I Thought It Was a Common Transmigration - Chapter 73

“Ugh……!”

As he tried to recall the past, a headache suddenly hit him.

It was the most intense pain he had felt in a long time.

Killian hurriedly reached into his desk drawer and grabbed a headache pill.

Just then, there was a knock on his door.

“Who is it?”

“Young master, Samuel would like to see you.”

“Samuel……?”

Edith had told me to let Samuel go, so I did.

I wonder why he wants to see me again.

“Let him in.”

The painkillers slowly kicked in, and the throbbing headache subsided.

Then, Samuel walked in hesitantly.

“Sit down.”

“Oh, no, you’ll get your precious furniture dirty.”

Killian sighed and flopped into a chair alone.

“Is there anything else you want to tell me?”

“T- that……”

“I don’t like talking in circles, I’m sure you know that.”

“I- I’m sorry, I swear it wasn’t me who left those screws loose in the cockpit. I definitely checked everything the day before.”

“You’re not here to tell me what you’ve been saying for three days, are you?”

“N- no, but…… as I was going back earlier, one thing suddenly occurred to me, and that was……”

Killian’s eyes widened at that.

“What?”

“The night before the accident…… Master Cliff came to visit. He said he needed to get something out of his yacht, so I accompanied him out, and in the meantime, I left my cabin unlocked.”

Samuel was the only one living in his cabin near Lake Everton, and he kept all the keys to the Ludwig family’s yachts inside.

“I don’t see how anyone could have stolen the key and tampered with the wheelhouse of my yacht in the meantime…… and how you could be away like that?”

“I- I just remembered that I didn’t mention it, and yes, I’m guilty of not locking the door properly and not checking before I left. I’m really sorry……”

After confessing his sins, Samuel knelt on the floor, shaking.

“But why are you confessing it? If you had kept your mouth shut, you would have gotten away with it.”

Samuel wouldn’t have been in this much trouble if he had kept his mouth shut, because Edith would have forgiven him and let him go.

“I can’t help but feel sorry for Miss Edith, she’s such a kind and compassionate person…… I’m sorry…… I did something so stupid…… hic…… I’m sorry……”

The man in his 50s begged for forgiveness with tears streaming down his face, saying he was sorry to Edith……

Edith’s forgiveness brought out the “memory” that intimidation and threats had failed to bring out.

Killian smiled faintly, remembering Edith’s words that commoners are human too, that the unlearned should be more forgiving.

“Get up, Samuel.”

“Hic, sob……”

“Edith believes you couldn’t have done anything bad on purpose or been bribed by someone. So…… I’ll believe you too.”

“Master……!”

“Three days of hard labor shall be your punishment for your mistake.”

“T- thank you!”

“Oh, by the way……”

Feeling odd, Killian asked one more question afterward. “What did Cliff take out of his yacht?”

“He looked for a while for something, and when he couldn’t find it, he said he must have been mistaken and just left.”

“Is that so? Okay. Go back and get some rest.”

Samuel repeated his gratitude over and over again, as if he were going to bang his head on the floor, and then staggered away.

Watching him, Killian was sure he hadn’t done it on purpose.

But the new information was creating a strange afterimage.

‘Cliff had stopped by the lake the night before…… and spent a while on his yacht, and then went back without finding anything……’

I have a strange feeling.

Cliff and I had been at odds over Lizé, but it wasn’t a bad relationship.

We are brothers and have each other’s backs.

So he wouldn’t have deliberately touched the wheel in hopes of killing me or Edith.

‘But…… it’s definitely too weird to ignore.’

Asking Cliff would not have gotten me much of an answer.

But it kept coming back to me that the only person who could have gotten the right, rational Cliff Ludwig was Lizé Sinclair.

Even though he knew it couldn’t be, the smoke of disbelief rose in Killian’s chest.

***

I had a sore nose, throat, and stomach for a few days after the drowning incident, but I recovered quickly.

But Killian couldn’t seem to shake the memory of the moment I stopped breathing.

Thankfully, I had the luxury of savoring the dessert he brought while reclining in bed.

