TNLY 8

Soon, the blessing of the god will descend. But the god they believed in is gone now.

“Today’s empire will be different from yesterday’s! And those who leap toward tomorrow with me… will be my son, Sirihan Freed Elkarz, and the daughter of my old friend Duke Leopold, Iliana Leopold!”

The emperor raised high the glass he held. At that, everyone raised their glasses.

“May the blessing of the Grace Allat Empire remain forever with those who are just now sharing love!”

That the god does not save even those in darkness.

I too raised my glass. I was the only one not smiling.

“Ugh, my head.”

Why is it? I know that now is the time for me to step forward, but the world began to spin as if I would collapse at any moment. It was right then. Someone who appeared like a vision grabbed my shoulder.

“…Who are you…”

It was a face I was seeing for the first time. My vision was blurry and I couldn’t tell who it was.

“Duke Carlyle requests to see you briefly. He said that caution is needed for the great cause.”

The great cause?

Does Carlyle know of my revenge?

If this is revealed, Carlyle’s life will be in danger too, won’t it?

But I couldn’t make a normal judgment.

“I will escort you to the Garden of Deer.”

I simply followed without a thought.

But I never dreamed that would become my last memory.

Because the moment I stepped outside, someone lunged at me, and I fell asleep as if losing consciousness.

“Mmm…”

I opened my eyes at the tapping on me.

Dang, dang, dang.

From far away, the sound of a grandfather clock came faintly.

“…Wha—”

I opened my eyes with a hazy mind, but I could see nothing. When I opened my mouth to say something—

“Keok, keo-eok. Someone… hahk.”

A pain so intense I could barely speak a single word washed over me.

My throat felt like it was on fire.

The sound of flowing water, a damp and gloomy smell. A laughter that came eerily. A hand that woke me with a hissing sound like a snake. A man who groped my body for a while and finally gave up said,

“How many times have you survived that you should just say thank you and live on.”

It’s a kidnapping.

My past experiences were telling me so.

“I’m not one to fall behind when it comes to grudges either… but to surpass the madam, I’ll have to try harder.”

“You… you’re going to kill… me… keok.”

“Didn’t I tell you. There are many people who want to kill the madam.”

Yes. There have always been many people who wanted to kill me. But never an enemy as terrifying as now.

My body was tied and I couldn’t see, but I struggled desperately to be saved. Every breath I took felt like my throat was on fire.

Was what I drank earlier poison?

“Ca… Carly…”

The word I forced out through the pain was Carlyle’s name.

“Duke Carlyle? Ah, yes. The very person who has kept the madam alive all this time?”

Whether he found my state amusing, the man’s giggling reached my ears.

“Duke Carlyle has gone completely mad, I hear. It doesn’t seem to be because he’s worried about the ledger… Do you really love the madam?”

The man knew of the ledger’s existence. But the words that reached my ears were:

‘Ca… Carlyle loves me?’

I called Carlyle’s name with all my strength.

“Carly… mmph!!”

The moment I heard that, I felt as though Carlyle would come looking for me.

Come save me like you always have. I’ll believe that even that act of losing reason was sincere.

“You’ve said unnecessary things. Did you need to give her even the last hope?”

But a large hand immediately covered my mouth. A heavier voice than the man who had just been speaking reached me.

“Isn’t it quite beautiful to die calling the name of the person who has saved you all this time?”

“Crazy bastard. The ledger seems to be with this woman, so just throw her in. If it’s like this next time, there’s no balance payment.”

As expected, they knew of the ledger’s existence.

Who could it be that wants me dead? How do they know about the ledger? Fear and terror. And with a fierce determination to confirm their faces, I struggled.

“In the end, she’s fated to die by poison. So the balance payment, make sure it’s—”

“Balance payment? The final blow seems to have been by my hand, though.”

The man who had subdued my movements in an instant spoke in an indifferent tone.

Before his last words even finished, I was thrown into the water.

Cold water swallowed me. The water blocked my airway and began to steal my life in an instant.

Along with the rushing water, I felt the poison spreading through my entire body.

The moment I sensed death, tangled and crumpled memories surfaced.

With my last breath, I prayed earnestly.

‘God. If there is a next life, I will not love anyone.’

If I am given one last chance, I will move forward as though love and such things do not exist, along with my revenge.

[Reina Wales.]

My prayer, filled with vengeance, did not reach the god.

[I am the magical tool Douglas. Your desire and wish awakened me.]

Instead, it summoned the magical tool.

[I give you the power to change fate. Will you stake your soul and make a contract with me?]

