After I died, Everything Changed - Chapter 37

“Ah… you mean what happened to Irene?”

Abel didn’t answer, but Roosevelt read the confirmation in his silence.

“It wasn’t me! That was that idiot Vermont who screwed it up!”

“He failed.”

“I told him just to stall her—just delay her from getting to the ritual! Who knew he’d actually try to kill her?!”

“Vermont,” Abel murmured quietly.

“Now look at me—my hands won’t stop shaking! Once she wakes up, she’ll go straight to the Lord and report everything. And when that happens, it won’t just be his blood that’s spilled!”

Roosevelt was nearly hyperventilating.

“Was this not your mother’s order?”

“Ha! Do you think my sister would risk so much for something so sloppy?”

Abel’s gaze drifted down to the blue sheen of his sword.

“I don’t even know whether to be relieved or horrified that she survived…”

Roosevelt clawed both hands through his hair, pulling it in frustration.

Abel leaned back in his chair, relaxed… almost too relaxed.

“Then deal with it.”

“…What?”

“If something is rotting the flesh, you cut it off. Even if it’s an arm you treasure.”

“What do you mean…? You’re not saying—kill Vermont?”

Roosevelt reeled back, shocked.

Not so much at the cold suggestion itself, but at the fact that Abel, his own nephew, was the one saying it.

“Why now? What’s changed with you?”

Roosevelt narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

Abel, who was always distant and lukewarm—never one to move unless pushed—was suddenly speaking like a different person.

It was unsettling.

Enough that Roosevelt even began to doubt Abel’s reputation as a war hero.

“You’re going to help me, Uncle.”

“Help you…?”

As Roosevelt tilted his head, Abel’s lips curved into a faint smile.

“I’ll get you and my mother what you’ve always wanted.”

“You mean… you intend to become the heir?”

“Yes.”

“But why the sudden decision…”

He stopped himself mid-question.

No—what was the point of prying?

He had the will now. That was all that mattered.

Better not say anything to ruin such a promising turn of events.

“Good. That’s more than enough reason. If you’ve made up your mind, I’ll support you.”

“I only want one thing in return.”

“One thing…?”

Abel’s gaze flicked across the blade of his sword—gleaming with ominous light.

Roosevelt swallowed hard.

They say some people can stab you with just a look—Abel might actually be capable of it.

“There’s only one thing in Mergen that I truly desire. Just one. And I will have it.”

Roosevelt was dying to ask what it was.

But he didn’t.

“Then let’s start by cleaning house.”

And for a moment, Roosevelt felt a chill crawl down his spine.

Not even his ambitious sister Chloe had ever radiated this kind of cold, lethal determination.

Abel wasn’t some baby tiger.

He was something more.

“Where is Vermont now?”

Same calm tone. Same composed face.

And yet Roosevelt’s hand wouldn’t stop trembling.

He couldn’t understand it.

How could such an ordinary expression make him feel like he was being crushed?

He didn’t know.

And that scared him more.

* * *

“My side’s already been stabbed—now my face is getting skewered too.”

I muttered as I tried to eat the porridge Karlin brought, under the blazing stares of both her and Elliot.

“What exactly happened?”

“This.”

I politely pointed to my side with my empty spoon.

I mean… it’s obvious. I nearly died. What more explanation do they need?

“What are you going to do about him?”

“Vermont?”

“Yes. You’ll need to speak with the Lord about it.”

“Has the report been made yet?”

“Not the full account, no. We’ll need your statement for some parts.”

“Hm.”

Vermont going wild like that… in the end, it became an opportunity for me.

Thanks to him, I now had a clear and easy excuse to seize the shipping business—without any complicated maneuvering.

“If everything resolves this easily, maybe I should collect a few more scars like trophies.”

“Don’t even joke about that,” Elliot snapped.

“Whether I want them or not doesn’t seem to matter much.”

People who are willing to kill just to protect their money… how could I stop them?

If I were still Deborah, Vermont would’ve never dared act so brazenly.

But the fact that he did—without hesitation—meant Irene had seemed easy to him. Weak. Disposable.

I’d expected the retainers to let down their guard around me, sure.

But this? This was letting the leash go entirely.

