I Decided to Kidnap the Male Lead

CH. 5: Whims and Fancies (I)

— Imperial Calendar Year 588. April 19th. 8:19 in the morning.

Ophelia Bolsheik, the fourth* of the third infinite regression.

Three days after Richard cut off the head of an assassin who had infiltrated as a servant.

Ophelia was driving a carriage frantically towards the imperial palace. Of course, an actual coachman was driving it, but if she could, she would have driven it herself.

She died last night.

With a heart attack.

No, it would be more accurate to say that she died tonight and regressed.

At first, she denied reality for the first time in a long time since the founding anniversary. It was due the second infinite regression that ended so easily while she was with Richard.

However, the second time she slipped and smashed the back of her head, and the third time the bread she ate was caught in her throat, Ophelia woke up in anger.

This damn infinite regression has begun again.

Ophelia nervously gripped her fan inside the carriage.

"Somehow, everything is fine today!"

After that day where Richard created another bloodbath before the bloodshed, Ophelia had hope that she might never regress again.
(TL/N: if you hadn't noticed, we've moved 3 days from the previous episode, from april 16th to april 19th~)

It was very faint, but wasn't it freedom to dream?

It started in the morning with the news that the business that she invested slush funds in without her mother's knowledge was experiencing a good wind. It was a very minor thing, but the tea was just right for her taste. Or miraculously not bumping into her mother though they were in the same house, and etcetera.

She was lucky.

It was too good.

Until this infinite regression.

Alhough Ophelia went through infinite regression for the third time, there was something new that she realized.

Even if she did nothing, something would change little by little.

It wasn't that big of a deal.

The tea that was perfect for her taste sometimes tasted strange, or she suddenly ran into each other her mother even though she couldn't even see the tip of the older woman's hair previously.

Come to think of it, there were some minor changes in the founding anniversary, the first of her infinite regressions.

The kinds of appetizers that came out that day changed one by one, or the types of flowers differed.

Realizing that there were changes each time she returned, Ophelia started worrying that her secret investments would collapse, and that was the biggest driving force behind her throwing away her absurd escapism.

"If I regress tonight only to see my secret funds fly away...!"

Ophelia was grinding her teeth, but she soon drooped her shoulders and became sullen.

It was because this regression made it clear that it was simply Richard's whim that ended the last regression.

If Richard made up his mind, this third infinite regression would have ended quickly.

These infinite regressions were ultimately determined by Richard's life or death.

When he died, the cycle of infinite regression begun automatically, and if he survived, one cycle woule end, and so on.