Chapter 252
The Villainous Noble Who Kept Rewinding After Death: The Story Somehow Changed When I Committed Suicide
Interlude: Fourth Loop ①
“Ahhhh!?”
Lewis jolted up in bed, drenched in an overwhelming amount of sweat, enduring the sharp pain in his chest while trying to steady his ragged breath.
“Hah… Hah… Is this… my room again?”
Golden sunlight streamed through the window, warming the familiar decorations of his room. Outside the window, unlike his last memory of the imperial capital, the peaceful Valentine Duchy spread out before him.
“Did I come back again…?”
By the fourth time around, Lewis could grasp the situation quickly, but that didn’t mean his heart could catch up, and tears naturally streamed down his cheeks.
“What am I supposed to do?”
He had been betrayed by someone he loved.
He had been stabbed without understanding why.
He wished to die, but couldn’t.
He didn’t even understand why he couldn’t die.
Yet, the vivid sensations of being killed remained.
The terror of feeling death up close when he was beheaded in the first loop.
In the second loop, he was betrayed by someone he loved, faced accusations of crimes he didn’t commit, endured the public’s hatred, and fell into despair when he was beheaded.
In the third loop, his consciousness faded midway; thereafter, he found himself gasping as flames engulfed the once-beautiful imperial capital, surrounded by the screams of people panicking and the thick smell of blood.
For some reason, a Hero looked down at him, accompanied by his fiancé and other girls standing beside him.
The last words spoken were filled with the Hero’s hatred wishing for his death and the joyful voices of his companions celebrating it.
And the pain that lingered in his chest reminded him that none of it had been a dream, but a harsh reality.
“I don’t want this anymore. I don’t want to die…”
Lewis’s heart was in tatters from the repeated torment of his past. Unable to bear the continued pain in his neck and chest, he trembled with a fear that clung tightly to him.
“Lord Lewis. Are you alright?”
“…Miria?”
“Yes. May I come in?”
“…Ah.”
As Lewis tiredly permitted her entry, Miria cautiously approached the bed where he sat trembling in fear.
“What’s wrong? Did you have a scary dream?”
“A dream, huh. Hah. If only it had truly been a dream…”
“Lord Lewis? Today is…”
“I know. It’s the meeting with my fiancé. Sorry, please say I’m unwell.”
“But…”
“Please.”
“…Understood.”
Sensing Lewis’s unusual atmosphere, Miria left the room as he requested and explained the situation to his parents, leading to the decision to hold the engagement meeting with Iris without Lewis present.
From then on, Lewis became more reclusive, afraid to leave his room. He only consumed meals brought in by Miria, living a life devoid of energy otherwise.
“I don’t want to do anything anymore. If I don’t leave my room, I shouldn’t die. If I don’t interact with anyone, I shouldn’t die. I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die…”
His mind was filled solely with the fear of death and the desperate wish not to perish, so he thought that if he stayed inside, he wouldn’t have to face death.
And so, two and a half years passed, and the year came around for Lewis to attend the academy as usual.
Since Lewis had locked himself away, his parents visited him daily, calling out to him, but he merely replied with his voice, never once stepping out of his room.
Nonetheless, his parents felt relief just hearing his voice and continued to kindly support him, believing that he could do as he wished.
Lewis also felt it was wrong to live this way and was sorry for his parents, yet he couldn’t muster the courage to face death by going outside. The pain from his past deaths kept breaking him down.
Even as the year to attend the academy arrived, he still felt the same way. Lewis thought that by not attending, he wouldn’t die and told his parents he wouldn’t be going.
“This should be okay. This should mean I won’t die. This…”
Relieved that he could avoid death this way, Lewis felt a bit of mental respite and slowly let his consciousness slip away.
That night, just like in the third loop of his life, Lewis’s consciousness faded.
“Ahahaha! Hey, Miria! Does it hurt? If it does, you need to tell me, or I won’t know!”
“Mmm!! Mmmmm!!”
“I can’t understand what you’re saying at all! If I don’t know if it hurts, I can definitely keep going, right?!”
“Mmmmmm!!”
“Ahahahaha!!”
Three months passed since Lewis lost consciousness.
In those three months, he took the entrance exams for the academy as planned, but then he started to go a bit crazy.
In front of teachers, he seemed friendly with everyone, nobles and commoners alike, while behind the scenes, he bullied the commoners, using them as test subjects for magic and weapon experiments.
When he returned to his room, he summoned Miria, stripping her of her clothes to abuse her where she couldn’t be seen, whipping her and testing knives on her, simply to see her reactions and laugh.
When he went out to the town, he teamed up with crime organizations, engaging in underground fighting, human trafficking, and even illegal drugs, drowning in a life of drugs and women.
