Chapter 134: In the Next Life, Please
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 134: In the Next Life, Please
At the ancient ruins he had finally reached, Herdin found a clue to breaking the Second Constraint.
However, it was written not in the ancient language but in the demonic tongue of a long-extinct race, making it impossible to decipher immediately.
Still, to find a clue after wandering for over a year was nothing short of a miracle. He felt that if he could just decipher this, he could finally set everything right.
Having spent days without food, completely consumed by the task of deciphering the demonic language, Herdin decided to skip Asiel's birthday. He wanted to find the solution as quickly as possible so he could return to Blair and his child with a clear conscience. Birthdays would come again next year, and the year after that.
After all, they would be together forever.
Just then, news arrived from the villa.
“Your Grace, Madam…”
Ruth, who had rushed to deliver the message, choked on his words and hung his head, unable to finish.
At Ruth’s reaction, Herdin’s heart plummeted.
He was desperate to know, yet he didn’t want to ask. He didn’t want to hear it.
But Ruth, barely swallowing his tears, forced himself to speak.
“I am told that Madam… has passed away.”
* * *
On the frantic journey to the villa, Ruth explained that Blair had been killed in an attack by an intruder.
But the words didn't register. The very idea of her death was simply unbelievable.
The moment he arrived and stepped inside the villa, he felt it. Something was different. Even without any loud commotion, the mere presence of her and the child had always filled the space with a subtle warmth.
But today, there was only a heavy, crushing silence.
Dismissing it as his mind playing tricks on him, Herdin entered the room. But instead of Blair's soft voice whispering to the baby, he was met with the sound of wailing.
“Madam…”
It was Lina's voice, broken by sobs.
The moment he heard it, his heart began to pound.
Hesitating for a brief second, Herdin stepped into the bedroom where the sound originated. Instantly, a disheveled Lina lunged at him.
“Why are you here now? Why didn't you just wait until after the funeral to show your face?!”
“Lina!”
The other maids scrambled to hold her back.
Even as a mere maid screamed at him in an act of sheer insubordination, Herdin walked right past her as if she were invisible, his eyes fixed on the bed. Behind him, Lina’s voice rang out again.
“Madam… waited for you for so long…”
Sobbing as if coughing up blood, Lina collapsed. The other maids quickly ushered her out of the room.
Herdin left the commotion behind and approached the bed. There lay Blair, her eyes closed, her hands folded neatly over her stomach.
“My lady.”
Her face was peaceful, as if she were merely asleep. It made the reality of her death impossible to accept.
“…Blair.”
“…”
“I’m sorry I’m late. I tried to come back quickly…” Herdin continued in a calm voice, reaching out toward her face. “You said you had something to tell me. Tell me now. I’ll listen to anything, so…”
But when his hand touched her cheek, there was no warmth. No breath.
Most of all, she did not wake up to look at him.
I want to see your eyes.
I want to see my reflection in them.
As he traced her bloodless face, his fingertips began to tremble.
Pulling his hand away, Herdin kept his eyes fixed on her as he commanded Ruth, who stood behind him.
“Ruth. Go bring a cleric.”
“…Your Grace.”
“It’s not too late. If we treat her right away, we can save her.”
At Herdin's futile command, Ruth replied in a choked voice.
“Your Grace, Madam is already…”
Before Ruth could finish, Herdin drew his sword and pointed it at his throat. Unstable mana bled from him, shimmering menacingly in the air.
“Shut your mouth.”
Even as he threatened them with a drawn sword, his reason lost, no one showed any fear. They only wept. Theirs were not tears of fear, but of sorrow.
Herdin stared blankly at them amidst the weeping, then turned his gaze back to Blair.
The sound of their crying kept forcing him to face the reality he so desperately wanted to deny.
Are you truly dead?
No, that can't be. There's no way…
Watching Blair, who remained undisturbed by the noise, Herdin threw his sword aside and scooped her up into his arms. Startled, Mason called out in a panic.
“Your Grace!”
“Out of my way. I’m going to the temple.”
There were countless clerics at the temple. They were blessed with divine power. Even if one couldn't do it, surely dozens of them together could perform a miracle.
Holding Blair close, Herdin pushed past the servants, as if fleeing the suffocating grief that filled the room.
At that moment, Blair’s limp arm slipped from her body and dangled uselessly.
Herdin froze. Tears began to stream from his normally indifferent eyes, and he collapsed to his knees.
