A Con Artist But That's Okay - Chapter 4

4.

 

Seyzel, lost in confusion as she battled against a rising headache, slowly raised her hands.

Black mourning clothes that covered the wrists entered her hazy field of vision. 

On her finger sat a red ruby ring.

Is this not the ring I used at my father’s funeral?

After her father passed away, she, the official successor, took over…

“Haa…”

With a sudden realization, tears rolled down her white cheeks. 

Even the tears flowing down my cheeks are hot, so I guess this is probably real. 

…No, it has to be real!

“This…”

It’s clear.

I was nineteen years old, the very night after my father’s funeral. 

I don’t know if I have returned to the past or saw the future, but I am certain that I’ve been given a second chance in life. 

Even the gesture of my uncle handing me the handkerchief is the same as last time.

“Now, take this quickly.”

“Hmm? Yes.”

Looking into the friendly eyes of her uncle, something hot and vengeful rose from the deep within her soul.

Last time, his kindness and care brought tears of joy to her eyes, but now, her eyes felt hot in a different way.

“Ah, Seyzel, why did you suddenly cry?”

Because I’m so happy to see you again, uncle. 

I’m so happy to see you again like this that it makes my teeth gnash.

“Ugh.”

Seyzel couldn’t have been more grateful for the second chance she’d been given. 

My deceased mother’s ornaments and my father’s mementos… The things that had been taken away, whether they were thrown out bare-handed or dismantled one by one, are still intact in this house.

“…It’s nonsense.”

No, it’s not. Rebirth? Nevermind,  there’s nothing that makes sense, right? 

Even if I lived an honest life like my father told me too, I was still dealt a crappy hand. 

So what’s the point of not being able to come back from death?

This feeling, as if her heart was boiling and then melting, was proof that she was alive.

“Hehehehe.”

“Seyzel, I completely understand how you feel.”

Her heart was so overwhelmed with the violent repulsion within her uncle’s kind comfort that she covered her mouth. 

It was ironic that the person she was holding on to and crying at at this moment was the one who had plunged her life into an abyss, but it actually made it feel more real.

Seyzel couldn’t describe how overwhelmed she felt as she returned to the day she had regretted so much in her previous life.

“Well, really. How did this happen?”

Ahh! I can’t believe after everything, I’ve finally got a change to return!

A crying-like laugh flowed from Seyzel’s mouth. 

I’ve always wondered how I could avoid the blessings that everyone else received, but I never thought I would be given an opportunity like this.

The young lady didn’t know how to accept her amazing yet unbelievable reality, but even as she whimpered and held back her tears, her uncle’s hand did not let go.

She looked at him.

Every single day Seyzel spent in prison, she would wonder what she would have done had she been given a second chance. How would she have cut off this leech that had attached itself to her family.

I wondered what the most painful method would be… What would let you feel the same pain? 

The days I endured lost in day-dreams of revenge were not just one or two days.

“I can’t believe it…. How could this happen to me…?”

“Huh?”

“Yes? Ah, I never thought your father would leave in such vain.”

“…”

I see. 

Now that I think about it, my father also passed away again.

As soon as Seyzel thought of her father, the tears stopped. 

Although it is her uncle who directly ruined her life, her father cannot be free from that responsibility.

Her father was not a bad person, but in her past life, Seyzel had become drastically away from the fact that her father’s teaching carried a touch of error. 

Good intentions without foundation will be trampled.

“Seyzel, why don’t you calm down and go inside and rest.”

“…Yes?”

“I’ll take care of you, no matter what anyone says, aren’t we one family?”

Her uncle smiled kindly and patted her delicate shoulder.

Why wasn’t this pretentious expression visible at that time? How did I miss it?

The wrinkles around his eyes looked awkward, his emotions were misplaced as if they had come out of a cheap children’s book illustration.

Seeing Seyzel’s gaze looking down at his bulging wrists, Baron Fersen hurriedly pulled down his sleeves as if embarrassed.

“I need you to rest well for a few days and come to your senses, child. Then won’t you follow in your father’s footsteps and take over the estate?”

“…Haha.”

How is this no different from trying to tie the wool over my eyes, uncle?

[T/N: Swindle.]

When Seyzel suddenly burst into laughter, her uncle slowly frowned. 

You must be wondering if I’m crazy. 

However, as if trying to hide his thoughts from being clearly read, her uncle quickly exchanged glances with his family.

“Ah, it looks like you are in great shock. I understand.”

“Honey, I need to tell you to go in and get some rest. What if something goes wrong with your health, Seyzel?”

Seyzel’s aunt, who was nearby, thought it was time to step in and help her husband. 

Even the cousins ​​were getting excited as a group, and it seemed like they were itching to push her into the room right away.

“Would you like to get up? Quickly lean over here…”

“No. Actually, you two can wake up first.”

“…What?”

…What?

What did I hear just now? Seyzel wants us to…?

Her uncle and his wife looked at each other, confused. 

However, when the couple made eye contact, they confirmed that it was true.