“Samuel came back and told me that he had gone out the night before without locking the cabin door. Apparently, in the meantime, someone had stolen the key and gotten into the cockpit of my yacht…… Anyway, Samuel asked me to tell you that he was sorry.”

“You didn’t punish him, did you?”

“I decided to defer to your wishes this time.”

“Thank you.”

I accepted the canelé he forked out to me.

At first, I was going to eat it myself, but after I lost my knife in the process of slicing the canelé in half, Killian cut it into bite-sized pieces and put it in my mouth himself.

The sweet canelé with its crispy exterior and moist interior was just like Killian’s, and I felt better with each bite.

But Killian’s expression was not good the whole time.

The accident had been caused by someone’s malicious intent, but there was no evidence of it.

“Killian. It can’t be helped.”

“I don’t like that phrase.”

Who is to blame?

In an age where fingerprint matching is impossible, eyewitness testimony and evidence left at the scene are the only things that can support an investigation, and in this case, there were no eyewitnesses and no evidence.

Samuel’s testimony that he had left his keys unguarded was the best evidence we had, suggesting that someone had stolen them and sneaked into the cockpit.

‘That’s kind of weird too. How could they have expected him to leave the cabin at that time?’

It was a story that would not benefit Samuel.

But he’d rather confess than keep his mouth shut, so I eliminated him as a suspect.

But then Killian added an unexpected detail, “But strangely enough…… it turns out it was Cliff who visited Samuel the night before.”

“What? Cliff?”

“He said he was looking for something on his yacht. He and Samuel had been looking for something on the yacht for a while, and then he said he must have been mistaken and just left.”

I swallowed hard. “Well, that certainly wasn’t enough time for someone to commit a crime.”

“I don’t think Cliff would have wanted me or you to die……”

At Killian’s side, lost in thought, I recalled the voice I’d heard when I’d lost consciousness.

[Some of the flow of the original story has been broken by the author’s excessive intervention. The original story has been further damaged. The author’s control is weakening.]

I wonder what form this author’s “excessive” intervention took.

Did he move the character in a way that ignored the original setting?

Given the lack of direct attempts to kill me, I’m guessing the author is moving the characters around……

‘If that was the case, it would have been a huge problem for the probability, so I understand that some of the flow of the original story was broken. The good thing for me is that it weakened the author’s control.’

I think the author took a gamble, and it failed.

‘It’s also worth noting that the character the author moved was Cliff, not Killian, who was right next to me. Maybe…… Killian is quite a bit out of the author’s control,’ I thought, squinting at Killian.

For some time now, Killian’s behavior has been far different from the original.

Killian is feeding Edith a canelé cut in half…… It’s a Kaebung! Everyone, it’s a Kaebung! [1]

[1] 캐붕 (Kaebung) is a condition in which a character in a work of fiction behaves in a way that is completely out of character with their original personality or setting, (Sc: Namu Wiki).

‘At this rate, I can survive……!’

Not even an author would be able to pull off such a troublesome assassination attempt so many times.

I shouted to myself, “I can survive,” once again, and grabbed Killian’s hand as he was about to cut the canelé in half.

“Killian. Thank you for protecting me.”

Killian paused at the unexpected thank you, his ears flushed.

“I should have stayed closer to you…… I’ve felt bad the whole time that I was careless and caused you to fall into the water.”

“It was an accident, no one could have done anything about it. But Killian……”

“Yes, Edith.”

“Next time it happens again, you can’t just jump into the water to save me, or you’ll get us both killed.”

Despite her concern, Killian frowned in response.

“So, you’re saying I should just watch you drown?”

“So you’re going to die with me?”

“I won’t let you die, ever.”

Ah! The declaration I was hoping for.

Please don’t change your mind……!

Just as I was about to shed a few tears of joy, Anna announced a visitor.

“Master Cliff is here.”

My and Killian’s gazes met.

I nodded to Anna and straightened up.

Seeing this, Killian pulled the blanket up over my chest.

“Oh dear, did I interrupt your alone time with Killian?”

Cliff approached, his voice thicker and warmer than Killian’s, a playful greeting.

A large bouquet of flowers was in his hand.

I merely smiled, but Killian snorted.