“Episode 52”
It was just as she said. Something was creeping in. Lucian held his breath. It was a pungent smell of alcohol. Along with the stench, a creature with black fur twisted its body.
Lucian poised himself for attack at the grotesque sight. However, the creature, as if not seeing them at all, rushed towards the crouched girl hiding beyond the bed. It continued to attack her even as she trembled, cried, and screamed.
The crouching girl trembled even more, her words muffled amid her sobs. “Dad. I’m sorry. I, I…”
Her face didn’t seem oddly distorted.
Lucian realized that this memory was one of “Yoon’s” memories, and that Yoon’s choice not to reveal her past self’s face was deliberate. He tore his gaze away from the girl he was confronting.
The strange cries, cries, and meaningless forgiveness in the unfamiliar girl’s voice resonated in his mind. Lucian, without blinking an eye, shook Yoon, who was staring at his past self.
“Enough now! I understand, stop showing it!”
“Why, is it painful?”
Yoon still dryly remarked, staring at herself being attacked by the monster.
Her voice was dry. Rather than Yoon, Lucian, who was more tormented than her, grabbed her shoulders.
“That’s enough now!”
“You’re a coward. I’m not scared at all. It’s all just a nightmare. It’s all a dream. I’m not afraid of that monster anymore. That monster died before I became an adult. Yes, like your father. Like the great emperor who drove your siblings and cousins insane and returned to a peaceful death, like your father. Of course, that monster left no achievements behind. It just died of alcoholism.”
Yoon stepped forward and stepped on the monster attacking her.
Crunch!
The monster, screaming, disappeared leaving only a faint scream. Yoon, pulling away from the monster’s embrace, hid her body behind the bed again, looking at the sobbing girl, her lips trembling.
“Ever since I came to this world, I’ve always wanted to kill her. But she didn’t die. Why is that? Maybe it’s because I’m alive.”
“What… what are you thinking?”
Yoon glanced back at the stiff Lucian. A faint madness reflected in Yoon’s eyes as she stared at Lucian, who was overshadowed by his past self.
“Even after that monster died, my life was always chaotic. Even after I became an adult… Every day, I just watched myself lock myself in the room and watch time pass by. I thought if I lived without seeing the annoying things, I might want to live, but I still wanted to die.”
Yoon laughed faintly. And she looked at the familiar face of Lucian who stared at her as if he were tired.
She didn’t find it strange that people looked at her like they were looking at bugs.
Even at school, in her short social life, Yoon was always the target. She wondered if the passion of life really existed. So she might not have known that she wanted to die. Always.
“Do you serve the sun god? Yeah, then I’ll tell you that the sun god sent me here. Whatever happened, it’s the god’s will to send me to the world of novels. At first, it was quite fun. But later, I said, after that damn god sees the end of this world, he tells me to go back to reality. Damn, who’s he trying to screw over?”
“What?”
“Yeah. You’re connected to my family, so you at least need to share the sight I see.”
Yoon, muttering as if casting a spell, suddenly raised her head as if she had just discovered the person in front of her. Then, she reached out her hand. The palm emitting white light gradually turned into a book. Words sporadically popped out of the book, filling the dark room.
Lucian was shocked. At the same time, the stories forcibly permeated him, freezing him in place.
“Ugh!”
Lucian grimaced. It was agonizing, yet at the same time, he could feel it deeply.
He understood why Yoon treated this place as “stories” and treated it as insignificant. As someone who had already seen this world through sentences and words, she couldn’t help it.
“Stop it!”
“Okay, okay, drama queen.”
Tutting, Yoon waved her hand, and in an instant, the sentences that had filled the small room disappeared. Even the strange light faded away.
Once again, the room was filled with silent darkness. Lucian knelt down and gasped for breath.
“Huff, huff…”
Ignoring whether the other person was retching or spitting, Yoon grinned and spoke.
“You’ll understand when you see it. Did you see the sentences I underlined? Those are the ones I’ve changed. Of course, the story was a mess even before I came in. It was all because of that annoying woman who survived on her own. At first, that woman really annoyed me, you know? But then I thought, in a romantic novel-like way, even if the male lead did this and that, and saw the ending, that damn god said I had to go back to my original world? Isn’t that the level of feeding all the good things and spitting them out on the road? Then I have no reason to make the male lead better. Don’t you think so?”
“Is that why you want to ruin the story?”
