[Translator - Peptobismol]
[Proofreader - Demon God]
Chapter 140 – Drunkard (4)
What does it an to take responsibility?
With eyes that had finally cleared, the woman spoke of her conviction.
“I thought about it while lying in that hospital bed. I’ve lived a life no different from a blind fool… So at the very least, I should be the one to bring it to an end myself.”
The tears that trailed down her cheeks—Were they regret? Or self-loathing?
Perhaps they were both, I thought.
“I know I don’t deserve it. But still… I wanted to ask.”
It was less a request and more of a plea.
She had been a woman swayed by blind love, bound by longing—
But at the very end, she hoped her story would end differently.
A resolve not to betray today with the excuse of yesterday.
Selena’s tears were fixed on a tomorrow that would never co.
She said softly,
“…Please, let be the one to end this.”
Silence passed between us.
Her usual coldness was nowhere to be found.
The indifference that had once surrounded her had long since shattered.
Now all that remained before was a single withering flower.
Her pallor deepened only with a sense of ruin.
So this was what it ant to be an adult.
Just as I once had been.
The reflection of my own past shimred in her gaze, and I could no longer turn away.
With a heaviness weighed down by sorrow and emptiness, I offered my answer.
“If that truly is your will…”
Just one sentence to grant the ending.
A faint smile ford at the drunkard’s lips.
“…You really are a good person, Judas.”
She gripped the blanket tightly.
There was no light in her red eyes.
But beyond the murky surface—
It was only that she saw.
I was the only one left in Selena’s world.
“…Thank you.”
For the first ti—
Soone other than her sister had existed in her life.
“You’ll probably think it’s pathetic… but the night we danced together at the banquet—what I said then wasn’t a lie.”
That she had never been that close to anyone.
That she had never danced with a man.
That she had never been embraced or felt another’s warmth like that.
That she had never leaned on anyone besides her sister.
All of it.
“Every single first…”
“…”
“…Belonged to you.”
The sinner’s confession was unbearably fragile.
As if she could break down at any mont.
Rustle—
The woman rose from her hospital bed.
Unsteady steps touched the floor.
Her strength had not returned. Where could she possibly be going? She pulled a thin coat over her patient’s gown.
A pitiful outfit to brave the winter outside.
Just one layer peeled back and her skin would be bare.
Still—
The drunkard took a step.
Toward the white hallway beyond her room.
“…I’ll be going now.”
With those parting words—
She opened the door.
I stood there for a long ti, watching her retreating figure.
Until the flickering silhouette vanished for good.
Before I knew it,
Three days had passed.
---
After her conversation with the Serpent—
The drunkard imdiately left the Academy and headed straight to the cult’s stronghold.
Specifically, the lab to which she’d been granted access as a collaborator.
A private space used by the one who had introduced himself as the “Puppeteer”… and a regional base of Baobab.
Inside were reams of research data and experintal materials.
In other words, a warehouse full of records.
Selena stood in the middle of that space.
“…”
Crackle crackle—
A harsh, acrid sll stung her nose.
Bright red sparks leapt in every direction.
The lab was engulfed in heavy flas. Blood had soaked the floor into a dark red puddle.
Corpses of dark mages and chiras were strewn across the hallway.
A sudden betrayal from within.
It had been Selena’s doing.
She had eliminated the personnel and was now incinerating the data one by one.
Her breath faded into the heat.
“Haa…”
The lab had been caught completely off guard.
After all, their enemy was a professor.
Even if she lacked offensive talents, Selena was still a mber of the Galimar Academy—
One of the most prestigious educational institutions on the continent.
Eradicating a local base alone was within her capabilities.
Though it ca with severe injuries and near-total exhaustion.
She staggered, barely standing.
Coughing blood that bubbled up from her throat, she continued thodically disposing of the docunts.
Files spilled across the flas, amid the corpses, the blood, and the fire.
Crackle crackle—
‘Not that it’ll make much difference.’
