Chapter 40
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 40: Alice's Nightmare (5)
A memory of someday.
A basement where not even a handful of light could enter.
Alice was leaning against the hard iron bars, crying silently.
“*Sniff*, *heuk*...”
Covered in wounds.
Chicken-poop-like tears flowed down her haggard cheeks.
Even while crying, Alice didn't know why she was crying.
“*Eut*, *heueuk*...”
A day no different from usual.
But why were her emotions so messed up today?
“Alice.”
While she was sobbing with her mouth covered, she suddenly heard a presence behind her back.
At the same time, an affectionate touch stroking Alice's head.
When she raised her head, a girl who looked exactly like her was standing there.
“U-Unnie...”
Alice mumbled her lips as if caught.
Regardless, her sister crouched in front of her.
Gently reached out her hand.
Wiped the face that was a mess from tears.
Over her white sleeves, dark water stains appeared *kok kok*.
“Your pretty face is all ruined.”
A playful remark.
The girl didn't ask Alice anything.
Why she was crying.
Why she was making a sad expression.
Why she had been harming herself.
“Alice.”
Because there was no need to ask.
Her sister's appearance wasn't much different from her younger sibling's.
A body covered in wounds, a clean white coat, surgical scars left on her arm...
Battered.
The sisters were the same.
However, if there was one unique difference...
“You endured well today too. You're admirable. My little sister.”
“U-Unnie... It stings if you rub my cheek like that...”
“Ah, sorry. It's where you're hurt. Are you okay? Does it hurt a lot?”
“Mm-mm... I-I'm fine.”
Her sister didn't cry.
Alice had never seen her cry even once.
Instead of crying or anything like that, she always just smiled cheerfully.
“Thank goodness! The wound isn't deep.”
A basement without a single light.
Cold iron bars.
Even in such a scene, her sister's smile alone was sparkling.
Thus, Alice often relied on her sister like that.
“*Sniff*, Unnie...”
“Oops~ Our baby Alice! Don't you like your Unnie too much?”
Timidly opened arms, her sister noticing and hugging her tightly.
Whenever she was held in that embrace, she could forget hell, even if just for a moment.
A spoiled child.
Maybe so.
Because she was at that age in the first place.
It was a time for a girl to throw tantrums and act spoiled in full swing.
“Unnie, Unnie...”
“There, there. Good girl, my little sister. My Alice.”
If she thought about it after it passed, her sister probably couldn't be a spoiled child to anyone.
Because she became the one accepting the spoiled child from early on.
Alice was always a burden to her sister.
“I'm scared...”
She was scared.
She didn't want to be in pain.
She wanted to escape this place.
But, Alice was just endlessly powerless in front of the iron bars.
The girl had no power at all, and couldn't do anything.
“*Eut*, *heukkeuk*...”
“It's okay, everything will be okay.”
Perhaps that was why Alice had so many tears.
Because at least for tears, she received no penalty.
Because crying was the only thing she could do freely.
“Now, deep breath. Take a deep breath following Unnie.”
“*Heueuk*, *heueu*...”
Repeating being broken, trampled, and despairing every day.
It was a harsh life for young girls to endure.
Thus, such a thought also crossed her mind.
Why did everything turn out like this?
Why do only I, only we, have to live like this?
The more life thickened, the messier it became, and the more she struggled, the more she sank.
“Unnie...”
Does all this have any meaning?
If life is about becoming a mess and sinking, is there any reason to stubbornly keep living?
Alice trembled.
“Alice.”
Her sister holding her hand whenever that happened.
A temperature that wasn't cold.
“It's okay... it will definitely get better.”
Even if it's painful now, she said it would bloom someday.
The hand that gave her courage so many times.
The hand that made her survive so many times.
The hand that promised a better later, even if sad and painful.
If it wasn't for that hand, Alice might have died a long time ago.
“......Really?”
“Of course. Have you ever seen Unnie lie?”
“How? In what way...?”
“Mmm... for example? A prince on a white horse coming to save you...”
“......”
“You might meet someone who will save you someday, right? As you live.”
“Unnie always says only things like that. That it will get better someday, that we have to believe it will be like that...”
“Is that so? Still, we have to do that to live.”
Her sister smiling radiantly.
Before she knew it, Alice had stopped crying too.
“You always believe like that, that tomorrow will be better.”
“......”
Belief.
Her sister exceptionally liked that word.
What makes a person live.
What makes a person human.
“But...”
For Alice, it was a word she couldn't understand.
Just belief.
Could something be changed just by that?
An extension of thought, a corner of optimism, or perhaps a sense of debt.
Could the world, and a person, be changed by just such a thing?
“Well? Who knows.”
“......”
“Just. You just believe.”
Because only then does she get the strength to endure today.
Her sister added with a bright smile.
A girl who looked exactly like Alice.
However, a girl who was different in many ways.
“So...”
Believe.
“You will definitely be able to become happy.”
A tightly held hand.
Alice couldn't shake it off.
