soft emotions were evident in her voice. Then, she bowed her head. Her cascading red hair enveloped Raymond like the sun. Their lips touched and then parted.
A gentle affection fell from Carynne’s gaze as she looked down at Raymond.
“I want you to do what you want.”
Because I love you.
At this, Raymond had to admit that his love was still somewhat immature compared to Carynne’s.
“Now that you know, you feel relieved, right?”
“Yes. I’m sorry.”
“Now, think carefully about how I can become friends with Isella.”
But that wasn’t an easy question to answer. Raymond also found it hard to imagine how Carynne and Isella could become friends.
“The necklace didn’t seem to be the right choice. Should I consider a different gift?”
“It appears difficult to win her heart with a gift.”
“Why does Isella like you anyway?”
“Because I’m handsome.”
“…Wow. Right, well, I’m pretty too. Why doesn’t she like me as much?”
Carynne looked at Raymond somewhat skeptically. Indeed, men as handsome as Raymond were rare. Moreover, a man who was handsome, of noble birth, wealthy, and not a libertine like Raymond was even rarer.
“Miss Isella likes men and doesn’t care much for women.”
“Ah, no. I know why. It was a rhetorical question.”
Carynne nodded, acknowledging the obvious reason.
Isella saw Carynne as a rival. And it wasn’t just Carynne who didn’t have friends, Isella was the same.
“You can always abandon that goal if you dislike it. Honestly, I’d prefer it if you did.”
“I have to keep a promise once I’ve made it.”
“…Did you make such a promise to Miss Evans?”
“I did suggest it once when I was about to kill her.”
Carynne remembered the words she had shouted while chasing Isella through the dark corridors.
“What did she say?”
“She called me crazy and said she has no friends either. How typical.”
“…I see. I don’t know her all that well, but she doesn’t seem like the kind of person who needs friends.”
“I know.”
The biggest reason might be her father being Verdic, but from what Carynne observed, that wasn’t all.
Isella did not need friends. She always held her nose high in front of the noble ladies and had no qualms talking about money.
What Isella needed was a maid to pamper her.
“But I don’t want to be a maid, even if I could be her friend later.”
“Of course.”
“Friends… Oh, Sir Raymond. You haven’t met Miss Isella yet, have you?”
“That’s correct.”
“Well first, make sure to break up with her once and for all.”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
Carynne advised Raymond. At the outset, Raymond must not stand between Carynne and Isella. Things could get messy if this turned into a love triangle. Carynne vividly remembered Isella’s jealousy when she saw Carynne with Raymond. To become friends, the issue of men must be clearly resolved.
“Maybe if Isella gets dumped by you and becomes heartbroken, I could swoop in and become good friends with her?”
“…That doesn’t seem like a good idea.”
Raymond shook his head.
“Or what if you torment Isella, and I save her? I think you look coolest when you’re saving me.”
“Don’t you think that’s a bit far-fetched, even for you?”
“That could make it even more magnificent!”
“Please stop.”
Raymond sighed.
But Carynne was right. If Carynne wanted to be friends with Isella and killing or kidnapping her was off the table, then Raymond needed to break up with Isella properly first.
“…Haa.”
Still, that seemed unlikely.
Raymond felt a headache coming on just thinking about how to break things off with Isella.
Isella had never let go of Raymond before.
* * *
As soon as Raymond’s memories returned and a new life began, he knew he had to go to Carynne first.
Initially, he had no intention of being a threat to Isella. She was Verdic’s daughter, but that was all. Until then, Raymond had clearly distinguished his targets of anger.
“Carynne.”
After parting ways with Isella as soon as possible, the first thing he knew he needed to do was be reunited with Carynne.
So, Raymond set off to buy the necklace again, but this time it was a parting gift for Isella.
Here, in front of her, he watched as her face lit up in unbridled happiness as she received the necklace.
However, her expression soon hardened as Raymond spoke.
“What did you say just now?”
“There is a woman who I love. Therefore, Isella, I cannot marry you.”