Chapter 107. 1DAYS (2)
Chapter 107. 1DAYS (2)
Lady Silver Lily only reacted a little while later.
"What?"
"My lady, think about it. If it's you, you'll be able to think of exactly the same thing I thought of. Because you're a regressor just like me."
"......."
Lady Silver Lily narrowed her brow and rested her chin on her hand. She looked lost in thought. Before long, Lady Silver Lily's eyebrows rose as if she had realized something.
"Indeed."
As expected. I knew Lady Silver Lily would catch on.
"Yes."
"But, Gong-ja. It's dangerous. This is no different from gambling."
"The moment we say it's no different from gambling, we've already won. Because this is a mistake the Tower made, an error. Just pointing out that there's an error puts us in an extremely advantageous position."
"...There's one more problem."
Lady Silver Lily glared at me.
"I will no longer remember you."
"It's all right. I'll definitely resolve it somehow. But if I become unable to escape this world on my own, please help me so that I can say [Transfer]. That's all I'll ask of you, Raviel."
I spoke.
"Please trust me."
"......."
Silence.
Lady Silver Lily was quiet for a while.
"Fine."
She came closer.
"Since I became your first son of a bitch, you will become my last son of a bitch. If there is something taken, there is bound to be something lost."
Lady Silver Lily took hold of my chin.
"Truly, I have ended up with a bad man as my lover."
And then she kissed me.
"......."
I meekly accepted Lady Silver Lily's breath.
[Your immersion in the character deepens.]
[Your current Immersion Rate is 83%.]
The previous cycle.
The moment I saw the Heretic Questioner sink into the role of Lady Golden Thread Plum, the baron's daughter, I sensed something strange.
[Your immersion in the character deepens.]
[Your current Immersion Rate is 84%.]
Why was the 'transformation' being maintained?
[Your immersion in the character deepens.]
[Your current Immersion Rate is 85%.]
Isn't it strange?
The Heretic Questioner can freely change his appearance using Divine Art. He can even grow out his hair. But that is, at most, a skill owned by the 'Heretic Questioner,' never a skill possessed by 'Lady Golden Thread Plum, the baron's daughter.'
[Your immersion in the character deepens.]
[Your current Immersion Rate is 86%.]
And yet the traces of the transformation remained, half-finished.
There was only one conclusion.
[Your immersion in the character deepens.]
[Your current Immersion Rate is 87%.]
Even when we immerse, our skills do not disappear.
Lady Golden Thread Plum, the baron's daughter, still retained the Heretic Questioner's skills.
They simply forget how to use them and stop using them.
[Your immersion in the character deepens.]
[Your current Immersion Rate is 88%.]
And the same would be true for me.
"......!"
As my Immersion Rate approached 90%, my head went dizzy.
A torrent of memories.
The memories originally held by this body's original owner flooded in like a deluge. Until now, it had been nothing more than peeking at the original owner's memories or sharing emotions. But now it was different.
[Your immersion in the character deepens.]
[Your current Immersion Rate is 89%.]
My memories were disappearing.
The voice of the orphanage director who sometimes gathered us and read The Chronicles of the Eastern Zhou Kingdoms to us. The memory of not wanting to go to the bathroom because it was too cold in winter. The laughter of some older girls and boys who sometimes came to play with us.
-Hey! Kim■ja! What the ■ are you seriously trying to ■!
[■■■ appealed to ■sa to immediately stop ■■ing!]
Even the voices of the guardian spirit and the Holy Sword.
"Are you all right?"
Only Lady Silver Lily's voice rang out clearly.
"Yes... I'm still all right... More."
"You mean you want me to kiss you more. Truly spoiled, my lover is."
My breath caught.
[Your immersion in the character deepens.]
[Your current Immersion Rate is 90%.]
I was dizzy.
Amid the dizziness, I barely opened my eyes a sliver and peeked at the mirror reflecting the two of us.
+
Name: Kim Gong-ja
Favorability: 9■
Preferred ■reu: [Wuxia], [Romance], [■ri], [Adventure]
Dis■iked genres: Non■
Preferred characters: [Master], [Lover], [go■■ hero], [Victim], [■■ga], [Child], [Good person], [seu■■ one who knows how to doubt], [One generous to ■■], [One who understands me ■]
+
I.
My existence was being overwritten by something.
"Are you still all right?"
"Raviel."
I was afraid.
"I love you. I love you, Raviel......."
"I know."
"Even if I'm born again, I'll love you. So make it so I can never forget you. So that even if I die, I can't forget you......."
"I know."
Our lips overlapped.
[Your immersion in the character deepens.]
[Your current Immersion Rate is 91%.]
My memories were vanishing.
