TLed by NolepGuy
Chapter 83
Ricardo’s faint smile marked the end of her mistake.
Reaching out into the empty space in immeasurable shock, all that returned was the cold phrase of the Blue Window.
[Viewing has ended.]
[Returning to the original time in 3 minutes.]
Her vision gradually began to darken.
All she could hear was sound.
She couldn’t see anything.
Amidst the darkened vision, what she heard was Ricardo’s Calm Voice.
-Run. Miss Yuria.
-Ah… ah…
-It’s okay. Quickly.
She had wanted to stay by his side until the end.
She had hoped to remain by Ricardo’s side and heal him, but the sound of her own footsteps fleeing in Overwhelming Fear distorted Yuria’s expression.
-I… I’ll heal…
-It’s okay. Run quickly.
The urgent Sound of Footsteps of the Girl running frantically echoed like a Rhapsody in the darkened vision.
‘No…’
‘Don’t run away…’
‘Stay until the end.’
As the sound of her past footsteps grew distant, Yuria broke down.
Even though she couldn’t see anything, Yuria knew. She knew that now, in this space, only Ricardo and Calypso remained.
-Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. What will you do now that you’ve been abandoned? If you bring that woman back even now, I might spare only you.
-I know how to perform Elderly Assault, but not Elderly Respect.
-Heh heh… What an Unamusing Fellow.
-Indeed. Perhaps your senility has rendered my humor ineffective.
After the brief conversation ended, the deafening sound of battle rang out.
The sound of flesh being torn.
The harrowing sound of skin being cut.
Yuria covered her ears and shed tears.
‘No… no…’
She struggled, claiming it wasn’t her fault, but the gradually aligning fragments of memory refused to escape the swamp of acknowledgment.
A forgotten memory came to mind.
After escaping the Dungeon and being hospitalized, she remembered Ricardo cautiously opening the Hospital Room Door.
-Why did you come…
She recalled how she had coldly pushed Ricardo away at the time. While she hadn’t said it outright, her words to Ricardo had essentially told him to leave.
Ricardo, after checking her body for injuries, had left a Small Box on the hospital room’s table with an awkward smile.
-I came to return what was lost.
What was inside the Small Box that day was the Pink Dagger she thought she had lost in the Dungeon.
The Dagger That Stabbed Ricardo.
It was the dagger she had once told Ricardo was a precious gift from her Father, and yet he had brought it back, revisiting unpleasant memories.
As the memories aligned one by one, Yuria shook her head, denying them.
‘Haah… haah… no…’
-A pitiful one, abandoned.
-…
-Even though she ran away and left you behind, do you still want to protect her? If it were me, I would have chased her down and dragged her back by her hair.
-Your senility is quite advanced.
-Aren’t you afraid of dying?
-Isn’t it time for you to return to the dirt?
The mocking words of the Dark Sorcerer toward Ricardo and Ricardo’s desperate responses rang in Yuria’s ears, accompanied by the fierce sounds of their battle.
The Old Man’s voice hinted at Ricardo’s defeat.
-You fought well, young Swordsman.
As the Dark Sorcerer’s chilling words came to an end.
-Limit Break.
With Ricardo’s brief words, the Blue Window bid farewell to the past.
[Returning to the original time.]
***
By the time she came to her senses, everything was over.
While she stood there blankly, unable to escape the horror of the terrible past caused by her own mistakes.
Mikhail had mustered all his strength to face Hans, and thanks to Mikhail stalling for time, the Empire’s Knights’ Order, who had been searching for Hans, managed to arrive.
“Damn it…”
Hans swallowed his frustration and fled.
Faced with the appearance of a strong opponent adept at using Aura, he had no choice but to retreat.
As Hans fled, muttering something like “If not for the Rampage…” he left us with a chilling “See you again” before disappearing.
She had done nothing.
She had joined the group to provide support, but due to her lack of ability, she couldn’t help Mikhail or Ruin and only became a burden, unable even to persuade Hans.
Yuria swallowed her Resentment as she looked at the Knights’ Order cleaning up the aftermath.
“I couldn’t… do anything…”
She had lost many victims and friends.
And she had come to see an unexpected Truth.
Yuria, who had misunderstood and treated someone coldly without knowing the Truth, bit her lip and swallowed her tears.
“I’m such a fool…”
She felt that she, who could do nothing, was such a fool.
If only she had been a little stronger, if only she hadn’t been swayed by her Emotions, the events shown by the Blue Window might not have happened.
Mikhail. Ruin. Ricardo.
She could have protected them all.