Selena knew that, too.
It was all essentially aningless.
The cult was far larger than anyone could imagine. They even had connections to noble families.
The destruction of a few files wouldn’t slow them down.
At best, it was just a way to buy so ti.
Like a moth hurling itself into fla.
‘Still…’
She had wanted to clean up her own ss.
To scrape away even the smallest piece of her sin.
‘Atonent, maybe?’
Selena shook her head.
She had no intention of dressing up her actions in fine words.
It was just—
‘The Academy…’
The place that had beco her new ho.
The warmth she had realized far too late.
She wanted to burn away the hands that might reach it.
The spilled water could never be recovered, but before it could soak into everything—
She wanted to wipe away the bloodstains before they spread any further.
Her hands moved.
She didn’t borrow anyone else’s help.
She believed she had to finish this with her own two hands.
The drunkard burned and burned and burned.
“…This is the last one.”
The final docunt.
Her hand paused.
The paper was smudged with blood and soot.
With grimy hands, Selena smoothed the file.
\[Selena Drunkard]
Her na was written on it.
Her own research notes.
The transcendence of order through stars and miasma.
Its project na—Resurrection.
Records of the day she resolved to bring her sister back.
A goal she had once believed was her entire reason for living.
Was it the echo of a certain voice in her ears?
Her hands refused to move.
‘Lianne…’
If she let go of this too—
It would an accepting, once and for all, that Lianne was gone.
Her slowly tearing heart tugged at her sleeve.
Do you really want to let go of her?
Are you sure you’re ready?
Don’t you want to see her smile one more ti?
The anguish, the longing, and the regret whispered to her.
But—
‘I’m sorry.’
Selena shook them off.
She discarded the lingering attachnt she had held for so long.
Her wavering eyes lingered on the papers for one last mont before she tossed them into the flas.
Before she could even process it—
They turned to ash.
Consud by fire.
“…I’ll be seeing you soon, sweetheart.”
She begged forgiveness with tears that trickled down.
At last, she had let her go.
The hole in her heart was now filled with nothing but emptiness.
It was over.
She had left a letter for the Headmaster explaining that she had been the traitor. That she had colluded with the cult.
She trusted that he would know what to do.
And she was sorry.
Lianne’s death had consud her… but he, too, had been like family.
The mories of the three of them together remained vivid.
‘Would you consider learning magic under ?’
The man who had rescued her from a life in the gutter.
And all she had returned to him was betrayal.
Her brow twisted at the bitter aftertaste, but she forced her guilt and regret down.
At the end of the road she had walked—There was no point in apologizing.
Selena turned back.
“…”
Behind her stood figures in blood-red robes.
Each had their magic trained on her.
It seed reinforcents had arrived from another branch.
At the front stood a familiar high-ranking mber.
“The traitor betrays us, huh… Looks like you finally woke up to guilt.”
The executive scowled.
His voice dripped with contempt.
The difference in power was insurmountable.
Her stamina was gone. Her body, torn apart. Even her heart ached from the mana vow that bound it.
Resistance or escape was aningless now.
Monts later—
Thud—
Her legs gave out.
She had reached her limit.
As she knelt there, more cultists rushed in to restrain her.
They twisted her arm violently and kicked her to the ground.
Even so, her eyes were as calm as ever.
Smack!
The executive slapped her across the face.
Her vision sparked for an instant.
She savored the heat blooming across her cheek, as a question followed close behind.
He sounded genuinely unable to comprehend her actions.
“…Why turn on us? I thought our goals aligned. Didn’t you want to save your sister?”
Selena answered faintly.
Her swollen lips caused her words to spill out with blood.
“I did… I wanted that more than anything. Maybe… I still do…”
“Then it makes even less sense.”
Perhaps.
It wasn’t such a complicated reason.
“…I just… sobered up, that’s all.”
[Translator - Peptobismol]
[Proofreader - Demon God]
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