After I Died, The Male Leads Became Strange

Cail slowly emerged from the memory of that day.

He raised his head and looked at the room where she was staying.

The terrible remnants of that day still clung to his feet like a nightmare, holding him back, but seeing the window where the light was still on, a faint smile formed on his lips.

She seemed a bit surprised that he could use magical power.

I’ve been able to use this power since you left.

With this cursed power that drove you to death, I’ve kept your soul bound to this earth.

Because of my selfishness, you couldn’t even find peace; I wonder if you’ll hate me when you find out.

Cail glanced at his fingertips, where magical energy still remained.

“She must have… noticed.”

His eyes suddenly contorted.

[Hey, Cail. Are you okay?]

Helasio asked, cautiously observing him.

The black dragon wore an uncharacteristically worried expression.

The magical power flowing from Cail’s body moments ago was alarming.

It was powerful enough to blow away an entire mountain.

He had been worried about him for a while, but couldn’t approach. That was because Jella was by his side.

Never approaching Jella again.

That was the prohibition Cail, as the contractor, had placed on Helasio.

Helasio quite liked Jella, so he was quite disappointed that he couldn’t appear before her.

When Cail was alone with Jella without him, he would complain that it was unfair.

But now, more than the fact that he had conversed with Jella alone, he was worried about Cail’s condition.

[I told you to be careful. If you go berserk, I die too. It means you and I will bid farewell to this world hand in hand, you know?]

Helasio grumbled as he examined Cail’s body.

However, Cail ignored Helasio’s words with disinterest and stared intently at her room where the light was still on.

Death, huh.

Perhaps this cursed power would lead the disloyal slave who deceived her to death.

What a trivial ending.

Cail only hoped that she wouldn’t witness such an unsightly end of his.

***

The next morning.

I woke up to sunlight pouring through the large window.

After looking around for a moment, I belatedly realized that this was the Yetrisha Imperial Hotel where Cail had brought me yesterday.

I thought I wouldn’t be able to sleep well last night because my mind was so troubled, but surprisingly, I slept soundly.

Feeling good in the fluffy bedding, even though I had opened my eyes, I continued rolling around on the bed without getting up.

This room was a Royal Suite, an even higher grade than the Suite room I had extracted from Tenes, designed for royal guests from foreign countries.

“This place must cost a fortune. Is it really okay?”

A worry suddenly crossed my mind.

Originally, this Imperial Hotel was something I had created in my previous life to extract money from wealthy state guests. In other words, it was incredibly expensive.

Cail had looked dejected when I questioned if he could be trusted, but I couldn’t help worrying.

“Even so, this is too much. Hundreds of thousands of gold for one night? It’s just for sleeping, isn’t it too expensive?”

After grumbling like that for a while, I soon remembered that it was my previous self who had set those prices.

“Ah, who am I to blame?”

I sighed deeply and muttered.

“I’m really worrying about money now, I’ve truly become an ordinary citizen, truly.”

Thinking like that made me chuckle.

Whenever I found myself worrying about things that my previous self would never have worried about, I realized anew that I had moved beyond my past.

“I should get up soon…”

As I pulled back the covers, sat up, and looked for slippers, my laughter suddenly stopped.

The thought of returning to the pharmacy brought back all the events from last night that I had been putting off.

“Let me say this clearly right here. I have never, not for a moment…”

I couldn’t hear the rest of his words because of the sudden intrusion of the assassin, but even without hearing it all, something was conveyed.

“That I couldn’t do it then, that I couldn’t prevent your death in the end, still torments me.”

“If I could finally save you this time, my life would be…”

“I was in pain when you died. Would you be a little sad if I died?”

Remembering Niel, who clearly disliked me yet spoke as if he liked me, as if he loved me, made me feel unsettled.

“Honestly, that’s basically a confession.”

Niel wasn’t the only one making me uneasy.

“I killed God.”

“The d*mn God who gave the oracle to kill you.”

“Hmm, just. It seemed like it would be fun.”

I already thought my mind was going crazy, and now my head hurts because of Yupheon, who said he killed God because it seemed fun.

‘Did he really kill God for such a reason? Isn’t he insane?’

But more concerning than his mental state was his physical condition.

‘Is it really okay… after doing something like that?’

When I asked what would happen to him now, he replied lightly and playfully.

He said he was unemployed, that he would starve to death, so I should take responsibility.

Because of that, I got caught up and couldn’t properly question him, but…

‘Now that I think about it, he seems to have deliberately changed the subject. He had no intention of giving a proper answer.’

But I had someone who could tell me about his condition.

‘I should meet His Holiness Johannes and ask.’

I recently saw in the newspaper that the previous Pope, who had been recuperating at the holy land for seven years, had come out.

Lord Johannes would be able to resolve my questions.

‘And… about how I came to open my eyes again in this body.’

Perhaps Yupheon’s divine power had something to do with my resurrection.

‘Besides, Damian said that. Yuphe had been interested in resurrecting dead people for a long time.’

But to revive the dead, one needs a body, a soul, and God’s breath.

He said that even with divine power, a soul cannot be contained in a body that has been dead and decayed for a long time, and it’s impossible to bring back a soul that has left its body and gone to the spirit realm.

So how I opened my eyes again in this body had been a question I had been pondering ever since I heard about the conditions for resurrection from Damian.

“The problem is how can I, an ordinary pharmacist, meet His Holiness Johannes…”

Unlike my previous life as an emperor, I was not in a position to immediately meet the former Pope just because I wanted to.

“Well, there must be a way.”

Since there was nothing I could do right away, I headed to the bathroom, intending to clear my complicated mind.

As I soaked my body in warm water, I remembered another voice that had confused me.

“That man is not insufficient by your side, but compared to him, I seem too shabby…”

“You’re lying. Don’t disappear again, Jella.”

“This peaceful world achieved through your death… So I don’t destroy it with my own hands.”

I couldn’t bring myself to ask what that meant.

Partly because I was afraid to understand the meaning of that gaze that had been persistently following me for some time, but more so because the enormous amount of magical power Cail had released had shocked me.

More precisely, it wasn’t the power of that magic that surprised me, but the essential energy it contained.

“I’m sorry, Jella. Please don’t ask.”

Last night, Cail begged me not to ask. He trapped me in his arms so I couldn’t look at that face that seemed about to cry.

‘With that face, with that voice, saying such things, how could I possibly ask more?’

So despite having many questions, I couldn’t ask and had no choice but to obediently follow him to the hotel room.

But that energy was clearly…

“Helasio.”

I frowned slightly and murmured quietly.

It was clear. That was definitely Helasio’s energy.

It wasn’t the first time I had sensed that energy from Cail.

That day, when Cail had turned into a snowman waiting for me all night in front of the underworld building.

When I brought him inside and changed his clothes, I vaguely felt Helasio’s energy from his chest.

‘But that dragon bastard should have died with me.’

I didn’t confirm Helasio’s death with my own eyes. But I remember Helasio’s voice screaming and cursing me as a crazy woman when Cail’s sword pierced my heart.

That was my end. My end…

“I will… never forgive you.”

Recalling my end, I also remembered Cail’s last words resenting me. His expression, his eyes, and his voice as he said those words.

“Stop making that expression at me.”

The words I couldn’t convey last night, that I had ultimately swallowed, rippled again in my throat.

“Your expression just now, it’s like…”

Your expression keeps reminding me of that time.

It’s strange. Back then, you were clearly crying and resenting me.

And now you’re standing with just a calm face like any other time in the past that I remember.

…Why do I keep thinking of that time when I see your expression now?

“That’s why I said stop making that expression.”

I pouted and muttered to myself, words no one could hear.