Chapter 89: Things that never change (6)

“Lina is still inside me.”

“I’m sorry, I said something strange…”

“Just, please pretend you didn’t see anything. Sometimes I want to be alone…”

Scenes from her mind kept popping up, no matter how hard she tried to stop them.

Sera’s voice echoed in Laura’s mind, who had been living in the capital for several days, like a reverberation.

A dream, it’s a dream.

This isn’t reality.

Even though she tried to think that, her body wouldn’t move, and the events that happened in the Forest of White Haze unfolded before her like magic.

The suddenly darkened sky and Baek Min-joon, who appeared with an unpleasant smile.

And even Diana, who had placed a curse on her body.

In the end, Baek Min-joon’s magic bullet flew towards Sera, and Laura couldn’t do anything this time either.

Along with a bang, Sera collapsed, and Baek Min-joon kicked Sera’s stomach to his heart’s content.

“No, this isn’t it.

Please don’t do that.”

No matter how much she pleaded, the dream didn’t end.

She knew that Sera hadn’t really had a miscarriage.

Kim Su-hyeon had said that he had never had a relationship with Sera.

It was just that Sera’s past was so miserable, and that’s why she didn’t even know how babies were born.

A saintess who believed that a baby was born after spending a night with a man, at least for Sera, the fake was becoming real.

She wanted to tell Sera that that’s not how babies are born, that she had never been pregnant.

Otherwise, the pain would never end.

But with another mind, she couldn’t muster the courage to say that you didn’t have the Hero’s baby, that it was just your imagination.

How could she tell the truth to Sera, who was still not in her right mind, calling out Lina, Lina?

In the end, as always, Laura woke up in endless frustration, listening to Sera’s voice.

“..If only I could have protected her…”

Her body was soaked in sweat, and dark shadows had fallen under her eyes.

Laura, who always woke up from her sleep like this, was getting thinner day by day.

If only I had been hit by the magic bullet that day, if only I could have saved Sera, then Sera’s mind wouldn’t have gone crazy, and I could have told her that it was just an imaginary pregnancy, and told her the correct s*xual knowledge.

But too much time had passed, and the past couldn’t be changed.

Her body was growing, but her inner self was degenerating.

Looking at the shape of the horns that had recently started to change, Laura quietly resolved.

She couldn’t be frustrated here.

Everyone was working hard for Sera.

Starting with how to use the seed of the World Tree to restore the power of the Holy Sword, to what the dragon’s breath was, to what the courage of humans meant.

She was collecting information, as well as erasing any information that could make her notice the abnormalities that had occurred in Sera’s body.

Now that the dragon’s homeland was destroyed and undergoing reconstruction work, Natalia’s support, who came from a prestigious family, was very helpful, and Kim Su-hyeon was also exploring dangerous dungeons alone every day to find any clues.

Laura was no exception either.

And today was the day that Laura was going to visit Sera.

It was also a worry and consideration that they wanted to minimize the time Sera spent alone, even though they were busy.

To be honest, Sera’s mind seemed very unstable right now.

The sight of her talking to herself every chance she got, calling out “Lina, Lina” was so heartbreaking.

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“So, Sera said something like that?”

“Yes, she saw the cat ears and said “Nyaang”, she acted like she was playing with a baby.”

And a little later, in a park in the capital.

Laura was meeting with Caelia, who was in charge of visiting Sera yesterday, to share information.

In fact, Laura still didn’t like Caelia because of the statement that only touched her wounds in the Forest of White Haze.

In a corner of her heart, she had a mix of resentment that the curse wouldn’t have been triggered if it hadn’t been for that conversation at that time.

But including that resentment, what was really weak was her own heart.

Besides, when she heard that Caelia was only 13 years old, she couldn’t help but feel pathetic about herself.

“Like playing with a baby…Well, those animal ears are things that babies use.”

“I think it suits her well!”

Ignoring Caelia’s words lightly, Laura thought.

She had heard that the prostitutes in the red-light district sometimes wore animal ears and tails to seduce men, but basically those things were for babies who hadn’t become adults yet.

