Chapter 273
The man stared at Roina, his pupils dilated, unable to hide his shock. His trembling hands and the beads of sweat trickling down his chin spoke of his tension.
“No way…?”
“There’s no such magic in this brush.”
“……”
It had already been revealed during the lengthy conversation who Roina was and who they were. Still, the man looked around for a moment as if he couldn’t believe it, then finally collapsed onto the floor with a thud.
“…Oh my god.”
He grimaced in pain and covered his face.
“…And this magic has already been activated a lot.”
At Roina’s words, he jerked his head up. He was hoping that what he had done wasn’t meaningless.
“Probably, creation and reflection… A clone seems to have been created.”
“Ah. So all those fake ones I killed were because of that?”
Roina nodded cautiously, and the man fell into despair again.
“Don’t be too discouraged… What’s your name?”
“…Ernst.”
“Ernst. Do you remember anything about how this happened?”
Ernst. Come to think of it, they hadn’t even learned each other’s names during their time together. There had been very little conversation itself, so it couldn’t be helped, she thought. Neilla repeated that name a few times and remembered it.
At Roina’s question, Ernst fell into deep thought. He frowned as if he really couldn’t remember well. A long time passed, but Roina waited patiently.
“It’s not a clear memory, so I can’t be sure, but…”
And finally, his mouth opened.
“Ryuhyeon, I think that was definitely the name. The person who said that to me.”
“Ryuhyeon.”
It’s him again. Roina sighed quietly at the appearance of the familiar name. It seemed that she wouldn’t be able to live peacefully in this life without settling things with this person.
According to Ernst, one day, Ryuhyeon approached him, who was distraught after seeing his father trapped in the mana crystal, and said this:
‘Draw your father perfectly with this brush. Then he will come back to life.’
He had been obsessed with that suggestion, and that’s what had led to everything so far.
“It seems you were under a charm.”
Even Roina had almost lost her mind to his trickery, so it was obvious how powerful it would be. Roina sighed.
“Follow where the magic stones lead. That’s most likely where the answer is.”
“…Okay.”
Camillo surprisingly answered readily. She said this:
“There’s no fun in killing an enemy who doesn’t resist. And no thrill. It’s better to have a public execution, just like this guy said. But before that.”
Camillo grabbed Ernst by the collar, spun him around, and threw him to the ground. He landed on his back with a thud, as if he were a piece of paper in the hands of a strong warrior, groaned with a keheok!, then collapsed and coughed for a long time.
“Don’t act arrogantly and shut up. Who gave you the authority to judge us?”
She frowned slightly and turned away coldly. She was showing a lot of restraint. Ernst might not know, but Camillo had lost dozens of memories at random to kill the Count, so from Roina’s perspective, it was quite remarkable that she was only this angry.
“……”
At that moment, Roina saw Ethan standing silently. As the group started moving again, she asked Ethan.
“Ethan. Aren’t you angry?”
In fact, Ethan was also someone whose life had been completely ruined by the Empire, so it wouldn’t be strange for him to be angry or vent his anger. Yet, he was just silently standing there, and she felt like there must be a reason.
“…I don’t have the right to be angry.”
At those words, Roina glanced at Ethan. Why would he say that?
“Why do you think that?”
Ethan hesitated at her question. His light brown hair, which was even lighter than before and almost looked sand-colored at times, swayed slightly with his movements. It wasn’t a big movement since it was always neatly and shortly cut. His eyebrows, the same color, furrowed slightly and then relaxed.
“In the end, I am the disgraced Crown Prince who surrendered to the Empire. I couldn’t protect the country that my sister entrusted to me. So, I don’t have the right to be angry.”
Roina’s eyes widened slightly, and she placed her hand on Ethan’s forearm. She could feel the pulsation through the neat muscles and protruding veins.
“Who gives you that right?”
Ethan paused at those words. It was difficult for him to answer her question.
“It’s yourself, you fool. Don’t assign qualifications to emotions. Emotions are something you can’t do that with.”
At those words, he looked at Roina without realizing it. He suddenly realized again. She was this kind of person.
“If you suppress your emotions, they will eventually leak out somewhere. I understand you feel guilty, but don’t deny your emotions. If you don’t let them out, they will destroy you from the inside.”
He slowly opened his mouth again. An emotion that was difficult to express dominated him. Was he angry? Of course, he was angry. But more than that, he was consumed by the thought that the cause of it all was himself. He had been living in such agony every day, and Roina was his only escape.
“Don’t do that.”
Roina was saying that to him. Don’t do that.
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