Chapter 19

Translator and Editor: Effe and Nabi

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Chapter 19

The snow started to get harder and harder.

Celine used more of her magic to warm herself, Leonhard, and even the horse. Meanwhile, he said nothing. A bigger problem would arise if his horse was tired of the cold and they couldn’t reach the castle before dark.

However, the first snow in the north began to pour mercilessly without regard to their situation, and Leonhard had no choice but to change the direction of his horse.

“There is a hunter’s hut nearby. It’s a shabby place, but there’s nothing we can do about it.”

“Good.”

Celine answered quickly.

She was worried about what would happen if he said he would run to the end. Tonight was going to be a tough night. They needed a shelter with a wall to block the snow, not on a horse that was covered with snow falling from the sky.

He steered his horse carefully among the snow that was pouring so hard that he couldn’t see forward.

“There it is.”

Through the raindrops, a shape resembling a small log house appeared.

“Have you been here?”

“Long ago.”

As Leonhard answered briefly and drove his horse to the stable, she pulled the wooden door.

Of course, there was no sudden surge of warmth. Celine looked around at the small stove with burnt firewood remaining, weapons lying everywhere, furs being thrown away, worn-out blankets.

She gathered the last remnants of her magic and lit a fire in the hearth. It was rather fortunate that there was no need for a big fire as it was a small hut.

“Hooo…”

Celine was relieved by the sound of the wood-burning. Eventually, he approached her side.

“How about the stables?”

“A level that can withstand one night.”

Leonhard spoke sternly.

She fully understood his sinking mood.

“Cheer up. It’s just one night.”

“….”

Instead of answering, he got up from his seat and began to clear the cabin. Leonhard also discouraged Celine from going with him.

“They are all dangerous weapons. Don’t touch it and just warm up there.”

Because of that, she had to follow his words. Her body was tired, perhaps because she had used too much of her magic. It was fatigue she had never felt before. Her eyes suddenly closed.

Leonhard gathered all the weapons, then gathered all the fur and laid it on the floor. Finally, when the old blanket was put on top, a plausible bedding was completed.

He gently shook Celine as she dozed by the hearth.

“…Leonhard?”

“Go to sleep.”

He then stood up and gently laid Celine on the bed.

“…How about Leonhard?”

“I can’t sleep at all.”

“Still…”

Celine murmured, dissatisfied, but she eventually succumbed to sleepiness.

He looked down at her peaceful sleeping face and was relieved.

Seeing that she was so tired, he knew that tonight she wouldn’t wake up from any nightmare he had. Leonhard leaned against the door. If his forced sleepiness came over, he wanted to sink into a nightmare as he saw the peaceful Celine until the very end.

Only then will he be reminded that it is only a dream.

‘…This is a dream, a dream, a dream.’

Muttering to himself as he appeared, he was holding up Rashir in a wasteland.

But, the twisting stomach and the racing heart couldn’t be controlled.

Not far from him, Celine, who had grown white, was constantly following his movements with her eyes. Leonhard’s fingernails dug into his palm, clenching his fist. He closed his eyes and wanted to look away from her eyes, though it was impossible for him in the dream.

Leonhard continued to blame himself and watched the battle. He should have been faster and stronger. Finally, he was shown himself putting Rashir. His whole body was tense. He fell for the magic of the monster and showed a gap.

At that moment, Celine’s feelings poured into him.

Leonhard was swallowed by a gigantic mass of fear, worry and passion, that was never his, and he staggered as he watched Celine’s unwavering movements.

When Celine threw her body at the boss monster and poured her magic, Leonhard clenched his teeth tightly. Five or six monster horns pierced his body and shook him.

Anguish and guilt engulfed him. Not Celine’s, although his feelings.

“Leonhard?”

Celine woke up to the sound of Leonhard’s panting. He was leaning against the door and twisting his body. She glanced at his sweat, and it seemed like he had had a nightmare for quite some time.

“Leonhard!”

Just as iron reacted to a magnet, he reacted immediately to her call. His blue eyes twinkled, and he gazed at Celine in front of him, and he slyly avoided her gaze like a sinner.

Fear and guilt.

It was the emotion Celine read from Leonhard’s face.

“…Are you okay?”

As soon as her words popped out, she regretted it.

Of course, Leonhard won’t be fine. He did not answer, and Celine looked at the floor for a moment and raised her head.

“…I’m fine.”

His eyes widened at her sudden remark.

“It is natural to feel pain because it is painful because I’m a person. Nevertheless, I hope you don’t suffer because of me.”

Celine grabbed his hand, and Leonhard pulled it back slightly, startled.

“Can you feel it? A dream is just a dream.”

Leonhard clenched his teeth.

“Still, it actually happened.”

Saying so, she then squeezed his hand.

“But now, I am alive. It’s all in the past.”

