For the plan to succeed, I need a perfect performance. First of all, I pretended that I was extremely panicked after nearly drowning at the lakeshore and Elda's sudden death.
For several days in a row, I didn't step out of my room, stopped eating or drinking, and deliberately acted like a lunatic. Every day I went to the priest to confess my sins, spending hours praying, just to pass the time. You have to act like someone haunted by illusions.
This visibly haggard face is the work of Delfina. Thanks to her excellent makeup skills, dark patches were skillfully painted on my cheekbones and under my eye sockets, making me look like someone who had been tormented for many days and nights.
When Giovinetta came to visit me, I knew the right thing had finally happened. So I put all my effort into playing the role of someone who is extremely scared, but……
“Mercedes is definitely trying to kill me.”
Mercedes is a dangerous man who murdered five people. Plus, she hates me to the core, so no matter how or when she acts, it's not surprising.
What I need is evidence to corner Mercedes. Last time when Elda tried to kill me, due to lack of evidence, I was forced into a passive position.
“Then we have to be caught in the act.”
Right at the scene where she tried to kill me. That is the strongest evidence.
Thế nên tôi định tung ra một con mồi. The one prey that she cannot refuse is me.
Knowing that I go out alone every night, Mercedes' reaction will be too easy to predict. She intended to use Elda to kill me, but Elda is no more.
Chắc chắn bà ta sẽ đích thân ra tay. Because more than anyone else, she wants to completely erase me. So I had to patiently wait for her to take the bait. So slowly. Until she swallowed the fish hook in her stomach.
Following that thought, I fell asleep.
Trong mơ, tôi đang bước đi. Where is this? Looking up at the sky, darkness covers everything. Tonight the full moon is unusually big and beautiful.
Tôi có một mục đích. Must go. But why? Where are you going in the end? My body kept moving on its own, not following my thoughts.
My limping legs brought me to a place that now has a deep relationship with me. Lakeside. This is definitely where the third Imperial Concubine candidate died, and where Elda once tried to kill me.
I sat down, digging in the dirt with my bare hands. At that moment, a voice rang out from behind.
―Chết đi, con ranh yêu nghiệt!
Terrible pain came, piercing my ribs. Burning like a red-hot iron bar piercing through the skin. For a moment, I couldn't move even a little bit.
―Uh, uh huh.
As soon as he opened his mouth, black blood flowed out massively. But I couldn't do anything other than trying to support my body that was slowly collapsing helplessly.
―Mer… cedes…….
I tried to reach out towards her. But the response was only the sharp blade of the dagger. It stabbed brutally into my stomach. Once, then again, the body was brutally chopped up.
―Die, die already! Hehe!
It hurts so much, it hurts so much……
―Ren, wake up!
And then, as always, that voice woke me up.
“Aaaaaaa!”
I screamed and woke up. Panicked, he groped around the abdomen that had just been stabbed in the dream. But nothing unusual. There was no bleeding, everything was intact. Even so, I still couldn't believe it. I had to touch it over and over again.
"Lace……?"
At this time, Cesar carefully called my name. The one who woke me up this time was still him. He was looking at me with eyes filled with worry.
“Ce, Cesar?”
Still not recovering, I blinked continuously. So what I just saw was the prophetic dream that "Wisdom Eye of Heavenly Mandate" brought.
For the first time, Wisdom Eyes showed me the future. It's also the future where I have to die. Just thinking about death, nausea suddenly came.
“Eee, vomit.”
Unable to hold back, I quickly vomited next to the bed. But nothing came out. Even though I couldn't vomit anything, my face was still hot and physiological tears flowed out, drenching my eyelashes.
“Ha, haa…….”
For a long time now I've been dreaming about other people dying. That alone was painful enough, but this time it was a dream of my own death.
Remembering the moment I was stabbed by the knife, my whole body trembled, goosebumps appeared all over my body.
The shock never went away. Because I know that Wisdom Eye of Heaven only shows the truth. That truth seemed to be squeezing my throat.
It was as if a death sentence had been announced.
“Puff, huff.”
The moment I realized that, I felt like my lungs were being squeezed. I tried to breathe, but it was as if a giant rock was blocking my windpipe.
