Chapter 255
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 255
“Tulia! Tulia...!”
Benjamin rolled toward me like a small ball and pulled me into an embrace. Every time he spoke, tears fell in droplets, wetting my cheeks.
“...Benjamin.”
Seeing him like that, my mouth opened of its own accord.
“I gave them my blood like this... so those bastards won't hit you anymore... It’ll be okay. It’ll really be okay, Benjamin...”
The words came out without passing through my head. The Benjamin before my eyes was so young, and the traces of abuse on him were so severe.
My brain must have instinctively decided that this was the best way to soothe a child.
That’s why I’m saying things like this...
Benjamin held me in his arms, weeping incessantly. At the same time, the prison fell into a state of chaos.
“The—the successor attempted suicide!”
“Dammit! The Saintess hasn't even arrived yet, so why so suddenly?!”
“We mustn't let her take her own life unless it's by the Saintess's hand! It will delay the timing of the power transfer!”
“Bring the Saintess here at once!”
Even while I was in pain from the blood loss, I couldn't understand the priests' frantic reaction.
If it’s the Saintess, they mean Corico.
Only Corico is allowed to kill me?
Otherwise, their damn, pathetic ritual will be disrupted?
But in <The Milk Bread>, I was killed by the male leads far more often...
There were almost no cases where the female protagonist, Corico, personally killed the villainess, Tulia.
This was because Corico’s character setting was that of a ‘sunshine-smile character’—someone who smiled brightly without ever yielding to any trial or hardship.
Meanwhile, Benjamin, who was still holding me, continued to shed tears that rolled down his gaunt cheeks.
“Tulia, Tulia...”
“Benjamin.”
Because those wicked bastards coveted my noble lineage, they kidnapped even you, young and innocent, to be a sacrifice.
...I wanted to say that, but it was too long to force out of my mouth. It was the aftermath of the impact from slamming my head hard against the iron bars.
So, I spoke with all those meanings condensed into one.
“I’m sorry...”
“No! No...! Don’t apologize to me. I would have died if it weren't for you...”
Benjamin wept, trembling uncontrollably.
“Don’t die... Don’t die...”
I’ll come back to life anyway... I’ll come back and find you...
Will I be able to meet you?
I was barely blinking, trying to hold onto my consciousness which was fading due to the rapid blood loss.
Screeeak.
“The Saintess! The Saintess has arrived!”
“Saintess!”
I shifted my gaze and laughed inwardly.
It was Corico.
Yeah. That face is better. Every time I saw Corico wearing Han Ina’s face, I felt annoyed and creeped out at the same time.
Corico with her own skin and those red lips was much better, even if her face was covered in hideous lacerations.
“Saintess. This way. The successor attempted suicide on her own, and her life is currently in critical danger. So... Gack!”
As Corico swung her hand, a priest collapsed onto the floor, vomiting blood and twitching. Corico laughed as she licked the priest’s blood off her face with her tongue.
“To think you couldn't even manage a single child whose power is sealed... how can you be so useless?”
Corico’s voice was like a string instrument playing alone on a late winter night. It was sweet enough to melt one's ears, yet somehow sent a chill down the spine.
The priest who had collapsed on the floor barely managed to push himself up and beg.
“Spare—spare me... Saintess...”
“Of course.”
The priest’s face, which had been stained with pain, momentarily brightened with hope.
Corico lifted the chin of the blood-vomiting priest with her slender fingers.
“You shall live forever inside my body.”
“Sa—Saintess! Saint... Kaaack!”
At that moment, Corico’s mouth tore open wide like an ogre’s, and she bit off and swallowed the priest’s head whole.
It happened in an instant. The monster-like appearance vanished, and Corico returned to her original, pretty self.
However, the blood splattered on her face remained...
“...”
I blankly replayed the inhuman sight of Corico I had just witnessed.
She really was a monster.
Corico entered the cell. Since I was inside the past, unlike Benjamin and me who were in our childhood forms, Corico appeared as an adult, just like her game illustration.
She crouched down in front of me, my vision blurring.
“Why the sudden change of heart, Successor? You used to cherish your life so much. Because the power of the destroyed race and the withered Divine Tree resided within you, you never self-harmed or attempted suicide.”
Her eyes held a cunning light like a snake’s. No, Corico was enjoying this.
“You endured even as the boys around you died off. You survived without dying. It was quite a sight to see you gritting your teeth to survive until I could kill you...”
“...”
“Or is it that resentment has piled up in your heart even if you can't remember? Is it that the countless pasts where those boys grew up to kill you remain deep within your soul?”
