Brief change of POV

——

Seo-yeon...

The moment I heard that name, my heart skipped a beat, and the world around me seemed to tilt on its axis.

A flood of memories from our time back on Earth suddenly came rushing to me, and for a second, I felt lost in the warmth of those moments.

But then, what? What was Aika suddenly saying? What was this nonsense about her being a Lord?

Did she also fall victim to this God who brought the Lords here? Was she just another soul that ended up being trapped in this nightmare?

’Maybe... maybe that’s it.’

I thought that was it.

For a moment, I even began to feel a surge of excitement at the prospect of meeting her, a simple happiness that she was at least alive.

But Aika did not stop speaking.

I wished... I wished she would stop speaking, but she did not.

Her words were like slow, methodical strikes against my chest.

...She told me how she had first found out about the truth through Leon.

...She then told me how she had discovered that Seo-yeon was not even human — that she never was, and all this time, I had been with a being I did not understand.

’What?’

As if that was not enough, she then went ahead to tell me that terrifying conclusion.

Can you believe it? She told me that it was Seo-yeon who had killed me.

Funny, right?

But...

"You know, that’s not a really good joke, Aika." 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

I hoped that she would laugh and tell me I was right, but Aika wasn’t smiling. She was serious.

Unable to meet her gaze, I looked away, because the truth in her eyes was more than I could handle.

And then, my legs felt heavy, so I had to sit on the sand.

I needed a moment, and so I lifted my head to look at the moon high above.

I sighed, because I couldn’t see the moon. My eyes were so blurry that I couldn’t quite see anything.

...To be honest, now that I think about it, there were signs. But it’s not that I never thought that something was wrong; it’s that I did not want to believe it.

So, anytime my thoughts would pick up on clues, I’d immediately suppress the thought and look the other way. There were times when I would remember something strange about Seo-yeon, but I would just tell myself I was being paranoid or that I was simply tired. I made up excuses for her because the alternative was too terrifying to face. I wanted her to be the person I loved, not a puzzle for me to solve.

Sigh.

"I’m really sorry."

At this moment, I heard Aika’s voice again. I tilted my head forward to see that she had crouched in front of me.

I could also see that her eyes were bloodshot as she tried to plead.

"I-I know I should have told you earlier. I shouldn’t have kept this from you. I just... I just didn’t want you to..."

Midway, she halted and looked scared. She was probably afraid that I would get upset with her or something.

Her eyes were shaking with uncertainty, and she looked like she was bracing herself for me to lash out... to blame her for keeping this sort of thing from me.

Sigh.

I sighed again.

Why would I blame her?

Yes, I am a bit upset that she had not told me the truth sooner, but when I think about it, she was just trying to protect me. Just like she had always done, right from the first moment I met her.

So no, I can’t blame her.

As much as it hurt that she kept secrets from me, I tried to put myself in her shoes. I thought about what it must have been like for her.

And when I look at it that way, I do understand.

"I’m sorry, Ced—"

She was still speaking when I suddenly straightened to kneel, then I pulled her in for a hug. Her hands stayed frozen by her sides at first, probably because she was surprised. But before she could speak again, I tightened my grip, letting her know I wasn’t letting go.

"It’s alright. I know... I know it must have bothered you all this while. Thank you for looking out for me. But please, Aika, do not hide things from me."

Aika shook her head frantically as she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me closer, as if she were trying to shield me from the rest of the world.

"I won’t. I promise, I never will again."

For a long moment, both of us knelt hugging each other, because really, we needed each other’s comfort right now.

***

Meanwhile, all this time, Cedric’s ravens had been going around perching themselves on the bodies of the cadets. The bodies they were landing on were those Cedric had not brought to life before. In total, they were just a little over a hundred and fifty.

That number included the body of his friend, Leon Von Caprio, who was the main protagonist of this shitty reality.

Truth be told, Cedric had not had the time to grieve the poor boy because he just had too many burdens of his own that he was dealing with at the moment. Whenever a raven landed on the corpses, they would end up being sent into Cedric’s inventory.

Initially, Cedric had planned to resurrect them once they returned to the Cradle. But as fate would have it, he was no longer returning — at least not yet. So he decided to just keep the bodies and resurrect them when he felt better.

At the same time, his party members had begun to walk up to where he was. Among them was Celeste. After having her head wrenched off in the manner that it had been earlier by Mr. Lim, she had regenerated another head, but because she had exhausted all her mana, she had been forcefully reverted to her normal form. She was later helped up by Asmodeus, who had rushed to her side.

That aside, when they all eventually got to where he was sitting, they saw him on the sand with his back against Aika, smoking a pipe. He had the same indifferent expression that he usually wore, masking the storm inside him.

Everyone was exhausted mentally, so at the moment, no one really did small talk, except for Evelyn who blurted, "Thank goodness, it seems we are finally getting off this godforsaken realm."

As she spoke, her gaze was fixed on the cadets on the shore who were all ready to leave, with some already moving. Dion stepped forward with a gentle smile and stretched out his hand, then gestured with his head.

"Come on, Mate. Let’s go join them."

Cedric stared at his hand for a few seconds before finally forcing a bitter smile. As he reached for it and was helped up, he muttered quietly, "Yeah. Let’s go home."