Chapter 40
Chapter 40
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: Deius Verdi
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“…….”
The small sound of IV fluid dripping was grating in the starkly silent hospital room.
Beside the bed where Deius lay asleep with his eyes closed, Erika Bright sat with her head bowed deeply, blaming herself.
Deius had once told her this.
Something did exist in the academy, but it wasn’t trying to kill him.
‘I see.’
Only now was Erika beginning to understand what he meant.
The evil spirits in the academy weren’t the problem. There was another evil spirit dwelling in his body.
She didn’t know its true nature.
‘I’m sorry.’
For failing to protect you.
Even if I treated you harshly, even if I hurt your feelings, I should have at least kept you safe.
I’m sorry for letting you get hurt like this in the end.
Her nose tingled slightly, and tears welled up. Lately, she’d been tearing up so much, feeling listless and disheartened. She cooled her hot eyelids with the back of her cold hand.
The door slid open.
A maid, Pindenai, entered the room. Having just smoked a cigarette outside, she clicked her tongue at the sight of Erika.
“He’s not in any life-threatening danger. Don’t worry too much.”
When Deius had fallen from the rooftop, it had been shocking, but professors and guards had been all around.
They had immediately started emergency treatment, so his life wasn’t at risk.
The issue was that even as his body slowly healed, he still hadn’t opened his eyes.
“He probably jumped so recklessly because he knew you guys were down below.”
“…….”
“So have some faith. Doesn’t he trust you in his own way?”
“Are you seriously saying that right now?”
Erika whipped her head around to glare at Pindenai.
It wasn’t the kind of killing intent you’d expect from a professor who just taught kids at the academy, but Pindenai found it intriguing and didn’t stop talking.
“I could have saved him.”
Pindenai declared confidently.
The moment Erika heard that, fury surged through her veins, and she gathered her mana. But Pindenai, arms crossed, continued.
“But the young master told me not to. He must have some plan in mind.”
“……!”
“So trust him for now. I don’t always know what he’s thinking, but he doesn’t do anything stupid.”
“…….”
Erika was seized by a strange sense of defeat and couldn’t find words for a moment.
It wasn’t that Pindenai had such deep affection for Deius, but her faith in him was genuine.
As his fiancée, she felt needlessly unseemly and bit her lip hard.
The door slid open again!
The man who entered had red hair—Gideon.
His face was as flushed with anger as his hair, and he strode toward Erika.
“What the hell are you doing here! You’re my girlfriend! My fiancée! Who are you nursing?!”
Gideon roughly grabbed Erika’s wrist and tried to drag her away.
“I am not your property!”
She shook off his hand.
“I warned you not to touch me carelessly.”
Erika redirected the mana she had raised because of Pindenai, naturally warning Gideon.
“You…!”
“Shut up and get out. This is a place where the patient needs quiet to rest.”
“…….”
Gideon seemed speechless. He glanced at Pindenai nearby and at Deius lying in the bed.
Then he ground his teeth and pointed at Erika.
“The Bright family is already positively reviewing our engagement. You sure you’re okay with this?!”
“……!”
Erika’s words caught in her throat for a moment. It felt like a heavy stone had lodged in her windpipe.
“Keep this up and see what happens!”
Shouting that, Gideon flung the door open and stormed out.
Seeing this, Erika let out a long sigh and crouched down. She felt like she might collapse any second.
“I need to step out for a bit.”
Not wanting Deius to see her like this, Erika headed outside.
Pindenai followed.
“Want a cigarette?”
Pindenai chuckled and pulled one out with her index and middle fingers, but Erika hesitated before shaking her head.
“Let’s have some coffee. I have questions for you.”
“I’ve got questions too. Will you spill?”
“If you don’t treat it like a game.”
“Then no can do! In the end, it’s all about whether it’s fun or not!”
“……You’re really hard to warm up to.”
Rolling her eyes at Pindenai, Erika headed to a nearby café for a moment.
The room filled with peaceful silence once more. But it didn’t last long before it shattered.
The door slid open.
A black-haired female student entered. Her red necktie marked her as a first-year at Robern Academy.
It was Aria Rias, the protagonist of the game world Retry.
Expressionless, she strode over and looked down at the unconscious Deius.
