Chapter 60: Nikita’s Side Story

In front of another exit of the demonic palace.
A silver-haired woman tumbled out.
“Nikita!”
A man rushed out and quickly supported her.
The man, who looked exactly like Nikita, was her older brother, Nia Cynthia.

“N-Nia, Brother.”
Nikita clenched her fists tightly.
Then, she suddenly struck Nia in the side.

“Gah!”
“Why… why didn’t you tell me sooner?! You could have at least let me know you were alive!”
“I-I’m sorry. Nikita, if I had contacted you, someone would definitely have become suspicious.”

Nia, flustered, didn’t know what to do as Nikita raged at him. This level of emotion from Nikita was something Nia had never seen before.
She, too, couldn’t control her feelings right now.
The emotions welling up inside her were overwhelming and chaotic.

A certain man kept surfacing in her mind.
The man who had blocked her path and forcibly sent her here.
When he left the academy, she hadn’t even seen him off.
And yet, he had stubbornly returned to the academy and stayed by her side all this time.

“If I had known, this wouldn’t have happened…”
Nikita bit her lip tightly.

“Was it… Brother, was it you who stopped him from telling me?”
“No, that was his own decision. In the first place, he was the one who saved me.”

Nikita’s eyes widened.
‘Vikarmern, perhaps…’

Perhaps he had known for a long time that Nia would be assassinated.
Perhaps that’s why he had returned to Zeryon Academy.

For whose sake had he done it?
‘It was for me.’

Nikita had always known Vikarmern’s feelings for her.
But she, destined to be used as a pawn in a marriage of convenience for the Cynthia Marquisate, could not accept his feelings.
So, she had turned away, and Vikarmern had understood that.
That’s why he had never confessed to her, not even in the end.

‘He…’

Vikarmern had left the academy after being entangled in an incident with Lucas.
The group Vikarmern had attacked at the time included the Third Princess.
Because of that, he was exiled not only from the academy but also from his family.

‘Could it be… that incident, too?’
Maybe there had been a reason for it.
A reason why he had to return as Hanon.
And if that reason was somehow connected to her?

As a third-year, Vikarmern wouldn’t have been able to keep an eye on the second-year Third Princess.
If he had been by her side to prevent Nia’s assassination?

‘…Was everything he did, even his banishment, really for me?’
Nikita bit down hard on her lip.
Surely, this train of thought was an excessive leap.
But when she recalled the look on Vikarmern’s face as he gazed at her in his final moments…
She couldn’t completely deny it.

Vikarmern had returned as Hanon, always staying by Nikita’s side.
He had supported her so she wouldn’t falter under the weight of her burdens.
That image of him was the same as before—unchanging.

‘The reason he didn’t tell me about Nia’s death right away…’
Was because he feared the Third Princess’s faction might catch on to something.
He had kept it a secret, preparing for the worst-case scenario, in case Nikita lost control.
He must have planned to reveal the truth to stop her then.

Nikita recalled the bittersweet smile Vikarmern had as he looked at her in his guise as Hanon.

‘…You knew from the very beginning.’
After hearing the news of Nia’s death, Nikita delved into the magic of the Elder Dragon.
Once one touches the magic of the Elder Dragon, it cannot be stopped.
Vikarmern had known this, and that was why he smiled that way.

‘And today…’
To completely erase the magic of the Elder Dragon engraved on Nikita, Vikarmern had prepared alone, ultimately saving her at great cost.

‘Why?’
Nikita wanted to ask again.
Why did he go to such lengths for her?
She wanted so desperately to ask him in person.
But the answer was already clear.

「It’s fine.」
「As long as Nikita is safe, that’s enough.」
The words he had spoken so gently while looking at her.
Now that she knew he was Vikarmern, the meaning behind those words became painfully clear.

「Nikita, please be happy.」
Even without receiving her heart in return, her happiness alone was enough of a reward for him.
That’s what Vikarmern had been saying.

The last image of Vikarmern in her mind was of his utterly ruined state.
His body, infused with molten steel, scarred with lightning burns all over.
And in the end, he had certainly taken something from within her.

Although she couldn’t say exactly what it was, she knew for certain it was related to the magic of the Elder Dragon.
He had sacrificed everything, even his own body, for her.

Her chest felt stifled.
A torrent of unidentifiable emotions swirled within her.
Her heart felt like it was being torn apart.

She felt guilt and pain for never once giving him an answer to his feelings.

“So foolish…”
Nikita clutched the collar of her chest.
She pounded her stifling heart repeatedly.

“Truly…”
Large tears rolled down from her eyes.
But no matter how much she cried, the last image of his face wouldn’t fade away.

