Chapter 144 – Hangover (2)
A pure white hospital room.
Sunlight peeked through the curtains.
The woman awoke with the warmth of the morning air.
“……”
Her closed eyelids lifted.
Revealing red irises.
Her dazed gaze slowly registered the morning’s arrival.
Selena lay in bed.
There wasn’t any particular injury or discomfort—she was simply complying with her student’s plea for rest.
The drunkard had hesitated, but in the end, couldn’t turn away from those eyes looking up at her.
Thanks to that, she now found herself… a bit bored, perhaps.
—I’ll take care of the cleanup.
—Please focus on resting, Professor.
—It’s the earnest wish of your student.
Even so—
It didn’t feel so bad.
Being worried over by soone—while awkward—struck so unknown chord within her.
A warmth that tickled the heart.
Her cheeks flushed a little as she murmured,
“I’ll never understand him.”
Was it that he worried too much?
Or that he was simply too kind?
The drunkard smiled faintly as she thought of the boy, brushing away the lingering thoughts like the last traces of drunkenness.
She slowly sat up, lifting her torso from the bed.
“Mmm.”
A new day had co.
Another monotonous hospital stay.
In other words, a peaceful routine.
She was just wondering how to pass the ti today, when—
A voice from sowhere gently caught her ear.
“Awake now?”
It was a youthful voice.
Selena froze in that instant.
“……”
Her shoulders tensed.
Her eyes trembled.
Maybe it was because it had been so long since she’d heard that voice.
She couldn’t mask the confusion and shock on her face.
A voice she had forgotten, had to forget, and yet never wanted to forget—it shimred in her ears.
From just beside the hospital bed—
“……”
The drunkard turned her head.
The curtain fluttered in the sunlight.
Standing in that pale morning glow, a young girl looked at her.
A face she hadn’t seen in years.
Yet—
“You’re still such a sleepyhead. Didn’t even notice soone was right beside you.”
She hadn’t forgotten.
How could she possibly forget that face?
She had been half the world she lost.
With trembling lips, Selena spoke the na.
“…Lianne?”
“Big sis.”
The girl smiled brightly at the sound of her na.
Even that—just as she rembered it.
Lianne Drunkard.
The drunkard was facing the ghost of her younger sister.
Her red eyes trembled even more.
“How…?”
Was this a hallucination?
A dream?
Selena couldn’t tell.
But she knew for certain—
This wasn’t reality.
Her consciousness was too clear for that to be the case.
This is…
The girl hadn’t changed at all.
Exactly as she was the last ti Selena rembered her.
Which only confird it further.
Her sister’s life had ended at fifteen, but for those left behind, ten years had passed.
Selena’s mind whispered that all of this was nothing but illusion.
And yet—
“Lin…!”
So what?
Emotion always takes a step ahead of reason.
Whump—
She embraced the girl before her.
As if to make up for all that longing—tightly.
Lin.
The pet na she had once used for her sister.
It had been nearly ten years.
Selena hadn’t spoken it since Lianne’s death.
“Eek! Isn’t this reaction a little too much? You really missed your cute little sister, huh?”
Her voice was still as innocent as ever.
That clear warmth completely filled the drunkard’s arms.
It was warm.
“A-Ah…”
Perhaps her throat was choked—
The words just wouldn’t co out.
She had so much she wanted to say.
She had so many stories piled up, waiting to be told if she could just see her again.
Stories of magic, of the past, of the days without her… Her heart had built up mountains and oceans of mories.
But none of it could escape her lips.
It was as if she’d been cursed by so terrible magic.
“Lianne, Lin…”
All Selena could do was repeat that precious na.
Like soone who was drunk.
“Big sis.”
As if she understood what her sister was feeling,
The girl stayed nestled in her arms a mont longer, then gently patted Selena’s back with her small hand.
As if to say, Don’t cry.
“You’ve been through a lot, haven’t you?”
“……”
“Don’t tornt yourself. I know how hard you tried.”
“No… Lianne, I nearly ruined everything. You shouldn’t be comforting like that…”
“Shh.”
As Selena’s emotions threatened to boil over,
Lianne gently interrupted her.
“Do you rember?”
The conversation we had that last day?
I told you I was sorry.
That I wanted to stay by your side, that I wished you would stay with … but I couldn’t.
I always wanted to apologize.
Because I felt like those words only hurt you more.
That my sadness had infected you.
So…
“I’m sorry.”
“No, Lianne… I’m the one who’s sorry.”
“You don’t have to apologize for anything.”
“But—!”
“Because to , you’re still the coolest big sister in the whole wide world!”
Tight—
Those small hands, not yet fully grown.
Just as her sister once held her, she now held Selena tight.
Both their eyes were now as red as a springti sunset.
The girl whispered,
“I don’t want you to be sad anymore.”
I want you to stop drinking.
I want you to smile more often.
I want you to stop suffering from nightmares.
I want you to make new friends, so you won’t be alone anymore.
