episode_0243

“… Let’s go home.”

In fact, there was nowhere for me to return to.

My real home, which was a prison and a hell for me, was not a place I wanted to go. It could be a home, but could it really be called a home?

The convent where I opened my eyes. It wasn’t a particularly good place. I’ve forgotten it now, but the horrible side of this world, where my body was immortal and they tried to use my blood as a potion, was not a place where I could feel at ease.

I don’t know about other people, but for me, it was a place I couldn’t just sit still.

There is no place I can feel at ease, either here or there. There is no place I can call home, so I wonder if there is no resting place in my life.

That doubt didn’t last long.

The moment the story ends, a light bursts out. A man with white hair is smiling in it. The moment I see that face, the corners of my mouth curl up, thinking that this is where I belong.

Kylon. His side is my refuge, my home.

You can just think of all the pain as a dream and get over it.

Kyleon’s smile soon turned into tears.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry… ”

I don’t want to hear you say sorry. I can just do better in the future.

“Kaillon, let’s go home… Remember me. Your name, and the place we agreed to meet.”

If, if, when the ending comes and we return to the original world, let’s meet again and live well, I tried to recall the story we had that day.

I added earnestly, thinking that if not now, I might not have the chance to talk.

Please don’t forget me.

“Are you cold? Wear this.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

Kylon’s cloak wrapped around my shoulders.

We defeated the Demon King and realized that we had won. The rain had cleared, and we were facing each other. We held our pounding hearts, hoping to part ways with smiles and meet again, without crying.

Fearing that this might be the last time, I racked my brain to find something more to say. I wet my dry lips with my tongue, trying to squeeze out some words.

But before that, I could see the world falling apart.

The sky split open and the earth crumbled. There was another earth beneath the earth, but it was as if all such things were fiction, and everything was surrounded by light.

The world is falling apart.

“Kaillon!”

“… Huh?”

Kylon’s expression was clearly flustered. He tried to grab her hand, but there was nothing he could reach. His hand, which had been waving in the air, ended up falling apart without being able to grab anything.

I felt it intuitively. It was a breakup.

It feels like I’ve been dreaming a long dream. Now it’s time to wake up from that dream. When I face that fact, I can’t stop crying.

I am a being who cannot do anything on my own, and I also hate Kylon for leaving me behind. Although parting is inevitable and there is no reason to hate him, I hung my head in pain at being left alone.

**

When I opened my eyes, an unfamiliar voice, yet one that seemed to reside in a corner of my memory, rang in my ears.

“Veronica, you need to eat properly.”

“in…?”

When I came to my senses, a shabby sight came into view. The interior of a wooden building that looked like it needed renovation. The ceiling, walls, and floor were all made of creaky wood.

As I picked up the spoon, all sorts of thoughts came to mind. Everything that had happened was too real to be a dream, and I couldn’t erase it because it seemed like it was within my fingertips at any moment.

“Veronica.”

“Ah, yes… ”

The nun, who looked a little older, called my name once more. It seemed clear that I had to put my mouth on it, so I quickly moved the spoon.

It was still a tasteless soup. I could only move on to the after-dinner prayer after barely emptying the bowl.

“Now let us say our prayers after the meal.”

““… Lord, thank you for giving us our daily bread today… ””

The children’s prayer chorus began and ended simultaneously.

It was a convent. I could tell right away without even looking. Even while clearing away the dishes, I was lost in thought, trying to understand the current situation.

Are all the things that happened just a dream? No, that can’t be true. The things that made me suffer and the things that made me feel good are vividly etched in a corner of my heart. It can’t be all fake.

The person named Kaylon was a unique being I had never seen before. He was a person whose personality and behavior were so unique that I could hardly imagine him.

So it can’t be fake.

If it’s fake, it won’t work.

If everything I remember up until now is fake, how am I supposed to live? I finally know my own heart, but what if the being I’m entrusting that heart to is an illusion?

Clang.

My eyes opened wide at the sharp sound. The child standing in front of me had broken a plate.

Now that I think about it, it all started with this plate. Even the fact that I was called a saint and was captured by the king and had my blood drained and eaten all started from this incident.

One plate. I knew that starting from there would be a difficult life.

If my memory isn’t fake, wouldn’t it be bearable if Kylon came back once more?

“Ahh… ”

“Don’t get hurt, take your hands off me.”

“Et.”

I grabbed the girl’s clothes and pulled her back slightly. I cleared away the pieces of broken plate and gently wrapped the sharp-looking pieces in my hands. Even though I knew it would get better, the fact that it would hurt made my body stiffen.

I guess you never get used to pain.

The nun who had been away for a moment came running.

“What’s going on?!”

“I accidentally broke it. I’m sorry.”

I smiled and slightly tightened my grip. At first, I didn’t notice it, but the pain seeping in dug into my palm.

“P, P… !”

