Ch.40After She Vanished (3)

Olivia took a deep breath instead of answering. Whether due to that or the effect of the title, her racing heartbeat gradually subsided.

Kiel hadn’t asked who she was. He had asked which one she was.

Olivia understood the intention behind that question.

‘He’s probably asking if I’m the one who killed him or not.’

This confirmed that Kiel’s memories had been overwritten. And she could also deduce that he had died at the hands of Olivia from the original timeline—the massacre route.

It was only unfortunate that she couldn’t see his face directly since he was standing behind her.

“…Which one, you ask?”

“You should know what I mean.”

“You speak as if you know me well.”

Click.

Kiel’s grip tightened slightly. The blade dug a little deeper into Olivia’s skin. Red droplets of blood trickled down the blade.

“Don’t test me.”

It was a terrifying killing intent. Enough to make her whole body shiver.

“Answer within ten seconds.”

“And if I don’t?”

“I’ll cut you.”

Kiel began counting. Olivia didn’t panic and formulated the optimal response.

Kiel didn’t know that Olivia had memories from the previous timeline. If she were to answer something like ‘I’m not the one who killed you,’ it would only fuel Kiel’s suspicions.

So what should she do?

‘I should pretend I don’t have memories from the previous timeline.’

That seemed like the right approach no matter how she thought about it.

Then what was Kiel’s intention with his question?

‘Show me proof that you’re not the Olivia who killed me.’

How could she pretend not to know about the previous timeline while simultaneously giving Kiel a satisfactory answer?

Olivia knew the way.

Whooooosh.

A cold wind blew. Olivia’s hair fluttered toward Kiel.

Swish.

Olivia turned her body very slowly. A thin red line formed along her neck. Blood droplets gathered between the split flesh and trickled down.

Her clothes gradually turned red from the chest down.

‘That hurts.’

But perhaps because she had just experienced terrible pain earlier, it was more bearable than expected.

Compared to what she’d felt before, this pain was merely like being pricked by a needle.

But would an observer see it the same way?

‘Probably not.’

Although it was a small wound, the neck was clearly a vital point. Even with a wound of the same size, the amount of blood flowing from it was overwhelmingly different compared to other body parts.

And blood stirs emotions.

Steam rose gently. She felt slightly dizzy.

In the cold winter, the blood froze quickly. Her stiffened clothes hardened and repeatedly absorbed the newly flowing blood.

A slight tremor was felt through the blade. Such trembling definitely wasn’t there until just now. It didn’t make sense for a swordsman of Kiel’s caliber to be unable to control the trembling of his sword.

It was evidence that Kiel was being shaken.

Olivia, covered in blood, asked in a calm voice:

“Didn’t you say you’d cut me?”

Flinch.

The tip of Kiel’s sword trembled greatly. As a result, the blade dug a little deeper into Olivia’s skin. Startled, Kiel returned the blade to its original position, but the wound that had already been made didn’t heal.

Drip.

Now the blood didn’t gather in droplets. Instead, a stream of blood flowed down. The stream ran along her collarbone, dyeing her clothes in its color. She could feel the flow even without seeing it with her eyes.

Olivia didn’t look at her wound. Instead, she stared into Kiel’s eyes.

Kiel’s dark eyes were calm. The hatred contained within them seemed like it would never waver.

But Olivia continued to stare. As if challenging him to do his worst.

And so, an eternity passed in an instant.

Finally, his hatred wavered.

At that moment, Olivia was certain.

At least for now, Kiel would not swing his sword.

[Kiel Rothschild]

– Level: 93 (Regression bonus applied)

– Job: Sword Master

– Affection: -100 (+68)

– Title: Regressor

Kiel’s affection was undoubtedly negative 100. If an affection of 90 represented a blind love that could break a knight’s beliefs, negative 100 was hatred that would kill at any cost.

Yet he didn’t cut her throat.

It meant that some other emotion was stronger than his murderous hatred.

Of course, Olivia had no way of knowing what that emotion was.

“……”

Kiel had been ready to cut her down at any moment.

But.

Gulp.

The moment he met Olivia’s eyes, he couldn’t do it.

“This conversation seems like it’ll be long. How about putting this away first?”

Because those eyes belonged to someone he had forgotten for a long time.

That characteristically indifferent tone too.

That confident gaze too.

