I Ran Away And The Reverse Harem Started Chapter 128

The first time I came across the concept of “possession,” it was a little too strange and difficult for me to understand. But as time passed, even that unfamiliar idea began to settle naturally into my mind.

And young as I was, I became fascinated with the concept of possession. I started wondering—maybe I was someone who had flown in from another world, just like in those books that spoke about it.

I built up hypotheses in my head, carefully and step by step.

First, this world is the book The Delusional Saintess, and I am just a supporting character. I exist only for the sake of the protagonists’ backstory, so the fact that I am an orphan is simply what the original story intended. Therefore, there is no need for me to long for or grieve over parents I parted with at age three, whose faces I cannot even remember. It was all just part of the novel’s design.

Second, perhaps I am a possessor. And if this world safely reaches its conclusion, I might move on to another world. From this book into another.

In this life, I had no choice but to be born as Supporting Orphan #1, but in the next life, I could be reborn as a happy girl who never lost her parents. Or maybe as a fortunate young lady in a fairy tale.

More than anything, the thought that my being an orphan was simply predetermined fate gave me comfort.

Because of that, I began to believe my hypotheses blindly. I didn’t want them to be broken. I clung desperately to the strange books that appeared on the orphanage shelves and to the belief that I was a possessor.

Even when great trials or pain came, I stayed calm, unshaken. I let go of everything without regret. After all, this was just a world inside a book, a fleeting place I would pass through.

As time went by, even my past memories began to fade away. From the time Rumiz held my hand and brought me to the orphanage at age three, until I was eight years old—those five years of loneliness, when I seemed to suffer from muteness—I erased them from my mind.

That was my childish defense, my desperate struggle to escape from sorrowful memories.

 

 

****

 

 

 

My chest rose and fell sharply. It took several more minutes just to calm the pounding of my loud, thundering heart.

In the end, I unearthed my secret. And behind it was a me who had been far too gloomy and depressed as a child.

Drifting from place to place, lonely, and isolated.

The moment I realized I was nothing more than an extra in this world, I cut away all my dark past from my mind.

It was like a reptile cutting off its own tail to escape.

From the moment Rumiz held my hand and left me in that strange place, through the five years when I spoke not a single word as if struck mute, I erased it all from my memory with my own will.

That’s why my memory only begins from when I finished reading The Delusional Saintess and ran out of the library.

“So back then, I was suffering so much I wanted to die.”

When I realized this was the world of a book, I actually felt relief. When I stumbled across the concept of a “possessor,” my mind eagerly embraced it and spun new hypotheses.

That I was a foreigner who had drifted in from another world. And therefore, no matter what happened to me here, I had no reason to be in pain……

It was a defense mechanism. I didn’t want to keep getting hurt by this cruel world, so I lied to myself, made myself believe I had fallen in from somewhere else.

But the truth was—I belonged to this world.

I had a mother, father, and sister bound to me by blood.

The Bullosen family was my family. My only one……

Since I had seen The Delusional Saintess with my own eyes, it was true this place was the world inside the book. But I wasn’t a possessor.

It was only an illusion, a self-deception born from the pain of my childhood.

Perhaps some part of the Hollis Orphanage library touched another world, and through that gap, those strange books had drifted in.

Now the Hollis Orphanage no longer exists……

After regaining my past memories, my heart beat too fast to stay still. I stepped out of the fruit shop and breathed in the night air at the empty lot where the old orphanage used to stand.

The damp summer air filled my lungs. Yet it still felt lacking, so I spent several minutes doing nothing but breathing in and out.

“Here you are.”

After some time, I felt a presence behind me. Turning, I saw Daniel standing just beyond the lot.

It was a bright moonlit night. Though the surroundings were dark, Daniel’s face was clear to see.

He studied me from a short distance, concern flickering in his eyes, then slowly walked closer.

“You’re in a safe town, sure, but wandering around alone in the middle of the night? You had me worried.”

His tone was gruff, but his voice was infinitely gentle.

I glanced sideways at him and forced a faint smile. Even then, Daniel didn’t smile back easily.

After a pause, he quietly asked:

“Did it come back?”

“……”

“Your old memories.”

With my hands clasped behind me, I hesitated, then slowly nodded. I felt relieved now that I knew why I had erased my own memories, but Daniel seemed to take it differently.

After lingering in hesitation all this time, he suddenly stepped forward and spread his arms. Then carefully, he drew me into an embrace.

“Uh……”

My body tilted into him, his warm scent surrounding me, and suddenly my heart started pounding in a completely different way than before. Daniel held me so tightly, as if he wouldn’t allow even the slightest gap.

His frame was so large that I was half-buried in his chest. What’s gotten into him?

“…What? Don’t tell me you’re trying to comfort me?”

A hug out of nowhere. Feeling awkward, I tilted my eyes up at him. After the kiss we shared just days ago, being alone together already felt embarrassing…

But Daniel’s face, lit faintly by the starlight, was twisted in pain.

In a strained voice, like a man being strangled, he whispered:

“Don’t run away.”

“……”

“Whatever memories you’ve recalled—don’t run. Stay and fight through them here.”

“……”

“Don’t run away anymore, Rose.”

