Ch.321106. That Wheel Has Broken (2)

“I gave Eras a chance, but she had no intention of listening.”

Regret and lamentation intertwine.

“And that sin will be fully inherited by you, who share the same bloodline.”

Because that is causality.

“…But I don’t want you to be entangled in it.”

However.

“I have no way to prevent that.”

“So what exactly are you trying to say?”

She sat on the bed, putting down her book, and stared directly at Kariel with his gloomy eyes.

“…The only way for you and your family members to survive is to completely sever ties with her. Only then will the chain of causality be broken.”

“Is that enough?”

“…I will make it so.”

“Then what about that child… is there truly no hope for redemption? I know there are problems. She committed a great sin against you, and besides that…”

“This might sound abrupt, but there are parallel worlds, and in one of them, Eras killed you and took your place.”

Kariel made a sudden statement.

“What are you talking about?”

“In the world of the current Demon King, that child did just that.”

“The current Demon King?”

“…No, not anymore. I’ve suppressed him.”

Kariel briefly began to explain everything—from the cause of Elhermina’s condition to his own circumstances, and how he dealt with the current Demon King.

Listening quietly, there were many things that made no sense, but…

“Even if that’s true… is it fair to hold me accountable for what my sister—no, my parallel world sister—did? Isn’t that a bit much?”

“…You’re right. Although she tried to kill me in that world, attempted to erase all traces of me, and even deceived my parents to erase my name from the empire, that’s not really what matters.”

“……”

In his way of speaking as if it were someone else’s problem, Seras felt a stark sense of dissonance.

For the first time, he seemed unfamiliar and even frightening.

“But even that is all connected.”

Kariel said.

“Just as I strive to stand as myself… just as another me from a parallel world tries to frustrate and sink me with coercive force… trying to destroy this world.”

A divine being.

The birth of divine status and divine seat means exactly that.

But strictly speaking, Kariel didn’t earn that position through his own efforts.

He made that point clear.

“To form a marital bond and unite means embracing the other’s sins and causality as well.”

Therefore, the reason I cannot accept you here lies in that.

“…So if El wakes up and asks you to accept her, will you reject her too?”

“…She has paid for her sins by saving me. Even though she could have faced eternal death and annihilation, she willingly fulfilled that task.”

Moreover.

She never once broke her promise with Heba, the legacy of the Great Demon King.

That faith and devotion gave her an opportunity.

And that opportunity was… sublimated by her saving Kariel.

“Also, since she has essentially died and been reborn, she should be free from her previous fate and destiny.”

Therefore, if she wishes, he intends to accept her.

If she doesn’t want that, she will live the life she desires.

“……”

At this moment, Seras was insanely envious of Elhermina.

Also.

Why she had become so obsessed with Kariel, so attached, and even harbored such complex feelings of love and hate.

Though her complicated emotions made her feel dizzy.

She forced herself to steady her mind.

“Fine. So to summarize, you can’t unite with me because Eras has committed too many sins, is that right? Did I understand correctly?”

“That includes the sins of your grandfather and your ancestors.”

“What about my father? He died saving the world—!”

“Yes. That’s why I can at least offer you this solution.”

“Then… what about Eras? Is there really no hope for her?”

“……”

Kariel shook his head.

“It’s not because I want it this way. I could have wanted it, but it doesn’t matter anymore. Because my existence has reached a point where even harboring resentment, hatred, hostility, or malice toward me—even just the thought—is enough to commit a sin.”

“…You’re talking as if you’re the Sky Lord, Irenis, oh, right, the Lord.”

Wasn’t it said that no one should dare commit sin against heaven, not even in thought?

Isn’t this… just like that?

“……”

Kariel neither denied nor affirmed.

But that silence was, more than anything, a clear affirmation.

Seras knew this well.

“What’s happened to you? I expected you to become impressive in just a few years, but this is strange. Defeating the Demon King, a parallel version of you trying to kill you as a god… does any of this make sense to you?”

“……”

“Hah!”

Seras exhaled sharply.

As if hoping to expel all the suffocating pressure in her lungs.

“…So what exactly do you want me to do?”

She felt the need to hear clearly what he was saying once more.

“First…”

Everyone in the family must distance themselves from Eras.

Kariel prophesied that Eras would become empress one day.

And.

“Since the Esdina family line must continue, I hope you’ll pass the family headship to a branch family member or someone else entirely.”

