Chapter 193……………………………………..
First, I made sure that the Shadow had completely vanished from my attack. Then I sat down beside Riena.
Swallowing nervously, I carefully examined her wound.
The fragment of the Shadow was quite large and had pierced straight through her heart.
Even to someone like me, who wasn’t a medical expert, it was clearly a fatal wound.
Even if a skilled physician and proper medical equipment were present here, the chances of Riena surviving would be almost zero.
‘But Riena isn’t dead yet.’
If I were to pull that fragment out now…
“Idel.”
At that moment, Riena called to me weakly.
“Could you pull this out of my chest?”
It was exactly what I had just imagined doing, and I flinched in surprise.
“You know, if I pull it out now…”
A huge amount of blood would pour out.
The Shadow’s fragment had fatally wounded Riena, but at the same time it was lodged tightly in the wound, preventing blood from flowing out of her body.
I once heard that when a soldier had an arrow stuck in their body during battle, it wasn’t removed immediately.
If you recklessly pulled the arrow out, the bleeding would worsen and the person could die from blood loss.
Of course, if the wound was fatal, leaving the arrow in would still result in death—but removing it carelessly could hasten it.
So if I removed the fragment and Riena died from massive bleeding, what would happen?
Would it count as me defeating Riena?
That judgment would probably be made by the goddess Miela, but it was better to do something than just stand here doing nothing.
“I… I know.”
Lying on the ground, Riena nodded slightly.
“But I want to escape this pain as soon as possible. Please, Idel…”
Looking into her calm eyes, I realized something.
Riena already knew everything—she knew she would die if the fragment was removed, and she knew that I would remove it whether she asked or not.
Yet she asked anyway for only one reason.
To lessen the guilt I might carry.
“Please.”
“…Alright.”
When she asked again, I clenched my fist and then forcefully pulled the black fragment from her body.
There was no time to hesitate in a situation where her breathing could stop at any moment.
Once the object that had been acting as a plug was gone, blood flowed freely and soaked the rooftop floor.
Riena let out a short groan and looked at me.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
This was Riena showing consideration for me.
She was going to die soon anyway. So it wasn’t an act done in hopes of receiving love from me—it was simply something she wanted to do.
Perhaps it was the first and last act of kindness without calculation in all three of Riena’s lives, which had always been full of calculations.
“How do you feel?”
At my question, Riena answered honestly.
“Not bad. Actually… it feels good.”
Even in the face of approaching death, her expression looked strangely relieved.
“For a long time, there was a hole in my heart. I thought the love others gave me could fill that hole. But it couldn’t.”
Her voice trembled slightly.
“Why did I only realize it now? The only person who could fill that hole was me, not others. It was a hole that would never be filled unless I trusted others and sincerely gave love myself.”
Tears flowed down her increasingly pale face.
“Idel… doing something for someone you like—even if you don’t get anything in return—feels good, doesn’t it?”
“That’s right.”
“I learned that too late. I’m the real idiot.”
Because she never understood that important truth, even when Riena became empress in her second life and gained everything, she was never satisfied until the moment she died.
More love from more people. More! More!
Riena had endlessly scattered her blessing in search of others’ love.
Yet the hole she couldn’t fill despite all that was only now beginning to close slightly—after she had lost everything she once held.
It was a cruel irony.
“Idel… are you there?”
Perhaps her eyesight was fading, because Riena searched for me even though I was right beside her.
By now, the blood flowing from her body had formed a large pool.
I placed my hand over her cold hand to let her know I was there.
“Yes. I’m here.”
“Y-you said earlier… that my father and brother really loved me. Was that true?”
“At least from what I saw, yes.”
“……”
Riena didn’t respond for a long time.
Was she regretting the genuine affection she had pushed away?
“I committed too many sins. Against my father and brother, against Mikhail… and many others too.”
“Yes. You did.”
“I know it’s shameless to ask… but if you’re willing, could you tell them I’m sorry?”
“Riena, if this apology is just to make yourself feel better at the end, then stop.”
Her expression froze for a moment.
