Chapter 141

NMRJKM Chapter 141

Carlothian held the sword. The one who made this happen. He had known it all along.

If he had suspected the Emperor from the beginning, if he hadn’t acted foolishly, she could have been saved.

Such an event wouldn’t have happened.

Perhaps she could have gently taken his hand by now.

Arriving at the Imperial Palace with his sword drawn, he looked at the soldiers who tried to stop him with empty, hollow eyes.

The tip of the sword aimed at him looked dull. He felt no fear. Only the deep, dark void dominated him.

Someone rushed at him. He swung his sword. The sensation of flesh splitting was vivid at his fingertips.

Splash!

Blood splattered.

No one could stop him.

He passed one.

Then ten.

Then thirty.

Thus, he surpassed dozens of knights.

The grand palace shone so brightly it was blinding, but to him, it merely looked like a pile of stones.

He walked down the corridor. He could see those wielding spears and swords aiming at him, while the palace attendants hurriedly tried to avoid him.

A madman. To their eyes, Carlothian must have appeared that way.

The man who dared to enter the Emperor’s palace with a sword. The man who dared to step forward to harm him.

Carlothian cut through the skin and shattered the bones of those who charged at him, to the point where his hands felt numb.

His whole body, yes, his whole body, was stained crimson like hers.

He was able to reach the Emperor’s chamber.

The Emperor was calmly facing the door, as if he had known Carlothian would come, his back turned to the window.

Light poured over the Emperor’s back. The backlight made it difficult to see the Emperor’s face.

A deep shadow loomed.

He asked.

“Why did you do it?”

The Emperor replied.

“I wished for you to die in the most painful way.”

“Then you should have tormented only me.”

“There are no fools as foolish as those blinded by love.”

“You should have done that to me.”

Carlothian’s eyes began to turn a vivid red.

“You should have killed me, not her.”

“Seeing your state makes me think I did well.”

The Emperor laughed at him.

Indeed.

The sword scraped against the floor beneath his drooping arms.

All the Emperor’s knights waiting at the entrance were dead. The knights who had rushed in upon hearing the commotion charged at him again.

The enemy’s blood splattered. His whole body was soaked in blood. Even when several sharp swords pierced him, he felt no pain.

And so.

“…It’s good to see you like this.”

He pierced the emperor’s body.

Thud, thud.

The emperor’s blood poured onto the floor.

A metallic scent wafted through the air between their bodies. Even as he was dying, the Emperor mocked Carlothian with a gurgling laugh.

Eventually, the Emperor’s body fell lifelessly away, and Carlothian, standing alone in the pool of blood, thought.

It’s futile.

So utterly pointless.

He shouldn’t have ended so easily.

Her death wasn’t this light.

“Ariadeline.”

He called her name.

“……Ariadeline.”

The man left alone in the world knelt down.

And before the dead emperor, he looked up at the ceiling with vacant eyes and pleaded.

“……Oh, God.”

He gripped the sword backward.

“Once more, just one last time.”

He begged and begged for a chance.

He pulled the sword back.

Plunge.

He stabbed himself. In an instant, blood gushed out. Blood poured out in torrents through the split skin.

Plunge.

Thud.

Plunge.

The sword stabbed his body repeatedly. His shirt became soaked with blood.

Red clumps oozed from the sword and fell to the floor. Thud, drip. The tattered skin was crushed and torn apart.

“Gack, cough….”

Blood surged up his throat.

“Please….”

Oh, God.

Thud.

“Just one more time.”

Grit. Gag.

“She….”

He stabbed himself several times, no, dozens of times. His stubborn life kept his breath going.

She must have suffered more than this.

She must have been more afraid than anyone.

This level of pain was nothing.

With a pale face, he looked up at the sky. Everything before him turned white.

“Please bring her back….”

Clatter.

The sword, drained of all strength, fell to the ground. He stared into the void with his charred eyes and closed them.

And while kneeling, he let his head drop.

In the Emperor’s chamber, a pool of blood spread like the mouth of hell, gaping wide.

Through the fading haze of consciousness, he thought.

Ah.

He wanted to see her. He wanted to see Ariadeline so badly he felt he would go mad.

‘Ariadeline…….’

But she was no longer in this world.

