Chapter 154
Chapter 154
Ch. 154 .｡.:✧ Near Miss (3) ✧:.｡.
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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“I-I’ve… d-discovered something… n-new… C-Curses… c-can affect… d-dungeons…”
Jill and Yerina were speechless, their minds blank with shock. All they felt was the lingering residue of pure madness.
Yulia looked at them expectantly, like a puppy eager for praise, then realized their expressions weren’t exactly positive and averted her gaze.
“It’s certainly a surprising discovery, Lady Petenburg, but could you explain how this is relevant to us?”
“S-Sorry… I-I got… c-carried away… and s-skipped the… i-introduction…”
Yerina wanted to leave. What kind of introduction could possibly lead to the conclusion that one could curse a dungeon?
This woman was clearly obsessed with new discoveries. Yerina decided to look for an excuse to escape.
‘Crazy bitch. I’ll humor her for a bit, then find a way out.’
Jill felt the same way.
“Th-The reason… I-I’m sharing… th-this with… y-you… is… b-because… w-we share… the s-same… s-secret… and… g-goal…”
“What are you talking about? You’re not talking about investments, are you? Just because Palana has a stake in the Petenburg Foundation doesn’t mean we’ll participate in your crazy dungeon-cursing scheme. This is quite unpleasant. Let’s just forget this ever happened.”
Yerina, completely bewildered, snapped at Yulia. But Jill seemed to have grasped something and remained silent.
Jill and Yulia exchanged glances, ignoring Yerina’s grumbling, and reached the same conclusion simultaneously.
‘As expected. The Saintess also remembers previous loops.’
‘She’s a regressor, too.’
The details were slightly different, but they were both certain that they remembered previous loops.
Jill had known about Yulia’s existence, and her relationship with Yoo-jin. She had been jealous and confronted him about it, ruining their relationship.
Ever since regaining her memories, she had been plagued by a single question, was she the only one who regressed?
Until now, Yoo-jin had been the only one acting differently from the previous loop, so she had assumed they regressed together.
“So, I’m not alone.”
“Of c-course not. D-Did you… r-really think… y-you were… s-special…?”
Yulia smirked.
Jill gritted her teeth, thinking,
‘You homewrecker…’
This meddling woman was a regressor too? This complicated things. She glared at Yulia, wondering what Yoo-jin saw in this mousy, stammering woman, her gaze lingering on Yulia’s chest.
She almost understood, then her thoughts shifted.
“What are you two talking about?”
Jill and Yulia turned to Yerina, who was still lost. Yulia had said they shared the same secret and goal.
If Yulia was a regressor, then this blue-haired woman…?
Jill’s eyes widened as realization dawned on her.
“Don’t tell me, Frost Duchess, you’re a regressor too?!”
“What are you talking about? Regressor?”
“Are you from the future?”
“H-How… did you… know…?”
Yerina’s composure cracked, her eyes darting around nervously. She hadn’t told anyone about her regression. Only a few close aides knew she could see the future.
She hadn’t expected this information to leak, and the fact that both the Saintess and Yulia knew about it was doubly shocking.
“Y-You… m-must have… b-been with… Y-Yoo-jin… too…”
“How do you know Yoo-jin, Lady Petenburg? No, wait. How do you both…?”
“Because we’re the same as you.”
Yerina couldn’t accept it.
This was too much, a series of unbelievable revelations. It felt like a bad dream. If they were telling the truth, they, too, had regressed from a future where they were romantically involved with Yoo-jin.
But that was impossible.
Yoo-jin only loved her. He was famously devoted to her. In Palana, some criticized his social standing, claiming he wasn’t worthy of the Frost Duchess, but no one questioned his character or sincerity.
They were a perfect match, a true love story.
Even those who disapproved of their relationship, a commoner and a ruler, acknowledged their genuine affection. And then, on the day of their engagement, she had regressed. And in this new past, he hadn’t come to her.
She knew that something had changed in him, but what did these women have to do with it?
They had no connection to Yoo-jin… or did they? She couldn’t understand it.
“Hah! So, we’re all regressors… and Yoo-jin… what? Say that again.”
“W-We… all… l-loved… Y-Yoo-jin… and… p-promised… a f-future… t-together…”
“I hate to admit it, but I agree with Lady Petenburg. Haa… I suspected something with Petenburg, but I didn’t think he would have seduced the Frost Duchess too…”
Yerina glared at them, but Yulia and Jill remained unfazed. They confirmed her worst fear. Her world crumbled, her reality shattered.
Memories of Yoo-jin’s past actions, which she had dismissed, now flashed through her mind.
She remembered everything. The time he stayed an extra day in Hameln, claiming his business discussions were running late.
The time he suddenly visited Petenburg due to a copyright dispute.
The time he traveled back and forth between Hameln and Petenburg, claiming he had more matters to discuss.
She had suspected both of them, but her spies and informants hadn’t found any concrete evidence. And now, here they were, confessing their affairs with Yoo-jin.
Affairs.
That’s what it was in Yerina’s mind.
“Y-You… homewreckers…!”
“Haa… I heard the Frost Duchess suffered from severe paranoia. It seems the rumors were true.”
“What?! Saintess, did you just call me paranoid?!”
