Episode 266
"What... what is this...?"
Rosewin, looking at the system window floating before her eyes, murmured with a puzzled expression.
"Why suddenly...?"
Until now, the system window only appeared when she summoned it. But why was it floating in the air now when she hadn't even called for it?
"Ugh, uuu..."
Thinking such thoughts while tilting her head, she soon felt her head spinning and began groaning again.
"Am I... really... going to die like this......?"
And then, pushing the system window aside, Rosewin murmured thus.
"Please... someone, anyone, please save me..."
Since she had earned the hatred of the servants over a long period, after shutting herself in her room for several weeks, most of the servants had already requested leave or vacation.
And the few servants remaining at the guild, overwhelmed by having to endure her hysterics, avoided approaching her as much as possible.
The compensation psychology that developed after her body became healthy, and the arrogance born from the belief that she was a special existence receiving the Hero's blessing.
Because of this, she had accumulated countless karmic debts, and it seemed unlikely that any helping hand would come.
"........."
Thus, having lost even the strength to call for help, she was growing cold in her room.
"Mmm..."
After keeping her head lowered for a while with eyes full of despair, she slowly turned her gaze to the side.
"But what is this... ..."
Perhaps feeling drowsy, Rosewin narrowed her eyes and murmured with a languid voice, then cautiously reached out her hand.
"...Who cares."
The flowers, that is, which had been inside the mysterious package that had just arrived for her.
- Rustle...
Rosewin's white and fair hand, though scarred here and there, picked up a flower.
The flower she picked was a yellow rose.
"Uuu..."
Stroking the flower from an unknown sender, Rosewin soon began to sob and held the flower preciously to her chest.
"Frey....."
She remembered Frey, who had always given her flowers, now finally realizing he had been a precious existence to her.
"Did you... truly treat me sincerely from your heart...?"
With her body returning to its previous terminal state, she abandoned all hope and murmured with a soulless voice.
"Did you truly, sincerely try to save my life....."
- Wooo...
".....Huh?"
But at that moment, something strange happened to her.
"Warm, it's warm......"
From the flower she was holding against her chest, warm heat began to spread.
"Why? How...?"
Unable to understand the sudden change in situation with a confused expression, she quietly tried to stand up from her seat.
".......???"
Unlike earlier when even stepping forward was difficult, now her body felt incredibly light.
No, not just light—she felt like she could fly. Like this, it seemed she could run at full speed for quite a while.
"Is my body... healed?"
Trying out moving her body, doing stretches, and even jumping around, she wore a dazed expression and murmured thus before plopping down on the bed.
"I lived....."
The terror that had been squeezing her just moments ago was gradually fading away.
"I, I lived... uuu..."
What followed was unknown relief, warmth, and sorrow.
"Why, why are tears coming out..."
- Rustle, rustle...
"...By the way, what on earth is this?"
With a bewildered expression while wiping away her flowing tears, she began examining the small box she had been holding.
"Flowers that can save me... System holder. So it would have to be flowers from Frey...."
- Thud...!
"Hmm?"
While flipping the box over and shaking it out, a single letter fluttered down onto the bed.
With a large heart in the middle, it unmistakably looked like a love letter.
- Rustle...
Normally, she would have despised love letters sent to her, tearing them up after a glance, or stuffing them somewhere to read when her self-esteem was low.
But somehow drawn to open it, Rosewin opened the envelope as if possessed, then furrowed her brows.
[An anonymous man who fell in love at first sight with you.]
[Ps. Always stay healthy.]
Inside the envelope was only a small memo written in handwriting she'd never seen before.
"What on earth is this......"
Having been wrapped in the fear of death just moments ago, she hadn't even properly thought about what was happening to her as she blankly read the contents.
- Beep, beep...!
"Wha— that startled me...!"
When the system window floating nearby suddenly approached and sounded an alert, she looked at the window with a startled expression.
>> Everything He Did <<
The letters 'Everything He Did' were blinking several times more intensely than before.
- Swish.....
Having experienced so much that her thoughts momentarily stopped, she reached her hand toward the blinking letters with a dazed expression.
- Flash...!
At that moment, countless pieces of information floated around her just like before.
