For My One and Only Family
The morning after I'd settled everything with Selina for the sake of my one and only family in this true final journey, I found myself in a thoroughly unpleasant situation from early dawn.
“... Didn’t I tell you at dawn? Swear to the Creation God and never show your face in front of me again.”
My voice dripped with irritation as I spoke, and Selina, kneeling on the floor and furtively watching my expression, flinched with a shudder.
She'd traded the thin, glamorous silk gown from last night for battered leather armor caked in dust. A massive backpack, packed as if she were setting off on a journey right that instant, weighed heavily on her shoulders.
“W-Well...” Selina's lips trembled for a moment before she slowly opened her mouth. “I know... I know it's shameless. But before you chase me away, just hear me out first. You have to know this.”
“No, I don’t need to know. It’s not worth hearing. So get lost.”
As I turned away with a curt refusal, Selina desperately reached out toward my pant leg with both hands, only to yank them back into the empty air.
Her posture screamed determination not to provoke me further. Then, after her hands and lips trembled for a bit, she forced her mouth open with effort. “Y-Your sister! Even for Leysila’s sake, you’ll need me—I swear!”
“...What?”
I halted at her shocking words. Turning back with a glare that demanded what the hell she just said, Selina swallowed dryly and rushed on. “That child was chosen as the vessel for the newborn Maou. I meant to tell you right away, but because of our betrayal... she couldn’t say anything....”
Her explanation continued from there. Leysila’s soul, brimming with talent even a grand archmage would acknowledge, had fully fused with a fragment of the Maou. She hadn’t spoken up back then solely to keep me from breaking down.
And finally, every detail of the conversation she'd had alone with my sister at the Dead Sea cliffs just before dawn that morning.
By the time her account wrapped up, Selina was still kneeling like a grave sinner, head bowed low. I just stood there, blankly staring down at her silver hair.
A hollow laugh escaped me at this worst-case scenario I’d never even imagined—like I’d lost my mind. And the conclusion I reached was singular.
Strong denial.
“Ha... haha...”
My legs gave out, and I collapsed to the floor, gripping Selina’s shoulders hard with both hands.
“A lie.”
“...”
“Tell me it’s a lie. Say you cooked up that disgusting excuse just to avoid getting kicked out right now, to somehow survive!”
“......”
Even as I screamed in fury, Selina offered no reply. Her shoulders must have ached like her bones were grinding under my grip, but she just clamped her lips shut, persisting in silent affirmation.
And that heavy silence mangled my heart even more cruelly.
“Why the hell!!!”
I lost all reason, roaring like a beast as I shook her shoulders wildly.
I wanted to snap this traitor’s neck right then and there, but the guilt-laden tremors transmitting through my palms barely—barely—held my sanity together. This tragedy was too vast and malevolent to pin solely on her.
Thud!!
“Ugh!”
In the end, with trembling hands, I shoved Selina away.
Then I collapsed face-down on the floor and wailed.
The heavens I hadn’t cursed when I lost my parents. The heavens I hadn’t cursed when I lost my second set of parents. The heavens I hadn’t cursed when everyone abandoned me as the unchosen fake Hero.
Yes... even after proclaiming myself a Hero, through my comrades’ betrayal and humanity’s betrayal, I hadn’t cursed the heavens.
“But why... why the fuck!!!”
I screamed until blood filled my throat, hoping desperately to reach the sky. “Why dump every goddamn trial on me to the bitter end? Why only torment my family like this!!”
My life getting dragged through the mud and shattered should’ve been enough. Why drag my last remaining family—my sister Leysila—into that hell too!!
“Why... what the hell did we ever do wrong...”
My vision stained red. Drip, drip.
Thick, crimson liquid splattered onto the floor. Blood tears, finally bursting from utter despair and rage.
“Kail...!”
Selina paled at the blood streaming from my eyes and moved to approach, but I reflexively slapped her hand away.
Slap.