Now that she thought about it, wasn’t she excited thinking that she was pregnant, not trying to seduce Kim Su-hyeon?

She couldn’t imagine Sera touching the cat ears and saying “Nyaang~”, but if she thought about her holding a baby in her arms and playing with it, it was a plausible story.

“Besides that?

Was there anything else?”

“Uh…When I was about to enter the room, the Saintess was shouting “Be quiet!” and then she said she was imagining the future… or something.

Even when I talked to her, she just kept being alone.”

“..Is it that serious?”

She could roughly imagine it.

The baby and hallucinations with the name ‘Lina’ that kept appearing, and when she entrusted herself to them, she would realize that they were all fake when she came to her senses.

She was whipping herself in the face of the unacceptable reality and her beliefs as a saintess.

Thinking that way, a few tears started to come out of Laura’s eyes.

Sera was definitely crazy.

She wasn’t in her right mind, but how beautiful was it that she was still trying to maintain her mind somehow.

For that will, to make Sera happy, she had to return the Holy Sword to its original state.

“Oh, are you leaving already?”

“Yeah, I have a rough idea of what Sera’s condition is like.

You stay quiet too without causing any accidents.”

“Hehe, yes!”

She had said everything she had to say.

Even though there were servants, she was worried about Sera.

Caelia, who was bowing her head as if asking to be patted on the head, turned to Laura, who was saying that she had to leave now.

Looking at that appearance, Laura quietly smiled.

She was really 13 years old.

Looking at her foolishly pure and bright appearance, she felt a little warmth in her mind that had been exhausted.

“Oh, Laura…?”

“You’re…surely a servant of the mansion…Why are you in a place like this?”

“The Saintess said she wanted to be alone for a while…She told me not to come back until dinner, so I was thinking of making some snacks.”

“Sera is alone…?”

But the rain in the drought was only temporary.

Laura felt a strange anxiety when she saw a servant she happened to meet on the street.

Sera was alone.

Come to think of it, she had said that she wanted to be alone last time too.

What was the reason why she was so obsessed with being alone that she even chased away the servants?

In a hurry, Laura didn’t say anything else and started running straight to the mansion.

It was strange.

The mansion was too quiet as if Sera was alone, like the servant had said.

No matter how much she knocked on the door, there was no answer.

Listening carefully with anxiety, she could hear the sound of something falling.

Then Sera’s voice saying “Lina, Lina…!

Please give it back!”

It was a very weak voice, but it was also a sound that Laura, whose dragon power was getting stronger, could hear to some extent if she concentrated.

“Ugh, it hurts…Lina…”

She heard another voice.

This time, it was a groan blaming someone for being in pain.

Surely, surely it wasn’t the thing I was thinking about?

Without waiting for Sera’s answer, Laura hurriedly opened the door and entered the mansion.

And the first thing she saw was the kitchen, which was stained with blood and a mess.

A fairly large knife was thrown carelessly on the floor.

“Sera…!”

No, please don’t do that.

Please…Why did only bad thoughts come to mind?

Why did this blood look like Sera’s?

The words to return Lina, but if that desperate wish wasn’t fulfilled…There was only one thing Sera could do.

She followed the blood that was dripping a few drops at a time.

Then it was a path that led straight to the room on the second floor.

Opening the door to the sound coming from inside the room, she could see Sera collapsed on the bed, groaning and shaking her body.

Sera stands up.

She can already see that the white bed sheets and blankets are stained with red blood.

Sera turns around.

She can already see that the white pajamas are stained with red blood.

Sera makes eye contact.

Blood drops are dripping from her hands.

“Sera…?”

Sera doesn’t say anything.

She looks like she’s seeing a ghost.

Laura trembled little by little and regretted again and again.

Why did I feel warm emotions even for a moment?

I didn’t deserve to have my wounds healed by seeing Caelia’s pure appearance…It didn’t exist in the first place.

Sera was suffering so much, but I was…

When feelings like self-hatred began to rise one by one, Sera quietly opened her mouth.

“This is…that, Lina…”

“…”.

However, no answer came out of Laura’s mouth to those words.