Welcome to the Rose Mansion - Chapter 90
As long as my mother was alive, I would never stay at Bertrand. No matter how much money I needed, I wouldn’t marry Alan Otis.
Rogéros killed Madam Howard to keep Richelle Howard tied to the mansion.
‘It really was because of me.’
Mother died because of me. Because I came to the mansion. Because I revealed that my mother was my weakness.
The bubbling betrayal settled down like water on a matchstick. What filled that void was a deep-rooted self-loathing.
It was a wrong choice from the beginning. Richelle Howard should never have come to Bertrand. As the price for that choice, her mother was murdered.
“Miss!”
Alan urgently grabbed Richelle’s wrist. There was blood on her fingernails. Blood was oozing from the neck she had been compulsively scratching.
Richelle’s eyes, staring at the floor, were empty. Alan’s lips trembled, and then he gritted his teeth and knelt in front of her on one knee.
Their gazes intertwined once again.
“I know what you’re thinking.”
“……”
“But Miss, your mother’s death isn’t your fault.”
“……No, it is my fault. I foolishly ran to the mansion and confided my heart to Rogéros…”
I made my mother a target.
Alan’s face twisted as if he were about to cry.
“What’s the point of assigning blame now? You said you wanted to make choices without regret. Was this self-torture the choice without regret you were talking about?”
Strength drained from Richelle’s hand. Alan released her and stepped back.
“Get a grip. What you need to do is not this pathetic self-torture, but revenge.”
“But, I…”
Revenge, how could she take revenge on such a being?
She felt like she was drifting in the open sea, relying on a small boat in a vast, dark ocean where she couldn’t see a single step ahead.
It was a sea she had set out on herself, having resolved to face the storm. But now, in her panic, she couldn’t find any path forward.
At that moment.
“There is a way to take revenge. I know how.”
Alan’s voice dropped like a beacon of light over Richelle’s head.
Her blurry eyes turned to Alan. He raised the corner of his mouth in a smirk.
“Kill me.”
“……What?”
“I’m the only Otis left alive, so if I die, the Otis line ends. Rogéros’s obsession with the Otis family is beyond imagination.”
“What…”
“Kill me, and you’ll take away the most precious thing from Rogéros too. Isn’t that a decent revenge?”
Alan’s face was disturbingly calm as he said to kill him.
No, what lay beneath his calmness was madness. It was the kind of joy and ecstasy one might see in a prisoner who had been in a cage for decades and finally received a death sentence.
With that mix of emotions on his face, Alan Otis spoke.
“Kill me, Miss.”
Richelle stared at Alan in stunned silence. It took a lot of effort to process what she had just heard.
After some time, Richelle finally managed to speak.
“Do you… want to die, Young Master Otis?”
“Yes.”
A faint smile appeared on his pale, exhausted face.
“I’ve always wanted to die.”
The image of Alan Otis lying in the rose garden resurfaced in her mind. The boy who asked if he would die if he jumped from his window.
How long had he been dreaming of death?
Her gaze moved to Alan’s wrist. The inside of his pale wrist bore scars from a long history of despair.
Her heart sank. Richelle couldn’t say anything.
“Did you know?”
Alan glanced toward the door. She could hear footsteps wandering outside.
His sky-blue eyes darkened.
“There was a time when I was happy.”
The story Robert Chester had told her came to mind. The deeply loving Otis couple. Their devoted love for their children. The Otis family, which was acknowledged as harmonious by everyone.
“Back then, my father, mother, Penny and Nero were all normal. Everything seemed like it would be fine. But in reality, we were fragile glass beads under Rogéros’s whim.”
A red hue flickered in Alan’s eyes. It was undeniable, vivid hatred.
“One day, Penny and Nero started to smell like roses. Rogéros shattered the glass beads effortlessly. Do you know what’s funny? The roses that took over their bodies were different from the others. Those monsters threw tantrums, craved affection, and pretended to feel emotions, acting just like Penny and Nero!”
It was as if he were vomiting blood instead of speaking. He slammed his fist violently on the table.
