Chapter 93
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Holding my luggage, I climbed into a carriage and hesitated for a moment.
“Madam, where would you like to go?”
I had deliberately left the estate and walked quite some distance before hiring the carriage.
Fortunately, the coachman seemed to think I was merely some noblewoman setting out on a journey.
After thinking for a moment, I spoke calmly.
“Please take me to Hillston.”
Hillston was a quiet, small town near the capital, relatively far from the Baldomer territory governed by House Baldomer.
It was also a place where I had lived during one of my many regressions.
The coachman started the carriage without complaint.
I watched the Baldomer manor recede without any particular emotion, then looked down at my luggage.
I couldn’t return to Heister like this.
Even if I went back, there was no one there who would welcome me.
They would simply capture me and hand me back to Baldomer.
I had left the estate half on impulse.
But at the same time, another thought had crossed my mind.
In this life, my relationship with him was even worse than it had been in my first life.
Of course it was.
The me from my first life had been an idiot who loved even Kallion’s indifference and contemptuous gaze.
There was no way the current me, who hated him, could get along with him.
I had underestimated myself.
I thought I could simply live quietly like a doll, obtain Denion from him, and that would be enough.
I hadn’t known the process would be this difficult to endure…
While blankly staring out the window, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.
‘Should I just die…?’
I would regress again anyway.
Should I just die like this and start over?
Then would I be able to endure Kallion better next time?
Or could I give up on Denion and choose that hellish life all over again?
I wasn’t confident.
“Madam?”
Only belatedly did I realize the coachman had been calling me repeatedly, and I quickly raised my head.
“We’ve arrived in Hillston.”
The trip should have taken a full four hours, yet we had arrived while I was lost in thought.
I took a gold coin from my inner pocket and handed it to the coachman before stepping out.
The coachman bit the coin several times to check whether it was real, then happily unloaded my bag.
“Then, I hope you have a pleasant journey.”
The friendly-looking coachman smiled warmly and climbed back onto his carriage with an excited step.
I watched him for a moment, then looked around the town.
Though it was a small town, its proximity to the capital made it neat, charming, and peaceful.
It was also the town I had fled to after my first regression.
If one traveled a little farther north, there was Silverstel.
To the south, beyond the capital, lay Marcelino.
Across the mountains to the east was Heister.
And to the west lay Baldomer territory.
Because it was near the centrally located capital, it also served as a base for merchants.
I picked up my bag and began walking along a familiar route.
Instead of entering one of the large inns in the center of town, I went into an old inn hidden down an alley.
“Welcome!”
A familiar voice greeted me.
It was Mr. Hengston, the owner of the old inn.
The current him wouldn’t know me, but…
Feeling strangely glad to see him, I smiled brightly.
“Do you have any vacant rooms?”
Hengston looked puzzled by my bright smile and answered awkwardly.
“As you can see, it’s such an old inn that we have plenty of empty rooms, but… I’m not sure we have anything that you would find satisfactory, Madam…”
He glanced at my clothes awkwardly.
I smiled.
“As long as I can sleep there, it’s fine.”
At my unusually friendly smile, Hengston awkwardly scratched his head.
“Yes, well… If that’s the case, follow me.”
After leaving my luggage in the room, I stepped outside again.
The village where I had lived after my first regression.
And Mr. Hengston, the eccentric but friendly innkeeper who had been my neighbor.
Around the corner of this inn was my small home.
A small, shabby place where I had nevertheless begun a new life with hope.
Unlike the me who had resolved after eleven regressions that I would find Denion.
The me from my first regression had still had dreams.
To meet an ordinary man in this small village without desiring anything more.
To tend a vegetable garden, embroider things to sell, have children, and live a simple, peaceful life together.
That kind of dream.
In the end, that dream had truly been nothing more than a dream…
Without realizing it, I headed toward the home where my past self had lived.
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