Chapter 326

Chapter 326

Translator: yun

We stared at each other in silence.

“Did you see everything?”

“Hm, what could you be referring to?”

Did she see Hernan? Or was she pretending to have not? Even after squinting my eyes, I couldn’t read her.

“If you didn’t see anything, then forget it”

I turned my head. Reaching my hand out, the diary flew into my hand as if it had been waiting.

“What brings you here?”

“Have you not heard anything from Dane Lowell?”

I glanced at Dane’s letter.

“I did.”

I slowly raised my head,

“Dane mentioned in a letter that you would come see me.”

“But?”

“But I didn’t think you’d really come to see me.”

The moon hanging above Rusbella’s head looked frighteningly dazzling. I furrowed my brows at Rusbella who looked as beautiful as glass that was close to breaking under this light.

She was like a dangerous plant attracting insects as prey.

Dane had also mentioned in his letter what he had to do in the future. It might have just been a while ago, but now that my reason had returned, I was rational enough to think it was strange.

“Don’t you think it’s ridiculous that you would actually come here to help me?”

“.....”

Rusbella frowned. I didn’t miss the moment when her eyes narrowed.

“I’m not accepting any more of your nonsense anymore, so be straight with me. How did war bring you here?”

She smiled as if it was funny.

“You’ve already heard, haven’t you? That Kaltanias had already won.”

Looking as calm as ever, Rusbella did not look like someone who had just been defeated.

“It was the Kingdom of Walter who started the war, not Kaltanias. Do you not feel responsible?”

People died. In this world, a world which I now learned was not a world inside a novel, the people in here were not merely passing extras but living breathing humans. Those people had been injured and some even died in the war selfishly started by someone. What wrong did they commit for this?

“It is because of you, countless people died. Do you not pity them?”

Immediately, I scoffed.

“Right. You would never feel sympathy. You are an undead monster that died a long time ago.”

Rusbella then glared fiercely at me.

“I don’t know what you’re scheming but I won’t let you or Castor have your way anymore.”

I did not back down and retorted fiercely. No, what more did I have left to fear when I already lost so many people. I was willing to tear their necks apart.

“Ha, what’s this...”

Rusbella did not hide her astonishment.

“So, you haven’t heard anything about me from Dane Lowell. This is seriously...”

My ferocity unknowingly dissipated as I watched her expression crumble. What was going on?

“Dane had written in his letter that he had discovered your weakness.”

“And what is that weakness?”

Did I have to answer? But for some reason, I answered her anxiously with a frown.

“He said you had some tool that was precious to you. He told me that if he took that tool away from you, you would come help.”

Rusbella burst out laughing.

“Ha, haha. Ahahaha. That’s funny. It really is. Ha...”

Her craze-induced laughter ceased abruptly. She swept her falling hair up gracefully.

“I really do not like you.”

She spat out.

“I hate you.”

As if responding to her feelings, a wave of gold pulsed ferociously around her.

“Do you plan on continuing to use your innocence like this... or perhaps this is all an act.”

I could no longer keep up with what she was saying. However, with every word she spoke, she was emitting a dangerous amount of energy I could not ignore.

“As you just said, it would be ridiculous for me to help you.”

I frowned at her words. Rusbella twisted her lips.

“Slon had been shot by an arrow. It was a poison arrow that the Head Templar of Diana had shot. An average man would not be able to live after getting struck by it. I am here now in exchange for them saving Slon’s life. “

When I read ‘tool’, I thought Dane was referring to an artefact that was important to Rusbella. But the words she uttered made me forget my anger.

Slorenian, Slon. The man whom I once thought was the male lead of this world. The moment his name came to mind, the puzzle began solving itself.

“What about getting promotions? Is it a sin for me to get married? Why can’t I work if I have a child?”

“No clue.”

Back when we were younger, this friend of mine was good at playing games so she had dreamt of becoming a popular streamer. But she spent her youth away and stopped pursuing that dream.

“Darn it, this damned world. Damn it all. I wish everything would just fall apart...”

It wasn’t bad to have this low-rung job but standing on the edge made the world look bleak and made everyone look twisted.

“Hng, could Hogwarts please send me an owl too...”

‘Oh?’

I was going to respond but I blinked my eyes instead.

“Hey.”

“Hm?”

“I feel like I’ve gone through this before?”

It felt like I was now reminiscing memories.

‘Is this like deja vu or something?’

I scratched my cheek but something felt like it was missing from it. There was a strange feeling of emptiness surrounding my burning cheeks.

‘What is this?’

Just when I thought something was amiss, my drunk friend quickly raised her head.

“Ji-Ahn, what was your dream?”

WIthout giving me time to think, my lips moved on their own.

“... That I won’t die anymore?”

As soon as the words left my lips, I wanted to take back what I just said. Why did I say that? My friend stared back at me as though pitying me.

“You must be having a hard time these days...”

Still, after telling me not to kill myself, she continued talking about owls and Hogwarts.

After our drinking session ended just like that, I returned to my daily routine. I had an ordinary, normal job, a job that would force me to sometimes face the harsh reality.

“You’ve worked hard today.”

On my way home, my friend called me out so that we could get rid of our hangovers together. After I shot down her absurd idea of getting rid of our hangovers by drinking even more, we drank some hangover soup before sitting down in a cafe next to the soup place.

There had been a poster hanging on the glass wall of the cafe I had never seen before. We began to chat about the poster we just saw.

“Is it from some popular animation? It was a big hit. What is it about? The main character was transported into another world and saved that world.”

“That sounds like a common story.”

My friend tried to convince me to read it by saying that their art definitely stood out and that there was a handsome blonde man as the male lead.

“Well. A common story is a common story. But aren’t your bookshelves full at this point?”

My friend began attacking my innocent bookshelf.

“But, Ji-Ahn. These stories usually end happily, don’t they?”

“Do they?”

“Then, do the main characters return to their original world?”

I hesitated to answer.

“You’re asking me anything that comes to your mind.”

I blinked. Before I knew it, I was scratching my cheek again out of habit. I tried to agree but my lips would not stop trembling.

‘Why? What’s going on?’

While I was frozen in my thoughts, my friend continued the topic alone as if she had already gotten her answer.

“Right. What novel have you been reading recently? You don’t talk about them anymore.”

“You mean novels?”

“Yeah. You said you found something that suits your tastes perfectly.”

“Did I... I don’t seem to remember.”

“Did it turn boring after you bragged about it that much?”

“What was it about?”

My friend tilted her head as if she thought it was strange.

“The title was something vague... but it’s obvious what you like. There’s some tyrant and he became obsessed with the female lead. It’s some angsty story about the trials and tribulations the female lead has to face.”

“Am I that much of a weirdo? To think I liked these kinds of stories.”

My friend then widened her eyes before staring at me as though I had changed.

“Isn’t that interesting? Did your tastes change overnight?”

I shook my head quietly.

“... I don’t like seeing people have a difficult time. Because it’s hard to see them like that.”

For some reason, I felt burdened as though I had gone through something like that before but my friend who was hearing me speak found me even stranger yet she didn’t question it.

On the way home, the sky was filled with dark clouds hiding stars that could not show themselves. The dark apartments looked like square boxes.

Standing atop a hill, when I turned around, I could see what was below me in an instant. The sight of spring blossoms beautifully decorated my view when I looked out my window. But at night, this view was tarnished.

My gaze lingered on the Seoul night view.

[So, this is the world you lived in.]