Ch.123Winter’s Legacy (5)

A peaceful daily life continued for a while.

The two shared meals together, carefully treated the ugly remaining wounds, and stayed by each other’s side all night when fever struck.

The familiarity they felt for each other gradually built up over time.

Now they knew that the other existed in their world.

All those days of leaning on, depending on, and supporting each other had formed another world.

A fragile relationship was growing between the boy and the girl.

“Winter… is slowly passing now.”

The season was already finishing winter.

When I first met the girl, it was just the beginning of winter, but suddenly I realized we were already turning the calendar to February.

That meant we had spent an intense and dense time together.

I smiled.

It was a smile for the stoic girl.

“How about it? Aren’t you looking forward to the coming spring?”

“…Not particularly.”

Our once rigid relationship had made progress.

Before, she wouldn’t even initiate conversation and would barely respond when spoken to, but now we could have light conversations.

Perhaps it was the power of familiarity.

Her wariness toward me had eased considerably, and she noticeably raised her defenses less often.

Sometimes when I stroked her hair while she was half-asleep, she would quietly accept it.

Of course, when fully conscious, she would recoil and run away…

“It might be a little disappointing.”

Anyway.

As the once-distant gap between us narrowed, I was getting to know the girl.

This was what I had observed over the past three months.

“Hey… isn’t it hard for you?”

“Hmm?”

“Taking care of me every dawn. I thought it must be difficult doing that every day. Especially since the fevers aren’t just a one or two-day thing…”

“Should I take that as concern? Or gratitude?”

“…I didn’t say anything like that.”

“Some feelings are conveyed without words.”

“Forget it. I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“Hehe… Miss Neria is indeed deep-hearted.”

“What nonsense.”

The girl was fundamentally kind.

Although she was awkward in dealing with others, she basically knew how to worry about others.

She just didn’t know how to express it, but her inner self was sufficiently tender.

She was no monster.

She was just an ordinary nineteen-year-old.

A normal nineteen-year-old who was lonely, sometimes fearful, and often tearful at night.

If there was a reason why such a girl had closed her heart to the world.

It would be because of the curse she carried.

-No… if I go out.

-If I go outside, someone else will get hurt. That’s why I said I have to stay here…

The reason the girl tried to distance herself from others wasn’t particularly a method to protect herself.

Rather, it was a desperate attempt to protect people from herself.

An enormous power she couldn’t control.

The monster feared hurting others far more than being hurt by them.

Perhaps it was because of the despair that comes from loss.

-I don’t want… to hurt anyone anymore.

The girl would toss and turn at dawn with guilt.

This personality was evidence of her kindness, and the sad determination of a nineteen-year-old to have a human heart despite being a monster.

I couldn’t possibly fathom the thorny path this fragile being had walked.

During those tattered years.

How many parts of herself had the girl been forced to give up?

First she abandoned happiness, then comfort, and later even sorrow and anger within the cycle of misfortune.

After losing these emotions one by one… only ‘resentment’ toward the world remained.

I would occasionally recall the girl’s fate in the original story.

-This power… I never wanted it in the first place.

-Why did the star choose me?

The miserable end of the monster.

Despite such a delicate mindset, how much suffering did the silver-haired girl endure before finally falling into the role of a villain who burned the world?

When such thoughts came to mind, I felt pity and wanted to take care of her even more.

I was still weak for children.

I did my best to help her recover to normal daily life.

I gave her all the help I could.

“Another enjoyable treatment time today!”

Among everything, the most difficult task was conducting the treatment.

No… could it even be called treatment?

The star’s blessing contained in that fragile body.

To prevent the merciless flow and rampage of starlight, I had to periodically suppress her power.

Even this wasn’t perfect—it was merely a temporary measure.

“Cough…!”

While concentrating with our hands clasped together, suddenly blood-tinged coughs would escape between her lips.

I wiped the bloodstains from my mouth with intense nausea.

It was always like this.

Whether it was due to overloading my ability, I wasn’t sure.

During treatment, nosebleeds or internal damage were common occurrences, and in severe cases, I would even lose consciousness.

It seemed the strain came from forcibly scraping together insufficient output.

The existence of a star was truly troublesome.

‘The Star’s Blessing.’

A proposition that encompasses providence.

It was an equally demanding power.

Until now, I had twisted and deceived various laws while struggling at the bottom, but among them, starlight had a complex and precarious structure.

If evaluated by difficulty, it would rank in the top three even by current standards three years later.

That was also why I couldn’t take measures carelessly.

A star was like.

Gunpowder piled next to a lighter.

If even a slight misinterpretation occurred in the process of interpreting the power, that body would surely be destined to break in the rushing paradox.

Even I, who had formed a connection with the girl, would hardly maintain a decent appearance.

The approach had to be cautious.

‘If only I had sufficient output… I could boldly swallow even starlight.’

There was also a method to erase the providence itself with lies.

But with my output at that time, it was nearly impossible.

