I Was Happy to Be Dumped by My Fiancé, But Something Seems Off - Episode 37

In the cathedral’s guest room. While sipping hot milk with plenty of honey mixed in, I immediately addressed Inanna when she returned from the adults’ discussion.

“Lady Inanna, do you know how Auntie acquired her charm ability?”

“We’ll be interrogating her on the cathedral’s side soon, so you’ll find out eventually~”

“On the cathedral’s side?”

“Yes. During the adults’ discussion, I got Ignat-kun to agree. Of course, with the condition that any information obtained would be fully reported to the royal family without concealment.”

It wasn’t just about the grudge from being stabbed – there was also significant danger of charm being used during interrogation. With Inanna, who is immune to charm, taking the lead, the interrogation would be conducted at the cathedral. Searching for an interrogation officer immune to charm now would be time-consuming and pointless.

Both the king and Inanna wanted to resolve this matter quickly.

“However, there’s one possibility that might exist.”

“What is it?”

“Bertina-chan, do you know about ‘reincarnators’?”

“Reincarnators?”

Hearing the word for the first time, I shook my head and looked at Argent. After thinking for a moment, he shrugged his shoulders, indicating he didn’t know either.

“Very rarely, there are those who have memories of their previous lives, I suppose you could say…”

For example, even though I’m female now, I might have memories of when I was male, or even though I’m a princess, I might have strong memories of living as a commoner. Those who possess memories of someone other than themselves are treated as “reincarnators.”

Like Maria’s beloved children, this becomes apparent soon after birth. It’s also said they possess special abilities ordinary humans don’t have.

“Is that the charm ability?”

“Yes! At first, I suspected a succubus or demon might have lent their power, but it just didn’t feel right~”

“If a demon had lent their power, they wouldn’t make her obsess over just one person,” said Argent. If they were using humans as prey, they’d charm many more people. Agnes only charmed and kept Crow by her side. There’d be no benefit for a demon to help with that.

“That’s when I remembered, I’m sure there are children among the ‘reincarnators’ who have similar abilities. But~…”

If Agnes were truly a “reincarnator,” then why wasn’t it detected during the baptism she underwent as a baby? Hearing that reincarnators possess memories of previous lives from infancy, Bertina questioned whether her memories might have returned later.

“Could it be that rather than as an infant, she recovered her previous life’s memories after growing up, which is why it wasn’t detected during baptism, wouldn’t that be possible?”

“That could be. In that case, we wouldn’t have noticed and would have missed it.”

“If she is a ‘reincarnator,’ what will you do?”

“We seal the special ability. To prevent misuse and to ensure it’s not used unconsciously, causing negative effects on others.”

Like Maria’s beloved children, they’re beings who rarely come into existence. In this case, I was told the last one seen was about seventy years ago. I asked Inanna, who served as high priestess then as she does now, about something from that time.

“Lady Inanna, you’re not human, are you?”

“I’m half human? My mother was human.”

“…And your father?”

“Fufu, I don’t have a father. I was born from giving the flesh and blood of the goddess Maria to a human priestess, so strictly speaking, the source providing the seed called father would be Maria~”

“…………”

Unlike Bertina, who was stunned by the answer beyond her imagination, Argent, who had suffered severe burns on his hand when touching a mirror given by Inanna before, seemed to have somewhat anticipated this and wasn’t very surprised.

The mother who gave birth to the goddess’s child died, and the remaining Inanna was raised by the high priestess of that time, who knew the circumstances, as her own daughter and successor.

“Ah… umm… that is… should I think of you as being the same as the goddess Maria?”

“It’s nothing that grand. You can treat me the same as before. More importantly, starting tomorrow we’ll begin interrogating Agnes-chan and Luigi-kun, so when we get results, I’ll tell you both.”

Bertina, who didn’t wish to be present this time, nodded.

When asked what she would do, Bertina paused for a moment before speaking.

“I’m going to see my father.”

She had to meet him and ask, no matter what.

Whether he remembers Milaria or not.

The next day, Bertina returned to the Annaloro ducal residence with Argent. Bianco was fortunately absent, and even though she hadn’t asked where he went, the butler told her his destination.

