Chapter 143
Lynette’s mind has gone blank.
‘Dead.’
Even after repeating that word to herself over and over again, , she couldn’t fully accept what it meant.
The man stood silently, watching her, waiting for her to react.
‘Dead? His Highness?’
Hadn’t she told herself countless times that such a thing was impossible?
Euphen is an Esper.
She had seen with her own eyes how easily he had dealt with an assassin.
She looked up at Sillian’s face.
If he would just laugh now and say it was a joke, she felt she could forgive anything.
But his expression remained stiff and unyielding.
“It’s a joke, isn’t it?”
Lynette spoke in a trembling voice, forcing a bright tone before letting out a small laugh.
The man frowned faintly, then grasped her shoulders firmly.
“Lynette.”
He didn’t say it was true, or to believe him, or that it wasn’t a joke.
But she could feel everything from the resolute way he called her name.
A laugh escaped her lips.
She tried to hold it back, but she couldn’t.
When Lynette ended up laughing anyway, Sillian’s expression darkened even more.
“Sillian. It wasn’t very funny, but I almost fell for it.”
Her mind refused to accept this situation.
At her words, the man closed his eyes tightly for a moment, then opened them again.
“His Highness the Imperial Prince Euphen is dead.”
He repeated it calmly.
As though explaining the concept of death to a child.
The laughter that had burst out of her like madness slowly faded away.
Lynette drew in ragged breaths as she stared vacantly at him.
Sillian tightened his grip on her shoulders.
“They said there was an accident.”
‘Accident.’
Her mind froze over completely at that word.
Memories of the past came rushing back.
Hadn’t Euphen once been gravely injured in an accident?
The magic pendant had saved his life back then.
She hadn’t seen his injuries directly because the ‘magic’ had already activated,
but she had heard countless times that it had been an incident serious enough to threaten his life.
‘Was it that accident?’
She couldn’t breathe properly.
If it truly was that accident, then Euphen’s death was because of her.
“What… what kind of accident was it?”
“They said the carriage fell while he was on his way to the royal hunting tournament.”
Her vision wavered violently.
The details were different, but the ‘hunting tournament’ matched.
“They said the heir of the Lera Merchant Guild was riding with him too, so Eshar must have…”
Sillian trailed off.
Her head spun.
She struck her chest several times with her fist, but she still couldn’t breathe properly.
Before the regression, Euphen’s grave injury had also happened during the hunting tournament.
Back then, they had said it was an accident during the hunt itself, but minor details could easily change.
So many things were already different from before.
‘The pendant… because the pendant isn’t with him.’
If this thing hanging around her neck had been there, he wouldn’t have died.
She couldn’t pull herself away from that thought.
“Lynette!”
Her body shook violently.
The force of it made her finally exhale the breath she had been holding back.
She gasped, inhaling and exhaling air again and again.
She was disoriented.
Sillian clenched his jaw as he looked down at her pale face.
“That man is gone now.”
“It’s… it’s because of me.”
Her voice quivered as she forced the words out.
The man’s expression twisted.
“How could this possibly be your fault?”
“I… If I hadn’t asked for this so carelessly.”
She spoke as if making excuses and held out the pendant hanging around her neck.
“I should’ve refused it to the end.”
She knew this had once saved Euphen’s life, so why had she taken it?
Had she grown complacent, thinking things had changed enough from before the regression?
She’d known something terrible could happen, and yet she had turned away from it.
“I shouldn’t have taken this.”
“What are you talking about?”
“If he had this, His Highness wouldn’t have died.”
Sillian looked at her with a puzzled expression.
“This… this pendant was what saved His Highness before.”
Lynette gripped his arm tightly.
The thought that the pendant should have saved Euphen’s life filled her mind with a tangled mess of guilt and despair.
It was miserable, wretched, unbearable.
As he looked at her face, frozen in shock, a bitter emotion crossed his own.
“Then couldn’t you return it to His Highness now?”
“Lynette.”
“He said so himself. He told me this pendant saved his life.”
Yes, it wasn’t too late.
She just had to give this pendant back.
He had said it saved him once before.
If she hung it around his neck again, the spell would surely save him now, too.
She had to go back.
Lynette shoved Sillian’s hand aside and rose to her feet.
She hurriedly gathered her things, but the man grabbed her wrist.
“Are you planning to go?”
“I’ll just… I’ll just return this to him.”
“His Highness Euphen is dead.”
“This pendant saved him before. It really did. He told me himself.”
She tried to pull her hand free again, but this time he didn’t let go.
“You can’t bring back the dead.”
“You don’t know that! I’m telling you, it’s true! This pendant saved His Highness before.”
Lynette pleaded with him desperately.
“I just have to return this to him. Just put this pendant around his neck, then it’ll be enough.”
“Haah…”
The man ran his rough hand over his face.
Lynette clung to his clothes, her grip desperate.
“It’s not that far. Once I return this to His Highness, I swear I won’t say another word about going back.”
“Lynette, no magic can bring the dead back to life.”
“His Highness said it himself. He told me this pendant saved him once before.”
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