However, thanks to his status as a noble and his skilled use of dual personalities, no teacher at the academy noticed his bizarre behavior, allowing him to enjoy a perfectly ideal school life.
Then one day, while cleaning his room as usual, Miria, weighed down by the exhaustion from Lewis’s abuse, fainted as she headed to the servants’ laundry to wash the bed sheets.
“Are you alright?!”
At that moment, Shudo happened to pass by and, noticing Miria lying there, rushed over in a flustered state to help her up.
“Oof!!”
“Are you hurt? I’ll take you to the infirmary right away!”
“N-no! Please, don’t!”
When Shudo touched her, Miria let out a pained expression in response. Concerned, Shudo tried to help her to the infirmary, but for some reason, she resisted, stepping away from his arm, attempting to leave the scene.
“Oof…”
“Be careful! Don’t push yourself!”
Still suffering from the harsh treatment by Lewis, Miria staggered, trying to stand, but she wavered again, almost toppling over.
This time, Shudo firmly supported her, but he noticed the unevenness on her arms and back through her clothes.
“Excuse me, but please show me your arm.”
“P-please, don’t!!”
“Wait!! What is this…?!”
Ignoring Miria’s pleas, Shudo rolled up her sleeve, revealing burn marks and cuts from a blade.
There were also marks where something had bound her or where needle-like objects had been stabbed into her.
“Who on earth did this?!”
“Please, don’t tell anyone!”
“But!!”
“Please…”
Shudo couldn’t understand why Miria would protect someone, but her earnest expression compelled him to agree to keep quiet for the time being.
“Thank you. Then…”
Although he really wanted to treat her, he refrained from doing so, knowing any treatment would leave marks, and fearing her master might notice him if he did.
Still worried about Miria, Shudo started to make time to spend with her, and gradually, she began to open her heart.
“Are you really not going to tell anyone about this?”
“Yes. My master has been mentally ill for a while and has gone through a tough time. I think he’s only acting this way now due to those scars. But I believe he will change his heart someday.”
“I see.”
Though what was happening to Miria was truly painful, she thought that considering Lewis had been in a mentally fragile state until recently, anything he did now was better than him being shut away in his room, doing nothing.
No, if she didn’t think that way, her heart would crumble any moment. If she could sacrifice herself for Lewis to step outside, she forced herself to accept it, desperately trying not to acknowledge her true feelings.
Then one day, after being abused by Lewis as usual, Miria knelt on the floor in her underwear, cleaning the blood-stained floor with her own blood.
“Ah, that’s right, Miria. I heard you’ve been meeting with commoner men behind my back lately.”
“…Huh?”
“Ahaha. Don’t look so surprised. It’s natural for an owner to keep an eye on their possession, isn’t it?”
“W-well, that is…”
“Ah, don’t worry. I’m not saying you can’t meet them. But, it does make me a bit jealous, you know? It feels like my pet, who I thought was mine, is wagging its tail for someone else? It grinds my gears a bit…”
“I-I’m sorry. I won’t meet them again.”
“Hm? Is that so? I don’t mind if you meet them, but if that’s what you think, then fine, don’t meet them.”
“Th-thank you.”
Miria didn’t know what she was thanking him for, but she expressed her gratitude and let out a small sigh of relief.
“Ahahaha. What are you relieved about?”
“Huh?”
“I just said I was feeling jealous, right? I think it’s the parents’ fault for not raising their pet properly.”
“W-what are you saying…?”
“What’s this, huh?”
“Eek?!”
As Lewis said that, he pulled an object from the desk drawer and threw it on the floor. The wrapping opened, and hair of the same color as Miria’s spilled out.
“M-mom…”
“Correct! That’s Lana’s hair. Remember my friend, the talented assassin? I had him bring it here. I didn’t expect to send an assassin to my family, but apparently, it was easy for him to take out a servant.”
“N-no way…”
“Ahaha. Just look at that face! It’s the best, Miria! Your crying face is really something. I thought your reactions were getting dull lately, but seeing that expression makes me wish I had done this earlier.”
Lewis squatted in front of Miria, laughing joyfully, and with a gleeful expression, he grabbed her bangs, forcing her gaze to meet his while licking the tears streaming down her face.
“This is the result of making me jealous. It’s your fault. Your mother ended up like this because of you. Do you understand? If you don’t want to lose any more important things, don’t trouble my heart.”
After saying that, Lewis slammed Miria to the ground, ordered her to clean up the room, and exited alone.
“Aah…”
Left alone in the room, Miria gathered the scattered hair of her mother, letting out groans like a broken doll, repeatedly apologizing with lifeless eyes.
“I’m sorry, Mom. I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry…”
