Episode 6
He screamed, raged, sank into grief, and with each life he lived, grew numb.
The comrades who had once laughed and chatted with him gradually began to seem less like fellow humans and more like background scenery.
Even toward the enemies who had once driven him into despair, he no longer felt any desire for revenge.
No matter what he cut down, he no longer felt guilt.
He did not know how to stop.
For the sake of protecting one person, he repeated thousands of deaths and failures.
If he died, he began again; if he collapsed, he rose again, wishing for only one ending.
A future in which Odelli lived.
“…….”
Odelli watched his life, repeated without end.
“Stop now…….”
Every memory he had experienced crashed over Odelli like a tidal wave.
It was an overwhelming quantity of memories, impossible to endure.
Though she was clearly still watching his memories, the sheer amount of information was too vast for her to understand most of it.
Odelli could only fall speechless and overwhelmed before a single truth.
A man who had lived for her and died for her.
A man who, at the beginning and end of every timeline, had looked only at Odelli.
Hundreds of failures.
Thousands of deaths.
He died again and again, rose to fight again, and even after losing everything, he did not stop.
Repetition, and repetition, and repetition again, without fail.
The jewel of regression growing smaller and smaller.
The ring he had never taken off his hand, even through countless regressions.
Her chest tightened so much she could hardly breathe, and her vision slowly darkened.
Love, hatred, pity, devotion, regret, rage, madness.
Each and every one of those emotions tore Odelli’s mind to shreds.
“……Stop!”
Odelli reached out without realizing it.
Toward him, who was drawing his sword once more within the endless chain of memories.
“Please, stop now…….”
Even though she knew it was time that had already passed and vanished.
Even though she knew better than anyone that he was no longer in this world.
“You did enough. I’m all right. I said I’m all right. For me…… why would you go this far…….”
But before Odelli’s outstretched hand could reach him.
Rudvil died.
At last, he died “truly.”
After saving Odelli.
He sank into eternal rest.
She had thought it strange.
Right before the divorce, her body had been growing weaker by the day, to the point that she had been only waiting for death.
And yet at some point, she had felt her vitality return, as though she were coming back to life.
Enough to work as a healer in the village where she had newly settled.
She had thought perhaps a miracle had occurred.
But the truth was…….
“It was a miracle you created.”
What even God could not do, you accomplished in a human body.
She squeezed her eyes shut and clenched the ring tightly.
The blue light emanating from the jewel of regression had now grown so faint it seemed ready to go out at any moment.
As if announcing that Rudvil’s memories—no, his life—had come to an end.
“…….”
Without thinking, Odelli prayed.
If there was a next life.
If such a thing truly existed.
She hoped he would live solely for himself.
“……And not get entangled with someone like me.”
Please, be happy.
At that moment, light surged from the ring on her hand as though exploding.
And then…….
Crack—
A fissure ran through the jewel of regression, and it scattered into countless fragments.
“……!”
Shards of blue light embroidered the air like the Milky Way.
In an instant, those lights rushed toward Odelli.
At the same time, everything changed as if swept up in a storm.
Light spread, sound warped, and time turned over.
And darkness.
“……Hah!”
The next moment, Odelli opened her eyes, gasping for breath on a damp floor.
‘This is…….’
Moist stone walls.
The rough, cold stone floor beneath her knees.
The underground secret chamber of House Kardel.
“Cough……!”
Her insides twisted violently.
Something surged up her esophagus.
Blood.
Hot, sticky, and metallic, it filled her mouth.
The red blood flowing through the gap between her lips stained the hem of her white dress.
It was a familiar pain.
In that instant, the ground trembled faintly.
Soon after, a series of booms rang out like fireworks bursting, and shouts and cheers resounded from afar.
“Long live House Kardel!”
“Descendant of the dragon, blood of heroes, long live!”
“Glory to the Luminer Empire!”
The signal of that day, repeated every year.
