NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 167
All of a sudden, I had a flash of clarity.
‘Hasn’t this happened before?’
Thinking it was Rudrick, I realized that O’Neill had been there before.
Sure enough, she had, and this was no different. The fact that I was panicking about her unexpected visit was no different.
‘What’s going on?’
Obviously, I had parted ways with O’Neill on bad terms.
I don’t regret what I said to her at the time, but if one thing lingers in my mind, it’s whether I was too pushy at the end.
After that, she never visited me.
She disappeared as suddenly as she had appeared.
Even when I regretted it and tried to talk to her again, I couldn’t find any trace of her anywhere.
When I tried to contact Bouser’s mansion to see if she had gone back up north that very day, the answer was even stranger.
— ‘Well, she hasn’t been seen at all since a few days ago…’ — ‘Wasn’t she supposed to stay there?’ — ‘We don’t know, we’ve arranged a room for her, but she rarely comes back, so we thought maybe she’s still up north…’Under other circumstances, I would have thought so, too.
But then I’d argued with her, and there was no way she could have left Averine and gone anywhere else in the capital.
No… really?
‘Come to think of it, O’Neill could have traveled alone without using the Bouser mansion’s transportation.’
Later, I would come to terms with this fact, but it was still a nagging question.
And then one day, out of the blue, O’Neill shows up.
‘Why?’
And I knew the answer as soon as I met her.
“O’Neill, what’s the matter…” “Princess, are you really engaged?”O’Neill asked me as soon as she saw me in the parlor. I looked at her dumbfounded, but secretly nodded in agreement.
‘You must have heard the rumors.’
But that’s a reason for her to come?
It would have nothing to do with O’Neill, a wizard of the Magic Tower. Or because Lord River was involved in this engagement?
‘He said they’ve known each other since childhood.’
I stared at her with a knowing look before answering calmly.
“That’s right, but something happened…” “Why?” “What?” “Why are you getting engaged? You don’t like him, do you?”‘Uh, how did you know
?’
I blushed, but managed to keep my expression straight.
“Of course not, I’m getting engaged because I like him, and I don’t know anyone as sweet and gentle as Lord River, so I thought I’d take this opportunity to…” “No, that’s not possible.” “What?” “And what about His Excellency, are you going to leave him be?”Wasn’t he supposed to be doing well with you?
I swallowed hard at the words that threatened to spill out. Instead, I said, trying to sound nonchalant.
“I’ve told you before, we’re not that way, we’re just friends.” “…That’s ridiculous.”Watching her stumble over her words, I narrowed my eyes.
‘Something’s not right.’
In truth, I didn’t mind telling O’Neill the whole truth. I’d already explained my situation to her before.
But I didn’t because I had a strange premonition.
‘Maybe it has something to do with the strange way she’s been acting.’
She’s been hiding a lot from me, and this must have something to do with it.
“This is ridiculous, yes, even if it’s not Dahlia. But River, there is no way River would do that.” “What?” “You know what River’s really thinking, and you’re not being tricked?” “What do you think I am, of course I know…”Having said that much, I shut my mouth in a huff.
‘Ugh.’
The last thing I needed was to pretend I didn’t know what I was doing, but when she spontaneously invoked Lord River’s name, I panicked and blurted out the truth.
And my mistake had more repercussions than I realized.
“You… you knew… you knew, but you didn’t…” “Yeah, what?” “What the hell, I shouldn’t have done this… how the hell did I…?” “O’Neill?” “What… where did it go wrong… when did the future go wrong… and we ended up like this…” “O’Neill!”She didn’t know what had gone wrong, because she was now in a full-blown panic.
Seeing her cowering on the floor, mumbling incoherently, I was terrified. I felt like I was going to get in trouble.
“O’Neill, can I just tell you something…”I walked over to her, faltering, and grabbed her shoulder, ready to tell her the truth.
If only she hadn’t suddenly pulled something out of her bosom.
“…!”My eyes widened, threatening to pop out of my head. In O’Neill’s hand was a dagger.
“O’Neill, put it down!”I exclaimed in horror.
But instead of letting go of the dagger, she held the sharp blade to my throat and smiled wickedly at me.
“Dahlia, it’s okay, I’ll put everything back. I don’t know where it went wrong, but we’ll figure it out after a few repetitions, won’t we?” “Wait, wait, stop!” “It’s okay, I’ve done this countless times, I’m in charge, and I’ll make sure it has a perfect ending…” “O’Neill!”I leapt at her without looking back as I saw the dagger being lifted upward.
