Ch.3939. Deus Verdi

“…….”

The sound of IV drips falling one by one was audible in the desolate and quiet hospital room.

Erika Bright sat beside Deus Verdi’s bed with her head bowed low, blaming herself as he lay there with his eyes closed.

Deus had once told her:

There was indeed something in the academy, but it wasn’t trying to kill him.

‘So that’s what it was.’

Erika was finally beginning to understand what he meant.

It wasn’t the evil spirits of the academy that were the problem, but another evil spirit dwelling within his body.

Though she didn’t know what it was exactly.

‘I’m sorry.’

For not protecting you.

If I was going to be so harsh, if I was going to hurt your feelings, I should have at least protected you.

I’m sorry for letting you get hurt like this.

Her nose stung slightly as tears threatened to well up. Recently, she had become more tearful. Feeling helpless and dejected, she cooled her hot eyes with the back of her cold hand.

The door slid open.

The maid, Findenai, entered the hospital room.

Having just smoked outside, she clicked her tongue at the sight of Erika.

“They said his life isn’t in danger. Don’t worry too much.”

When Deus had fallen from the rooftop, it had been shocking, but there were many professors and security guards around.

Naturally, they had immediately administered first aid, and his life wasn’t in danger.

The problem was that he wasn’t waking up, even though his body was gradually healing.

“The master probably jumped because he knew you all were down there.”

“……”

“So have some confidence. He trusts you, doesn’t he?”

“Are you seriously saying that right now?”

Erika turned her head sharply to glare at Findenai.

It wasn’t the kind of killing intent one would expect from a mere academy professor, but Findenai found it interesting and continued speaking.

“I could have saved him.”

Findenai stated firmly.

Hearing this, Erika felt her blood boil and raised her mana, but Findenai crossed her arms and continued.

“But the master told me not to. He must have had something in mind.”

“…!”

“So just trust him for now. I may not always understand what he’s thinking, but he doesn’t do things without reason.”

“……”

Erika was momentarily speechless, overcome by a strange sense of defeat.

Although Findenai couldn’t be said to have particularly good feelings toward Deus, her trust in him was genuine.

Feeling pathetic as his fiancée, she bit her lip hard.

The door slid open again!

The man who entered was Gideon with his red hair.

His face was as red with anger as his hair as he strode toward Erika.

“What are you doing here?! You’re my girlfriend! My fiancée! Who are you nursing?!”

Gideon roughly grabbed Erika’s wrist and tried to drag her away.

“I am not your property!”

With a swift motion, Erika shook off his hand and refused.

“I clearly warned you not to touch me carelessly.”

Erika redirected the mana that had risen because of Findenai and naturally warned Gideon.

“You…!”

“Shut up and get out. This is a place where the patient needs to rest in peace and quiet.”

“……”

Gideon seemed at a loss for words as he looked over at Findenai beside him and Deus lying in the bed.

Then, grinding his teeth, he pointed at Erika.

“The Bright family is already positively considering our engagement. Are you sure you want to act like this?”

“…!”

Erika was suddenly speechless. It felt like a heavy stone had lodged in her throat.

“Just keep acting like this and see!”

With that shout, Gideon roughly opened the door and went outside.

Seeing this, Erika let out a long sigh and crouched down. She felt like she might collapse at any moment.

“I need to step out for a bit.”

Not wanting to show this side of herself to Deus, Erika headed outside.

Findenai followed behind her.

“Want a smoke?”

Findenai grinned as she pulled out a cigarette with her index finger. Erika hesitated for a moment but shook her head.

“Let’s have some coffee instead. I have questions for you.”

“I have questions too. Care to spill some details?”

“If you don’t treat it as mere entertainment.”

“That won’t do! Everything ultimately comes down to whether it’s interesting or not!”

“…You really are hard to get close to.”

Shaking her head in disbelief, Erika headed to a nearby café with Findenai.

Once again, peaceful silence filled the room. But it didn’t last long.

The door slid open.

A black-haired female student entered. Her red tie indicated she was a first-year at Robern Academy.

It was Aria Rius, the protagonist of the game world Retry.

She approached with an expressionless face and looked down at the unconscious Deus.

“Ah, aah.”