"......."
But Rosewin's gaze was fixed on only one place.
"That's..."
At the image of young Frey, walking into a familiar space holding a flower.
"Surely..."
Her pupils began to dilate greatly.
.
- Step, step...
Young Frey, holding a flower in his hand, was walking down a familiar corridor with a pounding heart.
"It's this way..."
"Hmm."
After walking down the corridor for a while, when the female staff member guiding him spoke thus, Frey adjusted his clothes and made a nasal sound.
"You, you're pretty?"
"Yes?"
Then, narrowing his eyes, he spoke.
"Wanna, wanna date me?"
His voice was quite awkward and trembling.
"Or... do you want to die...?"
The point when the video was playing was exactly one month after Frey's mother had died.
Also, it was during the days when he had read and memorized the entire unsealed Book of Prophecy, perfectly learning what he had to do as the Hero.
And simultaneously, it was the day he learned of Rosewin's existence and what he had to do for her.
"Pff..."
"Why, why are you laughing...?"
When the female staff member who had cared for Rosewin since childhood looked down at him and burst into laughter, young Frey asked with a flustered expression.
"That's not something bad. That's just seduction."
The female staff member smiled with her eyes and corrected him.
As she said, at that time, Frey had been researching bad deeds for a long time but still hadn't grasped the concept.
"N, no! It is a bad deed...!"
"Why do you think that?"
"When street thugs say this... women hate it...?"
"...Pffhee."
At those words, the female staff member covered her mouth and smiled slightly, then made a dark expression.
"When you do bad deeds in the future... leave out that line."
"H, huh?"
"And......"
Saying thus while quietly stroking Frey's head.
"...Good luck."
She squeezed her eyes shut and whispered that, then quietly left her seat.
"I, I wasn't caught, was I...? I, I mustn't get caught..."
Then Frey, watching the female staff member with slightly fearful eyes, began murmuring in a frightened voice.
"I need to... make the Hero's armament go berserk..."
After being unable to sit still for a while, Frey quietly looked at the window in the room.
"So that's Rosewin..."
Then, gripping the flower he was holding, he murmured thus.
"...She looks cute."
Then, with a bright expression, he said that and cautiously entered the room.
- Squeeze...
"Hehe."
Then, after carefully giving the flower he had been holding to her hand.
"Hey..."
He began murmuring in a low voice.
"In my first round, you're the only person I can do good deeds for."
"Mmm..."
"In the Book of Prophecy, there are tips locked with magic that only the Hero can read? Things like that are written there. It said so there."
"........"
Quietly stroking Rosewin who was tightly gripping the flower he gave her with closed eyes, Frey murmured with a puzzled voice.
"Originally, you were designed? to receive my help, so they said it doesn't count as evil deeds needed to make the Hero's armament go berserk.....? I don't really understand what that means though."
Those words were true.
Having the 'Supporter System,' she was designed as a perfect 'Supporter' systematically, so even in the first round, she was not a target of Frey's evil deeds.
Of course, even the god from a thousand years ago who designed the 'Supporter System' through a contract with the Sunset family couldn't have predicted her innate disposition.
"Anyway, that worked out well."
Of course, Frey didn't even know she was a supporter, but with a clear and kind smile, he spoke in a low voice.
"Of course, since I have to regress, I shouldn't get caught doing good deeds... but if it's secretly, I can do good deeds for you at least, right?"
Saying thus, Frey, seeing color rising in young Rosewin's face, turned around with a wide smile and said.
"Please take care of me from now on! Rosewin!"
And the video gradually began to speed up.
"I came again today, Rosewin. Hey, I said terrible things to Kania yesterday? I told her she was ugly. Actually that was a lie though..."
"Seems a bit better than before? By the way, do you know what I did today? I told Serena she was my mistress? It was almost the first time I've seen Serena cry..."
"I rejected going out to play again today... I even threw a fish at her... wait, your complexion has gotten even better? That's good."
"Clana left my house crying. But... they said you and Clana don't get along..."
"...Perlotche called me a bad person. Finally, it seems people are seeing me as bad."
For a whole year, Frey kept visiting Rosewin who would often fall into a coma, continuously giving flowers to her as she lay with closed eyes.
