Chapter 68

“Wake up.”

“What…?”

“Didn’t you say that you’re not actually dying, and you’re not hurt?”

“Right.”

“It’s a hundred times better to see it now than to panic about what the hell is inside.”

“Yes, it is.”

Leonhard gazed at Celine, who was still staring at the crystal ball in bewilderment.

“Why, did you think I would stop you?”

“Yes. So I was a bit surprised.”

She answered honestly. Celine thought, of course, that she would run into strong opposition from him. Meanwhile, Leonhard was still staring at the crystal ball.

“If you wait, this might save your life for once.”

He stretched out his arm and lightly touched the surface of the crystal ball.

“However… After this breaks?”

“Then, I had no choice but to die. Anyway, I think that I died less thanks to this.”

“Celine.”

Noticing the tension in his voice, Celine stared at him in bewilderment. What was the reason Leonhard was so nervous right now?

“Do you have any thoughts of not wanting to die… None at all?”

“What are you talking about?”

She blinked her eyes for a moment.

It seemed that she had no sense at all. Obviously, from his point of view, weren’t the two of them trying to break the curse of her death? At the same time, Leonhard seemed to realize what a misunderstanding had occurred only when he saw Celine’s dazed face.

“Apart from the curse, you might not die.”

“The curse can be lifted, but isn’t it okay if I don’t have to die before the curse is lifted?”

“Yes.”

Celine stared at Leonhard. While she tried to comprehend it, it made no sense. It was the curse that caused her to die over and over again.

“Until the curse is lifted, I have no choice but to die.”

“No.”

Leonhard shook his head.

“The day it was discovered that you have the qualities of a wizard… Do you remember what you said to me?”

“Ah.”

Celine immediately realized when Leonhard was talking about enemies.

“I won’t die anymore…”

“That’s right.”

Leonhard tried to keep calm though he failed to hide his agitation.

“At that time, I wondered what strange things you were saying. I thought it was nonsense peculiar to a person who had just manifested her powers. Still, that was a prophecy, wasn’t it?”

Celine moistened the inside of her dry mouth as she could feel a cold sweat run down her spine. In the meantime, every single word she threw at him carelessly came back with a weight that was never light. She couldn’t deny it because it fits the usage of ‘prophecy’ she used.

‘No…’

Suddenly, Celine realized.

…Leonhard was never the kind of person who blindly believed in prophecy.

Of course, it was true that he believed in her ‘prophecy’ and followed it. However, Celine was not stupid enough not to know that it was a trust in her rather than because he believed the prophecy. There must be another reason why he said that he believed in the prophecy.

Slowly, she calmed down her body, which trembled with tension.

“Yes. It was a prophecy.”

Celine’s voice no longer trembled with anxiety, nor did her words falter with uncertainty.

“Still, now I think it was a false prophecy. It’s just one of my many false predictions because I kept dying after that.”

“I don’t think it was a false prophecy.”

“….?”

Leonhard took a deep breath.

He felt more tension than when he faced the three boss monsters all at once. It wasn’t really easy to get the words out of his mouth. But now, his intuition, trained on the battlefield for a long time, was shouting.

…If not now, there was no chance.

Leonhard opened his heavy mouth, thinking of Celine, who had helped him while eating away at her life at the training ground.

“I really want you to try not to die. Thinking of only your life…”

Celine couldn’t stop her body from flinching. In an instant, sparks flew from her eyes. Even though Leonhard’s words jumped out of context, she understood them right away.

“Leonhard, I never wanted to die! How, how much I—!”

It was difficult to even connect the words because of the heat rising from her throat. She couldn’t believe that she could be so angry with just one word.

“I’m trying not to die…!”

“Celine.”

Leonhard hurriedly snatched Celine’s words from her.

“I am not blaming you.”

Originally, he was going to wait for her agitation to subside, but he thought it would only accelerate.

“But think about it. You… Can you put your hand over your heart and say that your life is our top priority?”

“….”

Celine’s lips trembled before stopping. It felt like the words froze in unison as they fluttered on the tip of her tongue, trying to escape her mouth.

“You suffered a death you should not have to, to protect me.”

“….”

“Of course, you would think that my life and your life are different.”

“Of course it is.”

“Of course not.”

Leonhard shook his head.

“Even if you come back to life, it won’t change the fact that you died. You don’t have to die, Celine.”

He stopped looking at Celine… no, he couldn’t look. Leonhard continued his words with his gaze directed into the air.

“It is not your fault that things have happened so far. It must be more my fault.”

“Leonhard…!”

