Novel Full Chapter 276: Lasting Happiness to You [4]
Chapter 276: Lasting Happiness to You [4]
“Who is this?”
“Viscount Astrea, this is Lady Vanessa, the Head Maid of the Imperial Palace.”
Everything was coming together.
“And why are you bringing a maid to meet me?”
Karina remained silent for a moment. This run had gone so smoothly that she had almost forgotten something important.
This was the first time she was meeting with Vanitas Astrea of the past.
She cleared her throat. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Viscount Astrea.”
The café was alive with noise. And yet, within that bustle, the three of them were inconspicuous enough to speak freely.
Vanitas eyed her without hiding his scrutiny. No matter how old he was, the Professor never changed. But for Karina, this was a breath of fresh air. She tried her best to keep her lips from curving into a smile.
After all, she had never spoken to him in nearly fifteen years.
“A Head Maid…” Vanitas began. “That’s an unusual choice of escort, Doctor.”
Zelliel smiled. “She’s more involved than she looks.”
“I see.” Vanitas’s eyes returned to Karina. “And what business does the Imperial Palace have with me?”
Karina met his gaze. “Because there are matters that concern the Empress, and matters that concern you. And for once, they happen to align.”
Vanitas did not respond at once.
“If you want me to introduce myself to the Empress,” he said after a moment, “then I refuse.”
“Why is that?”
“I don’t need to meet the Empress to treat her.”
Karina’s eyes narrowed. “Or are you using her as a guinea pig for your experiments?”
At that, Vanitas turned his head toward Zelliel. The corner of his mouth lifted, not quite a smile.
“I see what this is about.”
Zelliel shook for a moment. “Vanitas—”
“No,” Vanitas cut in. “Let her speak.”
His gaze returned to Karina. “Are you asking because you already know the answer?”
Karina did not deny it.
“If this fails,” she said, “the Empress dies. And you disappear into the shadows with your data intact.”
Vanitas leaned back, interlacing his fingers together. “And if it succeeds, she lives longer than anyone expects.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It is,” he replied. “And it’s rather insulting that you refer to my aid as mere experimentation. Hasn’t the Doctor already vouched for my treatment?”
“….”
“Let me tell you something, Miss Head Maid. I was diagnosed with the same terminal illness in my teenage years. Guess who’s standing here, walking, and very much not rotting away in a deathbed?”
“….”
“That didn’t happen because I waited for permission,” Vanitas continued. “Nor because I followed protocols written by men too afraid to test their own limits.”
Karina met his eyes. “So you gambled with your own life?”
“Yes. And I won.”
“And if you had lost?”
“Then I wouldn’t be here to argue with you,” Vanitas replied. “Which would make this conversation pointless.”
That lofty attitude was so like the Professor that Karina found herself momentarily at a loss for words. It was funny, nostalgic, and irritating all at once.
But yes. This was indeed Vanitas Astrea.
“But it’s just a suppressant, isn’t it?” she said. “Why are you speaking as if you’re already cured?”
“Because I don’t plan on stopping there,” Vanitas replied. “Time will tell whether this suppressant becomes the cure to the cancer of all cancers, or if it’s nothing more than a fool’s rambling.”
It was the confidence of a man who spoke as though he had already glimpsed the heavens and found them wanting.
Karina understood his principles all too well.
Vanitas Astrea did not need to be right. He only needed to be loud. Loud enough that, eventually, his words would be forced to align with his actions.
A man who wanted results and always got results.
It was a shame the heavens had cast him aside.
But where had this cure gone in the present?
Why was the Vanitas Astrea she knew… dying?
“I will assist you, Viscount Astrea,” Karina said at last.
“Hm?”
“You’re having trouble with the protocols for administering these drugs, aren’t you?” she continued. “I can help expedite the process and ensure they reach the Empress without unnecessary delays.”
For a brief moment, Vanitas was silent.
“…Interesting.”
Zelliel frowned. “Lady Vanessa, this is not something to be taken lightly. Interfering with palace procedures—”
“Will draw suspicion, yes,” she cut in. “Which is why it must be done cleanly. With fewer people involved.”
Vanitas let out a chuckle. “You’re bold for a maid.”
“I prefer effective.”
That was all it took.
Just like that, a three-person collaboration was set in motion. An alliance formed under the pretense of saving the Empress.
But Karina already knew.
This was not the beginning of salvation. It was the point where misunderstandings began to take root. Where intentions would blur, and blame would later be misplaced.
Nevertheless, that was fine.
This had to happen.
Because if it did not, Vanitas Astrea was fated to die prematurely.
Turning his gaze to the corner, Karina met the gaze of a man for a brief moment.
“….”
