episode_0061

Boom. Boom.

Raindrops fell from the cloudy sky. The cold water droplets soaked into the lawn, diluting the blood-red earth.

Kugu palace…

Then came the sound of thunder, a signal of an imminent approaching downpour.

As if encouraged by the angry sky, the intervals between raindrops gradually narrowed, and soon they washed away the heavens and earth like a waterfall.

“Ah─daddy…?”

Letia, drenched in sweat, crawled on all fours, closing the distance towards her father, who had lost the light of life.

Letia’s small hands were soon able to grab hold of Baekryeon’s body.

“Ap-daddy. Letiaga-game ten o’clock-Mii. Handeneunde.”

“…”

“My wish was granted─Daagguu. I’m going to do it─in that way.”

“…”

“Oh my gosh.”

Letia shook Baekryeon’s body. But there was no answer. Her father, who always smiled as if he was in trouble and gave in, ended up leaving on a long journey.

Letia learned instinctively.

Baekryeon died.

He lost his vital functions and became a dead person, leaving Letia’s side.

“I’ll protect you─. What should I do─.”

Every night, I made a promise. And until I fell asleep, I stroked his head with an affectionate face.

“Plain─line. Let’s─go─together─. Say─it─.”

Together forever.

Letia told me that she would be with me for the rest of my life, even when I grew up from a child to an adult.

Memories of happiness overflowing from the heart, head, and mind do not lie. Dad was Letia’s only happiness that fell from the sky one day.

“Ouch… Paaa─.”

She asks.

“Ouch… Pah. Are you dead─?”

Shake shake.

The girl’s fern-like hands shook Baekryeon’s corpse with all their might. However, the body of a healthy adult male did not move at all.

“Woof. Don’t die─. Ah─dad…”

Shake shake.

“Get up─.”

At that moment, a sound of metal scraping dirt was heard from behind Letia.

The Holy Netherto was approaching Letia, soaking wet.

He wiped the blood from his sword with the raindrops that beat down on him mercilessly.

“… That’s too bad. You don’t even realize that someone is dying.”

“Jugeum─? Letia─ I know─.”

“Yes, what is abundant here is death. It is a river from which there is no return.”

The Holy See’s Neterto raised his sword.

“Let you be swept away by that torrent and die.”

“Don’t come back, mother─child. Mae─il?”

No, it won’t work.

Dad must be by Letia’s side.

Because I promised every day.

Because he said with a smile that he would protect me for the rest of my life.

Until I was eight, the only person who smiled sweetly at me was my father.

Now I can’t fall asleep without my dad’s lullaby.

… Dad must not leave.

That’s impossible.

He is the one who protects Letia for her entire life, for her entire life.

He is the person who loves Letia more than anyone else and must stay by her side.

“No way─.”

Letia’s jet-black eyes held cute water droplets.

“Dad─is─the─great─love, Letiaraaang─ kekesoook─ mustaaaa …

Crunch, crunch.

Clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk!

The objects in the four directions trembled, as if they were talking in their sleep while in a deep sleep.

Then a strange phenomenon occurred.

Phew!

Everything except the lotus was floating. Everything from weapons to corpses and miscellaneous items were floating around.

“This, this… What the heck is going on…?”

The Holy Netherto groaned. He, who had to cut down Letia in one breath, unconsciously stepped back under the pressure of a strange sense of oppression.

Meanwhile, Letia hugged Baekryun tightly.

“Always─always, always─togetheraaa …

The trigger for the awakening of the girl, who is death itself, was the death of someone precious to her.

A girl who knew nothing of hatred, was ignorant of anger, and numb to sadness. A pitch-black noise erupted from her new form.

The time has come for the Queen of the Dead to destroy the truth of the world.

“Will you be there for me─? Will you protect Letia─forever─!! Will you protect Letia─!!! Ppaaa …

The sight was as if time and space were rewinding.

The blood sea that filled the garden was purified, and the ruined garden was restored. The soil that had been trampled by countless footsteps regained its former flatness as if it had never been like that.

The columns of the burned mansion rose up on their own, recreating a masterpiece of enormous scale that towered over the imperial palace.

“This, this… What the heck…! What does it mean…!!!”

