Chapter 240: Chapter 240

The bell chimed faintly from the east wing.

I straightened my jacket, adjusted the cuffs of my gloves, and walked through the quiet halls of the noble mansion I was now working for in the north.

I did have a fair share from my disownment as an Ashbourne, and while I could use some more money to fund my operations...the real reason I decided to work here wasn’t because of the money.

The carpet muffled my steps, portraits of grim-faced nobles stared from gilded frames, and chandeliers swayed.

The name of this place still struck me like a blade.

When I first heard it whispered in Victoria, I almost dismissed it as coincidence.

I couldn’t ignore that name.

Not after what I had lived through.

I remembered the moment too clearly.

Sitting in the small examination hall weeks ago, facing the tests every applicant for noble service endured.

The Bluerose family had been recruiting Guards, Attendants and Butlers.

I did not hesitate and put my name down.

I needed to see and to know if it was truly ’that’ Bluerose.

The trials were as grueling as I expected.

They made us spar barehanded, then with weapons.

They tested reflexes, accuracy, and endurance.

They pushed us through written exams on etiquette and noble protocol.

They even observed us in silence, searching for cracks in composure, measuring obedience.

One misstep could see an applicant dismissed or worse, punished for taking the application process as a joke to the Bluerose Family.

Not because I wanted the position, but because I could not afford to fail.

Because when the crest of Bluerose was etched into the banner above the exam hall, my blood froze.

And I knew I had to get inside.

So I became what I had never imagined.

A guard assigned to the east wing.

I was assigned to...her.

I reached her door, raised my hand, and knocked lightly.

I pushed the door open and froze for a solid minute even after being here for a month.

For a heartbeat, my vision betrayed me.

I saw her dangling from the ceiling, a rope biting into her pale throat, her blue hair hanging like a curtain.

I saw her lifeless body swaying gently, her blue eyes empty and her lips purple.

The image stabbed me.

It was the memory of the last route, the memory of her end.

I blinked and the vision shattered.

There she was sitting by the window in a plain white dress, her blue hair falling softly around her shoulders.

A book rested on her lap, unopened.

She turned her head slightly, her expression calm, almost bored, as if life itself moved too slowly for her.

The ghost faded, but the scar it left burned fresh.

"Ah," she said simply.

"It’s you...My butler isn’t near.

And...I want some tea as well as cookies."

Her voice was quiet, almost detached, but it carried the weight of expectation.

I bowed slightly, keeping my face neutral.

"At once, lady Bluerose. "

I crossed the room to the small service table near the wall.

The porcelain set gleamed in the light and the cookies were in a glass jar, sealed neatly.

I poured the tea, steady hands betraying none of the storm in my mind.

The scent of chamomile drifted upward and the steam curled like pale fingers.

The cookies clinked softly onto the plate.

Each sound was sharper to me than it should have been.

Because as I prepared them, the memory overlapped again.

My mind conjured her hanging there, her body swaying in a dorm room.

I remembered the cold silence that followed her death.

I brought my gloved hands to my forehead closing my eyes for a bit before pushing my hair back the strands of hair falling back forward.

I brought the tray to her side, placing it gently on the little table by the window.

She reached for the cup with slow grace, lifted it to her lips, and sipped.

Her blue eyes flicked briefly toward me.

The silence stretched.

She said suddenly, gesturing lightly toward the other chair.

"It feels awkward to eat alone."

Guards did not sit with their charges.

But she had already taken a cookie and bitten into it without looking at me again.

The porcelain cup clinked faintly as Amy set it down.

Then, without warning, she asked.

"...Do you ever wonder if the choices you made before this moment were truly yours?"

The words cut straight through me.

My chest tightened and my hand froze halfway to my own cup.

For a breath, I could not move.

Her question dragged me back to blood.

Does she remember her past life route?

My mind screamed the thought.

And yet her tone and the way her gaze didn’t waver from mine felt as if she were peeling back layers of me I had never shown.

I forced my voice steady.

"...What do you mean by that, milady?"

She tilted her head slightly, blue hair sliding over her shoulder.

Then she let out the faintest laugh almost embarrassed.

"My professor at the academy asked us the same thing..."

She said, eyes returning to the garden beyond the glass.

About how much of our lives are truly ours, or if we are only shaped by the expectations of others.

I’ve been... wondering ever since."

The tension in my chest eased but not fully.

Of course it was a philosophical question.

Of course she was speaking of lectures, not lives across timelines.

And yet... the words still clung to me.

They had sounded too close.

She reached for another cookie and bit into it lightly, her expression unreadable as ever.

She continued quietly.

"...it’s easier to just live.

Whether the path is mine or someone else’s... walking it is all that matters.

I swallowed hard. Fınd the newest release on 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝~𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖~𝕟𝕖𝕥

I wanted to answer, but the truth tangled in my throat.