Chapter 124
The world inside the novel disappearing? I had never once thought about something like that.
To be honest, I had almost no lingering attachment to my previous world. Seo Hayoon had no family left there, nor anything particularly remarkable to her name.
But Giana had a warm-hearted mother, the title of “Hero,” and considerable wealth.
Most importantly, Giana was the future Grand Duchess. That meant the immense power and wealth of the Grand Ducal House would soon become mine.
There was no way I would want to return to the previous world.
The Master of the Mage Tower answered my question with a faint smile.
— Fortunately, this world will be fine. Creation has already been completed, and the aftermath of the price must be borne entirely by the caster. If the caster fails to pay the price to the very end, they will be erased according to the law of the “Debt of Time.”
Hearing his answer, I let out a relieved breath.
“Then this could become an opportunity for us. All we have to do is find the caster and make sure they can’t repay the Debt of Time, right?”
“But Giana, we don’t even know who that person is. And you haven’t fully recovered yet, and I’m bound to the Lupellen territory, so…”
Nox trailed off, his face filled with concern.
Instinctively, I knew this was the moment to tell Nox—and everyone—the truth.
“I have a clue about who the caster is.”
On the day I clashed with Director Jang, he died after leaking far more information to me than expected. Perhaps because he had intended to kill me from the start, he had spoken freely about many things.
“When I fought Director Jang before, he said something like this: that in the world they used to live in, they were extremely unhappy.”
As I brought up the story from back then, the gazes of Nox, the Master of the Mage Tower, and Arines all turned to me at once.
“He said that Director Jang’s master suffered terribly because of the oppression of ‘the one who has everything,’ and in the end had no choice but to flee to this place.”
— Are you saying that, unable to endure the oppression, they planned to escape by creating a world?
“Yes. Rather than continuing to live there, they must have decided that it was better to take the risk and perform a massive creation spell. I don’t know what kind of oppression they suffered, though.”
Slowly chewing over Director Jang’s words, I laid out what had happened one by one.
“Director Jang cast a massive dark magic spell that cost him his life in order to kill me… and he died saying that he would be resurrected.”
— He said he would be resurrected?
The Master of the Mage Tower asked back, looking extremely surprised.
“…Yes. He said that his king would make this world even stronger, and that he himself would regain the life force he had accumulated and come back to life.”
“Ha—just who in the world is their king, to do something like that…!”
“That man’s name is… Elarion. He’s the mastermind behind all of this, and also the most powerful dragon in this world.”
I heard Nox inhale sharply in surprise.
Because it wasn’t easy to bring up stories about dragons in front of him, I spoke while desperately trying to avoid meeting his eyes.
“He might even be my uncle. Director Jang said that his older brother was probably my father.”
“Wait, Giana! How could you hide something like that all this time…?”
Nox asked, grabbing my arm, his face filled with shock.
The faces of the Master of the Mage Tower and Arines on the other side of the screen were just as full of surprise.
“I’m sorry, Nox. I didn’t mean to hide it.”
Still avoiding his gaze, I spoke as calmly as I could.
“I was going to tell you once I made up my mind. That is… when I’d be ready, even if you left my side to go hunt a dragon, to send you off without feeling anxious… I was waiting for that.”
By now, I knew clearly that Nox loved me. And I also knew that he valued love more than revenge.
So even if Nox were to leave to hunt a dragon, he would definitely come back to me.
“…Giana, I’m not leaving your side. Never.”
He slowly released his grip on my arm, gently cupped my face, and tried to meet my eyes as he spoke.
“I told you. A mere dragon can’t possibly overcome how I feel about you.”
Very slowly, I turned my gaze and met his eyes.
He was looking at me with deep, warm eyes. His unwavering affection for me shone clearly within them.
For some reason, tears suddenly welled up.
“Giana, I was wrong. I was wrong about everything. About not giving you trust from the beginning, about making you anxious, about forcing you into making such a painful decision—all of it.”
As he comforted me, tears poured endlessly from my eyes. I couldn’t hold back the sobs that burst out like moans.
Only then did I finally realize just how anxious I had been all this time.
‘So… what I really wanted was for Nox to tell me he wouldn’t leave me.’
Having finally understood my own feelings, I ended up clinging to him and crying like a child.
The meeting, which had been briefly halted by my sudden flood of tears, resumed.
I wiped at my reddened eyes and spoke while looking awkwardly at the screen.
“Ah… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
— It’s fine. Love is always accompanied by trials.
The Master of the Mage Tower smiled, looking as though he understood everything.
— Now then, let’s start organizing our discussion and set our goal.
“Obviously, we have to find that bastard Elarion. Didn’t you say he’s the mastermind behind all of this?”
Nox’s eyes were also bright red—not because he had been crying, but because his fury toward Elarion, who had dared to make me cry, had exceeded its limit.
There was even a very high possibility that Elarion was the true enemy who had killed Nox’s parents.
With his love for me and his longing for his parents intertwined, Nox looked like the embodiment of vengeance.
“Elarion, Elarion… That’s not a common name.”
— I know who that name belongs to.
When Arines cautiously raised her hand and spoke, we all stared at her in surprise.
“Arines? How do you know Elarion?”
— I once went to see my father, His Majesty the King, out of concern after hearing that Snaud was preparing for war. But my father was away for a moment, and instead there was a report there detailing Snaud’s movements.
“And Elarion’s name was in that report?”
— Yes. It said that Elarion is the High Priest of the Great Temple of Snaud, and the de facto ruler of Snaud.
So in the end, it all circled back to Snaud!
Nox spoke with a deeply worried expression.
“If what Princess Arines says is true, then Snaud preparing for war right now means the situation is extremely dangerous.”
— Exactly. Once war breaks out, they’ll be able to gather an incomparable amount of life force all at once.
“And where will that life force be used?”
— At present, we can’t know for sure, but wouldn’t it be used to restore his power? After all, he used enormous magic one after another—creation magic and even the Debt of Time—so it’s likely his power has weakened greatly.
In other words, Elarion planned to first steal the life force of those belonging to the world inside the novel to restore his own strength.
After that, he would probably try to repay the “Debt of Time” he couldn’t fully pay when using the creation magic.
Ten thousand lives from another world… It was a plan so horrific it defied description. Massive chaos was inevitable.
“Then we have to stop it first. Nox, suspend the sale of not only the Dream Feather Pen, but also the Contract Feather Pen immediately. We have to prevent him from gathering any more life force.”
“I’ll submit a proposal to the Imperial Family right away.”
“Arines, you should tell His Majesty King Tien as well. This is a serious matter.”
— Don’t worry. I’ll go see my father as soon as this meeting ends.
The eyes of the four of us shone with firm resolve.
Now our task was clear: stop Elarion from collecting life force, then find him and bring things to an end.
With no time to spare, I began tidying up and signaled the end of the meeting.
“All right, then let’s wrap up the meeting here and each get to what we need to do—”
“Wait, Giana. Before we end the meeting, there’s something I want to ask the Master of the Mage Tower.”
Nox slowly raised his hand and asked, his expression cautious.
“I want to restore Giana’s dragon power… Is there any way to do that?”
