"The ritual is nearly complete. In about two weeks, the Second Princess's curse will be fully transferred. I will end my life within a year."
Fate remained unchanged.
The path had been walked too far to sever the curse now.
The emperor already knew he had been consud by it.
"It’s too late # Nоvеlight # to live."
The reality of his impending death.
But—
My lies are not bound by re reality.
After all, falsehoods are only valuable when they overturn the truth.
If soone dares to speak of a damned fate—
"Do you truly believe that?"
"What use is belief in a predetermined fate?"
"Then from now on, you must believe in ."
"Hm?"
I will make this mont aningful.
"Because I will lift the curse from both of you."
"You intend to break the curse...?"
The emperor's gaze held doubt.
I simply t it with an unhurried smile.
"Did I not already tell you?"
That I could solve this.
I wanted to return their rightful places to them.
Silence lingered in the audience chamber.
***
After our conversation, we wasted no ti heading to the prepared dical ward.
Now that the doubts had been cleared, there was no longer any reason to delay the treatnt.
At this very mont, the curse was gnawing away at their hearts.
What was needed now—
Was a miracle.
"......"
On their respective beds lay the Rose and the Emperor.
No words were exchanged.
Valcaros simply posed a quiet question.
His voice, as always, remained steady.
"Is it truly possible?"
"Of course."
"Frankly, I find it hard to believe. You claim you can accomplish what centuries of history on this continent could not."
"One cannot remain bound by the past forever."
"You speak the truth."
I calmly prepared for the treatnt.
As I held the lie at my fingertips, I felt a gentle tug at my sleeve.
My gaze shifted.
A girl with red hair lay before .
It was none other than Rose.
"Your Highness."
"......"
Elize, who had remained silent until now.
She must have been overwheld.
The truth she had only just learned had shattered ten years of resentnt—
And now, before she could even process it, she was being thrust into treatnt.
In a re two hours, her entire world had been overturned.
Such sudden change was enough to inspire fear.
Her leaf-green eyes wavered.
Sssk.
I gently placed my hand atop her head.
A silent reassurance—
That everything would be fine.
"There is no need to be afraid."
"But..."
Her eyes, fragile as if they could break at any mont.
I took Rose’s hand in mine.
"Do you rember? The promise I made to you."
"......"
"You need not worry. I will always be by your side, Your Highness."
"...I'm sorry for being weak. I just... suddenly felt afraid."
"Your Highness is stronger than you think."
It wasn’t empty praise.
Elize was far stronger than soone like .
The scars on her arms and wrists bore witness to that.
"Yuda... I’ll trust you."
Yuda.
She rarely called by na.
It was a sign of how much she was struggling to hold herself together.
But even so, she said she would trust —
It was only right that I returned the sentint.
A slow smile crossed my lips as I unfurled my shadows around us.
"Then."
Clap!
A crisp sound rang through the room.
"Let’s begin."
In the next instant—
Pitch-black darkness swallowed the dical ward whole.
All external mana was cut off.
Within the void, only two beds remained—
And the two figures lying upon them.
I extended my hands toward them.
My palms pressed against their lower abdons.
"......"
All eyes were on .
From behind, Charlotte and Tanya watched anxiously.
The suffocating tension in the air coiled like ink-black tendrils.
If you are reading this translation anywhere other than Novelight, it has been stolen.
I moved my hands with steady precision.
The shifting shadows coated my palms in a thin layer of darkness.
Slither—
The shadows crept forward, sinking into their bodies.
I slowly opened my eyes.
Mana Stone Consumption Disease.
A disease known to be incurable.
That much was true.
Even Astro, despite repeated research, had never found an answer.
From the mont of onset, death was inevitable.
It was an unavoidable fate—almost like the law of nature itself.
“Then...”
There was only one way.
To shatter this absurd, unjust fate.
Once again, I would have to surpass the natural order.
"Untangle the twisted mana circuits and reconfigure them into their proper alignnt."
According to the established setting,
Mana circuits typically ran alongside blood vessels.
