Far away, Presepe's room.
Crouching under the bed, he could see Presepe's troubled face.
"..."
Vidar, sitting at the top of the tree, just stared blankly at Presepe.
Presepe sighed repeatedly with a tired expression, buried her head between her knees, then lifted it again, and wiped her face with her hands.
Vidar was not unaware of the reason.
It must be because she heard the news that Ivan died. Because she has absolutely no idea what is going to happen in the future.
But you said you don't need me anymore.
Vidar bit his lip hard without realizing it.
"In the end, you too..."
Then, he recalled Ivan, who, even while letting out painful groans with all his limbs broken, would laugh with a maniacal daydream.
"You're exactly the same..."
It would not be an exaggeration to say that Ivan's face was already half-cooked as he said those words.
Of course, it was Vidar who did it.
"Seeing you get this angry at me... makes me feel even more..."
Vidar used the Book of Memories to see all the ending illustrations of Presepe being cruelly violated.
However, it was the first time he had seen Presepe actually suffer such a fate right before his eyes.
The face of Ivan, who threatened Fenrir, grabbed Presepe by the hair, dragged her close to the flames, and burned her, kept coming to mind.
His stomach churned with a strange heat, while his heart, conversely, grew cold.
Fury?
Is this what you call anger?
Is this anger?
...Then why am I angry?
"The Demon King has not the slightest interest in Presepe...?"
As he said that, Ivan laughed like a madman.
"The contents written in the Book of Prophecy were actually true after all... Right?"
No.
No.
He felt like he wanted to shout, but strangely, no words came out.
"You were just the same. That’s why you tried to use me! To take Presepe away from Fenrir! Just like I used Dietrich!"
That was a wrong assumption. There was only one reason why Vidar helped Ivan escape and allowed him to approach Presepe.
Because the system didn't collapse even though Attar Hanan and Noah DeVern died and all characters except Ivan regained their selves, and because he still has the setting values for Presepe remaining.
Ivan had developed a sense of self, but he remembered nothing of the events from the previous cycle. Vidar could only speculate.
Perhaps the recovery of memories from the previous playthrough is due to a clash between the original settings imposed by the game and the self newly created by a bug.
And understandably so, as the egos of Dietrich and Siegfried that emerged after the bug occurred were quite different from the settings assigned to them in the game.
Fenrir killed Noah before the bug even occurred, and although Attar regained his memories as soon as he developed a self, Fenrir killed him immediately as well. Therefore, that was the only conjecture possible at the moment.
But in Ivan's case...
There was absolutely no discrepancy between the newly created self and the settings assigned within the game.
Vidar thought that was why they couldn't remember. So he also thought that all he needed to do was give them a little push.
At first, he thought that killing everyone would accelerate the collapse, but in reality, that was not the case. This was Vidar's fatal mistake.
So, he decided he would no longer sit idly by while Fenrir killed them. He thought that keeping them alive and making them fight each other might actually be more helpful for the collapse.
"Do you think I'm the only one who lost out...?"
However...
"You're the same, Vidar, because Presepe already likes Fenrir!"
Vidar took the last breath from Ivan before he could say anything more.
It happened in an instant.
Just like that time when he instantly killed the entire family of a child whose face he can no longer even remember.
If this feeling Ivan mentioned is indeed anger.
Why do I?
So I keep getting angry like this, right?
"..."
The crowds still dying on Zixent Street, and Vidar's white face covered in Ivan's blood, began to slowly contort.
“It’s all because of you.”
Soon, Vidar muttered to himself in a voice dripping with resentment, looking at Presepe.
“It’s because of you.”
Because you didn't look for me.
Because you looked at Fenrir with those eyes. Because you called Fenrir a precious person, and because you kept talking about how Fenrir was completely different from others.
"No! Snap out of it... Grand Duke Fenrir!"
It still came back to him vividly. The face of Presepe, weeping and embracing Fenrir, who had collapsed inside that church after being struck in the center of his chest by a sword.
At that time, Fenrir looked similar to him.
He, too, was covered in Ivan's blood.
Then, if I collapsed in front of you right now, would you cry like that? Would you make that face? Would you scream at me to snap out of it?
Vidar could not understand the current situation at all. This was partly because he did not fully possess human emotions, and partly because he had lived for thousands of years without any interaction with anyone.
So, without even properly understanding his own emotions, he ended up just throwing tantrums.
Just like a child craving affection and acting spoiled...
However, he felt like he knew at least one fact intuitively.
The fact is that no matter what happens to me, Presepe will not cry, just as she did to Fenrir.
"It doesn't matter anymore. So please don't say anything weird to me for no reason. I won't listen."
Why are you saying you won't look for it?
Are you not planning to leave the game?
What on earth are you going to do?
Are you saying you intend to live in this world for the rest of your life?
No, if you hadn't abandoned this world like that and weren't going to return to reality...
...Then, if I had met you normally without going through all of this.
Would you have been by my side?
Without leaving forever?
And not long after, Vidar realized.
After seeing Presepe's notebook, the source of this rage that kept slowly consuming him was...
“You were trying to leave...”
Because you, who have ruined me to this extent, are trying to abandon me and leave again without any guilt.
Yeah, that was the reason.
Vidar's tightly clenched fist trembled.
Above Vidar's eyes, which sparkled as blue as the sea in the sunlight, Presepe, who had been burying her head, was seen rising from her seat in surprise.
Not long after, Fenrir entered. From a distance, he couldn't hear a word of what they were talking about, but the two seemed to be having a very serious conversation.
And not long after, Fenrir turned around, presumably having finished telling his story. But Presepe reached out and grabbed him.
Then, she pointed at Fenrir's body.
It was near where it had been hit by the sword Ivan threw.
Presepe seemed to say a few words, and Fenrir sat on her bed.
Eventually, Fenrir took off his outer garment and unbuttoned his shirt. He could see blood seeping into the bandage covering his wound, and he also saw Presepe bringing a new bandage.
Presepe very carefully unwrapped Fenrir's bandage, disinfected the wound, applied medicine, and then carefully wrapped a new bandage around it.
As she gazed at Fenrir, it was still a troubled day, but her eyes held a subtly different look from before.
So, a very worried look.
Just like what Ivan said to Vidar... as if gazing at something very precious.
"..."
Vidar instinctively fumbled around his chest. To be precise, it was the same spot where Fenrir had been injured.
It was funny.
He wasn't even hurt, but it felt like it was throbbing.
He felt an urge to rush in right now and forcibly drag Presepe out.
You are not Fenrir's person.
Fenrir isn't someone who can save you.
That was something only I could do.
And you...
You... are mine...
Unable to find the right words to describe it, Vidar was swept up in an intense emotion that was difficult to put into words.
It was a jealousy that was utterly ugly and petty.
However, Vidar, who did not fully understand human emotions, merely assumed it was anger.
He kept getting angry again and again, wanting to kill Fenrir just as he had done to Ivan, and burn him to ashes.
Such a strong impulse was constantly overwhelming Vidar's body.
Unfortunately, Vidar could not foresee all of this.
The possibility that Presepe might actually take Fenrir to her heart.
He never imagined that something completely unexpected would happen, and that it would trigger such strong emotions that he had likewise never anticipated.
Not at all, not at all.
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