I Thought It Was a Common Transmigration - Chapter 123

“I’m so tired. Tired of insisting on my innocence, tired of being labeled a liar……”

“And now you want to live again?”

I’m not sure if she’s angry because I wanted to die or because I wanted to live.

Something didn’t feel right, but I replied nonetheless. I need that hot-water bottle.

“Because Killian believed in me.”

“Killian…… yeah, Killian was the problem, always has been……”

“Lizé……?”

That was really weird.

It was so unlike Lizé that it gave me goosebumps.

“So what? You’ll be labeled a liar and suspected of being a villainess again.”

“Liz–”

“So, just think about dying. You should die here today.”

What the hell does this mean?

Why is Lizé saying such strange things?

No, why is she suddenly pulling a dagger out of her pocket?

“Lizé, why, why are you like this?”

I stepped back from the bars as Lizé slashed her arm with the dagger and screamed.

“Aaah!”

She threw the dagger she was holding into my cell.

‘Why are you giving me that when I asked for a hot-water bottle?’

I just stared at the scene in disbelief, because this situation didn’t feel real at all.

‘Am I still asleep, or is this a lucid dream?’

That’s the more plausible speculation. For the good and righteous Lizé Sinclair to try to frame me so brazenly would have turned the world of “I Refuse Your Obsession” upside down.

But contrary to my vain hopes, she didn’t hesitate for a moment and began to play the victim.

“Get a grip, Edith! Why are you doing this!”

“N- no, what are you……”

As I stammered, not knowing what to say, Cliff, Killian, and a couple of knights burst in as if they’d been waiting.

“What’s going on? Lizé!”

Cliff was the first to come, quickly wrapping his arms around her like a true male lead.

Then, through her torn sleeve, he noticed that her forearm was bleeding.

For a moment, I thought I saw sparks fly out of Cliff’s eyes.

“E- Edith tried to stab me all of a sudden. I- I was just trying to give her a hot-water bottle……”

With tears welling up in her eyes, Lizé looked deeply hurt.

I was almost mesmerized by her amazing acting skills.

“I…… I didn’t. I didn’t do it……” I stammered, saying such a stereotypical thing.

At that moment, Killian, who was watching from afar, snatched the key from the knight, unlocked the door to my cell, and came inside.

I missed Killian so much, and I was afraid that he would be disappointed in me, that the little favor he had for me would fade away.

If I’d known this would happen, it would have been better to die a moment ago……

Once inside the cell, Killian picked up the dagger lying on the floor without even bothering to look at me.

He examined it back and forth, had the knights guarding the dungeon touch it once, and then handed it to Cliff.

Cliff took the dagger, looked at me, and gritted his teeth.

‘I’m pretty sure he wants to stab me with it now.’

As I stared at him blankly, my mouth half open, Killian stormed over to me and grabbed my hand.

“Killian……?”

“You’re cold.”

Of course I am. Didn’t you notice it when you came in here earlier? Not just my hands, but my whole body is frozen.

Even though I had those thoughts, I just shrugged my shoulders.

What else could I do?

“What about that dagger, brother? Isn’t it too warm?”

“What?”

“The dagger you’re holding, isn’t the blade and hilt all warm? More than human body temperature.”

“Come to think of it……”

“Edith’s hands are ice cold. If the hand that just held that dagger is this cold, how can the dagger be that warm?”

And before Cliff could retort, Killian’s hand slipped inside my coat.

“Kil- Killian! What are you doing!”

I squealed in surprise, but my voice was too weak to come out loud.

“Moreover, these clothes Edith is wearing don’t keep her warm at all, so her body is…… too cold. That’s not a dagger someone with this body condition would have, that’s for sure.”

Killian’s gaze shifted to Lizé.

“But if it belongs to someone with a hot-water bottle in her arms, no wonder the dagger is so warm. Don’t you think?”

“Killian!”

This time, Lizé shouted Killian’s name like a scream.

But no one in the room responded to her cry. Even Cliff was frozen in shock.

“Edith. You tell me. What happened?”

Killian gave me a chance to defend myself. My breath caught in my throat with emotion, but I took a deep breath and told the truth.

