The Exhausting Reality of Novel Transmigration

p>“Wow, then we’re friends from now on, my friend.”

With a tone full of vigor, Daniel said this.
His tactless palm hit Leo’s elbow yet again.

Leo smilingly moved out of the way.

It was a fluid motion, a movement that was clearly natural.

Rosetta looked at both men one at a time for a moment, then she opened her lips.

“Then, I really have to leave now.
May I? Truly this time?”

At Rosetta’s question, Leo’s brows grew furrowed as he nodded.

“Of course.
I apologize once again for keeping you for too long when you’re not feeling well.”

“Ah, yes.
It was discourteous of us.”

When Leo apologized, Daniel chimed in.

Rosetta shrugged, then she shook her head.

“It’s alright.
It’s good that we’ve formed a connection.
Then, see you again next time.”

“Shall I see you off?”

“No thank you, we’re alright.
You have to stay here.
Duke and Duchess Carter must be grieving a lot, and isn’t the funeral of your beloved older brother still ongoing?”

“Thank you for your consideration.”

“Thank you in return for your kindness.”

After saying this, Rosetta quickly turned around.

Yet another thing might come up to hold her back.

Of course, thus far, it didn’t seem like they wouldn’t keep her here just because she had already turned around.

But she just wanted to leave quickly because she was afraid that even Daniel would insist that he should come out to see them off.

Fortunately, this time, there was no voice to stop them in place again.

‘Let’s just go home and rest.’

Right now, her head really was throbbing.

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It hurt so much that it felt as if a migraine would arrest her entire body.

All she was thinking now was that they should go home and rest so that she could think about how to deal with this goddamn situation.

How many steps had they taken?

Carrying a bit of humidity with it, a summer breeze swept past.

The light wind brushed against her hair and her cheeks, then it disappeared.

Leaves could be heard rustling against each other.
It was the sound of nature that was brought upon by the breeze.

Soon, all the noises stopped.

What’s left behind was silence.

And so, the sound that could be heard coming from the entrance of the thicket was heard only belatedly.

Rustle.

It was out of place, this sound that seemed to come from an animal.

It was fast, it was light.

Something that was definitely not human.

Inevitably, Rosetta’s gaze turned towards where that sound was coming from.

Halt.

Once more, her strides were stopped.

This time, no one was holding her back.
Rosetta stopped of her own accord as she stared blankly into the thicket.

Her gold eyes were filled entirely with the sight of those well-trimmed trees and bushes.

Following Rosetta, Cassion and Alicia also stopped.

The two wordlessly waited for Rosetta to start walking again.

After a few seconds, however, it seemed as if Rosetta was unwilling to move.

With her back against the other two, she was just standing there like a statue, staring at the thicket.

“…Sister?”

“Milady²?”

Feeling that something was amiss, Alicia and Cassion called out to her.

But she did not answer.

Where was it, her answer.

She didn’t make even a small acknowledgement.

The strange reaction urged Cassion to move.

Stepping closer to Rosetta, he now also looked at the thicket where her gaze was fixed.

However, there was nothing there.

There was a rustling sound earlier, but that was all.

It was just an area of well-trimmed trees and bushes.

Nothing more and nothing less.

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Knitting his brows, Cassion tried to look through the thicket more, but he soon concluded that nothing’s there.
Then, he turned to face Rosetta.

However.

“…Rosetta…?”

He unconsciously called Rosetta’s name.

They were outside and in a public place, so he was required to call her ‘Milady’, but he couldn’t.

Because her face had turned so pale that it seemed as if she was going to turn into a corpse at any given moment.

Her golden eyes reflected the thicket, and as they were deeply sunken, her gaze was empty.

It was as if she had been surprised.
But, no.
It looked as if she had witnessed such a shocking scene that she’d lost her senses.

“…Rose… Milady.
Milady.”

Cassion held her arm and waved a few times in front of her.

Then, Rosetta’s empty gaze turned slowly—ever so slowly—towards Cassion.

“What’s wrong? What made you react this way?”

Cassion’s voice pressed down hard as he asked.

It was in a small voice that only the two of them could hear.

Feeling the strange atmosphere, Alicia shifted her weight on one foot then the other.

Blankly, Rosetta shook off Cassion’s hand.

Then, she covered her eyes with her own pale hands.

“Why are you…”

“One second.”

Rosetta firmly cut off the words of concern that he was about to say again.

She hadn’t stumbled, but it looked as though she was about to stumble over any time.

Beneath the hands that covered her eyes, her red lips smiled helplessly.

Rather than an act to show that she was at ease, the stiff smile seemed more to be out of disbelief—out of anger and incredulity.

She laughed.

With her face buried in the dark.

Trying to gauge whether what she saw just now was a mere hallucination or the truth, she laughed.

Immediately after that rustling sound, a strange creature appeared in her sight for but a moment.

She didn’t see it properly and it disappeared in an instant, but the unusual appearance of that thing left a deep impression on her.
Even if it was just a moment.

A bluish body that was much too pale.
The whites of its eyes that had instead turned entirely black.

Like an animal and like a human being, but unlike an animal nor a human.

A blue monster.

That thing.
It was the kind of demonic beast that Urien controlled.

¹ it doesn’t translate well, but what Rosetta did here was a play on Leo’s words.
Leo proposed that she should ‘come and go often’, meaning to ‘visit’, but Rosetta twisted those words and replied to him with ‘alright, let our letters come and go often.’

² from now on, i’ll be using the titles of ‘Ducal Lady’, ‘Lady’ or ‘esteemed daughter’ for both Rosetta and Alicia instead of ‘Princess’ or ‘Ducal Princess’.