Time didn’t turn back.

In his arms, there was nothing.

So he gave up on the world. For the first time in his life, his own life felt trivial.

Did you feel this way too?

I thought I understood the heart that lost what it loved most, but perhaps I was just foolishly deluding myself into thinking I understood.

Is this the feeling of loss from losing someone you love?

Ariadeline, I can finally understand you.

The place where what he loved once resided inevitably crumbled away.

His once-clear vision began to darken, and his breath started to fade.

The murmurs of the crowd seemed to come from a very distant place.

“Your Majesty!”

“Duke Denaves is…!”

“Call for a healer, a healer…!”

In the midst of that chaos, Carlothian died, consumed only by thoughts of her.

Drip.

His breath stopped.

Only darkness remained.

The end.

That was his end.

 

☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓 ☪︎ ִ ࣪𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓

 

It was a white space with nothing in it. I looked around, my head blank, unable to recall anything.

Why am I here?

And a more primal question.

Who am I?

For a moment, I floated around, forgetting everything. There was nothing here.

I instinctively knew.

This place had neither space nor time. Pain did not exist.

I didn’t want to suffer anymore.

Ah. Was I in pain?

A question arose. I clearly remembered being in so much agony that I wanted to die. No, my mind was becoming empty.

What is death, to begin with?

I looked down at my hands. They were white and clean. More pale than white, really.

Then someone spoke to me.

My will.

I lifted my head.

“Who are you?”

You are the child shaped by my will.

I blinked. From the void, no, from a place where there was nothing, I heard someone’s voice.

It said that the balance would collapse.

“I don’t understand what you mean.”

My other half has grown too large. Both evil and good are me.

“Who are you?”

Child. I will remind you. Recall who you are.

“I am…….”

My head throbbed with pain. A different voice began to emerge from somewhere.

‘Ariadeline…….’

That voice was soaked in despair and also fragmented.

Drip.

It was heartbreaking. I felt tears flowing down my cheeks.

Remember the one who seeks you.

In an instant, an unfamiliar landscape unfolded in my mind. There was a man with black hair.

A man who hugged a corpse and continued to mutter something to himself.

“Carlothian.”

In that moment, his name came to mind. Though my own name eluded me, I remembered his. Who was he? What kind of person was he?

The man cried out while holding someone’s corpse. The tears that flowed were red.

Like someone whose soul had been drained away.

His face was that of one who had lost everything, like the last person left in the world.

“……Why.”

Why does my heart ache so much? I felt a sensation as if it were being torn apart.

Not knowing who that man was and not even knowing who I was.

I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

The man who held the limp corpse returned after sleeping for several days, continuously calling out to the body in his arms.

“Ariadeline…….”

He held the cold corpse and kept talking to it.

“I was wrong. I, I… all of it.”

As if he believed it would one day wake up and respond.

“Please forgive me, I beg you…….”

Ah, I realized. That corpse is me. He’s lost everything, lost me.

Speaking to me, who cannot respond, and answering himself. Watching that scene made my breath catch in my throat.

My chest tightened.

At that moment, once again, a voice was heard.

Your existence is the salvation of the world.

“Who is he?”

I reached out my hand toward him, who was right in front of me.

It was close enough to touch, yet never quite reached him.

Finally, resignation clouded his face. His parched lips, his charred black eyes. A face that seemed to have given up on everything.

Why did that face, that emotion, feel so familiar to me?

I realized what he had given up.

“I, I am here…….”

He gave up on a world without me. He gave up on himself without me.

“I am here, Carlothian……!”

I called out to him desperately, but he could not hear my voice. I raised my voice. I stretched out my arm with such force that my fingertips trembled.

But he and I could not reach each other. Someone whispered.

Only you can save the world.

“I, I…….”

Tears wouldn’t stop flowing from my wide-open eyes. My solar plexus felt like it was being crushed with pain.

“I want to save him……!”

I want to save that man, the one who has given up everything right now. I shouted.

The world depends on your hands.

“Please, save that man……!”

In his black eyes, I saw anger, soon followed by hatred. I saw sadness and despair spread.

Eventually, he, who had given up on everything, raised his sword.

“Carlothian……!”

Tears overflowed. Not even knowing who I was, I endlessly called out the man’s name.