130.

‘She already despises me enough as it is.’

Elze, despite everything, had a surprisingly gentle side; she tried not to hurt those who weren’t directly involved, like how she had followed him without resistance back in Ruben Village.

Because of that, Dante felt shackled. If he were to push her further and earn even more of her disdain… he wasn’t sure he could withstand that despair.

“Get in touch with Countess Martin’s household,” Dante finally said, breaking free from his thoughts. “Tell her I’ve requested a meeting personally. That there’s something I absolutely need to ask her.”

“A request?”

“Yes. And let her know I’m willing to pay any price she demands if she’ll fulfill it.”

Liam hesitated, looking at Dante’s complicated expression before bowing his head. “Understood.”

After Liam left, Dante was left alone, his composed mask crumbling the moment the door shut.

“Damn it… this is hell.”

Five times. Five times he’d taken Nyx, diving to the very depths of his soul. He had screamed, suffered through hallucinations and phantom voices, vomited, fainted, even harmed himself… enduring every conceivable side effect to retrieve memories buried in the darkest corners of his mind.

But those memories were too vast, too terrifying to bear alone.

A vision of crimson roses blooming in blood.

Elze’s hollow, desolate face as though she’d abandoned all hope.

Blood dripping steadily onto the ground.

And then…

…a silver blade piercing Elze’s body.

“I wish… I could tell myself it was just a nightmare,” Dante whispered, his voice dry.

“If only I could believe that…”

But he couldn’t. The memory was too vivid, like an indelible scar.

And within that memory, a voice echoed, sharp and venomous.

[Remember this, Dante.]

Under silver lashes fluttering like butterfly wings, deep green eyes, as lethal as poison, stared at him.

[She ended up like this… because of you.]

On the neatly trimmed, vivid green grass lay scattered strands of tousled, dried rose-colored hair.

A pale face.

A slender body that no longer breathed.

The droplets of blood seeping from that body were a piercing, almost blinding red.

[This can’t be real.]

Dante whispered hoarsely, his voice rough.

In a world twisted by repeated cycles, where he could no longer tell what was real or a dream, there was only one constant—one person who served as his guiding star.

Elze.

And now, there she was, lying lifeless on the ground as though discarded like trash.

‘How many times has it been?’

Dante felt an overwhelming sense of weariness.

Through the endless cycles, at some point, he’d met Elze. And inevitably, he’d fallen in love with her.

Their first meeting was always the same.

[Just moments ago, I sent people begging for their lives to stand before the gods.]

A woman who’d been ready to throw herself into the cold river looked up at Dante with a hollow, lost expression.

Dante had smiled.

[And now, here I am, saving someone who wishes to meet the gods.]

Yes, in the beginning, it had been mere curiosity.

Dante had clawed his way up from the pits, fighting and biting in endless struggles. To someone like him, people who pleaded for their lives were a dime a dozen.

But those empty eyes that claimed they wouldn’t mind dying…

…for some reason, they had tugged at something in him, against his nature.

And Elze…

[Dante.]

Like a fledgling bird that imprints on the first creature it sees, she had loved and revered only Dante.

Even if that moment of rescue had been born out of mere whim.

A woman who’d been lonely all her life couldn’t help but fall for the man who had saved her.

And Dante… he’d felt joy in that overwhelming, boundless love.

‘It made me… happy.’

He’d lived his life with a yawning emptiness in his chest. But the love Elze poured into him had started filling that hollow space, little by little.

Though he told himself she was nothing more than a toy.

Though he’d been convinced that the foolish woman meant nothing to him.

[You’re back, Dante?]

He had enjoyed seeing her bright smile.

He had found pleasure in the time they spent together.

And so, his ventures outside became fewer and fewer. Instead, he returned to Elze, holding her close, burying his face in her warmth.

When he inhaled the sweet scent that was uniquely hers…

…he felt, if only a little, at peace.

But that happiness didn’t last.

[Hello, Dante.]

