Chapter 3

Translator and Editor: Effe and Nabi

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Chapter 3

Celine was lost for a moment, then protested fiercely.

“I am not dying because I want to die!”

“Really? Wearing clothes like that in this weather would be suicidal.”

“….”

Celine couldn’t refute.

No matter how much she looked around the house, the only clothes she had were a thin summer dress and a pair of pajamas she was wearing at the time of possession.

It was now November, and it was exceedingly cold. However, she thought she would go crazy if she stayed in the house that killed her, so she sat in the yard whenever possible.

“…Come to think of it, you got the flu and died. So, why don’t you wear thick clothes?”

Leonhard awakened his memories of Celine with an earnest voice.

“I have no clothes…”

“You don’t have a pair of winter clothes? Does that even make sense?”

“This is all I have,” Celine replied frankly.

“….”

This time, Leonhard made a face of a big shock.

“How could that be…!”

“Would you like to check it out?”

“No, that’s okay.”

He waved his hand as he glanced over the ruined mansion.

“Because I’ve had enough of this place.”

Broken windows, rusty doors, and walls covered with ivy reminded him of the nightmare. He shuddered.

‘I’ll dream of it tonight, too.’

Seeing him frowned like that, Celine let out a small laugh.

“Well, I don’t like it either.”

“Fortunately. Now, you will live in the North.”

“Yes…?”

Leonhard raised his eyebrows at Celine’s stunned reaction. Even before he got here, he had planned to take this woman to the north to investigate.

He, of course, never thought of the possibility that she would refuse. Since he thought anyone would welcome the option of living somewhere other than this collapsing mansion.

“Why, don’t you like it?”

“Oh, no, it’s not that I don’t like it…”

Suddenly, Leonhard’s face hardened when he remembered the report of his informant.

“Come to think of it, my agents were trying to pick you up, but somehow, they lost you. Do you happen to like this house so much…?”

“Were those your agents?”

At his words, she exclaimed in surprise.

“Yes. If you like this house that much, I can’t force you.”

“No! Well, it’s absolutely not like that. It’s a curse, too, and I can’t go far from this house. That’s it.”

“What if you go far?”

“I feel like a veil is pushing me away. If I go out further, at some point, I will come back to the house.”

A small wrinkle appeared on Leonhard’s forehead, looking down at Celine’s trembling body.

“…Maybe, that was it.”

“Huh?”

“I think I know. How to break your curse.”

Celine’s heart pounded at that. Her eyes widened, and she heard someone scream in her ear.

‘This curse! Solvable…!’

Leonhard realized what she was expecting only after the tears rolled down the corners of Celine’s eyes.

“Not the curse of dying and reviving, but the curse that cannot allow you to be removed from this house.”

“Ah.”

Celine strained her tight arms helplessly.

She’d be lying to say she wasn’t disappointed, though it was better than having to be stuck in this horrendous house with nothing but rust.

Besides, this Leonhard… He looked fine.

Leonhard of the game stood with blood in his eyes, and lived a life closer to a beast than a human. However, this man in front of her was a neat noble no matter where she looked.

Celine thought for a moment. It wasn’t easy for her to remember the slightly loose settings at the beginning of the game.

Leonhard Bernoulli…

A young northern wolf, master of the famous sword Rashir, and protector of the Empire.

As the only magic swordsman in the Empire, a heavy burden was placed on his shoulders to slay all warlocks and demons. It would be natural that Leonhard, who accepted the burden when he was only fifteen, eventually blackened.

The reason he blackened, or the real reason he wanted to kill the main character of the game, could only be known from the true ending.

‘If I had known this would be the case, I would have watched the ending spoilers…’

A sigh escaped Celine’s mouth.

She doesn’t like spoilers, so she didn’t know that avoiding them would be such a regret.

Leonhard had not yet spoken properly, yet his words to go to the North meant that he would help her not die.

‘No, I might have to think of it as a means of monitoring.’

With that thought, she rubbed her forehead slightly.

The decision wasn’t really easy.

‘It’s taking a long time.’

Leonhard waited patiently for Celine Hunt’s decision. She looked in trouble and muttered with her mouth as if she didn’t care about him, who was in front of her.

‘Yes, no matter how cursed the house is, it won’t be easy for her to leave her own house.’

Finally, Celine raised her head.

Leonhard had to try not to look surprised. It was because her eyes were full of determination he had never seen before.

“Good. Please, get me out of here.”

“Don’t expect too much. It may fail.”

“…It’s been a while since I expected something.”

The bitterness felt in the answer was quite strong.

Leonhard flinched slightly and changed the topic. “It’s not far to the north. In the meantime, let me know what I need to watch out for. I saw everything that happened in the last month and a half in a dream.”

“Well…”

Celine hesitated for a moment.

“Is there more?”

“No, there are too many.”

Leonhard frowned. Does she mean it wasn’t a month and a half ago that this woman started dying?

After arranging her thoughts for a moment, she immediately began pouring out the list.

“Even if I climb a high mountain, I die.”

“I don’t like mountain climbing.”

“Even if I get on a boat, I die.”

“…So fragile.”

“If a horse runs too fast, I die.”

“….”

Leonhard’s eyes flashed with annoyance. Looking at that, she quickly added a word.

