Chapter 103 - The Way He Loves (1)

1

A white dawn.

I got up and washed my face. After putting on the black butler’s uniform that had become quite familiar by now, I slowly stood before the mirror.

It still reflected [me].

“Hmm.”

As the Black Dragon leader had once put it, [a slightly shifty look].

The man in the mirror slowly parted his lips.

“Raviel.”

THUMP.

“Raviel Ivansia.”

[Your immersion in the character is deepening.]

[Your current immersion rate is 62%.]

All I had done was softly murmur the name of the woman I loved. Yet my heart pounded, my breathing quickened, and the man in the mirror flushed slightly. Even I could read my own expression easily.

“... I really do love her.”

How strange.

Marveling at my own feelings, I moved on to the next thing I needed to do.

“Status window.”

Letters slowly bloomed before my eyes.

+

Name: Death King

Rank: D

Skills (6/6)

1. I Want to Be Like You (S+)

2. Regressor's Clockwork Watch (EX)

3. Sword Constellation (A+)

4. Goblin High Society (F)

5. Rebirth of a Hundred Ghosts (SSS)

6. Divine Art of the Demonic Heaven (A+)

※Protection of the God of Beauty is active.

※Protection of the Serpent God is active.

+

There lay the path of the life I had passed through—and left behind.

My jealousy. My secret. My fortuitous encounter. My humor. My resolve. Even my happiness.

The life of the human being [Kim Gongja] could be expressed this simply.

“...”

I drew a deep breath.

“Character window.”

Then words I had never seen before appeared before my eyes.

+

Name: Kim Gongja

Affinity: 90

Preferred Genres: [Martial Arts Fiction], [Romance], [Mystery], [Adventure]

Disliked Genres: None

Preferred Characters: [Masters], [Noble Heroes], [Victims], [Hard Workers], [Children], [Good People], [Those Who Can Question Themselves], [Those Who Are Generous to Others], [Those Who Understand Me]

Disliked Characters: [Psychopaths]

Preferred Plots: [Justice Prevails], [Friendship], [Love]

Disliked Plots: [Self-Loathing], [Giving Up], [Escape], [Oblivion], [Distrust], [Monopolizing Everything]

Mental State: 'I want to know how I come across.'

+

I swallowed hard.

“Okay.”

I was still Kim Gongja. Unlike the Inquisitor, I hadn’t been consumed by my role. The plan I had devised would proceed smoothly.

Without fail.

“Sword Emperor.”

“Yeah?”

The ghost who cast no reflection answered.

“If I end up buried in my role as the butler, there’s something I really need you to do.”

“What is it?”

“If my immersion rate reaches 100%, there’s a good chance I won’t even be able to hear your voice anymore. I’ll still have my skills, but I’ll forget how to use them. No matter what happens, we have to keep my immersion rate from reaching 100%.”

I ran my fingers over the hilt of the dagger hidden at my waist.

“99%. That’s the absolute limit. My immersion must never rise above 99%. Understood? If it looks like I might go over 99%, stop me by any means necessary.”

“Hah.”

The attendant spirit chuckled.

“You worry about the strangest things. With pride and an ego as strong as yours, do you seriously think you’ll reach 99%?”

“Yes, I will.”

I straightened my clothes one last time.

The mirror reflected a perfect butler.

“Because I intend to raise it that far on purpose.”

“What?”

The attendant spirit was startled.

“Why? You’ll fail the stage and be trapped in this world!”

“I can’t tell you why right now. No, no one but me can know. I’m going to clear this stage by exploiting a loophole in the Tower’s system.”

The Tower was watching us even now.

If it learned what strategy I had thought of, it might hurry to patch the loophole. I couldn’t let that happen.

While the Tower still had a flaw in its system, a gap it hadn’t anticipated—this was my chance. I had to hurry and clear [Tales of Sormwin Academy].

“Help me if I’m in danger.”

“...”

“I’m counting on you, Mr. Greatest of All Time, who promised to become my master.”

And then I realized that the Black Dragon leader had been right.

The man in the mirror was grinning shiftily, like a mischievous brat.

“Now, I’m off to help my lover.”

2

Lady Silver Lily and I had begun dating, but unfortunately, we couldn’t enjoy any outdoor dates. She had become bedridden.

