episode_0071

30 minutes ago.

“Please wait here for a moment.”

Grattia, who had decided to stand guard at this spot under Joshua’s orders, politely addressed Helena.

At her words, Helena nodded briefly and looked around.

“……”

The ducal castle that had sunk into the ground, and the stone buildings scattered around it.

The appearance of the buildings, somehow strangely familiar yet seen for the first time, continued to oddly tickle her chest.

…Especially when she went to the places that person had taken her to.

‘Why was that?’

The watchtower on the city wall overlooking Mulyfen’s downtown.

The training ground where traces of knights’ diligent practice were visible everywhere.

And even in front of the ducal castle’s gate.

The ordinary sights she had seen while wandering through the city only made her heart ache for a fleeting moment, but the places he had taken her to uniformly made her feel as if her chest was being constricted.

No, to be precise…

‘I felt dizzy.’

It was as if she were caught in a hallucination; for a fleeting moment, she heard someone’s phantom voice, and her mind felt like it was throbbing.

‘Whose voice could it have been?’

It was a familiar voice, one that made her heart swell.

But whenever she tried to recall who the owner of that voice was, it was as if a lock was placed, and she couldn’t remember who it was at all.

So when the man named Joshua, with his peculiar white marble-like eyes, asked if anything came to mind, she could only shake her head.

This lock in her mind seemed impossible to open by ordinary means, even at a glance.

It was as if that strong lock was telling her that these memories were not hers but someone else’s, and that it was not a realm she dared to invade.

You are not that woman.

It was as if it constantly reminded her that the memories and emotions she recalled belonged not to her, but to a woman named Helena who had possessed them in her lifetime.

Therefore, not wanting to needlessly give him hope, she continuously shook her head.

Saying she didn’t know.

Each time, he, a man of few emotional expressions, silently nodded, and the emptiness-like soul held within him wavered with sorrow.

Seeing his sadness, her own heart ached, but she still had to say she didn’t know.

…Of course, in the end, she couldn’t hold it in and burst into tears.

“……”

Standing alone, she quietly gazed at her right hand.

It was the hand she had pushed away when he extended his to her.

“……”

Her hand, with its pale grey skin, was still trembling.

Even though her reason no longer feared him, her succubus instincts still seemed to be terrified of him to the point of madness.

Watching her hand tremble with fear, regardless of her will, she somehow came to resent it and tucked it deeply back into the folds of her robe.

“…Haa.”

Wearing a long robe that dragged on the ground, she used her left hand to pull up the hood and pulled it deeply over her head.

Because she didn’t want anyone to see her face right now.

So she pulled the robe even lower, tucked her head in, and decided to find a place where she could be alone until he returned.

…Because the knight named Grattia right behind her felt a bit burdensome.

“Where are you going?”

As she moved to go elsewhere, he asked her.

“I’m just going to look around here.”

“I will accompany you.”

“No, it’s fine. I just…want to be alone for a moment.”

At her words, Grattia made a troubled expression for a moment, but perhaps thinking it would be fine as long as she didn’t go too far, she soon nodded.

“Understood. However, please do not go outside the ducal castle.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

With those words, she began to wander through the ducal castle alone.

***

“…Uncomfortable.”

Every time she walked alone, the feel of the fabric brushing against her felt uncomfortable.

It wasn’t that the fabric itself was cheap and thus uncomfortable.

The fabric itself was incredibly soft to begin with, and the winter clothing she wore under the robe was also of the highest quality.

Furthermore, the enchanted relic robe provided curse immunity and comfort features that allowed the wearer to wear it without discomfort, so it should have felt comfortable, not uncomfortable, under normal circumstances.

Yet, the reason she felt so uncomfortable was.

“Mmm…”

*Rustle.*

It was because of her succubus skin.

Unlike typical succubi, who have much more sensitive skin than ordinary humans and thus wear clothes with less fabric, she was wrapped entirely in thick winter clothing.

Every time she walked or moved, her sensitive skin constantly brushed against the soft fabric, so from her perspective, regardless of the cold, the winter clothing itself couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable.

“I want to take it off…”

But then, taking it off was also something she disliked.

Mulyfen, being near the snowy mountains, would be cold, so that person had put this winter clothing on her out of consideration for her.

She was already troubled by having unintentionally hurt him so much, so she didn’t want to discard the kindness he offered just because of a little discomfort.

So, enduring a slight discomfort, she walked through the interior of the ducal castle, embracing Mulyfen’s cold air, when.

“…Huh?”

Upon reaching a certain spot, her footsteps involuntarily halted.

“Where is this?”

Among the collapsed ducal castle buildings, most of which had turned into ruins, this one had maintained its shape relatively well.

Seeing its grey roof, windows arranged in a regular pattern, multiple chimneys, and food crates placed in front of it, it seemed to be a kitchen.

‘…Shall I go inside?’

After staring blankly at the building for a moment, her interest was piqued by the unknown familiarity and nostalgia it exuded, and she headed towards it without hesitation.

*Creak—*

She grasped the doorknob and slowly opened the door, revealing dozens of long, straight tables and chairs lined up inside.

