Resetting Lady

“Haa…”

Carynne escaped and ran to a maze-like alley. How many times had she gone around these complicated roads. If it wasn’t now, it would be difficult to have another chance to move on her own, so she had to get away from there quickly. Her gasping breaths calmed down as she walked down the dark alleyway.

She got far away from Raymond, and Borwen was distracted and would be held up by the crowd of people there, so he wouldn't be on her trail. She couldn’t miss this opportunity. There’d be no other chance to move independently in the near future. Would she be able to meet this person named Missus Deere alone?

“Maybe today will be different.”

After all, she also saw an animal she hadn’t ever seen in a hundred years today.

She thought about the huge animal’s demise. It was a mysterious beast that would appear only in old tales. After living in a warmer country from far away, the mysterious animal crushed all those people with just its feet, as though they were bugs being crushed to death in between pages of a book. Much like her.

“…Urk.”

She was nauseous. It wasn’t guilt, but she strangely felt bad. Camaraderie? Empathy? Carynne tried to put a word to it, but nothing really fit.

Still, this day made her certain that many things have changed. Seeing things that she had never seen, people dying when they shouldn’t yet. If Nancy’s absence had changed this much, perhaps this was an opportunity to find out more about the situation she was in.

The tutor’s house was next to the hatter’s shop. When a new path was opened like today, she might be able to go to Missus Deere’s house before the next sequence of events were set in stone.

“Ah.”

She stopped walking.

If she were to go further, this was an alley where she’d be ‘in danger of sexual assault’. But it’s not time yet, right? She looked at the moon. No, not yet. It’s difficult to call this a life, but because she had lived through similar events, she could predict the future of the novel to some extent.

Even if the plot gets mixed up here and there, if Carynne were to be in danger during this outing, Raymond would come and save her. It was just the same as when she’d go back again after she died.

The lightest and most common plot progression was for Carynne to watch street performances with Borwen and Nancy. Then, someone would grope Carynne’s ass, but Raymond catches this and stops it. If it was more serious, then in this alley…

“Now aren’t you pretty? How old are you?”

It would start with flirting like this. Carynne watched the man recite clichéd lines that she was already tired with. It’s been a while since she came to this alley. Has it been twelve years? No, thirteen years?

“Don’t do this.”

“Don’t do whaaat? What did I do?”

Carynne was pressed against a wall. There was a hand clutching her hair. His breath smelled disgusting. The man’s right leg pressed against her thigh.

“Oh, you’re in quite a nice condition, hm? You have good teeth and fair skin. I’m sure the lower half is the same, right?”

“I eat properly, sleep properly and also bathe properly.”

“Look at this chick talking back.”

While snickering, another man blocked the alleyway so that Carynne wouldn’t be able to run away.

“Hey, doesn’t she look like a daughter of a rich family?”

“Let me have a taste, too.”

The man’s lower body was quite swollen. For some reason, she remembered the elephant from earlier.

“Pfft.”

“Why, you like it?”

“Don’t you know what kind of situation you’re in.”

An elephant, an elephant! Carynne couldn’t hold back her mirth.

“He… hehehe…”

“Looks like she’s crazy.”

“Who cares, it’s not like your wife isn’t.”

Her clothes were torn. Carynne was alright with it considering that she was wearing her cheapest clothes.

There was one iteration in the past when she went into the forest. It was a time when she was afraid to even meet Raymond. She entered the forest looking forward to a life without love, without meeting anyone, without dying.

And after that, she never went to the forest again. The dangers of the forest were different than the dangers she faced in the city. Carynne had been stabbed by a wild boar’s tusk. And Raymond saved her.

At that time, Carynne was just inwardly annoyed while thinking, ‘Why is this person here and not in the city?’ Regardless of what she felt, Carynne eventually had to take a lot of painkillers and other medications, and she reached out to Raymond to die. Ultimately, she suffered a relapse with the stab wound, and she died.

“Ah, it’s annoying to even think about it. I can’t believe this is happening. Next time, I won’t go this way and just go to another place.”

“Next time? It’s too late for that, your ladyship.”

The man laughed as he heard Carynne’s words. What did she mean, next time? The man had no intention to give her such an opportunity. But Carynne denied it. It seemed like she was talking to herself because her tone was so casual.

“Huh? Oh, no it’s not. It’s not too late.”

At the unpredictable development of the conversation, the man’s expression distorted as he tapped his head with a finger.

“What’s this crazy bitch saying?”

“Hey, stop doing useless things and just go through with it. I’ll have a go at her, too.”

When she thought about the time she had that wound, Carynne’s anger rose.

“Think about it, Hans. Wouldn’t you be angry if it was you?”

“W-What? Why do you know my name—”

“No, no. Don’t pay attention to that. That’s not important.”

“What the hell, Hans, you—”

“You have a wife. I think she didn’t care when you got shot and died? She remarried in a month’s time.”

“What?”

“I know right. You’re angry too, aren’t you? Now that I think about it, it makes me angry, too. Dullan broke it off with me after seeing me kiss another guy. Sure, that’s that, but if you learned some medical practices, shouldn’t you be fair to everyone? But he was butthurt that I didn’t marry him, so he didn’t even treat me properly, I dunno. I would have died in the end anyway, but… No, that’s not important, anyway. It’s better if there’s less pus in the wound. First aid is important, so what’s the use of Raymond bringing in the best medical staff? That’s when it’s already too late. That punk gave up on me right away just because I became another man’s woman, haa.”

“H-Hans, this bitch is really crazy…”

“Shut your mouth!”

Thwack.

The man’s fist met with Carynne’s head.

It hurts. But Carynne shook her head once, then looked up again. She couldn’t push down the urge to talk.

“Ah, Thomas, your son will be a dishwasher in our house. But he’s really bad at it. Last time, ah, what I’m talking about right now is the previous life in this novel. Right now, your son’s busy helping out the bakery owner. How pitiful. So I have my eye out for that kid. Soon enough, you’ll die from an STD.”

“W-What? This fucker…”

Her hair was grabbed.

“Hans, do you know how hard it is to maintain this hair? It’s Nancy’s masterpiece.”

“Die!”

Watch carefully.

Carynne covered her ears. Because this time, she anticipated that gunshots would break out.

“…Keugh.”

“Ha, haa.”

“You’re he…”

What’s this?

She didn’t hear any gunshot. Carynne’s head was bashed against a wall and she saw Thomas pull out a knife. Did she estimate the time wrong? Usually, after slipping away from Nancy, Carynne would get lost and end up here, but…

As expected, it was difficult to estimate the right time because Nancy was substituted with Donna. Nancy was always next to her, so it was easier to remember the timing if she just gauged Nancy’s actions. Carynne groaned.

“…Uugh.”

She felt a terrible pain shooting up at her side. A knife was lodged there. Carynne was about to scream, but Hans covered her mouth. It hurts! I said it hurts! Will I die? Am I really going to die? This early? Really?