Episode 166
"Hmm...?"
Kania, who had been endlessly reading through the diary, suddenly came to her senses and lifted her head.
"W-where is this...?"
Then, instead of Isollet's house where she had been just moments ago, a new space came into her view.
"......???"
It was the garden of the Starlight mansion, a space all too familiar to Kania.
"Why am I suddenly here..."
With an expression of disbelief, Kania looked around her surroundings.
".....!"
She inadvertently lowered her head, then opened her eyes wide.
*Bzzt... sizzle...*
This was because a translucent window had appeared on the diary she held in her hand.
[Playing Ending Credits...]
[While experiencing Frey Laon Starlight's great heroic qualities, and resolving long-standing misunderstandings so that he may live a happy remaining life...]
"Ah?"
Kania's expression, as she read through the contents, gradually stiffened.
"Really, really... the contents of that 'Prophecy Book' were true?"
Eventually, wearing a completely hardened expression, Kania murmured thus.
"...Mmn."
With trembling eyes, she gazed at the entrance door of the Starlight mansion.
"I, I have to go in, right?"
This was because the contents of the diary that had begun floating in Kania's mind were urging her to hurry into the mansion.
"Uh, hmm."
Thanks to that, Kania, who had been hesitating, reached the front door of the mansion.
"Eek."
When her hand passed through the front door all too easily, she jumped in surprise and stepped backward.
"........"
And a brief silence flowed.
"...Gulp."
In that silence, Kania swallowed dry saliva, squeezed her eyes shut, and took one step forward.
*Swish...*
Then, an all too familiar scene unfolded before her eyes.
A sofa exuding a cozy atmosphere, vintage decorations, dark-colored wooden floor.
While these objects created an exquisite synergy and drew out comfort...
"...Mmn."
Kania, seeing such a scene, began to tremble.
This was because.
To Kania, the Starlight mansion was neither a place where she felt coziness nor comfort.
It was simply a space that suffocated her.
"...Young Master."
Having trembled for a while, Kania finally took a deep breath.
"Were you truly... a hero who protected everyone?"
With her fists tightly clenched, wearing a hollow expression.
"Then the evil deeds you've been committing all this time..."
She murmured in a low voice.
"...were they indispensable actions?"
Of course, no one answered.
*Clatter, clatter!*
"...!?"
Instead, a noisy sound came from the kitchen.
*Shaaaa...*
Kania, looking at the kitchen with narrowed eyes, frowned and murmured.
"That's..."
This was because a quite familiar black energy had risen in the kitchen.
"...Wait, surely?"
And only then did Kania realize.
That right now, she was at the point in time written in Frey's diary.
*Creeeak...*
Kania, who had been bewildered by the mysterious events happening to her...
".....!"
...was startled when she saw herself opening the door and coming out of the kitchen.
*Thud, thud.*
Her other self, wearing a cold expression, was walking with a tray containing sandwiches and coffee.
One step, another step.
"Persistent bastard..."
Then, stopping in place for a moment, she made a face of disgust and murmured.
"...Why won't it take effect?"
And she slowly began climbing the stairs.
"......."
Kania, who had been watching that sight blankly, ended up following behind her other self as if entranced.
*Knock knock knock*
"Young Master, I have brought your meal."
Following behind, her other self knocked on an all too familiar door.
"Very well..."
And after a brief moment.
"...Come in."
Frey's voice rang out, the first time she had heard it since the decisive battle.
"The sandwiches and coffee you ordered, Young Master."
"...Mm."
Kania, hearing that voice, opened the door and entered, placing the food before Frey who sat at his desk.
"This is already your 15th order. Are you satisfied now?"
When Kania asked with coldly cooled eyes, Frey answered with an indifferent expression.
"It's too tiresome to say anything more, so just eat."
"...I am overwhelmed by your grace."
Kania, looking at such Frey with cold eyes, left the room as soon as his words ended.
".........."
And a brief silence followed in the room.
".....Ah."
And from that point on.
*Slither...*
The emotions of Frey that had permeated the diary.
"Uuaah...?"
Began to permeate into Kania.
"Mmm..."
Kania, who had come to feel emotions completely identical to the Frey she was seeing now...
".....!"
Opened her eyes wide.
○○ Year ○○ Month ○○ Day
[Finally, the goal is in sight.]
"What is this...?"
In the mind of Kania, who had been blankly staring at Frey who was picking up a sandwich with a smile, when before he used to complain that the food tasted bad...
[The trace amounts of poison and curse that Kania put in the food.
Finally, signs of activation are beginning to appear.]
The contents of the diary Frey had written began to surface.
*Chomp, chomp...*
"...Huh?"
Kania, who had been confused by such phenomena...
Seeing Frey, who had said her food tasted bad, now biting into the sandwich with a happy expression, tilted her head.
[That is correct.
Until now, my Star's mana was blocking it, but as a result of continuous consumption, it was able to produce a proper effect.
Now, once this poison and curse become fully active...
Kania will hold my weakness.]
"Uh..."
Kania, who was watching this...
[By her holding my weakness, I gain a certain and just reason to no longer have to torment Kania.
From now on, if I torment her, she can conversely cause me pain.]
"Ugh...!"
Covering her mouth with her hand, she collapsed to the floor.
"Uuuugh...!"
And she suddenly began coughing up blood.
"...Ugh?"
Soon, a bitter chest pain surged.
In such a situation, in the eyes of Kania, who was bleeding without understanding what was happening...
*Cough...*
Frey, who had been eating the sandwich, came into view as he coughed up blood.