As I had realized while struggling at the bottom… what always held me back was insufficient output.

How to explain the powerlessness of being unable to execute despite having the potential.

To put it simply… it was like knowing the perfect solution to a given problem but not having enough ink in the pen to write the answer.

That’s how critical the lack of output was.

“Haa, haa… another failure this time.”

Repeated failures.

It seemed I would need some research for a while to fill in the answer sheet.

It was a good time, as I had been contemplating how to improve my output.

I could now understand how formidable Judas from the original story was.

He handled such unstable power freely and played with the providence of the world through numerous lies, making his level of proficiency a gap not easily bridged.

I swallowed a sigh.

“Oh dear, my sleeve is a mess.”

“Are you okay…?”

As I was wiping away the dark red stain from my sleeve, the girl who was receiving treatment asked cautiously.

The look in her eyes contained complex trembling.

Over the past three months.

There had been a slight change in the monster’s reactions.

When she first received treatment, she showed aversion or wariness toward contact, but now she seemed strangely concerned about me.

This meant she showed worry at every cough or staggering movement.

I considered this evidence that we had grown closer.

“Blood… it seems like too much.”

“I did push myself a bit.”

“Doesn’t it hurt?”

“I don’t even feel it.”

“You’re lying.”

“It’s true.”

Behind these short sentences hid kindness.

I smile faintly.

A smile about to scatter like the dawn mist over murky waters.

The quiet silence neatly arranges our relationship.

Soon the girl murmurs.

“I don’t understand.”

“Hmm?”

“I don’t understand how to make sense of you. I can’t do anything for you, yet you keep trying to give me things.”

“I believe I told you the reason for that before.”

“That I’m precious to you… I didn’t want to hear such meaningless words.”

“The value of mercy comes from not seeking its meaning.”

“Even though you were coughing up blood just now?”

“It’s not easy.”

“…Strange person.”

The girl frowns.

As if not understanding my meaning, only confusion swirled in those silver pupils.

I dispel the persistent gaze with a smile.

“Miss Neria.”

Calmly calling her name.

My gently extended hand carefully strokes her silver hair.

The warmth of our touching skin leaves a tender sentiment.

I whisper softly.

“Everything will be alright.”

By now, the girl accepts my touch as if familiar with it.

I deliver a promise.

“This time, I will stay by your side.”

The silver-haired monster.

Perhaps the first responsibility my life had taken on since falling into this world.

It was like shackles binding my heart.

“Hehe… it’s getting late. Shall we clean up and have dinner?”

“I suppose.”

The girl nods.

Our winter seemed to be passing like that.

But.

Why didn’t I notice?

“…Nothing is alright.”

The murmur that brushed my ear.

The fact that the girl’s expression was particularly dark that day.

***

The girl was living an awkward daily life.

A coziness she could never get used to.

The home where she could stay, which she found for the first time in her life, protected her like a sudden gift.

A peaceful daily life was more beautiful than the ideal she had hoped for.

Days without pain anymore.

But.

A sticky anxiety was creeping up inside the monster.

A thorny rope hung around her delicate neck.

‘Should I be here?’

Recently, the frequency of her seizures had increased.

She couldn’t fully control her power either.

The fever that visited every night had grown more severe, and sometimes uncontrolled flames would leak out.

Observing her worsening physical condition, the monster sensed something.

The starlight was becoming violent.

As if it could rampage at any moment.

‘No…’

Although the boy was suppressing her power through what he called treatment, it was only effective like pressing down on a solid spring temporarily.

Even that seemed to be too much strain, as the boy would cough up blood every time.

He would comfort her saying he was fine.

But when she saw his pale complexion, she realized what a terrible lie that was.

Despite his fading vitality, the boy kept smiling.

‘Why.’

The fundamentally unresolved problem gnawed at her mind.

The monster had to keep questioning.

The boy’s bright eyes despite being covered in blood made her repeat the whispers from beyond her memories.

They were part of the brainwashing and scars inflicted by the monarch.

-Child full of all malice.

-You were born with the fate of misfortune, so you will surely burn everything around you white.

-Please do not hope for happiness from the outside world.

That she was a child bound to a curse.

That she should never have been born.

That she was chosen to harm others, so she should not dare to hope for any happiness, warmth, or tomorrow.

The girl was being mentally driven into a corner with each passing day.

Accordingly, the starlight also raged.

Her body wasn’t well.

At this rate, a major accident was bound to happen.

The girl, suffering from distress, asked herself.

‘What am I doing?’

Not knowing when a rampage might occur, could she live so thoughtlessly?

Having already committed numerous sins with these hands.

How dare she, a monster.

Had she become too intoxicated with this warmth?

Until now, that person had been working hard to stop it, but could this peace be maintained in the future?

As the reflux of starlight intensified, she felt her reason wavering.

Perhaps.

Would everything burn again this time?

The girl couldn’t help but feel anxious.

-Miss Neria. Everything will be alright.

No.

