Chapter 280

Chapter 280

Translator: yun

No. I wasn’t you.Geett the latest novels at novelhall.com

“I couldn’t endure it any longer. With you here, I was supposed to disappear but I used what remaining power I had left to stay while you grew up. There couldn’t be two ‘Ashley Rosés’ in the world so I played the part of the female lead you’re so familiar with.”

The space pulled away like the tide. The pitch-black darkness took its place as it flowed in like tears just as the life of the terribly unfortunate woman faded away.

“... This is my last life. And I decided to cooperate with Castor. Because if you are truly me, then your life should end the same.”

The black space surrounding the two of us finally disappeared before I found us standing in the middle of a quiet hallway. No, her eyes were still ablaze with envy.

“I will now watch you lose everything and suffer.”

Tick tock, tick tock. The pendulum of the aged clock swung. As my heart thumped. I knew that this was not the time for me to be sentimental. I could barely open my trembling mouth.

“Then-then, what about Amor’s medicine?”

“Ah, that?”

Rusbella mumbled as if she was pondering in thought.

“That’s real. Even I’m unable to concoct a fake nectar.”

“Ah...”

“Because I can’t let you give up after losing everything.”

She cackled as if she found the whole thing funny. She looked nothing like the kind female lead I was familiar with.

“You needed to have some hope to struggle.”

Curling her eyes, she whispered.

“You searched for me in the clock tower, didn’t you? We both met at the clock tower just before you came.”

As soon as I looked into her eyes, a scene unfolded before my eyes. A dark and narrow space. A man and woman could be seen atop the clock tower.

“Are your preparations for war going well?”

“I’d rather call it preparations for destruction. Yes, without a hiccup.”

Deep into the night. The man who was melting into the night deepened the smile on his face as he watched the shouts of the distant crowds.

“I miss Ashley.”

The smile was steeped in madness.

“The sight of her not losing herself even after dying. I desire it.”

As soon as Castor looked towards me, the vision disappeared. Once we made eye contact, Castor had turned into Rusbella. Those golden eyes. I couldn’t hold it any longer and grabbed her.

“... Didn’t Castor seriously love you?”

Rusbella shook off my hand.

“Can that man ever love anyone?”

‘Even if he did love someone, it couldn’t be me.’ Rusbella murmured to herself.

“Madmen can’t tell the difference between love and obsession. Ashley.”

I recognised the gaze in her eyes. My words boiled up my throat.

“You... look like Castor.”

“Yes. Crazy people tend to look like each other.”

Rusbella gently wrapped her hand around my cheek. She then whispered softly.

“You’re not crazy but you are strange.”

Her whisper, as if whatever she was telling me was a secret, barged into my ears.

[Don’t concern yourself with that book.] (1)

I knew this was a warning from the diary. But it came too late.

“Ah... Ah...”

I covered my face with my palm. A bawl I could not suppress burst out of me. This mournful cry, which I had not been able to let out for the longest time, soaked in the rain as it tore out of me with length and sorrow. Hoping that my cries could be buried by this rain.

Did I cry for too long? The rain was starting to subside. I was already sitting there dazed long before the rain started dying down. Perhaps it was because I never had that many tears to begin with, I didn’t cry for long. It was almost as if I couldn’t cry.

Looking up at the sky, I noticed the edges of the clouds tinged with the pale moonlight. Slowly, with my lifted hand, I brushed my wet hair back. I tilted my head before smirking.

“Heh, hehe.”

Was I mad? Should I go mad? If I were to go mad like Castor, I would have thought destruction was alright. But unfortunately, I never reached that tipping point.

“Castor.”

The man who ruined my life.

“How far did you plan this?”

Had he planned for Rusbella and I to meet before I was to hear the whole truth from her? I supposed so. Castor, the one who possessed the same powers as I did. The man who had gone mad so long ago.

“Rusbella and Castor. You and the rest of the main characters have turned into my enemies. Right?”

It had been a fate that had twisted the wrong way from the beginning.

“Yeah. If you all were really that mad.”

But now, it didn’t matter to me when that beginning was. My fate was already ruined and they would only continue to undermine it.

“I will now watch you lose everything and suffer.”

There were people who wouldn’t hesitate to turn evil.

“Who’s the same as who?”

But they weren’t born evil. They used to be normal. The man who chose to be cursed with his sins to gain great power. However, the victim of greed turned into the perpetrator, creating another victim.

“Rusbella, I’m not you...”

The world labelled you evil. One who lost their way. Was it justified for a victim to kill or hurt other people? No.

“You try to lower me to your level but I’m not like you.”

I mumbled in the empty garden. It occurred to me that there was a possibility that someone was listening. It didn’t matter if there was.

“... I’m not mad.”

With a clear gaze, I looked forward and made a promise.

“Not now and not ever. I’m not mad.”

You could never ruin me. I protected you all even while you had shattered into pieces. Even if you were the one who had brought the insignificant me here to become someone great, it would never go your way. There was something you still failed to understand till the end.

“Heh. Did you think I was going to give in just because of this?”

The novel never existed. This world was my reality. Everyone wasn’t just characters but they were actual living people. Everything. Did they think I was going to despair over that mere fact? No, I was going to be even happier, even sadder and struggle even more. To show them everything I could.

Yes, even after I had fallen into the abyss, they had kicked me over and over again but I wasn’t going to collapse here. My thighs had gotten stronger after withstanding despair. If I didn’t have my legs, I was going to crawl out of here with my arms.

The despair you had put me through made me who I was today.

“Those idiots.”

Water dripped from the ends of my wet hair. I smiled.

“My life is mine.”

I was happy to accept the invitation Rusbella sent. There was no way I would back down. As I stared at the dawn sky in the distance, I realised that there was not much time left till the end.

T/N:

[1]: lel in this case the book referred to the original novel but!! I wanted to use the title hehe