The Revenge Kidnapping Drama's Transmigrated Female Lead - Chapter 62
「If you don’t show up that day, it means you have no intention to exchange… However, if you do come, I swear on the name of Fredier. If you release Psyche, I will return Ruon Anocton to your arms right there.」
An oath sworn on the name of Sicardo’s guardian deity, Fredier, must be kept without fail. Breaking such an oath would result in never being freed from the guardian deity’s curse.
Whether Fredier actually cursed those who broke their promises had never been confirmed. However, no citizen of Sicardo’s empire would carelessly invoke the sacred deity’s name for promises they couldn’t keep. They considered it an insult to both god and empire to dare use Fredier’s name to disguise lies as truth.
「And… if you’re planning to exchange hostages that day.」
Desperation crossed Zephyros’s face as he paused. He spoke in a pleading tone.
「Stop touching Psyche. This isn’t a request from the head of Mathes, but simply from her brother, from the only family she has left.」
With those words, Zephyros vanished from the crystal ball. Staring at the now-empty orb, Psyche muttered blankly.
“…It’s a lie.”
She raised her head to look straight into Rezus’s eyes. With a voice full of conviction, she spoke again.
“All of this is a lie.”
In the original work, Zephyros had made the same proposal to the male leads. The male leads lowered their guard and agreed to his proposal, though suspicious of Zephyros’s intentions in requesting the hostage exchange, believing he would keep his promise since he had invoked Fredier’s name.
But on that day, Zephyros’s goal wasn’t to exchange hostages. His real purpose was to provoke the male leads and watch them get angry. Afterward, the conflict between Mathes and Arje reached its peak, and all the male leads’ anger caused by Zephyros had to be endured by Psyche.
For a moment, her head spun. She opened her mouth with a hardened expression.
“I… know my brother well. He’s not the type of person to back down so suddenly like this. Him acting this way now must be because he has other intentions.”
Rezus, who had been staring intently at Psyche, took one big step closer to her and spoke.
“Tell me, what do you think those other intentions might be.”
“…His real purpose must be to provoke you all. He’ll pretend to want a hostage exchange, but when he actually shows up there… he’ll change his words and provoke you all to make your blood boil.”
“What would your brother gain from doing that?”
“He could show you that no matter how much you try, you’re all still in the palm of his hand.”
Rezus showed no reaction to those words. He just stared at her blankly. Psyche carefully, but firmly advised.
“Don’t go there.”
“……”
“Brother probably thinks you’ll definitely show up no matter what.”
He still maintained that inscrutable expression that gave nothing away. Feeling an inexplicable anxiety, she quickly added.
“Don’t move according to brother’s expectations.”
Instead of answering, he brushed his fingers across his lips. After seeming to think about something for a while, Rezus muttered in a casual tone.
“You’re certain your brother has no intention of exchanging hostages.”
“Yes. Setting the date three days later to begin with… If he was really worried about me and regretted causing this situation, he would have tried to exchange hostages right now. But setting it three days later means…”
Psyche’s voice trailed off. She remembered what Zephyros had done after proposing the hostage exchange in the original work. Excited about the prospect of getting one over the male leads at Bermus Bridge, Zephyros had gathered the heads of House Mathes for a drinking party. Though it was described in just one short sentence, the fact that she remembered it so clearly must mean she had been quite shocked by that line at the time.
“…I hope he isn’t throwing a drinking party right now, excited about the thought of messing with you all.”
A bitter smile crossed her lips. What if she hadn’t remembered her past life? She probably would have spent the whole day agonizing over what was her brother’s truth and what were his lies.
The brother in her memories was kinder and warmer than anyone. Though others might have called him a cold-blooded man without tears or blood, he wasn’t that way with her.
But she knew that Zephyros’s appearance in the original work, that vicious true nature, was the real Zephyros. Thanks to that, she could stay objective and cold about her brother even in this situation. But this feeling of emptiness in one corner of her heart – no matter what kind of affection it was, there was absolutely nothing she could do about it.