“…You know I’m the current head of Esdina when you say that, right?”

“……”

“Fine. Let’s say I understand that much. What’s next?”

“…From here on, it’s a choice, but if you wish… though it’s impossible in this life, I will do my best to welcome you in the next life.”

“What kind of crazy proposal…”

Seras was about to argue with harsh words, but…

…Kariel’s eyes spoke of truth without a hint of deception.

She just had that feeling, that premonition.

“Hah. Ah! I think I’m going crazy.”

Seras groaned for a while, holding her face with both hands.

“…Then what about this life? Am I supposed to just waste away until I die?”

“No.”

Kariel told her to entrust herself to a monastery.

“Then the master of this world will care for you without fail until the very end.”

“……”

These insane words left her speechless.

Yet somehow, she found herself understanding and accepting Kariel’s words.

“Is this causality thing like how in reality, if you commit treason, everyone related to you gets executed and swept away under collective punishment?”

“It’s worse than that.”

Kariel said.

“It doesn’t wash away even after death. That’s why people are thrown into hell. There, they atone for their sins through suffering.”

But they only atone; nothing actually changes.

“Until one achieves enlightenment, no being can escape that cycle and natural law.”

As sins accumulate, one is cast into the abyss to pay for them.

Then, after breaking through all sorts of competition to be born again, born and born again.

As a human.

Once more, bearing fate and destiny.

“If you follow what I’ve said well, you could return in human form in as little as 700 years, or at most around 800 years.”

“…And during those hundreds of years?”

“Normally… it would have been more terrible, but I’ve already concluded an agreement with the master of this world on this matter.”

“Concluded what? What exactly are you saying?”

“You’ll be born as an animal, but it won’t be a miserable or painful life.”

“……”

How could he speak so calmly about such unbelievable, absurd, and devastating things?

“Human life is precious. They don’t realize its value.”

How difficult, arduous, and painful it is to be born once like this.

“Those who value it as gold, those who throw it in dirt, those who cast it into the sea… all are of equal value.”

That is the greatest blessing bestowed by heaven.

…Of course, if one takes it for granted, everything will seem unfair and unreasonable.

Even Kariel himself, who understands all this, still finds the world unreasonable and absurd.

So, we must escape this filthy cycle and pit.

“I want to give you that opportunity. Because I sincerely wish for your well-being. And because I feel deep guilt for not being able to accept your feelings.”

“Stop trying to sound impressive! Stop pretending to care so much about me!”

After listening for so long, she finally erupted in anger.

But knowing that he was sincere,

Seras had to forcefully suppress the tears that threatened to burst forth.

“I will not abandon anyone.”

Not a single thing that has come into my hands.

“Among them, you are the most precarious. I’m anxious about where you might end up if I’m even slightly careless.”

“Kariel. Tell me just one thing clearly.”

Seras struggled to compose her emotions for a long time, unable to express any words.

“Was my longing and expectation for you… truly sincere? And can you… accept someone like me?”

It’s truly strange, but.

The reason she couldn’t express those common words of love, those terms, those phrases.

Not even sentences similar to them.

Because she feared that such expressions might trivialize her expectations and feelings.

For some unknown reason, that was how she felt.

“……”

Even Kariel remained silent for a while after hearing those words.

However, he was in a position where he had to provide an answer.

After closing his eyes tightly and opening them again, he finally spoke.

“I wasn’t planning to tell you this much…”

After much deliberation, Kariel deliberately put that fact into words.

“You and I, though not now, but very long ago, thousands of years ago…”

====

“……”

Eliya opened her eyes.

And.

He was there before her.

She asked in a tone that seemed bland and tired.

“…How did you get here? Is this right?”

“……”

Kariel remained silent.

Even for someone who rarely showed changes in expression, he seemed unable to control his face now, as if something was welling up inside him.

To others, it might look like he was coldly frozen.

But Eliya.

And Seras.

…They could see right through his emotions and state of mind.

“For me, this was just a moment, but for you, it must have felt like an eternity.”

Kariel, with indifferent eyes, yet as if he knew all the hardships she had endured.

Was shedding small tears.

“I wanted to live an ordinary life.”

“……”

But.

It wasn’t permitted.

“Elhermina, Alesia, Ases, and others. You too.”

I truly wanted that.

But.

“…Because I was born as a descendant of giants and great gods, all the new masters of the world would not tolerate or allow my existence.”