“…Blair.”
He pressed his face against her cheek.
Her skin was freezing. Even the hot tears falling onto her face could not warm her cold flesh.
“Blair, please open your eyes.”
“…”
“The sea you wanted to visit… I’ll take you there. Let’s go together.”
His fingertips trembled violently as he caressed her face.
“Don’t do this, please… Blair.”
His voice, desperately calling her name, began to crack.
As he pictured her eyes, Herdin realized the last time he had seen them was when she was secretly watching him and Miella. A choked, bitter laugh escaped his lips.
The choice he had believed was for her sake had ultimately become a massive dagger driven into her heart. One that could never be pulled out, a wound that could never heal.
If I had known it would end like this, I would have loved you more. I shouldn't have hurt you under the guise of protecting you.
I regret that these painful wounds are all I left you with…
“I’m sorry, Blair. I’m so sorry…”
He poured out the words she could no longer hear, as if spitting up blood.
The unbearable grief began to corrupt his mana. The violently fluctuating power surged, seizing control of its master’s mind.
Sensing the ominous flow, Ruth and Mason’s eyes widened in alarm.
“Your Grace!”
The moment they tried to approach, the erupting mana lashed out at everyone in the bedroom. The room, once filled with weeping, was instantly drowned in screams and groans.
In the midst of the chaos, Herdin, consumed by his rampaging mana, stood up with Blair’s body still in his arms.
A world without her held no meaning.
The one who killed you must be among the humans of this world… if I kill them all, I will have my revenge.
Consumed by his power and stripped of his reason, he began to perceive every living thing as an enemy to be eradicated, attacking indiscriminately.
The knights who rushed in at the commotion were slaughtered before they could even mount a defense against his unexpected onslaught.
Even as his subordinates' blood splattered before him, Herdin's gaze remained chillingly vacant. Yet, even in his madness, he held Blair's body protectively.
Having slaughtered every knight blocking his path, he broke through the next door. Inside was a cradle.
Just as he was about to approach it with those same vacant eyes, the door connecting to Blair’s room burst open, and Ruth rushed in to block his path.
“Your Grace, you mustn’t.”
“…”
“You are his father. Just as the Late Duke did, you cannot do this to the young master! Please…”
Ruth pleaded desperately, bleeding from the wounds he had just sustained, but Herdin unleashed his magic upon him without mercy.
The blood pooling at his feet flowed toward the cradle, forming a crimson puddle.
Inside, a baby, startled by the commotion, was crying.
“Ma-ma!”
Herdin, who was about to cast another spell with the same lifeless eyes, froze as his gaze met the child’s.
They were violet eyes, identical to Blair’s—the eyes he had yearned so desperately to see.
Looking into them, he remembered Blair introducing the baby to him once before.
‘Asiel, say hello to Daddy.’
As Herdin stared into the child's eyes, his own began to shake violently. A crack formed in his mana-consumed mind, and his consciousness momentarily returned.
No.
The hand he had stretched out toward Asiel dropped. Just as the focus in his eyes began to fade once more, Herdin bit down on his other hand, hard enough to crush bone.
The sharp pain suppressed the mana for a fleeting moment, but he knew he couldn't hold out for long. In the brief window he had, he had to find a way to protect Asiel from himself.
At that moment, a forgotten memory flashed through his mind.
Once, he had researched a forbidden magic that could turn back time. He had looked into it when his parents died, and again when Esmeralda died. But because he couldn't be sure of its success and feared the price, he had never dared to attempt it.
Now, however, he felt no fear at all.
Drawing upon his childhood memories, Herdin manifested the magic circle of time—a spell he had mentally rehearsed a thousand times over. He offered himself as the sacrifice.
The final element needed was the subject who would travel back.
Without a moment of hesitation, Herdin inscribed Blair’s name into the circle.
If I return with my memories intact, I won't be able to let you go. I won't be able to cast aside my feelings, and I will only end up losing you again.
So, Blair.
In the next life, please run away from me.
Soon, the completed magic circle began to tear his sacrificed body to shreds.
Amidst the agonizing pain, Herdin held Blair close, kissing her as he whispered:
“…I love you. I love you, Blair.”
Words he would never be able to tell her in the next life.
Soon, a pitch-black darkness fell.
And after what felt like an eternity…
Blair opened her eyes.
In the past, three years before her marriage to him.