Chapter 255: Regret, Despair, And... (1)
How long had she struggled in pain? The pressure that had been choking Louise suddenly disappeared with a sharp sensation.
“Kehuhk, keok! Heguk…!”
Finally, she became aware that she had escaped death.
Louise, who had closed her eyes at the dizzying sensation, desperately inhaled air. After a brief moment of focusing solely on survival, she opened her eyes.
“Where… am I?”
Louise’s blue eyes took in the pure white space around her.
The people who had been with her just moments ago—the escort knights, Siriel, and Shiron Prient, who had desperately clutched at her throat to save her—were all gone.
“…Where on earth is this?”
Louise tried to stand up in the empty space. From the moment she faced this white space, she felt an urgent need to escape as quickly as possible.
“…”As she knelt down, her gaze fell downward.
She was completely naked, not even a thread covering her body. The attempt to stand up was immediately halted.
It wasn’t because she was suddenly naked and felt ashamed, but because she realized that this place was a world far removed from reality.
“Ah.”
Thud—
The woman who had realized her death collapsed back to the ground.
At the same time, a whirlwind of emotions surged within her chest.
Resentment, regret, love, apology, longing, and finally, sadness.
She was saddened by the fact that she had died at such a young age, and regret flooded her heart for not spending even a second more with the one she loved, if she had known she would die so meaninglessly.
‘Your Majesty.’
Though they had met when she was only nine years old, Louise’s feelings for Victor were not false.
‘I didn’t even get to say a proper goodbye.’
She had received love poems written in clumsy handwriting, and every month, Victor would bring a bouquet, which he could barely hold in his arms, and hand it to her with a smiling face. She had only received such efforts and sincerity for over ten years,
…What was lacking that made her go to the battlefield?
“…Ugh.”
Louise placed her hands on the ground and wept.
The tears that had started with a few drops gradually increased. Her eyes became so teary that she could barely see. A life filled with hardships. The life of a beautiful 21-year-old had withered away.
“Aaaaah…”
What began as a small whimper turned into a loud wail that seemed to shake the world. The strict etiquette she had learned in her severe upbringing couldn’t stop her from crying without restraint.
Slap—
However, the pain she felt on her left cheek was enough to stop her tears.
“Huh?”
Louise opened her eyes at the sharp sensation. The hand that had been resting on the ground flailed in the air, and before her stood a person she had never seen before.
A woman with black hair and black eyes. The woman with a sharp expression was reaching back her hand with a furious look on her face…
Grab— Louise caught the swinging hand. She had allowed the first strike because her eyes were closed, but the next one was easily blocked.
Though she wasn’t formally knighted, she was still the daughter of a martial family. Dodging a slowly swinging palm was easy.
Maybe because the attack was blocked, the woman’s angry face twisted in frustration.
“You little b*tch, you blocked it?”
“…Little b*tch?”
Louise, who had been touching her stinging cheek, tilted her head.
Who was this person? Who would not only slap the cheek of someone they had never met before but also spew such vulgar language?
“Are you seriously asking why I hit you? Do you really not know?”
“…”
Louise released the wrist she had been holding and stepped back. Even though it was just a brief moment, she could sense something extraordinary from the woman in front of her.
‘…Did I just speak?’
“You didn’t.”
The woman in front of her put her hand on her waist and smirked.
It was as if she was pleased with Louise’s flustered reaction. Louise, feeling goosebumps all over, took another step back.
“Who are you? Do you happen to know who I am?”
“Why should I tell you?”
Regardless of the answer, Louise examined the woman’s body. Could it be that she, too, was dead? Or perhaps this was…
The manager of heaven?
An angel?
Now that she thought about it, there was a halo of light over her head… but there were no wings on her back.
She didn’t look like the angels Louise knew.
God clearly existed and spread evidence of it in the world, so there’s no way the teachings of the scriptures could be wrong. Louise thought that the woman must be a demon.
“Who are you calling a demon?!”
“If not, then quickly tell me who you are.”
“…If you had quietly taken the hundred slaps, I would have told you who I am, where this is, and why I slapped you.”
“Are you saying this is my fault?”
“Yeah, if you get it now, quickly offer your head. It’ll only take a minute.”
“Shouldn’t you at least tell me what I did wrong first?”
Louise, growing irritated, turned red and shouted.
“From what I see, you can read my thoughts, so you should know how confused I am right now!”
Already feeling fragile after being dropped into an unfamiliar place, she had briefly felt a sense of relief upon meeting another human, only for it to turn into this mess.
“My throat was suddenly being choked, there was a flash of light, and when I opened my eyes, I was in a place I had never seen or heard of before, and… and! Why should I get slapped by someone I don’t even know when I didn’t do anything wrong?!”
Finally, tears started to flow down Louise’s face. However, the woman in front of her seemed completely uninterested, fiddling with her hair as if she didn’t care.
“What are you babbling about? Are you an idiot?”
“…”
“Did you think someone would feel sorry for you just because you cry? That’s why girls who grow up spoiled like princesses are so f*cking annoying.”
Sigh—
The woman let out a deep sigh and stared at Louise.
“Even if I were to tell you everything honestly, could you really believe me?”
“…What? What do you mean?”
“What if I were planning to deceive you? Just like you said, we’re meeting for the first time, aren’t we?”
“That’s true. But what can I do? If I want to know something about this place, I have to try something!”
