Choice (1)
My voice became hoarse. It was because the emotions I had been holding back came rushing out in order to save Ricdorian.
“That’s not, that’s not, for you to say!”
“I know.”
I shook off his hand and grabbed his chest tightly. Chaser stared at me with his collar dragged down. Red eyes shimmered with madness and inexpressibility.
“I just had that thought.”
I didn’t cry. But it wasn’t that I longed for love like in Domulit.
“Rather than die here with the end of this world.”
The face looked like one that had given up somewhere, but at the same time, madness and obsession that couldn’t be hidden settled like two sides of a coin. He didn’t take his eyes off me.
“Wouldn’t it be better to go back to the world where you were happy?”
He always pretended to be considerate, pretended to be friendly, but he wasn’t really considerate of me. His consideration was always a tyranny that covered my eyes and ears. it bothered me so much
“I mobilized all the means in the world for you.…… I really did.”
But there was no way. The sweet voice was filled with desperation.
“It’s the last gift I can give you before I die.”
No. This is not a gift. Like the precious treasure he threw countless times at Domulit. If it’s something I don’t need, it won’t be a gift.
Tears flowed down my cheeks. The reality of not being able to choose anything made me sick and tired of it.
“…… Do you think I would like that?”
Little by little, little by little. The power I had sent for Ricdorian’s life was returning. At the same time, the image of the crushed black rose passed in front of my eyes. How far can obsession ruin a person?
“If I use my strength, you can maintain this world a little longer.”
He took my hand and whispered softly like a friendly older brother.
“Then you will die. What does that mean?”
The wind blew, ruffling his black hair.
“A world without you has no meaning to me anymore.”
At that moment.
“Go back.”
“…….”
“Because I don’t want to see you risk your life for a world that’s not yours.”
“…….”
“That’s for the other guy too.”
Bang! A roar filled the room. The source of the noise was Ricdorian. He plunged his great sword into the ground, knocking down the last shadow.
A fiery red light swirled violently around the huge sword. The roaring energy was like the dynamic of life.
The last bit of power has returned. No, if I were to measure it, he would be able to demonstrate his strength even if it only returned as much as a finger.
At the same time, a blue light burst from my hand. To be precise, it was in Chaser’s hands that caught mine.
“Hurry. Before it’s all over.”
I noticed he was trying to do something with his remaining blue power.
“I will send you.”
As Chaser’s words came down. Ricdorian raised his head.
“No. I…….”
I quickly turned my gaze away. His full power will return soon……. The moment I thought so, my vision turned upside down. I didn’t even have time to see what was going on, my body floated straight up.
Whoop!
An eerie sound pierced my ears. What is this sound? Not knowing what it was, I groped my body. However, what was caught in my hand was something hard and wet. Soon my palms were tingling.
I slowly lowered my gaze. The dagger stopped a very close distance from my chest. But it had penetrated the large man’s body instead.
Drip, drip drip.
Then, the blood on the tip of the dagger drips onto the back of my hand.
“……are you…….”
I don’t know much about daggers. However, I knew very well that the place this thick dagger pierced was his heart.
The man’s staggering body falls on me. I could feel the heavy breathing in my ears.
“…… alright?”
The dripping blood forms a puddle. Chaser’s voice became faint.
The moment I heard that voice, the situation felt even more unreal.
The man who doesn’t seem to die even if you kill him, was dying with only one dagger?
It can’t be. Because it was an unbelievable sight. I wanted to turn away from the creepy, shady feeling that flowed from the dagger.
But the moment the huge energy passed by Chaser and covered me, I couldn’t look away any longer.
Behind the collapsed man’s shoulder, I could see a woman smiling with her mouth open. I saw a large tiara studded with familiar blue jewels above the woman’s head.
“Did you miss me?”
The Empress wearing the tiara in her royal garb was smiling broadly. With eyes that lost reason in madness. The Empress kicked Chaser in the back. I couldn’t overcome his weight and sat down.
