PLOM Chapter 71

For Oatmeal, thank you for the ko-fi! ♡

<Episode 71>

Lenya thrust her face close to me as if she’d waited for it.

“…Khaf.”

I wanted to ask for some water, but my mouth and lips were so dry that only shallow breaths came out. The quick-witted Lenya noticed and gave me a glass of water, and only then did I feel alive again.

“Where are we?”

“M-Master’s house. You were unconscious for two days.”

Ah.

Okay.

‘I guess it’s right to call it unconscious.’ 

I just crossed the second wall of mind and body unity. 

The similarity to the first barrier was that my lifespan increased by about three more years. Now, the total lifespan given to me was ten years. 

Wow, from a three-year expiration date to a ten-year expiration date? 

This could be considered a life-changing turn of events. 

But it was strange. My body didn’t feel as light as before. 

‘It’s rather uncomfortable, like lying on a rock.’

I just crossed the second wall of mind and body.

Some of my limbs were throbbing and some were numb.

When I looked around, I saw a glass bottle with transparent liquid hanging above my head.

‘I was getting fluids.’

But why saline?

‘Ah right. I hurt both of my shoulders.’

Anxiously, I checked my shoulders.

Fortunately, there were no severed limbs, and both my shoulders were intact. 

But how did I get injured? 

‘One shoulder was pierced by Gavroche, and I pierced the other one.’

 …Gavroche? Who was Gavroche again?

At that moment, a flash of realization passed through my head.

That’s right, Andert!

My brother!

I tried to jerk up to sit up, but the sudden dizziness overwhelmed me, and I fell back down again. 

Lenya, who was tidying up the glass, hurried over. 

“Oh, please lie down! You’ve lost an incredible amount of blood. It’s amazing that you’re still alive. I-I thought Daisy was truly gone because of my pointless request…” 

“Who brought me here?” 

“Hm? C-Calepa brought you here.”

I see.

Sigh.

That was a relief. In the end, Rue managed to find me.

‘Hold on. What about Andert?’

Rue bringing me in meant he must’ve run into Andert.

So where did Andert go?

“How do you feel?”

A calm voice reached my ears.

Rue, the owner of the voice, was sitting at a nearby table, leisurely reading a newspaper. 

His usually sparkling face didn’t look as refreshed as it always did. The sense of relief that overtook me was an emotion I had only felt before with Raphael…

 “Oh, did you end up falling for me after all? Tsk. I warned you to be careful.” 

Right now, even hearing such nonsense didn’t irritate me. I mustered all my sincerity and nodded my head while lying down.

“Thank you, Mr. Rue. I owe you. You saved my life.”

Rue glanced at me again, smiling softly, as he returned to reading his newspaper.

 “Our dear Miss Daisy keeps accumulating debt with me. I wonder when she’ll be able to repay it all.”

However, if it wasn’t my illusion, his smile looked somewhat chilly, unlike usual.

No, it was certain. I couldn’t sense his usual playfulness or mischief at all. 

And yet, it wasn’t that he was openly mocking me as he usually did, but… 

‘Did I make a mistake?’

 It felt uneasy. But right now, there was something more important to attend to. 

“Mr. Rue, what about Andert? No, Gavroche. No, I mean the man with the long scar on his face. Where did the man I was fighting with go?”

 He met my gaze and replied calmly. 

“I killed him.”

“…what?”

Who did you kill? 

In an instant, everything before my eyes turned black. 

Did Rue just say that he killed my brother, Andert? 

Rue? My brother? 

“Just kidding.”

 “……Huh?” I stood up from the bed, ready to swing my fist. 

“Oh!” 

Of course, I immediately fell back down. 

“Ah, Miss Daisy! I told you to lie down! You’ll reopen your wound. If you keep doing this, I- I won’t take care of you!”

“Sorry.”

Lenya hesitatingly inserted the IV Tube that had fallen off back into my hand. 

Watching the scene, Rue, with a smile on his face, revealed the truth as if to calm me down.

“That man who you call both Andert and Gavroche left after watching the full process of you crossing the threshold of the second wall of mind and body unity. He’s a dog with an owner, of course.”

Rue picked up an old notebook from the table and gently threw it at me. 

“Although, Dian’s diary is here. Well done, Miss Daisy. You’ve obtained the artifact you desired so much, Dian Cecht’s diary.” 

Dian Cecht’s diary! 

I tried to catch the flying artifact with my hand… But I couldn’t move because of my shoulder, so I had no choice but to catch it with my mouth.

 Clap, clap, clap. 

“There you go. Well done, Daisy!”

Ignoring Rue, who was treating me like a pet dog, I rubbed my cheek against the musty paper book.

