Dear Ex-Fiancé, I Hope You Regret Everything - Chapter 35

Crown Prince Skyford Savarias. Have you realized that I am the wanted murderer?

I can’t sell here anymore.

I can sell candy anywhere. That’s why I’ve mastered a trade and peddle it. It keeps me light on my feet. However, I can’t use spatial magic. Magic power has a unique color, and Haira might learn of my whereabouts.

Should I trudge along on foot or travel by creaky boat?

That’s why I chose a country far north of Isac.

“Ushina… This cold is harsh for someone from a southern country.”

But it’s a country with many food stalls, perfect for blending in. Everywhere you look, people are selling sweets and meals. It’s noisy and bustling.

(So, this is the everyday scenery of this country.)

I’ve heard some people eat all their meals at stalls from morning till night. Indeed, there are dishes like porridge and noodles eaten with fish broth.

(Seems perfect for mornings when you have no appetite.)

I set up my stall in a steam-filled corner, and as I clink-clanked and sizzled away, making rabbits and tropical fish, before I knew it, a crowd of children had gathered around my stall.

“I want a chicken!” “I want a kitty!”

“Sure thing! Just wait a moment!”

In no time, I made a chicken, then a cat.

“Then, I’ll take a tropical fish.”

“Sure! …Eh…”

“We meet again, Rannai Shuwa.”

“…! …Y-you’ve got the wrong person. That’s not my name.”

(Why here of all places…!!)

Even though I ran away from you, I thought, as I cut the hot candy with trembling hands.

I offered the freshly made tropical fish to Crown Prince Skyford. The Crown Prince took it, stared at it intently, and said, “Hmm.”

“Do you miss Haira?”

“I’ve never even been to Haira.”

“Oh? Are you from a southern country?”

“That’s what I said, no? It’s true I’m dark-skinned, but please don’t judge based on skin color alone.”

Why is Crown Prince Skyford here? This is Ushina. What business brought him all the way here?

(It’s obvious, isn’t it?)

The Crown Prince, looking genuinely delighted, showed the tropical fish candy to the lady who was with him before.

“Iris, what do you think this is?”

“It’s a pretty fish. I don’t know the fish’s name, though.”

“Exactly.”

So what? A pretty fish, that’s all, right?

But the Crown Prince grinned and said,

“Unfortunately, only someone from a southern country would call this a ‘tropical fish.'”

“Eh…”

“Because the fish north of Isac aren’t this colorful. Right, Iris?”

“Oh! Is this a real fish? I thought it was the shopkeeper’s original creation.”

Ah.

(…My life has been nothing but running away…)

I removed my hand towel and bowed my head.

“…You already know everything, don’t you? I’ll return to the country and accept judgment.”

“Ah… well… you’re half right and half wrong.”

I stared at them blankly, and the lady called Iris began speaking eloquently.

“Ten years ago, in July, two bodies were discovered. Maybee Luwa and Slowfee Gankar. Maybee was your lover, and it was concluded that you committed the crime upon discovering her secret meeting with Slowfee, leading to your being wanted.”

“…I don’t remember well…”

“Yes, and for good reason. You are not the culprit.”

Everyone assumed I was the killer, and I fled, only to end up here. What is happening?

The person named Iris continued.

“Maybee was strangled with a rope, while Slowfee was shot in the head with a pistol. The theory is that you committed the crime in a fit of rage, but one question remains: Would someone go to the trouble of using different tools to kill? If you had a gun, you could have shot Maybee too. Why bother? If you were the culprit, it would have been one against two at the scene. Maybee and the others should have had a chance to escape. This is likely a case of forced double suicide by Slowfee.”

After finishing her rapid-fire explanation, the person named Iris looked at me with a confident expression.

“…You’re a strange one. What do you gain by proving my innocence?”

“I want you to return to Haira and make candy sculptures at my shop.”

“I refuse.”

“I’ll guarantee your safety!”

“…Are you insane? Who would want to eat candy made by a murderer?”

“But you’re innocent, aren’t you!? Then hold your head high! Thinking about sales is my job!”

Why is she so chest-puffingly confident? She’s a truly peculiar person.

