Chapter 31

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Chapter 31 – Tell Me… Tell Me, Quickly

Ashia remembered the ending of the original novel in her fading memory.

– Aileen, meeting you was the best thing that happened in my life.

– I love you, Kaligo.

Their marriage under the blessing of the temple, vowing to cherish and respect each other for the rest of their lives. Like most novels, the original story also ended with a happy ending. A special but natural ending that overcame all adversity and hardship.

Kaligo came up to Ashia, who had stood silently for a long time, and approached her. “Do you know her?”

“…”

I know… I know her very well.

Asha turned towards him with a carefree face and smiled softly.

“I know her.”

Her heart, which had regained peace for a moment, seemed to be smashed onto the cold stone floor with that one particular name.

‘At the end of the day… you’re going to meet the person you need to meet…’

As she took a deep breath, Ashia pushed the potion box on the glass shelf in front of him and opened her mouth. “I made it very well, and I can guarantee you that there will be no side effects. When you return to the Grand Duchy, discard all the other potions you have. Don’t be confused with them and drink the right potion.”

Kaligo looked down at the box she handed him. “…Did you stay up all night? You didn’t rest when we came back?”

Ashia answered his question as if it was natural, “It was a request.”

“…”

“And… if I take one more day off… you’ll have to suffer another day in return.”

“…”

Kaligo looked down at the potion box in response to Ashia’s answer. Her heart ached for some reason when she saw him being like that. The reason she dared to live in the capital was because of her will not to go against the original novel.

Seven years ago, the day the magic failed and the village was burned.

The magic she had created over the years was the magic that could get Ashia out of the book. Even turning back time was a bonus for her. However, the magic failed and many people lost their lives as a result.

Ashia regarded the events of the day as a warning from the original novel. A warning about the original characters trying to deviate from the original.

She was just another side character in the novel. Nevertheless, she caused hundreds of casualties, but this was the main character this time – the male protagonist who should lead the original novel. If she kept getting entangled with him like this, and his life deviates from the original turn of events…

‘What will happen this time?’

Would people die again this time, would millions?

‘Again… will I cause a problem that will lead to the deaths of several people?’

And there was no way to prevent them and their loved ones from being victims.

‘People who love and cherish…’

Ashia lifted her head and looked at Kaligo.

She could see herself in his eyes, the ones so passionate until yesterday, full of depth today.

Oh yeah. She had to admit it.

Ashia was now being swayed by Kaligo again. She had never been in a proper relationship before, but this feeling she felt every time she saw Kaligo was very familiar to her—because it was no different from what Renna felt every time she saw him. She was shaken by Kaligo’s actions that were different from before. He was igniting those feelings that she had already forgotten, all without her realizing it.

If this had been the story of Renna Cornelli and Kaligo Edmund, the heartbreaking unrequited love alone itself might have paid off.

‘But this… it’s in a book.’

In the book, it meant that the main characters and the path they had to take were already decided. And just in time, the female protagonist appeared—as if she was waiting for it, as if she didn’t like what the male lead was doing.

Eventually, the original novel decided to put the female protagonist in front of the male protagonist. Perhaps, the original content moved directly in order to correct the wrongs.

‘Haha… I really don’t like this feeling…’

Right now, her existence was caught between the two main characters and couldn’t be labeled as insignificant. The one who had to disappear between the two was her.

She looked at Kaligo’s face.

His sharp eyes and even his indifferent face—she knew what that expression meant. That the emotion in that indifference was a sincere concern.

When did she start being able to read the subtleties in his constant expression?

“Ashia,” Kaligo called her gently. He carefully raises his hand over her shoulder and peered into her face. “What’s going on? You have a bad complexion.”

“…”

What’s going on… What should I say? Where should I start?

The woman who sent the proposal was the woman he had to meet, and she knew her, the two of them were truly in love and lived happily ever after.

‘And I… Seeing you like that will hurt me again…

“…Are you telling me to go back?”

“You’re here to pick up a potion. You’ve got the medicine, so you can go back now.”

She decided to go back from the very beginning. From the moment she met him until now, she opted to think of him as just a simple happening.