The lights were off, making it gloomy, and in a place that should have had the unique warmth of a kitchen, broken windows allowed Mulyfen’s chill to enter freely, intensifying the coldness.

“It has changed a lot.”

As she unknowingly muttered those words, a slight sense of incongruity suddenly struck her.

‘Changed?’

What had changed?

She was surely coming here for the first time, wasn’t she?

She’d never been to a kitchen like this before, so why had she unknowingly blurted out such words?

And also—

“Why on earth…”

*Squeeze…!*

‘Why.’

Why, upon seeing the table on the far side, did her chest feel so constricted?

She felt something incomparably stronger than anything she had felt in the other places the man named Joshua had guided her to.

It wasn’t merely phantom voices and a throbbing mind, but something…

*Squeeze…!*

“Hmph…”

Something was gripping her heart very strongly.

*Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!*

It was like a hammer tapping her head, creating cracks on a frozen lake.

To bring out what was hidden beneath the surface.

To break the lock situated in the deep layers of her memory, submerged in the abyssal depths below.

“Ugh…!”

Small puffs of breath escaped through her clenched teeth due to the cold, and her eyelids, unable to bear the weight of the pain, shut.

Her expression, distorted by pain, struggled to escape the momentary agony.

Her hands clasped her head, and realizing that the source of the pain originated from the horns, which branched out like black tree branches, she tightly gripped them with both hands.

And then—

As if it had been waiting, memories began to play again.

“Excuse me—”

“Did you perhaps call me?”

“Yes!

“May I eat with you?”

This is…

“Nice to meet you! My name is Helena Camellia! You can call me Helena for short!”

Whose memory is this?

“You don’t have to force a smile.”

“You’re forcing a smile when you don’t want to, aren’t you?”

Traces of fragmented memories near small pieces gathered, forming a clearer picture of that time.

“Then you must be good with a sword, too?”

The temperature of that day.

“A sword… you mean?”

“Yes! My family is actually a knight family, but I’m an illegitimate child, so… Ah! No, forget I said that, um, well…”

The sensation of that day. The scenery of that day.

“Then, let’s introduce ourselves again!”

The memory of that day, and.

“My name is Helena Camellia! What’s your name, Sunbae?”

“Agape.”

‘Agape…’

“I have no last name.”

Even the emotions she felt that day upon hearing that name.

And…

“You only live once.”

As he held her wrist in the mansion of her hometown, where she had overworked herself, thirsty for recognition and love.

“Live your own life.”

His words to her, spoken as he personally pulled her out of a nightmare in the old, crumbling mansion, where only faded glory remained.

“Forget what others think, and pursue what truly makes you happy.”

At that moment, as her vision flickered brightly, all the memories that ‘she’ possessed were absorbed into her.

Helena’s memories.

“Of course, I’m not really in a position to say such things, but.”

Recalling Helena Camellia’s most important memories.

“That doesn’t mean I don’t have enough leeway to help you, at least one person.”

Not only her memories but also the emotions of that time, and the warm sensations she felt in her lifetime that she should never forget.

All of them were absorbed as if they were her own, and as the long pain ended, she opened her eyes.

As soon as her eyes opened, she spoke that name.

“Sunbae…”

Joshua was Sunbae.

The gesture of his hand when he held hers, the touch that moved towards her with concern.

And even the pained expression he sometimes wore when he was suffering internally.

All of those were Sunbae’s habits.

“Sunbae…!”

*Thud—*

She kicked open the door and burst outside.

And relying on her succubus’s enhanced sense of smell, she ran at full speed, chasing the scent she recognized from Sunbae.

The fine, fiery scent characteristic of ash.

The scent reminiscent of black charcoal, as if burned.

And finally, a very faint scent of decay, recalling a corpse.

“Sunbae was Joshua…! Joshua was Sunbae!”

Chasing that scent relentlessly, she continued to run with all her might towards a certain part of the ducal castle.

And then.

*Thump-thump—*

The place that unfolded before her eyes after her hurried run was none other than the Oleg family’s cemetery.

The Tomb of Stars.

It was a massive communal cemetery, created to console those who had dedicated themselves to the ducal family and the city.

There, she found Sunbae.

*Thud—*

With a gladius wrapped in a red muffler thrust into the ground.

She saw Sunbae, holding a large, amber-like stone in his arms.

‘That’s…!’

She didn’t know what it was, but her succubus’s instinctive senses screamed.

That Sunbae must not break that stone.

That she had to run and stop him immediately.

*Thump-thump—!*

“Sunbae!”

She cried out with all her might, trying to stop Sunbae, but.

*Crack—*

Before she could do anything, Sunbae, who was shedding tears, ultimately shattered the amber.

And.

“…Helena?”

Only then did Sunbae, noticing her presence, call her name.

“Sunbae!”

And she, who cried out Sunbae’s name once more.

*Thump—*

She flung herself towards Sunbae and, without hesitation, wrapped her arms around his neck.

And.

*Clink— Clatter—*

From Sunbae’s arms, where he swayed, unable to bear her weight, two lilac rings that had remained clutched until the last moment fell onto the gravestone.

Of the two fallen lilac rings, one slowly turned into dust and vanished.