Chapter 45: Aziz’s Beautiful Garden [13]
Celeste’s POV
——
’Why?
...This is the second ti he is helping . Why? Why wouldn’t he let
die?’
—
I used to be best friends with my big brother. He was the only friend I was allowed to have, and he was the only one in the Martini Barony who truly understood .
No one really liked
because I have a condition where I hear voices that are not there, or sotis even see, feel or hear things that aren’t real.
The family doctor said it was just a common ntal illness, but everyone seed to believe that I was cursed by the gods.
Only my big brother didn’t think so, and he didn’t treat
differently.
He defended
from the other children or servants who tried to bully or exclude . He let
stay with him whenever I was scared, letting
hide in his room until the episode passed. Most tis, he would even speak to
for almost a whole day just to drown out the voices in my head.
But... everything changed after his twelfth birthday.
He didn’t manifest a bond like every other noble, and this instantly drove him to be distant.
He wouldn’t speak to , wouldn’t see , or even help
out when those episodes of unbearable illness struck.
I could understand at first. I reasoned that it was probably because of Father’s harsh treatnt that drove him to be that way. So, I never blad him.
However, after getting my bond, Lilith, my condition grew worse.
Before, it was random words, random things, but after awakening and gaining my bond, the only thing I hear is a voice telling
to kill myself. A voice that tells
how worthless I am, and how better it would be for the world and everyone if I were to just... die.
The worst part, is that I can’t use my magic until I et a certain condition. But I do not like eting that terrible condition, and because of this, everyone hated
even more, seeing
as equivalent to a Bondless.
I had no one to rely on. And the only person I used to have would yell at
to leave him, even when I really needed him the most.
That was why, when father and brother treated Cedric harshly, I joined too. Not just because I was angry with him for leaving
all alone, but because I envied him for being a Bondless.
I wished I never had my bond.
If I didn’t have it, I wouldn’t have to deal with this voice and constant feeling of wanting to kill myself.
If I didn’t have it, I wouldn’t have to resort to drugs to keep that feeling and the voice that keeps telling
to kill myself away.
If I didn’t have it, maybe I would still have been friends with brother, as he would have seen
as Bondless, just like him.
The sha of how I treated him, how I mirrored the very cruelty he was supposed to protect
from, has always been heavier than any whisper the voices could conjure, because at the end, I ruined the one thing that kept
sane.
After everything I did to him, I was sure he hated .
That’s why, I do not understand: Why did he help
in the prison? He could have just left
bound to die and gone on his way.
Also, though I did ask him to let
co with him, I was sure he was going to tell
to go my own way. But instead, he let
co with him.
And now, even though I am a burden to him, he fights to defend ; and when he could have just let
die, he got himself injured just to save .
Why?
Everyone calls
weak and cursed. Yet he just said, right now, that I am strong.
Why?
Oh, I know...
It is because brother cares. Big brother still cares for
even after everything I did to him.
I need to make it up to him. I need to apologize and plead for his forgiveness.
But right now, I need to help him and make sure that my brother does not die here!
And so...
I will et the condition to use my magic...
I will pay the dreadful cost for my bonded ability...
I will... kill myself.
***
Cedric’s POV
——
When I was done talking to Celeste, I groaned and angrily turned away, then quickly reached into my inventory and took out a health elixir and began chugging it down.
While I was doing so, a series of notifications I was waiting for appeared to my side.
[The exclusive attribute Gar Privileges has detected a distraction from imrsion in the Gar.]
[Cause of distraction: Pain]
[Gar Privileges has activated a Non-diegetic barrier.]
[Due to the effects of the Non-diegetic barrier, the Gar has been granted Pain mitigation for the duration of combat.]
I quickly got up to my feet, braced myself, and began looking around.
It seed Aika had done a good job of keeping the ghouls from coming to
during the brief ti I was down, but she was already being overwheld and so I needed to quickly help her.
I raised my right arm and began preparations to use my exclusive skill, but just then, through the corner of my eye, I saw Celeste suddenly smile.
’Huh?’
Not just that, it also seed like the fear in her eyes had suddenly vanished and was replaced by... resolve?
Strange.
This girl was indeed really strange.
Then... right at that mont, she did sothing even stranger.
I saw her raise the tiny knife, grip the hilt with both hands, and aim the tip directly at her heart.
...What?!
"Hey, hey, hey! Wh-what are you doing?!"
However, before I could stop her, she plunged the blade straight into her heart.
My eyes went wide with horror at the sight. I couldn’t understand.
Why?
Just as I managed to reach her and grab her, she coughed up blood, then spoke in a gurgled voice. "Hold on for , big brother..."
Then her body went limp, and a notification popped up to my side in red:
[The character Celeste Anele Martini is dead.]
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