“Lord Bianco has gone out with Lady Clarissa.”

She nearly stumbled but didn’t fall. Yesterday Clarissa had stayed at their home, and in the morning the two had gone out together. Sighing deeply while wondering what they were doing, she shook her head lightly since her purpose in coming today didn’t involve them.

“Where is my father?”

“He has been sleeping since yesterday.”

“And my mother?”

“The madam…”

As the butler opened and closed his mouth hesitantly, just as Bertina was about to ask more, a high-pitched scream came from deeper inside. The voice belonged to Bertina’s mother, whom she knew well. When Bertina turned to hurry toward the sound, her hand was grabbed.

When she looked back, the butler shook his head.

“The madam has been like that since last night. Early this morning, a priest came and administered a sedative, but…”

“It didn’t work, did it…”

Sedatives don’t work on those who have been under charm for extended periods, though they do affect those charmed for shorter durations. The mother’s screams coming from afar were all words denying and cursing her father and Agnes.

Disgusting

Disgusting

Disgusting man, disgusting woman

Why was I smiling fondly at those two siblings being intimate?

Disgusting

Disgusting

Not wanting Bertina to hear any more of the curse-like stream of words, the butler suggested she not approach the residence for a while, but Bertina refused. She had come today to see her father, she said, and couldn’t return without doing anything.

“Whether the master is awake or not.”

“If he’s sleeping, I’ll come another day. Please, take me to father’s room.”

“As you wish.”

Yielding to Bertina’s determination, the butler led the way to her father’s bedroom. She gazed at her father sleeping quietly on the large bed.

–Father… has he aged this much?

His beauty that showed no decline had continued to charm many noble ladies. His skin, which hadn’t shown many noticeable wrinkles before, now had visible wrinkles, and faint shadows floated around his eyes. His golden hair was mixed with much white, making him look like he had aged dramatically in just one day.

“Perhaps it would be happier for the master if he never wakes up like this.”

“Even so, we must have him wake up.”

Then a glowing sphere appeared before Bertina and began circling around her father’s face. It had appeared before Bertina once before, circling near her face before disappearing.

Thinking Argent might know what the glowing sphere was even if she didn’t, she asked about it, but she couldn’t believe what she heard in response.

“What are you talking about?”

“Huh?”

Argent couldn’t see the glowing sphere. When she asked the butler, he said there was nothing there.

Could only she see it? As she stood there stunned, the glowing sphere settled on her father’s forehead and disappeared into particles.

“Is it still there?”

“N, no, it’s gone now.”

What in the world was it? It disappearing suddenly was the same as before, but why couldn’t anyone else see it? As she pondered this, the eyelids that had remained closed twitched slightly, then opened with slow movements. Eyes the same deep amethyst as her own looked vaguely up at the ceiling, then soon turned their gaze toward her and the others nearby.

After widening his eyes slightly, a hoarse voice called Bertina’s name.

“……”

“……”

Silence enveloped them.

She waited for her father’s next words.

“…Bertina…”

“……”

“Now, I have nothing to say to you. Whether I was caught in Agnes’s schemes or not, what I did to you doesn’t cease to exist.”

“Yes! I want no part of your apologies either. I don’t want such things now, nor am I such a tolerant person that I could forgive if apologized to.”

“That’s fine! No matter what treatment one receives, there’s no one anywhere who would forgive…”

Until now, when conversing with her father, the room had almost never been quiet. Usually her father would raise his voice, or her mother who was present would shout angrily, and each time Bertina would talk back. She never imagined there would come a day when she’d converse with her father lying calmly in bed.

She once had Argent and the butler leave the room, leaving just the two of them. After placing a chair by the bed and sitting down, Bertina brought up her twin sister Milaria, who died right after birth.

“I only learned about it after reading your diary. Do you remember, Father?”

“I remember! How could I forget? Even when moving according to Agnes’s words, even when my consciousness was gone, Milaria’s matter, I never forgot. I visited Milaria’s grave every day too.”

Strangely enough, he said his consciousness would suddenly return only regarding matters related to Milaria.

–Perhaps, that glowing sphere was…

Bertina formed a certain hypothesis.