Yet we, tenacious as we are, have always been born persistently in some corner of this world.

“…You and they have deep entanglements with me from past lives.”

That’s why they became bound to him, involved with him, and have been that way.

Surely the desires of the current life and everything visible before them must have been more important.

But for some reason, they valued their connection with Kariel more than their own desires.

Of course, even that wasn’t clear-cut or blind, far from blind faith.

But as time passed, it became more and more similar.

“I felt very sorry, apologetic, and guilty about that. When I didn’t know, I could dismiss it, but once I knew.”

She, before being called Seras, had defended him and taken his side.

And was brutally slaughtered right before his eyes.

Even before that, she and he had never been united.

Always one died first, or met a tragic end.

Elhermina, Alesia, Ases.

All the same.

The only time he could maintain a somewhat intact family and live a temporarily smooth life was.

When he completely devoted his body and soul to the master of that era.

Only when he was loyal and loyal again.

Like Veretragna.

Or like someone similar to him.

“……”

I didn’t know this.

Perhaps the reason I struggled so desperately in my heart, which I didn’t even know about, was to break free from this terrible cycle.

Truly, the reason I struggled so desperately included causes I wasn’t even aware of.

Isn’t this also absurdity and unreasonableness?

And.

Naturally, all of this was something that the ordinary Kariel could never know, could never discover.

This was a terrible truth that could only be discovered after digging into the fundamental ‘me’ that existed before Kariel.

I am a descendant of the great gods.

Once I might have ruled the world with that power at my back.

But in the end, as the loser of the world, I had to endure hundreds, thousands of lives being used, targeted, and bearing humiliation and pain.

“But.”

My current self.

The audacity of my younger self.

By choosing to save the unfortunate soul of Lutesia dwelling within the world tree.

By sacrificing all my talents, aptitudes, and innate qualities.

What was once incredibly solid.

Far stronger than steel.

That wheel broke.

The well-turning wheel was pulled from the carriage and rolled off the cliff without a care.

That is to say.

This was my only chance to pull out of the cycle.

In countless parallel worlds, it was extremely rare for me to contract with the Demon King of Wisdom.

But at least I was the only one who succeeded in coming this far.

And those who were once me.

They surely wanted the same outcome.

And.

I have reached here.

…Therefore.

We have succeeded.

Also.

The opportunity to save and redeem all those entangled with me from their suffering and hardship…

We have obtained that opportunity.

Finally.

Only now.

My kindred.

From the nearly infinite cycle imposed on them, from the shackles of pain.

I have acquired the minimum opportunity to save them.

By standing upright myself.

“……”

And.

She was the beginning of that.

Seras Esdina.

Now, Eliya Minerdia.

Proof that the master of this world and Kariel have reconciled and united.

“Eliya.”

At Kariel’s call, she gazed at him with eyes like his own golden ones.

“Though it will be a brief farewell, you understand now, don’t you?”

“……”

“By becoming the hero of that world and saving it, all the cycles imposed on you will be broken. After that, live the life you want. Try not to commit sins if possible.”

“Kariel, you…”

“After that, yes. You can come find me.”

If you want.

If you wish for that.

“I will gladly welcome you.”

“……”

For some reason.

Eliya found herself whimpering without knowing why.

She didn’t know why.

Her heart just ached, felt overwhelmed, and burst with emotion.

In any case, she couldn’t say anything.

Though there was a mountain of things she wanted to say.

Her lips simply wouldn’t part.

Was it because there was too much pent up inside?

“Now that the urgent fire is extinguished, I want to take care of others.”

“…So you’re saying you neglected the present to care for the future because you were worried about me?”

“Yes.”

“Well, well, I’ll have a word with El about this.”

Eliya didn’t know whether to laugh or wail.

Something was funny, yet something made her angry.

She could only wet her eyes while smiling.

Even Kariel showed a similar reaction, which was somewhat absurd.

“Right. Having come this far… I can’t be petty.”

Hah!

With a deep sigh.

Eliya turned her back without regret.

“Then, next time we’ll really go together?”

“…Yes.”

For her, it would probably be a long journey.

But Kariel, if he wished, could welcome her immediately.

For him, the boundaries between present and future had already lost their meaning.

…But.

Let’s save that for later.

Having put out the urgent fire, now it was time to…

What could no longer be postponed or pushed aside.

The imminent reality.

It was time to focus on such reality.