I want you to make peace with the Headmaster, even if he feels far away now.
I…
“I want you to be happy.”
“……”
Moved by that gentle voice, tears finally fell.
The lines trailing down Selena’s cheeks were hot.
With a voice full of tears, the drunkard answered.
Words that had lingered in her heart for ten long years.
“I wanted to protect you.”
I wanted to keep you safe.
Back then, when we had nothing else but each other to rely on in that wretched life.
I thought, no matter what happened, as long as we were together, it would be enough.
But—
“I’m sorry.”
In the end—
She couldn’t protect her.
“I’m sorry I gave up. I’m sorry I didn’t die with you. I’m sorry I couldn’t take your pain in your place. I’m sorry I ruined everything. I’m sorry I was a sister who couldn’t do anything for you…”
“Don’t cry, big sis. If you’re sad, then I’m sad too.”
That gentle warmth.
Even with her voice trembling, the aning remained clear.
Years of bottled-up feelings.
Selena’s words ca out broken, her voice garbled, yet she kept speaking.
How many tis had she stopped to catch her breath?
Then—
“Ah.”
She realized.
The dream was ending.
Her vivid awareness was fading.
“Lianne.”
The end was near.
That sweet mont would shatter with the word epheral.
What she loved would soon vanish like mist.
It would surely hurt to open her eyes in the morning.
But before that—
There were words she wanted to say.
Words she had to say.
The drunkard choked back her sobs.
Steadied her breath.
She forced a faint smile to her lips and looked into those familiar eyes.
Their red hue was proof they shared the sa blood.
Selena spoke to those clear, glass-like eyes.
“I… want to start living properly.”
The drunkard had realized sothing through all that had happened.
How foolish her life had been.
—I’ll die.
So, at first—
She tried to throw it all away.
Telling herself there were no second chances left.
—Selena Drunkard.
—I forgive you.
But then—
A certain boy had saved her.
Told her to co back with him.
She knew it was too kind for soone like her.
Precisely because of that, she didn’t want to lose it.
Selena Drunkard.
She was no longer alone.
“I won’t be sad anymore.”
I’ll stop drinking.
I’ll smile more for the students.
I won’t stay up all night with dark thoughts.
I won’t be cold to my fellow professors—I’ll try to be kinder.
I’ll tell the Headmaster I’m sorry.
I…
“I’ll try to be happy.”
The hospital room began to crumble.
The dream was collapsing.
Along with her fading consciousness, her sister’s figure began to scatter like dust.
The drunkard smiled through her tear-soaked sleeves.
And left her final words.
“When I’m old and gray—and if soday, I can reach you again—I’ll tell you all the stories you never got to hear.”
Next ti, for sure.
Let’s et without tears.
“Goodbye… my forever half.”
Crash—!
Sowhere, glass shattered.
Selena’s consciousness quickly drifted away.
At the very end of the fading dream, she saw the girl nodding.
A reply from across the veil of illusion, echoing in her heart.
Clear as day.
“Mm! I’ll be waiting…!”
And with that—
The woman awoke from her dream.
---
A pure white hospital room.
Sunlight peeked through the curtains.
The woman awoke with the warmth of the morning air.
“……”
Her closed eyelids lifted.
Revealing red irises.
The tears lingering at the corners of her eyes made her realize morning had arrived.
Selena lay in bed.
As she quietly savored the fading warmth of the dream—
A voice ca once again.
“You’ve awoken, Professor.”
It was a blond boy.
Standing in the sa spot where her sister had just stood.
The woman quickly wiped her tear-stained face.
And softly asked,
“Judas.”
“Yes?”
“The dream I just had… was that your doing as well? Or…”
“Do you truly wish to know the answer?”
“……Forget it.”
After a mont of thought, Selena shook her head.
Instead of hearing the answer, she opened her arms and pulled the boy into an embrace.
Just as she had done with her sister.
Though this ti, it felt a little different.
“Thank you.”
With her face buried in his chest—
The drunkard whispered so her expression wouldn’t be seen.
The boy, caught in her arms, patted her back.
Just as the sister had done for her.
Though, again—slightly different.
“For lying to .”
Lies don’t hold truth.
So may judge them as foolish or aningless.
But there are those who need to lean on such illusions in order to survive.
Humans are fragile—they find comfort in lies.
Especially adults.
“Think nothing of it.”
“Please keep doing it, from now on.”
“The pleasure is mine, Professor.”
At long last—
The drunkard was able to fully let go of the scars from her past.
She held the boy tightly.
Until their warmth completely rged.
---
The next day.
With all matters concluded— ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novel⦿fire
I had a private audience with soone unexpected.
Though it was less an invitation and more of barging in unannounced.
I raised my teacup.
“So then.”
Across the table sat an old man with white hair.
He too held a teacup in hand.
And he asked,
“What brings you here?”
Headmaster Gaston Gallimard.
I stood face to face with the [Prophet of the End].
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