“Ugh!!”
“Don’t touch me.”
With blood tears streaking my face, I glared at her. “Wait here. I’m... gonna talk to Leysila.”
“Kail... Got it.”
Staggering to my feet, I ignored her attempts to support me and headed for the firmly shut door.
Screech.
Opening the door to the top-tier suite Talian had provided, Leysila—who’d been packing to leave—turned her head.
The moment she spotted the blood tears trailing down my cheek, she dropped her luggage with a thud.
“O-Oppa...”
“Is it true.”
Her surprise lasted only a moment. At my words, Leysila quickly regained her composure. “Everything Selina said... it’s all real?”
“You already heard...”
Leysila didn’t rush to me or spout excuses.
She just stood frozen in place, staring at me quietly—until a single clear tear rolled from her large pale-purple eyes.
And then, very slowly, she nodded.
“Yeah... I’m sorry.”
Thud—the sound of the world fully crumbling.
My legs buckled again, and I slumped right there. “Haa... hng...”
I couldn’t breathe.
That primal helplessness from my childhood, witnessing my parents’ corpses torn apart by demons, crushed me anew after over a decade.
Swish.
Leysila had crept up and wrapped her small arms around my slumping neck.
Through her shoulders came her warm body heat and her trembling.
“I’m sorry, Oppa...”
Her voice by my ear was so serene it only carved deeper into my heart.
“For hurting you too...”
“Ley... sila.”
I clutched her slender back tight with both arms, as if loosening even a little would shatter her and make her vanish before my eyes.
“Can’t we... just try somehow? Even once?”
Rational thought had long been numb. Desperation to grasp the last straw filled me as I pleaded hoarsely. “My White Breath... it can burn anything. With the power that even erased Swelling Fallbirth, can’t I just burn out that filth inside you?”
To my begging, Leysila shook her head firmly, still nestled in my arms. “You know best, Oppa... that demonic energy slept in me for over two years... and you never noticed until yesterday...”
“That’s...”
...Yeah, she was right. Even the other source of Swelling Fallbirth fused to Selina’s soul—I couldn’t be sure my evolved White Breath could selectively burn just the curse.
No, back then with the Maou two years ago, if my comrades hadn’t worn it down first, White Breath alone never could’ve annihilated it. I... was still sorely lacking.
“Yeah. If I try removing the Maou fragment unprepared... worst case, my soul might vanish with it entirely.”
“Haa...”
Before her impassive explanation of this brutally cruel reality, I could only gape like a fish. No rebuttal came.
I knew my White Breath best. Peeling away only soul-clinging curses without backlash demanded near-miraculous control—a fact I’d learned through bitter, repeated experience.
In the end, only one thing remained for me to do right now.
I tightened my arms around Leysila’s back, hugging her as hard as I could. “Okay.”
Squeezing shut my blood-wept eyes, I steadied my breathing with effort.
“You said... there’s not zero way. I get it.”
Selina. And the Dersian curse yet to be purified. I had no choice but to stake everything on that mad gamble with less than 10% odds—to shatter my limits and push forward.
I slowly released Leysila from my embrace and rasped my vow in my wrecked voice. “My final journey as the fake Hero... I’ll take it solely for your salvation.”
Let the world call me what it would. Even if every truth came out and they still branded me fake, shunning me. Even if the Creation God hurled me into another cesspit.
I didn’t care anymore. As long as I had my sister—the one always by my side, protecting me—that was enough.
Leysila, who’d been quietly soaking in my warmth, slowly lifted her head and gently cupped my bloodied cheek with her small hands.
“Thank you, Oppa.”
Her clear pale-purple eyes curved sadly toward me.
“And always... I’m sorry. For being a burden to the end.”
“Burden, my ass... It’s fine. Let’s move out as soon as possible.”
With that, no more words passed in the room.
We, each other’s only one, simply leaned on one another as always—accepting this cursed world’s fate.