The Bad Ending of an Otome

‘I made the decision to believe in something called hope.’

That was uncharacteristic of Ophelia Windrose.

Ophelia Windrose was confident of herself. 

She detested what she disliked and preferred what she preferred. 

Even in her brief existence, she despised things like forcing her to do things she didn’t want to do and telling her she had to endure for the sake of the future.

She was considering having a private talk with Cassio Brahamdorff. 

Cassio Brahamdorff’s Ophelia has always been a tall snow mountain, a remote winter sea, and a frozen woodland inaccessible to humanity. 

Someone who appeared unfazed by trivialities such as human affection. 

It was something to long for rather than pure affection. 

The only diamond among a swarm of inorganic humans like ants.

How can any love carve a diamond and polish it to become a gleaming hope among the sand dunes? 

That the one who blazed brighter than everyone else has chosen to cut herself off, shatter, and vanish?

In other words, it was the first time in his life that a guy who had spent his entire cynically ignoring human feelings was moved by another’s affection.

* * *

‘What went wrong?’

Blood spilled from the end of her broken fingernail as she scraped the floor. 

Tears fell one by one, soaking the floor. 

Her throat was burning with pain. 

It hurt like someone was driving a nail into her throat every time she tried to speak. 

The most excruciating thing, though, was not bodily suffering. 

It was this…

The fact that nothing is going to change. 

The harsh reality. 

Her logic spoke to her brain. 

Give up. 

It’s all for naught. 

It’s not going to change… 

But she had to fight. 

She couldn’t take it any longer.

‘What should I have done differently?’

Her scratchy and weak voice sounded more like a scream.

Despite her exhausted and damaged state, the surroundings were ideal. 

The walls, the floor, and even the carpet on the floor were all stunning. 

Excellent quality. 

There were plenty of comfortable cushions and mats on both sides in case the woman got wounded. 

There wasn’t even a decorative knife with a dulled, let alone keen, blade. 

It was even more terrifying for the woman. 

It was as if he would never, ever let her die.

There was a decorative canary with obsidian eyes within a golden cage without a bird, and all sorts of stones were inside a gorgeous ebony box ornamented with ivory and silver. 

And she knew exactly what initials would be etched inside the ebony box.

Ophelia’s initials. 

A name she didn’t know. 

A name that stuck with her.

It was frustrating just thinking about it. 

Even the clothes she was wearing suddenly belonged to the protagonist of the same name. Knowing that, she got a creepy sense, as if she were borrowing the deceased’s funeral clothing. She was simply herself. 

She simply desired to get along with everyone. 

However, people grabbed her and projected their desires for the dead stranger onto her.

They shackled her arms and legs and placed her in a bird cage, only wanting to hear lovely words. 

They wanted to soften her like sandpaper smoothing a rough stone. 

The woman attempted to flee multiple times. 

But it was all for naught.

Sunlight beamed on the woman through a solitary window in the ceiling the size of a fingernail. It was only a sliver of light, yet it was enough to light her up. 

She appeared tired. 

Even her haggardness, however, could not take away her attractiveness altogether. 

Silver hair strands that reached her feet when she crouched down, and a pale skin that bordered on sickly owing to a lack of sunlight.

Green eyes that have died like dead plants. 

The woman begged once more.

‘Please…. help me….’

She couldn’t possibly want this! She couldn’t have asked for anything better!

Every time she heard footsteps, the woman struggled furiously toward the emptiness. 

Her skinny fingers scratched at the walls, the floor, and the void like claws. 

To break free, she shook the chains that bound her tiny ankles.

‘Please, someone… this hell….’

She wasn’t born because she wanted to be born. 

She didn’t choose to be this way. 

She had no desire to be adored. 

She was only apologetic. 

She thought it was fine to provide a consolation to someone who couldn’t forget and longed for the deceased in this way. 

She felt a slight tremor.

Thud, thud, thud. 

It was as apparent as a trumpet blast coming from hell. 

The woman shook and clung to the wall.

Help me. God or Devil, help me. Help ‘me’. Why must I go through this?

 

To keep her emotions at bay, the woman covered her lips with her hand. 

She was unable to cry. 

He’d been enraged. 

Because she had to be in tip-top shape all the time. 

Her strength had been sapped. 

Her air was being choked out slowly, like if she were being strangled. 

The woman thought with her numbed brain.

Please, somebody help me. 

I don’t care if it’s the devil. 

God or not. 

Being from this world or not. 

This is not how I wanted to live.

I don’t need this kind of love.

I don’t need to be loved.

… Just free me.

Let me out.

‘Ophelia, my Ophelia.’

The silent scream had long faded into the silence by the time a satisfied-looking man entered. The man’s blue eyes filled her with horror. 

The woman’s final breath was as faint as a sigh. 

Something gleamed on the ceiling as the last breath was spread into the air. 

The man stormed into the room, grabbing the woman.

