Chapter 298 – Lucia Urella (1)
“…I have no memory of the ‘me’ you know.”
I thought countless times about whether to tell this secret to Lucia… Or whether to hide it until the end.
There are many things in the world that are better left undisclosed.
Maybe this secret is like that too.
I wanted to justify myself and move on.
But it was a deception to keep only my secret while Lucia was forced to listen to her secret she wanted to hide from me.
“From the beginning… I didn’t mean to cheat. At first I thought I knew you too.”
Yes, I definitely thought so at first.
But…
I realized it slowly.
“However, I found out from spending time with you… You were obviously looking at me, not me.”
Lucia is like me… But she was looking at someone who wasn’t me.
“Sorry…”
My body trembles.
I’m afraid that the words that criticize me will come out of Lucia’s mouth.
No, fear is not an accusation.
I’m just afraid to make Lucia realize that I wasn’t the one she loved.
Sigh-
At that time, Lucia’s hand touched my cheek where she was lowering her head.
“Raise your head…Master.”
“Lucia…You all…You heard…I…Your…”
“I knew… From the beginning.”
“…What?”
“From the beginning, Master doesn’t remember me. I knew.”
“…?”
I couldn’t understand what Lucia was talking about now.
“…Then…Why…Me…”
Didn’t Lucia take me as her owner because she thought I was Eugene from the first playthrough?
Then Lucia smiled faintly and hugged me.
“…It was my greed. Even though I know that my master doesn’t remember… My greed to want you to be my master.”
Then he looked at me and spoke.
“Didn’t the master tell you? Saying I’m looking at the master, not the master… That’s wrong. I’ve been watching you from the beginning.”
“That… How can you be sure of that? That you were looking at ‘me’!”
“I know.”
To me who objected, Lucia asserted.
“That’s right…The person I love.”
Pounding—
My frozen heart beats at Lucia’s words.
“And don’t worry. Even if the master’s memories don’t remain… The heart remains.”
“Wrong… Lucia. I had nothing left…”
When I first reincarnated in this world, I didn’t have any feelings left.
“It’s all your misunderstanding!”
“No. I am not mistaken.”
“How do you prove that? It could simply be… Your delusion!”
Lucia, who came towards me as I shouted, kissed her on the lips.
“…”
A kiss too short and light for us to do.
However, the emotions contained within were never light.
“…Lucia?”
“Sorry. Master. And thank you for being honest. Thanks to that, I think I can speak a little more comfortably.”
Lucia slowly opened her eyes and put me in her blue eyes.
“Then let’s begin. My hidden… No…”
Having said that, Lucia shook her head and smiled softly.
“Our story.”
**
Round 2, Carnea’s entrance ceremony.
“A member of the glorious Carnea Academy…!”
Dizziness that came unexpectedly.
And the feeling of disgust and loss that seemed to fill her body, yet undeniably clear memories.
‘Here is…?’
When I looked around her, holding her head, it was the great hall of Carnea.
‘…How am I here?’
I couldn’t understand how or why I was in the academy, which must have been destroyed a long time ago.
At that time, Vice Principal Singledoor approached and spoke cautiously.
“Miss Lucia? Are you all right?”
“Sorry. Just a little bit dizzy… I’m fine now.”
“…All right. If it is still difficult, please tell me anytime.”
With Single Door’s help, I barely regained my composure and read the speech again.
‘…Where are you…’
While reading the speech with his mouth, he was looking for one person with his gaze.
‘…Where are you… Eugene… Calliope…!’
A man who tricked me into teaching me in a vulgar way.
I had no choice but to admit it.
That my body has been perfectly tamed to the pleasures he inscribed.
But why…
‘Sorry…’
His voice and warm touch that I sometimes heard in my sleep.
If I was really just a toy to him, why did he apologize to me in such a heartbreakingly sad voice?
‘…Was there any guilt? Or not…’
No need to worry.
After all, you’ll soon find out why.
The first time Eugene spoke to me was right after the entrance ceremony.
“…Declared.”
Pair─ Pair─ Pair─
As he finished his speech, applause filled the auditorium.
Eventually, the students leave the auditorium in groups.
I left the auditorium late so Eugene Calliope could talk to me easily.
Then Eugene follows and leaves the auditorium.
Throbbing─ Throbbing─
At the thought that a lowly man is approaching me, my body and mind, which have been trained by him, tremble at will.
‘Lucia! What are you thinking right now!’
This is just a fake emotion engraved with pleasure.
Even though he knows he shouldn’t be swayed, his mind is not easily settled.
Jerk-!
And finally he arrived in front of me.
‘Come..!’
Now he’ll call me by name and pretend he knows me.
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…?”
Contrary to expectations, however, Eugene passed by, lowering his head, not to even look at me, let alone call me.
‘What is it?…Why didn’t you talk to me?’
Turning around, I looked at his back and said.
“There!”
“…I…Are you talking about it?”
