~Chapter 124~
Nocturne’s flames formed a strong wall around them. The approaching monsters were swallowed by the fire and disappeared instantly.
He looked down at the person in his arms. Aria was sleeping quietly.
Her pulse was weak, like a candle about to go out.
After she used her power on the boy who was the Sacrifice, Aria collapsed, blood pouring from her mouth. When she stopped breathing, it felt like Nocturne’s world was ending.
‘I haven’t done anything for her yet.’
When Nocturne realized Aria was not a clone but the real one, he made a promise to set everything right.
He couldn’t change the times he didn’t recognize her and treated her coldly, but… he still wanted to make everything right.
He wanted to return her memories, truly apologize, and help her regain all she had lost. No matter the cost.
But the moment he thought he’d lost Aria, unable to do anything for her, Nocturne remembered her last note.
Please burn Aria’s body. Let it turn to ash and scatter without a trace.
Even her will called it “Aria’s body,” not “my body,” because she couldn’t even call her own body her own.
She asked to be burned with no trace left, probably to keep her body from being misused again.
So Nocturne thought he would become ash with her.
I am your other half, and the proof that you existed in this world. Everything I am is because of you. Aria, if you disappear without a trace, then I should disappear with you.
If he lost her again, he knew this time he really couldn’t survive it.
If I had recognized you from the start, would you have written that will? Would everything have been different?
If he could turn back time, he wanted to go back to the day Aria first opened her eyes. He wanted to hug her and cry, “Thank you for coming back alive.”
Maybe then, Minette would have believed Aria was real, the Empress would have come to see her daughter, and maybe even Padva would have left sooner.
Maybe Aria would be having her coronation by now. Maybe she’d be getting ready for a wedding.
‘Nocturne, I’ll die today. You won’t be able to save me, but you’ll be able to keep living.’
If only he hadn’t believed her last will… If only he hadn’t believed she would die, or that he could keep living without her…
Hopeless despair swallowed Nocturne.
At that moment, pitch-black night came.
It wasn’t just a blackout. It was like the gates of hell opened and a foul energy crept up from the floor. The smell of corpses filled the darkness, and strange wailing echoed.
Nocturne saw a bright hope in his eyes as the horror unfolded.
“Aria.”
Nocturne held Aria close. Monsters came, but his flames melted them away one by one.
The first time Aria lost control, the monsters all merged into a holy white-winged figure.
But now, maybe because there were so many targets, the monsters spread out across the theater instead of merging into one form.
Still, above Aria’s head, a giant wing floated. It was strange—the ceiling of this isolation room wasn’t high, but after darkness fell, it looked like space was endlessly stretching.
“P-please save me…!”
The Manager’s voice came from nearby.
As the knights fought back with their powers, the monsters all swarmed the weak Manager instead.
Covered by monsters and torn apart, the Manager no longer looked human. But he crawled toward the glowing wing, begging for forgiveness.
“Please, Princess…! I was out of my mind, really. Please, have mercy…!”
But Nocturne only cared about Aria. Suddenly, he saw Aria’s eyelids tremble.
Finally, Aria slowly opened her eyes.
Her red eyes turned toward Nocturne, and every second felt endless. Nocturne’s heart pounded as Aria spoke.
“Nocturne.”
“Aria, are you awake?”
“…Why am I still alive?”
Nocturne froze. Aria blinked slowly, trying to figure out the situation.
“After we talked at the hospital… you erased my memory, didn’t you?”
Nocturne stopped breathing.
Aria was talking about when she got all her memories back at the imperial hospital.
The woman in his arms was Aria, with all her memories returned.
“Cough.”
Before Nocturne could answer, Aria started coughing. She instinctively covered her mouth, then looked at her hand. When Nocturne checked her palm, it was stained with bright red blood.
Nocturne’s heart dropped.
But while he panicked, Aria stayed calm.
“That’s strange. I should be dead by now…”
“What do you mean?”
His voice trembled with emotion. But Aria just looked puzzled.
“There’s no way I should still be alive. How am I still here?”
“What…?”
“Haven’t you ever thought it was strange?”
Nocturne blinked slowly.
Come to think of it, Aria had survived death many times. Even now, her heart had clearly stopped, but she woke up again.
Dr. Wood also said he’d never seen a mental-type Eshafe survive after using resonance to kill someone. Nocturne had only been grateful she lived—he’d never questioned how.
“Nocturne, I’m sorry.”
Aria gently stroked Nocturne’s cheek.
“Lately, I keep making you cry.”
“…If you’re sorry, then get better soon.”
Nocturne pressed his face into her hand. His voice shook.
“It’s okay even if you don’t get better.”
“…”
“Just… stay by my side like this…”
Aria looked at him with sadness in her eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“…”
“I can’t do it, Nocturne.”
BOOM!
A loud noise like something breaking rang out. Screams grew louder from beyond the wall of fire.
“Please, Princess, save us!”
“Aaah!”
“We’re sorry! We’re really sorry!”
Aria turned toward the voices.
People crawled toward the light of the wing in the air, realizing it was Aria’s power, and begged for forgiveness.
Aria saw their desperate faces. She put her hand to her forehead.
“Whether I’m Vis or Sera… even if I’m missing memories, my goal hasn’t changed. Maybe my mind always chooses the right answer without me knowing.”
“…”
“I’m a danger to everyone.”
“Giving up like that isn’t the best choice,” Nocturne’s voice was desperate.
“You said people should be happy with those they love, remember? You told Bill’s family yourself.”
“…”
“You always know the answer for others—why do you pretend not to know for yourself?”
Aria’s eyes filled with regret.
“You can’t always make the best choice, Nocturne.”
“But I still…!”
Nocturne started to shout, then stopped. With his chest heaving, he suddenly pulled Aria into a kiss.
It was a desperate kiss, filled with the longing to hold onto her and fear of losing her.
Aria’s eyelashes fluttered as she looked at Nocturne’s desperate face. Then she closed her eyes slowly.
When they parted, Nocturne looked at her with tearful eyes.
Aria whispered softly.
“You did your best, Nocturne.”
“…”
“I’m sorry.”
With those words, Aria used her resonance.
For a moment, everything went quiet.
When Nocturne regained his senses, the darkness was gone, and the theater was filled with light again.
The dead and the giant wing were gone. Knights looked around in confusion, the fight suddenly over.
Most of the audience who had been crawling on the floor now lay exhausted.
“What happened here?”
“Here! Call a healer, quick!”
As people shouted in confusion, Nocturne looked only at Aria, still in his arms.
In the returned light, her messy golden hair flowed over her shoulders. Her peacefully sleeping face looked just like the girl from long ago, before everything happened.
“Aria…”
Nocturne’s hand trembled as he touched Aria’s sleeping cheek.
Can I protect this precious person forever?
With love and fear tangled inside him, Nocturne held Aria close, as gently as he could.
