Chapter 13: Transaction (2)

At the world’s end, a woman stood on a cliff, screaming and wailing for three days and nights.

Sometimes weeping, sometimes laughing, sometimes raging, she poured out her life at the world’s end.

She regretted her life, shouting at the fog and clouds that stretched to the horizon beyond the cliff.

A man, unable to bear the sight, approached her, closing the distance.

“…This is a popular suicide spot, but I’d rather you didn’t die in front of me.”

The woman, her face filled with sorrow, turned her head and looked at the man.

The middle-aged man had beautiful, grey-blue hair.

He had cold eyes like the winter wind and spoke in a chilly tone, but the content of his words was like the warmth of spring sunshine.

“…Do you know where this is?”

The scenery before her was beautiful if beautiful, and desolate if desolate.

Beyond the massive cliff, drawn in a straight line, nothing was visible to the horizon. Only clouds and fog.

That was why this place was called the world’s end.

The woman’s lips trembled as she answered his question in a hoarse voice.

“The world’s end… they say…”

“Yes, the world’s end.”

The man, like winter, slowly approached and sat down next to the woman, gazing at the same scenery.

“Did you come here to end it all?”

“…I don’t know.”

She had drifted and drifted until she reached this place, her life always dragged along by someone else.

She had no will of her own, and she lived a life of constant running, fleeing even though she had done nothing wrong.

Drifting and drifting like that, she came to her senses and found that her life had reached a precipice called the world’s end.

Standing in that position, where she felt she would fall if pushed even slightly, she looked back on her life and grieved.

When she looked behind her, there was no one to remember her, and when she looked ahead, only a bottomless cliff stretched out.

She had begged for love, pleading for affection, just to be loved even once in her life.

Just once.

She wanted to meet someone who would truly love her.

“Do you know what lies beyond that fog?”

“…Nothing, probably.”

“Hmph… You have no dreams.”

The grey-blue-haired man clicked his tongue and looked at the woman as if he were dumbfounded. Then, whether she was listening or not, he began to tell his story.

“I hear that beyond there live races other than humans.”

“…”

“There are various other races on the continent as well. Have you ever seen them? The beastmen and elves are the main ones, but they are not purebloods. They have lived mixed with humans for a long time, and they are now different from the races beyond.”

The grey-blue-haired man, amused, looked at the distant fog and smiled as he unfolded his story. His face seemed like that of a boy, not a middle-aged man.

“Beyond there live true other races! Giants who use huge mountains as pillows, beautiful men and women with long ears who live in the tree that supports the world, and even dwarf races who use the heat of volcanoes to create weapons that true warriors can use!”

The middle-aged man, excited as he spoke, turned his head to look at the woman, but she had no reaction. The man scratched his head, as if embarrassed, and continued his story.

“…If you think about it that way, this isn’t the end, is it?”

“…?”

“Rather, it’s a new beginning.”

It was hard to call this a new beginning, as nothing could be seen here. Only a vast fog and clouds that seemed to suck you in were visible, and it was hard to believe that the world the man spoke of existed beyond.

“Well… that’s the story. I don’t know if you came here to end it all…”

The middle-aged man, placing his hands on his knees, stood up with a groan, straightened his back, and looked far beyond the horizon.

“I hope you make a new beginning here.”

“…Ha.”

The woman let out a hollow laugh and ignored the man’s words. At that time, she could not understand his intentions.

She did not feel this as kindness, and she thought of him as another person with a snake-like tongue who would deceive her.

“Your Excellency Edmund!! We must return quickly!!”

A voice calling the grey-blue-haired man came from behind. The woman simply ignored the man and stared at the distant clouds and fog.

“…Well, do as you please. I wish you would stop shouting. The residents are terrified.”

Without even looking at the man who left after saying those words, the woman murmured as she stared into the void.

“This can’t be a beginning…”

The scenery before her could not be a new beginning.

Looking down, there was darkness, and looking far away, there was nothing. The emptiness seemed similar to the afterlife described in the temple.

Death is just death; it cannot be a new beginning.

The woman thought so and once again reflected on her life.

On the third day of thinking again,

The woman, no longer able to even think of wanting to live, thought so.

Let’s end it now.

And so, standing precariously at the edge of the cliff, she entrusted her body to the wind and fell off the cliff.

She entrusted her body as it was and fell off the cliff.

She should have died like that.

She definitely should have died.

But for some reason, in her fading consciousness, her body was moving for some reason.

She felt no pain, only memories remained in her occasionally awakening consciousness.

Every time she closed her eyes and opened them again, she saw people dying.

She thought it was a nightmare. Or maybe this was hell.

What she saw when she first opened her eyes was.

“Cough…!”

A scene where the chest of the grey-blue-haired man, called Edmund, was pierced by her hand.

---

After arriving at the temple, the priests fortunately lifted Chloe’s curse.

Chloe, who had almost died, had severe internal injuries and had not yet regained consciousness.

‘Chloe… please wake up soon…’

Yudith held Chloe’s hand as she lay in bed and stayed by her side for two days. Anxious, she just wanted to be right next to Chloe when she opened her eyes, so she stayed by her side.

-Knock knock

“Excuse me.”

Damian forcibly opened the door and came in, sat on the desk, and looked down at Yudith.

Damian had heard some of the story about Sergia County from Melvin’s report.

That there had been a fire in their mansion and that the only family member lost was his wife.

Only his wife.

He heard that the other family members were perfectly fine.

Then… what on earth is the child of Sergia with the red eyes in front of him?

‘Perhaps… she is an illegitimate child. Given the Count’s personality, he would never announce his illegitimate child.’

‘…I see.’

Melvin’s report confirmed it. What noble scion would wander around outside with only one maid and no guards?

