Chapter 181: Choose (1/2)

Chapter 181: Choose

Early in thebefore the sun rose, Eshnunna woke up She looked lost—like so and barely ed to keep her head above water Her pajah breaths came out of her nose and ardless of her oill It was as if she had seen soht to herself what she should do

‘Should I just closea bit, Eshnunna turned to see that she was in her bedroo soon settled, and after double-checking and triple-checking that yes, this was indeed her room, she plopped back down on her pillow Her eyes still looked weary with sleepiness There was a sense of relief, but fear hadn’t completely disappeared frohtht The problem was that she couldn’t remember what she had dreamed about at all That was even scarier If she at least knew the reason, she wouldn’t be feeling this unsettled An anxiety that couldn’t be explained torht…’ She couldn’t re a voice Her eyes drifted closed again

‘I hope that this ti…’ she wished and shut her eyes

—…

Not long afterward, Eshnunna’s eyes burst open again She looked around in confusion She was relieved to see that she was still in her rooe sense of déjà vu hit her She felt like she had experienced the exact sa just before Was that a dreahts passed through her head But at the sa that somebody had called her from far away

‘Why…?’ Unable to differentiate reality from a dream, Eshnunna lay confused

—…

Then she suddenly heard a noise Eshnunna stopped turning her head and thought, ‘Just now…’

She heard it just then It wasn’t clear, but there was a faint echo She put all her focus on her hearing, but for a long tiain when—

—Quickly…me

Eshnunna flinched She was sure of it this tiination, and when she realized this fact, a strong sense of fear enveloped her

“W-Who are you? Who’s there?” she e to ask

—Quickly…me

But only the barely audible echo circled back Eshnunna sat up and turned sideways There was no one in the room but her, and she felt her vision slowly darken No, it was nodarker, which was strange despite it being the ht Eshnunna hunched unconsciously, and her face blanked She saw a large, darkit black as it cascaded down like blood trickling froaped open as she looked above her

“Ah…Ah…” She needed to scream, but her voice remained stuck inside her throat

—Quickly…s she couldn’t understand Instinctively, Eshnunna kicked away the sheet and scrambled back

“Ah!” Only after her back collided with the wall did she regain her senses She clutched her lowered head and straightened her back She shuddered for athe sticky black mass fall from the wall to her shoulders, and after a deep breath, she jumped off the bed and ran The distance between her bed and the door felt so long, and after so, her hand finally found the door handle She was about to fling it open and rush outside, but what she saw on the other side stopped her dead and made her eyes widen

“Ahhhhhhhh!” The bed shook as a piercing scream burst out of herflat on the bed She barely ain after such a shock

“Ha—! Haaaa—!” Rough heaving noises came out of her led in place for a while She only stopped ht strea slowly calot to her feet She rushed to open the , letting the warht and everyday hubbub outside wash over her Her stiff expression relaxed a little after seeing people wander around the streets

Eshnunna tried pinching her cheek It hurt

“HaHaaaa…” She lowered her head and fell into deep contemplation She tended to not remember her dreams after she woke up, but this time, she clearly remembered what had happened at the end Darkness swept over her bedrooet out… Eshnunna bit on her lower lip and looked behind her

She saw it then The door she was sure she had shut was open

“…” And when she looked down at the threshold of her door, her legs gave out She sat on the ground… She had thought it was a dream

With a devastated expression, Eshnunna stayed there, unable to take her eyes away from what lay there

“Thank you for the clothes It was very useful” Noel went to see Eshnunna that afternoon After Chi-Hyun left, Noel had paid special attention to her clothing when she went to visit Chi-Woo alone Since it’d be her first officialwith Chi-Woo after his identity was revealed, and she had done hiht it’d be best if she dressed with care Unfortunately, there weren’t many clothes to choose froone to Eshnunna for help

She thought Eshnunna would have at least one or two decent clothes even in this fallen world considering her status, and she was right Noel got to borrow soh she was peeved to find the chest area a little loose for her But anyways, Noel ca thereat

“…Yes…” Eshnunna answered her Worries filled her eyes, and her face looked pale and hollow

Truthfully, Noel didn’t care iven the circumstances Noel only treated Eshnunna with respect because the princess was surprisingly down-to-earth and quite influential to the natives Besides, there was no need to antagonize a princess of a fallen kingdoer had much use Thus, Noel asked after her out of courtesy

“Did so happen? You don’t look too well, Lady Eshnunna”

Eshnunna slowly nodded “I…” Her lips trembled as she hesitated

“Yes? If you wouldn’t ,” Noel said with a soft san carefully, “Do you perhaps…”

After Chi-Hyun left, Chi-Woo kept his promise to his brother He trained and trained some more However, the task his brother left him with proved to be too difficult It was noon by the time Chi-Woo completed the basic course And from then on, outside mealtime, he focused on only one task until it was ti as a house As he expected, it wasn’t an easy job

First of all, since he usedhis club, his body quickly becaress day by daywith all his s because of the sheer counterforce hitting hi, while his whole body rang like a gong Of course, the boulder didn’t budge, nor did Chi-Woo even htest dent

Chi-Woo wondered if the boulder was a special loo his club while believing that his efforts would all be worth it someday

—No If you practice like that, you’ll never be successful no matter how hard you try

…Until Philip told hi his club until the sun set, shi+fted his gaze to Philip and wiped his sweat Philip was looking down at hi so pessi to hinder you, but telling you the reality

Philip said cal hundreds or thousands of times like that, you’ll never be able to even leave a scratch on that rock

In fact, the rock was entirely unscathed even though he had swung his club more than 10,000 times There was not even a nail-sized scratch on it

itated, but he decided to hear Philip out first

–You reht? To think

Philip readily continued as if he had been waiting for Chi-Woo to ask

to think about? I just have to do what I’

Philip continued cal Can’t call it basic anymore

It was okay for Chi-Woo to just do as he was told for the basics, but the situation changed when he went beyond that

–But most of all, didn’t your brother tell you the same? That you need to be able to think for yourself from now on

because it was true as well