No, It was My Fault for Loving You

Chapter 9 : The figure I saw was not him

It was only by chance that she discovered it.

Recently, she has been feeling good and usually felt light, so she got carried away.

As a result, shortly after the afternoon classes began, Beatrice felt sick and had to rest in the infirmary.

She doesn’t know how long she has been asleep for, though she doesn’t think she slept for more than an hour.

When she woke up, she got up to look at the clock.

The public health doctor was out of his seat, and Beatrice was alone in the room.

She checked the time and learned that it’s now break time. 

She was thinking about whether she should go back to the classroom or just rest here for the rest of the afternoon, when she suddenly glanced around.

“Oh… that is…”

Natalia appeared under a large tree at the back of the school building, exactly where she could see by looking down from the infirmary window.

The break time between classes was 20 minutes. Although a little extra time was allotted to allow for classroom movement, not many people come out to the back of the school building.

As she stared blankly at this unusual sight, a shadow running from another school building appeared at the corner of her vision.

“…”

No way.

Even though there is no one in the room.

Beatrice, for some reason, held her breath and shrank back.

She decided not to get involved.

And yet, anxiety, anticipation, and bewilderment hit Beatrice.

But it was only for a moment.

The man who came to see Natalia was not Leopoldo, but someone else entirely.

However, there was no doubt that he was probably a student of the Knight Training Department, because his uniform was a different color from that of the regular department.

It’s not good to spy on people, she thought, but she couldn’t take her eyes off them. A student from the Knight Training Department was talking to Natalia about something.

Natalia nodded at him with a smile, and he returned to the original Knight Training Department building with a happy expression on his face.

It only took a few minutes in time.

Natalia also left immediately, probably because she still has her next class.

Beatrice watched and breathed out a sigh of relief.

“…it wasn’t Leopold-sama…”

She muttered to herself, and then realized that it was still before the mock battle.

There’s no way that they have met already. However, she misunderstood, anticipated it, and became anxious.

“…ah… I feel like a fool for getting nervous all by myself.”

She felt weak and just fell onto the bed with a plop.

“I wonder if… they will ever meet without me by their side…”

When she remembered how those two were happily embracing each other before her rebirth, she felt pain in her heart.

I loved Natalia’s smile.

Leopoldo’s voice made my heart tremble.

I was disappointed that I was not chosen.

But I wanted to be kind and congratulate them.

She wanted to be remembered by the two of them.

She wanted them to remember her as an irreplaceable friend, who led Natalia and Leopold to a happy future, even after she died.

She would have done anything for that.

I think I’m an idiot.

But all throughout until that moment before she was killed, Beatrice had truly, sincerely, and without a doubt, wanted Natalia and Leopoldo to be happy.

She wanted them to live happily after her death, even if it was a lie, even if it was a pretense, even if it’s just a cold white marriage1 where she did not even receive a single kiss, even if it was only a contractual relationship, she wanted to at least be allowed to live a married life with the person she was in love with, at least she wanted to die happily.

As a result, she was brutally stabbed to death by Natalia, but even though it was painfully agonizing, bitter, and everything was tinged with despair.

I still wish them happiness.

Because.

Eventually.

In the end.

That’s right, what happened that day.

It was her who sowed the seeds. It was her who caused that tragedy.

“The mock battle is tomorrow…”

After murmuring quietly, Beatrice got up.

At this point, she’ll probably be late. But she didn’t feel like she could rest even if she lied down now.

So Beatrice returned to take her last class, but after school, it was surprisingly Vivian who suggested that she should watch tomorrow’s mock battle.

“I heard it’s a championship match. It’s a mock battle between students who are neither knights nor candidates yet, but it has a reputation for being quite spectacular.”

In addition to Vivian, two other ladies who became her friends nodded.

Perhaps these ladies had already attended the event before, but she was unaware of it. As she was thinking this, she heard a voice from behind that was familiar to her memory.

“That… if you’re going to the mock battle, can I go with you…?”

She turned her head and saw the beautiful sky-blue hair that was once alway by her side.

“Oh, Olsen-sama? Are you also interested?”

“Eh, yeah.”

When Vivian and the others asked happily, Natalia responded a little shyly.

“Actually, I was approached by a student in the Knight Training Department to come and watch the mock battle… but I was nervous about going alone…”

“Well, I see, you’ve been invited. Wonderful.”

“That’s right. I don’t think I can go there alone. If it’s okay, let’s go together.”

“Ah, but is that person okay? I mean, what about Alejandro-san. Aren’t you that person’s lover?”

“Alejandro is not like that. He’s just a childhood friend.”

Hearing that the invitation came from a student of the Knight Training Department, Vivian and her friends, although they accepted it at once, remembered Alejandro’s existence, but when she denied that and said they were just childhood friends, they did not pursue the matter any further, saying that the rumor was just a rumor.

Beatrice, who had been waiting for a moment to break off the conversation, opened her mouth to decline at this point.

Occasionally, she will go to the infirmary because she was not feeling well, and she just went today.

So if she refused on that basis, no one would think it was strange.

But with this, Natalia should be able to meet Leopold without her involvement.

Breathing out a sigh of relief, Beatrice left her circle of friends and headed for the door to go home.

But then she noticed Alejandro standing behind the door.

“…”

No words came out. No, she was unable to get them out.

She just quietly and silently passed by him.

Alejandro also said nothing to Beatrice.

No, perhaps Beatrice was not in his line of vision in the first place.

Alejandro just turned his dark eyes to Natalia and the others, who were still talking about the mock battle.

But that was all.