Chapter 66: At the End of Despair (8)

[66] 9. At the End of Despair (8)

It was finally over.

Parsley thought to herself as she climbed the mountain path.

Over the past 3 days, Parsley had completed all the preparations.

She had made the boy new prosthetic hands and drawn up the blueprints. She’d even procured a magic textbook so that he could walk the path of magic once more.

And she’d also erased the mark of the heretic, prepared funds for unexpected situations, manipulated the memories of those around him…

Everything to make the boy happy.

It was a lot for one person to handle, but she had been able to manage by giving up on sleep.

Now, only one thing remained:

to find a noble family to adopt the boy.

Thankfully, she already had a candidate.

House Ailleyde.

Though not particularly powerful, they were a family known for their virtue. And thanks to a series of successful business ventures, they were also quite wealthy.

…Right, they were located in the city that would be visible once she crossed this mountain range.

This was certainly the end.

With each step she took up the mountain path, Parsley felt her body crumbling.

It wasn’t just muscle aches. The price she had to pay for reversing time was accumulating, bit by bit.

But to her, it felt like liberation.

A sense of relief.

Or perhaps, the hollowness that remains in your heart when you’re tired of crying.

Maybe that was why,

“The summer night’s aurora.”

… those meaningless words slipped out.

The boy, who had been wearing a gloomy expression, flinched. Looking up at her, he asked,

“What?”

“The summer night’s aurora… Can you promise to remember it, even after I’m gone?”

Parsley thought to herself that she didn’t even know what she was saying. But once she opened her mouth, the words kept pouring out.

“Just write it down somewhere in the corner of a book. It’s okay if you don’t know what it means. You can even use it to flirt with someone later.”

Right, this was certainly the end.

She knew it instinctively.

Once she finished the final preparations, Parsley would disappear from this world. No one would remember her. Even these very words would vanish into thin air.

There were no tears. She simply said with a smile,

“So… Can you promise to remember it?”

The boy stared at her back. He pulled out a book from his bag and placed a pen on top.

And then, suddenly, he stopped.

Parsley, who has been moving forward, turned around, puzzled, and looked at the boy.

He was glaring at the book, his expression contorted. After mumbling to himself, he finally let out a deep sigh.

“Forget it.”

A question appears in Parsley’s eyes.

Looking at her, the boy repeated firmly,

“I said forget it. All of it.”

Then he popped out his prosthetic eye. He also pulled off his prosthetic hand with his teeth and set them on the ground.

“Take them.”

Parsley’s mind went blank at this illogical situation. She barely managed to force out a single question.

“Why…?”

The boy’s face grimaced. After scratching his head for a long time, he said,

“I… I don’t want to boast about my misfortunes, but… my shitty life hasn’t been exactly a picnic, you know?”

The boy’s face darkened.

“I was an orphan from the day I was born, lost my hand when I tried to save my first love, had my eye gouged out for protecting a girl, and I was even branded a heretic.”

The boy let out a self-deprecating laugh.

“There were a lot of times when I thought that it would be better to just die.”

It was an all too brief summary of the boy’s harsh life.

The boy’s world had always been cold and harsh. It was as if it were threatening him, telling him to hurry up and die.

“But, I lived.”

“…”

“Sister Amy said that life is a path. You might encounter robbers, or trip over a rock along the way. But if you keep walking, you’ll definitely see something beautiful.”

The boy shrugged.

“And as I lived, she was right.”

Many emotions were melted into those words. But in the end, what appeared on the boy’s face was a smile.

“So I just kept going.”

Then the boy frowned and blurted out,

“But if you disappear like this, then I don’t think I can do that anymore. So…”

As if the boy were struggling to find the right words, he suddenly ruffled his hair in frustration.

“How should I put this… It’s like… you’re dead, so why should I even bother? No, that’s not it…”

“Don’t worry about it.”

Parsley said, her face now hardened.

Stepping toward the boy, she picked up the prosthetics that had fallen to the ground and handed them to him.

“I told you, only good things will happen in your life now. From now on, you won’t have to experience anything as painful as…”

“That’s not something *we* can decide.”

The boy laughed dryly.

“Even if you prepare everything, no one knows what will happen in my life.”

A bitter smile spread across his face.

“Even if I get adopted into a noble family, they could become bankrupt, or some crazy barbarian might show up and chop off my leg.”

It was a truth the boy had learned through his short but harsh life.

“Eternal happiness is just an illusion. It could crumble at any moment.”

The boy gently pushed the prosthetics away.

“So I’d rather have you live.”

“So that I can endure the misfortunes that await me. I want you to stay strong, to not give up.”

“You know, when someone gives up besides you, it makes you want to give up too.”

A smile appeared on the boy’s face, finally having found his reason.

And in front of that, Parsley wore an expression that looked like she might collapse at any moment.

“B-But I told you… if I disappear, all memories of me…”

“Even if memories disappear, the choices we made will remain.”

The boy looked at Parsley and said,

“So, I’m sorry, Parsley. I can’t accept your help.”