Then I hugged her tightly, gasping for air.
“No, don’t, please don’t!” “Dahlia?” “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do this, I didn’t mean to hide it from you…” “What?”I turned to face the yellow eyes staring down at me.
Suddenly, I found the calm glint in those eyes frightening, and I mumbled through my tears.
“We’re not engaged…”I leaned back helplessly on the couch.
‘What the hell is going on…
‘
But the person who had turned the tables on me was sitting in front of me with a stoic face. Not only that, but she was looking at me with a concerned gaze and asking.
“Are you okay?”‘Do I look okay to you?’
I sighed heavily, knowing that I was partly responsible for this mess.
O’Neill said,
“I’m fine, but how’s the cut? It was bleeding.” “It’s barely a scratch.” “It’s still a knife cut, though. The blood’s stopped, but we’ll have to get it properly treated later and…”I left it at that and looked at O’Neill confused.
Fortunately, nothing serious happened.
O’Neill stopped as I hugged her, and my sobbing voice brought her back to her senses.
I breathed a small sigh of relief as I watched her put the dagger down.
But she still hadn’t let go of the dagger, so I nervously told her everything that had happened.
She listened to my explanation calmly, and then looked at me with a strange look in her eyes, before asking me again.
— ‘So you’re not saying you’re engaged, are you?: — ‘No.’And with that, she broke into a huge smile.
It’s amazing how that bright smile that would normally mesmerize me looked so terrifying at that moment.
I shuddered as goosebumps broke out all over my body.
“Anyway, don’t ever do that again, I thought my heart was going to fall out of my chest…” “You lied to me, too, Princess.” “Is this the same as that?! No, not this… I’m really sorry about that, it’s just that I thought O’Neill was overreacting to my engagement, and it was kind of weird…” “But I can’t help it, it’s such an important thing to me…” “Important?”My engagement? Why?
But O’Neill didn’t answer my puzzled question, instead asking me something else.
“So you really don’t have any feelings for River, do you?” “Yes, I do.”O’Neill smiled a visibly relieved smile at my firm answer.
I stared at her, feeling the same odd sensation I had before, and wondered if I should say something, then blurted out.
“It’s weird, though, because I’ve heard that you two have known each other before.” “…” “But is it such a big deal that I like him, to the point of losing my mind? Perhaps O’Neill likes him a… much as Lord River does…” “Of course not!”O’Neill exclaimed, horrified at the sound of my doubtful voice.
“Don’t say such horrid things, for he is exactly the sort of man I dislike.” “You don’t like him?” “Yes. The kind of mind that can’t tell the difference between justice and righteousness, and for which all values boil down to love. I don’t understand it, and I don’t want to understand it.”Oh, no. I mean, sure, Lord River was the world’s most eligible bachelor… but was that really something to hate?
But O’Neill’s sincere dislike was palpable, and I nodded in agreement.
O’Neill seemed relieved to see that, and said with a faint smile.
“I think you deserve someone better, someone who can really make you happy.” “What does that mean…” “I want you to make a choice that will make you happy, and I want you to truly look at the person in your heart and not look away.” “…” “I’d do anything for you to be happy, I’d do anything, anything, so…” “Why?”I finally asked, unable to hold back.
Something was definitely off about the way she was giving so generously, putting aside the
‘better person’
she was talking about.
Come to think of it, she’s always been like that.
She’s always been very involved in my plans, willing to do whatever she could, and even willing to go into politics to get information for me.
At first, I thought it was just because she was a nice person, but it was different.
She acted like I was someone she needed to make happy, like she was obsessed with it… like it was an obsession in itself.
“Why would you go to such lengths? We’ve only just met, and I don’t see why you’d do something like that…” “Of course.”O’Neill answered my question without missing a beat.
“Because your happiness is my happiness.” “What does that mean?” “Literally, because when you’re happy, it makes me happy, if you don’t already know…”Suddenly, O’Neill grabbed my hand.
A small, white hand, smaller than mine, covered the back of my hand.
I immediately felt goosebumps. The hand I’d expected to be soft and warm was unexpectedly chillingly cold…
While I was distracted, she whispered softly.
“You’ll know one day.”Around the same time, Rudrick was walking through the palace when he heard a voice.
“Long live my son!”