The Youngest Daughter Of The Great Wizard Of The Famous Swordsmanship [EN]: Chapter 194

194. Rosette’s Slumber (1)

May 12, 2024

Rosette swung her dagger with all her might.

However, Michael reflexively leaned back, and the dagger only managed to graze his neck.

That seemed to provoke Michael. The hand gripping her neck tightened again.

Desperately, Rosette readjusted her grip on the dagger with both hands, trying to plunge it into his still-confused neck.

That was the moment.

“No! Rose, stop!”

Daniel’s voice, which shouldn’t have been heard there, rang out. Though not as clearly, she seemed to hear Lucas’s voice as well.

Her foolish brothers had followed her after all.

Then there was no need to hesitate any longer. Rosette paused momentarily, trying to recall the vital spots from her past memories.

Suddenly, a hot liquid poured over Rosette.

“……!”

Red blood flowed from between Michael’s lips. The hand that had been choking Rosette’s neck gradually lost its strength.

Rosette belatedly realized what had happened.

A long sword pierced through Michael’s left chest. And behind him, Joshua Ernhardt stood with a hardened face, gripping the sword.

Her devoted, perhaps reckless, lover.

“It’s over now, Michael Löscher.”

He spoke each word deliberately, infusing mana into the sword. He was imitating the method Rosette used instead of aura [a life energy or spiritual force].

Soon, as Joshua twisted and pulled out the sword, Michael’s body began to collapse.

[Woof!]

Silver, who had run over quickly, bit Michael’s side as he tried to fall on Rosette, pushing him away.

[Peep!]

Bbibbi bravely pecked at the white snake Perito, who was trying to crawl towards Michael. Already tattered with wounds, Perito couldn’t retaliate against Bbibbi’s attack and soon disappeared into smoke.

Perito’s death signaled that everything was truly over.

Rosette watched Bbibbi fly towards her after defeating Perito and closed her eyes. She wanted to proudly say that everything was over, but she had no strength left in her body.

Even lifting her eyelids was difficult.

“Rose! Are you conscious?”

Rosette barely opened her eyes at Joshua’s voice from behind. He threw the blood-stained sword aside and checked her condition. His distressed face was blurry.

After confirming that Celine and other knights who followed were tending to Michael, Rosette moved her lips with difficulty towards Joshua.

“Why…….”

Why did you come? I told you to run away.

Joshua, who somehow understood her meaning, caressed her cheek.

“How could I leave you behind?”

His voice, filled with urgency, was tinged with tears.

At the same time, Duke Adrian, Lucas, Daniel, and Isabel rushed to her.

“Rose, please open your eyes.”

“Kid! You can’t die!”

But that was the limit. Rosette closed her eyes, looking at the people she loved more than her own life, filling her vision.

* * *

Once, Rosette had pondered how she would live after finishing what she had to do.

That is, after safely protecting her family, unlike in the past, and after getting rid of Louis Ernhardt and the Lillis Dukedom, who were Joshua’s adversaries.

However, no plausible story came to mind.

A life without any worries felt like it only existed in peaceful fairy tales, making it feel unreal.

She vaguely thought that she would continue to live with her family, meet a man she loved, marry, have children, and build a happy family.

It was a future that felt happy just imagining it, but also 불안하게 [uneasily].

Could she, who had stained her hands with the blood of so many people, really be happy like this?

Like Joshua said, who argued that just because she turned back time didn’t mean it never happened, could she really live without any guilt about it?

But.

-If you have to atone for the rest of your life, your father will be by your side to help you carry your burden.

Duke Adrian, after hearing all the truth, did not despise her but instead offered to share Rosette’s sins.

-I like you. Maybe I have for quite some time.

Joshua, who would have hated Rosette more than anyone else, eventually forgave her and loved her.

Now, Rosette decided to live according to her own desires this time.

If this matter was resolved, she decided to do everything she wanted to do.

‘But can I do that?’

Rosette doubted as she wandered through a consciousness she didn’t know where it was.

She had managed to deal with Michael, who had threatened Adrian and Joshua, and had also found a way to drive out Louis Ernhardt, who had been in league with him.

Now, all that remained was a happy future.

The Lillis Dukedom would disappear, and Joshua Ernhardt, with his competitors gone, would be smoothly appointed as the Crown Prince.

Ophelia would no longer be threatened by assassination, and Adrian would also be rid of his long-time adversary.

But she couldn’t open her eyes.

Her whole body was heavy. It felt like she was submerged in deep water. She couldn’t move, no matter how hard she tried.

“How long…….”

“……How much…….”