‘Ophelia! Ophelia, breathe! Ophelia!’

The only thing that was urgent was the man’s voice. 

Something gleamed from the ceiling behind the man as he desperately held the emaciated woman and yelled. 

It was a faint glow, like the moon at noon, that vanished in an instant.

The sound is similar to that of an old videotape being played.

Then there’s a blackout.

[Bad Ending Achieved: 1/??]

* * *

“So you’re telling me to give up on being Lady Elodie’s partner?”

“That’s exactly right.”

Cassio observed Edmund Gloucester, who had appeared unexpectedly. 

He appeared confident at first glance, yet there was a touch of uneasiness in the depths of his eyes. 

Edmund Gloucester began wooing vigorously as soon as she was admitted to the Marquis’s house, after hearing reports of a young lady who resembled Ophelia who had come up from the countryside to debut. 

It was not a flaw for a gentleman to court an attractive lady as the social season approached. However, because Edmund Gloucester was one of the three prominent men who had been with ‘that’ Ophelia, all eyes were on him.

Even though her social standing was low, no one dared to approach the young lady who stayed at House Windrose and was guarded by the Marchioness and Raretis. 

Cassio Brahamdorff was torn between mocking and pitying his former foe, who had come to him directly and handed over such remarks. 

He most likely discovered Emilia’s connection to the Brahamdorff family through the dressmaker room. 

Instead of digging into that information or inquiring about her, urging him not to consider becoming the Cavalier of the Lady he cares about was a surprising statement.

This social season was going to be a conflict where the kingdom’s destiny was at stake in a variety of ways. 

The princess, who had been silent, was about to make her debut, and the queen was wide-eyed, trying to combine forces with a noble family that could become the prince’s guardian. Due to a terrible calamity in their region some 20 years ago, Duke Isaac’s house, which had been loyal to the royal line in the past, was not as powerful as it had been.

No, it would have been a relief if it had just stayed like that. 

That year, the kingdom was devastated.

Even the most prosperous areas suffered near-devastation damage.

Some noble families, who had previously demonstrated solid power, were unable to withstand the damage and fell into ruin. 

Duke Isaac, Count Holden, and so on. 

Duke Isaac, in particular, was a pillar of the pro-royalists. 

However, Duke Isaac’s land suffered more harm than the other families’ territories. 

Natural calamities, epidemics, and insect swarms all occurred at the same time. 

There was no way to resurrect a territory whose primary source of wealth was agriculture.

After losing the adult heir and being left with only a little grandson, the family could not even imagine a rebirth until the grandson reached the age of majority.

On the other side, some aristocrats, particularly those who supported Grand Duke Franz, were on the rise. 

Even when the king was young and couldn’t see his heir, tales that the royal family had endured the goddess’ wrath were widespread, almost like an old wives’ tale. 

Furthermore, even when the king was young, he frequently suffered from unexplainable maladies, and the doctors who examined him never revealed their identities to the world. 

Even the Gloucester family may not be in such good shape, so it may be a declaration of confidence that he could become the Cavalier of that lady, displacing Raretis Hope, or….

Cassio laughed.

“I respectfully decline.”

Edmund’s face immediately distorted. 

Cassio received a fierce stare. 

There was no reason to be hostile to a competitor who was not even the most likely competition.

So now…. Cassio considered this with his steely gray eyes. 

He was worried about Emilia, as expected. 

There was no deception in what he told Emilia about Edmund. 

Edmund Gloucester was, in Cassio’s opinion, an annoyance. 

Edmund might be able to sympathize with his dislike for Raretis, but apart from that, he knew no bounds.

“Do you appear to have a partner candidate already?”

“A candidate is just that: a candidate.”

Cassio smiled warmly and swept his blond hair in a showy motion. 

Edmund’s blue eyes glowed brightly.

“I’m not sure why I should argue with you over whether or not I’ll accompany any lady. Have we always been so connected and compassionate to one another? My apologies. It’s a miracle with my slow brain…”

“Stop with the nonsense!”

He’s exploding once more. 

Cassio smirked as though he were hiding something.

“Well, you seem to have no idea who you’re messing with.”

As a result, Cassio needed to determine ‘why’ he was furious in the first place. 

Is it because Cassio Brahamdorff appeared to play both Emilia and Elodie? 

Was it because he was messing with Edmund Gloucester’s ‘beloved’ Elodie? 

The explanation was in his initially perplexed behavior. 

When the truth hurts, they explode, which is the same as declaring an easy solution. 

Cassio Brahamdorff considered this with chilly eyes.

‘My lady is becoming far too well-known far too late.’

He remembered the woman’s expressionless gaze up at him, like a dried flower. 

When he thought about it, Ophelia and Emilia were a match that no one could claim worked. The girl with the magnificent silver hair that gleamed on its own, and the girl who sat like a shadow next to her. 

Beautiful Ophelia, who no one could tear their gaze away from the moment they saw her.