'Uh?'
As soon as she saw that sight, something like a scream ran through her body. The scream was more like pressure than sound. She couldn't stay in her right mind.
'...Wow, it feels like my soul is being torn apart!'
She felt overwhelmed by his emotions. The despair of sinking to the floor felt like it was her own.
"How dare you abandon me. Look at me. Don't abandon me. Yes? Take pity on me."
That was all Karl could say as he sobbed. But the emotions he didn't express were creeping into Odette's soul.
Even if I lived two eons and willingly died for you, would I still be unpleasant? Couldn't you possibly, could you possibly like me? Am I not at all pretty or admirable in your eyes?
I know I'm horrible. I also know that there's nothing you'd like to see. When you had no memory of your past life, I locked you in the shackles of time and treated you like crap. I treated you like the worst monster.
But you tried to get me out of your life. Considering that effort, if you give me just a little bit... I will never do anything you don't like again. I will do whatever you want.
His emotions surged toward Odette like a black tidal wave.
"I didn't want to be born like this. I didn't want to be born as someone you would hate."
Her mind buzzed as if he was forcing a resonance into her heart.
An endless thirst that will never be satisfied. A feeling that she might go crazy at any moment boiled inside her and suddenly rose up.
Odette covered her mouth with her palm as she felt something burst out. When she opened her palm, it was covered in ink as black as ink.
It seemed as if the black liquid flowing from Karl's eyes had burst out from within.
As if to prove that Odette was now resonating with the devil, as if to prove that this nauseatingly passionate feeling she felt was Karl's.
'So. In this way... You want me?'
I wish you. I wish you. I wish you. I wish you. I wish you.
This terrible longing made her feel like her body was being crushed. It was not a love that could be done in her right mind. Odette gasped for breath as her organs burned.
Contrary to his words that he didn't want much, his heart was filled with greed. At the same time that she was overwhelmed by that greed and felt dizzy, there was an emotion that she felt deep inside her heart.
It was, strangely enough, a relief.
It's a relief to know that someone wants you this much, to know that you're so bound that you can never abandon them.
The love Odette gave was never returned. It was a truth to Odette, who had never received anything in return since her childhood.
She instinctively doubts love and habitually doubts its continuity. The word love was synonymous with abandonment for Odette.
But if it's this kind of feeling... It's this kind of feeling that feels like it's suffocating her whole body.
From Karl's eyes, a pitch-black liquid was still flowing endlessly. Odette, who was watching him, opened her mouth.
"Karl..."
The pressure of resonance was still great. As she barely managed to make a sound, Karl looked at Odette cautiously.
God was himself, but he was looking at Odette as if he were worshipping her. He acted as if he were an Insignificant being who needed mercy and grace from the being before him.
Karl was embarrassed in front of Odette.
In front of a shallow orphan girl whom he couldn't stand, in front of a worthless girl who was perfect for being used as a toy.
"Karl...?"
Odette looked at Karl and called his name again, his red eyes still looking up at her.
Odette has always considered Karl a variable. Someone who might betray her at any moment, or engage in a tug-of-war with her at any moment.
But that blindness, that obsession, that fanaticism. The emotions that resonated were telling Odette.
The fact that Karl had been cruel and suspicious to Odette because he had no memories of his past life. The fact that the current Karl, who had killed her and regretted it, and had spent a long time blaming himself for not being able to bring her back, could never be a variable to her.
He had no choice but to betray Odette, having loved her no matter what timeline she was in, and arranged everything so die for her.
"I... don't hate you."
There was no need to calculate or watch what others thought. For the first time, Odette spoke with complete honesty.
"Karl, I don't even think of you as a terrible disaster."
As she spoke, Odette reached out to Karl and stroked the back of his hand soothingly.
"...Lies."
Karl retorted in a choked voice, but contrary to his words, the resonance gradually diminished. In an instant, breathing became much easier.
