The Monochrome World

"This... what the hell is this..."

"Erielle... Erielle...! My daughter...!"

"Khuk... It's truly a relief, Erielle...!"

After the day I extracted more than half of Erielle Frost's demonic energy, her complexion gradually brightened until she finally rose from her sickbed. The healer wore an expression of utter disbelief, clearly desperate to understand how such a thing was possible. The Frost family wept openly, overwhelmed with joy at their daughter's return to health.

Not all the demonic energy had been absorbed yet, so she was still living on borrowed time... but the fact that her condition had been alleviated was a relief. Even so, it wasn't truly over. No matter how much her condition had improved, Erielle was still a patient, and those dark mages had yet to make their move.

"Father. I'm really fine now. You too, brothers."

"But, my daughter..."

"I said I'm fine. Since I'm better now, I'll go to the academy as well."

"W-wait, Erielle! You only just got up from your sickbed. You can't head straight to the academy!"

"Jake, I'm telling you I'm really fine. Besides, I've already missed several days. I need to go soon."

".......Ugh."

Erielle immediately began preparing to leave for the academy. Duke Breid Frost and her brothers Jake and Kyle could only fidget helplessly in the face of her unyielding determination.

"Lady Erielle. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Wouldn't it be better to rest a little longer?"

"...Why? I'm fine now."

"You haven't been fully cured yet. There's still a chance your condition could worsen again."

I couldn't let her leave right now. Just as they said, she wasn't completely healed, and there was a risk of relapse. More than that, I was running ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠out of time.

"Please. Just three days, Lady Erielle."

"...Only this once. I'll rest exactly three days and then go."

When I looked at her with earnest eyes, Erielle reluctantly accepted my request. The duke and her brothers wore slightly hurt expressions, realizing she ignored their words completely yet accepted mine without hesitation. They mouthed silent thanks toward me where only I could see, careful not to let Erielle notice.

Honestly... on the surface she seemed cold. No, she was cold. Yet the way she turned so tender and caring whenever it involved Erielle was truly fascinating.

"Thank you, Lady Erielle."

".....Ugh."

"Oh? Are you in pain again? Why is your face so red?"

When I smiled and thanked her, Erielle's cheeks flushed crimson. Was she hurting somewhere? Had her condition worsened again? I reached out to check her forehead, but she brushed my hand away.

"...It's nothing. It's nothing at all."

"Hmm. Is that so? If you feel even slightly unwell, tell me immediately."

"Daughter... it can't be..."

"No... that can't happen..."

Despairing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠voices drifted from behind us, but it probably wasn't anything important.

I need to hurry.

The dark mages' assembly at the academy was set to attack Snowfield Village in exactly five days. I couldn't involve the still-recovering Erielle, and the dark mages were likely preparing in advance. That left me with only three days until she left.

Could I do it? Could I extract all the remaining demonic energy in just three days...?

No. I have to. There may never be another chance after this.

I would devote every ounce of my strength to removing every last trace of demonic energy from Erielle's body.

"Lady Erielle. Shall I massage your shoulders?"

"...Yes. Please. Father, brothers, please leave us."

"Kuk... khuk... this can't be..."

"This is impossible... it must be a dream..."

Why did they sound so heartbroken? Had something else happened?

I will absorb it.

"...Cough. If it hurts... please tell me."

"Yes. It feels just fine right now."

Sitting behind her, I discreetly wiped the blood with a handkerchief before pretending to massage her shoulders while absorbing the demonic energy. My body grew heavier by the second, my lifespan ticking down in real time... but none of that mattered. Right now, I could only focus on absorbing the demonic energy.

I had a dream.

In the dream, I sat alone in a garden where the entire world was monochrome.

"It's okay."

What could possibly be okay? No one remained by your side. What could be okay about any of this? The loneliness and emptiness you feel only grows larger with each passing day.

In the dream, I simply repeated "It's okay" to myself like a mantra, as if casting a hypnotic spell. The girl with lifeless violet eyes muttered the words like someone who had lost her mind.

Occasionally, when her parents or brothers came to speak with her, a trace of color would seep into her world. But once they left, her world would fade back into monochrome.

"....It's... okay."

Tears fell from the girl's lifeless eyes, but there was no one to gently wipe them away.

-Hehe. This is fun!

-Look at this! I made it!

-Whoa... Amazing!

Sometimes, when the voices of children playing beyond the garden reached her, the desire to run and play among them would overwhelm her thoughts. When she gazed at that colorful world outside her colorless garden, she would unconsciously take a few steps forward.

"Can I... play too?"

"Hiiik...! M-Monster...!"

"M-Mommy!!"

"...Come here, quickly!"

What the girl received when she mustered the courage to approach children her own age was not curiosity, but fear and terror. The children would scream for their parents and run away crying. Even the parents who came running trembled in fear at the sight of the supposed monster.

"........"

There was no salvation for a monochrome monster intruding upon a world of beautiful colors. No matter how desperately she cried that she wasn't a monster, that she wouldn't hurt anyone, her voice only sounded like monstrous shrieks to their ears.

"I'm... okay."