[Of course, consuming the poison and curse she gives me is quite agonizing.
However, there is certainly a reason for it.]
And the contents of the diary as well...
[If I treat Kania well without such a certain weakness, eventually I will receive 'suspicion' from her.
And 'suspicion' becomes 'certainty.']
Continued to enter her mind.
[The partner who was always with me in the early days of countless regressions, the confidant with whom I had the most emotional exchange.
And because she was the one who sacrificed the most in my stead.
After realizing the fact that clearing is impossible without being discovered by anyone.
I let her hold my weakness herself, to free her from my torment.]
"Ah..."
Kania, who was understanding the contents continuously entering her mind while blocking the flowing blood with her hand...
[Also, the most important reason is.]
"Ah..."
Seeing the sentence written in a calm handwriting...
[Whether I like her or hate her, whether she's my confidant or my enemy...]
That had surfaced in her mind, she froze.
[...Because her food is still the most delicious in the world.]
"Aah......."
At that moment, seeing that passage, Kania, who had completely frozen, saw in her vision...
*Chomp, chomp...*
Even while suffering, even while bleeding.
Wearing a faint, worn smile.
Frey, who was chewing and eating the sandwich containing Kania's poison and curse, came into view.
.
Some time passed, and deep darkness arrived.
"Euheek...!"
Of course, for Kania, who had been sitting on the floor coughing up blood, only a moment had passed.
"Uu, uugh..."
Thanks to that, even though the tremendous pain brought by the curse she had once cast and the poison she had put in had subsided, Kania, who had not regained her senses for a while...
"What... what have I been doing all this time...?"
Murmured with a pale face.
"I, I caused him to suffer like this?"
This was because she had directly experienced the pain Frey had felt for a brief moment when the curse's activation had begun.
"To not be discovered by me... to give me freedom...?"
But what pierced Kania's heart even more than that pain was the weight of her conscience.
According to the scene she had just witnessed, Frey, as a reward for Kania who had been loyal to him in the previous iterations, had deliberately let himself be cursed.
And.
"Then, the emotions I felt when eating the food..."
The emotions Kania felt when she was briefly synchronized with Frey...
"That was..."
Certainly, 'happiness' and 'longing.'
Frey, while eating the food containing her poison and curse that caused him such pain...
Pitifully, had felt longing and happiness.
[...Because her food is still the most delicious in the world.]
"Uuaaah..."
The moment she realized that fact, seeing the passage that surfaced in her mind again, Kania, whose legs gave out, collapsed to the floor...
*Swish...*
"...Ah?"
When Frey, who had been sitting at his desk without sleeping, glanced at the clock and stood up, she reflexively looked at the clock.
[3:30 AM]
The clock made of magic stone was indicating that the current time was deep into the night.
*Creeeak...*
Kania, who had been blankly staring at Frey, who for some reason opened the door quite carefully and stepped outside at such a late hour...
"Very well."
Stood up with a complicated expression.
"The reason I put poison and curse into Frey."
Finally, she...
"Frey... every night..."
Began following Frey's footsteps...
"...was forcing me..."
Opened her mouth, then trailed off.
"......."
Kania, who had been following Frey with an expression even paler than before...
"Heek."
When Frey, who had been traversing the dark corridor, suddenly stopped, she was startled and stopped as well.
*Creeeak...*
"Su, surely..."
Looking closely at the door Frey had opened, Kania murmured with a trembling voice.
"...He was going to my room."
The place Frey had entered late at night was Kania's room.
"Mmm... mmnya..."
".........."
Frey, who had entered Kania's room holding his breath, carefully examined Kania's condition.
"...Good."
Then, Frey...
*Click.*
Undid the buttons on his clothes...
*Swish, sweep...*
Carefully climbed onto the bed and inserted his hand inside the shirt of Kania, who was lying as if dead.
"Th, that's..."
Kania's face, watching such a scene, gradually hardened.
"I knew... I knew but held back..."
With an expression where countless emotions crossed, Kania...
"Thinking of revenge... and fearing harm to my sister... I held back..."
Began revealing the feelings she had suppressed...
"But no matter how necessary it was, that... huh?"
Then, started wearing a bewildered expression.
"You've had a hard time because I couldn't give you much life force lately, right? But just wait a little longer, Kania."
Frey, who had put his hand inside her shirt...
"Soon I'll strengthen your sister's healing ability. And, this iteration might just be..."
Instead of the act Kania had expected...
"...I think I can give you a happy ending."
With one hand gently stroking her back, and the other hand covering his mouth with a handkerchief...
*Shaaaaaa...!*
Was infusing an unknown energy.
*Cough!! Cough...!!*
"Kyaaah!!"
And from that very moment, Kania...
"Auuuu... uuuugh..."
Feeling excruciating pain as if her insides were being flipped, collapsed and began coughing up blood.
"...Uuah?"
Then, seeing color returning to the face of herself lying on the bed, she opened her eyes wide.
"Khh... ugh."
Meanwhile, Frey, who continued to infuse life force into Kania...
"...ugh."
Trembling violently with his head bowed, yet continued to infuse life force into Kania to the end.
"Th, this..."
And.
[Achievement: Unshakable Spirit]
Before Kania, who had clearly witnessed that scene amidst the agony, a translucent window suddenly floated up.
[Number of times Frey forcibly violated others throughout all iterations]
"Wh, what..."
Kania, who had been reading the quite provocative contents of the suddenly appeared window while trembling...
"Young..."
Eventually, forgetting even the pain, she froze.
"Young Master........"
Her eyes were fixed on just two characters.
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