Seraphim the seraph had appeared; I had confessed my love to Isabelle; and Isabelle had finally accepted that love.
Every moment felt like a midsummer night's dream.
Could my possession of Ian's body have been a dream as well?
Well, that isn't what matters.
What did it matter if it was a dream?
No one could deny the love I held in my heart, after all.
"Ian, I can move. My body feels light, and it doesn't hurt anymore."
The moment I saw Isabelle emerge from the lake, my breath caught in my throat.
Could she really have changed this much?
Freed from [Rose's Punishment], Isabelle's beauty was quite literally heavenly.
Perhaps she could even be compared to Helia, the goddess famed for her beauty.
The result far surpassed my expectation that she would become as beautiful as Isolde.
"Ian?"
"Ah, forgive me. You were so beautiful that I was speechless for a moment."
"Mm... P-please don't stare at me so much."
"Why not? A husband is allowed to look at the face of the wife he loves."
"Y-yes, that's true, but I'm not used to being looked at like this..."
Isabelle's utter embarrassment naturally brought a smile to my lips, and seeing me smile, Isabelle smiled as well.
"Isabelle, I imagine you have many questions. But the night has grown too late for explanations."
I spoke as I pointed to the cabin at the far end of the lake.
"How about we spend the night over there?"
"All right."
Isabelle had every reason to question my suggestion, yet she obediently took my hand.
This cabin isn't much different from the game either.
The cabin by the lake was also one of the hidden pieces from [A Returnee Hero's Circumstances], serving as the only safe zone on the northern mountain.
Thanks to that, we could spend the night without having to stand watch.
Found it. The diary.
I had analyzed numerous hidden pieces, but this was one place whose true nature I had never been able to uncover.
There were far too many questionable details to dismiss it as nothing more than a safe zone.
One of them was this diary.
In the game, it said it was written in letters that couldn't be read.
I opened the diary.
I was not expecting much.
After all, none of the objects inside the cabin could be taken outside.
I was merely satisfying my curiosity.
「 August 12, Year 546 」
I saw my wife cheating on me.
I ran from that unreal sight.
It has to have been a dream. There's absolutely no way it could be real.
But the instant I saw what was written in the diary, chills ran down my spine.
This is Hangul?
The entire diary was written in Hangul.
What was more, its contents felt strangely familiar.
「 August 15, Year 546 」
The man who had slept with my wife spoke.
He said that the daughter I had loved and cherished more than anyone was that bastard's child.
This is a lie. No, tell me it's a lie!
「 August 17, Year 546 」
Every villager knew about my wife's affair.
No, every last one of them had been enjoying themselves with my wife.
Was this place a den of beasts?
Why in the world had I tried to settle down in a village like this?
Could the owner of this diary be Ian?
It was absurd.
It was causally impossible for a diary written by the future Ian—the Ian I had not possessed—to be here.
But it matched the events from [A Country Village's Circumstances] exactly, leaving no room to deny it.
Then there is only one final hypothesis.
I knew of one being capable of making the impossible possible.
Eos, the Goddess of Dawn and Daybreak.
She was the very one who had bestowed regression upon Wendy, the protagonist of [A Returnee Hero's Circumstances].
If she, who governs time, intervened, then it makes perfect sense.
Yet there was still one thing I could not understand.
How could Ian write Hangul?
To find the answer, I continued reading Ian's diary.
「 September 21, Year 546 」
I ran away.
I ran and ran from that village.
「 September 24, Year 546 」
I decided to die.
But I could not die.
This damned cursed fate stopped me from dying.
It tormented me from the day I was born, and now it won't even let me die as I please?
Cursed fate?
It was an expression I had never seen before.
Between the elf master and this, Ian has more hidden backstory than I thought. Is he not simply an NTR protagonist?
In [A Country Village's Circumstances], Ian never appears again after the final scene of him attempting suicide.
But through this diary, I could see what happened afterward.
「 October 2, Year 546 」
Winter is coming.
I wonder whether everyone is doing well.
No, don't think about them. Don't think of that filthy bitch!
「 October 4, Year 546 」
The villagers threw something away in the mountains.
It can't be... What they discarded was my sister-in-law, who was too sick to move.
「 October 5, Year 546 」
I brought my sister-in-law to the cabin.
What have I done?
Trying to save the younger sister of the wife who betrayed me.
