Part 2 Chapter 80
Ryan was flustered but asked cautiously, “Why are you trying to regress?”
“To save Bania…”
“Save Bania? Why?”
“…”
At Ryan’s calm reaction, Nike hesitated for a moment.
“Because I have to save her…”
“Save Bania? What are you talking about? She’s not dead.”
“What?”
At that moment, Ryan heard Bania’s cheerful voice behind him.
Nike immediately turned his head.
Bania quickly ran towards him, almost flying, and threw herself into his arms.
She didn’t care that her clothes were wet and buried her face into him, greeting him with affection.
Ryan keenly observed Nike’s reaction.
Nike’s eyes widened, almost as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He couldn’t even embrace Vania properly and just stood stiffly, trembling, with his arms outstretched.
Then, looking down blankly at Bania, whose head was resting on his chest, Nike’s eyes welled up with tears.
Drop. Drop.
Tears fell from his eyes.
“…Damn it.”
From his reaction, Ryan was sure that David, through his damn mouth, must have told Nike about Vania’s death.
“Your Highness?”
Noticing something was wrong with Nike, Bania raised her head in shock.
“Why, why are you like this?”
Then, Nike urgently pulled Bania into a tight embrace.
It was as if he wanted to feel her alive, deeply, tightly.
***
Nike’s memories were not all beautiful.
Even though he had expected it.
“Until my nineteenth birthday!”
“What happened on your nineteenth birthday?”
At that point, Bania and Nike had already guessed what might have happened.
That they had spent the night together.
“Well, you know, I want a birthday present!”
In the memory, Bania had said she wanted to go on a trip for her birthday. Nike, at twenty-three, knew exactly what she meant. So, he nodded knowingly.
It was their first trip together without any surveillance.
Normally, the family kept track of Bania’s schedule and movements, and Nike had never spent more than a day with her.
Bania had worked hard to plan the trip, avoiding her sister’s tracking abilities, making sure no guards were punished, and keeping tabs on her brothers’ movements.
If the Duke of Basenberg’s precious daughter were to travel without any guards, it could become a problem.
For a moment, Nike felt worried, but he pushed it aside. Back then, he was blind with love for Bania.
Love, and base desires.
“The sea is so beautiful, right?”
“You’re more beautiful.”
As expected, it was so wonderful that he felt like he would die at that moment, without regrets.
Lying side by side, holding each other tightly without anything separating them, looking at the rising sun over the horizon.
That morning, Nike fervently wished to be able to hold her forever, waking up in the same bed every morning and whispering that he loved her.
At that moment, he felt like he could do anything for his lover.
All the things that would have interfered with them felt meaningless.
How foolish.
“What happened to your face?”
The next time they met, Vania had swollen cheeks and a busted lip.
“I… fought with Marina.”
It was a very obvious lie.
The injuries were too severe for a simple fight between sisters. And it happened after the trip.
Besides, Bania had the ability to heal such wounds easily. Yet, she came out showing the bruises on purpose.
It was probably a threat to make sure she could meet her lover.
Didn’t he know this would happen?
Another voice within him asked. Nike couldn’t answer. No, as soon as he would answer, he would become disgusted with himself and didn’t want to respond.
In truth, Nike had expected that Vania would be in pain, but had ignored it.
The power to maintain the family. The ‘chosen blood’ that could give birth to someone with abilities, which none of the Duke’s children had yet.
Naturally, who Bania interacted with was an extremely sensitive issue for the Duke.
It was bound to be a problem for him that his most cherished daughter was meeting someone from the royal family.
The Duke must have been furious.
“Did your brother do this?”
“No… It’s not like that.”
The Duke never laid a hand on his children during their education.
So, it was obvious that someone from her family had made her suffer.
Nike knew well the cruel ways of her eldest brother, whom he had seen countless times on the battlefield.
It was a warning to Nike.
Only he could sever the connection with Vania and stop her.
“Does it hurt?”
“Not at all. Don’t worry. I’ve hurt Marina before.”
Her family, while controlling Vania, still had to accommodate her. They knew that if they forcibly separated her from her lover, Bania wouldn’t be able to be controlled anymore.
From the beginning, she was able to meet the royal family because she was the most powerful one in her family.
So…
Her family probably hoped for one thing.
That Bania wouldn’t rebel, that she wouldn’t come to hate them, and that her bond with Nike would be severed in the best way.
And the only way for that to happen was for Nike to say goodbye.
Could he do it?
The voice inside him asked again. Once again, Nike couldn’t answer.
If he could let go easily, he would have never started this relationship. This was a relationship he had grasped greedily, knowing full well how it would end.
The first woman he had ever wanted so desperately.
He knew if he kept holding on, it would break. But if he let go, he might lose his mind.
He knew it would hurt, but living without her was worse than death.
When he confronted his own selfishness, Nike was driven mad with pain.
So weak, unable to protect his lover, yet unable to let go of his greed.
“Sorry.”
In the end, he simply apologized and embraced Bania.
Even though he knew the thorny path ahead for his lover, he didn’t say goodbye.
Surprisingly, after going through all those memories, there had never been a moment when he thought he would let her go.
“I’m sorry…”
Sorry, because he loved her.
Sorry for being too selfish to let go, even though he loved her.
***
“The reason she died is only one. Because she was the Duke’s daughter. The House of Valenci…”
In the end, he thought that his love had killed her.
“She turned to ashes! Completely! Without a trace! No shape, no form!”
Perfectly.
Without his pathetic ability, she could never be brought back to life.
But…
Even if he reversed time dozens of times, even if he saved her a hundred times, the fact that she suffered because of him wouldn’t change.
Still, he endured four days of hell, waiting for Ryan to bring her back to life.
When he stared blankly, Bania appeared before him, hallucinating, shedding blood tears.
She screamed that she was in pain because of him and begged him to let go.
Then Nike said, selfish as ever, “I can’t.”
Even though Bania struggled to escape, he held her tightly as if he had gone mad.
“Don’t cry.”
For some reason, today, Bania wasn’t shedding blood tears. With a pitiful expression, she wiped Nike’s eyes.
“And… let me go…”
But her request remained the same.
“No… no.”
Nike could only answer the same way as always, shaking his head while crying.
“I… I’m sorry…”
Suddenly, Nike came back to his senses when he felt a hand tapping his shoulder.
He turned around to find Ryan.
“She’s dying! She’s suffocating! Her face has turned pale!”
“What?”
Nike looked down. In his arms, Vania was struggling.
“Oh…”
Shocked, Nike loosened his grip.
No, he only relaxed his grip.
He couldn’t let her slip away, so this time he gently embraced her without any pressure.
“Is this a Venus flytrap?!”
Ryan’s horrified voice seemed distant.
“She’s alive.”
She’s alive.
She’s alive and smiling at me.
That’s all that mattered to Nike.
