154 – Alice (5)

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“I don’t know when I will die.”

It wasn’t that I didn’t understand the sentence that came out of Sister Alice’s mouth.

‘I’m going to die soon’

Why is that sentence so difficult to understand?

However, I could not understand at all the words that Sister Alice spoke so sadly.

Dying? Who? Sister Alice?

Even I, who had no connection to the cult, could feel the divine power overflowing from her body.

Even though I had no talent or sense for divine power, Sister Alice’s divine power was so vivid that I could feel it clearly, like a vast ocean.

Even without my sister wielding her divine power, the white energy that overflowed was so enormous that it was no different from a giant wave.

Even at this moment, a sacred aura that made it clear that she was far removed from evil things like death or curses was enveloping Sister Alice’s entire body.

That’s why the strange confession that came out of her mouth crashed and crumbled in my head in confusion.

“But… Ash might be able to save me.”

“Sister…?”

Sister Alice looked at me with an expression that seemed to calmly accept her fate, but at the same time seemed desperate, as if she was clinging to a thin thread of hope.

I knew it from that expression.

I didn’t understand it, but I felt it instinctively.

“Sister… are you dead?”

That what she said was true.

I slowly lowered my head and looked down at the bracelet wrapped around my wrist.

Malis’ bracelet.

Thinking back on the memories that flowed in, this was something that only appeared in legends or fairy tales.

A bracelet that Malice wore that could revive the dead.

It was clear that such a relic existed, but the legend surrounding it was ridiculous.

A cheap story that can only be found in folk tales or unofficial history handed down by word of mouth.

Although she still had no idea why Sister Alice had to die, she knew clearly that this paltry legend was just a glimmer of hope she was holding onto.

“… under,”

The silver thread of the bracelet dug into my skin so coolly.

My wrists, wrapped in bracelets, felt heavier and heavier, so I dropped both my arms.

Coincidentally, I didn’t feel any mystical power from the bracelet.

I slowly raised my head and looked at Sister Alice with trembling eyes.

“… why,”

“…”

“What are you talking about, Sister… Why?”

Sister Alice’s sparkling golden eyes began to sparkle with moisture, but I was still not reflected in them.

This was because the pupils were emitting light, so the image was not reflected.

Like a flame blowing in the wind, the golden light sparkled and swayed slowly.

“… no,”

Sister Alice stopped talking and bit her lips for a moment.

I breathed in slowly through my nose and out through my mouth.

The sight seemed like the breathing of monks who were forcibly suppressing their emotions and distracting thoughts.

Then, he quickly closed his eyes and slowly began to open his mouth.

“No, what are you thinking, Ash?”

“uh?”

“Going to the Demon King’s castle meant that it was so dangerous that you could die at any time.”

“…”

Sister Alice said with a slight smile through her tightly shut eyes.

The desperate expression that had been visible just a moment ago had disappeared without a trace.

She continued speaking with that playful expression that reminded me of my childhood.

“What, what were you thinking that made you look so serious?”

“… Sister,”

Sister, do you think I’m stupid?

It was such a clumsy lie and such an embarrassingly rough attempt at cleanup.

There’s no way that the heavy atmosphere we saw just a moment ago could be nothing.

No matter how pathetic a person I am, I’m not stupid enough not to notice that much.

“Explain what you mean…”

“If Ash could handle that bracelet, then I would have peace of mind even if Nana Sylvia and I died fighting. I was hoping.”

My older sister interrupted me harshly and continued to babble.

It was a look that showed a firm attitude of not accepting any questions.

“…”

“Why, are you afraid I’ll lie to you? We’re just childhood friends, aren’t you being too hard on me?”

“… No, that.”

“I think I’m a more trustworthy person than you, who has a fiance and is hanging out with other women.”

“…”

Sister Alice’s typical mischievous joke.

It was a sight I had longed for so long that I wondered when I would hear it again after she and Sister Maria left the estate together, but I never thought I would hear it now.

It was so nice to see her, but now her jokes were just a curtain that forced the path toward the sad truth.

You may not understand it yet, but perhaps Sister Alice will die.

That too soon.

“… Ash.”

Sister Alice, who had been staring intently at my face, seemed to have noticed that I had no intention of giving in, so she called my name softly.

I can’t be sure because it wasn’t reflected in her eyes, but my face must have collapsed as if I was about to burst into tears at any moment.

She quietly placed her hand on my head, slowly ruffling it and stroking it.

“Forget it. I was talking nonsense.”

“…”

“Even without that bracelet, or that spirit spell or whatever, Ash is essential for this journey. Sylvia and I have limitations in using magic. Even if we somehow manage to fight, there are always situations that can only be resolved with magic.”

“… Don’t change the subject.”

“…”

“Explain to me, why is my sister dying?”

“…even if I forget.”

Alice let out a small sigh.

“Me too… I made that promise… but I couldn’t accept it calmly…”

“What the heck… What is happening to you, sister?”

Sister Alice did not answer.

My sister slowly got up from her seat, her mouth tightly shut like a chest locked with a lock that would never open, and then turned around and walked towards the cabin.

