Chapter 114: Magic Tower University (3) (1/2)
…A faint space in the lost time. A metallic glow cut through the darkness.
“Professor!”
Julie ran to him. Scars marked his body, but no hesitation could be found in his expression. He was leaning against a wall. He didn’t lie down or fall but stood firm.
“Your wounds are deep!”
Blood pulsed out of him. As a knight, Julie’s body and brain moved instinctively. She had to perform first aid, starting with wound identification and quickly moving to control the hemorrhaging. It was a habit she had been training for 20 years.
“Calm down, Julie.”
“Don’t talk.”
Her heart was pounding, but there was no time to be blinded by emotion. Just when she was about to start her magical healing.
Grab-!
Deculein grabbed her hand. Julie looked up at him, confused, but he was smiling.
“…It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay!”
“If I’m not okay…”
He placed his hand on Julie’s cheek. She trembled.
“Am I dying?”
“…”
Julie closely inspected his wounds. Several vital points had been pierced. She clenched her jaw.
“…You are dying.”
That trembling voice brought back the memories of Kim Woojin inside Deculein. It was a pretty old one. In the monitor, the scene where she stopped breathing and the dying will of Deculein played out.
‘Damn it-.’
“Even Iron Man can fail… Julie. I have seen myself die.”
“Stop, stop talking!”
Julie wanted to cover his mouth. The more he spoke, the more blood spurted out, but Deculein stubbornly continued.
“It’s strange. That future will probably be the most beneficial for you.”
“Professor, please…”
“I know, Julie. This can’t be the end.”
If he died like this, he wouldn’t be able to save Julie and his original form. If Deculein died, it should be in Julie’s hands.
“For you and me.”
He put his hand on her shoulder.
“If you kill the one you fear the most, we will meet again.”
“…Professor.”
“Keep in mind. If you kill the one you fear the most, we can meet again.”
“What does that…”
“…”
Deculein didn’t speak any further. He just closed his eyes.
“Professor! Professor-!”
He didn’t bend until the end when he was broken.
* * *
…Julie, who regressed to the present, glanced between Sophien and Deculein.
“Julie. Unless you suddenly went crazy….”
Sophien spoke, tapping her upper arm with her finger.
“Are you saying you’ve regressed?”
“Yes. It was exactly a week from today.”
Julie nodded firmly. She was very quick in judging, organizing, and understanding the situation. Perhaps it was because the memory was too clear to dismiss it as a mere dream.
“It’s amazing. What happened before Deculein died?”
“There were reports of demons haunting the basement of the Imperial Palace.”
Julie turned her head away for a moment.
Cough-! Cough-!
“So we went together to the Imperial Palace…”
Blood flowed from the corner of her mouth. Julie wiped it away as if it were nothing and continued.
“The Professor entrusted me with guarding the entrance to the basement. Professor alone went in the basement-“
“Did I die there?”
“…Yes.”
Julie appeared to have a hard time admitting it. Her forehead was already slick with a cold sweat.
“And… sigh.”
Feeling dizzy, she shook her head and grabbed the table.
“Then Your Majesty was asleep. The vassals tried, but you wouldn’t wake up.”
“…Really?”
Sophien frowned.
“Yes. Cough-!”
Julie coughed, blood splashing out. It dyed the snow red and-
Thump-
A moment later, her upper body landed softly in the snow. She had fainted. I got down on one knee and lifted Julie.
“What’s going on?”
I felt a fever seeping through Julie’s body. I closed my eyes to [Understand] her injury.
“…Her wounds are serious. This is a side effect of regressing… Julie is dying.”
She had undergone the process of regression from the future to the past. Therefore, the mana in her body fluctuated. Of course, if her body were strong and her circuit tight, she would adapt quickly, but Julie’s body and circuit weren’t in a condition to endure due to the curse stuck to her heart.
With such a body, Julie returned from a week ahead rather than a day or two. This was the price of reviving my future.
“Deculein. Now your face looks scary. Whoa.~”
Sophien spoke with a small chuckle.
“It’s a face I’ve never seen before. Do you love her that much?”
I silently checked Julie’s consciousness and pulse. She was vaguely awake and aware.
“…No.”
So, my words would shimmer in her memory.
“I have never loved her that much. I just want to have her. But these days, since she’s suffering from this disease, it’s quite annoying.”
“…”
Sophien’s lips twisted cynically as she looked at me. Soon, the members of the Imperial Palace arrived. They put Julie on a stretcher, and I watched them walk away.
“Deculein.”
“Yes. Your Majesty”
“I’m very good at growing used to everything. Really, everything. When I first met you, it was difficult to understand your feelings. That’s easy now.”
“Is that so?”
“Deculein, you lied to me.”
Sophien said sternly, and I didn’t deny it.
“I’m very disappointed. It makes me want to cut your head off right now.”
“…I apologize. But I probably don’t love Julie as much as Your Majesty thinks.”
Just as Julie was completed because of Deculein, so Deculein was completed because of Julie. I could not disobey that fixed story.
“It’s probably much more than that.”
It’s not that I can’t do it, but because I don’t want to. Deculein’s unique ego, that strong personality, and stubbornness were what wanted Julie.
“…Hmph. Forget it.”
Knowing what I meant, Sophien laughed morosely. Then, all of a sudden, she leaned against the wooden desk.
“Gosh… all of a sudden… I’m tired, and I’m sleepy. After rebuking you for lying to me… I wanted to learn some runes, but…”
Sophien’s slowly stopped talking. I looked to Keiron, who approached with a nod. Again, the door to the basement was opened.
* * *
「Episode 7」
I entered the underground past. As soon as I opened the door, the scenery I saw was the Imperial Palace garden. The spring lake surface reflected Sophien. She was sitting in a wheelchair. I tried to approach her, but it seemed I was already too late. She was blind and deaf, now experiencing the last moments of her life.
I couldn’t tell her that I had come. I couldn’t tell her I couldn’t keep our promise.
“Your Highness–!”
Her servants gathered by her side, crying and calling out to her. I approached her.
Rustle-
I trampled on the grass and sent the soil splashing away. Sophien, who was dying, asked in a small voice.
—Who is by my side…
A question that could not even be answered.
“Yes. I am by your side.”
The moment I answered Sophien’s words.
—…I wish someone were.
And, the moment she said it, the world changed.
Rumble-!
A vibration shook the heavens. Eventually, the entire space collapsed and turned over again. It was a rapid regression.