She had always been frail. She was sensitive to sunlight, too. Even looking back through the [butler’s] memories, she had missed more days at the academy than she had attended.

And yet she had stayed up all night and overworked herself these past few days. It was inevitable that she would collapse.

“Do not worry. It has been like this since my first iteration.”

Lady Silver Lily spoke, propped up in bed.

“To be more precise, I have been this way since birth. I could not run around outside, so I almost always stayed in the mansion. It grew worse after I drove the sword into the mirror and my heart disappeared.”

“...”

“That is why His Majesty the Emperor bestowed an epithet on Golden Silk Blossom as well as me. In this condition, even if I became empress, I would die before long. Bearing an heir would be difficult, too. I am ill-suited to be empress...”

Lady Silver Lily coughed.

It sounded a little drier than yesterday.

“Here’s some hot tea. Please drink it.”

I handed her the tea I had prepared beforehand. “Thank you,” she said, taking a sip. Then she raised her eyebrows, looking a little surprised.

“... You put in plenty of honey. It suits my tastes perfectly. How did you know?”

I smiled.

“You told me before, my lady.”

She had mentioned it during one of her lessons on love. In her sixth iteration, an apostle had tried to win her over using a strategy guide. It had contained the following:

+

1. Lady Silver Lily is sensitive to sunlight.

2. Lady Silver Lily has a dull sense of taste and likes strongly flavored food.

+

I had simply remembered that and put it to use.

“Hmm. Does that not mean you, too, have used a strategy guide?”

“You volunteered the information yourself, my lady, so it hardly counts as a strategy guide. I’d appreciate it if you considered it more of a reference book.”

“Now I see that you can be rather vexing yourself.”

Lady Silver Lily tilted her cup.

The sound of her sipping tea softly filled the bedroom.

“So, what is this scheme you have devised? Even this cozy time we share now is merely a fleeting diversion. One of us is bound to forget the time spent with the other. There can be no solution.”

“You’ve never entrusted your life to anyone else, have you, my lady?”

“Hmm?”

“Please trust me.”

“...”

“Even if this relationship is only pretend, the man you’ve agreed to date is by no means incompetent.”

Lady Silver Lily gazed steadily at my face.

“There are times in life when you need someone else’s help. That’s exactly where you are now.”

When I saved the Aegim Empire, I had help from the Sword Star and the Black Dragon leader. When I made it through Chronicles of the Heavenly Demon, I had help from the Apothecary, Viper, and the Medicine King. I would never say it aloud, but I was always indebted to the attendant spirit, too.

I had never thought of myself as alone.

Unlike the woman I loved, sitting before me.

“You’ve shouldered far too much on your own all this time. [The empire must remain strong even after I die], [I must set the crown prince straight], [I must deal with the blood demons, too]. Haven’t you been doing that for all 140 days?”

“Do you think I am tired?”

“Yes.”

“...”

“Please rest for a little while.”

I arranged the spring flowers I had picked at dawn in a vase and placed it beside the bed.

“I think I’d hate it if the person I loved tried to shoulder everything alone. No, I do hate it. When I’m tired, I want them to take responsibility, and when they’re tired, I want to take responsibility for them.”

“We are merely enjoying a pretend relationship.”

“It doesn’t matter, because my feelings are real.”

“... Do you not feel insulted?”

“Ah, you still don’t know me, my lady.”

How could anyone be this lovely? I let out a quiet laugh.

“I’m a positive guy. Do you think I’ll get depressed or feel inferior because you’re only pretending to date me? Not a chance. I see this as an opportunity. You’re going to fall in love with me anyway.”

“Good heavens. Where on earth does that confidence come from?”

“Because I’ll be the only one who shares time with you. Until you tell me [I’m tired], I won’t give up on you, no matter what.”

“...”

No matter what.

“I’ll do my best to become someone you can lean on.”

Lady Silver Lily did not answer. Instead, she quietly drank her tea.

With each passing day, my lover grew thinner.

The [demons] that appeared every night at midnight grew stronger as time went on.

At first, they had possessed little more than [tongues] and [lips]. But the next day, and the day after that, they changed. They grew [arms] and [legs].

HEE-HEE!

Only once they had limbs did I realize it. The demons resembled Lady Silver Lily. If you simplified her a little and reduced her to a smaller form, she would look just like them.

“Are you going to kill us?”

“Are you going to kill me?”