Just like being wounded, it might be painful at first but as time passed by, only scars would remain, and maybe someday she wouldn’t even remember. It was a feeling that Renna had already experienced before.

‘There is nothing I can do if you were to forget everything again.’

She had lived without that man for 10 years, so there was no way she couldn’t live without Kaligo for the next 20, 30, or more years. It was not too late yet if she cut him off here before she fell out of control.

“…”

“…”

However, the pain she had experienced once was more terrifying.

“Did the Crown Prince talk about something else?”

“No, there was nothing like that. He told me that you were just attending the banquet, and that you have a fiancée.”

“…”

“This is great. I just finished the potion so you won’t have any seizures until the banquet.”

“You’re wrong,” He forcibly uttered words that were not even in his heart. Still, his unshakable gaze went straight to Ashia. “That doesn’t mean I won’t need the potion.”

“…”

She knew it to be true. He didn’t tell her from the beginning because he was an honest man. His voice had the power to make one believe that those words weren’t lies—in the past, and even now. That was also one of the reasons she was drawn to him. No, it might be insufficient to say that she was just attracted to him at this point.

‘And it will repeat the vicious cycle of getting hurt again.’

As much as the original novel went wrong and things happened that she couldn’t handle, she was most afraid of the wounds she would receive. She was scared that she would be abandoned again, and that man would really fall in love with the female protagonist because of his original settings. She was afraid that the gaze he was using to look at her now would be directed towards that woman. She was afraid that by choosing him, the original would go wrong and the one whom she would lose… was that man.

Ashia was lost in thought as her fingers beat a rhythmic pattern.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

And the moment the movement stopped, she said in a low voice, “Kaligo.”

“Yes.”

So, she would try to give him a chance—a chance to run away so that he could have a happy ending just like in the original.

“I…”

“…”

And she shut her mouth again. Kaligo had an intuition that what she was going to say wasn’t easy.

What is she trying to say to me?

Kaligo’s chest tightened.

And soon, her calm and dry voice turned towards Kaligo. “I am going to push you away.”

He frowned.

Without giving him time to refute, she continued, “I can’t see you anymore.”

His eyes fluttered wildly like the flames of a freshly lit bonfire. “Do you hate me?”

Maybe it was an opportunity. If, as Desian had said, his body was damaged by drugs to the point where he could not have an ordinary family, now was the chance to let her go.

This was a golden opportunity. He knew it very well.

“Our conversation hasn’t even started yet.” Kaligo couldn’t let her go even if he knew it was a selfish choice.

“Kaligo.”

“There must be a lot of things to be solved between us.”

Ashia bit her lips wordlessly, then Kaligo spoke quietly, as if he were speaking to himself, “Didn’t you promise… you won’t run away?”

“…”

Kaligo wanted to talk even when they were in the Fairy Forest. The key to dissolving all their old misunderstandings was a conversation between them.

“Are you not going to give me a chance to tell you?”

“…Kaligo.”

He was saying he was ready to confide. In the past, he tried to hide everything by not confiding in her, and now he was trying to bring that out to Ashia. It wouldn’t be easy for him, but he was willing to do so even if it was already late.

If so, Ashia also had no intention of treating his sincerity half-heartedly.

I wasn’t trying to run away.

“Kaligo.”

“Yes.”

“I…”

“Yes.”

In fact, Ashia was still uncertain. Was it right to bring this up? She was feeling anxious and afraid, but she was sure that this conversation was more important than simply following the story. At least this would give him autonomy over his decisions.

“Go on, I’m listening.”

Ashia’s heart wept bitterly at his upright gaze.

Tell him… Tell him, quickly.

Trying to comfort herself, she bit her already dried lips. “Here…”

“Yes.”

“I’m talking… about this place.”

“Yes, Ashia.”

Ashia slowly took a deep breath. “This place… is inside a book.”

“…”

This time with a slightly firmer voice and slightly clearer voice – like hammering a wedge. “We… are in a novel.”

“…”

It was a secret she had hid for 10 years as she lived as Ashia Bliss—a story she couldn’t tell anyone. It was a story of loneliness, the burden that Ashia had to bear alone.

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