“…Even if it means you’ll end up killing 72 people?”

The boy smiled.

“Come on, you already told me about the future, you really think I’d do that?”

“…”

“Go back, Parsley. Live. For my sake.”

And with that, the boy had made his decision.

And the woman was defeated.

At the moment when cracks form in the heart,

A moment when actions could turn extreme.

It was time for *me* to enter.

“What do you say to that, miss?”

The boy and Parsley’s eyes turned to me.

Well, not both of their eyes. One of them didn’t have eyes, after all…

“Who are you?”

A magic circle appeared in the air as Parsley’s venomous voice spoke.

“I didn’t sense anyone else’s magic signature here just moments ago. How…”

“That’s not what’s important right now, miss.”

I grinned.

“What’s important is that your goal has been thwarted.”

“What? How did you…”

“Well, it was destined to fail from the beginning.”

“Just what kind of nonsense are you…!”

I snapped my finger,

and then an image filled Parsley’s vision.

“Rem…?”

As she had said,

Rem, in a small room, in the world she had just left, was curled up on the floor.

With a haggard look on his face, he stared at the ground with his tear-filled eyes. Then, he suddenly sat up.

He pulled a rope from his desk and started to tie it into a familiar shape.

What happened after that was nothing new.

A knot tied to a ceiling beam.

Feet stepping onto a chair.

And then, a body swinging back and forth like a pendulum.

“_____!!”

Parsley screamed and snapped out of the illusion. Looking around with a dazed expression, she mumbled.

“Wh-What…? Just what was…”

“That’s the future, not too far away, as calculated by Alain’s calculator. Of course, it has been slightly exaggerated.”

I kindly explained. Parsley’s eyes turned vicious.

“Don’t lie! There’s no way Rem would kill himself! Why would he…”

“Because *you* went back to the past and died.”

I said calmly.

“A broken heart can lead to extreme actions. And he’s had a hard life, you know.”

“T-That’s impossible! I came back to the past! The very fact that I left for the past shouldn’t even exist anymore…”

It was then that I realized my explanation was lacking.

“I’m sorry, miss, but time travel is impossible.”

A blank look spread across Parsley’s face.

I explained to her slowly and carefully,

“Time, it’s a much more absolute concept than you think. Some worlds might have faster or slower flows, but it never flows backward.”

Her pupils trembled with confusion.

“Then this world…”

“Is a completely different place. Have you ever heard of parallel worlds?”

Judging by her blank expression, she hadn’t. Feeling troubled, I gave her a rough explanation.

“It’s… well, you could say it’s a copy of your world up to the exact moment you came here? If you, as a variable, hadn’t come here, then it would have unfolded in the same way as your original world… but anyway, it’s a different place.”

To be honest, even I didn’t know the exact details.

I just knew what Alain, that old geezer, had told me.

“B-But… Surely with Alain’s pocket watch, time could be turned back…”

“It’s just one of the old man’s cruel tricks. It can only restore a specific object to a state as if it had ‘gone back in time.’ Of course, that alone is still amazing, but…”

I finished my lengthy explanation and got to the point.

“Anyway, you get it now, right? No matter what you do here, the reality of your original world won’t change. They’re completely different places.”

Then I took a step toward her and said gently,

“So, just go back quietly…”

“Lies.”

A fierce light appeared in Parsley’s eyes.

“It’s all a lie. That was an illusion spell, wasn’t it? I won’t be fooled. I’ll never let anyone touch my mind…”

“Why would I lie?”

Parsley’s body stiffened.

I placed my hands on my hips and said.

“What could I possibly gain from lying to you?”

“There’s definitely something you’re up to!”

It was practically a scream.

She glared at me and shouted desperately.

“So you’re saying that my struggles for the past seven years have been all for nothing? That all my effort to fix everything, was just a pointless attempt?!”

“Yes.”

I nodded.

“I’m sorry, but that’s the truth.”

“Shut up! That can’t…”

“And even if it isn’t true, what can you do about it?”

I looked down at the boy, who seemed lost in thought with a dazed look on his face.

“Didn’t you just hear him? He said he won’t accept your help. That he’d rather have you live.”

“…”

“Then you have no reason to be here, do you?”

Those words seemed to hit her hard.

Parsley collapsed, sinking to the floor. She looked at me with a blank expression on her face and mumbled,

“Don’t be ridiculous…”

“Then what am I supposed to do…”

“Marianne’s dead, and I even killed Mother…”

“I have nothing left…”

“I’m all alone…”

“Just tell me what I’m supposed to do…”

She didn’t even cry,

She simply slumped forward, her face in her hands.

The look of someone whose heart has been completely broken.

It was then that I decided to bring in the final character, who should be quite worked up by now.

“You’re not completely alone.”

“What…?”

I looked past her at the empty air.

“What do you…”

It was as if hot water had been poured on an oil painting.

The scenery distorted, and a strange sound filled my ears.

