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Episode 158: The Fateful Noon (I)
* * *
“Hah, hah…”
I rushed out of the archduke’s mansion in a frenzy.
I was worried that Johann might follow me.
In front of the escort, I pretended to be resolute, but in the end, as soon as I got into the carriage, tears began to fall.
“Ugh…”
My body did not stop shaking.
It felt like Johann’s black eyes were embedded deeply.
“…I was first, always…”
“……”
“I love you and want you.”
Selfish bastard.
Even if that was true, Johann had never come close to me even once in my many miserable lives.
‘You just look at me like an object, and you want me…… Is it love?’
Even though he had no memory of his past lives like Johann…
I knew the man who finally changed my fate with endless questions and approached me.
I knew a man who embraced and melted my cold, cold life.
Even if I didn’t love him, even if I stabbed him, even if I cursed and hated him, I knew a man who loved me silently by himself.
…Rixus…
So I felt like he knew more.
“I’d rather die…”
Johann’s heart was never… Such a terrible heart was never love.
The pressure left on my tingling neck felt like a serpent engulfing my entire body.
I missed Rixus so much.
Thinking of him seemed to soothe the deep feeling of despair.
Then, something like a lie happened. At the entrance of the Imperial Palace, I found a tall figure waiting for me.
“Berylia.”
“Rixus…! Rixus.”
The moment the door of the carriage opened, I jumped into his arms.
As I was embraced in his wide arms, the breath that was sinful enough to suffocate came out just then.
‘I miss you.’
I missed you so much.
The mere fact that Rixus hugged me… My mind was at peace, the tremors had ceased, and the frantic breathing had calmed down.
As always, I was held in his comfortable arms as if it was my own home, and I finally felt reassured like a child.
“……”
Rixus had a lot of things he wanted to ask his wife which was in his arms.
Where the hell did she go and why did she come back crying.
He could hazard a guess, so he was already mad about it; he wanted to go twist Johann’s neck right away.
But her anxiety took precedence over his feelings. As it always had.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine now…”
Then Rixus asked softly. So that she wouldn’t be surprised if she was still nervous.
“What’s up?”
Berylia went in with him, saying let’s talk inside.
She told him everything.
What she learned from Johann, that maybe today could be the last day of the world.
As lovers, and as two monarchs to protect the people, the two talked a lot all night long.
It was from dawn that they began to give instructions to the knights in earnest.
Until the sun drove the darkness away and morning came, Rixus and Berylia had completed all their defenses.
And finally… The fateful day dawned.
* * *
Deborah, who had been called by the archduke in the morning, heard the news like a bolt from the blue.
“The Archduke ordered this letter to be delivered to the hut in the Paname Forest.”
“…Isn’t that a forest that is forbidden to enter because it’s dangerous?!”
Melfis, who delivered Johann’s command, answered without even blinking an eye.
“If Madam Deborah does this, the Archduke will not seek you for a while.”
“Still…!”
“Compensation and jewels will also be paid monthly.”
Money and jewelry?
Deborah’s expression changed in an instant.
She lacked money, and the promise that he would not look for her for a while was also appealing.
And she was not in a position to reject Johann’s command anyway.
“…Give me the letter.”
Deborah accepted the letter as she had no choice.
‘It’s a dangerous forest, but the hut is at the beginning of the forest.’
In fact, it was more dangerous to go all the way to the graveyard of stars.
But she did it. Still, Deborah decided to go with a weapon to protect herself.
‘Is this enough?’
Returning home for a while, Deborah pulled out a small dagger from the depths of a drawer.
It was a ‘self-defense dragon’ sword that was gifted to her when she was a duchess. It was very precious.
It was not an ordinary sword, but a sword smelted with holy power to ward off evil energy.
These swords usually had strong resistance to the magic of demons and beasts.
‘I heard that monsters live in the Paname Forest. So just in case, I have to take it.’
Deborah made her own preparations and got into the carriage.
It was the beginning of winter.
The weather was particularly chilly today, and frost was sitting on the side of the road outside the carriage window.
Was that why?
Suddenly she thought of her father.
“…By the way, why haven’t I been contacted?”
‘Did he die somewhere?’
As imagining something horrific, Deborah soon had a bitter face, which was uncharacteristic of her.
Still, seeing the cold weather reminded her of the old man wearing only thin clothes.
‘Whether you die or not…’
‘…What does that have to do with me.’
‘But if you come next time, I’ll buy you a winter coat instead of money.’
‘If I give you money, it will be wasted…’
While she was thinking such thoughts, the carriage arrived at the entrance of the forest with the loud cries of horses.
Paname Forest.
The sight of the white dried winter trees stretching high into the sky was beautiful and spectacular.
It even smelled refreshing.
But it was a much more dangerous forest than it looked.
Deborah swallowed her saliva and began to step into the forest.
‘I just have to deliver the letter and come out quickly, right?’
It felt kind of eerie.
‘I just have to go to the hut.’
By walking while holding the dagger in her hands, she didn’t come across anyone unexpectedly.
It was relatively quick to get to the hut.
Tok, tok—
She knocked on the door and the forest keeper came out from inside.
Half of its body was covered with vines, and she couldn’t help but be surprised by the bizarre visual that was neither human nor monster.
“Hey, Archduke Marquis told me to deliver this.”
The forest keeper looked at her with its yellow eyes, then took her letter and read it.