These were scenes entirely absent from the memories of Rosewin, who was now staring blankly at them.
Naturally, since she had been in a coma when hearing those stories from Frey, there was no way she could have known.
- Static...
The video that had been playing quickly began to play slowly.
"Mmm..."
The scene that floated before Rosewin this time was one she knew well.
"Hello! Rosewin!"
It was exactly the day she had thought was her first meeting with Frey until now.
"Hehe..."
Having succeeded in making Rosewin wake up enough to live daily life through a year of effort, Frey approached her with a bright smile.
"What."
But looking at him, young Rosewin murmured in a low voice.
"You look annoying."
That was the first thing Rosewin had ever said to Frey.
".........."
And that sight.
"What... did I even say....."
The current Rosewin was watching with dead eyes.
.
"Wow- Flowers again- Thank you so much-"
"Yeah..."
Some time after that.
"D, do you like this one? Rosewin...?"
After countless video records had passed, records from about a year ago were flowing.
"W, well... I like flowers..."
It was the record from the date matching the box Rosewin had received.
"But, there's something a bit disappointing."
"...W, what?"
When Frey asked that, Rosewin in the screen murmured with a sullen expression.
"I don't like yellow."
"What?"
"When you think of roses, they should be red, right? So, next time make them red..."
"Haha..."
Hearing her words, Frey smiled with a hollow smile, and then the scene moved on.
"What... did you just say?"
"As I said, my request is just one."
Frey wearing a mask was speaking to the troubled-looking postmaster with his chin resting on both hands.
"...When the news that 'Frey Raon Starlight' has died becomes known to the world, please deliver these boxes to 'Rosewin Solar Sunset' at one-month intervals."
Behind him as he spoke, countless boxes were piled up.
"Flowers that have been preservation-treated with magic, you mean?"
"Yes."
"But why two of each...?"
The postmaster held the belief that clients' confidentiality and privacy must always be guaranteed.
Moreover, having received an enormous contract fee as a condition for performing this task from the masked Frey, asking itself could be rude, but human curiosity was inevitable.
"Well, you see..."
So in response to the postmaster's question, Frey scratched his head and answered.
"I never found out, you see..."
"Found out... what, exactly?"
"...What color flowers she likes more."
At his ambiguous words, the postmaster tilted his head and looked down at the box.
"Hmm..."
In the box, a red rose and a yellow rose were placed neatly side by side.
Probably countless boxes piled up behind also contained these flowers innumerable times.
If he were to send them monthly as he said, even if Frey died tomorrow, he'd have to send them for her entire lifetime.
"Hey... let me ask one thing."
So filled with many doubts, the postmaster tried to ask another question.
"...Mmph."
Suddenly flinching his body, Frey stood up abruptly.
"The contract is now complete."
Looking at Frey who was heading toward the exit while saying that, the postmaster urgently asked.
"W, why did you make such a contract? With this amount of money, it's enough to stabilize our lacking budget for decades? Why on earth..."
"Well then, goodbye."
But Frey, stepping outside leaving the postmaster behind.
"Huu..."
Sighed while looking up at the sky, then murmured in a low voice.
"Because your department is the only one in the Empire that hasn't been corrupted... ugh!"
Then, he suddenly bent his waist.
"Cough, cough..."
And Frey suddenly began coughing violently.
"Ugh..."
After looking at the large amount of blood on his hand with trembling eyes for a moment, he made a sad expression and murmured.
"...I know very well how terrifying it is to die little by little."
- Beep...!
And at that moment, the video paused.
"Hic, sob... huuu........."
The one who pressed the pause button was none other than Rosewin.
"I, I'm so sorry..."
Burying her head in the pillow and weeping bitterly, the two flowers he had sent were held in her embrace.
"Really, really I'm sorry... Frey..."
Before she knew it, her bed was being soaked with tears.
"I, I was wrong......."
Around her, countless pieces of information and system windows were still floating.
> Everything About Frey (V)
> Everything He Did (In progress.....)
> The Truths of the World
> Restrictions Applied to You
> Others
"I was wrong......."
The sunset visible through the window illuminated her thus.