Episode 111

Sharon led Ludwig and Desar back the way she had come.

“If you go in here, a different world will unfold.”

Sharon pointed to a spot with an unusually serious expression on her face.

There, two tree branches were twisted together like snakes, forming a gap just large enough for a person to pass through.

“Sharon, this isn’t the time for jokes,”

Desar said with a sigh, turning around to leave.

They needed to find Sierra as soon as possible.

“Wait.”

It was Ludwig’s short command that stopped him in his tracks.

“If there’s such a strong wave coming from that spot, it might not be nonsense.”

“What are you talking about…?”

A strong wave? He couldn’t feel a thing.

But as Desar watched Sharon step boldly into the gap in the trees, his eyes widened.

The moment Sharon entered the space, she disappeared.

There wasn’t even a visible area beyond the branches—she just vanished.

“A dimensional barrier. I’ve only heard it’s theoretically possible, but this is the first time I’ve seen it.”

Without hesitation, Ludwig followed Sharon through the gap and disappeared as if he had passed into another dimension.

Left behind alone, Desar rubbed his eyes, thinking he was hallucinating. But no matter how many times he looked, they were truly gone.

In the end, Desar also followed them—and just as Sharon said, the place they arrived at was a “different world.”

The fiery red sunset was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a watercolor-blue sky.

Even the overgrown trees and bushes, untouched by people for ages, looked strangely mystical.

Ludwig checked his location-tracking magic device and spoke.

“Sierra is definitely in this dimension.”

The moment the three of them entered, the device stopped working completely.

“For it to block magical communication… What kind of place is this?”

“This is the ‘dimensional barrier’ that wizards have long theorized about. Judging by the changed sky, this must be a point in either the past or the future.”

Ludwig spoke as he walked alongside Sharon.

“Within this barrier, neither magic nor swordsmanship works. We’re just unwelcome guests who took the wrong path.”

Then suddenly, he froze mid-step and dashed toward something.

“Sierra!”

Beneath a large tree in the distance, Sierra lay collapsed.

Ludwig sprinted to her side and checked her condition.

“…….”

“How is the lady?!”

“Fortunately, she seems to have fallen into a light sleep.”

At Ludwig’s words, Sharon, who had followed behind, calmed her startled heart and looked at Sierra.

Sierra was asleep with a serene expression, like a delicately crafted wax doll.

That’s when Sharon noticed the vibrant flowers blooming around Sierra.

Surrounding her were golden flowers.

Strangely, the flowers only bloomed abundantly in Sierra’s immediate vicinity.

Among them were a few bearing fruit.

They were golden in color, resembling raspberries at a glance…

Sharon’s eyes widened in shock.

“T-That’s it!”

Grabbing Ludwig and Desar’s sleeves with both hands, she pulled them toward the scene.

“That’s the fruit we were looking for!”

“Are you sure?”

“There’s no doubt! That’s the same fruit I ate!”

Among the countless blooming flowers, Sharon managed to find a few fruits.

Stunned by the unexpected discovery, she picked them with a dazed expression, still unable to believe it even while holding them in her hands.

Long before she was taken in by Robert, when she was very young and starving in the mountains, she had found this fruit and eaten it in desperation.

Not knowing that it carried the toxin that triggered Lisbeth.

The golden fruit had been incredibly sweet and delicious—something Sharon had never forgotten.

“Sierra found it.”

Sharon mumbled as she looked at Sierra, who was sleeping peacefully, making faint sounds.

Sierra, caught in a dream, kept calling out names they couldn’t understand.

At the corners of her eyes, faint tears had formed.

* * *

“Ugh…”

I stretched with a stiff body and opened my eyes.

Blinking up at an unfamiliar ceiling, I soon realized I was in the Karsian villa in the south.

“Why am I here…?”

I tried to recall my last memory.

I had definitely gone deep into the forest to look for Sharon… and then…?

“What happened after that?”

It was as if someone had cut out a piece of my memory—I couldn’t remember anything beyond that point.

There was an unsettling feeling, like I had forgotten something I absolutely shouldn’t have, but no matter how hard I thought, nothing came back.

Still, judging by the fact that I woke up safely here at the Karsian villa, Ludwig or Desar must have found me collapsed somewhere and brought me back.

Looking out the open window, I saw the intensely blue southern sky. It must’ve already been a full day since.

“What’s that?”

I narrowed my eyes at something placed on the nightstand beside the bed.

Inside a transparent bottle were several roots that looked like they belonged to some kind of plant.

Among the roots were also strange, unidentifiable fruits.

“…No way.”

I sprang out of bed in shock.

It couldn’t be. But those were definitely…

“The Fruit of Betrayal?”

Unbelievable. It seemed Sharon had found it while I was asleep.

As I stood speechless, overwhelmed by emotion, the door opened and Ludwig entered at just the right moment.

“Sierra, you’re awake?”

He smiled as he approached me.

“L-Ludwig. This is…”

“Yes, it’s what we’ve been looking for.”

Hearing him confirm it made it finally feel real.

This tiresome journey was over.

“What exactly happened while I was asleep?”

“I’d like to ask the same. Don’t you remember? How you ended up falling asleep there?”

“I remember going to find Sharon, but I can’t recall anything after that. Where was I found?”

I was speaking seriously, but then—gurgle—my stomach let out a small growl, completely unaware of the mood.

“……”

“I’ll explain everything slowly. But first, you should eat.”

Ludwig let out a soft chuckle and pulled the bell rope.

As I ate the meal the attendant brought into the room, Ludwig told me something hard to believe.

That I had been found unconscious inside a dimensional barrier.

And that among the flowers blooming around me, they had found the Fruit of Betrayal.

“A dimensional barrier… I’ve only heard about it in theory. I never thought it actually existed.”

According to what Ludwig had heard from local villagers, there’s been a long-standing legend about Mount Deiosa.

That there’s a place deep within it that connects to another dimension.

Herbalists who got greedy and wandered in too deep often got lost, and they would always say it felt like they had wandered through another world.

They spoke of the dark sky turning to morning, and even people who knew the terrain well returned saying they’d seen plants they’d never encountered before.

After wandering for a long time, they would collapse from exhaustion and then wake up at the foot of the mountain, as if someone had carried them there.

“So that’s why the magic device stopped working.”

“Seems so. Luckily, Sharon knew where the entrance to the barrier was, so we found you quickly.”

“Sharon…”

In the end, it was because that child didn’t give up that we were able to find the fruit.

“I guess I can’t even scold her.”

“Exactly.”

I smiled, and Ludwig nodded.

“More importantly…”

He smiled gently, then took my hand in his.

“Who is Damon?”

“Huh? Damon, as in…”

Wasn’t that the name of the wise emperor who shaped imperial history? Tias’s lover?

Ludwig’s voice took on a strangely cold tone.

“You kept calling out that name in your sleep… so sadly.”

“I said Damon’s name…?”

Why would I…?

“I just thought I should ask. In case it’s the name of a secret lover.”

He watched me with oddly shadowed eyes, waiting for my answer.

He was smiling, but somehow it felt… dangerous.

‘…?’

Wait, is he… jealous?