I followed her movements with my eyes filled with vain hope.

My sister’s footsteps became more powerful and straighter the further she walked from me.

When I finally got hold of the cabin doorknob.

Sister Alice opened her mouth slowly.

“Don’t worry, Ash.”

“…”

“Even if I die, you… you alone will be happy. I will die for that.”

＊

Alice looked around, grumbling softly.

Looking at it again, the walls and floor of the cabin were completely covered in ash and soot.

It was only natural that the bonfire in the middle of the room burned without stopping all winter.

Alice said, clearing her throat.

“You live without even cleaning?”

“You should have a cleaning tool in the first place. And as time went by, I got used to it and didn’t even realize that the ash was accumulating.”

Sylvia, who was roasting the meat of a deer’s leg over a campfire, answered without even looking at Alice.

“I’ll get tuberculosis before I go to the Demon King.”

“Well, I’m fine since the divine power is circulating in my body, but Ash is surprisingly fine. Maybe he’s okay with ash because he was once addicted to magic.”

“That’s nonsense.”

Sylvia said with a shrug.

“It doesn’t matter anymore. I’ll be leaving here tomorrow…”

“…”

“I will never come back here again.”

Alice nodded slightly at Sylvia’s words.

“… Right, when it’s all over, I either go back to the Goldfields or I die. It’s one of the two.”

“I will definitely go back. With Ash.”

“Yeah, yeah, you guys go back, and I die. Now I see that it wasn’t just one or the other, it was both.”

“…”

Sylvia was momentarily silent at Alice’s blunt response.

Alice also had nothing to say if Sylvia did not respond.

In the silence that weighed heavily on the cabin, the venison hung dangling, making a sizzling sound as the fat dripped from its surface as it cooked onto the fire.

At that moment, the smell of meat slowly cooking began to fill the cabin.

Sylvia opened her mouth slowly.

“Ash isn’t coming in.”

“Hey, I guess I just made things complicated by talking nonsense.”

“Why did you do that?”

“…”

“You act all cool, like you don’t have time to make Ash happy or face Maria, but when you actually think about death, it seems like your judgment is temporarily clouded by an unbearable fear?”

“… You keep asking me questions even though you know. You disgusting b*tch.”

Sylvia chuckled at Alice’s accusatory admission and continued speaking.

“Well, I can understand why you would cling to even a small glimmer of hope.”

“I guess you overheard everything, like a rat.”

“Alice, you have no idea how loud your squeaking is.”

Alice, who knew best that her emotions were so intense that she couldn’t hide them even if she tried to, couldn’t say anything to Sylvia’s comment during the conversation with Ash.

I had no intention of saying anything in the first place.

I was planning to give her the bracelet in a calm manner along with some news about Eric.

However, Alice unknowingly spilled the beans about her own death to Ash.

A small hope that began to bloom from the moment Eric handed me the bracelet.

Alice had clearly been trying to keep that tiny spark of possibility buried deep in her heart that maybe Ash could save her.

But that didn’t happen.

It burst out.

It was because of this damned mechanical heart that not only constantly amplified his emotions at will, but now it was even driving him to his death.

“It was an unintentional mistake. It won’t happen again.”

“It was a mistake…”

“… Well, if you have something to say, say it clearly.”

Sylvia slowly turned her head and looked at Alice.

“What would you do if things went your way?”

“…what?”

Sylvia slowly turned her torso towards Alice.

As she turned her back to the campfire, her face, swallowed up entirely in shadow, was left with only her sinister red eyes gleaming, glaring with that sinister murderous intent.

“What if Ash could save you?”

“… Well, I haven’t thought about it.”

“Stop lying. I didn’t think about it. Why would you tell Ash, Alice? Do I look like an idiot?”

“…”

Two red lights floating in the darkness slowly thinned out.

Sylvia’s eyes, glaring at Alice, seemed to have shrunk slightly.

“I’m telling you this in advance so you don’t get the wrong idea.”

“…”

“Even if you survive, there is no place for you beside Ash. Remember that.”

“…”

“Ash is no longer your fiancé. She’s mine. She’s my only Ash. Remember that, Alice.”

Alice slowly closed her eyes, her golden pupils lowered.

Through my tightly closed eyelids, I could still feel Sylvia’s persistent gaze.

Although she wanted to gouge out those eyes right then and there, Alice took a deep breath and calmed down the violent impulse the machine had created.

Sylvia.

The disgusting possessiveness towards Ash was already a curse in itself.

Even if the Demon King’s curse is lifted, Sylvia, who has changed over the past few years, will never return.

She will forever be obsessed with Ash, and will forever bared her teeth and growl at anything that comes her way.

But, rather, that’s why.

Alice could guess that in this ruined world where laws and rules had disappeared, there was no one who could protect Ash as well as Sylvia.

Alice nodded slowly.

“Yeah, I know.”

If only Ash was good, if only Ash was safe,

If only Ash could be happy,

“Ash is Sylvia, your lover.”

Alice could accept it.

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