Corico laughed and pulled a ‘star’ from her robe.
It had a shoddy visual, looking like something just picked out of a trash can, but since I already knew Corico herself was a clone of me, the successor, I recognized it immediately.
They were already cloning Kim Ddong-byul as well.
They probably found out somehow during my infinite regressions—the existence of Kim Ddong-byul, in whom the ancient magic of the Hania tribe and the soul of the Divine Tree Becrux were combined.
That’s why they must have started cloning that as well.
The visual of that Fake Ddong-byul is seriously trash.
Whether I was sneering internally or not, Corico rolled the Fake Ddong-byul over the pool of my blood on the floor.
The Fake Ddong-byul, now smeared with bloodstains, tore through the protective barrier surrounding Benjamin with ease.
“Come here, descendant of the Great Mage.”
Corico placed the Fake Ddong-byul on top of the terrified Benjamin’s golden hair and pressed down lightly.
It was a sight that reminded me of...
The star marks that had appeared on the crowns of the fanatics' heads. I watched Benjamin while gritting my teeth, and then my eyes widened.
“...?!”
It was because his golden eyes had turned pitch black.
He wasn't dead, nor had he fainted. It was just that his brilliant golden eyes had turned black.
Bursting into a joyful laugh, Corico embraced Benjamin from behind.
At the same time, she moved his small hands herself to strangle my neck.
“...!”
It happened in a flash. Strangled, I struggled. Corico spoke with an expression of pure ecstasy.
“I hope my power accumulates quickly so I can kill you with these hands myself, Tulia Frezier.”
“Saintess. If that happens, the burden on your body will be significant.”
A priest standing nearby spoke cautiously.
“I know. But I have to kill her using the hands of sacrifices every time. I want to kill Tulia Frezier directly at least once or twice, even if I have to bear the burden.”
“But Saintess...”
A mad light of rage flickered in Corico’s eyes.
“If the power protecting that thing wasn't so strong, I wouldn't have had to spend all this time scratching my face, drinking blood, and wearing bandages. You have no idea how much I loathe that thing.”
“...”
The grip of Benjamin’s hands—no, Corico’s hands covering his small ones—tightened around my neck.
Corico whispered to Benjamin.
“Good boy, descendant of the Great Mage. Since you’ve worked so hard, I shall grant you a painless death as a special reward.”
Watching me gasp and choke, Corico wore an expression of delight.
“You didn't think you'd die like this, did you? You two little things were locked in a cell and relied on each other so much, but in the end, you die like this. Of course, you’ll forget again once you die.”
“...”
“What does it matter if you're the successor? You’re destined to die like this, receiving pity, while you repeat your infinite regressions.”
Suddenly, a single trail of tears rolled down from Benjamin’s blackened eyes.
“...”
It was a moisture that only I, who was being strangled by him, could see.
At that moment.
“Aaaaagh!”
Corico’s horrific scream filled the prison cell.
I gasped as I saw Corico’s hands and parts of her body that had been embracing Benjamin charred black.
“Saintess!”
“The Saintess has been attacked!”
Even as the priests were thrown into confusion.
Benjamin struggled to tear away that wretched Fake Ddong-byul that was stuck—no, fused—to the crown of his head.
In the process, Benjamin’s small hands were also burning black, but he didn't hesitate for a second.
Benjamin, whose hands and body had turned to ash as much as Corico’s, trampled the Fake Ddong-byul under his foot.
“Agh! Aaaaagh!”
Corico rolled her eyes back and screamed like a dying beast. An ominous black mist began to drift from her body.
Whether the priests were still living humans or not, they instinctively avoided that mist.
“Retrieve the sacred relic!”
“We must offer it to the Saintess!”
The priests, finally coming to their senses, tried to rush over, but ironically, the black mist rising from Corico’s body acted as a barrier between us and them.
But that wouldn't last long.
“Tuli... a...”
Benjamin, crawling toward me like a wounded animal, murmured my name.
His eyes were still a focusless black, but I didn't feel that Benjamin was dangerous. I didn't feel that way in the slightest.
I simply pulled Benjamin into a tight embrace.
A youthful voice flowed out, drenched in tears.
“I’m sorry...”
[System] Benjamin Fluers has achieved A-Rank in the Main Quest!
[System] As a special reward for achieving A-Rank in the Main Quest, Benjamin Fluers’s wish will be granted!
I parted my lips blankly.
[System] Benjamin Fluers’s Wish
[System] That he will receive all the pity meant for you in your stead, forever.
“...!”
[System] Special Reward 3, Benjamin Fluers’s wish is being executed!
At that moment, my soul drifted upward.