“Ah, ahh.”
Her eyes lost focus as she slowly reached out and caressed his face.
Starting from his eyes, down his brow, along his nose. Then naturally down his cheek, and finally to his lips.
“Ah, Professor.”
Gazing at his soft lips, Aria licked her lips as if savoring something delicious but held back, exhaling hot breath.
No matter how much desire welled up, Aria had no intention of doing anything without Deius’s consent.
“Ahh, Professor.”
She slowly lifted his hand and pressed it to her cheek.
Perhaps because it had been under the blanket, his warm touch further heated Aria’s body.
“You really startled me, Professor.”
She hadn’t expected him to jump off the rooftop like that. Shocked, Aria had rushed forward too, but Karen and Erika nearby had handled the emergency treatment perfectly, so she hadn’t interfered.
“Nothing like this happened in the previous world, so of course I was flustered.”
Subtly, Aria lowered her head and pressed her ear to Deius’s chest.
Thump, thump.
The heartbeat echoing there assured her he was still alive, calming her heart and filling her with happiness.
“To think you’re already moving to deal with that person. Looks like my efforts weren’t in vain.”
With her ear still to his chest, she turned her head to stare intently at Deius’s lips.
Should she just devour him?
Such desire flooded her body.
Smack.
“Please win and come back.”
As a compromise, Aria kissed his forehead and left the room.
“This time, for sure, you…….”
Her vow, like a faint whisper, faded into the air.
* * *
“…….”
I raised the back of my hand to check.
It wasn’t the white skin reminiscent of Deius’s pale eyes. Seeing the typical East Asian skin tone, I realized I had succeeded.
I was now Kim Shin-woo.
Born in South Korea, distanced from my parents for seeing ghosts, constantly tormented by spirits until my emotions dried up.
I had gone to university, been discharged from the military, and lived an ordinary office life.
“…….”
The clothes I wore were the suit from my job. Thinking back, it felt like what I had on when entering the game.
Looking around, it was the familiar Verdi mansion.
But it was clearly not reality—the scenery outside the mansion lacked proper form, like paint smeared in water.
Then.
Creak.
The front gate opened, and a man who felt incredibly familiar walked out from the mansion.
His face was thick with rage, glaring at me as if he’d tear me apart right then.
Deius Verdi.
“You still—!”
He was the original owner of this body.
“You still haven’t died! You’re still parasitizing my body! I’ll kill you somehow. I’ll drive you out somehow!”
Deius grabbed my collar, thrashing wildly.
If anything, this was like our first meeting, yet we harbored deep grudges against each other.
I slapped his hand away and replied.
“Right now, I’m the owner of this body, not you.”
“Bullshit! I’m Deius! I’m the second son of the Verdi family!”
“…….”
“You bastard! Get out of my body! Was it fun pretending to be me? Huh? Did you enjoy it? The girls spreading their legs for you, felt good?”
“…….”
“Fuck! Answer me! Stealing someone else’s body and acting so shameless—how can you even do that?!”
To him, half-sobbing as he shouted, I replied slowly, exhaling.
“I was just struggling to survive.”
“You bastard……!”
“While living as Deius Verdi.”
Calmly and firmly.
“No one missed you.”
“You bastaaaard!”
Deius swung his fist wildly, smashing squarely into my face. My head snapped back, but it didn’t hurt.
“You were a pervert with insane lust, even getting aroused by your one and only little sister.”
“Shut uuuup!”
Thud!
“You were a junkie who’d lick the shoes of lowly alley thugs when you ran out of drugs.”
“So what! What about it! That was my life!”
Thud!
Deius’s fists kept flying at me. But as time passed, they grew weaker.
“And you had no sense of responsibility for the Verdi family, no conviction to protect Northsweden.”
At the very least, Darius had that. His first priority was the family, second Northsweden.
But the man before me had seen everything as his personal playground.
“Honestly, I wanted to meet you. And I have something serious to ask.”
“……What, you bastard.”
Deius, who had been swinging his fists, was now a tear-streaked mess, looking pathetic.
“I’ve seen countless souls. They cling to regrets in life because of their beliefs and values.”
I voiced the question I’d always wanted to ask.
“Deius Verdi. What regret do you have?”