“Seyzel, I don’t know why you’re acting strange.”

“I want to rest.”

Seyzel stamped her tears dry with a black lace handkerchief. 

How long has it been since I last touched such soft fabric? 

Watching the play performed before her, Seyzel decided it was her turn to join in the chaos.

Slowly, her eyes widened as innocence bled through, to all who looked at her, she was nothing but a harmless, pitiful girl. 

“Now that I have buried my father, I also need to prepare my mind in my own way for the future.”

“Uh, yes. That could well be the case.”

“…”

“But we are your family, and the more difficult things get—”

“Yes. I know.”

How does that feel? Are you feeling on edge?

Seyzel smiled, for the first time, everything seemed to have become clear. 

She reassured them with the good-natured yet weak face of a hopeless, orphaned daughter, no different from what she always showed.

“I want to spend at least one night alone and look back on my memories with my father. Haa… This is my father’s favorite place, ugh.”

“Ah, yes.”

As Seyzel buried her face in her handkerchief in a show of distress, all of their doubts and wariness, unable to find any faults, disappeared.

You might think things are getting annoying and want to argue with me, but after all, I am the next owner of this mansion. 

…Well… Of course, not yet. But you will still have to back down for now. 

“Well then, let’s call it a day, Seyzel. Call me anytime you need.”

“Yes. Oh! By the way, uncle.”

“…?”

Seyzel carefully removed the handkerchief from her face and looked at her uncle’s family, who had turned around awkwardly, with big, tearful eyes.

“You should leave my father’s watch behind.”

You bastards of thieves.

Give back my father’s belongings!

 

***

 

…I really came back.

Even after entering her room, it took Seyzel a long time to accept reality. 

Though unorthodox, Seyzel would pinch her cheeks and grope her face in front of the mirror as she tried to remind herself that she was alive once more. 

The emerald-colored eyes and light brown hair are truly hers.

She was back. 

“Ah.”

The only thing unfamiliar was the image in the mirror smiling brightly, as if in disbelief.

I’ve never laughed like this before in my life!

After being kicked out of my house, it was a hellish life where all I could do was hold back my tears and strive to make ends meet until I was imprisoned for murder.

I mean, the time I talked and laughed the most was in prison, that should have said it all.

Seyzel’s smile deepened as she remembered those days. 

Even thinking about how much we cared for each other and comforted each other in that narrow cell, makes my heart ache.

…Anyway, what happened to them? Were they beheaded too?

Even though they are murderers, I never thought they would have to die one day.

Seyzel held her head as a sudden sense of self-destruction struck her.

In the eyes of others, they may all appear to be the same criminals, but they were like real sisters who had been together for 10 years and knew everything about each other.

It cannot be compared to the noble and dignified people I met in the outside world. 

Through these people who are rough, but they were more honest than anyone else and have unfair stories, which redefined her values ​​about what is truly necessary to survive in a rough world.

A little violence, backstabbing, white lies, and… Well, it wasn’t such a bad trade off.

“F*ck it.” 

Ahh… I’m swearing, really, I need to work on that. 

Of course, what she learnt from them had been indispensable. Swearing was one of her more well learnt discoveries. 

It was only after going to prison that Seyzel was able to properly learn how to manage her rage, which she had been suppressing for so long and seemed to be festering inside her. 

It was an unexpected constitution, but after swearing once, her stomach felt more comfortable than after taking any other digestive aid or magic medicine.

It relieved her.

“Phew.”

I never thought that would be my last time with those kids.

She let out a sigh of regret as the corners of her pretty eyes crinkled in a frown.

She was curious, thinking back, it didn’t add up. The fact that they were tied together and their heads cut off was not according to planned procedures or laws. 

Around breakfast time on the day of her death, the prison warden suddenly said that he needed another study room, so they, being prisoners without a say, had to give up their cell to make room. . 

Naturally, through their executions.

“Ugh.”

Seyzel was very sick of having those important to her taken away. 

At home and in prison, my life was taken from me while I had nothing to keep me from drowning in my sorrows. I refuse to live that kind of life anymore.

I don’t know who gave me another chance, but I am sure that even the heavenly god didn’t want me to follow in my old footsteps! 

If that were the case, there would be no way I would have returned to this time when my fate had not yet changed.

“…Just wait and see. The one left standing in the end has not been decided yet?”

Seyzel opened the window and raised her head to the night sky. 

I decided a long time ago how I would live my life how I want to if I was ever born again.

…Be honest and humble. That is no longer an option, father. 

She wanted to hold on to her father’s teachings, but she could no longer live that way. 

The memory of what it was like to live like that is still vivid in the back of my head.

The handcuffs that were placed on her hands when she offered to help others, the back stabbing of those she trusted, as well as those who sprinkled ashes on her emerald eyes as she tried to look at the world warmly… Those wounds were engraved all over her body.

She would carry those hidden pains for as long as she lived.

“I will protect what is mine.”

Ba-thump. 

Mark my words. My land, my property, my people, everything given to me… It will never be stolen from me again.