Ch. 45

“Well, the Ardion I saw on the battlefield was the same Ardion I saw before.”

“…”

“Oh, there was a difference. That crazy dog ​​sang a song about wanting to smell lilacs at night and missing it.”

It was the first time I heard that story. I never imagined that he would think of me that much there.

While I didn’t answer, Serina said, “I didn’t know what he meant then, but it turns out he was talking about you.”

“…”

“How interesting. The old Ardion wasn’t like this.” She smiled at me.

“So, you’re working under Rowell because you want revenge on Ardion?”

“I’m not working under Rowell. I’m just doing it because I want to.”

“Why in the world would you want to do that?”

“He ruined my life like that, so shouldn’t his life be ruined as well?”

I had nothing to say to that. Of course, the old Ardion did wrong Serina. He had locked her up, making her lose her freedom, and obsessed over her until the end.

But the current Ardion was a different person than that timeline.

“Ardion didn’t do that to you this time.”

“I know, but what does that matter? At least I remember what happened to me.”

“So, you tried to kill me too?”

“Well, I couldn’t help it. I needed the necklace around your neck, but I didn’t think you’d take it off easily.”

My mind went blank when I heard that. I barely exhaled and said, “… You didn’t lure me back then, did you?”

“You didn’t know that I moved around wearing that cloak on purpose?”

In the end, it was no different from me being attacked by her. The Serina in the original story had totally disappeared. She was totally a different person now.

Looking at her, I raised my voice in anger. “Then, does that give you the reason to kill innocent people at the cost of killing Ardion?”

Serina stared at me blankly. “Actually, I’ve been waiting for this moment. I’ve really wanted to kill Ardion, but I couldn’t before. And now that the opportunity has come… I can’t help it.”

Her expression changed in an instant. The corners of her mouth that had been smiling faintly were now completely frozen, and her eyes were shining brightly.

I didn’t know that Serina would be so consumed by revenge from the original story. I just thought she would accept everything and live on because it seemed that way at the end of the story. 

I thought that’s how the story ended in the original…

My mind felt complicated again. Was I in a book or reality?

Seeing my expression distort, Serina said, “But you don’t seem that surprised. Whenever I said something like that, people usually thought I was crazy.”

“There are many things in the world that can’t be explained in words.”

“Then you’ve experienced something like this before, right?”

I raised my head; Serina tilted her head. For a moment, I felt strange looking at her.

Serina had definitely tried to kill me previously. She had even hit me on the back of my head and taken my mana away. But why was she explaining everything so kindly now?

I questioned sternly, “Why are you telling me everything like this?”

Serina smiled brightly. She seemed to feel good hearing me finally say that.

“Because you have to disappear from this world.”

“…”

“This is my last gift.”

Serina smiled and raised her hand. Now that I thought about it, the back of my head was cold.

I quickly stepped back, but she was faster. Her magical light poured right into my head, but it only hit the hat and bounced off.

Serina's face instantly hardened. At that moment, I shot her head with water magic. However, she quickly dodged without getting hit and reached out to me. Soon, yellow magic poured down on me. I quickly dodged to the side.

However, because of the magic Serina shot, dirt flew everywhere. I was pushed back. My head started to hurt because I kept using mana. It was strangely different from before.

At that moment, Derol ran to Serina.

"Derol!"

I called Derol, but he ignored me and bit Serina's ankle. Serina frowned and looked down. During that moment, I shot water magic at Serina's head.

Serina lost her balance for a moment but barely managed to stand and look at me. Her expression changed dramatically. She shook her foot once. Derol, who had been biting her ankle, fell to the ground.

The moment I was about to run to Derol, a magical light struck my feet. The grass hit by the magical light burned and smoked.

My head spun for a moment. I managed to keep my balance, but my head hurt because I had used too much mana.

In the meantime, Serina appeared and approached me step by step. “You have no mana anyway, so using more is useless.”

I barely managed to stand. My head was spinning, but I couldn’t easily fall here. However, her face became blurry in my vision as she got closer. In the end, I lost my balance and fell to the ground.

Before I knew it, Serina was standing in front of me.

I glared at her and shouted, “Killing me won’t do anything!”

“It’s not useless. Ardion cares a lot about you, so if you die, he’ll definitely fall into despair.” Serina’s face brightened. She already had a happy face as she imagined Ardion’s suffering.

“But is it okay to kill people like this?”

“I told you before. I don’t care about that kind of thing.”

Serina really didn’t understand. Her eyes were lifeless, as if they had lost all other emotion. She only showed her obsession.

“Then please shine magic light exactly on my heart. I just want to die quickly without any pain.”

Serina smiled and nodded. “Okay, I’ll grant your last wish.”

I grabbed my hat. It was already on the ground, so it wasn’t too hard to grab.

Serina raised her hand. At the same time, I placed the hat over my heart. The magic light immediately bounced off it.

Serina stared blankly at the magic light flying towards her with her eyes wide open. At that moment, all the magic light hit her. White light exploded, then disappeared in an instant. I smelled smoke.

It was clearly white, but black smoke rose in front of me. As the wind blew a little, the smoke slowly cleared. And in front of me was the collapsed Serina. Her entire body was covered in black ash.

I quickly got up from the ground. My head was still spinning, but I barely managed to grab a tree to support myself.

I didn’t want to stay here any longer. I wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

I soon walked to the collapsed Derol, put him in my pocket, and left the forest. However, the more I walked, the more confused I became.

I had used too much mana.

Why did I have so little mana?

Was it because Ardion didn't give me enough mana?

I couldn’t believe it.

Could it be because Serina took my mana, and that side effect made me lose strength so easily?

A healer was not a healer for nothing. All sorts of thoughts ran through my head, but before I could support myself with another tree, I lost all my strength and collapsed on the spot.

❋ ❋ ❋

A rumbling sound resembling blocked water echoed.

“What… Hey! This… is all I can do...”

I occasionally heard unfinished words. It was a familiar voice. That voice was particularly deeply engraved in my ears. For a moment, my head hurt.

I wanted to escape that moment, so I moved my body. I rolled my eyes, wiggled my hands, and tried to bend my legs. It felt like my blocked breath was coming back.

At that moment, I opened my eyes. The voice in my ears suddenly stopped.

“Laila!”

The person who ran to me in an instant was Ardion.

“Your Highness?” I said in a rough voice.

Ardion handed me a glass of water. As I slowly drank the water, he looked at my face. “Are you okay?”

There wasn’t anything that hurt in particular. When I saw Ardion, his hands were shaking, and his gaze towards me seemed lost in thought.

When I finally met his green eyes, his eyes shook, and he hugged me tightly. Because of that, the glass of water I was holding spilled onto his clothes.

But Ardion didn’t care and hugged me tighter. “Laila, why do you keep hurting me? Because of you…”

“Your… Your Highness.” The healer carefully patted Ardion’s shoulder. Even so, he didn’t back down.

“We need to treat her first…”

Only then did Ardion slowly back away. The healer took the glass I was holding and carefully examined my pulse. Then he checked my pupils and the inside of my mouth. “There’s nothing wrong with her on the surface, but I’ll have to examine her a little more. In any case, it seems like a temporary decrease in mana and a decline in function.”

Ardion grabbed my hand. “Do the mana check-up right away. Even if she looks fine on the surface, she could be injured inside.”

“Then, Your Highness, you should let go first…”

Ardion frowned slightly and let go of my hand. Soon, the healers surrounded me and began to shine a magical light.

I fell asleep again.

A few hours later, I opened my eyes. The surroundings were pitch black. When I looked at the furniture and walls, I thought it was a mansion belonging to a noble of some repute.

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