A stunning woman with snow-white hair and piercing green eyes.

A woman who, somehow, reminded Dante of his mother.

Marguerite had appeared before him, and, with a chilling gaze, she declared:

[You were born to serve me.]

The moment he heard those words, an inexplicable impulse took hold of him—a compulsion to devote his life entirely to Marguerite, to live solely for her. In an instant, his priorities shifted, and Elze, sensing his sudden change, clung to him in desperation.

[Why… why are you doing this all of a sudden?]

Tears streamed down her pale face.

[If I did something wrong, I’ll fix it.]

Her slender fingers clutched his collar tightly.

[Please… don’t abandon me…]

But Dante ruthlessly shook her off. To him, nothing mattered more than Marguerite now. He was utterly devoted to her, obeying her every command. He would have even pretended to die if she’d asked him to.

Until, that is, one moment changed everything—a fleeting question from her that filled him with a profound sense of unease.

[When are you going to deal with Elze?]

Deal with her?

The thought had never crossed his mind. Even though Marguerite was his priority, Elze still held an irreplaceable place in his heart. Only her overwhelming love could fill the emptiness that had haunted him his entire life.

…Not Marguerite.

Marguerite looked at Dante for a moment, then clicked her tongue and stood up.

[It’s the same as always.]

She acted as if this was all familiar.

But even that strange sense of familiarity felt tolerable—until the moment a silver blade drove into Elze’s body.

[This is your fault, you know?]

Turning around, Marguerite’s face was splattered with warm blood.

…Elze’s blood.

[If only you had obeyed me.]

Dante stared in horror at Marguerite’s detached green eyes, too emotionless for someone who’d just taken a life. And then, like a bolt of lightning, it hit him.

‘This… isn’t the first time.’

Memories flooded back, overwhelming him.

Dozens, hundreds of times.

Meeting Elze, falling in love.

Marguerite appearing, commanding his loyalty, becoming the center of his existence…

Yet, no matter how many times, he could never fully let go of Elze.

[This can’t be real.]

Dante muttered, staring at Elze lying lifeless on the ground.

The crimson blood soaked the lush green grass, strands of her rose-colored hair scattered, framing a face that would no longer look at him, no longer smile.

[Damn it, Elze!]

Dante screamed.

A man who had never known loss his entire life finally understood the weight and pain of it as his most treasured thing shattered before him.

And then, time rewound once again.

On rare, miraculous occasions, he would remember. Each time, Dante desperately fought to save Elze. He tried running away with her, he tried standing up to Marguerite.

…But it was always in vain.

Lucian and Benedict followed Marguerite’s commands absolutely. Facing those two alone, each with almost superhuman abilities, was an impossible feat for Dante.

But the greatest obstacle was Marguerite herself.

With the casualness of a child crushing an ant for amusement, she rewound time again and again, her innocent smile betraying no empathy as Dante’s efforts crumbled like sandcastles washed away by the tide.

No matter how many times he struggled and struggled… there was never a single outcome where Elze survived.

[Why did you doubt me? Why did you resist?]

With her radiant silver hair and green eyes, Marguerite glared at Dante, as if finding his defiance laughable.

[Did you actually believe you could defy me? Ha, ha ha… ahahaha…!]

Her laughter echoed like bells ringing beneath the clear summer sky, light and unyielding.

[It was amusing, in its own way, I suppose…]

After laughing for what felt like an eternity, her expression abruptly turned cold.

[But now, time’s up.]

Like an ancient, weather-beaten tree left with only its roots, her face was empty as she delivered her chilling pronouncement.

[No matter how delightful a game is, it has to end sometime.]

A cold smile crept onto her beautiful face.

[And that time… is now.]

With those final words, a crack rang out.

The world froze.

In a miraculous display of power that defied reality, the woman with silver hair rewound time once more.

[Keep struggling, Dante.]

Her voice was calm, almost prophetic.

[But in the end, you’ll always return to me.]