In other words, the branches of mana flow were as vast and intricate as the body's circulatory system.
Especially in the abdon, where mana converged, the complexity of its structure surpassed even that of the heart.
And now, I intended to correct that structure—
One strand at a ti.
Literally, one by one.
"Purify the embedded curse."
This was not simply a healing process.
It was closer to dismantling and reconstructing sothing from the ground up.
If I had to compare it to sothing, it was akin to restoring a creature that had been turned into a chira back to its original form.
But this ti, the conditions were even harsher—I had to heal two people simultaneously.
The curse, split between them, made the treatnt even more difficult.
Not to ntion the added interference of the ritual magic woven into it.
"As expected, this won’t be easy."
I clicked my tongue but raised my output.
Divinity and stars, woven from falsehood.
Their powers mixed and rged into an ideal form, erasing the curse at my fingertips, piece by piece.
The pitch-black night was soon flooded with radiant white light.
Even through the blinding glow, I forced my eyes to stay open.
Ding!
[Current remaining output: 86.4%]
Ding!
[Current remaining output: 62.1%]
Ding!
[Current remaining output: 49.7%]
My reserves were being drained in massive chunks.
Of course, continuously overriding natural laws wasn’t sothing easily done.
If I burned through so of the life force I had accumulated, I might barely succeed.
I was already worried about how weak I’d be afterward, but there was no other way.
At the very least, life force could be restored, so the burden was lighter.
"At least I’m not spending my lifespan."
It was fortunate that I had enough energy and life force to spare.
I could keep my vow—never again would I sacrifice my lifespan.
Silently, I continued the treatnt.
Light drove away the darkness.
The curse was erased, the ritual unraveled, and everything that had gone wrong was set right.
As I burned through my life force, a familiar question echoed in my mind.
"Why?"
The world always demanded a reason.
Why I stood at the forefront.
Why I carried out these so-called noble acts of hypocrisy.
Why I devoted myself to those who were little more than strangers.
And I always gave the sa answer.
"That’s not what this is."
I was not a good person.
Nor was I a righteous one.
"The War of Usurpation."
One year of guilt.
During the ti I waged war from the bottom of the abyss, I had bathed in blood and corruption.
By my own judgnt, I was far closer to a villain than a hero.
But—
"I simply wanted to see it."
Even if I drowned in the original sin that stained my hands.
There was a story I needed to witness.
A happy ending for a world that had known nothing but destruction.
For once, I wanted to see protagonists who were truly happy.
"So."
Misunderstanding, sorrow, despair—
I refused to believe those were the only words that could define the world.
I chose to believe that sowhere, salvation also existed for these people.
"If..."
If this damned world refused to allow salvation.
If it insisted on dragging them into misery.
Then I would be their salvation myself.
That was why I had remained here—
Why I continued my struggle to rewrite the ending.
Perhaps it was nothing more than lingering regret from the past—so unshakable sense of debt.
Regardless, my hands moved without hesitation.
"It’s almost finished."
Even through the blinding light, my vision was clear as I looked down at Rose.
Then, I turned my gaze to the emperor.
Valcaros, eyes closed in silence.
The ritual magic entangled around his heart was beyond cruel.
I couldn’t fathom how he had endured it for the past ten years.
A quiet thought ford in my mind, carried by the starlight.
"Valcaros Lantana von Staufen."
Love.
The devotion for which you burned your entire life.
I rember the desperate struggle you endured.
You fulfilled your duty as a father—
So now, I will take on the role in your stead.
I will not let her be swallowed by this cursed fate any longer.
"Wretched curse."
Before I knew it, the final incantation slipped from my lips.
The shining stars began to fracture.
Crack—! Crackle—!
The dical ward was engulfed in divine radiance.
A backdrop of stars crashing like waves.
With shimring white light at my fingertips, I snapped my fingers.
A sharp tallic taste filled my mouth as blood surged up my throat.
Even so, I continued the incantation.
"By the command of the Stars' Emissary..."
Everything—
For my beloved princess.
"Break."
Yes.
For Elize.
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