I Thought It Was a Common Transmigration - Chapter 144
10. Flashback (3)
‘No, this can’t be ignored. It’s a little early, but I think I’ll have to use Sophia.’
Nervous, Lizé tweaked the original flow to have Edith and Shane run into each other.
As expected, Edith rebelled against Shane, and a few days later, Shane stormed into the Ludwig mansion with Sophia in tow.
‘If she rebels, Sophia will never let her go, and she’ll end up helping the Riegelhoffs, just like Edith in the original story.’
There hasn’t been Edith who hasn’t cowered in the face of violence, and eventually succumbed.
So Lizé tried to wait until the very end to have Sophia appear, but Killian’s change in character was more significant than she expected, so she had to insert her into the story earlier.
But to her surprise, Edith didn’t give in to Sophia.
‘Is she crazy?’
Lizé was shocked by Edith’s defiance, even to the point of being beaten by Sophia and starving herself of food.
‘What the hell is she trying to do?’
Even though she was going through such a hard time, she wasn’t trying to reveal her situation.
She’s always been arrogant in front of Killian.
‘Well, that won’t change the original story.’
Lizé smiled like an angel as she watched the starving Edith stare at the peach pie.
The original “cake poisoning incident” could easily turn into a “peach pie poisoning incident”.
When Edith woke up after eating the poisoned peach pie, Sophia pointed to Lizé as the culprit, even though Edith said she was only nauseous until the end. But the episode has just begun.
Cliff, as per the original story, searched Edith’s room and found the poison bottle, and Edith was suspected of staging her own poisoning.
‘Now, give up, Edith.’
Lizé put on her angel mask and saved Edith’s life, expecting her to despair at the situation being no different from the original.
To despair at her situation, even though she had met the first exception condition.
So when Edith brought her the embroidery thread as a gift, Lizé thought it was poisoned, just like in the original story, though she was soon to be disappointed.
‘I know you’re trying, but I’m sorry, it’s no use. You’ll die a villainess, and I’ll live forever as a female lead.’
Laughing at Edith inwardly, Lizé poisoned the embroidery thread and laid it out in front of the maids who were to be her witnesses, and soon collapsed with a pale face.
Cliff and the Duke of Ludwig were very angry, believing it to be a plot by Edith, but Killian rushed to her first.
Lizé pitied Killian’s change of heart, for he had never set his eyes on a woman other than her, but she knew he would soon return to her.
But then another twist happened.
“Edith is adamant that she didn’t do it, and it’s actually a pretty convincing rebuttal.”
Cliff returned from a meeting about the case with a frown.
He added, “It’s just that the ‘revenge’ was so immediate after the poison pie incident that it’s rather odd. Edith obviously knew very well she would be the one suspected.”
In the original, Edith is still under suspicion, but it was the logical way in which the 13th Edith had maintained her innocence all along that moved the hearts of the Ludwigs.
Cliff continued, “What’s more, Edith asked to have a maid from our family assigned as a watcher to help her prove her innocence. Killian immediately reassigned Anna to be Edith’s maid again, and the way she’s defending herself, I don’t think she’s the one who did it.”
Edith even tried to find a way to stop Sophia’s assault.
‘This isn’t worth the poison I’ve taken!’
While her power as the author greatly alleviated her pain, her radius of action was greatly reduced, to Lizé’s detriment in more ways than one.
Then again, after another few days, the Duke, Cliff, and Killian tentatively concluded that Edith was not the culprit.
The Count of Sinclair, who shouldn’t be out in the story yet, was suspected as the mastermind, and Lizé had no choice but to beg for this incident to be swept under the rug, lest the original story be damaged further.
***
It’s unclear what happened between Killian and Edith after the first exception condition was met, but whatever happened, Killian kicked Sophia out back to the Riegelhoff.
The lack of backlash from the Riegelhoffs showed that Killian had noticed something.
Furthermore, as if realizing that the less significant supporting roles were less likely to be affected by the original story, Edith began to involve extras.
That wasn’t the only thing that made Lizé anxious.
[Please specify the second exception condition. If you do not do so by the deadline, Edith Ludwig is automatically deemed to have met the third exception condition.]
The system had been warning her for some time.
Lizé had held out until the end of the deadline because she couldn’t arbitrarily specify the second exception condition for this Edith.
Lizé gritted her teeth as her hands shook slightly.
‘This is fun…… yeah, this is a fun situation.’
