Chapter 109
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 109
Chapter Title: The Hidden World (2)
Adel was surprisingly a good listener.
I'd been a little tense because her face was completely hidden behind a mask, and she had this intimidating aura that made her hard to approach casually.
But she reacted to my story even more casually than Adel from my own world.
She was definitely royalty, so where did this difference come from?
What kind of life had this world's Adel lived? What backstory had the original Adel gone through?
It was impossible to know now.
"I see. You protected her when that woman launched a terrorist attack at the Cluster of Stars."
"Yes. I intervened when the Third Imperial Princess was about to have her face stolen by Bloodied. I thought I was done for."
"You say that, but you seem to have come through it just fine. Even if Bloodied was weaker back then compared to now, it wasn't something a boy in his early teens could handle."
"I got lucky."
With her face hidden by the mask, Adel's expression was completely unreadable.
I couldn't tell what she was thinking as she listened to the story of her counterpart from another worldline.
I couldn't be certain about her life story, but I had a pretty good guess.
'She probably lost her face back then.'
In my world, no one had been able to help Adel.
Her beauty must have been left unprotected, fading away just like that.
So what about this world?
Probably the same—no one had protected her.
That's why she was hiding her face behind a mask.
Because the Adel I'd seen in my dream before was also wearing a mask...
'Huh?'
Wait a second.
The Adel from that dream—she'd recognized me, hadn't she?
It felt too strange to dismiss as just a dream.
The dream Adel had even given me advice.
She had self-awareness.
'And she looked exactly like the Adel standing in front of me now.'
Was it the same person? Or just a coincidence?
"......"
That wasn't the important part right now.
In my view, the Adel before me seemed envious.
Adelheit von Valdrion, the empire's most beautiful flower.
How jealous must she feel imagining a version of herself who hadn't lost that stunning beauty?
I regretted bringing it up.
"Sorry."
"Why are you apologizing?"
"Well... It's a bit awkward for me to say it, but I guessed you'd envy your counterpart from my world. So I felt like I'd spoken out of turn."
"Hehe. Envy me? Me?"
Adel burst into laughter at my words, as if they were hilarious.
It wasn't excited laughter. Not a hollow chuckle. Not mockery.
It was like a smile pained by a stab to the heart, yet amused by the ridiculous misunderstanding.
"I'm not envious."
"Really?"
"Yes. On the contrary... it's reassuring to know there was a future like that."
"......?"
It was a statement I couldn't comprehend.
Reassuring?
Not envy, not jealousy. Reassuring.
"We're almost there."
Adel came to a stop.
I stopped with her, and suddenly I felt like I couldn't breathe properly.
"I don't think we can go any deeper. I can handle it, but you won't last."
"Hoo. What is this place? Red lines are slashing across the sky like crazy."
"It's Bloodied's stronghold."
"What?"
What was she talking about?
I stared at her in shock, and she smiled leisurely.
Hidden by the mask, but it felt that way.
"Right now, my only goal in life is killing Bloodied. Ever since I lost my face at the Cluster of Stars as a child. You suspected as much, didn't you?"
"Yeah, I had my suspicions. But—isn't it reckless for the Third Imperial Princess to come here alone? Wouldn't it be better to bring knights and fight strategically...?"
"Hehe. Every time I hear you talk, it surprises me. To think there was such a peaceful, warm possibility for me, for you, for the empire's future."
Her words carried a weight that sealed my lips before I could offer more advice.
Years I knew nothing about.
What had this world's Adel endured over more than a decade?
"The nobles abandoned their territories and fled. The commoners either fell to the Crimson Blood Cult or joined it. The empire has already declined and pinned its hopes on the academy."
"......That's shocking."
"Yeah. I figured it would be for you. Your worldline escaped its original fate."
Thud!
A massive shockwave came from far away.
And with it, an overwhelming torrent of power approached.
"Bloodied's noticed us."
"Then shouldn't we run?"
"You should. Not me."
Adel didn't move.
I clicked my tongue and got into a battle stance.
Then Adel waved her hand.
"Ah, don't. You need to leave now."
"What? You haven't told me the method yet."
"It's right beside you."
"?"
I turned to look.
At some point, a large pool of the hidden world had formed there, rippling with gray light.
"What is this?"
"The hidden world is calling you. It means it's time to move to the next timeline."
"......Could you explain this more straightforwardly? What exactly is happening to me? How do I get out?"
