Chapter 31 (1/2)
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Chapter 31 – Tell Me… Tell Me, Quickly
Ashia remembered the ending of the original novel in her fading memory.
– Aileen, meeting you was the best thing that happened in my life.
– I love you, Kaligo.
Their marriage under the blessing of the temple, vowing to cherish and respect each other for the rest of their lives. Like most novels, the original story also ended with a happy ending. A special but natural ending that overcame all adversity and hardship.
Kaligo came up to Ashia, who had stood silently for a long time, and approached her. “Do you know her?”
“…”
I know… I know her very well.
Asha turned towards him with a carefree face and smiled softly.
“I know her.”
Her heart, which had regained peace for a moment, seemed to be smashed onto the cold stone floor with that one particular name.
‘At the end of the day… you’re going to meet the person you need to meet…’
As she took a deep breath, Ashia pushed the potion box on the glass shelf in front of him and opened her mouth. “I made it very well, and I can guarantee you that there will be no side effects. When you return to the Grand Duchy, discard all the other potions you have. Don’t be confused with them and drink the right potion.”
Kaligo looked down at the box she handed him. “…Did you stay up all night? You didn’t rest when we came back?”
Ashia answered his question as if it was natural, “It was a request.”
“…”
“And… if I take one more day off… you’ll have to suffer another day in return.”
“…”
Kaligo looked down at the potion box in response to Ashia’s answer. Her heart ached for some reason when she saw him being like that. The reason she dared to live in the capital was because of her will not to go against the original novel.
Seven years ago, the day the magic failed and the village was burned.
The magic she had created over the years was the magic that could get Ashia out of the book. Even turning back time was a bonus for her. However, the magic failed and many people lost their lives as a result.
Ashia regarded the events of the day as a warning from the original novel. A warning about the original characters trying to deviate from the original.
She was just another side character in the novel. Nevertheless, she caused hundreds of casualties, but this was the main character this time – the male protagonist who should lead the original novel. If she kept getting entangled with him like this, and his life deviates from the original turn of events…
‘What will happen this time?’
Would people die again this time, would millions?
‘Again… will I cause a problem that will lead to the deaths of several people?’
And there was no way to prevent them and their loved ones from being victims.
‘People who love and cherish…’
Ashia lifted her head and looked at Kaligo.
She could see herself in his eyes, the ones so passionate until yesterday, full of depth today.
Oh yeah. She had to admit it.
Ashia was now being swayed by Kaligo again. She had never been in a proper relationship before, but this feeling she felt every time she saw Kaligo was very familiar to her—because it was no different from what Renna felt every time she saw him. She was shaken by Kaligo’s actions that were different from before. He was igniting those feelings that she had already forgotten, all without her realizing it.
If this had been the story of Renna Cornelli and Kaligo Edmund, the heartbreaking unrequited love alone itself might have paid off.
‘But this… it’s in a book.’
In the book, it meant that the main characters and the path they had to take were already decided. And just in time, the female protagonist appeared—as if she was waiting for it, as if she didn’t like what the male lead was doing.
Eventually, the original novel decided to put the female protagonist in front of the male protagonist. Perhaps, the original content moved directly in order to correct the wrongs.
‘Haha… I really don’t like this feeling…’
Right now, her existence was caught between the two main characters and couldn’t be labeled as insignificant. The one who had to disappear between the two was her.
She looked at Kaligo’s face.
His sharp eyes and even his indifferent face—she knew what that expression meant. That the emotion in that indifference was a sincere concern.
When did she start being able to read the subtleties in his constant expression?
“Ashia,” Kaligo called her gently. He carefully raises his hand over her shoulder and peered into her face. “What’s going on? You have a bad complexion.”
“…”
What’s going on… What should I say? Where should I start?
The woman who sent the proposal was the woman he had to meet, and she knew her, the two of them were truly in love and lived happily ever after.
‘And I… Seeing you like that will hurt me again…
“…Are you telling me to go back?”
“You’re here to pick up a potion. You’ve got the medicine, so you can go back now.”
She decided to go back from the very beginning. From the moment she met him until now, she opted to think of him as just a simple happening.
Just like being wounded, it might be painful at first but as time passed by, only scars would remain, and maybe someday she wouldn’t even remember. It was a feeling that Renna had already experienced before.
‘There is nothing I can do if you were to forget everything again.’
She had lived without that man for 10 years, so there was no way she couldn’t live without Kaligo for the next 20, 30, or more years. It was not too late yet if she cut him off here before she fell out of control.
“…”
“…”