Episode 119 – I’m Really Sorry. Mella.

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In a room where there was no one but herself, the voice from behind would be startling to anyone, but what was most disconcerting for Mella was how familiar the voice was.

Even though she couldn’t immediately recall the owner of the voice, Mella was certain that it was firmly embedded somewhere deep in her memory, along with the goosebumps running down her spine.

At that moment, a sense of déjà vu filled the space where the goosebumps had been, and Mella slowly began to tremble.

The current situation reminded her of her reunion with Ed a few days ago.

The day she faced his face as he slowly removed his mask in the rain, and his figures, which had been fading away mercilessly no matter how much she pleaded, were pieced together like a puzzle and became clear again.

Mella had been living day by day in agony since that day, her mind already at its limit, on the verge of going completely insane.

No, considering the times she had repeated erratic and manic behavior over the past few days, Mella might already be insane.

Even now, until the day of the social gathering, she was trying to find a weapon to kill her husband, with whom she had such a good relationship.

Mella’s survival instinct, which had been barely holding back the rising suicidal urges by relying on the note Ed had left, was sending her a warning that was close to a scream.

If she realized the identity of the woman who had appeared behind her now, it would surely lead to an irreversible and terrible event.

However, clues such as the way she naturally called Mella’s name, her excellent archery skills in pushing the door closed with an arrow, and her nimble movements as she entered through the window of Mella’s third-floor room, were gradually drawing the owner of that voice, who had sunk beneath the lake of memory, to the surface.

Despite the warning from her instincts, Mella, unable to stop her brain from piecing together the clues and recalling her identity, finally remembered someone’s name.

Mella’s eyes widened as if they were about to tear, and she slowly turned around.

In that expression as if she had seen a ghost, her lips twisted very slowly and opened.

“…Su-, Surely.”

“…”

“…Lala?”

“…Mella.”

As Mella, with uneasy eyes, called Lara’s name in a trembling voice, Lara’s name, rather than an answer, flowed out from her face, which was hidden in complete darkness, concealed by the shadows of the dark room and a pressed-down hood.

However, Mella’s words were clearly a question and an uneasy certainty.

And her answer was no different from the sound of a bell announcing the correct answer.

Mella followed her form standing in the darkness with trembling pupils.

She slowly pushed back her hood and stepped out of the darkness.

Black bobbed hair scattered as it brushed against her long ears, and her bronze skin with burning gray eyes gleamed in the darkness.

Her hair was cut short, and even her atmosphere had changed greatly, but her face itself hadn’t changed much.

Lara was an elf, so it was only natural.

“Mella, I know what you’re trying to do right now. I’ll just say one thing. Stop it.”

“…I can’t. I must get revenge on Robin.”

“That’s Ed’s job.”

“… What…?”

“It’s probably Ed’s only remaining goal in this world. So don’t interfere, Mella.”

Mella froze as Ed’s name popped out of Lara’s mouth.

Living in the ambiguous boundary between dream and reality for several days, she felt like her head wasn’t working properly.

Mella wondered if she was dreaming.

Perhaps, due to the sudden appearance of Ed, she was dreaming of Lara, who had also disappeared a long time ago.

Mella, unable to come to her senses in the sudden situation, spoke.

“Lara… You’ve changed a lot, somehow.”

“…You too.”

Mella slowly calmed down at Lara’s cold yet somehow longing short answer.

The sensation of stroking her own arm was too vivid.

It seemed it wasn’t a dream after all.

Surprisingly, Lara, who had been missing for well over 10 years, had really appeared.

Like Lara’s answer, Mella had changed a lot during those 13 years or so.

Of course, the most dramatic changes had occurred in the past few days, but in addition to that, aging due to the passage of time, which is irresistible to human power, was also much greater compared to her, an elf.

Mella had sometimes thought about what she would say if she met Lara, who had suddenly disappeared one day, again.

First, she would take out a high-quality tea set and brew tea with care, prepare refreshments with sweet fruits, and then, after sitting at the table together, she would start by scolding her.

She would say, ‘Do you know how worried I was? Why did you disappear without a word?’

And then she would ask where she had been all this time, what she had been doing, and they would share stories about what had happened in the meantime, talk about their children who had grown up so much, and by the time they finished the conversation, they would end with a warm embrace filled with joy and longing.

The reunion with Lara that Mella had imagined was roughly like that.

However, the reunion with her that was happening in this place right now was very different from Mella’s imagination in terms of atmosphere.

Bewildering questions and painful suspicions, complicated gazes and cold attitudes filled the space between the two.

Of course, Mella herself was not in a situation to have a pleasant conversation with her, but Lara also didn’t seem to be very happy to see Mella.

Following Ed, even Lara, Mella felt a faint longing, a deep unease, and a huge question as the people who had disappeared all this time appeared one after another.

Mella swallowed hard and asked Lara.

“… What is all this? What the hell is going on right now?”

“…”

“Lara…?”

“…”

“Lara, answer me. What the hell has been going on? What the hell is…”

“… You already know.”

“… What?”

“It’s revenge.”

Mella’s body, which had been barely calming down, began to tremble like crazy.

Cold sweat began to dampen Mella’s bangs, and her hands and feet were so bloodless that they were cold, as if they were going numb.

The aegyo sal under her eyes trembled, and just as her head seemed to spin, the wooden floor of the room rushed towards Mella’s vision in an instant.

Mella collapsed and sat down, repeating Lara’s answer.

“Revenge… you said?”

“…Yeah.”

“…Su-, Surely.”

