"Hm? Are you planning to revive her without a pact?"

Cindy asked, quickly grasping the situation seeing how Richard was dealing with the corpse of his lover.

"You know that’s not going to work"

She immediately followed up on her words but they too fell on deaf ears.

"God! Don’t get obsessive! That’s what led to many madmen!"

But her words did nothing to stop Richard.

Seeing that he kept moving, ignoring her words and likely those that came from Ragnar and the Goddess, Cindy stomped her way to Richard and rested the barrel of the handgun she got from the sniper on Richard’s head.

"That won’t do anything"

"Yeah, that’s why you need to stop now!"

Their words would seem off to others but to those left in the warehouse, the implications were obvious.

"I could bring her back"

"No you can’t"

"Yes I will"

Cindy felt a nerve pop hearing the man’s words and she pulled the trigger

*BANG*

The bullet vanished before it could even exit the barrel, Richard turned around, a bit shocked that Cindy would really shoot him point blank.

"Awake?"

"I haven’t slept yet"

"Tsk"

Cindy was unable to contain her annoyance, she pointed at the corpse of Andrea and said.

"You think you can make miracles just cuz your Merlin’s descendant?"

"Yeah, so?"

"..."

Seeing as Richard was really unwilling to hear reason, Cindy finally gave up and left.

"Fine, do what you want to do but don’t blame me when your beloved Andrea is forced to live an eternity suffering because of your selfish actions"

Cindy’s words caught Richard off guard, not because she gave up on persuading him but because of the warning she left about Andrea.

"What did you say about Andrea?"

The moment Richard asked, Cindy turned to the Goddess and Ragnar, she thought it was impossible for them not to tell Richard about it but it seems like they still haven’t.

Still, when they met Cindy’s gaze, all they did was shake their heads.

They didn’t even try to give an explanation!

But then, Cindy recalled their teaching methods.

The Goddess was the type to just let things flow and let fortune take over. She would at best rescue Richard, at worst she’d watch him suffer since he won’t really die.

Ragnar on the other hand was a "practical teacher", he didn’t give lectures and let his students experience things and "get a hang of it".

While it worked for magic, seeing how he reacted, it was obvious that he treated everything from magic to life the same way.

Though Cindy didn’t mind seeing Richard suffer, she also didn’t want to deal with a Richard going ballistic after his "destined failure".

Turning around, Cindy stared Richard dead in the eyes as she explained-

"Souls linger due to a strong will, whether external or internal, souls could only remain as they are if they have attachments. You know that but you probably don’t know what happens when a soul is forcefully made to appear despite not having strong attachme-"

"Andrea won’t leave me!"

Richard cut Cindy off but she rolled her eyes as while slapping him with the truth-

"She did, the oh so great descendant of Merlin has such a strong will that he could accidentally cause a tear in reality if he’s not careful. With such a strong will, calling out to her, you think she’d appear as a ghost if she were here"

Cindy gave Richard the cold hard truth, speaking calmly and with a hint of sarcasm.

Indeed, if Andrea were still here as a soul, even without a pact, her spirit would have turned into a ghost. Her soul would be strengthened by Richard’s will and she would be able to be with Richard even without a body.

Yet-

Andrea was not here.

No matter how strongly Richard called out to her in his heart, the woman he loves has vanished.

"I don’t know what you beloved Andrea thinks but witches would cast a spell on their souls upon death. Many destroy their souls as they are unwilling to become servants of the beings they made pacts with or get called back to the Earth by their family"

Cindy paused, her eyes turned serious as she asked.

"Do you know why that is done?"

"..."

"Souls that are forcefully reincarnated do not retain their ego. They are fueled by the will of their summoner and at first, they become the "ideal" which their summoner called for. But as time passes, a soul that is nothing more than a copy would get influenced."

Cindy let out a breath, she turned towards the Goddess and Ragnar before continuing.

"In the first place, human souls are pitifully fragile, even the strongest human mystic would end up being nothing more than a mindless wandering spirit or even a deranged hungry ghost if they spend their afterlife with an ego. Eternity is not so good when all you could do is watch"

The young witch turned back to Richard, her eyes now showing a light of empathy while she spoke.

"If you truly wish to move forward with your plan, go, but remember, the Andrea you create is nothing more than a copy, a doll that is nothing more than a creation of your will. BUT! What you create won’t be "normal". The power you hold is great and the spirit you create would likely become a dangerous chimera. No one in the history of mysticism... at least that I know of, created such a creature and ended up happy"

As she finished her words, Cindy turned around and stood next to the Goddess, she did not say anything else and just waited.

Richard looked at the three people standing next to each other.

They did not say a word but he understood their stance.

Even so-

"Then what should I do?"

He still wanted to bring Andrea back... even if it’s just to make up for his mistakes, his failures...

He didn’t mind if she disliked him, if she pushed him away. What Richard wanted was to give his beloved a second chance- one that was filled with joy... one that was not twisted, not dark...

<If you don’t want to believe me then don’t, but as I said before, Andrea, your beloved is likely a reincarnated Goddess. I don’t know who she was but I tried to save her soul, at least preserve it for you but she forcefully broke through my control. Your beloved attacked ME, a Goddess with ice, she froze my hand, enveloped herself in a barrier of ice and disappeared just like that>

The Goddess words were unreliable, Richard didn’t want to believe it but-

"Richard, I know it’s hard for you to calm down with all that happened but you have to remember. As Merlin’s descendant... you’re already somewhat... special existence. Your ancestor is a womanizer and had relations with many Goddesses, it won’t surprise me that one of them decided to reincarnate and become his descendant’s lover in hopes that Merlin could reincarnate into him. There were some that talked about Merlin possibly escaping through reincarnation and no one could find a way to stop it but he seems to have accepted his fate... I think"

Ragnar went on a long explanation but Richard understood what he meant.

’The goddess’ words may not be complete lies"

Yet Richard couldn’t just accept it-

"Hm?"

Cindy’s eyes turned towards the corpse, no one touched it and even Richard knew that it was nothing more than just a corpse but all of a sudden, it started to glow.

"Damien"

A voice called out to Richard, Andrea’s body glowed with a faint azure light and the Goddess word’s seemed all the more plausible.

"I’m sorry"

Richard knelt down and held the corpse, it was cold but the temperature was too low, lower than normal and that made it all the more possible-

"Please... don’t force it, it was fate... our fate- countless lifetimes, it’s always the same. Merlin... like I said before... in our next life... should we meet again-"

"Wait- Andrea... no-"

"Let’s get together... again... until I can finally- no... take care... Damien"

The voice vanished as the light that enveloped Andrea turned to specks of bluish white light.

Richard did not try to stop the light from vanishing, he did not try to force her back.

He didn’t need to as he already knew that she wanted to go...

Even if he wanted to keep her, Andrea herself could not bear to face him. The pleading look in her eyes was not out of desire for rescue... It was a call for him to escape to safety.

The emotions that Andrea bore, they were passed on to Richard.

But it did not contain an ounce of pain, the suffering she endured was not reflected on the thoughts passed on. All it contained was the joy she felt as she saw him enter the warehouse. The joy she felt as he risked everything if it meant keeping her alive.

Andrea had regrets but she was satisfied, she did not want to become his crutch. The thoughts he felt were direct- it was a wish... 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"..."

Only Richard heard her words, maybe the Goddess too but the young man didn’t think too much about it.

He did his best to control his tears but when he turned to look down on Andrea’s body, one thing shone brightly on her finger.

The ring which he never got to give her-