According to the diary, Isabelle, who had been abandoned in the mountains, had not died and was apparently saved by Ian.
Is that why I feel especially drawn to Isabelle?
「 October 6, Year 546 」
My sister-in-law's eyes were dead.
They were the eyes of someone who had given up on everything. I know those eyes.
I saw myself in her eyes.
「 October 24, Year 546 」
That day, my sister-in-law spoke for the first time.
"I'm sorry."
I could not give any answer to her words.
「 November 17, Year 546 」
The weather gradually grew colder.
To endure the cold, my sister-in-law and I shared our body heat.
Her body was terribly cold.
「 December 2, Year 546 」
My sister-in-law's body kept growing colder.
I kept the fire alive for her.
「 December 14, Year 546 」
My sister-in-law's coughing became more and more frequent.
I tried making medicine for her, but it had no effect.
「 December 21, Year 546 」
My sister-in-law apologized to me again.
What the hell did you do wrong!
After I shouted at her, my sister-in-law said nothing more.
「 December 23, Year 546 」
That day, my sister-in-law left me with two words.
"Thank you. And I love you."
「 December 24, Year 546 」
My sister-in-law died. In my arms.
There was nothing I could do for her.
I failed to save her again.
「 December 25, Year 546 」
Someone came to see me.
She introduced herself as h.
. . .
Someone came to visit me as I held my dead sister-in-law's body in my arms.
That someone was a woman.
From afar, she looked beautiful, but up close, she was a woman nearly devoid of color.
She was undeniably beautiful, yet difficult to properly perceive.
Even to me, it sounded like a strange way to describe someone, but the woman before me was just that alien.
Could she be the being my master spoke of?
Perhaps.
That being was said to appear in order to mock human despair.
But I was not afraid.
I had already lost everything. There was nothing left for me to suffer over.
"It's nice to meet you. I would like to introduce myself, but circumstances prevent me from doing so. Please call me h."
"Get out. I have no intention of seeing anyone right now."
"I understand the grief of losing the lover you cherished. You must resent the cursed fate that was decided for you from birth."
"How do you know that?"
The woman smiled with the innocent smile of a child.
Was she not the being my master had mentioned? Then what in the world was she?
"What matters to you right now isn't who I am, but your lover lying there cold and dead. You want to bring her back, don't you?"
"What are you talking about? Can you bring her back? Can you bring Isabelle back to life?!"
"Perhaps I can. But I believe we need to solve the more fundamental problem first."
"The fundamental problem?"
"The fate that has tormented you until now. The fate in which your family falls, your loved ones die, and everyone you love leaves you. But that was not originally your fate. It is a false fate that that being forcibly placed upon you because you would become an obstacle to it."
As she spoke, the woman gently pressed a hand against my chest.
"I want to restore your fate. Your true fate—the fate in which you were meant to become a hero."
"I don't know what the hell you're talking about, and I don't need any of that. Just bring Isabelle back!"
"But even if I grant your wish and revive your lover, she will only die again. Because that is your fate."
"..."
"Do you understand what I mean?"
"What do you want from me?"
At my answer, the woman's face turned expressionless.
"In the next cycle, I intend to place another soul within your body."
She gave off the impression of a doll, devoid of all emotion.
The abrupt change sent chills through me.
"Fight evil with evil. The power of a thoroughly wicked, ominous soul will restore your false fate to what it was meant to be."
"Then what happens to my soul?"
"Your soul will be absorbed in the process."
I almost laughed at the absurd demand, but looking at Isabelle's dead body made me reconsider.
I had lost everything anyway.
Then could I not offer up this insignificant soul?
"I'll ask one last thing. Can Isabelle be saved by your methods?"
At my question, the woman smiled once more.
This time, it was a mature smile.
Was it just my imagination? Her entire impression changed from moment to moment.
It felt as though I were facing not one person, but several.
"Though your consciousness will disappear, the love you hold for your lover will never vanish."
"That's enough for me."
I did not know what kind of being would possess my body, but it did not matter.
If even a fragment of my soul remained, I would surely come to love Isabelle.
Isabelle, I'm coming to save you.
This time, I will make sure you receive my love.
This time, I will make you happy.
So smile for me.
.
.
.
.
.
That was where the diary ended.
As I closed it, I spoke in a low voice.
"This is harder than I thought."
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register