“Still, I suppose I should be flattered—Mergen’s snakes turned out to be more interesting than I thought.”

“……”

“How about the others?”

“No casualties on our side… besides you, that is.”

“So I’m the only one who got hit. Lucky me.”

Looked like Solmon’s men got out clean too.

“Though by now, I thought the Lord himself would’ve come to check on me. Am I losing my touch?”

I set down my spoon and dabbed my lips with a napkin.

Elliot shook his head.

“Your instincts are as sharp as ever. Normally, he would have come… but he’s hosting a guest.”

“A guest?”

“Yes. A rather important one.”

More important than my burst side? That narrowed it down to… too many people.

The longer I thought, the more unimportant I started to feel—so I gave up and just asked:

“Who is it?”

“Lady Cornelia arrived yesterday.”

“…!”

Great-Aunt.

The letter I’d sent had reached her.

“I need to go see her.”

“You should still be resting.”

But Elliot’s protest barely registered. I was already pushing back my blanket.

Lady Cornelia.

The sister of the current Lord. The one person in the entire family who understood Mergen’s sacred powers better than anyone else.

She had withdrawn from society years ago due to poor health and had cut off nearly all contact with the family—choosing a quiet life in the countryside.

But she had responded. To me.

“She came to see me—so of course, I’ll go to her.”

A surge of hope rose within me.

If anyone could give me answers… it would be her.

* * *

“It’s been a long time.”

Of all places… my first time seeing my great-aunt again had to be here, in front of Deborah’s grave.

She had already finished speaking with the Lord and had quietly come here.

I was the one in a rush—there was no time for formal greetings or finding a more fitting location.

“Yes. It’s been a long while.”

Lady Cornelia, her silver hair neatly tied up, greeted me with a gentle smile.

Her voice was faint, yet her eyes shone clear and bright—sharp and unwavering.

“How is your health?”

“That’s a question I should be asking you.”

“Did you read my letter?”

Lady Cornelia’s gaze fell softly on the grave in front of her.

“…This child who lived such a long and weary life… in the end, she didn’t even get a proper grave under her own name.”

Her frail hand gently brushed over the headstone where the name ‘Deborah’ was engraved.

“How did you…”
I trailed off.

The only thing I’d written in my letter was a simple request for advice regarding Mergen’s mystical power.

Not a single word about me and Irene switching bodies.

But this woman—she knew everything.

“You want to know how I recognized you were Deborah?”

“…Yes.”

Great-aunt Cornelia let out a soft, wistful laugh.

“You came to me because of the Mergen blood, didn’t you? You sought help from someone who understands our power. You think someone like me wouldn’t recognize the color of your soul?”

“The color of my soul…?”

“You used to be able to sense the forest’s energy too, as a child. Try to remember. Even now, I can faintly see the presence of a person’s soul. And during the Rain Calling Ritual, I saw something… radiant. Something unmistakable.”

I felt breathless.

“…I don’t understand why any of this is happening. I don’t know how it happened. If there’s anyone who held that answer, it was Irene—but she’s… gone.”

Why did I die?

Why did our souls switch?

What kind of power allowed Irene to do this?

So many questions. So few answers.

“Irene was always fated to die young.”

“…What?”

Lady Cornelia spoke as if recalling a truth long buried.

“I knew it even before I left the manor… that child would not live past her coming of age.”

“But she did live beyond it.”

“Not without cost. The power of Mergen, when impure or incomplete, is no different from a curse. When you two were born as twins… neither of you was meant to live.”

“…Both of us?”

Not just one—both.

But the outcomes couldn’t have been more different.

“Your body survived by rejecting Mergen’s power. You severed it completely—lost its strength, yes, but you kept your life. It’s not uncommon here.”

“Then… Irene didn’t reject it.”

“No. Her body continued to harbor the unstable energy. Left alone, she never would have survived past thirteen.”

“Are you saying Irene was terminally ill?”

But maybe—somewhere, deep down—I had always known.

Back then, even as a child, I feared she was like a delicate flower… one that might wither before her time.

“But she lived.”

“How?”

“Because someone came along who disrupted her fate.”

At that moment, a face flashed through my mind like a bolt of lightning.

Support