The girl who had been holding it pointed at my hand in horror, and I belatedly dropped the piece.

“Ah… ”

“You’re bleeding…! Put it down quickly, I’ll get a broom… Hey… ?”

The nun’s voice became slower. The wound was bleeding, but it had healed. When she brushed it away, her clean palms appeared as if nothing had happened.

He made a dumbfounded voice as if he was seeing this for the first time and pretended to look at the palm of his hand.

“Huh?”

“…Saint.”

The nun looked at my face with a bewildered expression.

No matter how old I was, I knew that the saint was a being close to God, so I showed a respectful attitude and even clasped my hands together.

It was fortunate, because it was no different from what I knew.

The blood flowing through my body was a healing agent that instantly healed wounds. Although I couldn’t see it in the description or story, I came to the conclusion that the HP potion might have its source in this body’s blood.

Could it be that they were just collecting the elixir of immortality and releasing the remaining elixir into the world?

I felt like I knew what kind of future awaited me without even having to guess, because I knew that if I succeeded in reaching the palace, everything I knew would flow in that direction.

A very secretly hidden path. A completely different atmosphere from prison.

As I opened the iron door and went in, the smell of blood hit my nose first. What I saw later was a chair in the center. There were leather straps hanging from it to secure a person’s body.

“… … .”

It’s scary. I wanted to run away right away because I knew it would hurt, because I knew what would happen to me. My pounding heart wouldn’t calm down.

I wish I had known nothing, but seeing that sight made me realize that I would have been terrified in any situation.

“This is… ”

“They say that Saint Veronica’s body heals even when it is injured. Isn’t that a kind of faith given by God?”

“… Since you know that there is a god, and yet you do such things, it seems that Your Majesty is turning his back on God.”

I suppressed my fear as much as possible and opened my mouth to recall all the times when I had acted like a saint.

The king’s gaze changed slightly.

“It’s not about turning your back. It’s about becoming one with someone close to God, and becoming closer to God. God’s body, blood. They are abstract concepts, but the saint is real.”

When I saw her eyes roll back, I instinctively knew that I couldn’t persuade her to end it without hurting her.

“I believe the saint will understand.”

I got hit in the head.

When I came to, my arms and legs were tied with leather straps. I was tied to a chair and couldn’t move, and with my neck hanging from the ceiling, my life was at risk of flying away, worse than that of a fly.

“Ugh, gasp… ”

On the table next to me were various knives. They were tools for digging out my flesh. That glass bottle was a vessel to hold my flesh and blood.

sick.

I can bear the pain of being hit, but I can never get used to the feeling of being stabbed. It may be because it stimulates a place I’m not used to.

The king who dreams of immortality does not hesitate to commit cruel acts. He thinks it is a great thing to do this himself, fearing that his blood and flesh will be given to someone else.

However, there was no one to praise.

I was struggling because I was in so much pain and thought I was going to die. Every time the chair rattled, it moved a little bit, and my neck was getting more and more choked.

“Wow, wow… ”

It was a pain I never wanted to experience again.

But the second time, I jumped in myself.

The reason I can do this is because I vaguely want to meet you again. I firmly believe that if I do this, we can meet again.

“Keuek―”

A strange sound came out that made me wonder if it was coming from a person’s throat. I’m dying. How many times has it been since I’ve felt my voice heard from so far away?

It was repeated so many times that it was difficult to count.

I tried to endure being stabbed under my fingernails with an awl, having my fingernails torn off with tweezers, having my teeth pulled out, and even having knives dig into my skin and eyeballs.

“ka… ”

Instead of tears, I shed vitreous fluid. There were moments when I couldn’t even speak properly. There were times when I screamed and my throat got hoarse.

There were times when I was shaking and grinding my teeth because it hurt so much.

But I was able to endure it because I believed that he would come to save me.

“Hic, eek. Hic… ”

It was thanks to that that I could endure dying and dying again.

Because I believe we will meet someday.

“Whew, no matter what I do, it’s the same effect in the end. All that’s left is the saw… ”

Please save me. I don’t want to die. It hurts.

I couldn’t speak properly. I was barely holding on, panting for breath, when I heard a loud noise. The melted snow was slowly recovering, revealing my vision.

It was still too bright to see clearly, but it was a person’s silhouette.

“This, what the…!”

“Who are you!”

“Die, you little shit!”

A second loud noise. A man’s scream and the silhouette of the person next to me were blown back along with the door. It happened so quickly that I was dumbfounded.

“No, what the hell is this… Sorry, I’m late… ?”

Knock knock. Knock knock. In an instant, the strings that had been holding my body were ripped away. No matter how far I was moving, I had no idea that they would wrap around my tattered, bloody body, so I tightly closed my eyes.

“Dog car… ”

Hehe, as I laughed and stretched out my fingerless hand, tears flowed down from his eyes.