“……I’ve come back.”
To that day six years ago, when Rudvil came to her and proposed a contract marriage.
Odelli exhaled raggedly and looked down for a moment at the ring hanging loosely on her thumb.
The ring that had accompanied Rudvil for so long after the jewel of regression was set into it.
At its center, the jewel that had barely maintained its shape had vanished completely, without leaving even powder behind.
After giving Odelli one final chance.
“……Why.”
I clearly prayed for you to be happy without getting entangled with someone like me…….
What trick of fate had brought her back to this exact point?
Clack—
Just then, she heard the sound of a lock turning.
Odelli half-raised herself without realizing it.
“You look better than I expected. Should I have strengthened the barrier a little more?”
Had she, without knowing it, gotten her hopes up?
The moment she confirmed the other person’s face, the light in her eyes chilled in an instant.
Because it was Gawin.
The eldest son and official heir of House Kardel, Gawin Kardel.
He and Odelli were siblings born of the same womb, but by “good fortune,” he had been born without any ability at all.
Thanks to that, he had been able to become a hero representing the empire, hailed as God’s messenger.
Odelli’s lifeblood had been the stepping stone for his glory.
“Don’t think you can rest just because the ceremony is over. This is only the beginning. There are mountains of things you must purify.”
Odelli only half-listened to him as she continued staring toward the door.
Because every nerve in her body was focused on Rudvil.
At that, Gawin let out a sneering snort.
“What? Do you think someone is coming to save you?”
“…….”
“Don’t be selfish. If only you endure, this entire empire lives. The one born to bear that heavy responsibility is the purifier.”
Gawin moved slowly, looking around the room steeped in the stench of blood.
His tone was endlessly calm, but within it lay a chilling cynicism.
“For the family, for the empire…… If you do not intend to betray the sacrifices of the dozens of ancestors who have devoted their lives until now, then abandon any foolish thoughts.”
“…….”
“The moment the purifier fails to fulfill her role, this empire, you, and everything else will be left with nothing.”
At those words, Odelli openly let out a hollow laugh.
Gawin’s face froze in an instant.
“What is so funny?”
Once, she had believed.
In the mission spoken of by the Kardels, and in the destiny of the purifier.
But not now.
Because the Odelli of this moment possessed both “the memories before the regression” and “Rudvil’s memories” in their entirety.
There was no way she would fail to know that they were glorifying sacrifice and dressing up obedience as duty.
“The empire will collapse because of me alone?”
“Yes, so……”
“That makes it sound as though you can’t do anything without me. Even though you’re supposedly the hero of the empire.”
“…….”
“It seems you’re admitting that you have no ability of your own.”
Sparks flew in Gawin’s eyes.
Displeasure, confusion, and wounded pride mingled together and blazed fiercely.
“……How dare you.”
He gritted his teeth and glared at Odelli.
“How dare you evaluate me with that filthy mouth?”
His footsteps struck the floor heavily.
Gawin stopped right in front of Odelli and whispered in a voice as low as a snake’s hiss.
“Don’t delude yourself. You are the most insignificant existence in the world. Unlike me, the heir, you are nothing but a tool in this family.”
He seized Odelli firmly by the collar and lifted her up.
“Something like you can be killed and buried, and that will be the end of it. Then the next generation’s purifier will be born. Just as it has always been……. What do you think that means?”
He twisted the corners of his mouth upward.
It was an arrogant, cutting smile that only one who had never known the word defeat could make.
“It means God is always on my side.”
Odelli suddenly had a thought.
She had lost her life, been robbed of her lifespan, and had even the barest rights of a person trampled upon.
And yet even after all of it had been stolen from her, she had never once taken revenge on them.
‘……I see.’
At last, the one chance had come for her to cut off the shackles of the past with her own hands and make her own choice.
Having made her decision, she slowly tilted her head and quietly asked in return.
“Is that so? Then prove it.”