Every night, I silently dealt with the demons. Lady Silver Lily said, “I will help, too,” but I firmly refused. More than anything, she needed time alone and quiet rest.

The paperwork that required her approval? I put it all on hold.

There were only a few days left before this world perished anyway. If the empire would collapse just because a duke’s daughter didn’t look after it for a few days, then it could damn well collapse.

Rest.

A holiday all to herself.

That was the first gift I gave Lady Silver Lily.

“... I have never had days like these before.”

Lady Silver Lily murmured, looking slightly at a loss.

“Is it really all right for me to sit idle like this?”

We were sitting in the shade of a cherry tree, leisurely gazing at the lake. I had carried her here in my arms.

That was all.

There was no complicated paperwork, no blood demons, and no students whispering about her as though she were a spectacle.

“It’s all right.”

“But...”

“I’m telling you, it’s all right, my lady.”

Lady Silver Lily closed her lips. She seemed to find this peaceful time that had come to her almost unbearable.

“I’ll make sure it’s all right.”

“I do not wish to depend on you.”

“When did I say I’d spend forever doing nothing but helping you? When I need help, you can help me. We can help each other, can’t we? Let’s live that way.”

“...”

The day simply passed in peace.

It was the ‘tenth day’ Lady Silver Lily had spoken of.

“You’re thirsty, aren’t you? Today I tried adding a little honey to milk tea. I think you’ll like it.”

“...”

“Once the sunlight softens a little more, let’s take a boat out. I’ll row.”

Lady Silver Lily did nothing all day.

In the morning, I woke her and washed her face. I brought her a simple meal. Before noon, I sat beside her and read aloud from a collection of poems she said she liked. In the afternoon, I packed some snacks and brought her out for a stroll by the academy’s lake.

WHOOO...

The spring day whistled, bewitching magnolia leaves and cherry petals. Lady Silver Lily quietly raised her head to watch the white shapes scattering across the sky. Cherry blossoms fell onto the lake’s surface and swayed with the ripples.

“...”

For an hour, she said nothing.

She remained silent even as I carried her into the boat. Quietly, she watched the drifting waves of petals. With gentle splashes and sloshes, the lake meekly opened a path beneath my oars.

“Spring is white.”

Lady Silver Lily murmured.

“In the empire, we call this time [white spring]. There is a season when the cherry blossoms bloom before the magnolias fall. An old poet I admire wrote, [White blossoms within white; spring comes into full bloom within spring. The white that winter could not scatter releases its final breath].”

The pace of her speech resembled the pace of cherry blossoms drifting through the sky.

“It’s a beautiful season.”

“Yes.”

The sun set.

“I cannot remember how long it has been since I last saw a season like this.”

The gentle spring flowed on.

“...”

“...”

We were both intoxicated by the season. A pleasant daze. The soft spring air filled our minds.

[The presence of the Silver-Plated Heart grows more distinct.]

And so, even when the time came for this world to end, we were not alarmed at all. In fact, we barely exchanged a word.

[The Silver-Plated Heart manifests.]

The red sunset grew redder.

From the far side of the academy came the faint screams of students. Blood that had probably overflowed from the mirror engulfed the academy in an instant. Then it flowed into the edges of the lake, staining the water red.

“Butler.”

“Yes.”

“I feel at ease with you.”

We had stopped our boat in the very center of the lake.

The red blood encroaching from its edges had not yet devoured our sanctuary.

“May I truly trust you?”

I let go of the oars.

“You told me we were like parallel lines, and that whoever died first would inevitably regress first. So we could never be together forever.”

“Yes.”

“From this moment on...”

I took Lady Silver Lily’s hand.

“My aura will envelop your body. Not just your body, but the inside of your head, too. And I’ll surround my body and the inside of my head with aura in exactly the same way.”

And then.

“At exactly the same time, I’ll burst your head and mine.”

“...”

Lady Silver Lily’s breathing stopped for a moment.

As her breath grew quieter, her eyes widened.

“That is...”

“It’s true that whoever dies first regresses first. It’s also true that the one who doesn’t get to regress won’t remember the other person. In that case, there’s only one way we can be together. We die at exactly the same moment.”

I held Lady Silver Lily’s hand a little more tightly.

“Raviel Ivansia.”

The person I loved.

“Please die with me.”

A moment later.

She nodded.

And so we did.