The Impact of the Author’s Intervention on a Blank Page - Chapter 40

Because they were the points registered to insert himself, someone who originally didn’t exist in this place.

So, it had been a kind of life force.

Though physiological tears blurred his vision, he could still make out the prince’s face, painted with shock. His barely supported body trembled spasmodically, streaming bright red blood.

“L-Lord Raijin. I’ll c-call someone…”

The previously pretentious prince now stammered with a timid voice. It was quite a sight seeing him trembling, unable to even set Ja-hyun’s body down on the floor while saying this. Ja-hyun wanted to respond, but only painful groans and labored breaths came out instead of words.

Meanwhile, the system window remained crystal clear, cluttering his vision with its bright display.

[Character Information Updated]

[Ezekiel B. Viestra]

[Third Prince of the Viestra Empire.]

[Relationship: Wariness, Suspicion, Interest, Sympathy, Shock, Tension, Guilt]

[A character who experienced death in the previous timeline. Due to the effects of regression in an incomplete world, he retains partial memories of the previous timeline.]

[Possesses Special Skill]

[Golden Dragon Eyes (Bloodline Inheritance, Manifested) – Can show thoughts to others through illusions upon contact. Due to low level, detailed sharing is difficult.]

Damn, so that future vision thing was a lie. It wasn’t a future vision… he just had some memories from before the regression. That’s why he’d said those things.

The prince was saying something, but Ja-hyun couldn’t hear properly.

He’d tried to make a contract, but unintentionally ended up threatening self-harm. But he couldn’t collapse here. If he collapsed now, anyone would think the prince had done something to him. He was still… still useful.

And if his brother mistakenly thought he’d been harmed by the prince, it would become even harder to act freely.

Ja-hyun pushed against the prince’s shoulder and managed to speak one word at a time.

“Before… my brother… come…”

His extremely hoarse voice ended there. He had no strength to say more. The foolish prince hesitated for a while before carefully laying him on the floor and saying.

“I’ll call someone, just wait a moment.”

He backed out of the room. For a prince, he was quite a coward, clearly weak-hearted. Still, hopefully he wouldn’t blurt out that he’d been here.

Huff, huff…. Each labored breath burned and stung. His eyes were slowly closing. Passing out would be better. He just wanted the pain to stop. Just… wanted it to stop hurting.

…I want to go back.

Bang—the heavy, thick door opened roughly. He barely lifted his blurring vision to check the source of the noise. Through hazy eyes, he saw expensive black shoes and smooth trouser hems.

Light poured in from the hallway into the relatively dark room. The tall man backlit by the light stood frozen in place, as if time had stopped.

[Warning! Durability of temporary trait ‘Dream Catcher’ assigned to the Apostle has decreased!]

[Current durability of temporary trait ‘Dream Catcher’ is 66/100.]

Bright red warning windows popped up one after another, cluttering his vision.

The man who had stood still as if not breathing finally began to move. In two steps, he came close and knelt on the floor. His reaching hands looked confused, like someone who had discovered something unknown that shouldn’t be seen.

Awkward hands embraced his body. Perhaps because his body was cold, his brother’s touch felt warm here. While he had always loved his brother’s usually cool touch, the warmth was also very nice.

Maybe because his mind was dissociating from the pain, childish and unnecessary thoughts came to him. Like how nice it was to be held by his brother now, when he hadn’t embraced him since losing his memories after coming here. Such one-dimensional thoughts.

Meanwhile, as he gritted his teeth and flailed from the unbearable pain, something firm yet soft was pushed between his forcibly opened lips.

He needed to tell his brother he was okay. Tell him not to worry. Tell him that while the situation might seem suspicious if he’d seen the prince, that prince hadn’t done anything.

“…You…”

His brother’s voice beside him felt distant, as if through water.

He thought he called out “brother,” but he wasn’t sure if the sound that came from his ruptured throat was just wind or actual words.

Darkness took him.