I Thought It Was a Common Transmigration - Chapter 18

Why do I keep forgetting that Killian is a character that’s set up to behead me?

Whenever I see Killian, I’m all playful and I have something to say.

‘Is this an influence from the original story, because the original Edith was always messing around with Killian, although it’s not quite the same.’

Killian just stared at me and didn’t say anything, even though I’d opened up the conversation.

Eventually, I gave up trying to get a response from him and just sipped my tea and enjoyed my morning as usual.

The weather was nice again today.

The flowers were in full bloom, and everywhere I looked there was a beautiful greenery.

I got up from my seat and opened the window.

The fresh, spring-scented air slowly filled my room.

“The weather is nice……”

It was still a little chilly, but it felt refreshing.

I was about to fix my shawl when Killian came up behind me and spread his arms, trapping me between him and the window.

I stiffened, too flustered by the unexpectedness of the situation.

“I heard you helped my mother well.”

“Yes? Oh, well, that’s the obvious…… thing to do.”

“I heard you’re suspiciously good at it……”

Suddenly, I wondered what the hell this was all about. Maybe yesterday’s events had reached Killian’s ears……

“You’d better not make a fool of yourself. I’m telling you to forget what you saw and heard in my mother’s room the moment you leave it.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not smart enough to remember all that.”

“Well, surprisingly, you don’t seem to have a very bad brain.”

What, are you here to pick a fight?

No, I think it’s good, and I want you to tell me at a distance, or my heart will jump out.

“Oh, and……”

“What else?”

“My mother’s favorite boutique was too classy and highbrow for your tastes?”

“Yes……?”

What is this again?

“If you have a favorite, just say so. I’ll call it for you.”

“No, I……”

“For someone who’s famous for never wearing the same dress twice, I thought it was quite the way to protest that you didn’t get a new dress.”

So now, even the fact that I didn’t buy a new dress is a reason to hate me?

I was just trying to break out of my extravagant image, but the end result is the same as the original story!

‘It’s unfair.’

His misunderstanding and accusations were strangely hard to bear, even though I’d vowed not to get on Killian’s bad side.

“A way to protest……?”

Killian didn’t answer.

“Killian, you really don’t know anything about me.”

“What do you mean I don’t know?”

“If I didn’t like the boutique, I would have called another one right then and there, why would I let them alter my dress, do you think I’d make a fuss about something like that?”

I straightened my hunched shoulders and turned to face him.

He flinched and stepped back slightly, as if I were going to rub his lower body.

“It’s not like I did anything wrong, you just hate me, and somehow you’re making it fit that I’m the cause of it.”

“That……!”

“Of course I can see why you’d want to blame me, it would make you feel better.”

I rambled on, so I couldn’t tell what my expression was like.

I think Killian was pretty surprised, but I had to say something.

“It’s cowardly.”

“Excuse me?”

“The way you’re trying to cement your own happiness at the expense of an innocent person like me, the way you’re acting like you’re the only victim, is cowardly.”

Killian’s eyes widened. They were quickly filled with anger.

“Is that…… how you feel about the position you earned by blackmailing my family?”

“Did I make that threat?”

“I’ve never seen a child stab his father in the tail before.”

“You don’t know anything about me, Killian. Nothing.”

“I know enough about the Riegelhoffs, though.”

In the end, to Killian– no, to everyone in House Ludwig, everyone in the Riegelhoff family was bad people.

No matter what I did, no matter what I tried to do……

“As long as you keep your head down, nothing untoward will happen to you, so don’t do anything to arouse suspicion, that’s the most advice I can give you.”

I was devastated.

He’s going to be suspicious no matter what I do……

“That’s good advice,” I replied, turning away from him.

I didn’t want to see more of him, not now, not with his blossoming handsome.

Killian glared at me, then turned and left.

The sound of the door closing with a thud seemed to show me that he had completely closed himself off to me.

I was alone in a large, beautifully decorated room.