“I know you almost died when your magic was depleted.”

“….!”

The blue-grey eyes opened wide, not just in amazement but a mixture of astonishment, fear, and shame.

“I thought you wouldn’t know.”

Celine lowered her head slightly.

“Still, then I… All I could think about was helping Leonhardt. Three bosses at once are impossible for anyone…”

At that time, she helped Leonhard with all her might. All over her body, it screamed that she was going to die like this, but it didn’t even bother her.

It was no coincidence that Lou spat out the crystal ball. Celine sucked the magical energy back from Lou as much as possible. The reason Lou spat out the crystal ball might have been due to her struggle in agony.

Leonhard smiled bitterly.

“The Knights of Paradiso didn’t think so.”

“I know better than them. If I hadn’t helped, Leonhard would…”

“It’s not that you’re wrong. The three boss monsters were a bunch so it would have been much harder without your help… Thank you.”

Leonhard continued his words before Celine could say anything.

“However, that’s not a reason to give up your life.”

“If I hadn’t helped…”

“I would not have died. If I need it, I have that medicine.”

“….”

Celine lost her words.

He was right. Even if she hadn’t helped him, Leonhard wouldn’t have died.

“I see.”

Leonhard touched the crystal ball slowly again with his finger.

“Even when you didn’t have this, you didn’t think about your life. But if this is the case, even more so. So I told you to wake up.”

“….”

Celine looked into the crystal ball.

An unrealistic object that feels transparent like glass but does not reflect anything. Leonhard’s point was correct. Without this, she might even more aggressively try to take her own life.

“Come to think of it, you always did. Even though you didn’t want death more than anyone else, you risked your life to help me.”

“Leonhard…”

“The biggest cause is, of course, me. Because I don’t have enough strength, I have no choice but to borrow your strength.”

She caught her breath.

‘I can’t believe Leonhard was thinking this way.’

Her own death was nobody’s fault, a disaster that came suddenly one day… that was all.

‘No matter how hard I try, I can only reduce the number of deaths, but I can’t avoid death at all…’

Suddenly, Celine’s eyes widened.

‘What Leonhard wanted to say was this.’

…He wasn’t talking about himself. He was talking about her.

A sharp voice came out.

“You think that if I change, I won’t die.”

“…It’s not your fault.”

He hesitantly continued, “I didn’t want to… say this. You risked your life mainly because it was to help me.”

His gaze wandered not towards Celine but towards the wall beyond her.

“Celine, I won’t tell you to trust me anymore because I often showed my embarrassing side. Nevertheless… can’t you value your life?”

Surely, had he asked just an hour earlier, she would have answered the same question without hesitation, saying she already did. Though now, Celine’s throat seemed to choke on something, and nothing came out.

Leonhard stood up slowly.

“You don’t have to decide now. I’m just…asking for it.”

Celine just sat there blankly until Leonhard had completely left the place, and she heard the door slam shut.

The next moment, she glanced into the crystal ball. In fact, from the beginning, she wanted to break this herself. Leonhard also wanted to break this. Although it was ironic that their reasons were diametrically opposed.

‘If he sees that I’ve woken up… he’ll be relieved for now.’

She swallowed a gulp.

Still, she knew all too well that Leonhard didn’t mean it. He wanted Celine to value her life… to cherish them just like everyone else’s normal lives, not simply to not feel pain.

The thought reminded her of her normal life so long ago that it brought tears to her eyes.

Celine bit her lip.

The answer was fixed.

As Celine rose slowly from her seat, she went into her own room. The orb shone softly on her white hand.

‘I’m sorry, Leonhard.’

She might have followed his words if she had really been born in this world and was caught up in a mysterious curse. Despite that, she knew all too well that she could never treat her own life like ordinary life.

She was the main character and player of this game.

That was also actually playing the game.

As she picked up Ringzor, Celine thought about jumping out the window, but she didn’t want to attract any attention. She then closed her eyes tightly and drew her magic into Ringzor. There was quite a bit of strength in her hands, as she had a gut feeling that if she messed with it, she would only get hurt.

—Crack.

She poured out enough magic to end her life, but only a small rupture could be heard. When she slowly opened her eyes, the shattered crystal orb greeted her.

Celine carefully pulled out the parchment from within.

[ Prepare, then wait. ]

The parchment fell from her hand.

“….!”

Her hands trembled with excitement.

For the first time, the quest that Celine remembers exactly had appeared. The text on the parchment was the same as the quest on the screen that was still vivid in her mind.

This was a quest that announced the final stage.