+
Na■: Kim Gong-ja
Affecti■: 9■
Preferred ■■: [Wuxia], [Romance], [■■], [■heom]
■■ ■■: Non■
Preferred ■■■: [Master], [Lover], [■■■ hero], [Victim], [■■ga], [■■Child], [Good person], [■■■ who knows doubt■ ■ ■], [■■■■ generous ■], [me ■■■■ ■]
+
My existence grew faint.
[Your immersion in the character deepens.]
[Your current Immersion Rate is 92%.]
A cheap dagger.
'It doesn't even have a sheath, but whatever.'
My beginning.
'This is the limit of what you can buy with the money you've got.'
My limit.
[Your immersion in the character deepens.]
[Your current Immersion Rate is 93%.]
A narrow room.
Worn walls.
Newspapers and photographs.
[Your immersion in the character deepens.]
[Your current Immersion Rate is 94%.]
A handsome man with a ponytail.
Standing, holding a spear engulfed in flames.
[Your immersion in the character deepens.]
[Your current Immersion Rate is 95%.]
The internet.
An alley.
'But mister, my face.'
[Your immersion in the character deepens.]
[Your current Immersion Rate is 96%.]
Me, burning.
A mansion, burning.
'A kind mister.'
[Your immersion in the character deepens.]
[Your current Immersion Rate is 97%.]
The day red rain fell so heavily.
The acacia flower field, 'I!'
'I, didn't know!' The sight of someone trembling and shouting that,
In the acacia flower field.
+
■■: ■Gong-ja
■■■: 9■
■■ ■■: [Wuxia], [Romance], [■■], [■■]
■■ ■■: Non■
■■ ■■■: [Master], [Lover], [■■■ ■■], [Victi■], [■■■], [■■ild], [Goo■], [■■■ ■■■ ■ ■■ ■], [■■■■ ■■■■ ■], [So■ ■■■■ ■]
+
Snow.
A snowfield.
[Your immersion in the character deepens.]
[Your current Immersion Rate is 98%.]
A red peony.
A single petal.
+
■■: ■■■
■■■: ■■
■■ ■■: [W■], [■■s], [■■], [■■]
■■ ■■: ■■
■■ ■■■: [Master], [Lover], [■■■ ■■], [■■■], [■■■], [■■Child], [■■], [■■■ ■■■ ■ ■■ ■], [■■■■ ■■■■ ■], [■■ ■■■■ ■]
+
So.
'I'm going to teach this bastard how to be happy!' Someone said that to me,
So I.
[Your immersion in the character deepens.]
[Your current Immersion Rate is 99%.]
I.
Who am I?
+
■■: ■■■
■■■: ■■
■■ ■■: [■■], [■■■], [■■], [■■]
■■ ■■: ■■
■■ ■■■: [■seung], [yeon■], [■■■ ■■], [■■■], [■■■], [■■■■], [■■], [■■■ ■■■ ■ ■■ ■], [■■■■ ■■■■ ■], [■■ ■■■■ ■]
+
"......."
Something.
-■■ ■ ■■■■! ■, ■, ■■■!
[■■■■ ■■■■ ■■ ■■■■■■.]
Something was noisy.
My head buzzed as if it were full of a swarm of bees.
My vision was blurry....... A mirror? Why a mirror?
Where was this?
"Are you all right."
"......."
I stared blankly in the direction the voice had come from.
Even through my blurred vision, the person before me had an overwhelming presence.
I knew who this person was.
"Gong-ja."
Raviel Ivansia.
The legitimate daughter of the Ivansia Ducal House.
"I asked if you were all right."
The rival in love (戀敵) of my mistress, Lady Golden Thread Plum.
"What is this......."
I tried to move my body and then realized. I was bound. Not just my limbs—my entire body was tightly bound with rope. The moment I realized I was restrained, my hazy mind snapped awake.
"Good heavens. Young Duchess, surely you haven't kidnapped me?"
"......."
"This is excessive. No matter how much House Ivansia's power covers the heavens, this is excessive. Do you hate Lady Golden Thread Plum so much that you would threaten me, her attendant?"
The silver woman quietly looked down at me.
Strangely, seeing her face made my chest ache.
"Is that so."
A sad face.
"So it has come to this."
All the poisons of the empire pass through her fingertips, and all the schemes of the empire spring from her heart. Though those are somewhat malicious rumors, there is truth in them.
And Lady Silver Lily was right before my eyes, clearly wearing a sorrowful expression.
"I thought I no longer had a heart left to be wounded. But this truly hurts. Did you say that proving life through pain is your martial way? Then rejoice. Your sword has undoubtedly split my heart just now."
"What do you mean......."
I could not understand.
I could not understand Lady Silver Lily's words, and I could not understand my own feelings. Why was my chest fluttering? Had she used some drug on me when she kidnapped me? But I, too, had become well-versed in various poisons while serving Lady Golden Thread Plum.
I had never heard of symptoms like these.......
"Gong-ja."
My heart pounded.
For some reason.
