Episode 128 – Takseong’s Confession

*

The carriage stopped in a secluded alley next to the bustling street.

After consulting with Ellie about the preparations for the upcoming banquet and the things I needed, I carefully opened the door, got out of the carriage, and looked around.

After confirming that no one was around, I quickly pulled on my mask.

Ellie held the carriage door open and said,

“Ed.”

“What.”

“…Honestly, I wish you wouldn’t go.”

“Ha,”

I let out a hollow laugh.

Just beyond this alley was a bakery, and right in front of it was Robin’s mansion.

Worried that the date of the banquet might change or that Mela might not show up, I was about to head to Robin’s mansion to check on Mela’s condition.

Putting on the mask was also to sneak in without being noticed by anyone.

Ellie was wary of me going to see Mela.

It seemed like my action of going to see Mela right after rejecting her confession was sending some kind of message to Ellie.

I shook my head and said,

“Nothing you’re worried about will happen.”

“…Do you know what I’m worried about?”

“You think I’m going to take Mela back, don’t you?”

“…”

Ellie, rarely at a loss for words, looked at me with flickering eyes.

I muttered softly to Ellie.

“From what I heard from Lily, Mela is out of her mind. Yeah. Maybe I’ll be softened by that and forgive her. But Ellie, I will never take her back.”

“…Ed, you’re much softer and weaker to being pushed around than you look. You know that?”

“…I know. But that will never happen.”

“Why?”

“What do you think you’d feel if I took Mela back?”

“I’d be pissed as hell.”

“Then what about Lara?”

“…Ah-ha.”

I waved and said goodbye to Ellie.

“Get in safely.”

“Ed, you be careful too. I’ll prepare everything you mentioned somehow.”

“Thanks.”

Ellie also waved and slowly closed the door.

Just before the door closed, I could see her clenching her left hand tightly.

It was the hand that had burrowed between my fingers and held mine tightly next to me in the carriage.

As the carriage door closed, the magic-made coachman doll slowly took the reins and began to whip the horses.

The carriage rattled and left the alley.

“…”

After the carriage disappeared from sight, I slowly started walking towards Robin’s mansion.

My honest feeling about Ellie’s passionate heart was bewilderment.

It wasn’t just the confession that was bewildering.

My head was confused by her unexpected confession, and my helpless feelings were bewildering.

Not the terrible, headache-inducing confusion I had felt because of the disasters that had been relentlessly hitting me, but a confusion of a not unpleasant feeling.

My brain was bewildered because it didn’t know how to handle it.

It was settled with humor, jokes, and Ellie’s consideration, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this was no ordinary event with each step I took.

The princess of an empire, the next emperor, had confessed to me.

To an undead, the enemy of humanity, treated as the most unholy and disgusting being.

The statue in Sioland Central Square. The fairy tale about the achievements of the Hero’s party.

I realized acutely that in 20 years, the thief Edward had become a figure left in the history of the empire.

The reason I wanted to just disappear after all these nightmares were over was, of course, because of all the evil and pain that had swirled around me in these wicked events, but also because I realized that there was no place left for me in this world.

It wasn’t until I was almost out of the alley that I dispelled the rising thoughts.

The Voldiras family’s mansion, which I had already visited several times.

I knew the internal structure like the back of my hand.

I slowly hid in the shadows and climbed over the wall of the mansion.

*

I heard from Lily that Robin had broken down Mela’s door, and that turned out to be true.

I snuck into Mela’s room, where the door was gone, but Mela was no longer there.

Well, even ordinary people wouldn’t want to live in a room with the door gone, let alone Mela, who was lost in sorrow.

It seemed she had moved rooms.

To tear down the door because she locked it, that’s so cool and son-of-a-bitch-like, just like Robin.

Clicking my tongue, I was about to leave the room to find where Mela might be when I suddenly looked out the window.

The main gate of the mansion, which could only be seen by leaning out slightly.

And from the main gate, a white-haired girl was slowly walking in the middle of the magnificent central garden that stretched all the way to the entrance of the mansion, by the fountain.

Mela’s daughter, who I had healed. It was Tess.

Next to her, Edward was awkwardly spreading his arms, anxiously following her, looking ridiculous, in case Tess fell.

The distance was too far to hear their conversation, but from what I could see, Tess was smiling brightly, showing her teeth.

I desperately prayed to be a villain, wanting to kill all of Robin’s children, but unfortunately, those two children were good-hearted people, unlike Robin’s children.