The mysterious phenomenon made the Holy See of Netherto cry out.

What made him even more creepy was the corpse of Baekryeon that had risen on its own. Baekryeon, who should have been dead, was walking straight towards Seongjak with a creaking gait like a marionette without an ego, carrying Letia on her back.

“Die, dieee!!!”

The Holy Netherto cast off his fear and charged forward. But his courage was reckless. The spirit of the intermission became a legacy that decorated the end of a life that was like starlight.

Boo-woong─.

The black sword of the Netherto Castle floated on its own and pierced its master’s heart.

Finally, all seventy-two stars fell.

The prophecy came true.

Kookung, kurrrrur…

There was a loud noise. The clock was dimming endlessly. The end of a long tragedy was near.

As the world depicting the past collapsed, Letia’s howling sound tore at Ashe’s ears.

“Pyeongsae─ang, every day─. Foreveriii─ together, togetheraaaa …

“Ugh…?!”

Tiring!

A cheerful tone caught Asher’s attention. Then a long message unfolded before her eyes.

=====

My dad is the smartest person in the world!

Everyone respects our dad, and everyone follows our dad.

But I don’t know my father’s face.

So I’ve been waiting for the day when you would come to visit me.

Was it because I prayed to the stars every day? One day, my father came to visit me and hugged me tightly.

My dad is the world’s greatest warrior!

In the fairy tale my father read to me, the warrior protects the princess.

Our father will also protect Letia.

Like a knight with a great sword, forever, forever, forever! As expected, Dad is Letia’s only warrior!

… Yeah. That’s right.

All along… All along…

At Letia’s side…

I will protect Letia…

So, Letia is happy forever.

-Reward: Star Fragment

-Special Reward: Witch’s Happiness

=====

The attic where [Memories of Our Happy Family] was unfolded. There, Letia, wrapped in pitch-black noise, kneels down. Her ceaselessly flowing tears become noise and scatter like shrapnel.

In that moment, Asher, who sensed the threat with his instincts, flew away.

Kwaaah!

“What, what is it?!”

A straight line of wounds remained where Ash had just been. It was as if he had been struck by a slaughter.

At that moment, a strange alarm sounded again from somewhere, and a message appeared before Asher’s eyes.

Tiring!

[The door to the mansion is open.]

“The door to the mansion… is open?!”

A situation I had never really hoped for. My chance to escape the mansion had finally arrived.

Boom!

Asher threw aside everything and opened the door to the attic. As he was running down the hallway, another loud noise left Asher’s ears ringing.

Boom!

The wall of the mansion was badly broken. It must have been a wall with an attic inside.

And there were two characters that appeared there.

Letia floating in the air and a wraith holding a sword.

“No way…!?”

I can tell somehow.

Although it had the appearance of a ghost and had no resemblance to its former self, Asher was certain that it was a ghost.

“Butler…!!!”

Despair settled over Asher’s face.

You can tell without even talking to him. The current butler was his enemy. When he first woke up in the attic, the person who had struck Asher was definitely the butler.

“Ugh!”

Ash turned around and ran away. He had no confidence that he would survive the next blow. Ash had seen firsthand what and how far his past butler could go.

At that moment.

Kkwaddudduk!

“Whoa?!”

The blow passed by with barely a finger’s length. The blow swung from the corner of the attic, the corner of the corner, and reached the end of the opposite hallway with more than enough left over.

“Ugh… Ugh…”

Thump thump thump thump!

I hurriedly went down the stairs leading to the third floor. I had no idea that the stairs, which had not been very impressive when I came up, were this long.

Of course, it was natural. This was because the mansion was designed with a low number of floors but the space between floors was wide.

‘But… isn’t that side slow too?’

It’s really strange. If he were a butler in his prime, he would have grabbed my neck and snapped it before I could blink.

After all, there are some limitations.

For example, the current form and power are maintained only by Letia’s side…!

If things continue like this, it might be an easy victory. The other side’s movement speed is incomparably slower.

But the mansion doesn’t always allow optimism to invade its consciousness.

Boom, thud.

As Asher reached the third floor, a piece of asbestos grazed his cheek.

I looked up, following the path of the fallen asbestos.

