Chapter 135
Cynthia’s breathing grew more and more rapid. Her mind started to grow hazy. Only Segleninde’s voice, whispering for them to always stay together, echoed in her ears. She saw his face as he gently lifted his head. A radiant smile bloomed on his tear-stained, beautiful face.
And then, as if swept up in a whirlwind, the scenery behind his back changed all at once.
The sight of the basement filled with Cynthia’s corpses disappeared, and the fourth floor’s Sky Garden appeared. All the mansion’s creatures were gathered there. The servants with flower heads, the ghost rats, the armored knights, the nymphs, Segleninde’s clones, the gorgons, and more.
They all smiled brightly, cheering and applauding.
In the middle of them all, Segleninde blushed and whispered to Cynthia.
“I like you… I love you. I love you, Sia.”
At last, he confessed his feelings and kissed the woman he loved.
Cynthia, sweat cold on her face, tried desperately to avert her gaze from him.
What should she do? How could she escape from here, how could she run away? Was it even possible to get away from him? Could she leave him behind? How, how could she…
Ding—
‘I really love you, Sia. I love you.’
Even the thoughts invading her mind were messages from Segleninde, wrapped in his own voice.
Cynthia felt like she was going insane. She wanted to run. She had to run. Alarm bells rang endlessly in her mind, but she couldn’t move a single step.
The man gazing at her with eyes full of love terrified her. The ones applauding her, the endlessly clear air, the beautiful Sky Garden—everything was frightening, terrifying. She felt like she might vomit. She couldn’t let herself understand these feelings. She mustn’t know the reason why.
‘Accept it. Don’t abandon Sellie. Stay with Sellie forever. You love him. I love him too.’
Of course, she loved him. But……
‘No!’
She had to pull herself together. She had to escape!
Clap, clap, clap, clap… clap.
The downpour of applause suddenly stopped.
“Huh…?”
Even Segleninde, whose face had been flushed in ecstasy before her eyes, froze in place, and the other creatures, who had been clapping, also stopped in the exact same pose.
Ding—
[I’ve stopped time for a moment. But it won’t last long. Hurry, get out of here!]
A strange message appeared.
Without another thought, Cynthia ran from that spot. When she checked her inventory, the teddy bear she’d left by the music box in the hallway some time ago was somehow back inside.
She rushed toward the entrance to the Sky Garden, asking as she went,
“How did you do it? How did you stop time?”
[I used the magic that was maintaining a fragment of consciousness in this teddy bear, so I could at least cast that much magic.] [You know who I am by now, right?]
Just as the bear said, Cynthia now knew the true identity of the consciousness inside it.
It was a fragment of ‘Mage Cynthia’, the one who had transmigrated into this world immediately before her.
[But I wanted to leave a warning for the next ‘me’ to come. Well, I know myself best, don’t I? After spending time together, I’d obviously end up feeling something for that guy in some way.] [Still, this time, it seems the feelings were especially deep……]
“Wait, wait! The message window is getting blurrier and blurrier!”
[My consciousness is fading. It’s because I’ve used up even the last magic power that was keeping it intact.]
[I’ll become an ordinary teddy bear soon. But it’s okay. You already know how to get out of here.]
[Even after seeing the ending, you already knew how to escape from this world long ago, didn’t you?]
Cynthia stopped walking.
Gasping for breath as if even the flow of the air had stopped, she looked around. She saw the music box placed at the entrance of the Sky Garden.
[No matter what you choose after this, you’re me anyway. There’s no point in resenting yourself, right? So make any choice for your own sake.]
[So, good luck, myself.]
[Ah, when you get home, turn off the gas stove first. It’s always left on……]
The teddy bear’s messages faded completely, then disappeared.
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