“Just because it’s in the past, doesn’t it mean that the pain you went through was not there?”

Leonhard gazed at her as Celine took his hands in both of her hands.

She couldn’t say anything. He was right. Every death she suffered was remembered by the pain she could never forget.

Silence passed.

During this time, neither of them avoided their gaze.

Celine was the first to break the silence. She scooped out the truth from the depths of her heart.

“…I just wish Leonhard suffered less. Whether my pain is past or present, there is no need for Leonhard to suffer.”

As he opened his mouth to rebut, she didn’t give him a break and continued.

“So, tonight, I’ll hold your hand. So that you can feel that I am here while you sleep.”

Leonhard shook his head.

“Then you can’t sleep. Still, if I lay down, I’ll sleep for a while…“

Celine pointed to the blanket.

“We can lie down together.”

“….”

In an instant, his face flushed red with embarrassment, and Celine realized his own insensitivity. Whether she was inside the game or outside the game, everyone knew what it meant for a man and a woman to sleep on the same bed.

“Hold, hold hands and we’ll sleep.”

“No.”

Leonhard spoke as he waved his hand.

“I don’t know what you are thinking…”

Suddenly, his eyes closed, and his head bowed. Celine immediately shook him.

“Leonhard…!”

Leonhard, who opened his eyes, felt no sign of pain at all. He just looked a little bewildered.

“You see why it’s better to lie down together, right? Are you going to make me run all the way here?”

Although he hesitated, he eventually succumbed to Celine’s words.

“…I will be a nuisance.”

Celine shrugged his shoulders.

“I’ll also sleep more comfortably. In a way.”

Leonhard couldn’t lie down on the edge of the blanket, so he practically lay down on the cold floor. He immediately reassured her as Celine frowned.

“I’ve slept in even worse places.”

“Me, too.”

Celine remembered the bed in her death.

An old mattress, a blanket with dead bugs on it, a pillow with bloodstains that isn’t hers… There was nothing but the old blanket.

Above all, because Leonhard was by her side.

Celine quickly fell asleep.

The night was long, and she was really tired.

That night, Celine never woke up properly from her sleep because Leonhard’s struggle and groan disappeared when she inadvertently gave her hand strength.

The next morning.

Celine woke her up to the bright sunlight streaming through the curtainless window. Leonhard’s reliable back caught her eye. He was obsessed with something, with his head bowed.

“What?”

“Food.”

She soon saw the bloodstained and the almost finished meat he held in his hand. She glanced at the leather that had fallen on the floor and looked like a fairly large rabbit.

“When did you catch it?”

“I went out in the morning and saw it.”

Leonhard put the meat on the rapier. He frowned for a moment, and the rapier began to glow blue and the meat began to cook.

“…Rashir?”

“Yes. It is useful in such cases.”

Abruptly, she had the urge to laugh.

Rashir, that cut through monsters and warlocks in an instant, was being used in this way…?! The meat was cooked in a few minutes, and Leonhard immediately cut the meat in half and handed it to her.

“It may not taste good, but eat it. It takes strength to go through the snow.”

Celine carefully bit off the well-cooked rabbit meat.

“It’s delicious!”

She ate the meat in an instant.

When she suddenly lifted her head, Leonhard was staring at her a little blankly. The meat in her hands had teeth marks here and there like someone who hadn’t eaten, finally eaten.

“You must have been very hungry.”

“That’s right. However, it is also true that it is quite delicious. If it doesn’t taste good, you have a picky taste.”

Leonhard grinned and pulled a small barrel out of his pocket. Celine’s eyes lit up because she knew what was inside even before he opened the lid.

“It will be tastier than the one you ate a while ago.”

Leonhard’s recommendation was mixed with laughter. Moments later, Celine left the log house, munching two of the candies and Leonhard with one.

The world shone white.

Sunlight scattering over the silver snow dazzled Celine’s eyes, and wherever she looked, there was only light.

Leonhard brought his horse.

“I’m sorry, but can you wrap the horse with warmth like yesterday? If we just go, the horse will get frostbite on all four legs.”

It wasn’t a difficult request. Celine concentrated her mind and gathered her powers.

“….?”

Nothing was felt…

Celine gathered her magic in bewilderment, but even a feeble flow did not flow through her body.

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh, the magic…”

“Looks like it’s gone.”

Leonhard concluded, but when he saw Celine’s bewildered expression, she hurriedly explained it.

“It’ll be back in time, don’t worry. But, now…“

Rashir, who had returned to a great sword shape, shone blue.

He pointed his sword at his knee-length eyes. In the next moment, the snow melted before Celine’s eyes, creating a path wide enough for three or four people to walk together.

“I can’t protect the horse like your magic because my power is only for killing.”

There was a strange bitterness in Leonhard’s words.

Celine took his hand without saying a word.

Like last night.

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