The pain vanished and tranquility began to settle in. If the magical tool had saved me, then.

“Yes.”

Even if that is the root of all evil, I don’t care.

It felt as though the world was vibrating, like someone receiving a divine revelation.

My body shot upward in an instant.

From deep within the water to the high sky. As if representing fate itself, Carlyle’s face flashed by.

Never love. Yes, I no longer love anyone.

I lost consciousness remembering Douglas’s last words.

It felt as though my soul was being sucked somewhere.

“…Mmm.”

I forced my drowsy, sleep-drunk mind awake.

My eyelids were heavy, but I felt that if I fell asleep again, I would somehow have a nightmare. The dream I had just now was truly—

“Horrible.”

No matter how much of a dream it was, I didn’t want to experience it twice.

“Of all things, a dream where I die at Sirihan’s wedding.”

Was I anxious because Sirihan’s wedding was approaching? I slowly rose from the bed.

As if the water I drank in the dream had been real, my throat felt scratchy.

“Reda? Are you there?”

I urgently called Reda’s name. But the voice that always answered brightly did not come.

“Is no one there?”

Still, no answer returned.

“…It’s night.”

Only then did I realize it was night, with not even the curtains drawn.

But… when did I fall asleep? Surely my last memory was…

A strange sense of déjà vu came over me. I hurriedly opened the curtains, and outside was not night but morning, with the sun rising.

“W-what is this?”

It was not the scenery I had seen at the ducal estate. To call it unfamiliar, it was rather too familiar.

Surely, surely it can’t be.

Turning my gaze from the window, I cried out in shock. A familiar ceiling I had never once forgotten, a familiar room.

It was the room I had stayed in during the period that was the peak of my misfortune.

“Ha, what in the world… This can’t be.”

With every step I took, the smell of mold and dust reached me. Ironically, that was when reality came back to me.

“I… have really come back, then?”

I was afraid to accept reality. The moment I accepted it, the truth I believed was a dream would become real.

Sirihan’s wedding, the people who tried to kill me.

And…

“Douglas!! Where is Douglas?”

I began searching for Douglas like a mad person. Until I confirmed that existence with my own eyes, I didn’t want to believe anything.

I thought I had no energy left to grieve, but tears began to roll down my cheeks.

“Don’t cry, Reina. Please…”

No one will come to see you even if you cry like this. I wiped my eyes roughly with my coarse sleeve.

Soon after, I found a familiar book on the desk. It was a book with an intense red cover decorated with gold leaf.

I couldn’t deny it. This was something that could not exist in the past—evidence that was meant to be revealed at Sirihan’s wedding.

Barely steadying my trembling hands, I carefully opened the book.

“…This is insane.”

Instead of densely written text, Sirihan’s lark necklace greeted me on the blank paper.

The token of love Sirihan had given me long ago.

The moment I saw the necklace I had discarded so long ago, despair bloomed.

‘To think I believed it was love just because I received this. Just this… what is this necklace worth…!!’

It was when I raised the necklace, intending to throw it away at once.

[You shouldn’t carelessly throw away my gift.]

Letters began to appear on the blank paper as though ink were spreading.

“A gift?”

To my questioning, the next answer was written as if in reply.

[I am Douglas. Are you the one who made a contract with me?]

A contract? Yes. I accepted Douglas’s offer.

“Yes, that’s right.”

Unable to throw away the necklace at the resurfacing memory, I gripped it tightly.

“It was chaos back then, but what is this place? Just what… is your true nature…!”

[I wonder whether those questions can bring you closer to the essence. I will answer anything. Of course, this is the last chance.]

“Tell me why you chose me. And where is this place? Have I returned to the past?”

[This world exists by means of gods and demons. Humans are merely incidental beings for us. But demons can only attain complete power by borrowing human strength.

I am a demon, so inevitably the price will be your soul. That is an unwritten law.]

The Grace Allat Empire was a place that believed in god.

‘If you do not believe in god, that is treason.’

But I had heard that demons had vanished long ago?

[Because the moment evil is acknowledged, order disappears. Humans call beings imbued with demonic power magical tools and seal them away.

I merely waited for a suitable human after my power weakened just before achieving my dream. For a very long time…]

And it also meant that my wish was powerful enough to summon Douglas.

“Where is this place?”

[This is a world beyond time and space. To be precise, it is a place built upon the past as you remember it, Reina. Your face isn’t as surprised as I expected.]

There is nothing more shocking than my own death. I decided to believe in Douglas, who saved me just before I died, as my god.