To think that such children would come out of this mansion, which was covered in Robin and Jennifer’s misdeeds,

It was like flowers blooming in soon-to-be ruins.

Was it because those siblings were such good people, or because it felt like the ideal family I wanted to build with Mela,

Or was it because I didn’t want to add any more unfortunate events that would arise from Robin and the revenge?

I didn’t feel like harming those two.

I already knew that the Goddess was only watching this world with an interesting gaze and had no interest in humanity, but I prayed briefly.

Please don’t let those two interfere with my revenge. Please don’t let the situation come where I have to harm those two.

After a moment of silence, I turned my gaze.

At that moment,

On the opposite side of the mansion’s main gate, Mela’s garden could be seen in the distance.

The salvia flower bed was all torn up, like a construction site where dirt had been dug up to build a building.

Mela was sitting in the middle of it, in a gazebo that was a mess and looked like it was about to collapse.

I didn’t know what had happened in the garden, but even though she was so far away that she looked only the size of a finger, Mela’s condition looked very bad.

Her back was hunched over, and her hair was no longer as bright as the sun.

Her surroundings were gloomy, as if they were in another world shrouded in darkness, and no one was there.

Considering that Lily had returned yesterday, the person who was watching Mela now was Lara.

At my request to watch Mela so that she wouldn’t do anything rash or take her own life, Lara desperately endured sleep, even though she wasn’t undead, and kept watching Mela.

But there was no place for Lara to hide in that garden, which was flat on all sides.

Perhaps she was using her legendary archer skills to watch from afar with her exceptional eyesight.

Surveillance was surveillance, but she also couldn’t let Robin find out about her existence.

I took out a chain, fixed it to the wall, opened the window, and jumped down.

Using the chain as a safety rope, I landed safely on the ground and slowly approached my former lover.

One step,

And another step.

For some reason, my steps seemed to resemble those of a beast stalking its prey from behind.

The closer I got to her, the more I felt something hot rising from my stomach.

What Lara had said to me,

The fact that Mela had tried to betray me made something like lava from hell located in my lower abdomen boil even more.

Was Lara watching this scene now?

If so, there would be no problem even if something unexpected happened.

My footsteps had already reached behind Mela.

Mela’s condition up close was much more serious than I had expected.

Her skin, exposed from her shoulders in the thin sleeves, was covered in wounds and scabs, and her white hands below were also covered in wounds, and her fingernails were all pulled out or worn down, revealing her bare skin in a gruesome way.

Her hair, which was even more clearly visible from behind, was also a mess.

The orange hair that had adorned her bright smile like the sun had lost all its light and shine and was tangled in a mess, and it looked dry and thin, as if it would break if I just pulled it.

The white hair that had turned gray in the middle was scattered throughout her dull hair, making it look like bugs were crawling around.

I was speechless at Mela’s appearance, which was even more broken than when I met her in the graveyard.

Surprisingly, Mela opened her mouth first, as if she had sensed my presence.

“Please, stop tormenting me…”

“…”

“Please. You’re right about everything. Please… stop now…”

“…”

Mela began to make a confession mixed with apology without even turning her head.

Thanks to that, I missed the timing to talk to her and quietly listened to her.

“I was foolish. I was wrong. I was stupid. I was weak. I’m a bitch who deserves to die.”

“…”

The voice she spat out in a dry tone was as strangely twisted as her appearance.

It was a terrible voice that felt like it was scratching at my heart just by listening to it.

The emotion of overwhelming sadness was rushing and clawing at people, and the voice that flowed out of Mela, despite being very quiet and miserable, had a bizarre force that overwhelmed me.

But the flames of anger in my heart had not subsided, and I was about to say something to her.

“Mel,”

“Please!”

“…”

“Isn’t this enough…? Huh…? I can’t take it anymore…”

Mela cut me off with a tearing scream.

But the volume of her voice, which was emitted by her already overworked vocal cords, was extremely weak.

Mela whispered and sobbed, squeezing out each word with difficulty.

“You’re right. I ruined your life. I drove Ed to death, to despair. I, I…”

“…”

“I won’t deny it anymore… Just kill me…”

“…”

“If you’re not going to, please.”

“… Ah,”

“Please just leave me alone now… Lara.”

“…What?”

I was flustered by the sudden mention of Lara’s name and asked back.

Only then did Mela hurriedly turn around.

Light and moisture began to fill Mela’s empty brown eyes little by little.

“… E, Ed?”

.