“… That’s right, Mella. Ed told you himself, but you still didn’t know? All the things that have happened in this mansion so far are all Ed’s revenge to take everything away from Robin.”

“I know that too.”

“…”

Mella cut off Lara’s words sharply.

Lara, taken aback by the words that were cut off as sharply as a knife, in contrast to her usual gentle appearance, blankly stared at Mella with her mouth shut.

Mella coughed roughly to exhale and said.

“What I, want to ask, is… Ugh.”

“…Mella?”

“Ugh, ugh… Surely… Why, Lara, you… There’s no way… No, Lara… You?”

Mella began to mutter, not stopping her coughs, while tearing at her own hair.

With each word cut off by a cough, Mella’s confusion and questions were turning into painful doubts.

Soon, Mella’s voice was slowly submerged in tears, and at the same time, it was heated with sharp and burning anger.

Mella tried to get up by supporting herself on the ground, but her arms and legs didn’t have the strength, so she collapsed.

However, Mella crawled towards Lara, dragging her legs.

“You, you knew… about it?”

“…”

“When you suddenly disappeared from this mansion with Lily a long time ago.”

“… Ah… Mella.”

“Robin… knew Ed?”

“…”

“So, that’s why you left?”

“…”

“Answer me!”

Mella shouted fiercely at Lara, who was silent.

Lara looked down at Mella and said in a subdued voice.

“… Yeah.”

“Huh, heok,”

Mella, who had been crawling on the floor, took a big breath and opened her mouth, then wiggled her lips without exhaling.

It was as if she was a mute screaming silently in extreme pain.

Mella made a painful expression, looked up at Lara, then collapsed and slammed her forehead on the floor and pressed down.

Tears full of injustice and anger fell straight to the floor without forming droplets.

The injustice that could not be resolved by the unstoppable flow of tears became a dull groan like boiling mud, breaking through Mella’s throat, which seemed to be blocked by something.

“Ugh, eugh, wuaaa!”

At that desperate voice that made one think she was being tortured, Lara could only look at Mella with a sad expression, unable to say anything.

After a long time, Lara carefully opened her mouth to Mella, who was still emitting the most painful screams and groans in the world.

“…Mella.”

“Why…?”

“…Eugh,”

“Why… Why? Why the hell did you do that?”

“…”

“Ah, you could have told me… No, you should have told me…”

“…”

“Ho-, how, how could you just leave me behind,”

“…”

“How, how! How could you let me keep living with the man who killed Ed…!”

“…”

“How could you do that…?”

“…”

“How, could you do that to me… Why?”

“…”

“Answer me. Say it with your mouth.”

Lara was listening to Mella’s resentment without saying a word.

Mella lifted her forehead, which was pressed against the floor and had turned bright red, and grabbed Lara’s leg, screaming like a beast.

“Answer me! I said answer me! Lara!”

“…”

“Why? Why, why, why, why, why!”

“…I’m sorry.”

Lara’s apology didn’t reach Mella’s heart at all.

Mella pitifully raised her arm, which had no strength, and tapped Lara’s leg.

That sensation, which wasn’t even ticklish, pounded heavily on Lara’s heart as much as Mella’s screams.

“Why! How! Why!”

“…”

“Speak! If you have a mouth, answer me!”

Mella, whose voice had completely gone bad in a few minutes, continued to scream in a tearing voice.

Lara wiggled her lips and muttered quietly the moment Mella took a breath.

“…I thought you had barely become happy.”

“…What?”

At Lara’s words, Mella stopped abruptly and blankly looked up at Lara’s face.

As the cloudy brown eyes located in the two empty holes drilled into Mella’s messed-up face weakly reflected Lara’s face, Lara closed her eyes tightly and began to speak.

“The point at which I learned the truth hidden in Ed’s death was when you were just starting to come to your senses.”

“…”

“While thinking that telling the truth was the right thing to do, I just couldn’t make the choice to give you despair again at that time. I agonized over that for a year, Mella.”

At Lara’s words, Mella also closed her eyes tightly.

Mella’s eyelids flashed back to her appearance of attempting suicide every day for three years after Ed’s death, and Lara’s appearance of desperately taking care of her.

“Besides, having learned the truth alone, I couldn’t possibly pretend not to know and live with Robin. So, after much deliberation, I left without saying anything… Because you didn’t know the truth, I hoped that at least you wouldn’t suffer any more and would live without knowing anything…”

“…Is that, is that even…”

“I know. I ruined everything. The moment Ed miraculously came back to life, my shallow consideration turned into a terrible tragedy. I know that too, Mella. I’m really sorry. But how could I have predicted that… Still, I’m really sorry, Mella. I really mean it. I didn’t even know that this would happen, and I never wanted it to. I just didn’t want you to suffer any more. Really.”

“…”

“I’m sorry. Mella.”

Tears poured out incessantly from between Mella’s tightly closed eyes.

Mella slowly rubbed her eyes with trembling hands and wiped away the tears.

Perhaps because she had been crying non-stop for several days, the skin around her eyes had become tender, and when Mella’s fingers pressed down and lifted, it tore right off.

As tears passed over the bare skin revealed by the peeled skin, a more stinging and painful pain was felt.

However, Mella didn’t care at all.

To be exact, it seemed she couldn’t even feel it.

At this moment, there was only one thing Mella cared about.

Mella opened her mouth, shedding tears mixed with blood.

“…Lara… Can I ask you just one thing?”

“…Yeah,”

“By any chance…”

“…”

“Are you, living with Ed right now?”

Silence.

A silence as heavy as the sea rushed into the darkness.

.