As he pressed closer, his dark hair tickled my forehead. He seemed afraid I would run again, like I did when the orphanage burned down.

He must have read something in my expression. He was sharp like that.

After a moment’s hesitation, I raised my hands and gently returned his embrace, patting his broad back.

“I’m not going anywhere. There’s nowhere left to go. Where would I even run to?”

Though I said it playfully, Daniel didn’t let me go. Instead, he clung even more desperately to my shoulders.

Well, I suppose—considering my past record, words alone wouldn’t put him at ease.

Because I understood exactly what he was afraid of, I couldn’t bring myself to push him away.

But now, here, knowing this world was my real world—where else could I even run?

I wasn’t someone from another realm, as I had believed all my life. This ground I stood on was truly mine.

So there was no longer anywhere to run. And truthfully, I didn’t want to anymore.

It was time to open my eyes wide and face it head-on.

 

 

****

 

 

 

“You’re really leaving already? That’s disappointing. Couldn’t you stay a little longer…?”

Ralph’s eyebrows drooped with regret. Sasha, standing beside him, chimed in:

“Hey, who leaves after just one night? We still have so much catching up to do… what’s the rush?”

“Sorry. I’d like nothing more than to stay longer, but something urgent came up. I’ll be back again.”

I barely managed to soothe them.

The heavy rain had stopped early. After spending the night at the fruit shop, we prepared to return straight to the capital.

Now that I had remembered the life I lived—from the moment Rumiz abandoned me to the day I arrived at Hollis—there was no reason to linger.

Parting so soon with my hometown friends after ten years was bitter, but I could always return to Hollis again.

With the carriage waiting, I hugged the two of them tightly. Their familiar scent brought back waves of old memories. The Hollis Orphanage had burned down and disappeared, but now I still had them.

With a regretful smile, I let them go.

“As soon as things settle in the capital, I’ll come back right away. I can’t explain everything now, but when I return, we’ll finally make up for ten years apart.”

“You wicked girl… you’d better keep your word. If you don’t come down soon, I’ll come drag you back up myself.”

“Sure, that’s fine too. But first, I’m grilling you two about your romance!”

We laughed and teased each other, and in the midst of our chatter, a few of the orphanage kids came down to see us off as well.

Lucas and Colin, at some point, had bought candy and fairy tale books from the village entrance and were handing them out. Watching, Sasha slyly slipped over to Daniel’s side.

“Daniel, Daniel. Don’t you have something for our kids?”

“What do you want?”

Quick as ever, Daniel asked back. Sasha grinned slyly.

“Let’s see… twenty sets of autumn clothes for the kids? Or maybe a small piano? If not, how about a donation for winter repairs?”

“…Are you a thug? Did I ever owe you something?”

“Oh, come on. Isn’t that what friends are for? A little help from a rich friend now and then, right?”

Sasha laughed brightly and smacked his arm. Her girlish laughter was at odds with her strong blows, just like always.

I remembered being knocked flat by that very fist as a child. Raising an eyebrow at her and the kids, Daniel finally answered with a reluctant look:

“I’ll do all three.”

“Eee! I knew you were my true friend!”

“So stop hitting me.”

In an instant, she managed to wring hundreds of thousands of billing from the miserly merchant who never wasted a single coin. While Sasha leapt for joy, the children simply followed her lead, cheering without understanding.

“See? My husband really has a way with things.”

“Hey, I’m the one making the donation. Why are you praising your wife?”

“You’re going to heaven, Daniel.”

At Ralph’s useless blessing, Daniel only clicked his tongue.

The four of us boarded the carriage, waving one last time through the window.

We’ll come back, and when we do, let’s eat, talk, and wander the town together.

With those promises, the carriage began moving slowly, and Ralph, Sasha, and the children shrank into the distance, becoming nothing more than tiny dots.

 

 

 

*****

 

 

 

All day we stayed in the carriage, traveling from Hollis toward the capital, and stopped by a small town for lunch.

The town was called Rita. From time to time, I had visited here to buy clothes, sewing kits, or herbs for Uncle Hansen.

Compared to the capital it was truly small—barely enough to be called a city at all—but it was a familiar place. We planned to rest here, have a simple lunch, get the carriage checked, and then continue on to the capital.

It was after we had eaten bread and coffee at a small restaurant.

While Daniel and Lucas headed off to the carriage repair yard, Colin and I stood together in the shade, avoiding the harsh sun.

It was the height of summer. When I had first entered the count’s estate to work as a maid, it had still been a leisurely spring—and now so much time had already passed.

I was fanning myself in the sweltering heat when a soft handkerchief brushed against my cheek.

“Wipe with this, Rose.”

“Ah, thank you.”

I used the handkerchief Colin handed me to dab the sweat from my temples. Faint sweat had soaked through beneath my thin blouse.

We stood facing each other in the narrow, shaded alleyway. Leaning against the cool wall, I looked at Colin.

“Colin, do you remember that?”

“Remember what?”

“When I first came to Hollis. You used to slip bread and milk into the library where I stayed every day. I only remembered it just now.”

It had been so long ago. Fifteen years, in fact. And Colin had always been kind to everyone, so it must have been nothing more than an act of casual goodwill, even toward the gloomy new girl.

But Colin nodded readily at my question.

“I remember. Back then.”