“You…Why…!”
Once I said it, my head went cold.
What the hell am I supposed to say here?
You can’t even ask the stupid question why you’re not talking to me all of a sudden.
“…No. Excuse me.”
“…Yes.”
Rather, I bit my lip tightly as I looked at his surprised face.
“…Something… What the hell…”
**
The moment I lie down alone in the dorm bed, I realize that my body is hot.
“…Haha…”
Just sharing a few words with him filled my body with joy.
Involuntarily, I hold back my hand that was trying to reach my lower abdomen, and once again I think back to the memories I recalled.
“…Is it all a dream?”
Memories too vivid and vivid to be considered a daydream.
Master… No, Eugene Calliope must have brutally trained me. Even so…
Was all that time spent struggling to save the world just a dream?
I let out a long sigh in frustration.
“…You’ll know when you see it.”
***
After the entrance ceremony, I secretly followed Yujin.
It wasn’t easy because there was a considerable physical distance between Class 1 and Class 5, but we had to do it anyway.
Not long after that, Eugene was seen approaching a familiar woman somewhere.
‘…That’s for sure.’
Vivian Beatrice.
A woman who dropped out of the academy in the first round and later came to be called a witch.
‘…I see… Eugene Calliope… Are you trying to start with that kid instead of me this time?’
If you obtain the witch’s power, you will surely be able to change the future more easily.
‘As expected…You were a villain…But…I won’t let you do that!’
If Eugene laid her hand on Vivian, she would immediately send him down to hell.
But the more I watched, the more I realized that I was wrong.
‘…That’s an assistant?’
No matter how critically he looked at it, what Eugene was doing was not a teaching assistant.
“…And…Thank you…”
“Are you okay. Don’t mind.”
“That… But… And… Thank you…”
It just helps and protects Vivian.
Succulent ─
‘…I…Was…So…Cruel…To me…Why…To that child…!!’
I am startled by the sensation of a sudden tightening of my heart and wake up.
‘…Calm down, Lucia. A man who has nothing to do with me!’
I knew it was contradictory even if I said it myself.
If it really has nothing to do with me…
Why am I following him like this?
***
After a long time, I finally admitted it.
He is not the ‘Eugene Calliope’ I knew.
Judging from Eugene’s behavior, he seemed to know a future similar to the one I knew, but different.
But that’s it.
The first Eugene and the current Eugene were completely different people.
Unlike him in the first episode, who was cruel and evil, now Eugene is just a sincere, popular, and nice guy.
He’s the kind of stupid guy who would throw himself away, regardless of how much he hurt himself, if he could sacrifice his own body to save others.
I almost died dozens of times just from what I saw, and I saved more than ten of them.
However, apart from his personality, the situation was heading for the worst.
‘…The head of the Calliope family was poisoned…The first son, Erden, is the prime suspect…’
Seeing the telegram in his hand, I bit my lip.
I know the truth about this case.
All of this was concocted by two villains, Reika and Garcia.
Fortunately, even Erden was poisoned in the first round, but in this round, as if Eugene Calliope made an effort, Erden succeeded in escaping.
‘…But the Calliope family has already been succeeded by the second son, Cale Calliope… Haa… I should have… Stopped it…’
Blood oozes from the tightly bitten lips.
As Urella’s successor, I might have been able to stop it if I had invaded the Calliope family and acted on my own, even if it was forced.
But it couldn’t be because of one woman.
‘The princess…’
Liana Lumenhark.
Trying to catch her by the tail by playing with future knowledge ahead of time made her unconnected to the case.
But if I take my eyes off of it, it tightens me in a way that didn’t exist in the first playthrough.
…The princess laughed at me on the street as if she were playing a game with me.
If I had been away from the academy this time, there would have been an incident I couldn’t handle.
‘…Now, the rebellion is just around the corner.’
Time is getting closer and closer.
I let out a sigh of frustration and suddenly looked out the window and saw Eugene and Vivian walking around the courtyard.
“…”
It was the same person as the first time I saw Vivian, so I could feel that she truly loved Eugene from Vivian’s face with an unbelievably bright smile.
And Eugene, wearing an eyepatch and walking behind her on crutches.
Succulent ─
My heart hurts.
I had already gotten out of the 1st round of teaching assistant a long time ago.
The aftereffects were quite long, but now even those aftereffects are gone.
Succulent ─
…Then, where did this feeling I’m feeling right now come from…
‘…If the.’
If I hadn’t had memories of the first playthrough…
So, if I hadn’t distanced myself from Eugene from the beginning…
Could I have been there instead of Vivian?
“…”
I clenched my fists at the thought that suddenly came to my mind.
“Calm down. Lucia…”
Even if I had Eugene in my heart, the role given to me in this life is not a heroine.
As the main character, it was to prevent the bad ending of this world.
That is…
It was something I could do for the man who sacrificed himself more than anyone else for this world.
