My Charlotte Hates Me

Chapter 46: Causes of My Actions

It was not long until Arielle's Mother had become ill and inevitably died. In all of my lifetimes, I could never prevent her death. It almost feels as if her death is an inevitable part of Arielle's misfortune.

It also marked the end of Arielle's sunny childhood. Even though Arielle stayed rather the same after her Mother's funeral in my past lives, her personality changed rather drastically so much so that it was as if she became an entirely different person. She would often put on a cold face unbefitting of her age and push herself with her studies even if no one forced her to. Arielle had always been a hard worker regardless of which life she lived.

I put it off as it being one of the small discrepancies between the past lives I had been in since hardly anything ever stays exactly the same.

Nonetheless, I made my own plans and planted false evidence onto Noel's father. It was easy when I bribed their accountant into writing up suspicious purchases such as a large number of weapons and accepting bribes from other countries. These documents on top of a list of their many crimes of blackmail and deceit were exposed by that very same person.

As a result, Noel's father lost his title and was forced to leave the country with his entire family.

Even if my methods were a bit underhanded, I needed the entire family to lose all of their power and leave the country by adding a threat to national security on their list of crimes.

It would have been better if they all just died...

As if mundanely, my youth flashed by in a flash. I was now at the age of twelve without having had any major setbacks in life.

With Noel no longer in my way, I went back to my original lifestyle of being a relatively cold young girl whom spent her days quietly surrounded by her books. No one would dare control me nor try to anger me as I had been regarded as the genius young lady who had saved the country from possible intrusion of other countries.

"Have you found the person I am looking for?" I asked my family's Head Butler Roswell.

"My apologies, Young Miss...It is just that the person you are looking for does not exist," Roswell said.

"Does not exist...Are you saying that you cannot find that said person?" I asked as I scrunched up my eyebrows.

"...The young boy that you are looking for is no longer in this world. Agile Fueler has died three days ago," Roswell said.

I dropped to my knees out of shock.

"He is dead? No...if he is dead only recently, I can attend the funeral, right? Take me there," I said.

I had planned to bring Agile Fueler to my home and raise him to be a splendid Knight with a strong backing from my family so that he would have a much easier time claiming his rightful position much faster.

When I arrived, I had confirmed with my very eyes that the body did indeed belong to Agile Fueler himself.

Just why...why did he have to die?

"...Are you an acquaintance of my son?" a woman who looked much like Agile Fueler asked.

It would be troublesome if some unknown stranger were to roll into a private funeral.

"Yes, I am somewhat of an acquaintance," I answered. "I am Charlotte Castile."

"I am that child's mother Amelia Fueler. It is a pleasure to meet you. I cannot believe that my son knew such a pretty young girl," she said.

"...This may be a difficult question, but how did he pass away?" I asked.

"...Internal bleeding is what the doctor says. He saved a boy from being ran over from a Noble's fast moving carriage...I should have urged him to get seen by a Doctor, but I found out about the wound too late," she said.

Could that carriage be...

"...Do you resent Nobles?" I asked.

"No, I only resent myself for not helping my son sooner," she said.

"...My condolences," I said as I handed her a small bouquet of flowers.

"Do you mind if I ask you what your relationship to my son was?" she asked.

"...He was less than a friend and more than an acquaintance...He was my rival," I said.

"Rival?" she said questionably.

"Please excuse me. I have to leave," I said as I turned to leave.

I stopped for a moment and uttered words of an apology in the form of a whisper.

Roswell helped me back into my carriage and took us on our way.

"Later...could you please send her a bag of gold coins?" I asked Roswell.

"Would you like to make it anonymous, Young Miss?" Roswell asked.

"Yes, make it a comfortable amount as well," I said.

"Understood," Roswell said.

"...Also, I would like to make a stop before going home," I said.

I went to Arielle's home without sending a letter beforehand. I was aware that it was incredibly rude towards Arielle and her family, but I did it anyways in hope that she would make time for me out of her busy schedule. Without expressing any signs of discomfort, she accepted me into her home with open arms anyways.

"Did you just come from somewhere?" Arielle asked.

"Yes, a funeral..."

"...I'm sorry," Arielle said.

"No, I'm sorry...I'm sorry for everything," I said.

A person whom you are supposed to meet and later fall in love with after spending a long time as a widow...is now no longer alive.

"Come here," Arielle said as she pulled me into her lap. She then began stroking my head as if I was a child. "It has been a long day for you, has it not?"

As embarrassing as it was, I felt oddly at peace.

"...Yes, it has been a very long day," I said.

"Would you like to talk about it?" Arielle asked.

"I went to the funeral of someone very important. He was not a Noble or anyone especially talented. He was just someone who was meant for greater things, yet died because of someone else's carelessness," I said.

"The way you are talking...did you like him?" Arielle asked.

I quickly got up from her lap and denied it immediately.

"I could never like such a frustrating and shrewd person like that! I have never liked him...yet respected and envied that person to death. He used his ridiculous strength to solve most issues, hated to lose, and was just an uncomfortable hunk of meat. Most infuriatingly, he had the ability to make the people I loved the most in my life happy," I said.

Arielle suddenly began chuckling.

"...Sorry...it is just rare for you to get so animated when talking about someone else. Either he is really a terrible heathen, or he is just someone you really just cannot stand," Arielle said.

"...I wish that you could have met him," I said.

Someone completely devoted to protecting you from all harm...

Even if I am not there by your side, just one person...just one more person who loves you more than their own happiness should be by your side.

"I wish I could have too. After all, anyone Charlotte approves of must be a great person," Arielle said with a bright smile.

"...He truly was a great person," I said as tears fell down the sides of my face.

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