Then, with unfocused eyes, she slowly reached out and caressed his face.

Starting from his eyes, she traced his brow, down to his nose. Then she naturally stroked his cheek and finally moved toward his lips.

“Ah, Professor.”

Looking at his soft lips, Aria licked her own hungrily but held back, exhaling a hot breath.

No matter how much desire welled up, Aria had no intention of doing anything without Deus’s consent.

“Aah, Professor.”

Slowly, Aria took his hand and placed it against her cheek.

Having been under the blanket, Deus’s warm touch further heated Aria’s body.

“I was really surprised, Professor.”

She never expected him to jump from the rooftop like that. Momentarily terrified, Aria had rushed to help, but Karen and Erika had already provided excellent first aid, so she didn’t interfere.

“This didn’t happen in the previous world, so I couldn’t help but be shocked.”

Aria gently lowered her head and placed her ear against Deus’s chest.

Thump-thump.

The sound of his heartbeat told her that Deus was still alive, and that alone was enough to calm her heart and make her happy.

“You’re already trying to deal with that person. It seems my efforts weren’t in vain.”

With her ear still on his chest, Aria turned her head to stare at Deus’s lips.

Should I just devour them?

Such desire surged through Aria’s body.

Smooch.

“Please come back victorious.”

As a compromise, Aria kissed Deus’s forehead before leaving the hospital room.

“This time, you…”

Her whispered promise faded away like a scattered breath.

* * *

“……”

I slightly raised the back of my hand to check.

It wasn’t the white skin that reminded me of Deus’s white eyes. Seeing the typical Asian skin tone, I realized I had succeeded.

Right now, I was Shinwoo Kim.

Born in South Korea, estranged from my parents because I could see ghosts, always tormented by spirits, my emotions had withered away.

I had gone to college, completed military service, and had been living an ordinary office life.

“……”

The clothes I was wearing were the suit I used to wear at work. I think I was wearing it when I entered the game.

Looking around, it was the familiar Verdi mansion.

However, it was clearly not reality, as the scenery outside the mansion couldn’t maintain a proper form, spreading like ink in water.

Then.

Creeeeak.

The main door opened, and an all-too-familiar man walked out of the mansion.

His expression showed intense anger, and he glared at me as if he would tear me apart right then and there.

Deus Verdi.

“Still!”

The original owner of the body.

“You’re still not dead! You’re still parasitizing my body! I’ll kill you somehow. I’ll drive you out somehow!”

Deus grabbed my collar, raging.

Strictly speaking, this was practically our first meeting, yet we both harbored deep emotional grudges against each other.

I slapped his hand away and answered.

“I’m the master of this body now, not you.”

“Don’t talk nonsense! I am Deus! I am the second son of the Verdi family!”

“……”

“You bastard! Get out of my body right now! Was it fun pretending to be me? Huh? Did you enjoy it? Girls spreading their legs for you, was it nice?”

“……”

“Damn you! Answer me! You stole someone else’s body and you’re acting so shameless? How can you behave like that?!”

To him, who was half sobbing as he shouted, I slowly exhaled and answered.

“I was just struggling to survive.”

“You son of a…!”

“While living as Deus Verdi.”

Calmly and certainly.

“No one missed you.”

“You bastard!”

Deus’s fist swung hard and hit my face squarely. My head turned sharply, but it didn’t hurt.

“You were a pervert with abnormal sexual desires, getting aroused by your only sister.”

“Shut up!”

Thud!

“You were a drug addict who would lick the shoes of those lowly back-alley thugs if you didn’t have your fix.”

“So what! So what! That was my life!”

Thud!

Deus’s fists continued to strike. However, as time passed, his strength waned.

“You also had no sense of responsibility as a Verdi, nor any conviction to protect Norsweden.”

At least Darius had that. His first priority was the family, and his second was Norsweden.

But the man before me had just thought of everything as his playground.

“Honestly, I wanted to meet you. And I had something serious to ask.”

“…What, you bastard.”

By now, Deus had stopped throwing punches and was pathetically covered in tears.

“I’ve seen many souls. They cling to regrets and attachments from their lives because they each had their own beliefs and values.”

I voiced the question I had always wanted to ask.

“Deus Verdi. What attachments do you have?”