"Were you truly sincere in every moment? Was that why you were different from others, Grand Duke Fenrir? Was that your only intention?"
"..."
"Or did you... do that to forcibly bind me... just as others have done?"
What kind of answer is Presepe hoping for right now?
Do you want to hear the sincerity that I am different from them?
Or perhaps you want to hear that I was the same—that I would have done anything without hesitation if only I could force you to stay by my side.
Because if you hear such an answer, you will be able to cast aside this false world and leave this place forever, all alone. With all lingering attachment to me gone.
...Between those two options, which one would be the answer for Presepe?
"Lady Presepe is..."
However, before answering the cautious question, Fenrir also had something he wanted to ask.
"How did it look?"
"..."
"You think I seemed like someone who would do anything just to keep you by my side, Lady Presepe."
“Grand Duke, I..."
"Or did I seem like someone who, if my feelings were hurt, would nonchalantly harm or kill Lady Presepe, and then, once I lost interest, abandon and forget you as if I had never been anxious about you?"
You knew everything.
I didn't just know that I was repeating deaths and regressing, but also who killed me and in what way.
Presepe hesitated greatly.
"Was it both of them?"
"..."
"Did I look that terrible to you the whole time..."
Fenrir, looking at me, had a completely different expression from just moments ago, when he had been incredibly affectionate and warm.
Because he had the exact look of an abandoned child.
"If I give an honest answer to the question you just asked, will you not leave, Lady Presepe?"
Fenrir asked.
"To a place other than here."
What...?
Presepe's pale violet eyes, filled with Fenrir, trembled violently.
"Where on earth did it start..."
The strained voice trembled pathetically.
"How much did you know...?"
"..."
"The Grand Duke, and Vidar too."
I wished I could keep hiding it.
But Fenrir realized.
The fact that it had already become impossible to be a good person who is always kind and gentle in front of Presepe.
Just as I knew everything, Presepe also instinctively sensed what had happened.
“Everything.”
Fenrir's lips spat out the truth.
"From the beginning, everything."
With those words, a heavy silence descended between the two. Neither Presepe nor Fenrir could easily utter a single word. Presepe stared at him with a blank expression, while Fenrir looked back at her with a somewhat pitiful look.
"And the answer to Lady Presepe's question is..."
After quite some time had passed, it was Fenrir who broke the silence first.
"I assume you already know."
"..."
"After all, I am still pleading with you, Lady Presepe."
Looking back, in all the moments I spent with Fenrir, he never once forced anything upon me.
[Come closer, Lady Presepe. To my side.]
Just as he had said, he had only ever pleaded.
[Shall we go back and have dinner together? Of course, provided it doesn't inconvenience you, Lady Presepe.]
[Shall we hold hands? I am afraid of losing you, Lady Presepe.]
[Shall we go out? If you just say the word, I can escort you right away.]
[Then, can you promise me, Lady Presepe? That you will not hide anything from me from now on.]
It felt as if the voice of Fenrir that I had heard until now was ringing in my ears, all mixed together.
[Please love me.]
Even that desperate plea.
"..."
Fenrir's face, as he stared at Presepe, looked somewhat bitter.
...Yeah, maybe I’m no different from others.
In the end, when I see myself spitting out my true feelings like this, trying to attach a heavy weight to your heart so you cannot even leave.
'I am...'
Maybe I didn't want to hear the Grand Duke's true feelings, but rather wanted to hear the answer I wanted.
You tell me that you're different from others, that you're not like them at all, so please stay with me; don't go anywhere in this world.
Like right now.
However, Presepe could not easily utter a single word and just stared at Fenrir with trembling eyes.
“Shall I give it back?”
What was handed to Presepe was a small book that came out of Fenrir's pocket.
- Book of Memories
For a moment, Presepe’s face turned subtly pale as she looked down at the title.
"Because it belongs to Lady Presepe."
"..."
“Isn’t that right?”
A fabricated system. A fabricated worldview, fabricated characters, fabricated events, fabricated...
