My Past Life is Riddled With Many Sins - Chapter 18
It was only fair to shatter such unwavering belief, wasn’t it?
Regina resolved to briefly set aside the universal sense of shame any rational person should possess.
“I am fifteen, you know? Uncle.”
“Huh? Un…cle?”
“My mom always warned me about men like you. She said adults who approach children are outcasts, shunned by their own age groups.”
As she continued with her assertive stance, his pupils quivered.
Regina convinced herself, I am fifteen. I just look like I’m twenty. There’s no rule saying such fifteen-year-olds don’t exist. Who could claim with certainty that not even one exists in this vast continent?
With her standing so boldly and without any shame, he began to falter.
“Truly fifteen… But how can you look like that… It doesn’t make sense.”
Regina took the opportunity to threaten him.
“Don’t follow me. If you do, I’ll report you to the guards, that you’re a pervert!”
He seemed to lose all will to pursue, allowing the fleeing Regina to escape.
“Haa.”
Regina sighed deeply while mopping the inn’s floor. The more she thought about it, the more ridiculous it seemed. Why get upset over looking like an adult? It’s natural for adults to look their age.
“Being bothered by not looking young is proof of old age.”
Children often yearn to be adults. The fact that she was sensitive about looking older was proof that Regina had an adult’s mindset. Although it was inevitable, given her past life memories, her response was childishly immature.
What did she gain from such an act? A hollow victory? It was too embarrassing to even lift her head. She must never, under any circumstances, encounter Skyler again. Frankly, she wasn’t ready to deal with the consequences of her lie about being fifteen…
Leaning the mop against the wall, Regina slumped into a chair.
Skyler’s reincarnation was here, in the imperial capital.
He was looking at Yekarna’s statue. According to the girls she overheard, he visited periodically.
‘Why?’
Was he ruminating over some grudge while staring at her face? A ritual to strengthen his hatred and resolve by looking at his enemy?
Yekarna remembered someone who had actually done that during her lifetime.
‘Rupert from the Gilragon Peninsula used to have my portrait in his bedroom and use it as a dartboard.’
Well, Yekarna didn’t particularly mind. After conquering the Gilragon Peninsula, she used his face as a dartboard in return.
But if the one doing it was Skyler’s reincarnation, it was different. She couldn’t do the same to Skyler’s reincarnation.
“My Majesty. I know you lack restraint. That you can never be mine alone. I never even expected that. But this, this crosses the line.”
Skyler, while not raising his voice or acting threateningly, was clearly upset, and Regina could tell he was at his breaking point.
“Now I even think about this. What if I join hands with a few of your men who share my sentiments and pull you down from your place? It’s not impossible, given the capable people around. The Chancellor might cooperate, and Concubine Nyx might lend a hand. Who else is there? I despise the idea of sharing you with those men, but it seems better than letting you be with even more.”
He leaned forward on its armrests as she sat in the chair, caging her with his hands as he looked down menacingly, a brazen threat hanging in the air. Yet, Yekarna couldn’t punish him, not when his eyes showed such evident hurt.
Facing his blue eyes twisted with pain made it painfully clear.
She had indeed broken this confident man.
The image of his expression, the look in his eyes, the air, and the blunt pain that seemed to penetrate her chest remained vivid in Regina’s mind.
Regina quietly discarded the notion that ‘he might be missing Yekarna.’ Initially, his periodic visits to the statue made her wonder, but remembering Yekarna’s past deeds made her realize it was a selfish and conscienceless fantasy.
There was no way he had good intentions. She should be grateful that he hadn’t done any harm to the statue in the square. However, the commendable patience he had shown towards an inanimate object was unlikely to extend to her in person.
Pretending to have no memory of her past life and fleeing was indeed a wise decision. She decided to flee at the mere sight of his shadow in the future. Regina recalled Skyler’s reincarnation, whom she was determined never to encounter again in this lifetime.
“He’s changed quite a bit.”
The outward appearance, that is.
Skyler was originally a black-haired cold beauty, with blue eyes as sharp and cool as a well-crafted sword, reminiscent of a frozen winter lake. But in this life, he was a redhead with green eyes, an enchanting beauty as if a flower had been personified. It gave a sense of disparity.
‘But the eyes were the same.’
Though the color had changed, the unique, dreamy quality remained unchanged. It was those eyes that had initially drawn her attention.
As she indulged in these long-past memories, she was about to sink into sentimentality.
“What are you doing, Sister?”
The innkeeper’s daughter, with her hair in two ponytails, suddenly appeared. Caught halfway in memories of her time as Yekarna, Regina was jolted back to the present.
“Just taking a break from mopping the floor.”
“Then come play dolls with me, Sister Regina.”
The child’s innocent act of holding out her doll was so typical of a five-year-old.
“Shall we?”
With no guests around, Regina readily agreed. The innkeeper’s daughter, Garnet, handed her a bunch of dolls. She counted them and there were seven in total.
Even holding one in each hand, five were left over.
“What roles do these dolls have?”
“They are the concubines and lovers of the Great Empress. I’ll be Empress Yekardi!”
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