CHAPTER 67……………………
“Heh heh heh. Yeah. It really was such a worthless, pitiful little life.”
What are you babbling about with Teresa-unnie’s beautiful face?
Even though I knew what I was seeing and hearing was just an illusion, my eyes—fixed on the two figures—began to tremble violently.
No.
There’s no way my sisters would say such things.
“Pretty clever, considering we only picked you up because you looked like a fun little toy, don’t you think?”
“Right. I thought we could toss you aside whenever we felt like it.”
“Yeah. Something abandoned even by her own parents.”
Something no one cherished.
Something that could be thrown away.
Two voices, indistinguishable from one another, sliced her apart mercilessly.
Her body began to tremble.
What if… what if by some chance it’s true?
She knew her sisters would never say such things, yet the thought suddenly clawed its way in.
“Stupid Erica. What kind of face would you make if you knew we only left because you annoyed us?”
“Pfft, ha ha ha! Just imagining it is hilarious.”
Her bloodshot eyes opened wide, trembling violently.
There’s no way my sisters would say such things! You don’t even know them—don’t slander them!
Her sisters weren’t witches like that!
The words burned bitterly as she swallowed them down. She couldn’t tell if what forced its way up her throat was a sob or fury.
They were the ones who had risked their very lives for her.
No matter what anyone said, they were precious to her.
Huh?
Wait… right now…
What the illusion is showing me…
At that moment—
She suddenly came to her senses, and there they were in front of her eyes.
The figures shaped like her sisters had come right up to her face.
They craned their necks forward.
“So here you are.”
The once kind voice had turned sinister.
Her hand, trembling in rage, suddenly went cold for another reason.
W-what? Has the illusion noticed me?
She’d been caught.
Her determination not to be swayed by hallucinations suddenly seemed laughable.
So this is what it means when they say not to react to illusions?
You must not become entangled.
You must not waver.
No matter what it shows you.
Wow… this is practically a mind-type monster.
At least a real monster has a body. With this, she had no idea how to even begin breaking free.
Could she even run away?
“Run? Where would you run, Erica?”
“Yeah. When we’re already inside you.”
What?
“It’s not running away—it’s just denial.”
As if reading her thoughts and her heart, the illusions kept speaking.
“Who do you think you’re really talking to right now?”
“You never trusted your sisters in the first place.”
Her mind reeled.
Some of their words rang so true it felt like she was being beaten senseless.
No.
Rosiana shook her head violently to clear her mind.
The figures, still craning their necks toward her, continued.
“Who would ever save trash like you? You shout you never wanted saving, but the truth is the opposite, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. Who would—”
Who would sacrifice their life for the sake of someone like me?
Someone even her own parents had abandoned.
“The truth is, you were afraid, weren’t you?”
“Afraid to find out that your sisters didn’t die saving you…”
“…but that they’d actually left you behind.”
Rosiana’s clenched jaw trembled.
She had been told she was abandoned in a village suddenly overrun by monsters. That her mother, even right after giving birth, had desperately hidden the newborn baby until her last breath.
Her father had confirmed his wife was dead, then hurled the baby toward a monster’s gaping maw just to buy himself a chance to survive.
At the very moment the beast’s fangs were about to tear the infant apart, the witches appeared. Teresa, the eldest, overflowing with justice, slew the monster; Ares, the second, struck down the fleeing father.
The man, cursing that he almost died because of his damned daughter—and then even witches had shown up—was already more monster than man.
And yet… what?
Her sisters would say such things?
“I wasn’t even planning to bother with these hallucinations…”
She rose from where she had been crouching.
“Oh my! Going to try something? Here?”
The two sister-shaped illusions curled their lips in mocking smirks.
“Yeah, here? What if someone finds out you came to this mountain?”
“Oh dear, then the whole competition will be for nothing.”
“Because of you, everything will be ruined.”
These bastards…
“That’s right. Everything will be ruined because of you. Just like when Demon King Beelzebub wanted you.”
