Chapter 253
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 253
In an instant, scenes that were all too familiar flashed before my eyes.
They were scenes of Tulia from The Milk Bread dying at every turn.
Poisoned, frozen to death, drowned, strangled, stabbed, choked, pushed off a cliff, her head gruesomely severed by a guillotine….
[Divine Tree] Tulia Frezier was only able to return to her original world after passing through every predetermined death.
‘…No. So all of those were actually my deaths?’
I had personally experienced every single one of those agonizing moments?
It was bewildering enough to see a list of deaths I didn't remember, but the realization that I had "played" through them as a game made my skin crawl.
Right now, as Tulia, I could smell, touch, and feel everything so vividly.
To think I had experienced every one of those blood-soaked scenes….
[Divine Tree] You did not experience them.
‘…?’
I flinched at the words blooming from the branches.
‘What? Did it just answer me? Right now?’
[Divine Tree] Like the fairy tale where a fairy, pitying a young princess cursed to die by a witch, turned the curse of death into a hundred-year sleep….
[Divine Tree] There is a being who, though unable to completely erase the curse placed upon you, neutralized it by wagering their very soul.
Almost simultaneously.
“Successor! Successor!”
I saw the Hania tribe fighting creatures, desperately trying to reach the young Tulia.
Then.
“…?!”
The Hania warriors faltered. I did the same.
From the Divine Tree, Becrux, a massive flower bloomed in the blink of an eye, and from within it stepped a figure so familiar it brought tears to my eyes.
The only thing she had in common with me was that her entire form was translucent, as if she were a soul….
And that her pink hair was as fresh as flower petals.
‘…Mom?’
Because I was also in a soul state, I knew.
Mom had already left her physical body. In other words, after she was taken away back then, she had died at the hands of the fanatics….
“Lady Lailan…?”
“How…! How!”
Unlike my soul, Mom’s soul seemed visible to the Hania tribe.
They were already wailing and calling out her name, but Mom didn't spare them a single glance. She was simply walking toward the madwoman.
Step, step.
Step, step.
Mom’s stride was perfectly rhythmic. There wasn't the slightest deviation. Like a robot programmed with a specific command….
‘No. It’s more like… she looks possessed by some kind of grim determination….’
“Lady Lailan! You mustn't!”
“It’s dangerous! Lady Lailan!”
The moment Mom stopped in front of the madwoman.
Slap!
“…?!”
The Hania tribe, who had been frantically hacking away at the creatures, froze in unison. I did as well.
It was because Mom, after slapping the woman’s cheek, had grabbed her by the hair.
For a moment, I wondered how Mom could exert physical force on the woman when she was clearly a soul, but then….
‘…!’
I saw the branches of Becrux blooming in a circle along Mom’s arms and hands!
‘Ah! Mom must be hitting her with the power of the Divine Tree!’
Mom’s hands, where the Divine Tree had sprouted, were as beautiful as roses blooming along a white fence in a spring garden.
She looked fresh and holy, as if she had gathered all the scents of spring flowers.
Whack!
Mom thrashed Corico.
“…?!”
The Hania tribe’s shock mirrored my own.
The pink-haired woman—no, now that I could see her features, I could describe her more accurately.
The pink-haired Corico glared up and cackled.
“Hehehe! Hehehe! Hehehe…! A dead thing clinging to life and struggling! Get lost to the afterlife this inst—”
Slap!
Corico’s face whipped to the side.
Slap!
Slap!
Whack!
Mom, who had slapped Corico’s cheeks repeatedly, spoke expressionlessly with her translucent face.
“Where did this crazy bitch come from to torment my daughter?”
“…”
“…”
Mom, still holding Corico by the hair, slammed her onto the ground.
Thud!
Then she began to kick Corico mercilessly. Corico couldn't even get up. Every time she tried, Mom would immediately kick her in the shins, sending her back down.
Eventually, Corico began to roll on the ground, screaming.
“Aaaah! You vicious soul! Hehehe! Get away! Argh! You’re dead! You can never come back to life! Ack! Aaaaaah!”
Thud! Crack! Thud thud thud!
My jaw dropped.
Suddenly, I remembered the thought I’d had when I first woke up in Tulia’s body, trembling with fear.
‘Grand Duke Frezier rips people apart with his bare hands….’
It seemed the subject of that sentence had changed.
‘Mom rips crazy women apart with her bare hands….’
Mom shouted as she relentlessly slapped Corico’s cheeks.
“How dare a filthy creation like you touch my daughter! Get lost! Go back to your own world! Animus? Animus my foot! The Divine Tree is eternal until the end of the world! No one can torment my daughter, so take your damn things and get out!”
“Ack! Argh! Aaaaaah!”
Corico wasn't in a soul state like Mom or me. Because she had a physical body, her nose was bleeding profusely, and her face was becoming a mess in real-time.
Corico, her face full of venom, tried to move her hair tentacles toward Mom, but it was useless.
“Ha! You’re going to attack me? Try it! This is beneath the Divine Tree! I was born with the blood of the Divine Tree in my veins!”
Even though she had performed the ceremony to renounce her rights, it seemed the protection of the Divine Tree was still valid.
“Argh! Aaaaaaaah!”
When Corico realized she couldn't land a single blow on Mom, she screamed in frustration.