Her fears over, Lizé began to think of a condition that Edith would never be able to meet, and then she remembered Killian.
‘I think Edith’s biggest weakness…… is that she loves Killian.’
Smiling happily, Lizé set the second exception condition.
[The second exception condition: Reject Killian Ludwig’s offer ten times.]
It was a condition she’d never set before, but she was confident.
No one could turn down a generous offer from the love of their life.
To Killian, who stopped by to break the news that Sophia had been kicked out, Lizé said, “Please take good care of Edith.”
“……what?”
“Take her for tea, take her for a walk, talk to her, just like you did when you comforted me……”
Killian, who she thought would be surprised and confused, nodded easily.
As much as she hated the change, it meant that Edith would never be able to meet the second exception condition and would continue to do the opposite of the condition, reinforcing the flow of the original story.
Lizé sent her condolences to Edith in advance, who would have been so happy with Killian thanks to her.
But things didn’t go her way.
“I think Edith’s been avoiding me lately.”
Killian muttered bitterly as he came to visit.
“What’s going on, Killian, is Edith avoiding you?”
“As you said, I’ve been asking her to do this and that.”
“I see. And?”
“Well, she turned me down……”
“What?”
Lizé was so surprised she almost jumped up.
‘This is ridiculous. How did he say it that he got turned down?’
By gently reassuring Killian, Lizé was able to figure out what he had offered to Edith.
It was a series of offers after offers.
“Killian. A woman’s heart is delicate, and I’m sure Edith thought you said something you didn’t mean.”
“What? Why?”
“Think about the offers you made, and you’ll realize that they don’t give any indication that you want to be with Edith.”
“……is that so?”
“You’ve never offered anything like that to me. Not once.”
Killian looked inwardly shocked.
“Why don’t you try saying it like you really want to be with Edith, not like, ‘I’ll hang out with you.'”
“Uhm…… okay. Thanks for the advice, Lizé.”
Killian walked out with a rather bright face.
‘Phew. That almost got me in trouble. No, no, no. It’s not time to rest on our laurels. I need to get Edith and have a word with her.’
Lizé hurried to call Edith.
Edith rushed over, looking unperturbed and concerned about Lizé’s health.
Lizé could only smile at Edith’s incomprehensible jokes, and then she looked at her.
“By the way, Edith, is there something upsetting about Killian…… no, of course there is, I mean…… are you angry with him……?”
“No! I’m not angry at Killian, not even a little bit, not even a fingernail-sized bit.”
When asked if she was angry at Killian, Edith hurriedly shook her head.
“Killian is a poor man…… he’s offering me things now only because he’s being forced to because of his position.”
But Lizé thought Edith was being hard on Killian.
‘She’s pretending to be nice. She’s just trying to get back at Killian for all the times he’s made her feel bad, and she’s taking this opportunity to do the opposite.’
She could understand wanting to strike back, but not like this.
Lizé squeezed Edith’s hand and tried to convince her.
“That’s not true, Edith. Killian is opening up to you, and he’s trying to get to know you a little better.”
Lizé’s persuasive words seemed to have Edith half-convinced.
But instead of paying off, Lizé’s efforts brought out the worst outcome.
[The second exception condition has been met. An exception has been granted and the author’s control has been reduced. The second exception condition will be removed.]
It happened faster than she could have imagined.
Edith, who Lizé thought would never be able to resist Killian’s offer, rejected him ten times without knowing what would result from her actions.
‘Why did Killian make continuous offers without giving her a break?!’
Lizé tried to blame Killian, but it was pointless to assign blame in this situation.
More importantly, for the first time since K reincarnated as Lizé, the second exception condition was met, and Killian was about 70% free from Lizé’s control.
The ‘headache’ that had been a hindrance whenever he tried to deviate from the original story had also become much less likely to occur.
‘No. I have to be the female lead here, and I’m not going to let the story I wrote fall apart!’
Lizé clenched her fists and vowed to herself.
From now on, it was a fight with no margin for error.
Not only would she have to set up the third exception condition that Edith could never meet, but she would also have to intervene and twist the story so that Edith died a villainess.
‘A condition that Edith will never be able to meet……’
Lizé thought long and hard.
It was a long agonizing process of exploring the system, the characters, and the soul in Edith’s body.
Eventually, she realized that it was not coincidence and luck that she had to rely on, but the nature of existence.