Ch.132Fragments

Despite my throat having been fully healed long ago from being pierced by an ice pick, I still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was blocking it completely. I couldn’t breathe properly.

No matter how many times I tried to breathe, I couldn’t inhale or even exhale. My throat felt completely constricted.

My vision spun. The corners of my sight distorted. That distortion soon spread across my entire field of vision. Charlotte’s face, looking at me, began to twist unnaturally.

Her sharp questioning no longer reached my ears. Each word Charlotte uttered stretched so long that I couldn’t understand any of it.

The ringing in my ears kept pushing inward. The “piiiiing” sound grew louder, drowning out all other sounds.

Charlotte continued to mention several more characteristics, urging me to answer, but not a single word registered.

Only one word filled my mind: Master.

A woman calling me Master. The weight of those words was by no means light. In fact, it might even outweigh the entire world if put on a scale.

That word held such meaning to me.

The reason why, when teaching Serena, I had insisted—almost to the point of threatening—that she not use the word “master.”

The reason why, despite having mastered all knowledge of the past, I deliberately avoided teaching that knowledge to others.

The reason why I kept reminding Charlotte that she and I were equals.

Those reasons began to resurface one by one.

My throat felt suffocating. From my mouth, which should have been properly attached and functioning, came only grotesque choking sounds instead of the sound of breathing in and out.

I raised my trembling hands to my throat. All I could feel was skin. I clutched my throat with both hands, as if trying to push something out from inside.

But no matter what I did, there was no way air would flow through my completely blocked throat. Of course, my throat had been restored to normal long ago by my ultra-regeneration ability.

The inability to breathe, the endless distortion of my vision, the ringing in my ears—all were merely my hallucinations, auditory illusions, and delusions.

But my brain refused to accept that this pain was fake. My throat felt even more constricted. My brain thrashed about, crying out for oxygen.

Even though I wouldn’t die anyway, my body was sending warning signals embedded in human instinct, telling me I would die if this continued.

Yes, perhaps dying would be better. If I died, at least I could forget all these memories. I wouldn’t have to experience that nightmare again.

I wouldn’t have to live through an eternity that would never end.

Normal thinking became impossible. Every nerve in my body focused solely on that one title.

My body trembled violently. The force of my hands choking my throat grew stronger. My fingers dug into my neck, crushing the larynx within.

—Master.

Memories I had forcibly buried deep in the recesses of my mind began to thrash wildly. Bit by bit, fragments began to crawl out.

I heard someone whispering in my ear.

—Master. Try eating these. Don’t they look delicious? I roasted them with care. What? What kind of meat, you ask? Oh my, are you doubting me? Of course they’re from my body. Would I ever give you anything but myself? This is cut from my thigh, this is torn from my side, and if you want, I can bring you my liver and heart too. I’ve prepared everything. Oh, you don’t like these? Well… would you like to try this instead? It’s my tongue. Since not much comes out when you tear it off once, wouldn’t it be tasty? You don’t like this either? Ah, then how about eye soup? I boiled it with my eyeballs intact. It was quite difficult to boil them while maintaining their original form without them turning mushy. How about it? Looks delicious, right? I want to cook and eat you too, Master, but since you return to normal no matter how I cut you, I’ll just have to chew on you while you’re alive instead. Hehe, lovers are supposed to express their love by cutting off parts of their bodies and feeding each other, right? So we should do the same, of course.

No, this was an auditory hallucination. It couldn’t be real. This couldn’t be the truth.

I killed Olivia with my own hands. Olivia, who called out my name until her very last moment, who confessed her love—I stabbed her heart with my own hands.

I still remembered the sensation. The feeling of crushing Olivia beneath me, and the feeling of plunging the greatsword into her heart.

And through the handle, the gradually weakening heartbeat.

—Master. Where are you going? I told you. The only place permitted for you is by my side. I clearly told you not to leave me. I clearly told you not to escape my sight. So why are you doing this? Why? Why? I look at you all day, so why? Ah, I understand now. You disobeyed me because I love you more passionately when you do, right? The love I usually give isn’t enough, and you’re too shy to express that in words, right? You should have told me sooner. Oh, how about this? Let’s exchange parts of our bodies, you and I. Although it won’t last long since we’ll return to normal soon, what do you think? I think starting with the eyes would be best. I’ll take out my eyes and give them to you, so you give me your eyes too. We’ll look at our lover through each other’s eyes. Isn’t that romantic?

It couldn’t be. Olivia couldn’t appear here.

—Master. I’m jealous. I can’t suppress this jealousy. The fact that there are humans in this world other than me who breathe the same air as you, walk on the same ground, drink the same water, exist in the same world, and live in the same time. And everything in this world makes me so jealous I can’t bear it. No. Absolutely not. There must not be such humans. Master, my Master. Isn’t it enough for me alone to live with you? Isn’t it enough for just me, Olivia, to live in the same time as you?