It was Romulus, keenly spying on them. A journalist that should never have been there. And yet, was there all the same.
* * *
“You seem to be in a better mood these days, Doctor.”
“Am I?”
“You seem… lighter, for some reason.”
Zelliel paused, then let out a laugh. “Well… I had the opportunity to see my wife recently.”
“Oh?”
Karina allowed a little bit of surprise to surface on her face. In truth, she already knew how that meeting had come to be. She had set the pieces in motion herself, after all.
Zelliel continued, unaware. “She looked… tired. But she smiled. I had forgotten what that looked like.”
“I see,” Karina replied. “That must have meant a lot to you.”
“It did,” he admitted. “More than I expected.”
Karina lowered her gaze, hiding the turbulence in her mind.
Because she knew the consequences of that reunion as well.
Romulus Neuschwan had begun tailing them because he had witnessed that exchange between Zelliel and Beatrice with his own eyes. A jealous man. A small, repulsive man who dared to lay his hands on someone else’s daughter.
’Be strong, Karina,’ she prayed for her younger self.
Her fingers clenched into fists at her side.
“But seeing my ex-wife,” Zelliel went on, “I’ve finally resolved myself to fully commit to this.”
“Commit?”
“Yes. She’s suffering from the same terminal illness as Her Highness.”
“Oh… That’s…”
“I know. Unlike the Empress, my wife was never treated properly. By the time anyone noticed, it was already too late to intervene meaningfully.”
He looked away, gnashing his teeth.
“I abandoned them,” he said after a pause. “That is the truth. I told myself it was to protect them, to keep them away from my work, from the things I was involved in. But in doing so, I denied them my presence when they needed it most.”
Karina eyed him carefully.
She could see it in his eyes. It was not the guilt of a man who wanted to run, but the regret of a man who had already run and was now paying for it.
“So this time,” Zelliel continued, “I won’t look away. I won’t half-commit. If there is even the slightest chance this treatment can be refined, stabilized, and made real… then I’ll see it through. For the Empress. And for her.”
Karina inclined her head. “Then I hope you’re prepared, Doctor.”
He met her gaze. “For what?”
“For the consequences of not failing.”
To Zelliel, the reality must have been agonizing. A doctor capable of treating countless patients, yet utterly powerless when it came to the one person he loved most.
After a brief pause, Karina spoke again.
“Speaking of your wife… were you able to meet your daughter as well?”
Zelliel shook his head. “Unfortunately, I wasn’t granted that wish. But that’s fine. I’ve heard she’s being taken care of by her new father. It would be disrespectful of me to intrude now and suddenly play the role of a father—”
“Please,” Karina blurted out before she could stop herself. “Meet her.”
“Lady Vanessa?”
“Nothing. Forget I said that.”
He studied her for a moment longer than necessary, as if searching for something else.
“You know,” Zelliel said after a pause, “I’ve had this feeling for quite a while now. You always seem… familiar to me, for some reason.”
“…What are you talking about?”
Zelliel chuckled self-consciously. “It’s nothing concrete. Just a strange thought. Sometimes, when I look at you, I can’t help but think that this is what my daughter might have grown up to be like.”
Karina’s eyes widened.
“That’s ridiculous… You said it yourself… You barely knew her.”
“I know,” Zelliel said, nodding. “I only held her a handful of times when she was an infant. She was so small I was afraid I’d break her. How could I possibly know what she’d grow up to be?”
He glanced at her again, a faint smile on his lips.
“And besides,” he added, “you’re far too old to be her. The timing doesn’t line up. It’s impossible.”
“…Then why bring it up?” Karina asked.
“That’s the strange part… Even knowing all of that, the feeling doesn’t go away.”
Karina looked away.
“You really do remind me of someone,” Zelliel continued. “Not my wife. Not anyone I’ve met since. Just… someone I lost before I ever had the chance to know.”
Silence.
“…You’re overthinking it, Doctor.”
“Perhaps. I suppose that’s a bad habit of mine.”
But Karina wanted to tell him.
’I am your daughter.’
Just once.
Just this once, she wanted to tear everything open and lay the truth bare.
To tell him everything.
About the timelines.
About the loops.
About the countless versions of him she had watched grieve, fail, run, and break.
About the mother he had loved and lost.
About the daughter he had never known, who was right in front of him all this time, pretending to be a stranger.
’I want to tell you everything.’
’I want to tell you that she waited.’
’That she searched for you.’
’That she wondered, every night, whether you had ever thought of her at all.’
Her fingers trembled at her side.
Say it, a voice screamed inside her. Just say it. Let him choose what to do with the truth. Let him know he wasn’t alone. Let him know he wasn’t too late.
But she couldn’t.
