Chapter 36

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Chapter 36

“Celine!”

“Hahaha…!”

A scream escaped Leonhard’s mouth, and a maddened laugh erupted from the old man’s mouth. Celine just stood there nailed to her spot.

…She used magic. The magic that Leonhard told her not to use—!

As her heart raced incessantly, she noticed something strange. Leonhard said that if she used her magic, she would be strongly drawn to the black magic. But now, her whole body was stiffened, overwhelmed by fear.

‘This person is going to die…’

It was Leonhard’s Rashir who mortally wounded it, though her magic was the root cause of his death. Of course, she knew there was nothing wrong with her head. This old man was a warlock, and he must have killed countless people.

…Or, induce their death.

Besides, when Leonhard killed Sir Pavel, who he thought was a warlock, he wasn’t too shocked. However, a sense of rejection and fear that could not be explained by reason dominated Celine.

Just then, the old man’s bloodshot eyes flashed, and he lifted his head high. He raised his head and glared at Celine, as she wondered where the strength remained in the body that had been pierced by Rashir.

Celine took a step back.

The old man’s eyes were full of pain and joy.

“Yes, that was it!”

And then, he stopped breathing.

“….!”

Celine’s eyelids began to tremble. It wasn’t because of the vague words the old man just uttered.

The old man’s long beard and white hair fell out in clumps, and all of the flesh began to melt. Even though she wanted to run away from the sight before her eyes, her legs felt like stones, and she couldn’t do anything.

At that moment, Leonhard’s cautious voice was heard.

“…Are you okay?”

“Yes.”

Celine nodded her head.

“I don’t think you need to worry. I’m not attracted to black magic at all, no, the magic itself…….”

She couldn’t keep up with her words. Still, she couldn’t tell him what she was feeling right now.

…She doesn’t think she can use magic anymore, she felt afraid and disgusted with magic.

“The magic itself?”

“It’s nothing.”

Nevertheless, Leonhard was not a person who skipped over important issues.

“…What were you trying to say?”

She gazed at Leonhard with anxious eyes, and she barely opened her mouth.

“No, it feels dirty. I’m afraid… I even feel like I can’t use magic anymore.”

To Celine’s surprise, Leonhard’s face, which had sharpened teeth, immediately loosened with relief. He remembered the omens of wizards who were tainted with black magic. They pursued more and more magic, more and more power, though they did not feel any resistance to magic.

“…I know. Because I was as well.”

“Leonhard, too?”

“Yes. It was a long time ago.”

She couldn’t help but be surprised.

‘It was a long time ago…… ?’

Leonhard was twenty-four.

To say that it was a long time ago, how old was he…? Despite that, Leonhard did not give any further explanation, and she did not dare to ask any further questions.

“There is no need to force yourself to use magic. After all, the warlock has collapsed, so I have no problem with the rest.”

He inadvertently pointed to the remnants of the warlock, which now appeared only to be lumps of filth.

“Oopphh…!”

Soon after, Celine’s face went pale and she began to vomit.

At that, he quietly supported her.

“You better get out.”

“I feel so weird.”

Celine involuntarily grabbed Leonhard’s right arm and stood up, then noticed the condition of his left arm.

“Leonhard, take the medicine and go.”

“Save it.”

“Leonhard!”

“Isn’t it precious? As you said earlier, you should save it.”

“….”

Leonhard was not wrong.

The stages of [ Celine’s Nightmare ] became more and more difficult, so it was right to save the healing potion.

Eventually, Celine walked carefully, paying attention to his left arm. Although their return was long and bumpy, the evil spirit had faded away, and it was much more tolerable. The tension in her body slowly relaxed.

Until suddenly, a horde of monsters appeared—

“….!”

They were insignificant compared to the monsters she went through today. If it had been yesterday, or even half a day before, she would have burned them down in an instant. However, she was now afraid to even summon her magic to use it.

“They’re small fries. I’ll take care of it soon, so sit down and rest.”

Celine had no choice but to nod her head as she felt so pathetic.

How much effort had she put in all this time? Nonetheless, all her efforts and achievements were in vain in an instant.

‘No. Leonhard also overcame it.’

Celine glanced down at her own hands, which had been stained with dirt and monster blood.

‘It will be fine. I will ask Leonhard how he overcame it, and…!”

She could feel the breath of a monster right behind her back. It was because she was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn’t notice the monster that broke away from the group and came to aim for the weaker side.

Celine immediately turned her body to unleash her magic, but all she felt was nausea.

—Chaeng!

The sound of something breaking reverberated all around her.

“Celine!”

Leonhard, who had killed all the other monsters, suddenly ran and blew the neck of the monster that attacked Celine.

“Where, where are you injured! Go, take the medicine…!”