It flowed.
Her emotions were overflowing too much.
She had never experienced anything like this before.

Her life had been one where no one, except for Nia, had truly cared for her.
No, even Nia, with his radiant talent, had not truly seen her.
Just as the ordinary cannot comprehend a genius, a genius cannot fully understand the ordinary.

But Vikarmern had been just like her—ordinary.
He had no talent for magic and was treated as useless by the Niflheim family.
The only person who had stood on the same level as her.

Perhaps that was why Nikita had tried even harder to turn away from him.
Looking at him was like looking at herself.
Subconsciously, she had known this, and so she had closed her eyes to it.

But Vikarmern had always been watching her.
His gaze had been steadier than anyone else’s.

All of Nikita’s efforts had been dismissed as merely what was expected of someone born into the Cynthia Marquisate.

No matter how great her achievements were, they were dismissed as expected simply because she belonged to the Cynthia Marquisate.
However, Vikarmern praised her.
He complimented her efforts and expressed his admiration.
From that, Nikita found solace.

In contrast, the Cynthia Marquisate never acknowledged any of Nikita’s hard work.
No matter what she did, she could not escape being used as a pawn in a political marriage.

But at this moment, she had completely broken free from Cynthia.
By delving into the magic of the Elder Dragon, the Cynthia Marquisate would no longer regard Nikita as one of their own.

Freedom.
For the first time, Nikita had been granted freedom.
A life where she could live not as Nikita Cynthia but simply as Nikita.
And this was the life she had always wanted above all else.

The true reason she had crumbled after Nia’s death was the realization of her wretched life, destined only for a political marriage.
And the one who gave her this new life was Vikarmern.

It felt as though he was speaking to her: ‘Even I, who was cast out from my family, am living boldly. Why can’t you live like that too?’

The life he had shown her through his own actions.
Everything he had done until now came back to Nikita.

She could live.
She could undoubtedly live.
Vikarmern had abandoned his family and lived a brilliant life.
Because she had seen him, she was certain she could live that way too.

Nikita was someone who persevered.
Even if she fell, she knew how to rise again.
And this time, she wouldn’t be rising alone.

“So foolish…”
She could no longer hold back her tears.
She wanted to see him right away and talk to him.
She wanted to question him about everything he had done.

Most of all, she wanted to express the emotions that were bursting out of her at this moment.

“…Nikita, the real Hanon was discovered recently.”
At that moment, Nia’s voice reached Nikita’s ears.

“He’s not Hanon Irei, is he?”
Even those in the First Prince’s faction had confirmed that the Hanon at the academy was an impostor.

Hearing Nia’s question, Nikita bit her lip.
“…I can’t tell you who he is.”
Nikita kept the secret.
For his sake, she could not reveal the truth.

Nia nodded.
“I’m only telling you this so you’ll know what tool he used.”
“A tool?”
“A tool that allowed him to perfectly disguise himself as Hanon.”

Nikita recalled how he had also disguised himself as Hania.
“That’s called the Veil Bandages. Strictly speaking, it’s a type of sacred artifact.”

Nia’s expression darkened as he said this.
Sacred artifacts often carried inherent dangers.
There were many instances where their use led to death.

“Brother, does it have side effects?”
“…Yes. The more you use the Veil Bandages, the more you lose one of the three fundamental aspects of emotion.”

Nikita’s eyes gradually widened.
“Emotions, you mean…”
“Sorrow, anger, love—the three universal emotions humans feel. One of them will disappear.
And according to additional research, depending on how long it’s used, it might not just be one.”

Nikita froze, her eyes wide open.
Sorrow, anger, love.
It had already been half a year since Vikarmern started using the Veil Bandages.
If he had lost one of those emotions, she already knew the most likely candidate.

“No.”
Nikita denied it.
“No, it can’t be. It can’t…”

Only now had she come to face his genuine feelings.
To think that those feelings might have vanished…
Nikita couldn’t accept it.
And the thought that it was because of her made it even harder to bear.

‘The ‘be happy’ that Vikarmern spoke of…’
It might have been a farewell to his own fading emotions.

“I have to go back right now!”
“Nikita, if you go back now, you’ll only put yourself in danger!”
Nia urgently stopped her.
“And wasn’t this his choice, made to protect you?”

If Nikita went back now, everything Vikarmern had done would become meaningless.
Knowing this, Nikita clenched her fists tightly and suppressed her emotions.

“…Understood.”
Nikita relented.
“But someday…”

If she ever met him again,
‘Even if he has lost his emotions…’
She would help him regain them.

‘I’ve received so much from him.’
So she would make sure to return it all to him.

Nikita’s blue eyes turned toward the demonic palace.
Now, they were filled entirely with the image of one person.