At that moment.

Kugu palace!

The ceiling shattered and collapsed. And as the collapsed ceiling fell, two new figures were captured in the cloud of dust that appeared.

It was the butler and Letia.

‘The way, the way to the stairs…!’

The place where they fell was exquisitely blocking the path leading to the stairs.

Can you break through? No, it’s impossible. It’s nothing more than a reckless challenge.

So, Asher quickly shook off his worries and ran to the other side. As if he wouldn’t miss it, a fatal blow flew in.

Card dunk!

“Hyak?!”

Peet!

The exquisitely deflected blow left a shallow gash on Asher’s thigh. It was no more than a paper cut, but the fact that it even grazed was a problem in itself.

If the gap had been even the size of a fingernail, Asher’s body would have been sliced to pieces.

Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud!

“Haa… Haa…”

Asher took a moment to catch his breath as he rounded the corner. It seemed that no slashes would come since there was no way to detect this direction.

‘Let’s go back to the other side like this… without being noticed.’

Ash’s plan was effective. Although he was delayed by going a long way around, Ash safely reached the stairs leading down to the second floor.

He was surprisingly relaxed. At that moment, the heavy reality hit Asher like an avalanche.

Kwaaaa …

The butler’s attack sliced through an entire floor of the mansion. Through the resulting spatial void, Letia’s eyes discovered Ashe.

“Crazy… crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy…!!!”

Thump thump thump thump!

Asher goes down the stairs as best she can. A meteor crashes down in front of her.

Wedge!

It was an optical illusion created by the flickering light. The meteor that fell before her eyes was a sword.

Kwarrr!

“The stairs…!”

About 6 meters of stairs in front were reduced to rubble and fell down.

The situation was hopeless.

It was a gap that I could never reach with my current physical ability, unless I had possessed ‘Hayley’s Ashes’.

‘What should I do, what should I do, what should I do…?’

Letia and the butler are getting closer by the minute.

If I jumped, my legs would break, and if I hesitated, it would be murder.

A desperate situation.

Asher finally made a decision.

“Hiyaaap!”

Ashe descends bravely.

Immediately afterwards, she opened her leather pouch as wide as possible and put her two legs in it. The result of falling with such an absurd strategy was…

Thud!

He successfully led her to the second floor.

And that’s not all.

Not in an awkward position, but in a place where you can see the huge portrait of Bernacien.

That is, it was on the stairs leading to the first floor.

“You can do it…!”

Boom! Kururur…

From afar, the butler breaks the floor again and enters the second floor. However, the gap has already widened. No matter how many tricks they use, the gap will not be narrowed dramatically.

“Whoa… Ugh… Ughhh…!”

Run desperately. Move your feet as best you can, with a longing and hope for the outside.

“Just escape… Just escape, I’ll definitely… come save you…! Butler!!!”

I have engraved the karma accumulated by the imperial family in the past with my own eyes. I have no intention of resenting the mansion now. Letia and Baekryeon were the ones who had the right to hate and curse the imperial family, and even the empire.

That’s why I can’t leave it behind.

It cannot be left alone.

We will definitely find a way out there, whether it takes years or decades, and then we will try to recover their damages.

‘Wait… As if it had taken 500 years to lead me here…!’

Kukukung, kwarurur…

As the two spirits of the original sin child chase the mansion, they call out to Ashe. The strange sound makes me look back. There, the words of the cornered victim are vividly engraved.

Asher runs.

For yourself, and for them.

I move my feet tirelessly to break this chain of curses.

As if receiving a reward for his efforts, a wide open view of the outside world came into Ashe’s sight.

“It’s open…!”

That day when a storm was raging.

That day when I was caught up in fate.

The entrance, which I entered without knowing anything, was connected to the outside as if it were nothing.

“Whew… Whoosh…”

Asher’s footsteps became slower and slower.

The dazzling sunlight streaming in through the front door made me squint.

Tub.

Asher put one foot outside.

The outside world I had been longing for was right before my eyes.

Ashe clenched her fist.

The days I spent at the mansion flash before my eyes.

I don’t know what’s right or wrong.

After much thought, Asher mustered up his courage.

“I…!”