She was definitely the Olivia he knew.

There was no need to hear her answer. Her tone, each of her actions, was already as good as an answer.

Thump thump thump thump.

His heart pounded.

Tap.

Olivia’s hand pushed away the greatsword.

“I said put it away.”

The greatsword slowly moved to the side. Kiel’s eyes filled with confusion.

It wasn’t pushed away by force. Olivia’s arms had almost no muscle to speak of.

It was because the strength in his arm holding the greatsword had unconsciously drained away.

Kiel couldn’t understand his current emotions.

The Olivia before him was indeed the Olivia he knew.

Not the murderer who had assassinated the Emperor and massacred numerous ministers.

But why…

Why on earth was such a hateful emotion welling up?

This hatred shouldn’t be directed at Olivia. She was clearly a victim.

He knew that intellectually, but his heart couldn’t accept it.

‘Have I truly gone mad?’

Clang.

Kiel’s sword fell weakly into the ground. But Kiel couldn’t let go of the sword’s handle.

His burning hatred wouldn’t allow that much.

This shouldn’t be happening.

This shouldn’t be happening, and yet.

Kiel’s face contorted.

The reunion with the woman he thought he’d never see again was the worst possible scenario.

*****

Drip. Drop.

Drops of blood stained the snow red. Olivia, unconcerned, silently wrapped bandages around her neck.

Kiel watched from the side. That was the best he could do.

The desire to help her and the desire to kill her coexisted.

He wanted to embrace her neck, and at the same time, he wanted to strangle it.

It was a truly terrible feeling.

Olivia, having roughly stopped the bleeding, spoke.

“You know me, don’t you?”

Kiel turned his head to look at Olivia.

Meeting her blue eyes, hatred welled up again.

But with Olivia’s next statement, an endless void came over him.

“I’ve never been told I have a poor memory. But no matter how much I think about it, I don’t remember someone like you.”

Kiel finally realized why the tip of his sword had trembled.

The power of his inexplicable hatred was certainly great. It was enough to wound a comrade he had longed to meet until his dying breath without feeling any guilt.

“But clearly, you seem to know me.”

However, that hatred was submerged in the emptiness of sorrow.

Olivia didn’t remember.

The memories of eating together, talking, laughing, and chatting.

She didn’t remember any of it.

That fact stabbed his heart like a dagger.

All those events had become nonexistent to Olivia.

‘It’s all become emptiness.’

Her noble sacrifice had been in vain.

That alone was painful enough. But what was even more painful was:

The person who had hurt her, who knew nothing, was me.

– You were always like that.

No. I didn’t remember then.

It’s all that woman’s fault. She messed with my mind, so I couldn’t remember properly.

– You deceived us at every moment and betrayed our trust.

She never once deceived us.

Rather, it was Olivia who was betrayed.

– And now, you want me to trust you again?

He wanted to smile at her, to apologize.

But he simply couldn’t.

Hatred.

This cursed hatred blocked everything.

Even at this moment, the urge to draw his sword and cut that neck burned within him.

Kiel turned away. If he kept looking at her, he felt he might do something terrible.

“Well, I didn’t expect you to answer anyway.”

I have regressed.

“If I’d known it would be like this, I should have just tortured the information out of you from the beginning.”

I know you’re not that kind of person.

“……”

Kiel closed his eyes tightly and pulled his sword out of the ice.

Whooooosh.

The wind blew.

Their positions were now reversed from the beginning. Olivia was looking at Kiel’s back, while Kiel was looking somewhere beyond the snow field.

“My name is Kiel Rothschild.”

Not now.

In this state, he couldn’t even have a conversation with her.

Their reunion shouldn’t happen like this.

“When we meet next time, please remember.”

When I’ve shed this disorienting hatred.

Then.

When that time comes, I will return.

Kiel ran.

Without looking back, until the end of the snow field.

He ran and ran.

*****

“…Was that really the right thing to do?”

Olivia stared at Kiel as he became a dot and disappeared.

The fact that he didn’t attack her meant it was half successful.

‘Is Kiel finished now?’

Olivia sighed and drank a potion. She also removed the bandages she had wrapped for her patient act.

“I guess it worked out. Whatever.”

Olivia trudged toward the lair where her disciples were waiting.

One down.

Fourteen more to go.

It’s not time to rest yet.