“I’m fine.”

He did not trust those words for the first time and examined every nook and cranny of her body. Fortunately, Celine looked a little dazed and bewildered, but she didn’t seem to have been hurt by the monster a while ago.

“How…?”

Instead of answering, she pulled something out of her pocket.

Leonhard’s eyes widened. The crystal ball, the size of a fist she had never seen, was split into several pieces.

“What is this?”

Saying so, he carefully touched the surface of the crystal ball. It looked transparent on the outside, but the inside was invisible, suggesting that it had some sort of magic.

“Carl Lute would not deal with a crystal ball.”

The crystal ball was the property of the prophets. After hearing the ominous prophecy against himself, Grand Duke Bernoulli, in great anger, expelled all the prophets out of the North, so it may not have come from the North.

Instead of answering, Celine looked at the pieces of the crystal ball.

“….!”

Inside was a crumpled piece of parchment paper. Celine hurriedly unfolded the piece of parchment. There was only one sentence written on the ivory parchment.

[ Find the southern tiara. ]

“Ah…”

A groan escaped from Celine’s mouth. The ivory parchment, old-fashioned typeface, and even the stains on the corners were all familiar to the eye.

A rare quest window.

[ Celine’s Nightmare ] was a game in which all you had to do was clear the stage without a quest. Despite that fact, there were times when the stage was so difficult that the player did not even know how to clear it.

Whenever that happened, a quest window like this would pop up. It was announcing that the second stage of the true ending route was not easy from the start.

“Celine.”

Leonhard’s calm voice was heard. Celine slowly raised her head.

“Can you please explain?”

“….”

Celine couldn’t help but hesitate. In the meantime, she had been glossing over actions that would only be seen as surprising to Leonhard.

In fact, she could do that enough now.

‘I just picked it up from the tower…’

Even if she refused to explain it, Leonhard wasn’t the one to force.

‘…Still, I can’t always do this.’

Celine remembered the various stages in the game. There were many stages that could not be seen from the North or the Imperial Capital. In the true ending route, even if the stages were consolidated, they would have to stop by most of them.

Every time Leonhard was around her, she could do nothing herself.

“…You might think I’m crazy.”

“Celine.”

Leonhard gazed deeply into the blue-gray eyes that shook anxiously. His heart trembled at the realization that the shaking was caused by the distrust of him.

‘…Does Celine still think I would doubt her?’

Whatever her answer may be, he wouldn’t be suspicious if she herself believed it.

“You are the strongest person I have ever seen… Far from madness.”

“….”

Suddenly, a sad look appeared in Celine’s eyes. Leonhard felt that he had made a mistake in his words, so his heart was pounding, though her words were heard immediately.

“…You know, I dream of the future.”

“Okay.”

“Through that dream, I learned how to get out of the curse on me.”

“Isn’t that the mansion last time…?”

Leonhard’s brow furrowed slightly.

“Yes. After that, I had another dream. The dream of getting this crystal ball…”

“How did you get it?”

“Remember the key I found in the mansion back then?”

“Yes.”

“Wandering around Tofin, there was a keyhole that fit the key.”

“Did you see that in your dream, too?”

“…Yes.”

“And, now this?”

“Until here… I don’t know.”

His head hurt. Up until now, Leonhard, of course, thought that Celine had only dreamed of the future when she was in the mansion. However, had she been dreaming lately?

If she hadn’t told him she had a dream similar to his own nightmare…

“…The dreams, is it very difficult?”

“No, no!”

Celine widened her eyes.

“That’s because I’m dreaming like an ordinary dream that doesn’t feel difficult emotions or pain…”

“That’s a relief.”

There was sincere relief in Leonhard’s voice. He stared at Celine with a more relaxed expression.

“I thought your dream almost never came true.”

“There are a lot of things that came true.”

Celine answered lightly but then realized that her own dream, as Leonhard would have thought, was mostly a dream in which he killed her. She then spoke hastily, “Everything about Leonhard is wrong! It only applies to curses. There are a lot of things wrong with that.”

He pondered for a moment.

Even though he had always thought that all of the prophets were half crazy or swindlers… Yet, Celine wasn’t either of them. Of course, he wasn’t very trusting when she said that everything about him was completely wrong, but she seemed right about the curse.

“It doesn’t sound crazy.”

“Really…?”

“And, as in that mansion, if there is anything I can help, I will help.”

“….!”

Celine’s blue-grey eyes widened and watered from the excitement.

“Le, Leonhard…”

Leonhard was about to ask why, and bit his mouth. He wasn’t foolish enough to know that the tears that glistened in Celine’s eyes were tears of joy.

The next day.

Libron Castle has been upbeat since morning.

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