“Hmm. The important thing, Lucian Bu Ariacne, is that even if I try to develop the story according to the original, your ending isn’t happy. Do you want me to use you thoroughly and throw you away? How many times do I have to tell you that if you cooperate with the plan, I can make you happy at least?”
Lucian swallowed his breath. As he staggered to stand up, he looked at the past version of Yoon behind her.
The child, crouching and trembling with suppressed breath, had a too wounded appearance to believe that she was the present Yoon, who was speaking confidently.
Yoon, who noticed Lucian’s gaze, blocked the girl’s path. She looked at him grimly and spoke.
“Lucian. I’m struggling to insert the stories that suit my taste while developing the original story. I’m still paying some of my life force to keep alive the villainess Elena Walter who should have died long ago. That’s the price I have to pay to force the plausibility. If I can just smoothly progress with the original story, I wouldn’t have to pay this price, but I’m doing this nonsense to save your villainess, Elena Walter. But can’t you stop Elena Walter from acting up? A supporting male lead who just whines all the time isn’t attractive.”
Yoon spoke coldly and snorted. Lucian, barely standing up and holding onto the side table, met her gaze and said, “Don’t lie. You wanted to die as soon as you heard that you had to go back to your original world. You didn’t even think of your life force as precious—”
Before finishing his sentence, Yoon stepped forward and reached out her hand. As soon as Yoon put pressure on Lucian’s shoulders, he staggered. Looking at him with a grimace due to pain, Yoon coldly admonished him.
“If you know, do your job properly.”
She twisted her lips. Then, before the smile disappeared, she turned her head and whispered to the pained face before the smile vanished.
“I wanted to live happily at least once in my short life. So help me. You, you’re my family given by this place, aren’t you?”
No matter how many times she returned to the past and killed the monster, it would reappear. So playing with paper dolls and playing with them in reality was more enjoyable than returning to reality where monsters came back repeatedly.
With a satisfied smirk, Yoon watched Lucian’s contorted expression and lightly flicked her finger, escaping into her own reality.
Soon, it would be necessary to progress the events of the original work. Things would get busy, but there was no time to waste idling in reality.
—
“Moo-oo…”
The winter cattle herds trudged heavily through the sprawling hills of Hilchen Duchy. Even though they were only cattle for the household, it must have been difficult for them to pull the old carriage laden with a bunch of priests and their belongings.
The inhabitants, living on the lands of wealthy western landowners, observed the strange procession and sneered, “What priests are these?”
Recent tensions between Hilchen Duchy and the royal family were well-known even among commoners. So, the temples with a bat-like attitude, constantly seeking favors from the nobles, did not seem very favorable to the people of Hilchen Duchy.
Even common folk couldn’t help but mock, seeing the winter cattle slowly pass by, bellowing mournfully.
“Why would country priests come to Hilchen Duchy? Perhaps they couldn’t attend the lucrative Kazarva festival?”
“Oh, the Kazarva festival is a thing of the past. Foreign upper-class folks are already turning their heels to sell goods in the western territories. Our Duke has been very accommodating to them.”
“Well, that’s fortunate. How would they even travel on such a treacherous road to the capital? Those foreign upper-class fellows must have judged the situation early.”
“But even if they’re country priests, aren’t they ultimately just following the coattails of the capital folks? Is the royal financial support not sufficient?”
The murmurs of the people echoed painfully around the old carriage surrounded by the winter cattle.
Having teleported from the northern mountains in an instant, and from that moment onwards, priests who had been hanging onto the winter cattle pulling the worn-out carriage due to depleted magic were furious.
However, on the contrary, the Pope, chuckling as if listening to a joke, listened to the complaints of the locals and said, “Listen to the words of the locals. Isn’t this amusing? This bastard Duke has been raising his territory so comfortably. My father’s Duchy of Great Virtue has barely survived on its old reputation and past glories. In this short time, he has grown this territory so much. Aren’t you all surprised?”
With a hearty laugh, the Pope, swaying in the shaking carriage as he drank the heated tea, chuckled. Despite his old-fashioned tone, his laughter was as clear as a gem.
Hearing his words, a priestess stuttered and said, “Your Holiness! The reason we had to come here so arduously is because of the strained relationship between the Duke and the royal family. If only we had access to portals—!”
“Sharo, stop talking nonsense. We’ve come this far to avoid the eyes of the followers of the New Faith. If we say we passed through the small northern mountain area and came close to the capital, will that bloated Archbishop Dussel sit still? Just thinking about that piglet grunting makes me feel good about not seeing his face.”
“Mother.”
