Chapter 1
“Ha-uuk…….”
Lynette curled up as she barely managed to inhale. Her whole body was in agony.
It felt like someone was twisting her violently, or as if she were drowning deep underwater.
“Hoo……”
Cold sweat soaked her body. She didn’t even have the luxury of feeling disgusted by the clamminess.
‘Once it starts to fall apart, there’s no stopping it.’
Suddenly, Euphen came to mind.
Was he safe? Would he be alright without her?
She blankly let those thoughts drift by before letting out a quiet laugh.
Of course he’d be alright.
It was a useless thought. More than anything, Euphen had already found his ‘true’ partner.
That alone meant that Lynette had outlived her usefulness. Her body had started to break down at just the right time, too.
“Haha.”
Even though it hurt, thinking of him made her laugh. She even had the illusion that the pain devouring her entire body felt just a little bit lighter.
‘Someone like me, he’ll forget in no time.’
She had known, deep down, that it would come to this someday…….
A part of her had foolishly believed the dream-like time they’d shared would never end. The fact that her heart ached this much proved it.
What weighed on her was that she’d hurt him at the very end.
She didn’t have to say it like that.
She should’ve just said she was leaving for far away. She shouldn’t have brought up another man.
She regretted it, but it was far too late. Lynette bit her lip hard and closed her eyes.
Still, thanks to Euphen, she had been happy. He had smiled at her, someone insignificant and fake like her, and he had loved her.
‘It… was love, right?’
She wanted to believe it was love, yet part of her didn’t want to believe it. Because if he truly loved her, he might be hurt the moment he learned the truth.
If that were the case, then it would be better if Euphen had only ever seen her as a mere tool.
Thanks to that, she had experienced things she would never have been able to. She had seen sights she never would have seen.
A world that had once meant nothing to her now felt like a place she wanted to keep living in.
“Ugh……”
She clenched her teeth as the pain intensified, but a groan still slipped between her lips.
She wanted to think about Euphen a little longer, but even that became impossible as the overwhelming pain swallowed her whole. She could feel it. The end was near.
Dying with no one by her side, with no one to remember her, dying so young… none of that mattered.
The only thought that lingered in her heart was this: ‘I want to see him one last time.’
Even if only from a distance.
If she could just see his smiling face one more time, she could close her eyes with a smile of her own.
She desperately tried to recall Euphen’s face, but it wasn’t as easy as she’d hoped.
Just a few days ago, she could see it vividly even with her eyes closed, as if it had been etched into the back of her eyelids. Yet now, just ten days without seeing him, and it was already fading.
She should have engraved it more clearly into her memory.
Aside from that small regret, it had been a fairly satisfying life.
Because she had met Euphen. Because she had been of help to him.
Because she had, quite literally, been able to shoulder Euphen’s pain in his place.
Her consciousness briefly faded to black and returned again. She instinctively knew that after repeating this a few more times, she would fall into complete darkness.
Even if it was just an auditory hallucination, she wished she could hear someone calling her name—“Lynette.”
“Lynette!”
Even as her mind drifted into a haze, she heard his voice clearly.
He didn’t show her his face, but at least he let her hear his voice.
Just the fact that she could remember that voice calling her name so vividly made her a little happy. Even if it was just a hallucination, at least she could hear it.
She thought she’d never smile again, but she did. Even in a dream, Euphen made her smile.
Ah, she wanted to see him so desperately it was painful. So much so that her heart ached even more than her body.
“Lynette.”
She felt hands gently supporting her body. Only then did Lynette open her eyes.
Before her dimming vision, blurring more and more, stood the man she had wanted so badly to see.
“Your… Highness?”
“Lynette, get a hold of yourself.”
He brushed aside her sweat-drenched hair with his large hand. Each time his skin touched hers, the pain Lynette felt grew even more intense.
They both knew it, but they couldn’t bear to stay apart.
“This… uuugh… is this a dream?”
“It’s not a dream, Lynette. Damn it, why did you say something like that?”
Euphen whispered in a trembling voice, as if he might cry.
As a painful moan escaped Lynette’s lips, he flinched and tried to pull his hand away.
“Touch me… a little more.”
How had he gotten here?
Maybe he had used his powers. Lynette’s body absorbed the familiar pain, but more than that, she yearned for the warmth of his touch.
With a trembling hand, Lynette barely managed to grab his and pull it toward her. She rubbed her cheek against his calloused palm and let out a soft sigh.
“Lynette.”
A tear fell from Euphen’s eyes.
If only that tear, like in a fairy tale, had some healing power, how wonderful that would be. But no such dream-like miracle happened.
His hot tears rolled down her cold, sweat-soaked skin.
“Your Highness.”
His face looked distorted. She couldn’t tell if he had really contorted his face like that or if it only appeared that way because of the pain.
“Don’t… cry.”
“How can I save you… How can I keep you alive?”
There was no such way. She had been ‘made’ that way.
She had known it would come to this eventually.
‘Lord Euphen wouldn’t have known, though.’
A bitter smile spread across her face. If he had known in advance, would anything have changed?
Probably not. What he needed was a ‘Guide.’
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