“Did you expect me to be polite after you called us homewreckers? You’re quite amusing.”
“Jill Diner…!”
Jill dropped her saintly facade and sneered.
Yerina was speechless, stunned by the series of shocking revelations. Her soulmate, Yoo-jin, had been two-timing her? And the Saintess, who had seemed so angelic, was now speaking so vulgarly?
She wished she could wake up from this nightmare.
“Proof! Show me proof! You’re trying to trick me! Yoo-jin only loves me! I won’t believe any of this until you show me concrete evidence!”
“Haa… so that’s how it is. Your delusional reality is crumbling, and you’re in denial. Then let me give you a dose of reality. Listen carefully…”
Jill, feeling a bit sorry for Yerina, who was still clinging to her delusions, decided to help her face the truth.
Jill and Yulia began to present their evidence.
Proof of their regressions, information only someone from the future would know, classified secrets traded for fortunes in the shadows, now being shared casually among them, like worthless pebbles.
Then came the proof of their relationships with Yoo-jin.
His personality, his speech patterns, his physical habits, like how he liked to cup the back of her head while kissing or twirl her hair around his finger… The overwhelming consistency of their accounts made Yerina dizzy.
Her world collapsed, her reality shattered.
“Aaaaaah… no… no… please don’t do this to me… tell me it’s not true…”
“Did we go too far?”
“W-We… w-went… t-too… f-fast…”
“But there are some inconsistencies. The Yoo-jin I know is slightly different from the Yoo-jin you know…”
“I-I… n-noticed that… t-too…”
“Let’s compare our experiences in more detail, just to be sure.”
Ignoring Yerina, who was sobbing uncontrollably, Jill and Yulia began to compare their memories of the future. And they discovered that, aside from Yoo-jin’s existence, their futures were completely different.
“This is unbelievable… I lead the Holy Knights and invade Petenburg? That’s impossible…”
“N-Nothing… m-matches… E-Earlier this year… Y-Yoo-jin was… w-with me… but… a-according to… y-you… he was… y-your… g-guard… for… a-at least… a m-month…”
“Hmph. In my future, Yoo-jin spent more than half the year with me. So, the futures you saw are fake. Delusions.”
Yerina added, sniffling.
Jill and Yulia reached another conclusion. They weren’t from the same future.
“There… were multiple regressions…”
“Y-Yes… I-It seems… w-we didn’t… r-regress… Y-Yoo-jin did… w-we just… r-remembered… p-previous loops…”
Jill closed her eyes.
She had believed she was the one who regressed, but she was just one of the many ‘Jills’ from Yoo-jin’s countless loops. The realization was a shock. She wanted to curl up and cry like Yerina.
‘Which loop was I…? No, how many times has he regressed…?’
She felt a pang of sadness, followed by a surge of worry. If it had been a single regression, she might have been angry.
But at least three times… perhaps ten, twenty, or even hundreds of times… He had regressed enough times for his personality and habits to change significantly.
What was he fighting for, enduring such pain?
And how… how could he face them, his lovers from previous loops, as if they were strangers, their memories erased?
The thought made her want to cry. She couldn’t understand his pain. It was inhuman. Her heart ached for him, and the thought that he had endured this pain countless times made it ache even more.
“S-So… w-we’ve… c-confirmed… that… w-we share… the s-same… s-secret… and… g-goal… r-right…?”
“Haa… I understand the secret, Witch. But the goal? How can our goals be the same?”
“O-Our goal… is… Y-Yoo-jin’s… h-happiness… i-isn’t it…?”
Yerina was speechless. Yoo-jin’s happiness. Those words struck a chord. She had been pursuing him, not for his sake, but for her own.
She had rationalized it, telling herself that he loved her and would be happy by her side, but it was time to face reality. It had been a selfish act, a one-sided love.
Yerina slumped in her chair, defeated.
“A-As you… a-all know… Y-Yoo-jin is… r-raiding dungeons… f-fighting against… s-something from… a-another world… b-but dungeons… are… d-dangerous… H-He almost… d-died… o-once… s-so… I-I’m telling… y-you… h-how to… w-weaken… d-dungeons… with… c-curses… W-We can… h-help him…”
“Why are you telling us this, Lady Petenburg? You knew we were all involved with Yoo-jin, and you knew how to help him… Wouldn’t it be more logical to help him yourself and earn his favor? This seems suspicious.”
“I agree with the Saintess. What’s your angle? Why are you doing us a favor-?”
“Hey…!”
Yulia slammed her hand on the table, interrupting them. It was the loudest sound she had made so far.
Jill and Yerina stared at her.
“I-I t-told you…! T-To help… Y-Yoo-jin! I-I know…! I-If I k-kept it… t-to myself… I c-could have… h-him all… t-to myself…! B-But… the m-more magic… and demonic energy… w-we use… the s-safer… he’ll be…! That’s why… I-I called you…! I’m sharing this… e-even though… it’s a disadvantage… f-for me… b-because… I w-want him… t-to be… h-happy…! And you’re… b-both so… s-selfish…! H-How can you… b-be so… i-inconsiderate…!”
“….”
“….”
Jill and Yerina felt their anger dissipate, replaced by shame. They felt small and insignificant.
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