The girl returned once more to her monochrome garden. Though beautiful flowers bloomed there, it was a dull world without any color. A few white and violet flowers, along with yellow and brown birds that chirped, offered some variation, but it wasn't enough to illuminate her colorless world.

And so her daily routine repeated. The girl left alone, muttering to herself. Her family visiting. The girl once again gazing enviously at the children beyond the garden. Even when she gathered courage to speak to them again, only cold gazes returned.

As time passed, the distance between the monochrome garden and the outside world grew ever greater. The gap that could once be crossed in just a few steps eventually stretched so far that even running with all her might for hours left her uncertain if she could ever reach it.

Time flowed on. The flowers in the garden bloomed more vibrantly, and the girl grew older. Yet color remained impossibly scarce. Instead, the garden itself had grown larger, its walls rising so high they seemed to swallow even her shadow.

.....Ha...! Yes......that's it...!

Now she could no longer be certain what the sounds from outside even were. Or whether they were sounds at all. Perhaps they were merely auditory hallucinations born from her own loneliness.

Despite the ever-growing distance, the girl continued to challenge it endlessly. She wondered if this time she might finally live like the people outside. Even when her feet tore on sharp stones, even when her lungs burned as if they would burst, she kept running.

But though time had passed, the fact that she was a monster had not changed. Instead, an even larger monster with sharper fangs burst out from the garden.

-GYAAAAAH-!

-Save me... please save me...!

-Please... at least spare the child... please..!

"..........."

The monster gazed down into the pure eyes of the child, then walked back into the garden as she listened to the mother's desperate screams. The weight of that moment pressed down upon her as heavily as all the fearful gazes she had endured. It was as heavy as the accumulated years of loneliness and pain.

".....I..."

In the end, the girl closed the door to her heart. She locked away the door that connected the garden to the outside world and simply blamed herself. Once she gave up, she felt nothing at all. No emotions, no desires. She understood nothing. She simply continued living because she could not die.

Crack-!

The only pleasure left in the monochrome garden was occasionally stepping on the flies that buzzed about or the insects that crawled across the ground.

"............."

But now, even that had become exhausting.

The woman suddenly turned around and stared at the endless darkness gathered in one corner of the garden. If she walked into it, could she finally find peace? If she killed the monster that was herself, wouldn't everyone else become happy?

Within the hellish flow of time, she pondered this hundreds of times each day. Yet when she looked at the faintly colored flowers blooming in the garden and the small birds, she would ultimately give up.

Then one day, an unbearable emptiness suddenly descended. Her entire body grew cold from the crushing loneliness, and the endless void made her feel as though she might forget her own existence.

"I'm... tired now."

Though pale-colored flowers bloomed and birds sang, the woman who had fallen into the abyss could neither see nor hear them. It was time to stop. Time to find peace.

The woman slowly, silently began walking toward the darkness. Her steps, having given up on everything, were light at first, but the fear of approaching death gradually made them heavier.

"...I can't."

Faced with the end of life, she became afraid instead. The woman shook her head, turned her back on the darkness, and began walking back toward the garden.

Step-

"...Ugh!"

But the darkness would not easily release its prey. Countless hands reached out from within it, wrapping around the woman and dragging her into the abyss.

Help me. Anyone will do. Please. I... I want to live.

Father. Mother. Brothers.... Kayle. Fria....

Dragged into a space of nothingness where even the concept of monochrome did not exist, the woman let out a silent scream. She prayed that the few remaining faint threads of color would pull her out. That they would rescue her from this place.

But no hand came to save her. The woman's eyes grew increasingly cloudy, and eventually she stopped struggling altogether. She closed her eyes, surrendering her body to the pulling hands, letting all strength drain away as if floating upon the sea. Her body was swallowed by the darkness, only a few parts still remaining above the surface.

"Lady Erielle. What are you doing here?"

The voice that shattered the endless silence was quiet and gentle. The woman opened her faintly fluttering eyes and searched for the source of the voice. Black and red. In her monochrome world, those intensely sparkling colors reached out and pulled her out in an instant.

Thud. Crack.

The hands of darkness desperately tried to pull her back, but they were all severed and vanished beneath the kind, warm touch.

"Lady Erielle. I am here."

"........"

The monochrome garden slowly became stained with black and red. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠There were only two colors, yet in a world without any color at all, even those two were breathtakingly beautiful.

"....Yes."

At that beautiful hue, the woman smiled. The warm atmosphere and gentle heat created by those colors melted her frozen heart. Before long, the monochrome world had transformed into a world of two colors. No longer did she feel regret, loneliness, or emptiness. Even the darkness that had been pulling at her from behind had vanished somewhere.

The woman hugged the man tightly. So tightly it seemed she would break him, as if she would never let go.

Crack... shatter-!

At the same time, the world broke and shattered. At the same time, her eyes opened.

"Erielle... my daughter...!"

"Erielle...! It's truly a relief...!"

The world visible through her faintly opened eyes was filled with soft white and violet.

"Lady Erielle."

And right before her was that intense color. As she gazed at the brilliant hue that seemed to steal away all attention, Erielle smiled faintly. It was a smile that seemed to say nothing else mattered, as long as that color continued to shine brightly within her monochrome world.