[Peep…….]

Familiar voices flowed into her ears, but she couldn’t understand what they were saying. However, she knew that those who loved her as much as she loved them were worried about her.

Duke Adrian, her sister and brothers, and even Bbibbi.

Rosette endured the tedious and long time with the sense of duty that she had to open her eyes quickly for them.

She tried to move her body, which wouldn’t move no matter what she did, starting with her fingers and toes, and tried to open her eyes.

It wasn’t easy. When she felt like she was making meaningless efforts alone in a place where no one was, she also felt the urge to give up everything and sleep comfortably.

But she couldn’t do that. She had a bad feeling that if she let go of everything like this, she would never be able to go back to her loved ones.

She didn’t know how long she had been wriggling her body like that. Light flashed over her closed eyes, and her consciousness was suddenly pulled up from under the surface of the water.

Rosette gasped for breath like someone who had been holding their breath for a long time. But she still couldn’t get much strength in her body.

Her eyelids were as heavy as lead, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t open her eyes even halfway.

[Peep?]

The first to greet Rosette was her familiar, Bbibbi. Bbibbi, who had been dozing off at her bedside as usual, felt the movement and opened its eyes wide.

[Peeeee!]

Bbibbi, confirming that Rosette had woken up, flapped its wings noisily and shouted, causing Lucas, who had been dozing off in his chair, to lift his head sharply.

“Hey, chick! What’s wrong…….”

Lucas, who was yawning, suddenly realized something and ran towards Rosette. He didn’t see the small table and chair in front of him properly and fell over with a crash, but he got up and ran without paying attention.

Rosette tried to open her mouth as she looked at Lucas, but no voice came out. Lucas, who found her blinking silently, distorted his chin like a walnut and sobbed.

“Kid, I thought you were really going to die this time.”

He rubbed his bloodshot eyes wildly and grabbed Rosette’s hand tightly.

“You really woke up, right? Why don’t you say anything even after seeing your brother.”

Rosette squeezed Lucas’s hand tightly instead of squeezing out a voice that still wouldn’t come out. Lucas finally burst into tears at the small warmth he felt in her hand.

“Don’t ever do that again! I told you I would go with you, so why are you going alone like that? What are you, immortal?”

Rosette had no regrets about her choice. If she had taken Lucas or someone else with her at that time, they might not be alive in this world now.

Even if she went back, she would have made the same choice.

That didn’t mean she wasn’t sorry. Rosette could fully understand the feelings of the people who were left behind, helplessly watching her disappear before their eyes.

She was about to squeeze Lucas’s hand again to mean she was sorry.

“What’s all the commotion all of a sudden? What on earth…….”

Isabel, who opened the door and came in, froze for a moment when she saw the two younger siblings holding hands. She opened her lips in surprise and grabbed a servant passing by in the hallway and shouted.

“Bring Father! And Brother Daniel too!”

Then she quickly corrected herself.

“Call the doctor first!”

* * *

The doctor who had taken care of Rosette in Adrian’s territory when she was young and Celine examined Rosette at the same time. Rosette entrusted her hands to the two and looked around at the people surrounding the bed.

Not only the people of the Adrian family, excluding the Duke, but also Lord Roten, Joan, Becky Lane, and even the familiar members of the subjugation squad.

However, the man she wanted to see as much as her family was not among them.

‘Did Joshua go to the Imperial Palace?’

As if noticing her question, Daniel said softly.

“His Highness the Crown Prince has returned to the capital to take care of the remaining matters.”

I see. Rosette nodded weakly.

When she heard from Lucas that she had been unconscious for as long as a week, she vaguely thought that would be the case.

Joshua Ernhardt was the Crown Prince of the Empire before he was her lover. He had to clearly distinguish between public and private matters. He had only gone to do what he had to do.

Even so, the fact that he wasn’t in front of her was quite disappointing and sad.

Daniel stroked Rosette’s hair.

“You may be upset, but don’t resent His Highness too much. His Highness also wanted to stay here until you woke up.”

“…….”

“However, if he delayed even a little, there was a possibility that the Second Prince or the Lillis Dukedom would destroy the evidence, so he had to move as quickly as possible.”

Rosette nodded as if she understood.

In the last moment, Joshua had abandoned everything and followed her.

Even though he knew that going to the capital while Rosette and Duke Adrian bought time was the right decision as the Crown Prince, he eventually chose her.

-But Rosette. Can’t you choose Joshua Ernhardt, not the First Prince of the Ernhardt Empire?

As he had confessed, he had always been Joshua Ernhardt to Rosette, not the First Prince.