episode_0151

And at that moment.

The platinum blonde hair began to sway.

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“It’s been a while, Eleanor… No, Your Highness.”

At the familiar voice, Eleanor, no, Your Highness, struggled to lift her eyelids. In front of her, a beautiful woman with platinum hair was smiling at herself.

“E-Eleanor?”

“Yes, it’s me.”

Having introduced herself as Eleanor, she reached out her hand towards the fallen figure.

With a hesitant expression, Your Highness gently took her hand and pulled herself up. Despite the lingering doubt, the weight on her chest and the strands of hair brushing against her ear still reminded her that she was in a woman’s body.

Standing up, Your Highness looked around. Now that she had opened her eyes, this place was a blank white space. Unlike the sight that seemed unreal in reality, it was a strangely familiar space to Your Highness.

It was also the place where she first met her.

Eleanor still had a smiling face. And at her smile, Your Highness recalled the events that had just taken place in reality.

“R-Right. Eleanor! Pr-Prince… Prince!”

Tears welled up in her eyes just from the memories. Your Highness held back the emotions trying to burst out and continued speaking.

“E-Eleanor. The Prince, on my behalf-”

“I know too, Your Highness.”

Interrupting Your Highness, Eleanor gently pulled her into her embrace.

“I’ve been watching through you as well. I thought that was the end, but it was still lingering in your body. You’re in a weakened state.”

With a warm voice, Your Highness rested her head on Eleanor’s shoulder.

The woman’s softness, the familiar scent of roses flowing out, made Your Highness feel as if she was in the Prince’s embrace, and tears streamed down beneath her sky-blue eyes.

“Sob… Even though I knew… Why… Why are you so indifferent… Hic. It hurts.”

Eleanor silently wiped Your Highness’s back as she poured out her tears.

After Your Highness had poured out her emotions, she calmed down a bit.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Eleanor carefully let go of Your Highness, who was still trembling, from her embrace. Meeting her sky-blue eyes, she intertwined her hand with his in silence.

“I have something to tell you.”

With a serious expression, Eleanor organized her breath and looked at Your Highness.

“W-What is it…”

“It’s about you and me, and the Prince.”

“Us… and the Prince?”

“I think it’s time to tell you the story that I couldn’t tell you before.”

As their hands clasped, a gentle strength flowed in. Eleanor pushed her finger between Your Highness’s fingers and continued speaking.

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“Yes, Your Highness. In fact, the Prince you faced is not the Prince of this time.”

At Eleanor’s words, Your Highness tilted her head slightly.

“W-What do you mean?”

“The current Prince has come back in time.”

And Eleanor calmly continued the story.

“Do you remember? That this world is from the novel you read.”

Your Highness nodded at Eleanor’s words.

That’s right.

Many things had happened and been forgotten, but Seo Ju-ha had become possessed by the protagonist of a novel she had only read the prologue of.

Family members, of course, as well as her lover, were nothing more than characters in a novel to her.

However, everything surrounding her, from family to outsiders, even her lover, felt so vivid that it was hard to call them fictional.

“When the real you entered my body, our story became reality, not fiction.”

Surprised, Ju-ha’s expression showed on her face. Eleanor continued to speak as she looked at Ju-ha.

“Jung and I had a special relationship. As the youngest daughter of the Beorn family, I had no friends when I was young. Jung was the first to approach me, so he was special to me.”

Perhaps like Dominic, Ju-ha nodded as he listened to her words.

“I realize now that Jung was even more special to me. So, giving up everything and turning back time was inevitable.”

With a slightly bitter expression, Eleanor spoke those words.

“As you know, I die in Julian’s arms. I’ve died like that dozens, hundreds of times. But it wasn’t difficult. After death, memories fade when a new story begins…”

Eleanor paused for a moment, then with a somewhat embarrassed expression, she poured out her heart.

“I really loved that man.”

Ju-ha stared blankly at Eleanor confessing those words. Despite having the same face, he nodded subtly, looking at her with different emotions.

That was the original story of the novel.

Now, the woman in front of him looked like a character from a novel.

“But Jung seemed different.”

Eleanor quickly captured that expression and continued her story.

“There must have been something. Some reason. Maybe it was because of my face, my sister Alenia.”