(In my life on the run, this is the first time I’ve felt human warmth.)

“You’re fools. You’re not children; if you approach out of mere curiosity, you’ll end up in terrible trouble.”

As I began preparing to close my stall, this time the Crown Prince stopped me.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m a drifter by nature. I’ll just disappear somewhere you can’t see me.”

“…I can’t allow that.”

“Hah, so you plan to capture me after all. I thought you were suspicious. Why are you so insistent that I’m innocent? Are you taking me back to Haira to hang me or…?”

“Are you planning to take your own life?”

A heart-shaking shock ran through me.

I instinctively stared straight at the Crown Prince. He met my gaze with intense eyes.

“…Rannai. Weren’t you actually on a journey to find the real culprit?”

(What is with these people?)

“You had considered the possibility of a forced double suicide, but you turned a blind eye and pinned your hopes on finding the culprit, didn’t you?”

“Your Highness…”

(No. Say no and leave this place quickly…)

But why are my lips trembling and refusing to move as I want?

Why are tears dripping down uncontrollably?

“Your Highness…! I… ugh… uuuh…! I… I’ve got no reason to live anymore! I’m the one who killed Maybee! That guy wanted to die with her and escape so badly because I… I made her suffer!”

“That’s not true.”

“It’s exactly true!”

“When did you learn about her relationship with Slowfee?”

“After he died…”

“Hmm, likely, this was a forced double suicide by Slowfee. As I’ve been saying, this isn’t a mutual suicide but what you’d call a forced double suicide, without Maybee’s consent.”

“Forced… double suicide…”

(In other words, that means…)

My heart is pounding painfully.

Seeing me crouched down, the two hesitated to continue.

“Please, tell me. I want to know properly.”

They nodded to each other, and the baton was passed to the lady named Iris.

“Even if it were a double suicide, the murder weapon should be the same. Yet a rope was specially prepared for Maybee. This suggests… well… we can glimpse Slowfee’s love-hate, something he deliberately wanted to imprint. Between shooting someone in the head and strangulation, the latter causes longer suffering.”

“Then why a rope? Drowning would be painful too, right?”

“…Perhaps so he could see clearly. Maybee’s face. By savoring that moment, the man named Slowfee could feel that he had finally taken Maybee from you, Rannai-san.”

The freckled face I laughed with so many times comes to mind.

It gradually turns a venomous color.

“Why wasn’t it considered a double suicide but your crime? Because the gun was not in Slowfee’s hand. If he shot himself in the head, he should naturally still be holding the gun. But Slowfee’s hand held nothing. However, he was barefoot. Meaning, he hooked it with his toes, assumed a position leaning his head back, and pulled the trigger himself. The recoil from the shot would cause the head to jerk back, making the awkward posture relatively natural, ending up on his back or side. Of course, the gun would leave his hand. The scene was set up to look plausibly like you killed them.”

“Hah… My resolve was half-hearted. Enough… I don’t want to hear anymore.”

If I’d known it would come to this, I should have ended my life quickly instead of selling candy.

The Crown Prince crouched down and said.

“…Tropical fish.”

“Eh?”

“Don’t you actually want to return to Haira? You were always thinking of your hometown.”

“That’s not it.”

“Iris is my fiancée. Iris wants to employ your skills. There’s no need to rush death; humans die eventually anyway. Stick around a bit longer.”

“…Your Highness, with all due respect, normally at times like this, people say things like ‘The dead woman would want your happiness’ or ‘That person wouldn’t want you to die.'”

“I think that if we can’t even read the hearts of the living, how much less can we know the feelings of the dead? Those left behind must simply live earnestly. How can you not live your own life as your own? Don’t abandon life blaming the dead.”

Ah, I see. Perhaps I wanted to end my changed life, blaming you.

I can’t forgive Slowfee, and though I truly don’t understand what happened, I know one thing: if I throw my life away, Maybee would scold me.

“Crown Prince, Lady Iris, I want to return to Haira. I want to go home to my hometown.”

A cold wind blows fiercely.

Amidst the wind, I thought I heard Maybee’s voice saying, “I’m glad.”