“Ah, you kill me the most!”

“What…?”

Oops.

Celine wanted to find someone to whom she would confide in her plight, and cut off the words which she had uttered out of excitement.

Leonhard’s hand moved toward the scabbard.

“What does that mean?”

She bit her lip nervously. She cannot say she came from another world. Somehow, Celine had to come up with an excuse that he would believe…

“Can you see the future?”

“…Yes.”

Celine’s mouth burned to a crisp. “Still, I’m not a black witch. Please believe me.”

“Pfft.”

“Huh…?”

“Haa—Ha, ha, ha!”

Seeing Leonhard shaking his body and laughing, Celine’s mind went blank.

Leonhard wiped the tears from his eyes.

How long has it been since he laughed out loud like this? It was clear that the woman in front of him had never even seen a warlock.

“If I had thought you were a black witch, you would have been slashed sooner.”

“Ah…”

“If you were a black witch, the moment I took out Rashir, you would have used black magic earlier. But, you never attacked me.”

“That’s why you took your sword…”

Leonhard smiled brightly and tapped his sword. “Because Rashir is not a sword to be so easily defiled. Now, tell me. What future did you see?”

“…You said you were dreaming of me dying.”

“Yes.”

“I dream that in the future, I will die.”

Leonhard’s eyebrows twitched.

“Did it all come true?”

“Some are, and some are not. Although you showed up often and killed me.”

“Hmm.”

Leonhard patted his chin and thought for a moment.

Now, this woman is definitely not a black witch.

However, no one knows the future. If he himself actually killed this woman, it would when this woman became a black witch.

“You think that one day I will become a black witch.”

“No…?”

Celine opened her rabbit eyes and looked up at Leonhard.

“I don’t believe in prophets.”

He honestly didn’t believe it.

If he believed it, Leonhard should have killed her right away.

A red star fell from the sky at the very moment when Grand Duke Bernoulli’s successor was born. All the prophets said that Leonhard was an omen that would later bring great calamity to the Empire.

Nonetheless, the Grand Duke of the North dismissed them all as futile superstitions, and from an early age, he taught his son not to listen to the prophets’ nonsense.

It was impossible for him to listen to the words of such a novice prophet.

“Well, it doesn’t matter if you don’t believe me as long as you don’t kill me.”

Celine really didn’t care.

Leonhard held out his hand to her.

“I’m not going to kill you, so just follow me.”

***

Celine buried her face in the thick coat that Leonhard had taken off. It was the first time she rode a horse, though she was not afraid because Leonhard rode it very carefully.

“Are you okay? Are you in pain? Are you dizzy?”

“Nothing.”

Leonhard drove his horse with a suspicious expression. A terrible nightmare is already reserved for tonight. Because of his carelessness, he did not want to have another one.

“Aack!”

Suddenly, Celine let out a small scream and curled up her body. Leonhard pulled the reins and stopped.

“I can’t go any further.”

She sighed heavily and her body trembled.

“Is it here?”

Leonhard narrowed his eyes. They were on the road with nothing unusual in appearance.

However, Celine nodded her head confidently.

“Yes.”

Without hesitation, Leonhard pulled Rashir from the scabbard.

“What, what are you doing…”

She was terrified and tried to stop Leonhard, but he moved without hesitation and cut through the air with Rashir.

—Ching!

There was the sound of something breaking.

Celine looked at Rashir as if possessed.

Nothing changed in the air, but Rashir’s look shone red. It was as though it had cut black magic.

‘No way…’

Leonhard put in his sword. “It’s a silly barrier.”

“It’s a barrier…”

She let out a moan. Celine thought that what stopped her was a system of the game that she could never disobey.

But, it was just a barrier…

Something a character in this world can destroy.

The horse began to move slowly. Celine lifted her body upright at the tension. Goosebumps crawled all over her body. How long has she been through here, and how far could she go before she might return to that dreadful mansion…?

“Don’t be too nervous. You might die again.”

“….”

Celine couldn’t answer. Suffocation rose to the end of her throat. Nevertheless, after a while, nothing has changed, and nothing has happened… She was still on the horseback.

“Really… It really is.”

“I don’t like lies.”

Looking ahead, the well-polished road was coloured with a red sunset.

…A road she never passed before.

The horse moved slowly, and a world she had never seen before unfolded before her. An unfamiliar feeling rose from the side of her chest. The feelings she thought she couldn’t grasp anymore…

Hope.

Tears welled up in Celine’s eyes.

“….?”

Leonhard’s brow twitched. A woman in his arms was crying, shaking her body slightly.

“Are you ill?”

“Oh, no!”

She hurriedly shook her head.

“Then, why are you crying?” Leonhard asked suspiciously.

Celine looked straight ahead with her eyes still dripping with tears.

“…I am so, so happy.”

He had never shed tears of joy, so he couldn’t understand Celine. Still, he didn’t want to question the shuddering woman who leaned her body on him.

Leonhard quietly pulled the woman into his arms.

“….!”

“I’m afraid you’re going to fall.”

As he spoke bluntly and embraced her, there was only one thing Celine could say.

“Thank you.”

She closed her eyes.

After a long time, the warmth of someone enveloped Celine.

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