Amusingly, what suddenly crossed my mind were Attar Hanan and Noah DeVern.
"The Grand Duke..."
[Why do you think Fenrir killed Attar Hanan and Noah DeVern?]
"Did you really kill them?"
[It's because of you. He killed you to have you all to himself. With his own hands, personally. I told you back then, too. In my eyes, he's no different at all.]
[...So, that means even if something were to happen to you right now, there is no one who would notice immediately.]
Even though I clearly saw with my own eyes those incredibly vivid scenes Vidar showed me, I wanted to hear that he didn't kill him.
If Vidar's words are true, and if that was really the only reason he killed them...
I feel like I might be afraid.
Since Fenrir had hidden all the facts, it seems like the image he has shown so far cannot be trusted either.
"..."
However, there was no reply. Fenrir just stared at Presepe silently without saying a word.
Countless emotions were emanating from the red eyes shining in the dim moonlight. Things that could not be distinguished—whether it was resignation, anxiety, or anger.
And only after quite some time had passed did Fenrir's lips move slowly.
...But at that very moment, a loud, roaring cry began to echo from afar.
'Vidar...!'
There was only one thing that came to mind. Presepe urgently turned around. Then he saw all kinds of monsters rushing out again without hesitation, the ones that had blocked her path earlier. As if they had received a new order, the monsters all started rushing at Fenrir in unison.
"No, don't do it!"
However, the monsters seemed to have no intention of listening to Presepe. They showed no signs of backing down in fear as they had before. Of course, they did not attack Presepe, but the monsters swarmed in pitch darkness and attacked Fenrir.
"..."
Fenrir, having drawn his sword again before anyone realized it, slashed and slashed the monsters with an expression utterly devoid of emotion. Just like a machine.
"Just... avoid it! I said run away! There is nothing you can do!"
There was no answer. Instead, Fenrir swung his sword ceaselessly, endlessly repeating the process of having his shoulder torn off and being pushed back by the monster.
Hey, I didn't come all the way here to see this. I didn't ask that question just to lose the Grand Duke like this.
Presepe bit her lip with all het might and ran to Fenrir like a madman. Then she wrapped her arms around him.
The monsters won't attack me.
As expected, the monsters seemed flustered by Presepe's sudden actions. However, they did not stop attacking Fenrir.
At this rate, you might get hurt.
Fenrir struggled with all his might to pull Presepe away, but Presepe also clung to him with all her might.
In the end, there was only one answer.
Killing all the monsters currently in this place.
Gritting his teeth, Fenrir swung his sword even more desperately than before.
Only after quite a long time had passed did silence descend upon the lakeside once again.
It was filled with nothing but severed corpses of monsters and pools of blood.
Presepe slumped onto the floor with a thud.
"..."
And before anyone realized it, Fenrir, covered in blood as red as his own eyes, quietly looked down at Presepe.
"I haven't been able to answer Lady Presepe's question yet. Therefore, I cannot go."
Then, slowly bending his legs, he met her eyes, reached out, and gently grasped Presepe's chin.
As if telling her not to avoid his eyes.
"You're right."
"..."
“I killed them.”
It felt as if I heard the sound of my heart sinking in that moment.
Presepe looked at Fenrir with a blank expression.
"If I kill them all..."
Fenrik's voice settled eerily in my ears.
"So, it's just a matter of me being the only one left in your options."
"..."
"It was the only way I could get closer to you."
From the moment young Presepe extended her hand to me, it was already decided.
I loved Presepe.
It was a life that was nothing but terrible, desolate, and bleak, like a war. However, even if I were to go back to the beginning, and even if I had to repeat all those things thousands or tens of thousands of times, I would make the same choice without any hesitation.
Time and time again, without getting tired, enduring and enduring the years like a disaster.
"...Please stay by my side now."
The red eyes, filled with Presepe, shone pitifully.
"I came all the way here to reach you."
"..."
"So please, choose me this time."
Unlike before, Fenrir's voice was close to a plea.
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