Weren’t You the One Who Was Dying? Chapter 111

It had been twenty years ago, but back then, Sonia and Mendel’s mother, Heria Ritner, had worked for the Cloyden family.

“I was too young to remember much anymore,” Mendel said. “But Sonia wasn’t. She was already old enough to understand everything and remember it.”

Back then, Heria often told her children stories about the Cloydens.

She disguised them as fairy tales about the “Ashula Ducal House,” but both Mendel and Sonia knew they were really stories about the Cloydens.

“My sister… Sonia… really admired the Cloydens back then. She was always begging our mother to take her to the Ashula estate.”

The incident happened one day when the Cloyden family had left the estate for several days.

Taking advantage of their absence, Heria decided to let Sonia tour the ducal estate. She felt guilty because Sonia had always wanted to see it.

“How did she manage that?” Ehit asked.

“She disguised Sonia as a maid and brought her inside,” Mendel explained. “The masters of the estate were gone, and many of the servants didn’t know one another anyway, so she probably thought no one would notice.”

The visit itself went perfectly.

Many of the servants had accompanied the duke’s party to attend to them, making the mansion even quieter than usual.

It was easy to avoid anyone’s notice.

Besides, the Cloyden family wasn’t expected to return for another two days.

Feeling completely at ease, Heria spent the entire day—and even the evening—showing her daughter around the vast estate.

“The Duke has returned!”

One could only imagine how terrified Heria must have been when the bell announcing the duke’s unexpected return rang through the estate that night.

“I think Sonia believed the duke had seen the future with his foresight and returned early,” Mendel said. “She believed it happened because he’d changed the predetermined future.”

“If that happened…”

Mendel paused to gather his thoughts before continuing.

With the duke suddenly back, Heria had no choice but to hide Sonia somewhere.

If anyone discovered she’d secretly brought in someone without permission, she’d be dismissed immediately.

The place they hid…

…was one of the detached buildings.

The last of the five buildings in the Cloyden capital estate—a place that was rarely used anymore.

“There was apparently a strange magical artifact in the room they hid in.”

“A mirror that showed illusions.”

Ehit and I exchanged glances.

He was talking about the room where I’d been trapped.

The one with that mirror.

I remembered looking into it.

The sensation of sinking endlessly into deep, black water.

The visions…

The hallucinations unfolding before my eyes.

Ehit explained that twenty years ago, the artifact had likely been abandoned somewhere within the estate rather than sealed away inside a hidden chamber as it had been when I encountered it.

But…

He’d also told me it was an incredibly dangerous object.

‘It’s fortunate you didn’t become trapped inside the illusion.’

‘People really got trapped?’

‘That’s exactly why it was locked away in that room.’

Thinking back now…

The warm presence that had wrapped around me…

The force that had pulled me out of those deep waters…

It had probably been my own divine power.

In other words…

I had simply been lucky.

Not everyone escaped those illusions unharmed.

“My mother lost her mind after seeing the visions in that mirror.”

Mendel spoke calmly, as though it had happened in another lifetime.

Even so, sadness lingered beneath his voice.

“Sonia believed it was all the Cloydens’ fault.”

“She thought none of it would have happened if the duke hadn’t known the future and tried to change it.”

I remembered Sonia’s unwavering eyes as she insisted that what was meant to happen had to happen.

Eyes convinced they were defending the natural order of the world.

Mendel turned to me.

“I don’t think Sonia actually hated Lady Aileta.”

“…”

“But from that day onward, she believed that a prophesied future should never be changed.”

“Then, one or two years ago, she obtained the book she called the ‘Book of Prophecy.'”

“I think it said that Lady Aileta would die because of the Colonel… and that the Colonel himself would die afterward.”

Ehit frowned.

He had already heard all of this during Sonia’s interrogation, yet it clearly still wasn’t something he liked hearing.

“Sonia insisted that everything written in that book absolutely had to happen.”

“She said it was a divine revelation directly bestowed by God.”

“I told her she only believed that because she hated the Cloydens.”

“But she wouldn’t listen.”

Just as Mendel said…

Sonia’s obsession with making the prophecy come true probably came from her desire for revenge against the Cloydens.

Perhaps calling it God’s prophecy made it easier for her to ignore the guilt of what she was doing.

“When Sonia asked me to help her…”

“I knew it was wrong.”

“But I couldn’t refuse.”

“After that day…”

“She became the one who took our mother’s place.”

“To me, she’s both my sister… and the closest thing I have to a parent.”

After saying that, Mendel fell silent.

So…

He had helped her, too.

He had always seemed cheerful and playful.

It was hard to imagine what part he’d played.

As I wondered about that, Mendel looked at me.

“Lady Aileta.”

“During the first battle in the Northern Strait.”

“Yes.”

“When you went toward the ship behind ours…”

“I cut the rope because of the pirates.”

“I told you to move to the safer ship farther back.”

I remembered exactly what he meant.

That day…

Before I could even reach the other ship, a massive wave had nearly killed me.

I’d survived by sheer luck.

“The truth is…”

“I didn’t have to cut the rope.”

“What do you mean…?”

“The pirate attack was real.”

“But there was only one pirate.”

“I could have defeated him, helped you aboard…”

“Then climbed back down and escorted you safely to the next ship.”

Until then, Mendel had spoken calmly.

Now…

He clenched his teeth.

“But I didn’t.”

“Because Sonia’s words kept echoing in my head.”

“She said that only if Lady Aileta disappeared would I survive.”

“I couldn’t bring myself to kill you with my own hands.”

“So instead…”

“I left you to the waves.”

He lowered his head once more.

“I’m sorry.”

After finishing his confession…

Mendel turned around…

…and walked into the Investigation Bureau of his own accord.