Then it ripped its big mouth wide open and smiled for a while.
Boo woo—
Soon it lifted a long horn and began to blow towards the forest.
“!”
Deborah covered her ears with both hands as she felt like her deafness was going to fall off.
“Stop it, it’s noisy!”
After a while.
Baseuk— Baseuk—
With a strange sound, the forest began to tremble.
It was a sound that could be heard from hundreds or thousands of meters away. She could feel a broad vibration that covered the entire forest.
Deborah began to feel an overwhelming ominous feeling.
Just like terrified animals before a volcanic eruption or a large-scale earthquake, her instincts were speaking.
Now, something very dangerous was about to happen.
“Hey, what is this vibration…? What the hell was written in the letter?!”
“It says the world ends today.”
Showing its black teeth, the gatekeeper smiled calmly.
“And the messenger who delivered the letter should be ‘delicious’.”
“!?”
Puuk—
A vine pierced Deborah’s stomach.
Deborah was lifted into the air with a painful scream.
Her screams lasted for a while too.
“Aaaaaah!”
However, a stronger scream erupted from the forest keeper’s mouth.
Touk, touk—
Suddenly, with a dagger, Deborah slashed the vine and stabbed him like crazy.
Deborah grabbed her pierced stomach and ran into the woods. Her brain tingled with pain, but she couldn’t stop
“Stay there…!”
A part of the body of the forest keeper who was screaming from behind began to fall, as if it was slowly weathering.
But that attack would not have been enough to completely kill him.
“Haak, haak.”
Deborah glanced behind with bloodshot eyes and ran frantically forward. It seemed as if her intestines were torn apart.
As the monsters who smelled the blood were gathering, yellow eyes began to flash in the forest.
“Damn, damn it…!”
* * *
“The movement of the forest is unusual.”
In response to Ires’ report, Rixus tapped the table, tuk tuk, and said,
“Look closely. It’s close to noon.”
“Yes!”
He could guess what was going on in the forest without having to look.
Noon today.
He knew that when the sun was hanging in the highest point of the sky, the door of Marsephone would open.
Near the Illuminati Mountains, the defense had already been thoroughly secured.
A teleport connecting the nearby forest and the Imperial Palace was also newly established.
The opening of Marsephone’s door was unstoppable, so early yesterday morning, Rixus and Berylia made their decision.
“Why don’t you mobilize the entire troops all night to kill Johann, Rixus?”
This method was a problem for those who lived near the residence of Archduke Marquis.
It would take a massive battle to stop the powers of Toulouse and Johann, and the innocent people would experience hell.
It was obvious that so many people would be tragically sacrificed.
“To protect the people, we have no choice but to kill Johann and Toulouse in an unauthorized place.”
“I think so too, Berylia.”
Then there was only one way.
Immediately after the door of Marsephone opened, Toulouse and Johann would surely go to it.
The only choice was to stop the monsters on that steep mountain and kill the two of them.
In the vicinity of the Illuminati Mountains, there was already the Ghost Army of the margrave and the transnational knights of Valderi’ led by Lucia.
Additionally, the most elite knights of Spinel and Aktoum were gathered.
They couldn’t figure out how many monsters were pouring out, but for a certain period of time, they should be able to stop the monsters from reaching accreditation.
(TL/N: i’m trying to figure out what the author means by ‘accreditation’. before the issues of monsters were made known to the citizens?)
(PR/N: could be? accreditation means recognition so ‘before they were known to the public’ makes sense. The word accreditation just makes me think of school, but i don’t think those monsters are trying to pass their tests.)
But success could not be guaranteed.
Berylia was holding his hand, swallowing nervously.
“Berylia.”
“Yes?”
Surprised, she looked at Rixus. It wasn’t much of a call.
Rixus calmly stared and observed the anxiousness in her eyes, then slowly pulled her into an embrace.
In the warm and familiar arms, Berylia gradually calmed down.
“Don’t worry.”
“…I’m scared.”
“What’s so scary?”
His questioning voice and the gaze looking into her eyes were friendly.
“I’ve been… afraid I’m going to die, that’s the scariest thing.”
It certainly was.
That was the thing she was most worried about in her many lives, and even at the beginning of this one.
“But… not now.”
Berylia looked at Rixus with shaky eyes.
Her hand gently stroked his chest.
“Don’t die, Rixus.”
“….…”
Now, she was more afraid of Rixus dying than herself.
As if reading her mind, Rixus gently stroked her hair.
“I’m not dying.”
The corners of his mouth rose smoothly upwards.
“I’m sure. Never.”
Two large hands gently caressed her cheek.
“And as always, I’m sure… it’s you, Berylia.”
The question of losing him to death, the conviction that made him live a strong life…
There was only one, Berylia.
Berylia was so grateful that she wouldn’t die because of him, and she touched his cheek fondly.
‘Please, even after noon today and after the burning sun has set…’
It would be nice to be able to face him.
That was the only thing she wanted right now.
But when she realized that it might not be the way she wanted it to, suddenly… she was curious about this.
“If the world ends today… what would you like to do last?”
“…….”
Rixus tapped Berylia’s cheek with his finger, lowered his eyes, and kissed her.
The kiss where they shared their body temperature and breath was more intense and affectionate than ever.
At the end of the world, the two hearts that only wanted each other were beating hotly.
And… At last the sun began to burn from the highest point in the sky.
It was noon.