Nothing was alright.

She was insanely anxious.

‘Strange person.’

It was because of you.

Because of you, I couldn’t erase this anxiety.

The person who found me even in darkness.

The kindness I’ve received all this time, the warmth that thawed my body, the unbelievable devotion, along with your noble character.

Despite receiving all these miracles, I’m afraid I might harm you.

Afraid I might hurt you.

Such assumptions terrified me endlessly.

-This time, I will stay by your side.

However.

Despite her gloomy anguish, the boy only repeated that everything was fine.

Rather, that assertion broke her heart.

‘There’s no way it could be fine.’

Though she had longed for the word “stability,” now it was killing her.

Reality hurt more than all the harsh torture she had endured.

The warmth she held for the first time.

It was better than.

Better than she had imagined.

She felt like she might suddenly cry, not wanting to lose it.

At the same time, she hated the thought of destroying such warmth.

‘I’m scared.’

She was afraid of herself.

She didn’t want to hurt another person.

Despite having a clear will, the fact that she couldn’t escape her fate in the end, the scene of the world turning white after being devoured by starlight—the girl despised it to the point of disgust.

This obsession and fear ate away at her insides like a parasite.

A precarious mental state, as if standing on the edge of a cliff.

Eventually.

“Haa, haa…!”

The girl ran away.

To distance herself from the only warmth she had, to lock herself again in that terrible deep basement, her pitiful steps staggered out of the mansion.

The strong wind swallows her silver hair.

Wheeee-!

A harsh landscape.

Was even the ending winter throwing stones at the monster?

A blizzard that wasn’t in the forecast was raging.

Despite the weather roughly slapping her cheeks, the girl crossed the snow-covered field.

Perhaps because her tension had eased, the suppressed starlight began to leak out.

Hot heat spread around her.

Drip, drip-.

The light falling like dew contained the power of the star.

The girl staggered without time to care.

‘Why am I…’

A question that soon scatters.

After falling several times on the difficult snowy path, hatred for fate gradually boiled up.

Flames shot out here and there following her clenched fist.

‘Why did it have to be me?’

This power… she never wanted it in the first place.

Why did the star choose her?

Why did that damned star have to choose her?

She was born carrying a cursed fate.

She hadn’t prayed for any other wish; all she wanted was the ordinary life of ordinary people.

The girl had wished and wished for even that boring peacefulness.

But.

‘I didn’t ask for much.’

All that returned from her prayers was a bloody sneer.

Resentment could be seen in the surging starlight.

Tears flowing down her cheeks.

The girl murmured, tasting their lukewarm temperature.

It was a single phrase that melted all her resignation.

“…Maybe I should just die.”

Though she had lived a long time carrying the curse, she no longer had the courage to move forward.

Perhaps it was because she had already come to know warmth.

That basement, which had been like home for half her life, felt particularly frightening now.

Rather than returning there, she thought it might be better to end her cold life now, while there was still some warmth left.

The girl stops walking.

‘Yes…’

Die.

Let’s die.

Living on would only bury her in darkness again, so let’s let go here.

Her thin fingers draw something she had been carrying at her waist.

It was a dagger.

More precisely, a symbol of this life.

The girl grips the handle tightly.

-Take this… this is your fate from now on.

-Born carrying starlight that aims at others, never forget that this dagger is your negation.

-Following your predetermined fate, you will become a beast of terrible hatred.

The monarch had given her the dagger with those words.

Since that day when the brainwashing and torture began, the girl had lived carrying a single negation.

Sring-.

Now was the moment to end all life with her own negation.

As a test, she cuts the right side of her face.

Perhaps because starlight was transmitted, it was coated with high temperature on the outside.

Tssss… as she brought the boiling surface close to her snow-white skin, a flower bloomed on her small face with the sound of flesh cooking.

The burn mark etched like a brand makes her frown.

It was terrible pain.

“Ah… ugh, sob…”

Her groans mix with crying.

It was painful, but.

She doesn’t stop her hand for the liberation that would be beyond it.

She prays with the sharply raised tip.

‘Please.’

May there be complete rest at this end.

May she enter eternal sleep where she neither inflicts nor receives wounds anymore.

Now the girl aims the dagger at her throat.

Tears falling drop by drop.

This is the ending.

The end of a fate that became a curse beyond blessing.

The final moment of a monster who should have died.

The starlight contained in the dagger sparkles particularly brilliantly.

Holding this dazzlingly beautiful scene in her hand, the girl was committing the last murder of her life.

As the blade bares its teeth.

Just before death could pierce her fragile breath.

Thud-!

There was a hand blocking the execution.

A palm that suddenly appeared before her eyes was holding the dagger, and holding the girl’s body that had been staggering here and there.

Through the swirling blizzard, dull golden hair could be seen.

Followed by a call reaching her ears.

“So this is where you were. Miss Neria.”

“You…?”

Beyond her open eyelids.

Those half-open white eyes were looking at the girl.