“I-is that so? Maybe I do just want to feel better… I don’t know. But the feeling of being sorry is real. Now that I know I was wrong.”
It didn’t seem like a complete lie.
“Alright. I’ll tell them. But honestly speaking, there probably won’t be many people who accept your apology.”
“That’s only natural.”
Riena’s expression softened slightly.
“Still… thank you, Idel. And I’m sorry.”
Her voice was so faint that I might have missed it if my attention wandered even slightly.
“I… meeting you…”
I waited, but the rest of her sentence never came.
After clenching my teeth for a moment, I reached out and gently closed the eyes of the dead woman, which had not yet shut.
“Goodbye, Riena.”
From the first time I met her at the orphanage until now, the many faces of Riena I had seen passed through my mind.
If reincarnation truly existed, then next time I hoped she would not be abandoned by her parents and would grow up learning how to love normally—living a life where she both loved and was loved like everyone else.
Farewell, my old friend.
“Idel.”
After a while, Terrence approached me.
“Ah, wait a moment. I’m covered in blood right now…”
My clothes and hands were soaked with blood from sitting beside Riena.
Thinking it would get on him if he touched me, I hurriedly tried to stop him.
But Terrence gently pulled me into an embrace.
“It’s alright. What does a little blood matter?”
It was a warm gesture meant to comfort me.
I allowed myself to feel that warmth for just a moment before stepping out of his arms.
“There’s something I need to check.”
I walked toward the edge of the rooftop.
At some point, the sounds of battle that had been coming from below had stopped.
“Descendant.”
At that moment, Gaius’s divine form suddenly appeared in the air.
“The battle is over. The apostle’s demonic energy that covered this area has been completely cleared away, and the magical beasts have regained their senses.”
Just as he said, the monsters that had been rampaging like mad earlier were now calm.
They simply looked around or stared at one another, standing idly.
Emptiness, irritation, confusion, indifference.
Watching the monsters display all sorts of reactions, I remembered something Gaius once said.
They, too, think and judge for themselves.
Riena hadn’t realized that and had treated the Shadow like nothing more than a chess piece—only to be repaid with revenge at the end.
‘In a way, perhaps it was a fitting end.’
I pushed the thought away and asked Gaius:
“Will the Monster Wave still happen?”
“A thousand years ago, I clearly witnessed our god’s apostle being defeated by Miela’s apostle. The feeling now is similar to that time.”
He slowly closed his eyes.
“I can feel it. Our god has lost once again. His presence has completely disappeared from the world.”
In other words—
I had succeeded.
The Monster Wave had been stopped. The world wouldn’t be destroyed. Countless lives would continue.
As dawn began to break, I felt something swell inside my chest and spoke again.
“Lord Gaius, can you communicate with the monsters?”
“For simple matters.”
“Then could you tell them it’s all over and ask them to retreat?”
“Why don’t you say it yourself?”
“…What?”
“I will translate.”
And so, before I knew it, I found myself standing in front of the monsters.
“Attention!”
Thanks to the Demon King kindly casting an amplification spell, my voice could reach every monster gathered there.
“It’s all over, so go home!”
I had wanted to say something more impressive, but after everything that had happened, I didn’t even have the energy to think about it.
Soon, Gaius translated my words, and the monsters began leaving the building one by one.
Surprisingly, there was no major conflict.
Perhaps they accepted defeat—or perhaps, like me, they were simply too exhausted from the continuous battles to do anything else.
Probably both.
Thinking that somewhat pointless thought, I collapsed.
‘I can’t stand for even one more second…’
As if he had anticipated this, Terrence easily caught me and whispered in my ear.
“You’ve worked hard, Idel. Now get some rest.”
Those words were like rain after a drought.
After that, I slept for twelve straight hours without even dreaming.
“Good job.”
At some point during my sleep, I thought I heard the voice of a certain goddess.
When I woke up late in the afternoon, I washed up, ate a meal, and quickly prepared to leave.
My fatigue hadn’t completely disappeared, but my desire to return to the Empire was even stronger.
However, there was one thing I needed to do before leaving.
I planned to bury Riena’s body here.
