Resetting Lady

“Why are you doing this?!”

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Sir Raymond, why must you show up like this.
It’s annoying.

Is it not obvious? I’m trying to kill myself.

With this thought in mind, Carynne slumped over, one arm dangling like that.
She must look funny right now.

“Please let go of me… Sir Raymond, I don’t want to live anymore.”

Carynne was wholeheartedly sincere.
She did not have any strength left in her body.
But the moment she felt Raymond’s grip on her hand, she already knew that things wouldn’t go according to plan.

You saved me again.
This isn’t fun at all.

“…Think about it again later.
Don’t lose hope just yet.”

Just as expected, he replied that way.
He wouldn’t let her die.
At least, until that day came.

“You’re heavy, you know.”

“……”

Carynne didn’t even have the strength to answer anymore.
Raymond also stayed silent after that.

Contrary to what he said however, Raymond lifted Carynne up with one arm effortlessly.
But right now, he wasn’t walking back deeper into the study, he just stood there by the window.
At this, Carynne frowned a little.
His eyes were prickly.

Raymond stared at the inside of the study.
Then, he asked Carynne.

“What happened to His Lordship?”

“He killed himself.”

Carynne replied promptly.

“Why did he… No, never mind.
We have to think about how to get out of here alive first.”

Raymond’s answer was succinct, but Carynne could guess the situation from just that.

He didn’t meet Isella.

It’s not so strange that the fief lord took his own life like this.
Most of the territory’s rights had been handed over to Verdic Evans, and there was virtually no hope left for the fief lord.
Even if his daughter had gotten slapped, he couldn’t protest against it.

The countess, who witnessed the act, seemed to be taking Carynne’s side.
Yet even as the countess expressed her anger at this, it was not for Carynne’s sake, but only for the sake of catching Verdic’s weaknesses.

Wasn’t this just normal? Anyone would think so.
They would think this: that the head of the family couldn’t even protect his own child.
That Carynne, as she had gone through so many things in the past, was now unable to endure this humiliation, and so naturally took this incident as the final nail in the coffin and chose to plunge to her death.

“His Lordship…”

Raymond stared at the fief lord’s body, suspended in the air.
Then, he looked at the collapsed desk, and the room that Carynne had scrounged through.
His expression was stiff.

“I see.”

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Raymond now accepted the fief lord’s death.
And also felt sorry for Carynne.
This death, as it was perceived, was the same once again this time.
It’s something that could be accepted.

“…Hiic.”

What’s different this time was Isella.
Up until just now, Carynne thought that she had lost Isella in the chase.

‘Though if you met Isella, you would have first asked me why I did that.’

Raymond was not questioning Carynne.
As he asked about the fief lord’s suicide and judging by how he accepted it, then he must not have met Isella yet.

Would Carynne be able to get out of this?

She remained silent and said nothing.
After that pause, Raymond was the one who spoke and not her.

“The manor is on fire.”

“Huh?”

Carynne looked at the door.
There was a sea of flames.
And she didn’t even notice it? Only now realizing how long of a time had passed while she searched through the room, Carynne was stunned.

But what, a fire? This was an even more ridiculous turn of events compared to that elephant.
Can’t we just end it all with me killing Isella?

Raymond continued.

“…I don’t know if we’ll be caught in the flames.
Everyone was screaming and running out, so I checked.
But then I didn’t see you… or Miss Isella…”

What’s going on this time? But either way, Carynne decided to do what she could.

Carynne reached out towards Raymond’s hand to stroke it, a forlorn smile on her lips.

“Sir Raymond, please go ahead alone.
I don’t wish to live any longer.
My father has already passed on and I…”

Carynne’s expression was overcome by anguish as she recited the insincere plea.
However, Raymond gritted his teeth and responded with firm determination.

“At the very least, not now.
Because I’m here to save you.”

How touching.
About seventy years ago, she would have cried in his embrace.
While thinking this, Carynne replied.

“In a situation like this, neither you nor I have a choice.”

It’s like that.
Carynne thought as she lowered her head.

“A fire.”

The fire was what’s weighing heavily on Carynne’s mind.
Countless times in the past, she tried to set the mansion on fire.

‘But I never succeeded, not even once.’

A strange sense of triumph arose within her.
Even when she tried to start a fire back then, it was extinguished before it could spread.
However, this time, the fire had spread so widely.
The same people were supervising the residence, but what changed?

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‘I wonder if Dullan has a hand in this.’

At a point in time like this when the fief lord had already died, wasn’t Dullan the only one who had a means to control and maneuver the servants? Carynne was convinced.

But on the other hand, she was also curious.
How far was Dullan involved in this, and what happened to Isella? In the end, until Isella were to show up, there’s no point in this blazing fire.
If no one had seen Isella, then where exactly was she?

“Let’s get out of here first.
I’m not going to take no for an ans… Damn it!”

From the door, the fire had crept inside.
The hallway was already up in flames.
The room was now as clear as day.

“…Father!”