Anyway, Jung found a way to turn back time, and as a result, you entered my body. Jung may not know that fact.

And now, this story has become reality, not fiction.”

Eleanor changed her expression and faced Ju-ha with a serious voice.

“I can bring Jung back to life.”

“Really?”

“But to do that, I have to… use your body.”

If she could bring Jung back to life, what was that sacrifice? Ju-ha nodded eagerly.

“It’s okay. It’s originally your body.”

“Ju-ha, it’s not a decision to make so easily.”

Ju-ha swallowed dryly at her stern face.

“Now that I intervene in this world that has become real, this world can turn back into a novel. You will return to your original world. My body will go back to before you entered. It will be in eternal sleep.”

“T-That means…”

“You won’t be able to see your family, Dimitri, or anyone else anymore.”

Eleanor took a step closer to Ju-ha. They were so close that they could hear each other’s breaths. Eleanor spoke those words.

“So, I want to ask for your opinion.”

Ju-ha’s sky-blue eyes were filled with Eleanor who had come closer.

“To be honest, I don’t know if you will return to your original world or if you will be tied to Eleanor’s body like me. Your existence may disappear forever.”

With a sigh, Eleonore breathed out. She then spat out her final words to Julia.

“Would you really be okay with saving the foreigner?”

The wind did not blow. The courtyard of the mansion seemed frozen in time, with no movement visible. Yet, her hair emitted a faint glow and fluttered in the air.

Surrounded by the mysterious sight, the knights of Verne, as well as her lover Dimitri, were all staring blankly at Eleonore.

Sitting on the ground, Eleonore soon raised her head to look up at the sky. Her sky-blue eyes sparkled, and the voice that flowed beyond her lips was endlessly calm.

“It should have been me, not the foreigner, who died.”

“Eli!”

Startled, Dimitri reached out to his lover. However, his hand, frozen by the cold and unfamiliar voice, stopped in midair.

“Dimitri Verbritz, I am fine.”

And then, the courtyard of the mansion, which seemed frozen in time, began to fill with the colors of platinum and Eleonore. The weeds sprouting between the stones, as well as the autumn-colored deciduous trees, all turned into a golden hue, beyond beauty, into mystery.

Eleonore carefully rose to her feet. Kneeling before the cold foreigner, she gently lifted her body onto her slender thigh.

Like a priestess of a noble ritual, Eleonore’s small hand reached towards the foreigner’s body. Flowing from her palm was a bright white light that stopped above the dagger embedded in her chest.

“Crossing time just for me.”

Even her sky-blue eyes were filled with her own color. Overwhelmed by the overwhelming sacred power emanating from her, Dimitri and the surrounding knights struggled to breathe.

Gradually, the pale foreigner’s skin began to regain color.

The dagger stuck in her chest slid out smoothly, and her chest, stained red under the blouse, began to gently rise and fall.

Silence enveloped the surroundings. They, who had been struggling to breathe, now closed their lips and watched the unfolding events with wide eyes.

And then.

“Ugh…”

A faint groan escaped from her closed lips. With ivory-colored eyelashes trembling, Eleonore, with a compassionate smile, kissed the foreigner’s forehead.

As if a goddess blessing her child.

“So now, be happy with me, who remains.”

With those words, Eleonore lost her strength and collapsed on the ground.

The colors that surrounded Eleonore quickly faded into the air. The overwhelming sacred power that overwhelmed the men was no different. And only then could Dimitri and the knights of Verne move their bodies.

“Eli!”

“Carry the lady.”

Her vision beginning to blur.

Eleonore now truly sensed that this was the end.

Her sky-blue eyes, returned to their original color, turned towards her lover from the past, lying far away. He seemed to still be breathing, as his red eyes also gazed back at her.

“Just this once… Let’s… be together, Julian.”

She, who always died first.

Eleonore smiled at him and bid farewell. Julian simply looked at her calmly.

I had no idea how things would turn out now. The only thing I was sure of was that I would no longer exist in this world.

And whether my body would now fall into eternal sleep or be taken care of by the man I believed in, Seojuha.

With that thought in mind, Eleonore and Yulian closed their eyes together.

The only difference was that Eleonore’s heart was still beating, and Yulian’s body was growing cold.

#22. Barcarolle Towards the End 完