Finally, only when Corico was in such a state that she could barely open her mouth did Mom dust off her hands and step back.
“What a shame. If I weren't in this state, I would have just killed you and been done with it. Consider yourself lucky, you filthy thing.”
“…”
The bloodied Corico, sprawled on the ground, trembled. She knew Mom’s words weren't a bluff, but the truth.
‘So even she can feel fear.’
Mom shifted her gaze to the Hania tribe. Most of the creatures were dead, but the Hania tribe seemed to have suffered devastating losses as well.
A momentary flash of sorrow crossed Mom’s eyes.
I murmured inwardly.
‘Can’t the Hania tribe be saved?’
[Divine Tree] The Hania tribe will perish.
A message appeared as if answering my question.
‘Why?’
[Divine Tree] Because they have already wagered their lives on you.
‘On me?’
But… the young Tulia looked like she had no hope of waking up.
And I could see that Mom’s spiritual energy was almost exhausted.
Mom had tried to pick up my small, sleeping body but failed, so she simply crouched down and gently stroked my cheek.
“My love, my treasure. Mom is sorry.”
[Divine Tree] The fanatics believe the Hania tribe is shedding blood in vain, but the reality is different.
[Divine Tree] The Hania tribe has already activated an ancient magic at the cost of their lives.
‘Ancient magic?’
[Divine Tree] The Hania tribe are beings originally born from the Divine Tree. Their souls will return to the Divine Tree to bloom as one giant flower….
[Divine Tree] And they will return to the stars to be eternal along with this Beta Crucis, the Divine Tree of the Stars.
As those words appeared, the last Hania warrior to slay a creature coughed up blood and collapsed.
The space, where both creatures and Hania had all drawn their last breaths, was as quiet and desolate as the deep woods.
Fireflies began to rise from among the corpses stained with grass. No, they were small, glowing souls that looked like fireflies, drifting leisurely toward the Divine Tree.
They looked like small birds returning to their home. No resentment or suffering could be felt from them. They felt like spirits returning to where they originally belonged.
‘….’
And before long….
The spirit-like souls settled on the branches of the Divine Tree, and the beings that bloomed like flowers were none other than….
‘What is that?’
‘It’s Kim Ddong-byul!’
The emotional moment shattered instantly.
[Divine Tree] With this, the souls of the Hania tribe and the soul of Beta Crucis shall become one star and protect the Guardian for eternity.
‘When did you ever protect me?’
[Divine Tree] And they shall bestow many powers upon you.
‘Bestow, my foot. I barely earned them while being tormented by all sorts of quests.’
When I grumbled, the Divine Tree didn't display any messages for a moment.
[Divine Tree] …
‘What.’
[Divine Tree] …
‘Hmph.’
I knew it. It really was talking to me.
The Divine Tree remained silent for a while before finally displaying a message again, following its—or rather, its trunk’s—rule of "keeping business and personal matters separate."
Corico was already melting away into a mushy state.
‘She’ll still survive, though.’
This was the past, and in the reality I knew, Corico was alive and well.
Killing me over and over again, slowly stealing the power of the Successor of the Divine Tree that Tulia had inherited….
[Divine Tree] Because of Lailan’s soul, your countless destined deaths will not be painful.
[Divine Tree] You will simply be as lonely as you are destined to be.
I thought back to my life as Han Ina.
I couldn't forget the life where I had been an outsider since childhood.
Even when I eventually resigned myself to it, I always felt lonely, as if I were outside the reach of any warmth. It seemed there had been a reason for it all.
[Divine Tree] However, the souls of the Hania tribe
[Divine Tree] Will be with you under the name of Han Ina
[D i v i n e T r e e] And you will win in the end.
[Imm stel ortalis la] You will win.
‘…!’
[System] You must win.
Almost at the same time, Mom flew toward me and pulled me—my soul—into an embrace.
‘…Mom?’
How was a hug possible? Could Mom see me?
“I can see you.”
‘…!’
“We’re both souls, aren't we, sweetheart?”
‘….’
Tears were already welling in Mom’s eyes. Could one feel warmth even as a soul?
Just as my nose began to tingle.
“Tulia. And Ina.”
My heart felt like it stopped for a moment.
I stared up at Mom blankly.
That name, which had been distorted into the name of some ridiculous relic.
Han Ina.
Since I had become Tulia, no one knew of that life. I didn't want to tell anyone, either. Because I didn't want to be pitied.
I thought it was a life and a name that no one would ever feel sorry for.
But only Mom….
[Divine Tree] You will simply be as lonely as you are destined to be.
Only then did I realize. Beneath the Divine Tree, as the Successor, I had become able to realize so many things on my own.
That lonely life as Han Ina had also been a part of the destined trials.
That was all it had been.
“Mom is sorry she couldn't protect you until the end.”
‘….’
“My poor daughter.”
‘Mom….’
There had always been a hard, stuck feeling somewhere in my heart. The crack in that space, which I had habitually ignored like an old scar, broke in an instant. The deep-rooted pain scattered into fragments.
Were those tiny pieces actually ice? They melted completely and flowed down from my eyes.
‘I missed you, Mom.’
“Mom missed you too.”
‘I really missed you….’
“Tulia.”
Mom, as translucent as I was, pressed her forehead against mine.
“You will surely win.”
At that moment, my vision shifted.