And then, in the next moment…

“Damn it, what kind of magic circle is this, so complicated… Parsley?”

A white-haired man appeared.

He looked like a steampunk cyborg.

His left hand was made of bronze, as were both his legs.

His right eye was made of gold, with a blue lens that moved freely along a set track.

Parsley looked at him and asked in a suspicious voice,

“Rem…?”

What followed was a simple cliché.

Rem rushed over and hugged Parsley.

Burying his face in her shoulder, he repeated over and over,

“Thank goodness… Thank goodness…”

Parsley just stared at him with a blank expression in this baffling situation.

Then, realizing what was going on, she screamed.

“Rem, are you crazy?!”

She pushed Rem away with all her might and contorted her face.

“Do you even know the cost of coming here?! And how did you even manage to get here without Alain’s pocket watch…”

“I, I got my memories back.”

Parsley’s eyes widened once more. Rem smiled bitterly.

“72 human experiments… It seems Sage set an easy keyword because it was too much of a hassle.”

“Then you…”

Rem’s face darkened. After a long hesitation, he barely opened his mouth and said,

“I’m sorry.”

Parsley’s eyes widened.

Rem grimaced and continued,

“…I was scared.”

“… Of what?”

“I was afraid that you’d hate me if you knew what I’d done.”

Parsley realized that he was explaining the reason he had hidden his past from her.

It was the answer to the question she’d asked at the trial.

Rem bit his lower lip until it bled, he continued.

“And… I couldn’t stand it.”

“…”

“What I had done, the price I had to pay… It was all too much. I wanted to run away, somehow.”

…This time, it was the reason why he didn’t try to avoid his punishment.

The reason why he rejected Parsley’s proposal to escape.

The reason why he left her.

Rem, unable to meet her eyes, said,

“And I thought that you could never love me, knowing the truth. I thought it would be better if I disappeared. So…”

“There’s no way I would.”

Rem looked up and saw tears streaming down Parsley’s face.

“Back then, and even now, you were all I had, how could I possibly…”

Parsley buried her face in his shoulder.

“The truth is… I wanted you to stay…!”

And with that, Parsley began to cry. Rem stared at her with a pained expression, and then, quietly, he hugged her tightly.

“I’m sorry, Parsley.”

Closing his eyes, he said,

“So… Let’s go back.”

Parsley’s shoulders trembled. Gently pushing him away, she looked up at him, her face wet with tears.

“I can’t, Rem.”

Her hollow eyes stared at him.

“I’m too tired now.”

*Too tired to have nightmares, too tired of suffering from the memories that surfaced.* Parsley lowered her gaze and added,

Her shoulders trembled as she looked at her hands.

“I don’t… have the strength to face them anymore.”

Rest. The truth is, that was what she truly desired.

She wasn’t strong enough to endure all that pain. She had already been broken that day, back when Sage had manipulated her memories over and over.

No, maybe even before that.

She had simply been enduring, crawling, clinging to her goal of going back to the past to fix everything.

Now that even that was over,

she wanted to collapse and fade away.

“Then I’ll be by your side.”

But humans aren’t creatures that walk and crumble alone.

Smiling gently, Rem looked at Parsley.

“If you have nightmares, I’ll hold your hand. And if you’re tormented by memories, I’ll stroke your back until they’re gone.”

Parsley’s eyes turn towards Rem.

Rem, his eyes filled with sadness, continued,

“And if, even then, you can’t bear it…”

Rem smiled sadly.

“Then I’ll leave with you.”

Parsley’s eyes trembled.

The scene from a moment ago flashed before her.

“I know you don’t trust me after I left you. But please, give me one more chance.”

Rem, clutching Parsley’s hand, he looked at her with pleading eyes.

“Let’s go back together.”

At that moment, many things flashed before her eyes.

The memories that had been manipulated thousands of times,

Marianne’s corpse,

Rem confessing his murder,

and the nightmares that had tormented her for seven years.

Naturally, they wouldn’t disappear.

Reality isn’t a movie or a novel.

Pain, once engraved, doesn’t vanish with a few words.

They would continue to turn her life into a living hell.

But it wasn’t just pain that filled her mind.

The birthday party Marianne and Rem had thrown for her,

the summer night aurora they had walked on,

and Rem, who had tried to stop her until the very end.

Humans can’t help but be intertwined with others as they live.

Whether out of loneliness, necessity, or coincidence…

We hate, love, despise, adore, obsess, and annoy.

We’re tied to each other, like spiderwebs, in this thing called a relationship.

As if it were the essence of life.

And because of that, we can stand up even during our most painful moments.

Even when we’re lying in the depths of despair, we can rise again.

Because we know that someone we are connected to, will extend a hand to help us up.

And if the pain is too much to bear,

then that someone will sit beside us and soothe it.

We can stand up again and walk the path.

We can hold hands and witness beautiful scenery.

“…Okay.”

Parsley finally nodded, all while shedding tears.

******* (Author’s Afterword)

Woof woof!

(Another chapter coming soon!!)