Chapter 82 …
“Now it’s a bit quiet.”
Just in case, I tied his wrists with the man’s own handkerchief.
“No one comes here either.”
It was the perfect place for someone to disappear.
The man’s face, which had been filled with anger at first, gradually turned pale.
Even though nothing had been done yet, he must have realized this wasn’t the future he had expected.
“Mmph… ngh… mmph!”
I pressed down lightly on the man’s feet as they flailed like a fish. Stepping on him so he couldn’t escape, I pulled out the dagger that had been strapped to my leg.
“Ah, the blood will splatter.”
I had forgotten that. If I changed my dress here, people would definitely grow suspicious.
Should I give up the knife?
It wasn’t my preferred method, but it couldn’t be helped. Looking over the man’s body, I noticed something suitable.
“Mmph! Mmph!”
I grabbed the struggling man and loosened his belt. As if he understood what it was for, his resistance grew even more desperate.
Not that he could escape anyway.
“If you keep thrashing, it’ll hurt more.”
“Laila, wait a moment.”
But someone stopped me.
The strength left my hand just as I was about to tighten it around his neck.
As if a miracle had appeared just before he lost consciousness, the man struggled desperately, begging to be spared.
“Mmph! Mmhh!”
His face, drenched in tears and snot, slammed into the ground.
Thud.
Now he wouldn’t be able to see who it was. I tightened my grip on his neck as a warning for him to stay still.
“You want to spare him?”
“It just means you don’t have to kill him like this.”
“You know the reason?”
“You want it, Laila. I wouldn’t dare stop you. And I don’t want to either.”
It was a gentle remark that didn’t suit the situation at all.
Since when has he been watching?
Had he been following me? I scanned the surroundings while adjusting my grip on the dagger.
“Just a moment.”
“Hnng! Mmph… mmh…”
I struck the back of the man’s neck with the handle of the dagger.
It hit precisely—he fainted instantly.
I tossed his limp body into the corner. Now it would be easier to talk.
Grabbing Helion’s wrist, I moved further inside.
He followed quietly, waiting for me to speak.
“Why are you here?”
“Well… I felt like coming today…?”
“You came because of me.”
“We haven’t seen each other for a long time.”
With the corners of his eyes drooping, he took hold of my fingertips.
It was the kind of attitude that hoped I would give in.
His hair, holding the moonlight within it, sparkled like jewels.
His pleading gaze seemed to be hiding something.
“You must have had a reason.”
“…That can’t be.”
“So you did. What is it?”
“I just… have something bothering me.”
Helion confessed cautiously, unable to meet my eyes.
If he was going to spill everything like this, I didn’t understand why he had tried to hide it.
It seems to be something related to me.
Something he hoped I would understand without him saying it outright.
I brushed Helion’s slightly thinner cheek.
A languid smile appeared at the corner of his lips.
“You said you live because of me.”
“…Did Kal say that?”
So it hit the mark.
“That’s not what matters.”
“…It’s not a bad thing, is it? You like that too, Laila. You said I’m your everything. Then you’re my everything too.”
Even though I hadn’t reacted, Helion muttered as if making excuses.
He clasped my hands desperately.
He looked terribly anxious—almost as if he already knew what answer I would give.
His eyes clung to me, begging only for affirmation.
“You said we’re the kind of relationship where that’s okay.”
“I didn’t want a relationship where guilt is the main thing.”
“…Even so, if you told me to die, Laila, I’d die. And if you asked me to kill you, I’d want to do that for you too.”
He lacked the usual certainty in his voice.
It was as if he’d been swept away by a massive wave, unable to control his own emotions.
What exactly was that wave?
“But Kal says I’m strange like this. He says you wouldn’t want it. That it’s all just my selfishness…”
I had thought Helion resembled a lake more than the sea.
A quiet, tranquil lake.
Apparently not.
Because he had believed that himself, Helion had never prepared for the wave that came toward him.
He had simply been swept away helplessly.
I didn’t expect him to change this much.
And I certainly hadn’t expected the wave to be Kal.
Before, Helion had been the type who didn’t care about anything as long as he had me.
Now he was being shaken by just a few words.
“Seems like you can’t ignore him.”
“…Because he said you wouldn’t like it, Laila. Since it’s about you.”
His denial was practically an affirmation.
He wouldn’t pay attention to the words of someone insignificant.
Especially not if it’s advice instead of insults.
Yet those words had shocked him enough to make him reflect on himself.
That meant Kal had become that important.
Helion himself didn’t seem to realize it yet, but he was gradually escaping from his past.
“For now, you probably think you live for me. I won’t tell you to stop.”
It wasn’t something he could stop anyway.