She just nodded her head a few times without even knowing the meaning.
“As expected of my little sister! You listen so well.”
“Uuum... Unnie, my cheek hurts...”
Someday.
Saying that light would also shine on that cursed life.
***
Consciousness that had receded for a moment.
Did her life flash before her eyes?
Old times she spent with her sister passed through Alice's mind.
“......”
When she raised her head, armor filled her vision.
A bright red knight stood above her head.
A height that would be at least 10 meters.
Tentacles swarming beyond the helmet were looking down at the girl.
“Ah...”
A short sigh.
She couldn't even dare to move a single finger.
It was because a menacing pressure was pressing down on her body.
<.Aah, poor young children...>
At that moment, the disaster moved.
A sword raised as if touching the ceiling.
Dark red condensed energy distorted her vision.
‘I'm going to die.’
She took a step belatedly, but her body wouldn't follow.
It was impossible to escape at this distance.
*Swaaa-aek—!*
A slash that would soon fall on her head.
Alice squeezed her eyes shut.
However, that attack never reached the girl.
“Miss Alice!”
Someone who hurriedly rushed forward.
A platinum-blonde spear swung, scattering starlight in all directions.
‘Kihano Style Spearmanship Secret Art’
-Night Sky-
A brilliant flash.
The deployed form collided head-on with the Red Knight's strike.
*Kwaaaaang—!*
A rupturing sound that seemed to turn the heavens and earth upside down.
Golden and black hair fluttered in the rushing headwind.
Following that, someone snatched the frozen Alice and ran.
“We have to run!”
“P-Princess Kihano...?!”
It was Lanne.
Alice only then came to her senses and started running through the forest.
A scene where only the corpses of mutants and rotting bushes were scattered everywhere.
It was a scene where the word hell was more fitting than a forest.
“Miss Alice! Are you hurt anywhere?”
“I-I'm fine! More than that, Princess, you w-were helping me and...”
Lanne running ahead.
Her appearance was a mess.
A right arm that had become like a rag, a deeply torn forehead bleeding, breathing that was strangely rough, and even cold sweat pouring down like rain as if something was wrong...
Even at a glance, it wasn't normal.
“Haa, haa...”
It would have been fine if she had avoided it alone, but it was because she stepped forward to protect Alice.
Because she took such a monstrous thing head-on.
It was a wonder she didn't die.
Should I say it's as expected of the Class A runner-up?
“*Cough*...!”
However.
It was exactly that much.
<.A God without a kingdom's people.>
It was the limit.
Lanne had no way left to resist.
If her body had been intact, she might have been able to hold out by hitting and running, but...
<.Arise in front of the King.>
<.That person will bestow death upon all living things.>
A state that was already shattered.
There was nothing she could do with a battered body.
Just earning a few more seconds to live while being chased side by side like this.
Her legs staggered.
“*Kkeu-euk*, phew...”
“Princess! What to do, the b-blood isn't stopping...!”
A pale Alice hurriedly supported Lanne.
The speed of the two naturally slowed down.
Behind their backs, the Red Knight was chasing them.
*Kung, kung, kung, kung—!*
Footsteps that heavily filled the ears.
The ground shook as if an earthquake had occurred.
The guy was walking leisurely, as if he didn't feel any particular reason to rush.
However, because his stride was wide, it seemed they would be caught up quickly even after a few steps.
“......”
It was time to make a decision.
Lanne, who had been slumping, suddenly opened her eyes wide.
As if this couldn't go on, she shook off Alice's support.
*Pa-ak—.*
“P-Princess...?”
Alice stopping blankly.
Lanne, gripping her spear, looked back at the path they had come.
“Haa, haa... go ahead first. I will buy time, even if it's brief.”
“Y-yes?! What are you talking about! There's no way we can win against something like that...!”
“If we keep going like this, we'll both just get caught. It's more rational for someone to stay behind here.”
“Your body is a mess too! Just because you stay, Princess, n-nothing will change!”
“Go.”
A stubborn Lanne.
She looked as if she was already prepared for death.
“This barrier... we're definitely not the only ones trapped. There must be other teams swept up in this as well. Join up with them. Then you should be able to hold out somehow until the professors arrive.”
“But, Princess, you'll...!”
“I am already a lost cause! Because there is no way for both of us to escape. In this situation, the judgment that the injured stays behind is correct. Besides, that is an opponent that even Sir Viktor was defeated by without being able to react! It's not an opponent we can do anything about at our level!”
A clear shout even though she was exhausted and injured.
Lanne took a deep breath and gripped her spear.
Faint starlight lingered around her.
“Go! It will be my utmost to hold out for just a few minutes too.”
“*Euk*, *eu-eut*...”
Alice felt like she was going to burst into tears.
‘That person, how can she...’
*Jeobeok jeobeok—*
Her gaze chased the back moving forward.
The girl chose sacrifice as if it were natural.
She raised the tip of her spear and revealed her presence with all her voice.
“Come, knight of wicked energy!”
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