The Milady wandering around in commoner’s clothes that he saw at the lake. He thought it was either an abandoned child who was not cared for or a hidden illegitimate child.

“…I’m not good at beating around the bush, so please understand.”

He had no desire to beat around the bush, and that was not Damian’s personality.

“Is she an illegitimate child?”

“…”

Yudith nodded slightly. Damian fell into thought about what to do about this. He hated troublesome things. Should he just help the maid, consider it helping a person, and send her back to The Earl?

Sergia County, despite being a County, was a powerful family that was known as a Magical Aristocracy.

It was not worth antagonizing that family over a mere illegitimate child. No matter how uninterested he was in politics, he could still calculate which families to antagonize and which not to.

“…Please help me.”

Yudith grabbed Damian’s sleeve and looked up at him, pleading.

Yudith knew she was shameless. She knew Damian from her previous life. He was a surprisingly kind-hearted person. That must be why he spoke to her back then.

He could have just ordered his subordinates to do it, but he came himself and spoke to her. Not knowing that it was kindness, she had ignored that kindness.

Now she could see. That what he had said back then was a small act of kindness.

That was why she felt guilty towards Damian.

She felt guilty that the first person she killed after becoming the Grand Witch was Damian, who had shown her kindness.

“…I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

Damian coldly and pretending to be heartless, brushed off the sleeve that Yudith was holding and turned his head.

Yudith did not give up and grabbed Damian’s sleeve again and pleaded, but Damian looked down at Yudith as if to say no.

“If I help Milady? What can Milady do for me?”

Damian sweated as he looked down at Yudith. It was so unlike his nature to try to act cold that Yudith could tell he was lying.

She couldn’t talk about her Magical power, which hadn’t even manifested yet. That would only lead to more and more questions.

After racking her brains, she remembered Damian’s face as he smiled and told her the story back then. She thought he would definitely be interested in this story.

She had met the being beyond, and she also knew how to get beyond, so she had no doubt that Damian would be interested.

“The, the world’s end!”

“What?”

Damian looked down at Yudith as if he were dumbfounded. And he was sure that this Milady knew exactly where he came from and who he was.

“Be…Beyond the world’s end, there are new races that don’t exist on the continent…!”

“…Continue.”

Damian chuckled and listened to Yudith’s story. At that sight, Yudith recalled the story from back then even more and told Damian.

“Giants who sleep using huge mountains as pillows, high elves who protect the tree that supports the world, and even dwarves who make weapons using the heat of volcanoes…I…!”

“Kuh… Keuheup…!!”

“Eh?”

In the middle of the story, Damian’s face turned red as he held back his laughter. As if a bright red fruit had bloomed under his grey-blue hair, Damian was busy blocking his flushed face as he struggled to hold back his laughter.

“Ahahaha!! Haha!!!”

Yudith could not understand the laughter that finally burst out. Why? Why is he laughing? She looked at Damian with a worried expression, wondering if she had made a mistake.

“Is the story you’re telling just a fairy tale passed down in our territory?”

“Fairy… tale…?”

Only then did Yudith’s face turn red.

‘So, he thought the story he told me back then was a fairy tale…?! Not a certainty?! Then what was the expression he made back then…?!’

She already knew about the being beyond, but in Damian’s mind, the being beyond existed in fairy tales.

The words he had said back then were truly just a simple act of kindness.

The laughter stopped, and Damian stroked his chin and pondered about this Milady.

‘She’s an interesting child. How does she know about the oral traditions that are only passed down in our territory? Did she want to appeal to me, the lord of that place, by saying, “I know a lot about you?”‘

She is an interesting child. And a clever child.

Edmund was my Mother’s surname. Originally, I, a member of the imperial family, had to use the imperial family’s surname, but… when I became the lord of the place that took the world’s end as its territory, I abandoned the imperial family’s surname and changed it to my Mother’s surname.

It had only been three years since that change.

During those three years, the name Grand Duke Edmund had spread, but… he thought it was erudite for a mere 10-year-old child to know about it.

‘If she is a child of the Sergia family, she will surely become a powerful Wizard. Even if she is an illegitimate child, she could become at least a Second-Class Wizard.’

Honestly, this child in front of him was a very desirable existence.

In his barren territory, the existence of a Wizard was invaluable. Surely, if she grew up and learned Magic, she would be a great help to the territory.

Hadn’t the Serjia family said it? That they only lost one wife. That the rest of the family was fine.

Then… this child was as good as abandoned.

If such a useful future talent was being thrown away…

I should pick her up and use her.

A ten-year-old child, but with a high probability of becoming a Wizard. And even if she didn’t become a Wizard, she was a knowledgeable and clever child.

And… this child could even provide a surefire way to prevent the Emperor’s marriage demands.

“You said you’d do anything, right?”

“Yes? Ah, yes, yes!!”

Damian chuckled at her flustered reply, then placed his hand on Yudith’s head and gently stroked it.

Then, with a teasing smile, he looked down at Yudith.

And that one word that came from his mouth.

Determined the direction of this life.

“Then, from today, you are my adopted daughter.”

“…? Yes?!”

Yudith looked up at Damian as if dumbfounded.

‘An adopted daughter? He’s going to adopt me?’

Damian’s smirk was so infuriating. No matter that I said I would do anything, to adopt me…

“I look forward to working with you, Yudith Edmund.”

“…Are you serious?”

“I do enjoy jokes, but I wouldn’t joke about something like this in front of a child like you.”

Damian reached out his hand to me.

A large adult’s hand, different from Chloe’s hand.

I couldn’t tell if this was a gesture of goodwill towards me or an evil attempt to use me.

But the small kindness he had given me in my previous life, which I had ignored.

This time, to try and believe it.

I also reached out my hand to take his.