“But if one day you feel like that’s not the case anymore, it’s okay to stop.”
Right now it might be a reason to live, but someday it could become a shackle.
If that day came, I didn’t want to become his chains.
“You don’t have to live for me.”
That day would come eventually.
The day he suddenly realized it.
“…But you live because of me too, Laila.”
“Our situations are different.”
For me, ten years didn’t exist.
That’s why I was still standing in the same place.
But Helion had seen and experienced many things during those ten years.
Of course he would change.
The Helion of the present was simply forcing himself to deny it.
“I don’t know what kind of life you lived, Laila. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to know.”
That was true.
I died and came back to life, and ten years later I became a different person.
To others, I might look like something close to a monster.
And yet Helion still treated me like a normal person.
“I don’t care what you really are. The fact that you live for me, Laila… even makes me happy.”
Perhaps he despised himself for saying such things—
a self-mocking smile appeared on his lips.
But that wasn’t the end.
“But I don’t mind if your world becomes wider. If that helps you live even a little, I can accept it.”
In Helion’s eyes, the image of my death flickered.
He knew I had died yet was still alive.
If I couldn’t die anyway, why would he say something like that?
“So please don’t reject it either. I’ll do the same.”
I didn’t really understand.
Helion used to hate the idea of me forming deep relationships with others.
Yet now he said he would accept it.
It didn’t feel like my value had decreased.
Rather, it seemed like he had realized something new.
Naturally, he extended his little finger.
“Ah, but I won’t forgive you if you run away.”
“I have no intention of doing that.”
“That’s good then.”
Unlike my confusion, Helion looked relieved.
Making promises had already become a habit.
I hooked my finger with his as he wanted.
But instead of letting go, Helion intertwined our fingers, threading them together.
Holding my hand tightly, he returned to his usual gentle demeanor.
“Did your worries clear up now?”
“…Yes. Completely.”
“Then it’s okay to kill that man now, right?”
“…What?”
Hadn’t Helion been the one who opposed killing him?
“Even if you spare him, he’ll only be a danger.”
Since we couldn’t erase his memory, it was better to eliminate him quickly.
A villain like that would surely start blabbing the moment he woke up.
And I was curious too.
I wanted to know whether extras still disappeared permanently when they died.
Unlike before, extras now had names.
They naturally spoke their own names.
Didn’t that mean their status had risen?
Maybe death wasn’t the end anymore.
If someone revived like I did, it would be troublesome, so I wanted to confirm it beforehand.
This man was a villainous extra—perfect as a test subject.
He’s an extra… right?
Either way, not killing him was never an option.
“Hmm… then how about staging it as an accidental death?”
“Wouldn’t pushing him off somewhere risk being discovered?”
“There happens to be an unused well.”
Helion pointed behind me as if he had been waiting.
So that’s why he stopped me.
Falling to death was definitely better than strangulation.
There was a higher chance it would be treated as an accident.
“You’ll guide me there, right?”
“Ah, I’ll carry him.”
After that, things moved quickly.
Helion hoisted the man over his shoulder.
I put on the man’s shoes and followed behind him.
Luckily, Helion and I had the same foot size, so staging it was much easier.
With this, it would end as a drunken man accidentally falling.
When we arrived, we returned all of the man’s belongings to him.
He had come out cautiously to commit a crime, so no one knew he had met me.
“I’ll take care of it.”
Thud.
The sound signaled a safe ending.
He’s dead.
After confirming the man’s death, I instinctively stared into the air.
But unlike I expected, nothing appeared.
Was there a delay?
Or did his death not matter?
If it’s the latter, dealing with obstacles will be easier.
If extras kept reviving, then killing them would be pointless.
Of course, it might only be certain once his death became official.
That would probably be known tomorrow.
“Are you going back to the banquet hall?”
“I don’t like noisy places.”
“So you really did come because of me.”
Helion, now wearing new gloves, looked away as if pretending not to hear.
Considering he wasn’t even wearing formal attire, it was suspicious enough.
“Lady Laila!”
“Then I’ll be going now.”
From far away, I heard Reina calling me.
It had been too long for just a walk.
“…Alright.”
The corners of Helion’s mouth drooped automatically.
After hesitating, I lightly hugged him.
“Thank you for coming to see me today.”
Because Reina kept calling my name, I couldn’t check his reaction.
When I looked back later, it was too dark to see his expression.
He didn’t try to stop me, so it should be fine.
Until recently, he had been too afraid to even come see me.
Yet now he had followed me because he was worried about me going to the banquet.
A satisfying sense of fulfillment stirred inside me.
I knew I shouldn’t feel this way…
but it felt surprisingly good.
