Welcome to the Rose Mansion - Chapter 91
“So, what do you think happened next? Hmm?”
“Young Master Otis…”
“My mother completely lost her mind, and my father disappeared. I fell into the hands of that bastard Rogéros.”
Alan Otis was left alone in an instant. No, he wasn’t truly alone.
He was forever alone with his nemesis in a mansion where everyone had gone mad.
He wanted to escape. He struggled desperately. He rebelled against Rogéros with all his might and even tried to steal a mail coach to run away far.
But Rogéros Walter was like a high wall of thorns.
—You’re different from the other members of House Otis, Alan.
Rogéros Walter had a terribly cruel sense of amusement. He always let Alan reach his limit and then pushed him into the abyss just before he could grab the sweet candy.
—Keep going, Alan. Keep amusing me.
What kind of expression did he have while looking down at me, kneeling and covered in wounds?
This is how the boy gradually learned the feeling of helplessness. He rotted away in the mansion.
Then, one day, he suddenly thought:
Ah, I must die.
Only when I, the last direct descendant of the Otis family, die will this all end.
After a long curse, finally, this life of mine must end.
“Then no one else will have to go through what I did.”
Like waves receding, Alan Otis’s fervor subsided. Leaning against the table, the boy wiped his weary face with his hands.
“Do you know what’s the funniest thing? I can’t even die as I wish. Whether I jump out of a window, hang myself, slit my wrists, or take pills, Rogéros Walter always pulls me back from the gates of hell.”
“……”
“What should I do? I can’t even die on my own anymore. Whatever Rogéros did, every time I tried to harm myself, my body would just freeze up.”
Alan looked down at his hands and then raised his head. His face, twisted as if he were about to cry, held a defiant determination.
“So let’s make a deal. You get your revenge, and I achieve my wish.”
“……You really want to die?”
“I’m saying I’ll do what I must. The Otis family shouldn’t have continued to this point. This household is a sin just by existing. How many people have died unjustly in Bertrand so far?”
Alan Otis’s hand gripped the table tightly.
“There’s nothing to fear. Complete death has always been my long-held dream. I’ve already died many times. I’ve been dead for a long time. What you see now is just a moving corpse.”
Richelle didn’t respond. As the silence grew, Alan’s voice became noticeably more anxious.
“What are you hesitating for? I am the fundamental cause that brought you to Bertrand. Don’t you hate me? You can do it. You can kill me!”
“Young Master Otis.”
“Are you afraid of Rogéros? Don’t worry. If you kill me, Rogéros will lose his power. Rogéros exists here because of the contract with the Otis family. Understand? Killing me won’t put you in danger.”
“Young Master Otis.”
“I’ve been waiting for a long time for someone to come and kill me… Just lend me your hand. You can think of it as me taking my own life. There’s no other way but for me to die!”
The boy’s face was flushed with excitement, and the bones in his hands stood out starkly. Unable to bear it any longer, Richelle reached out and grasped his fist.
“……!”
Alan’s shoulders tensed as if waking from a long nightmare. Finally, his sky-blue eyes looked at her.
“What are you doing?”
“You said it yourself, didn’t you? What’s the point of finding the cause now?”
Richelle stood up. She gently pushed Alan, who took a step back, and made him sit in a chair.
“You’re right. Let’s stop blaming ourselves.”
“What…?”
“We made the best choices we could at the time.”
She didn’t want to fight with her mother anymore. She didn’t want to grow apart. So, she chose to put physical distance between them.
Looking back now, it was the worst choice. But for Richelle at that time, it was the best choice. Even if she went back to that moment a hundred times, she would make the same choice.
We can blame ourselves. We can regret it. We’re human. There’s always regret in an unchangeable past.
But we must not sink too deeply into regret.
The moment you sink deep into self-pity and sorrow, life becomes hell.