"I... didn't hate you. I was afraid of you. I knew you would betray me in the end. Because you were the one who cut off my head in my last life."
At Odette's words, Karl's eyes filled with guilt. His face twisted painfully, like a sinner who had fallen into hell again. Odette's heart also tightened.
"So, of course, I thought you would hate me at the last moment. Because there is nothing about me that is lovable."
Odette's throat tightened at the end of her sentence. It was the same thing the Count and Countess had repeated to Odette over and over again.
She no longer loved them, she no longer considered them family, but that didn't make the horrible words that had ruled her since childhood go away.
Those abusive words remained entangled within Odette. They took root deep in her mind, becoming a voice that gnawed at her.
Eventually, everyone will realize that I am this kind of person. Even if they like me now, they will abandon me once they know the real me. So don't be foolish and get caught. Don't reveal yourself. Because everyone will hate you.
Karl hugged Odette. Only after she was in his arms did she realize that she had been trembling as she spoke those words.
"That can't be true. You were... beyond lovely. You were love itself to me."
"..."
"All through this suffocatingly long time, I thought about you. I thought and thought about what this feeling could be. But in the end... in the end, it was love. So how could I think that you weren't lovable?"
"..."
"Do you know how hard I tried not to love you? If I hadn't loved you, I could have easily died. If I had just stopped loving you, I could have escaped death. Damn it. Eons were useless. Because I couldn't stop loving you all those damned eons. How can there be nothing lovable about you? That unbearable lovability of yours was the beginning of all this."
Karl gasped at Odette's words, as if it were painful to have that love denied, the one that had rendered him powerless for eons.
"I love you. You are the only thing I love in my life. Here is a fool who would endure two eons for your laughter. How can you say that?"
From Karl's words, Odette was certain that it was Karl who had given her another life, a return after eons.
During the resonance, the question Karl's heart threw at her was as if screaming.
'Can't you possibly, can't you possibly like me? Am I not pretty or admirable in your eyes?'
Odette was finally able to answer that question.
"Karl. I already like you."
Only after she had said those words did Odette realize that this was her most transparent truth, clear of all worries and anxieties.
Of course, it was not something like the passionate and destructive emotion that Karl had. It could never be called love.
But Karl... is precious. The child who was abandoned by his parents the moment he was born, the boy who was manipulated by his father and used like a tool, the man who broke down two years ago when he thought he had lost the children.
Odette recalled the moment when she shot herself in the head to fake her death.
At that moment, Odette was comforted by seeing Karl break down and scream. Seeing him desperately trying to save Odette.
She felt nothing but hostility towards the other male leads, but she only felt pity and regret towards Karl. Couldn't that feeling be even more special?
"And I think that someday I might fall in love with you."
Odette, who had said so, hugged Karl.
Odette will never love Karl as he loves her. Perhaps she will never love Karl, but only his complete blindness.
In a past life. In a world that made him hate her, only that foolish worship that endured for eons by loving her.
"If I ever love someone again, I hope it's you."
Odette has always been the weak one in matters of love. She is easily swayed and dragged along.
But if the opponent is Karl, he won't do that. He won't let her be weak. If it's Karl, who has already broken down and waited for her endlessly.
She carefully laid out before him her fragile truth that she had kept hidden all along because of her wounds. She wanted to be loved and to love.
So Odette sincerely hoped that she too would fall in love with Karl.
"So can you help me? I want to go out alive with you and all the other Transcendents."
Now Odette does not order Karl around. Whether it is an order or a request, she knows that Karl will not refuse her words.
"Give me a future where I will love you."
Because now there is no need for fighting or tug-of-war.
Karl hugged her back tightly. She could hear him sobbing.
Even though it was Odette who had asked, Karl was moved as if he had received the best gift of all.
He, who was finally saved from the pit of despair, kissed the back of his master's hand.
"Master. Whatever your command is."
And finally, the resonating sound completely disappeared.
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