Yuria felt pathetic and weak as she thought about her own inadequacy.
In the vast space where the battle with Hans had taken place.
Yuria tilted her head toward the Ceiling to hide the tears welling up. If she didn’t, it felt like they would spill out.
Even though she didn’t want to show her crying face in front of the Knights’ Order and her friends, as she looked at the Ceiling full of Sword Marks, Yuria couldn’t hold back her surging Emotions and finally broke down.
“Hic…”
The Sword Marks symbolized an Intense Battle.
They were the marks left by an Exceedingly Weak Academy Student who had swung their weapon to protect her against a truly evil Dark Sorcerer.
They were the marks of someone who had protected her.
Tears began to flow down her chin.
-Nothing happened.
She kept recalling his Gentle Voice. Ricardo’s sorrowful face, faintly smiling while hiding the blood flowing from his mouth, still lingered in her mind.
Yuria muttered with Empty Eyes.
“You shouldn’t have.”
“You shouldn’t have done that…”
“I… I… misunderstood that it was your doing, so what does that make me…”
Yuria spoke sorrowfully to herself. Without wiping away her flowing tears, she kept muttering as she looked at the walls and Ceiling filled with Sword Marks.
“I didn’t even know… and I hated you.”
She had hated Ricardo.
She had hated him so much that she wished he would trip over a stone on the Street. But she had never once wished for his death.
She had only wanted him to feel a fraction of the pain she felt and hoped he would be punished for the Evil Deeds he had committed at the Academy, but this kind of Revenge was not what she had wanted.
She hadn’t even considered that it would result in him being wounded by her own hands…
She had only wanted the balance of their relationship to shift slightly, for her to rise a little higher on the scales.
This wasn’t how she had wanted the weight of the scales to lighten.
‘I only wished Ricardo would struggle a little…’
As her misunderstandings began to unravel one by one, Yuria could only stare blankly at the Ceiling.
It felt like the world was turning gray.
Although she wished everything was a lie, Yuria had no choice but to admit that the past she had seen was not fabricated.
Hans had said so.
And the faint remnants of her own memory supported it.
Yuria raised her hand toward the Ceiling. Her soft, white fingers bore no Scars.
With these hands, she had stabbed Ricardo.
“I…”
Yuria looked at her own hands with trembling eyes. Her fingertips quivered, stained with guilt. The guilt of what she had done with her hands made each joint of her fingers tremble.
“I didn’t… do it on purpose.”
“It was all… the Dark Sorcerer’s doing…”
Denying it as the act of an evil Dark Sorcerer.
She uttered a cunning Lie, claiming it wasn’t her will, but the Pink Dagger hanging at her waist screamed at her not to be ridiculous.
‘…’
It was a Crude Lie.
Just an excuse to ease her conscience.
Yuria let out a hollow laugh and lowered her head.
“Yeah… it’s all just an excuse.”
If only she hadn’t foolishly followed those people that day, Ricardo wouldn’t have suffered like that.
Yuria’s shoulders began to tremble with heavy breaths at her constant incompetence, always foolishly causing trouble for others.
“It’s suffocating.”
Overwhelmed by the rising suffocation, Yuria struck her chest with her Fist. She thought it might make her feel a little better, but the more she struck her chest, the more Ricardo’s bitter Smile came to mind, tightening her chest even further.
“Yuria…!”
Ruin, who had been lying collapsed, ran toward her. She felt a sense of emotion seeing Ruin, who was injured himself, running toward her out of concern, but even this feeling quickly turned into despair as Ricardo’s painful Smile came back to her mind.
Ruin, who quickly reached Yuria, asked with a face full of concern.
“Are you okay? You must have been really shocked…”
Yuria grabbed Ruin and spoke.
“Ruin… it must have hurt, right?”
“I’m fine.”
Yuria’s gaze wasn’t directed at Ruin. Looking at The Man lingering in her memory, Yuria spoke to Ruin.
“Ricardo… it must have hurt so much, right?”
“He must have… hated me so much…”
“I… I… he must have hated me to death.”
Although she had healed many people, she had never experienced being hurt herself, so she wouldn’t be able to understand the pain Ricardo had endured.
Yuria thought that she couldn’t even slightly comprehend Ricardo’s heart, the pain of being betrayed by someone he trusted.
Yuria lay face down and thought.
Even as her forehead touched the filthy floor, no thoughts came to her.
Just…
She wanted to stay like this for a while.
Just until her heart, which felt like it was being torn apart, could recover a little…
She wanted to stay like this.
“Yuria…!”
Yuria’s vision went black.