Black pupils filled only with jealousy stared at me.

Eyes that were jealous of the sky, jealous of the earth, jealous of water, jealous of air, jealous of time, jealous of space, jealous of all humans.

And, in the end, a being who was even jealous of herself.

Those eyes stared directly at me.

—So, I’m going to kill them all. I can’t allow any more presumptuous humans to live in the same time as you. I’ll kill and kill until only you and I remain in this world. You stay here quietly. This place is part of me. You just need to wait for me here. Nothing else matters, right? I only need you, and you only need me. Ah, come to think of it, it’s almost like you’re inside me now? You like that too, don’t you? Right?

This can’t be. If you’re going to kill someone, kill me instead. You said you’d grant whatever I wish. So you should kill me. That’s what I want.

Seeing me plead in an almost begging tone, a smile that seemed about to tear spread across Olivia’s lips.

—Master. Why would I kill you?

What I wanted was eternal death.

—You have to live with me for eternity.

What Olivia wanted was eternal life.

“—!!!!!!”

My unconscious mind exploded. I couldn’t bear the flood of past memories any longer. My head felt like it was about to split open.

I heard the sound of my throat being crushed by my own hands. There was no pain, but hearing that sound gave me a slight sense of returning sanity.

My blacked-out vision gradually regained its color. The world still appeared distorted, but at least I could distinguish objects.

I lifted my head. Charlotte’s face was right in front of me. Her mouth was half-open, staring at me with blank eyes.

It seemed unbelievable that she had been sternly questioning me just moments ago. Even through my twisted vision, I could clearly see the emotion in those blood-red eyes.

Why was Charlotte making such an expression? I racked my brain, which had almost completely shut down.

Right, she was questioning me and then used the word “Master”—

“Ah.”

My throat, which had been crushed by my hands, regenerated to its original state. And as soon as it did, a small sigh escaped. It would have been better if I hadn’t remembered.

I shouldn’t have remembered.

—Found you.

A voice that seemed to combine all the ecstasy, pleasure, joy, happiness, and delight in the world echoed in my ears.

Before my mind could process that voice, my instinct understood first. This was undoubtedly the truth. Stop denying it.

Olivia was alive.

The moment I accepted this fact, my blood vessels writhed. It felt wrong. My entire body creaked loudly. My vision, which had seemed to be recovering, distorted again.

The creaking of my body was decisive evidence that Olivia was still alive and watching me. This was a curse urging me to return to her quickly.

A curse created solely for me.

A terrible, disgusting liquid crawled up my esophagus from inside my throat. I tried to hold it back, but couldn’t endure even ten seconds before opening my mouth.

Through my open mouth, an enormous amount of black blood gushed out.

“My lord?!”

“My lady?!”

I heard Serena and Charlotte’s voices filled with shock. Those voices soon disappeared. My mind was gradually being consumed by Olivia.

Charlotte’s magic, which had grabbed the back of my neck, melted away under the influence of the curse.

My ultra-regeneration ability would eventually restore me to normal despite this curse, but Olivia would know that. No, it was precisely because she knew that she had placed such a curse.

While my body involuntarily vomited black blood, my two legs would continuously move to find Olivia.

Whether my regeneration ability worked or not was useless against this curse. The moment my body recovered, the curse would activate anew, and eventually I would walk to Olivia.

Clinging to my last shred of consciousness, I maximized my regeneration ability. If I couldn’t stop the curse, I had to at least reduce its duration somewhat.

Of course, it was a futile resistance. My legs creaked as they took steps.

There should have been a slight gap between my body’s recovery and the curse’s reapplication, but I couldn’t detect that gap at all.

Since my mouth was continuously vomiting and regenerating blood, I was in no condition to speak properly.

My only hope now was Serena and Charlotte. I forcibly lifted my head, which was trying to collapse to the ground.

My vision was on the verge of complete blackout. Everything was dark. I could barely tell whether my eyes were open or closed.

I changed my strategy. I reversed the regeneration ability I had maximized. Not only that, but I desperately tried to delay the regeneration as much as possible.

Facing the direction where Serena and Charlotte might be, I forced out words while swallowing the disgusting smell of black blood and the all-too-familiar scent of red blood.

“Cut… off…”

With those words, my mouth and tongue stopped moving.

But that was enough. I clearly felt the sensation of my legs being cut off and my body collapsing to the ground.

I was truly glad my meaning had been conveyed. My eyes closed. Only then did I realize that I had been keeping them open until just now.

—Come here, Master.

I heard an auditory hallucination.

—This time, I won’t let you go.