The Knight Who Broke Off Our Engagement and Told Me to Never Show My Face Again Still Clings to Me Today, Even Though I Was Possessed and Turned Into a Villainess for Ten Years - 75 - The Promise from Ten Years Ago 1

“Ugh… uuu…”

“Sadie, you’re crying too much.”

“B-but… Eliza is just so, so beautiful…”

I kept crying like a child, and Rufus gently wiped my tears beside me.

Today was Eliza and Norman’s wedding.

I attended together with Rufus and Neil. The ceremony was over, and the reception was going on, but I still couldn’t stop crying. My makeup was completely ruined, and I was sure I looked terrible.

“But I understand how you feel. Honestly, I almost cried the whole time too.”

Neil smiled softly, lowering his eyebrows, and placed a hand on my shoulder.

Eliza and Norman looked so lovely in their pure white outfits, so happy, and thinking back on everything we’d been through, my heart felt full.

Back when we were in that terrible place, I never imagined such a happy future could come.

“And everyone around us is so kind too, it makes me even more emotional…”

Since waking up, this was my first time being in a place with so many people. But unlike before, when I used to feel cold stares piercing through me, now everyone was considerate and kind, speaking to me warmly.

Of course, that made me happy. But more than that, I truly felt that everything was finally going back to normal, and I felt overwhelmed with relief.

── It has already been half a year since I woke up.

I heard that Gerald, still without his memories, was living peacefully and quietly.

Not just me, but everyone else—though no one said it out loud—seemed relieved too.

A lot had happened over the past six months, but the biggest event was probably the sentencing of Tabatha and Mabel.

Tabatha was now imprisoned in a place as harsh as the Napolov prison.

From morning to night, she was forced to do hard labor like farming or construction with no reward, no entertainment, living each day simply enduring the cold. That’s what I heard.

The only way out was death. She would end her life in that place.

The day before Tabatha was moved to the prison, I went to see her—at the holding facility for criminals in the royal capital.

‘…Did you come to laugh at me?’

She looked much calmer than the last time I had seen her. Maybe she had already accepted her fate.

‘That’s right.’

When I answered, Tabatha gave a bitter smile and said, “You’re really bad at lying.”

‘I learned during those ten years what a genuinely good person you were.’

Tabatha said that the reason my parents and Rufus never gave up on the person called Sadie Arclight, despite everything she did, was because of the life I had lived before.

As sadness and pain filled me, I took out a letter and passed it through the gap in her cell.

‘What’s this?’

‘It’s a letter from Lord Lloyd Brick. It’s for you.’

The moment I said that, the smile vanished from Tabatha’s face.

── When the incident became public, Lord Lloyd also learned what had happened.

He never knew the real me. He only knew the Sadie Arclight that Tabatha had pretended to be.

Even so, I heard that he had a good impression of “me.”

‘Lady Sadie always praised me,’ he had said.

‘She told me I was amazing for earning my position through my own efforts, regardless of my background.’

In our country, where ability is supposed to matter more than status, there were still very few civil servants from common backgrounds like his.

He had often faced cruel words from others, but he said Tabatha’s words had saved him many times.

That’s why, when he learned of her crimes, he was deeply saddened.

And since he regretted not being able to speak with her one last time, he gave me the letter to deliver. I had no idea what was written in it.

Lord Lloyd was a sincere person. Maybe he had written harsh words condemning her actions. But I also felt like there might be words in there that she truly wanted to hear.

‘…You’re really… such a soft-hearted person…’

Her voice trembled as she accepted the letter, holding it close like it was something precious.

People might say I was being too soft, and most wouldn’t understand my actions.

── But for me, those ten years living as Tabatha felt too long.

I had come to know the pain, sadness, cruelty, unfairness, and the hatred and scorn from others that she must have carried.

If I had been born into her position, I might have spent my whole life buried in the same misery. When I compared it to my own privileged life, I couldn’t help but feel pity.

Of course, that didn’t mean I forgave Tabatha. I never would.

But she would spend her entire life paying for her sins.

It would be something unimaginably hard and long. I had come to believe that having at least one small thing to hold onto might be okay for her.

And that was because now, I had overcome the past, was surrounded by people I loved, and could feel happiness.

‘…Goodbye.’

As I left Tabatha’s cell, I thought I heard her sobs and an apology behind me.

──

On the other hand, Mabel was sentenced to death by beheading.

My parents and Rufus told me I shouldn’t watch the execution, but I felt I had to see the end, so I went to the square where the sentence would be carried out.

‘We’ll come too. This is really the end after all.’

Eliza, Neil, and Norman felt the same. The four of us together witnessed Mabel’s final moment.

It was a huge event that shook the entire nation, so the large square at the center of the royal capital was packed with people who came to watch the execution.

‘…She’s coming out.’

At Eliza’s voice, I looked up. It had been three years since I last saw Mabel. She looked like a completely different person—aged, worn-out, broken.

‘I don’t want to die! Stop! I don’t want to die! No! No! Aaaah! Help me!’

At the last moment, Mabel must have been terrified of death. She screamed and cried pathetically, struggling until the very end.

I had heard that the number of people whose lives she took was far more than just a few dozen.

I’m sure those victims also begged for their lives, resisted, and pleaded not to die.

Thinking of everything Mabel had done, even the death sentence felt too lenient.

In the end, her resistance meant nothing, and the execution was carried out without issue.

‘…………’

The moment Mabel’s screams stopped, tears ran down Eliza’s cheeks.

‘…It’s really all over now, isn’t it?’

‘Yeah. It feels so sudden, but maybe that’s just how it is.’

Even though her death made her pay for her crimes, the time we lost, the things taken from us—none of that would ever come back.

But still, knowing that everything that had been tormenting us was truly gone, I felt like a weight had lifted from my heart.

──

“…Sadie? Are you okay?”

“Ah, sorry. I was just thinking for a moment.”

I hurried to smile at Neil, who tilted his head in concern. I told myself not to think about dark things on such a special day.

“Fufu, Sadie, you’re still crying.”

As we talked, Eliza and Norman, who had been greeting guests, came over to us.

The two of them smiled softly and hugged me, even though my eyes were probably all swollen.

“Really, truly, congratulations!”

“Thank you, Sadie. It’s all thanks to you.”

“Yeah, it’s all because of you.”

Their words made my tears flow again, even though I thought I’d stopped.

“No… I’ve also been helped so much by everyone… over and over…”

Right after I lost my body, when I was just a crying little girl every night, it was those two who encouraged and supported me.

I couldn’t even count how many times their presence had saved me.

“Of course, I love you too, Neil.”

I hugged Neil tightly, and though he said, “Come on, I’m not a kid. It’s embarrassing for all of us to be hugging,” there were tears in his eyes too.

Rufus stood there watching us with the kindest eyes imaginable.