“Lizé said she was here to give me a hot-water bottle…… and she asked me why I wanted to die before…… and then she suddenly said I should die here…… and she took that dagger out of her pocket and slashed her own arm and threw it through the bars, and then she screamed…… and you and Cliff came right after.”

“You’re lying!” Lizé screamed again.

Then Killian gave Lizé a dry stare. “Then why don’t you explain what happened, Lizé?”

“I came to hand Edith a hot-water bottle, and she took out her dagger and stabbed me with it……!”

“Then why is the dagger so warm? You can tell when you touch it, it’s too warm.”

“T- that’s because……”

“And there was one more important mistake, Lizé.”

Killian had completely concluded that Lizé was the culprit.

I found that a little surprising, but the way Killian handed Cliff the dagger made me realize that he’d realized it was Lizé the moment he’d come down here.

“Look at this, Lizé. If it were me, I wouldn’t be able to cut your arm that deep.”

Killian stretched out his arm through the bars and swung it around, and Cliff and the knights standing next to him had an “ah-ha” moment of realization.

The cell has several rows of bars, very close to each other.

My arms, wrapped in a winter coat and winter wool cardigan, could barely fit through the bars.

It would be difficult for me to extend the hand holding the dagger out, but even if I managed to do so, the gap between the bars was so narrow that I would have to use only my wrist strength to move the dagger.

To cut through several layers of winter clothing and slash into her bare skin with such force? It doesn’t make sense.

‘She must have made the crucial mistake of using too much force to slash her arm, the wound was really deep and the blood did not stop.’

I marveled at Killian’s ability to see the truth where I hadn’t.

Caught off guard, Lizé could only gape, and Cliff looked bewildered.

Then Killian asked again with a cold face. “Lizé, why did you try to frame Edith?”

But Lizé burst into tears and insisted. “Why don’t you believe me, when it’s obvious that Edith tried to kill me?”

“If you feel wronged, try to explain what happened in a way that makes sense, Lizé. At least Edith, whenever something happened at the mansion, she tried to prove that she didn’t do it. Why can’t you do the same?”

At that, a thumping sound seemed to come from my chest, not Lizé’s.

‘You remembered all of that…… Killian.’

I was so happy and grateful that it made my body tremble.

But Killian was fiercely pushing Lizé, as if he were angrier than I was.

“Edith has endured such injustice all this time! While all of us foolish Ludwigs, including me, have protected you like glass that could break at any moment, Edith has endured it without even telling us she was in pain!”

“Killian. Lizé’s scared, so you need to calm down……!”

“Same goes for you, brother!”

Killian’s arrow quickly turned to Cliff.

“You blindly accused Edith of cooperating with Shane without even checking out the Wellesley’s villa! If Edith hadn’t been able to free herself from the ropes and run away, she could have frozen to death there or lost the use of her limbs!”

“That was…… my fault.”

“What was so urgent that you couldn’t be bothered to look in the basement? It was because of Lizé, right?”

Cliff didn’t answer, even as Killian shot him a hateful glare. Because it was probably true.

“You know, brother, you’re kind of an idiot when it comes to Lizé. I don’t mind that in other things, but when the cost of your stupidity is the death of my woman…… you should be prepared to turn on me. Or do you think I’m too easy?”

Killian clenched his fists so hard his knuckles were white and shaking.

Killian’s words, every single one of them, sent a warm feeling through me, but I knew I had to stop him. As winter gets colder, you need to be careful about your blood pressure.

“Killian…… that’s enough.”

I gingerly took his hand, and his teary eyes met mine.

His eyes, as gray as a cloudy winter sky, held a mixture of emotions, and I realized he was feeling the most guilty of them all.

“Edith…… what can I, what can I do for you? Don’t just stop me, ask me to help you. Please!”

That was nice of him.

But I got everything I wanted out of this situation.

I was cleared of wrongdoing for something I didn’t do, and it was also because of Killian, who I feared had taken his mind off of me.

The knights were also witnesses to all of this, so neither Lizé nor Cliff would be able to twist the case.

And I found out who the main character who had been driving me as a villainess all this time was. It’s a bit funny that she is literally the main character.