The room that seemed to be full of life just a moment ago, now felt somehow empty.

Loneliness rose from the tip of my toes.

‘What’s wrong with me now? I’ve always been alone.’

I quickly turned my head back to the window, feeling like I was going to cry.

A few small birds were perched on a branch in front of me, chirping.

I envied the birds because they didn’t seem to have any worries, just enjoying the glorious spring that was coming.

‘If possible, I’ll stay in this house and suck honey until I die, but if things don’t go well, I’ll have to run away at night, well.’

The time has come for me to seriously consider the next best option, which is to run away.

It came a little too quickly than I thought.

‘Okay, starting tomorrow, I’ll focus more on saving money.’

I shook off my depression and called Anna.

It wasn’t like anyone was going to care if I was sad anyway.

It always was.

 

***

 

After leaving Edith’s room, Killian headed straight for the training ground.

He had only stopped by Edith’s room on impulse.

‘Damn it. Why did I do something to offend her?’

Probably because of what he’d heard from the Duchess and Lizé yesterday.

 

“You know, Edith is so clever, she even figured out how to organize information in a grid like this.”

The Duchess showed Killian the table Edith had made with amazement.

Even to him, it was an efficient way to organize.

“I suppose we can condense information like this.”

“Killian…… the way I see it, Edith is trying to fit in.”

“She’s trying to save herself.”

“It’s the same for her, she’s been forced into an arranged marriage, and she’s been left alone in what is essentially enemy territory, can’t you feel a little sorry for her?”

Even though Edith was the daughter of an enemy, his mother still felt sorry for her.

But Killian couldn’t let his guard down about Edith. Because Lizé’s perspective was a little different than the Duchess’.

“My mother said she did a good job, but what do you think, Lizé?”

“Umm…… I think she is very smart.”

The nuance of her answer was subtle. Like she is smart, but there’s something off about her…….

“Is there something else?”

“Oh, no! She learns so fast, unlike me, who never learned anything at Sinclair, and that makes me a little…… envious.”

“Lizé……”

Killian smiled bittersweetly and put an arm around Lizé’s shoulders to comfort her, but he took the point Lizé made with a grain of salt.

After all, it was only because of her four years of education that Lizé was able to help the Duchess as much as she was now.

And she picked up the knowledge very quickly for someone who hadn’t learned anything at Sinclair, and it was no secret that she was smart.

‘If she makes Lizé jealous, it’s not because she’s smart, it’s because she’s already trained for it.’

Besides, the last time I saw her at Sistine Hall and talked to her, she didn’t seem as stupid as the rumors made her out to be.

She said she didn’t know any artists, but from the way she talked about the paintings, she wasn’t a dumbass, and she understood them.

Sure, it sucked that she teased me about the damn painting at the last minute, but……

So this morning, on my way to sword training, I suddenly had the idea to stop by Edith’s room.

‘I need to keep an eye on her and warn her not to pull any stunts.’

With that resolve in mind, Killian entered Edith’s room and felt an unfamiliar and strange tension.

‘It smells like roses……’

Unlike Lizé’s room, which smelled faintly of violets, Edith’s room smelled sensually of roses.

The scent, a combination of roses and something that smelled like soft flesh, made Killian forget what he had come to say.

“Huh? Why so early, what’s going on?”

He was even more puzzled by Edith, who greeted him with a tilt of her head.

‘What’s wrong with your pajamas!’

Her off-the-shoulder, lightweight nightgown was hanging precariously, threatening to slip off at any moment, revealing her naked silhouette wherever the sunlight filtered through.

Moreover, her face was still sleepy, as if she had been possessed by something, which only added to stimulate the strange feeling.

He looked around the room and tried to push the strange feeling down.

Luckily, Edith’s intervention quickly brought him back to his senses.

But when Edith, who had been sipping her tea, walked over to the window and opened it, her scent drifted in on the wind, and Killian unwittingly swept her into his arms.