“It’s a place you’ve never seen, with people you’ve never met. And you said you were on the brink of death? Then you should at least keep your distance for a week or more, stay alert, and figure out who this person is!”
“…”
“And as if I wasn’t annoyed enough, dealing with someone with an empty head just makes it worse.”
The woman spat on the ground crudely and crossed her arms. From her vulgar and unrefined behavior, Louise could tell that this woman had reached a stage of resignation.
“I wanted to hit you until I felt better and then send you on your way, but it’s not as easy as I thought, and it’s pissing me off.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Let’s just get this over with.”
The woman sighed deeply and pointed to herself with her finger.
“I’m Yura.”
The woman spoke confidently.
“And this place is… how should I put it? Calling it the otherworld or a dimensional rift sounds too much like something out of a teenager’s delusions…”
“What does ‘teenager’s delusions’ mean?”
“This is a dimensional rift. A passage that connects the empty spaces of the world.”
“Didn’t you just say that calling it a dimensional rift sounded like a teenager’s delusion…”
“Dimensional rifts are quite useful. As you can see, even the souls of the dead can pass through them briefly, and they can be kept here until they are reborn.”
“So, am I dead? Is this place heaven?”
A place where the souls of the dead passed through. At the words that stirred her mind, Louise’s eyes widened.
“How many times do I have to tell you, no!”
“Then…”
“Don’t interrupt me! Listen until the end!”
“…”
She cut others off whenever she wanted, but she didn’t allow others to do the same. There was no time to enjoy the relief that came with the realization that she wasn’t dead. Instead of clutching her chest in relief, Louise clenched her fists and gritted her teeth.
“Anyway! The reason you’re here isn’t because you’re dead, but because this place is also a passage where the power of the 6th Apostle manifests.”
Apostle.
At the mention of a word she had heard somewhere before, Louise’s eyes narrowed. Yura nodded and continued.
“Do you remember when your knights were swallowed up by the Rainbow Ring not long ago?”
“Yes.”
“Those guys were also here for a brief moment before moving on to another place. Don’t ask where they went. They’re all dead.”
“…I see.”
Louise clutched her chest and took a deep breath. The hope she had felt from being told she wasn’t dead lasted only a fleeting moment…
“At least you have a conscience?”
“Of course! The lieutenant has been with me since I was a child, and the rest were people who rose up to help me from my father’s territory…”
“This is the last time. I’ll tell you why I hit you.”
“Already? I mean, is that really the last thing…”
“What else is there to say? I’m dead tired, so shut up.”
Yura’s eyes were half-closed. Her body seemed to slump slightly.
“It’s because of you… because of you, Hyunjun… Shiron got hurt.”
“What?”
“Shiron Prient got hurt. Trying to save you.”
“…”
“That’s why I hit you.”
Shiron Prient was injured. Louise recalled her last memory before arriving in this place. A faint memory of the urgent situation surfaced. Shiron Prient had grabbed the choking ring around her neck and was shouting.
“How badly is he hurt?”
“Why don’t you see for yourself?”
The woman, who had spoken softly, pushed Louise away.
“…”
When she opened her eyes, she found herself in a dark space. One might think they had gone blind, but there was a clear reason why she judged it to be a dark space.
The flickering light of a campfire faintly illuminated the surroundings,
And she could also see the face of a man.
“It seems you’ve regained consciousness.”
“You…”
As Louise’s eyes gradually adjusted, a foul smell reached her nostrils.
“Ugh…!”
Louise stopped herself from inhaling deeply and looked around. This smell was something she definitely remembered. The stench of a beast. And it was from a strong one emitting a thick miasma.
“The beast is already dead.”
“…”
“It was so large that its stench lingers even here.”
“Thank you.”
“No need to thank me.”
Louise, who had placed her hand on her chest in relief, looked down at the sensation she just noticed. She was covered by a black piece of clothing. She didn’t need an explanation to know whose it was.
“Thank you for this too…”
“Yes, you should be thankful.”
“But what are you doing right now?”
Louise looked at Shiron with eyes that had adjusted to the darkness. Even before she woke up, Shiron had been doing something with magic.
She didn’t know what he was doing, but Louise was someone who understood gratitude and resentment. According to what Yura had said, Shiron Prient was in a severely injured state, so if there was anything Louise could do…
“It’s fine. It’s all over now.”
Shiron fitted a prosthetic leg to where his right shin had been. Louise, realizing what he was doing, couldn’t close her mouth in shock.
“Your leg is…!”
“Since you’ve regained consciousness, we should start moving.”
“Your leg has been cut off! Is that okay?”
“Don’t worry about it and just get up.”
Shiron jumped a few times on the spot and then picked up the coat that had been covering Louise.
“This is a labyrinth. If we don’t hurry, we’ll starve to death.”
“…”
Inside a tent, after a great commotion had passed, Siriel picked up a leg from among the many corpses. The owner of the leg, wrapped in black cloth, was someone Siriel knew well.
“W-What is this!”
The knights, who were late in realizing the commotion, rushed in.
“Siriel! What in the world happened here?”
“Her Highness has disappeared!”
“Move aside!”
“Siriel! Explain the situation first!”
“Move aside!”
Siriel cradled the leg carefully and pushed the knights aside.
‘Lady Seira. No, I must find the priest first…’
Her brother had said that even a severed arm could be reattached. Recalling their recent conversation, Siriel hurriedly exited the tent.