I could feel her gaze looking down on me.
“Iana!”
Ricdorian’s desperate voice came. When I turned my gaze, I saw him running.
Ricdorian soon confronted the Empress, and Francia and Lenag’s voice came from the other side. But they couldn��t get to me.
Rumble, rumble!
Chains extending from the floor bound their arms and legs.
“Ha, haha? Hahahaha! Were you here? Haha!”
Although the Empress seemed to have gone mad, there are three roses here. Even so, Francia and Lenag were tied and unable to move.
“Ha, haha. Hahahaha!”
The Empress stamped her feet with a laugh. The color of the aura surrounding the huge spell circle changed in an instant. It was an ominous dark purple.
“I’ve been waiting for a thousand years, huh?”
Countless swarms of bats appeared on the ceiling and covered the tombstone. At the same time, like growing mold, dark purple spots began to spread like contamination.
Clash!
Before I knew it, the Empress was facing swords with Ricdorian. No, the Empress’ weapon was not a sword. It was a black whip reminiscent of a vine.
“Who here has the memories of a thousand years intact? It’s me!”
Ricdorian clenched his teeth and snapped the Empress’ whip.
“Give me that power! It’s mine! Hahahaha! Now the Almighty Rose will be me, not that halfling. Me! Me! I will become God!”
Then countless bats rushed at him. However, it burns or crumbles under his burning red power.
In the meantime, I hurriedly checked Chaser who had fallen on me. His white shirt was already stained with blood, like it had been red from the beginning. I knew nothing about medical care, but this was a great injury.
… No, there was no way that a person could survive after being stabbed in the heart.
“…… Iana.”
Chaser tried to move his hand. However, the attempt became limited to very little movement. I gritted my teeth.
“Stay still. If you want to be treated by the White Rose.”
Then Chaser laughed. While pouring out blood
“Hahaha, are you trying to save me? I don’t think so.”
He then anxiously tried to move his hand.
“Even now, I barely survive because I am the Rose. A few minutes. There is no one, cough, who survives, being stabbed in the heart, Iana…….”
“…… Who doesn’t know that?”
I bit my lip. My power returned, but for some reason it did not reach out towards Francia and Lenag. It must have been because of that dark purple chain that bound the two of them together.
Should I move myself? The situation was hopeless. I saw the imperial knights rushing in as soon as the door opened. Fortunately, my strength worked toward the door. The knights were blocked by the blue wall and couldn’t enter anymore.
“You, why did you save me?”
In that fleeting moment, the dagger imbued with this strange power was aimed at me, not Chaser. I, who had put all my energy into returning Ricdorian’s life, couldn’t have stopped or avoided it.
“…… Because you are precious.”
Chaser’s hand moved towards me just a little bit more. I didn’t hold that hand.
“So, thinking about it! Why did you tie me up?”
The long-overdue resentment leaked out toward him. At that time, I didn’t even realize that it was wrong. Chaser laughed, swallowing his blood.
“So that only I can see you. Because I wanted to.”
“…… You are crazy too.”
A vague answer came out. I immediately bit my lips hard.
“That’s enough, enough.”
Chaser’s hand moved a little more. There was still some distance left between him and my hand.
“Live.”
I clenched my fist tightly.
“Live and pay for your sins. I can’t tolerate people like you escaping with death.”
I hate you and I resent you. I can never cut off this feeling. I wish I could just tell you to die!
If only this man hadn’t saved me from so many assassinations in Domulit Mansion.
Could I have been more comfortable disliking and being indifferent to this man?
Laughter, anger, and despair. Laughter broke out at the end.
On the one hand, I gradually realized. Maybe the Blue Rose is made so that they can’t turn away from all the roses.
A square engraved on a tombstone, each rose at the apex and connected by a line leading to the center, the Blue Rose.
Did this line mean that he and I cannot be separated?
“Live.”
The spark of his life was dying every moment.
“Live.”