Ah, the precious artifact that would save my soul… 

‘I almost kicked the bucket because of this bastard.’

 I’m glad I was able to obtain it cleanly. 

However, I was even more relieved by the fact that Andert returned safely.

If I asked Rue for help… I didn’t know how he would actually behave. 

Andert is alive. 

‘As long as he’s alive, we’ll meet again someday.’

Andert was dead. 

The warship he was on was shot down by Mephisto’s army and sank into the sea. Despite searching the area for several weeks, they couldn’t find his body. 

‘But how is he alive?’

Would there ever come a day when I could hear the story from Andert himself? 

No, he didn’t need to recall such terrible memories. 

If only he could remember our childhood together… 

…was it okay for him to remember? 

I’d spent one season here after coming back from death. 

It was a short time, but I’d experienced a lot. 

Many things changed, and I realized many things. 

However, if I had to choose what has had the most impact on me so far, I would undoubtedly cry out ‘The Magic War.’ 

The war completely turned my life upside down. It led me to a desperately grim ending, and the horror engraved on my bones was vivid enough to cause auditory and visual hallucinations even after the war ended.

‘To regain Andert’s memories would mean to regain the horror he felt during the war.’

I couldn’t help but question whether it was truly needed to make him recall such gruesome experiences… 

‘…But still, I will make him remember.’

I will somehow do it.

I spent ten years after going insane, suffering thinking that Andert was dead. 

I will make that scoundrel, who even forgot his own family, pay for those ten years of agony.

I will definitely make him pay. 

Because that’s what a “sister” does. 

The moment I set a new goal and gathered my determination, a burdensome face suddenly appeared before me.

“So. How do you feel?”

“…How do I feel?”

“Your body. I think I asked you two times.”

Was asking about the feeling the same as asking about the body? 

I pushed back Rue’s chest with my head and checked my physical condition again. 

I thought there might be some unnoticed issues, but I just remained as tattered as ever. 

“It hurts, but it’s not too bad.” 

“Ah, I see. It’s good that it’s not too bad.” 

Rue replied sarcastically as he opened a vial of red powder. 

Judging by the label on the powder bottle that read <Emergency, Sleep, Pain Relief, Anti-inflammatory> it seemed like Lenya had brought the medicine separately.

It’s the same as asking how you feel and how you feel.

After folding away the paper it originally came in and throwing it on the table, Rue stared at me for a long time.

After some time, he parted his lips to speak.

“Miss Daisy.”

“Yes.”

“Tell me you want to live.”

So suddenly?

“Why?”

“Give it a try.”

“I, I want to live…?”

Tap. Rue burned the medicine packet to ashes and let out a dry laugh.

“Your desperation isn’t reaching me at all.”

“I’m not a theater actor. How can I suddenly convey desperation at your demand?”

“A theater actor? If you think about it, shouldn’t you be more desperate than they are, Miss Daisy?”

What does that mean? 

I stared at Rue in silence for a moment. 

He was definitely acting stranger than usual. 

In a voice tinged with boredom, Ru casually muttered, “And perhaps, I might fulfill that eagerness of yours.”

 “What happened? Why are you suddenly like this?”

“Old Calepas are all selfish and unpredictable.” 

“To me, Mr. Rue is not a Calepa. You’re a gardener and a cook who makes delicious potato gratin.”

Rue smiled, pulling up his chair and sitting next to the bed. 

With his chin resting on his hand, Rue looked at me intently and asked once again. 

“Miss Daisy, do you want to live?” 

I instinctively noticed it then.

The fact that this brief question and its answer would become a turning point in our relationship. 

I thought of the long river and the waterfall. I thought of the people I met there. My melancholic sword that I rescued from the water’s depths. 

“Yes. I want to live.”

“Sincerely?”

“Sincerely.”

“Good… Your sense of urgency just now felt quite convincing. That should be enough. But, Miss Daisy.” 

Rue grabbed my arm. 

My limp arm turned inward without any strength. Three scars were neatly etched on my pale skin. 

Traces of oaths. 

“Isn’t that contrary to our promise?”

“…Promise? What promise?”

I looked down at the traces of the oaths.

The third was the one I shared with the head maid.

The second was one I shared with the swordmaster.

The two oaths vividly appeared before me as if I’d just made them yesterday. 

But something felt strange. 

‘Who was my first oath made to?’

…

Huh?

Why couldn’t I remember? 

“Miss Daisy.” 

Rue’s neat fingernail pressed down firmly on the first oath. 

I looked at him. 

“If you’re truly desperate, remember.”

 Remember what? 

No further questions followed.

 As a heavy wave of drowsiness engulfed me, and long-forgotten memories of the past resurfaced.

I know I said I’d see you in a week but I couldn’t resist, so.