78. Last Days, Elena Esgeland (2)
1.
Pounding.
Aside from the murky sensation transmitted through my fingertips, I could clearly feel the slow beating of my heart.
She didn’t put any selfishness in her mouth, and only told the truth without a single lie.
“There’s no way you need that.”
“Well, as I said, it’s not really necessary for the Lord.”
As soon as Elena released her wrists, Rudrick, who removed her hands, grumbled, and Elena replied with her smirk shaking.
And even in the midst of this chaos, Rudrick’s head was busier than ever.
‘Anything?’
Apparently, Elena said she would give anything in return, she affirmed.
If she were an ordinary person, she would have been thinking about what she could get from Elena’s proposal, which was practically a promise of a blank check. Her opponent was the princess of a country. Especially since she was, in fact, second to none of the great aristocrats, even though Elena could be useful to her privately.
But Rudrick had a slightly different idea.
‘…… It’s not like going to a ball and dancing like a clown anyway, as long as you’re just sitting there.’
Even thinking about the fact that he was being consumed as gossip by the aristocrats of the capital without even realizing it, he felt uncomfortable even thinking about it again. Moreover, if Elena had even handed over such an offer as she is now, even more so.
‘I’ve decided.’
Rudrick, who had made up his mind soon, made a determined expression.
It doesn’t mean much to Elena to get her material things anyway. Even if it wasn’t so rich that Rudrick actually wanted to overflow, at least it wasn’t too much to make use of that phenomenal level of magic talent a little bit.
Then, what she had to get from Elena at this point was simple.
“Good.”
“A wise decision. So, what does Lord need of me? If I really want it, I’ll give you my life, as I said.”
“Your Highness, did I tell you? There’s no need for that.”
“Whoops. Let me tell you then.”
She was Elena, who nodded her head leisurely, but that composure was shattered by Rudrick’s continued afterword.
“What happened before Her Highness returned. Please tell me everything.”
“……Ah?”
“That’s all I ask for in exchange for attending the closing ceremony of the birthday party with Her Highness.”
Elena’s expression hardened at her bold proposal.
In fact, in addition to intensive checks on the other four, Elena’s information sharing was not very smooth, as she was virtually bullied in this case.
She
She, of course, had some idea of what was going on, and most of it touched the truth, but that’s all.
Even though she had guessed that she was aware of the fact that she was a regressor, it was because she had absolutely no idea how far the other four had told Rudrick.
The pieces of the puzzle were slowly being put together.
It’s not that difficult to guess with just a few clues. However, Elena still doesn’t know ‘how far’ Rudrick knows. In fact, nothing has been confirmed, and everything is in the realm of reasoning.
“Sure. Shall we start right away?”
“Good.”
As a basis for adding confidence to that reasoning, Elena obediently nodded her head in agreement.
Sitting with her legs crossed, Elena pursed her lips. What should she start with and what should she rhyme with? At first she agreed, at least thinking it was not a losing proposition, but she couldn’t easily figure out what to do with her luck.
Noticing the slight hesitation, Rudrick quietly opened his mouth.
“I know you have eight years left.”
“……I see.”
Rudrick struck first. From Elena’s point of view, this was the hardest part of Rudrick’s mouthing, assuming he knew nothing.
Unless you’re not a priest or a doctor at the temple, making a time-limited judgment that your opponent has only eight years left to live is a difficult thing to say, no matter how much you know the future by returning.
Rudrick added in order to facilitate mutual communication without wasting time.
“That’s all I know. That’s why everyone seemed to be diligently looking for a way… Well, I told you not to worry too much, there’s a last resort if Arwen or Sylphia don’t get along.”
“As a last resort…?”
“I don’t know. I asked because the princess might know, but she said that it really should be put off as a last resort and she said she couldn’t say it because she was embarrassed?”
“Are you shy…? Ah.”
Elena, who was thinking while chewing on Rudrick’s explanation, immediately shut her mouth as if she realized something about her.
If the method she imagined was correct, there was no way they would openly tell Rudrick what method it was.
As proof of that, Elena, her face reddened, coughed, and then she said in a firm voice.
“I know how to do that, but I think it’s difficult to tell the lord here. It’s a little different matter before the promise I just passed.”
“……?”
“No way.”
As if Elena couldn’t really yield to this, she shook her head repeatedly in a voice that was as determined as ever.
‘…… How can I say this?’
If it’s just a mistake, you just have to get rid of it by grabbing hold of one person, getting married, and taking over the mana periodically before the symptoms get worse.
However, the most efficient way to transfer mana from person to person is to s*xually act if the target is male and female respectively. While connected, a kind of magic pass is connected, so direct communication is possible.
But that was something none of the five would dare to tell Rudrick openly.
Rudrick made a dissatisfied expression when she broke the promise from the start, but when Elena saw that expression, she comforted Rudrick as if she was embarrassed but apologetic.
“……It’s not that I intend to break the promise, I’m just saying that this is not me and I can’t tell anyone else if you ask.”
“Well, fine. It doesn’t matter what the method is anyway, so I’ll pass it on first.”
“……That’s a wise decision.”
Elena let out a sigh of relief.
She was worried about what she would do if she persistently inquired, but I felt relieved that I had avoided the unfortunate incident of telling her about s*xual harassment through her own mouth.
Until recently, Elena’s stance was reversed in an instant.
Extreme level of emotional change that is difficult for her to experience.
‘But I can’t help it.’
An old adage passed down through the Empire has been passed down that a woman loses whoever she falls in love with first.
Since she was the one who took her heart away from Rudrick, she loved her so much that she even went through her regression, so it was only her who suffered her loss.
Anyway, the story is going to be a bit long.
Elena asked as she rolled up the sleeves of her uncomfortable uniform.
“So what is the story you want?”
“It’s literally. What the hell happened before the regression. It would be nice if it was a big episode.”
“The story will be a bit long.”
For Elena, the past is so vivid that she can recall it even if she closes her eyes.
Well, I don’t know what happened between Rudrick and others. As far as she could tell, it was all events as bold as she had heard.
For example, while Rudric was away for over a week due to research, Arwen, who had not been able to drink blood, had endured it, but as soon as Rudric returned, he came in, but he was in the shower, so he had been away for a month as a sign of atonement.
These were trivial things to say, but that was also what Rudrick wanted.
‘There was a subtle sense of discord.’
Rudrick muttered to himself.
Before the return, the Ludrick in their memories and the current self, Ludrick Weiss, were the same person. The most conclusive evidence was vocabulary. They also seemed to remember some specific words that Rudrick used only in his previous life, saying that Ludrick before the return had spoken.
But if you truly ask if the two Ludrick Weiss are the same person, the current Rudrick can only shake his head.
Even Elena in front of her sometimes treated Rudrick as if he were the same person as ‘Ludrick before the return’, but each time a subtle sense of difference arose.
The cause of that sense of distance was due to the absence of memories. As if it were natural for Rudrick to feel like someone else’s story even if he spoke of the past from time to time, since he couldn’t share the same memories.
That’s also the reason why sometimes I feel stuffy like a stone is placed on my chest.
So it was part of Rudrick’s own efforts to reduce the gap even a little.
“……Then, let’s start from when I first met you. There’s still a lot of time left before the evening of the closing ceremony, so I’ll start calmly.”
And Elena, who recalled her past memories for a moment, slowly opened her mouth with a vague expression on her face.