Because she knew what would happen.
’I want to tell you everything.’
’I want you to know me.’
The moment she said those words, everything would break. The balance she had spent years bleeding for would shatter.
So Karina forced the words back down where they had already died a thousand times before.
Because, all in all, Zelliel was a good man.
Karina remembered that day vividly. The conversation between him and her mother, Beatrice, replayed itself in her mind. She had been close enough to hear every word despite being hidden just out of sight, eavesdropping on a truth she was never meant to learn.
——I’m sorry, Beatrice…
——Save your sorries, Zell. I’m only here to find out why. Why did you leave us? Were we not enough for you?
——That’s not it…
Nearby, Karina had already noticed him.
Romulus.
Standing just beyond the corridor, with his teeth clenched so tightly that his jaw trembled. The moment he saw his wife sitting face-to-face with her ex-husband, something in his eyes turned terrifying.
He didn’t need explanations. He never would have cared for them anyway. He was a psychotic bastard who only needed an excuse, not a reason.
But that wasn’t the important part.
——I’m sure you’re aware… merits alone aren’t enough to thrive in this world…
That much was true. No matter how talented Beatrice had been, she had been reduced to a mediocre academy professor through exploitation.
——I had to do everything I could to reach my position. To become a renowned medical professional… I had to bypass the system through… unconventional channels…
——Speak clearly so I can understand.
There was a long pause.
——There was a cult. I got involved with them when I was younger. I thought I had escaped, but they came back one day to collect what they believed they were owed. To protect you… and Karina… I had to leave…
Karina remembered how Beatrice had gone silent then.
And behind them, Romulus had already decided everything.
And so, everything played out just as Karina expected.
“Zelliel, you—”
“T-The Empress is dead…!” Zelliel stammered. “I-It’s all Vanitas’s fault!”
“That doesn’t explain why you’re in Her Majesty’s office,” Karina said calmly.
“H-Help me, Lady Vanessa!” Zelliel pleaded. “I should at least salvage what I can!”
Caught red-handed, Zelliel began rummaging through the Empress’s office. Outside, the palace was already in chaos.
“M-Miss Vanessa?”
But just as Karina was helping Zelliel sift through the Empress’s research notes, someone else had arrived.
“Alexia…”
Alexia. Astrid’s personal maid.
By now, Astrid had been freed from her illness at the cost of countless lives, living a life she would never know had been paid for in blood. And of all people, it had to be Alexia. The very maid Karina herself had entrusted to care for Astrid.
“I-I won’t tell anyone,” Alexia said hurriedly. “I swear—”
But Karina couldn’t risk it.
Not in this run.
That day, Alexia was found hanging from the ceiling.
And the Head Maid, Vanessa, along with Doctor Zelliel, vanished without a trace.
“…Y-Yes, I’m bound for Estelle right now,” Zelliel whispered. “Yes? My seat? I-I’m in seat 17C, near the window.”
Inside the train heading toward Estelle, as he attempted to flee everything he had helped set in motion, Zelliel spoke through a communication crystal.
“W-What? You’re… you’re here too? O-Okay. I’ll wait.”
What neither of them realized was that Vanitas was already on their trail.
It was then.
Spurt——!
Zelliel’s head rolled off the floor before anyone could even process what had happened.
Blood sprayed across the aisle. Screams followed a second later.
Karina, seated several rows away, froze. A gasp left her lips as she stared at the scene a few seats away.
She hadn’t known.
She hadn’t known it would unfold like this.
She didn’t even know whether this aligned with the present she remembered anymore.
But none of that mattered.
This was reality.
Vanitas Astrea had killed Zelliel.
And if that was the case, then there was no doubt left.
Vanitas was hunting everyone involved in the collaboration.
Including her.
“Vanessa.”
And so, Karina appeared before him, somewhere deep within the underworld of Estelle.
“Do you wish to kill me?” Karina asked.
“Truthfully, I don’t care about you,” Vanitas replied. “But no one must know.”
“It’s okay. I understand.”
“Then stay still. I’ll make this painless.”
“It’s fine, Professor.”
“….”
“You’re just doing what needs to be done, right?”
If this was the resolve Vanitas Astrea had chosen, then so be it. It was for the best.
The research notes Zelliel had taken were already gone. Karina had confiscated everything of value long before. What she had allowed him to steal were nothing more than scraps and meaningless pads, nothing that could benefit the cult seeking to seize the Empress’s work.
And so, it ended.
Crackle——
Ice shattered.
Vanitas struck, brutally ending Karina’s life.
“…You said it would be painless.”
At least, that was what he believed.
Unbeknownst to Vanitas, it was nothing more than one of many ice clones Karina had prepared in advance.