"...Who are you looking for?"
"My lover. The man who gave his heart to me, and the man to whom I will give my heart."
If she meant someone like that, she was probably talking about the Crown Prince.
But Lady Silver Lily's red eyes were looking only at me.
That only deepened my confusion.
"Y-Young Duchess."
Strange.
Why was cold sweat running down my back just from calling the Young Duchess by her title?
『Gong-ja.』
Something. As if I had done something terribly wrong. Something guilty.
Something endlessly sorry.
『If you leave a scar on my heart, I will kill you.』
My breath caught.
Voices of unknown identity clawed through my head. I felt like I was going insane. Was it an auditory hallucination? Was it a drug that induced hallucinations? Was that why sweat ran down my neck and my heart vibrated in my chest?
"Gong-ja."
I could not answer.
I could clearly see Lady Silver Lily draw her rapier, and it was such an ominous sign that I had to say something, anything, to stop or persuade her.
"Go, then."
I could not say a single word.
"I will."
[The Silver-Plated Heart gazes at you.]
"I will wait for you."
My heart was torn apart.
"......!"
I screamed. Soon, blood gushed out. My airway was blocked. Even my last breath drained away in an instant. And at the very moment I was about to cough up blood, Lady Silver Lily sealed my lips.
With her own lips.
"......."
My vision faded.
Killing me meant that the Young Duchess before me was finally beginning her offensive against Lady Golden Thread Plum in earnest. I, my lady's shield, could not die. Therefore, this was an urgent and pressing situation.
But the last thought that rose in my mind was not about Lady Golden Thread Plum. Nor was it about anything else.
Only the red eyes gazing at me from right before my face.
[The Silver-Plated Heart loves you.]
I wanted to wipe away the tears flowing from those eyes.
[You have died.]
[Regressing 24 hours into the past.]
[.......]
Low and quiet.
[Error occurred.]
A voice drifted.
[The owner of the skill and the subject of the skill are different.]
[Determining whether to regress to '24 hours before from the owner's perspective' or '24 hours before from the subject's perspective.']
[Unable to determine.]
My vision darkened.
[The Tower confirms that the skill's activation conditions have not been met.]
[The Tower ascertains that the current situation was intended by the skill's owner.]
[This matter exceeds the Tower's authority.]
Everything grew distant.
[The Tower confirms the authority of the Death King.]
[Pass. Death King currently holds the qualification of a provisional apostle.]
[Granter of temporary apostle qualifications - Hamustra.]
[The Tower formally recognizes Death King's raising of the issue as an official agenda item.]
And then.
[The Tower requests a majority vote conference from the Six Pillars of All Life (萬生).]
A wave of white light crashed over me.
* * *
That place was somewhere I had never experienced before.
It was dark, and I had neither limbs nor body, so I seemed to float in the void.
[Confirming participants.]
In the boundless darkness, voices whispered.
[The Sixth Pillar. 'Primeval Staff' is in attendance.]
[The Fifth Pillar. 'Princess Who Walks the Mirage' is in attendance.]
[The Fourth Pillar. 'Moon That Contemplates Blindness' is in attendance.]
[The Third Pillar. 'One Who Legislated the Beginning' is in attendance.]
[The Second Pillar. 'God Who Dances in the Void' is in attendance.]
[Confirming that the Six Pillars of All Life are in attendance.]
[The Tower shares the issue raised by provisional apostle 'Death King'.]
[Sharing complete.]
-Tchuba-ta, Mura waloyo Bushi-to!
A voice of great agitation rang out.
-Sato, mai-mau.
-Nail!
The voices came from all directions. A tone like countless serpents whispering. I hunched my shoulders without realizing it, wondering if this place was hell.
[Request accepted.]
[Translating the language of Zurakua.]
The next moment.
"...That dog-fucking bastard is playing with us!"
A voice burst out.
"Summon Hamustra right now! That Shut-In Librarian bastard, what the hell was he thinking making someone like that an apostle and sending him here!"
"I checked, and there was no procedural problem. More importantly, that child probably can't understand a word we're saying. Immersion Rate, was it? I think resetting that would help with communication."
"Miya! Reset it!"
[Request accepted.]
[Resetting the Death King's Immersion Rate.]
[Your current Immersion Rate is 0%.]
"Hah!"
I finally let out my breath.
My dizzy head returned to normal.
The words I had spoken while immersed in the butler, Lady Silver Lily's gaze as she looked at me—all the memories came rushing back in an instant.
And I was certain.
"You. You deliberately synchronized with a character and then used the regression skill, didn't you?"
That I had succeeded.
"To go back 24 hours from the character's perspective, not your own!"
I smiled inwardly.
"Yes, that's right."
The day Lady Silver Lily raised her sword and shattered the mirror.
One day before the eternal ten days began to repeat.
"Send me back."
I intended to return to that very day.