"Think about it. What do you think the hidden world is?"
Another riddle.
I gave her a sullen look, and Adel chuckled before explaining.
"The hidden world is a concept that transcends time and space. It doesn't just affect reality—it intervenes in dreams too. You probably know that already."
"As I thought. The Adel I met in my dream was you. Why didn't you let on that you knew?"
"Where's the fun in telling you right away?"
"......"
"Anyway. To explain how to return to your world... just follow where the hidden world leads you."
"Where is it leading me? Do you know that too?"
"Of course. I've already died, after all."
What?
I frowned at her.
She was clearly alive and breathing right in front of me.
Why say she'd died?
"Listen carefully, Kline. This world is already over. Adelheit perished together with Bloodied, the Saint revived the Blood Moon Sword in Prion and died, and the Crimson Blood Cult's Number One assaulted and beheaded the Emperor. In truth, this world is just a reenactment of past records."
"Does that even make sense? Then the you in front of me is a corpse. How are you alive, breathing, and talking to me?"
"That's the power of the hidden world. The realization of infinite possibilities. You've been transferred to the 'main history.' The hidden world deliberately brought you here because you've strayed from the main history."
"Why?"
"Because you need to meet your little sister."
I didn't need to ask who she meant by "little sister."
Ariel Leonhart.
The strongest being in the world, and my one and only sister.
"Only Ariel Leonhart has the power to defeat the Blood Demon. And you need to gain that power in this 'main history' world and return to your original world."
"You just say what suits you and call it an answer? Tell me how to get that power. And how to even meet Ariel in the first place."
"I already told you."
Adel smirked and pointed.
At the gray, rippling pool.
"Go inside there. The hidden world is calling you."
"......"
I hesitated for a moment before jumping into the hidden world as she said.
The Adel before me wasn't a living person.
She had already died.
And the cause of death... from what she'd just said, it was obvious.
Bloodied, flying straight toward this spot.
She was going to fight her and die together.
"Do you have lingering attachment to me?"
Adel laughed, reading my thoughts perfectly.
This time, it really seemed like envy.
"I'm grateful. To think I'd live to see Kline Leonhart worry about me—it's so unfamiliar, yet it makes me happy despite myself. It's frustratingly genuine. You're so perceptive."
"Can I go? Even so, staying with you..."
"No, you can't."
Adel waved her hand.
At the same moment, a gust of wind nudged my side.
Before I could even say "hey," I tumbled into the pool.
From beyond it.
"The Kline Leonhart I like is a foolish man who severs every last lingering attachment."
Those were the last words I heard from Adel, whispered in a wistful voice, before my consciousness faded again.
By the time Ariel reached the hill, the moon was already shining brightly in the night sky.
Darkness so thick that ordinary humans couldn't see an inch ahead.
But for Ariel Leonhart, it was no obstacle at all.
Even if she'd been humanized by the Sword Emperor's interference.
Her essence was the hidden world itself.
Nothing in reality's laws could hinder her.
"......"
That was precisely why Ariel was even more despairing.
She climbed the hill and looked around.
No sign of Kline.
Tracking her brother's presence through the hidden world led here, where the trail abruptly ended.
And vanished.
As if he'd ascended to the heavens or sunk into the earth.
Erasing his presence without a trace.
"......Ah."
Ariel fell to her knees.
It didn't make sense.
Why?
Why had Kline disappeared?
If there had been even a sliver of hope that she could find him.
If there was any possibility, Ariel would have scoured the entire world.
But there was no such method.
As a transcendent being, she knew that all too well.
That Kline Leonhart had vanished from this world without a trace.
"Ah. Ahh."
She couldn't make a rational judgment.
If she could just stay a little calm, suppress her emotions, and think.
Figure out who could have done this.
Even if she couldn't identify the culprit, at least devise a way to find him.
She could do all that, but her mind wouldn't turn.
"Ah, uh. Uhh, uhhh...!"
It was all because of those final words to her brother.
She hated her brother.
She didn't want to see him anymore.
If only she hadn't said that.
If she'd stayed by his side a little longer before he went missing.
Then her brother wouldn't have disappeared.
I... I made my brother...
"Ah, no. That's not what I meant. I didn't mean it like that."
She muttered excuses like a madwoman.
Excuses no one would hear.
Yet excuses she desperately wanted someone to hear.
Ariel sat there blankly, sobbing.
The girl who had first learned human emotions.
The first emotion she truly understood was regret.