And the fief lord’s body caught fire.

“Carynne!”

Thud!

The noose holding the fief lord up snapped, and so he fell.
The fire had spread so far that the flames were now surrounding the area where the fief lord’s body was.

“Father!”

You’re really no help at all!

However, the corpse ignored Carynne’s resentful cry and instead was quickly devoured by the flames.
The parent was not doing as the child wished.

“It’s dangerous! It’s already too late!”

While holding Carynne tightly in his arms, he pulled her back.

Father, please leave behind your bones.
Because I was planning to bury you beside Mother.
Now it’s not a burial, but a cremation.
Still, I hope you burn peacefully.
If I can recover your bones later on, I’ll bury you as promised.

‘No, besides that.
The fire had spread to this extent, but… is it actually going to kill me?’

This realization hurt her pride a little.
The fact that the fire that she didn’t start was the one threatening her life like this—she didn’t like it one bit.

‘I’ll have to live for now.’

Carynne settled on this decision.
Just as Raymond said, she set aside her plans for suicide for the time being.

“Isella… How.”

Carynne broached the subject cautiously.
She had to tread carefully because she didn’t know what’s going on now, and she didn’t know how it’s going to proceed from here.

Raymond asked back.

“Miss Evans wasn’t with you? Mister Verdic said that she definitely should have been with you.”

Which would benefit her more, to say that she did see Isella or that she didn’t? Carynne was distressed by the dilemma that required snap judgment.
She was too old to decide on such a big decision impulsively.
Just like when she was dealing with Isella, she didn’t know what she would have done if she had something to hit Raymond over the head with.

“About that…”

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When she couldn’t answer properly, Raymond frowned.

“You didn’t see her? …In any case, before that, let’s think about getting out of here first.”

That, he said.

‘That’ was the girl who’s about to be his fiancée.

Isella was already ranked below Carynne now.

At this, Carynne felt both relieved and depressed at the same time.
Was it because he considered Carynne to be more important, or was it just because she’s the one he could save right away? What did Raymond think of Carynne?

However, thinking about this matter was a luxury at the moment.

She shook her head.

“Carynne.”

“Yes.”

Raymond looked out the window as he called her name.
She began to hear other people’s shouts and screams.
Smoke started thickening by the window.

She watched how Raymond’s face shone amidst the flames’ illumination.
Her eyes might just be deceiving her, but even his expression looked somehow bright.

Raymond turned to Carynne.

“We’re in trouble.”

“Seems so.”

“The fire has spread more than I thought.
Do the pipes go all the way down?”

“The… pipes?”

She didn’t know much about that.
As Carynne looked back at him perplexedly, Raymond set her down on the ground.

“Carynne Hare, promise me here.
Don’t kill yourself today.
Do it in consideration of me, since I came all the way here for you.
Can you do that for me?”

“…Sure.”

“Since it’s like that, then tomorrow, too.”

That’s a bit…

But Carynne didn’t say this out loud.
She had that much sense to keep that to herself at least.

“Will we be able to go to the roof from here?”

“It’s impossible from this room.
We need to go out to the hallway for that.”

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But it seemed impossible to go to the hallway now.
Raymond clicked his tongue as he looked out the window again.
It was high enough from the ground that Carynne’s suicide attempt might have been successful.

“From this height…”

Raymond muttered as he regarded the height.
And Carynne responded.

“I think it’s possible.”

She knew.

Raymond alone would be able to jump safely from this height.
She saw him do exactly that in the past.

“…You think too highly of my capabilities.”

“You’ll be able to do it alone.”

His skilled gestures were something she wouldn’t be able to mimic.
But if he’d carry her with her and jump? That’s going to be impossible to pull off.
Two corpses would meet the ground.

“You promised you wouldn’t say that.
Please keep your word.”

“Even still, Sir Raymond.”

Carynne was only speaking to herself, but she clenched her hand into a fist out of embarrassment.
Fortunately, she would only look like a kindhearted woman who’s grimly determined.

Whatever Carynne did, Raymond paced the room and thought about it hard.

“I don’t know about the inside of the room, and… the fire is spreading too fast.
If only we could go up to the roof and check.
Where is the highest window in here?”

“The study has two floors… over there, that small window!”

With Carynne in his arms, Raymond ran to the ladder.

The sea of flames raged even harder.

“I’ll go up first.”

Raymond quickly climbed the ladder and opened the window, but because it served only as a skylight, it wouldn’t open.
As he tried to break the glass, Carynne turned her head to the side and watched with regret as the books that were getting damaged.

‘I haven’t found any clues about Mother yet…’

But there’s nothing else she could do about it in this life.
That goddamn arsonist.
Did you really have to start a fire that’ll wipe out everything that’s important? The moment Carynne would find out who it was, she vowed to shoot a bullet right through that person’s head.

‘What’s that?’

Just a little ways away, there was an unmarked notebook stuck at one corner of the study.
Carynne reached for it.

“Carynne!”

Crack—

The ladder broke.