A heavy block of lead was blocking my nose and mouth. That weight pressed down on my whole body, making it impossible for me to breathe.
“Ren, what's wrong?”
Noticing my strange behavior, Cesar asked urgently and shook my shoulder firmly. But I don't have the heart to answer.
"Puff, gasp. Ugh. Cough."
I could only open my mouth and try to suck in air, but the oxygen I craved would not come in. What's scarier is that I can't remember how to breathe at all.
“Puff, gasp.”
How to breathe? I don't know how to breathe. Forgetting how to breathe made me panic, my breathing became more rapid. How do people live and breathe? Along the way, I tried to cough as a temporary solution, but only came out choking sounds stuck in my throat.
Tears fell from the corners of my eyes. Fingertips numb. Head spinning. Due to lack of oxygen for so long, my lungs screamed for air. My chest felt like it was on fire, I grabbed the front of my shirt tightly.
“Huh, huh.”
The dizziness turned heaven and earth upside down. Consciousness is blurred, vision is dark. My pupils rolled back to the ceiling.
Ah, so dying because you can't breathe is like this. I tried so hard to survive, yet I died in vain like this... I fainted with that thought, my eyes slowly closed.
At that moment, there was a breath of air.
The thing that saved my life flooded into my chest.
Sweet breath like cool water relieves dry thirst. I accepted it with an instinctive desire to live.
The flow of breath entering my chest was congested, creeping into my body. It is like a priming stream, opening the air so that the breath that has been held tight for so long can finally burst out.
"Pant, pant. Pant."
The return of oxygen made my head hurt like hell. I frowned and tried to open my eyes, but immediately, something undeniable woke me up.
Warm feeling transmitted to lips. So soft and smooth that it's impossible to let go. I clung to it passionately. Something warm and reassuring passed on.
Consciousness returned dimly. Even though I could breathe, my mind was still dull and my thinking was slow. What happened to me in the end? Blood gradually circulates to the brain, cold fingers begin to warm again.
I blinked. Before my eyes are Cesar's long eyelashes. Long and thick eyelashes cast shadows on his face. It looked so beautiful that I just stared at it in amazement.
At that moment, Cesar's face moved closer again. I unconsciously closed my eyes. The faint scent of lavender entered my nose. It seemed that after the last bath, he had bathed himself very well so he always smelled so fresh.
Thinking about him obediently listening to me, I suddenly burst out giggling.
Something hot touched the back of my neck. It's Cesar's finger. His body temperature seems to be higher than normal. No, it's more accurate to say that my body temperature has dropped. Lips touched lips again. The soft, wet meat touches the mucous membrane in the mouth. At that moment, only one thought appeared in my mind.
This action brings a strangely pleasant feeling.
But that thought was quickly swept away by this warm, soft feeling. No thoughts exist anymore.
I just know how to receive the breath that comes in, slowly exhale, and then receive again. The whole person is limp. I slowly opened my closed eyes.
“Haa…….”
Suddenly I let out a long breath. Seeing that, Cesar's face turned towards me again. At that moment, I woke up. His eyes that were half-closed suddenly opened wide.
“Wait, w-wait…….”
Come to think of it, what did we do just now?
I slowly rewind my memories. That is, just now after I had difficulty breathing, and then…….
“Huh, huh.”
At that moment, Cesar stuck out his tongue and gently licked my chin. I don't know when he was in a position to lie on top of me, looking down with extremely clear and kind eyes.
That face was so innocent, it made me feel like I was the only one deducing the meaning of that action just now, while Cesar didn't think anything of it, but…….
“Ce, Cesar? Ah, g-now, it's okay.”
But Cesar said nothing, just blinked his clear eyes and smiled. Trapped between his arms, I was confused and didn't know what to do.
“I-It's… Just now, suddenly, I couldn't breathe…….”
It was Cesar who saved me when I couldn't breathe. It was a simple act of saving people without any evil intention, but I was the only one thinking about it.
So I tried to push Cesar away.
“Ah, ah…….”
But that body was as hard as stone, not moving at all. Looking up from below, his lips appear clearly. Those pink lips.
That means those lips… those lips touched mine…
In real life, people call that…….