Chapter 169

Chapter 169

Translator: Yonnee

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I left the restaurant with a much lighter heart than when I entered it. Above us, in the setting sun’s twilight sky, stars shone as brightly as the streetlights around us.

Ever since it became known that it was the place where Albert had been confined in before, the tower was now regarded as some kind of tourist destination.

People weren’t allowed inside, but nevertheless, it seemed to have attracted their attention, and they were content just admiring it.

They began thinking that the tower was cool. It was amazing how people’s perception could change as time passed.

Albert used a ‘Hide’ spell so we could avoid other people’s eyes, and our appearances were immediately obscured. His magic was becoming more and more intricate as time went on.

As we soared into the sky, Albert and I walked in the air, just as we did when we first left the tower. It’s as if the stars had paved a path for us amidst this never-ending sky.

The tower slowly began to appear in my view. There weren’t any people around.

I don’t know if Albert made sure to do something about it ahead of time.

We descended from the sky gradually, and eventually stood in front of the door. It felt strange. Everything that’s happening now was in complete contrast to what had happened during the day of the uprising.

“It’s my first time coming back here as well.”

Albert turned the knob, and the door opened with a creak. Soon, the dark space within could be seen. Albert went inside first and turned on the light.

It was the kitchen that I hadn’t seen for the longest time.

“I’ll look around more here. You can go ahead upstairs.”

There was a hint of curiosity in Albert’s eyes as he looked around the kitchen. It was the room that he rarely ever went in or out of. Perhaps he’s curious now since there hadn’t been an opportunity before for him to look around like this.

Nodding, I climbed up the stairs with Blanc.

The tower welcomed us in a quiet, but cozy manner.

“I’m glad I brought this bag.”

Well, I brought the bag for the sake of carrying Albert’s gift with me, but its usefulness was shining here. I looked around, lost in reminiscence for a moment.

Albert’s bed. The table where we ate together, him, me and Blanc. Even now, I could vividly picture the moments we spent together.

A smile started tugging at the corners of my lips. In a good mood, I headed up the attic. Rosé’s clothes were all up top.

But when I arrived, I saw that dust had settled in the attic.

This could be because I increasingly spent a lot more time downstairs towards the end of our stay here, so I never really got the chance to properly clean it up since then. Cough, cough. I couldn’t help but cough as I put the clothes in my bag.

Then, a familiar headache came.

“Ugh…”

I wrapped a hand over my head.

“Rosé?”

Blanc asked uneasily beside me.

Pain shot throughout my entire body right then. It was the same symptoms as when I had been mired with black magic.

However, the black magic should have been cleared up by Albert already. Besides, all the spells around the tower were gone. Albert removed them all.

But now, what’s wrong with me? Does the problem lie with the tower itself?

For a moment, this fleeting thought passed through my mind.

And when I opened my eyes again…

I saw the face of ‘Rosé Artius’, who was looking at me with a sour expression.

…What? I’m looking at Rosé Artius?

Only then did I realize… that I had left Rosé’s body.

I was floating mid-air, as transparent as a specter.

This…

What in the world is going on?

Am I alive right now? No, am I dead?

I was wracked with confusion as I heard Rosé whispering to herself. She turned to face Blanc with a goosebump-inducing smile on her face.

She had a completely different atmosphere around her compared to when I was inhabiting that body.

“Finally found it.”

…What she said was clearly referring to her body.

I had a sinking feeling that the person in front of me was the real ‘Rosé Artius’, the character in the novel who had a twisted love for Albert, and tried to have everything for herself.

At the same time, it was the very same Rosé who Albert had struck vengeance against—the dark mage, who was executed in the original novel.

She’s back in her body.

The moment that everything’s over, and when I thought that all that’s left ahead of me was happiness, I was hit on the back of my head like this.

“…Rosé?”

Blanc tilted his head to the side. The ‘Rosé’ in front of him smiled.

“Why, Blanc?”

When I saw the face she made, chills ran down my spine. The way she stretched the corners of her lips was so similar to the way that I smiled.

As if she had been observing me for a long time, and was now imitating me.

Of course, you could also say that Rosé might have had the same smile as me. But just before this, I saw the real her.

That eerie atmosphere she had given off… Just thinking about that made me convinced that what she’s doing right now was a mere act to mimic my actions.

Blanc blinked nervously. He seemed to have noticed that something’s strange. I shouted in a hurry.

“Blanc. No. That’s not me!”

It’s not me! I shouted at the top of my lungs.

“Let’s get out of here. I got everything I need.”

Rosé lifted the bag up with one hand and spoke in a tone of voice that was similar to mine. At that moment, I became anxious about just how far she knew until now.

…I shouldn’t have forgotten about her.

There were times when I was curious about the whereabouts of Rosé Artius while I was in possession of her body.

But I never thought about it deeply. Instead, I was busy living.

I was complacent. I just idly thought that she disappeared when I came here.

That was a huge mistake.

Rosé Artius is not dead. She’s been watching me. She’s been observing my behavior this whole time.

To copy me. To regain her original body.

I recalled the conversation I had with Albert before.

“For you to have been hexed, there are three requisites—the dark mage’s soul, the mage’s tool, and the target that holds the hex itself.”

These three requisites for a hex.

The soul of Rosé, who was a dark mage.

Her wand, the dark mage’s tool.

And me, ‘Yoo Jung-in’—the target of the hex.

I now realized that the headache I’d been having, and the same one that had resurfaced just moments ago, was due to the curse that she had put on me.

I wasn’t sick because of a side effect of Rosé’s black magic.

It was because she hexed me.

I just did not know because I never imagined that her soul had remained in the tower.