“All four of us witches died because of you.”
“Because worthless you—the stray we picked up—was the Demon King’s prey.”
“You already know, don’t you?”
“That even Tenebres, even your sisters, left you because they didn’t need you anymore.”
Rosiana’s violet eyes shone without hesitation.
There was no need to endure any longer.
The mountain, as if guarding its rare ore only found at the peak, ceaselessly produced mists of hallucination.
Asterios stared blankly at the visions before him.
“Erica.”
With her red hair flowing beautifully, she smiled.
Seeing her like this again, he thought—how dearly he had missed her.
Erica, the central witch with freckled cheeks and fiery red hair, was the first human Tenebres had ever cherished.
Objectively, Rosiana was far more beautiful now.
But to him, appearances had never mattered.
As a being once divine, most of what humans valued held little meaning for him.
What mattered was only that she was her—the same soul, the one who had spent time with him.
Even if her looks changed, even if she was reborn anew as another, his one-sided love would never end.
“Tenebres.”
The illusion wearing Erica’s face called his name. It was her voice, just as he remembered.
It felt like something he had carefully folded away as a cherished memory was being dragged out against his will.
A mixture of joy, longing—and discomfort.
“You know, right? If a lost hiker decides to turn back and descend the mountain, the fog suddenly clears like magic.”
Yes. The mist was merely illusion, meant to confuse and keep intruders from climbing higher. That’s why so many who lost their way found themselves back at the foot of the mountain—often shattered in mind and body.
“Couldn’t you just rewind time forever? Why go through all this trouble?”
Why go to such lengths just to let Erica live on as Rosiana?
But what meaning would there be in reliving the past forever?
Repeating the same days with someone who has no future?
Only he would remain, cursed to live on without her. That could never be happiness.
“Because that has no meaning.”
“Hm. Then it doesn’t have to be me, does it? Surely there’s more than one woman in the world who suits your tastes. With time, someone even better will come along. Wouldn’t it be better if she were immortal, like you?”
Asterios relaxed his brow, lost in thought.
Someone else?
He had never chosen to love Erica. It wasn’t will or intention. It still wasn’t.
Love—cherishing someone, treasuring them—was beyond even the gods’ control.
It was never about choice.
Tenebres had pitied humans, wanted to become one, and lived among them, but never truly felt comfortable as one—perhaps because he was still half-divine.
But Erica was different.
She carried a loneliness that mirrored his own. With her, even silence felt peaceful.
If he had to give a reason…
Perhaps it had been love at first sight. Simply watching her had filled him with happiness, made him glad he’d become human.
So he had always waited for her.
Whether sun or moon or stars rose.
Whether sunshine, wind, or snow fell.
Even in moments when he felt nothing at all.
He had searched and waited for her like breathing.
Because that was the most valuable thing he could do.
Because time with her was the most precious happiness of all.
Maybe that’s why I was so desperate to find a way to extend her time.
“Hm? But there are plenty of women out there.”
At last, Asterios found his answer, and spoke softly to the illusion.
“Because I don’t want anyone else.”
“Tch. How boring. No fun at all.”
The illusion’s face and voice carried no trace of ever having loved, of ever yearning for another’s heart.
Had it known such longing, it could never call his love “boring.”
“So, what do you want? I need to keep climbing to the peak.”
Had he been in full health, or still connected with Nox, he wouldn’t even be seeing such false visions. Nox’s magic was of the mind.
But drained as he was, the illusions crept in, just as he had feared.
Even if illusions appear, as long as you don’t get swept away, you’ll be fine.
As if reading his thoughts, the illusion shrugged as though yielding.
“Well, fine. You’re no fun anyway. I’ll just let you pass. All you need to do is open this falsehood and step through. But once you go, you can never return.”
Open the falsehood and leave?
With those cryptic words, the scene suddenly shifted.
From the thick white fog of illusion—
To a forest of birch trees.
