He had to reach Ariel.
But… he couldn’t take a single step without her consent.
Every move he made could mean the difference between her life and death.
Kylance swallowed nervously.
He had to convince her, change her mind, stop her from making a fatal decision.
Yes, he had to say something, anything.
A flood of words he wanted to say to Ariel raced through his mind.
I’ve made a mistake, I’ve committed an unforgivable sin, I’ll risk everything to make things right, please, don’t go any further, please… don’t die.
Countless words came to him, but all he could manage was a shaky breath.
The closer he got to Ariel, who was standing on the edge of the cliff, the harder it was to breathe and his throat tightened, making it impossible for him to speak.
Ariel’s gaze was empty as she looked at him.
There was no trace of resentment, anger or sadness in her eyes.
At that moment, Kylance felt his fingers grow cold.
She seemed like someone who had already given up on everything. He couldn’t find the courage to speak.
Until now, he had believed that there was still a chance to make things right…
Is it really too late?
Am I really powerless?
Am I just going to stand here, frozen?
Frozen until she falls…?
Kylance’s heart dropped, and with it came a terrible memory.
The carriage, shattered at the bottom of the cliff, and the bodies of his parents, barely recognizable.
That terrifying scene was once again overlapped by Ariel’s image.
His heart raced and his breathing became erratic.
Kylance inhaled sharply, biting his lips to keep the panic from overtaking him.
Drops of blood fell from his lips and hit the ground.
And at that moment, Kylance saw blood that wasn’t his own.
More specifically, he saw bloodstained footprints.
As the dark clouds parted to reveal the moonlight, the bloodstains, once hidden, became visible.
Kylance’s eyes followed the crimson trail as it moved forward.
Eventually his eyes fell on Ariel’s feet, which were in disarray. Blood flowed from them. The sight of the fresh, dark blood brought Kylance back to reality.
If I give up now, it’s really over.
Kylance clenched his trembling hands and looked up at Ariel.
He couldn’t look away from her indifferent green eyes as he desperately called her name.
“…Ariel.”
“…”
“……I am the one who has sinned. If anyone must die here… it shouldn’t be you, Ariel.”
Kylance gathered all his strength and spoke in a pleading, broken voice.
“I won’t move a step if you don’t want me to, so please, Ariel, please come to me. I’ll do whatever it takes to make things right. Please…”
As Kylance pleaded, Ariel, who had been silent with her lips pressed together, finally called out to someone.
“…Father.”
Blante Marquis.
Kylance’s words trailed off, choked by the weight of an unforgivable sin around his neck.
Ariel stared at the frozen Kylance, her gaze distant as if he had been struck by lightning.
She spoke slowly and continued.
“How are you going to make things right? My father is already gone.”
Ariel showed no anger. She spoke only with quiet bitterness, as if reciting a sad verse.
“There is no way to bring the dead back to life.”
“……”
“And you’re the one who caused my father’s death, Kyl.”
Kyl. Her nickname for him. He couldn’t remember the last time she’d called him that with such warmth.
Yet only moments ago she had affectionately called him by his nickname and driven a dagger into his chest. But that dagger had always belonged to him. It had simply found its rightful place.
He closed his eyes tightly before opening them again.
Finally, Kylance knelt.
“Yes… I did that. It is all my sin. I won’t deny it. I’ll confess everything. I can’t bring back the Marquis… but I will restore the honour of the Marquis and his family.”
“……”
“After that, I will face the consequences of my actions, leaving nothing behind. I will atone, even if it means dying. Please… Ariel… come back.”
Kylance begged.
His face, a mixture of desperation and remorse, pleaded desperately.
Ariel’s green eyes flickered for a moment.
Is it true? Is he really regret i?
But then the words of the Duchess of Viasteus resurfaced in her mind.
He had spent years planning his revenge.
He had said that even before he had made her father a traitor, he had used her to bring him down.
And he had wanted to destroy her, someone who had grown up surrounded by her father’s love without knowing.
And now he regrets it?
He says he wants to atone for his sins?
But she has nothing left.
Ariel couldn’t stop herself from laughing bitterly.
“Sins… you say…”
Ariel fixed her gaze on Kylance and took a small step back.
Tiny stones and debris fell from the cliff, carried by the waves below.
The overwhelming whiteness of the scene made Kylance body shudder.
“No! No… Ariel, please… please…”
“This is the ending you wanted, right? You deceived me for years, turned my father into a traitor and finally wiped the Blante Marquis family from the Empire.”
“I…”
“Did you really think I would survive that? Didn’t you know this was what I would become?”
“This is not what I wanted.”
Silent tears streamed down Kylance’s face.
“This wasn’t what I wanted… But what am I to do now? I can’t believe anything you say anymore.”
Ariel muttered bitterly.
Seeing Kylance in pain, torn by regret and despair, she suddenly felt the need to test something.
She wanted to know if those tears were real or just crocodile tears. At that moment, she wondered if he would finally tell the truth.
“Kylance.”
As Kylance’s tear-filled eyes met hers, Ariel asked:
“Do you love me?”
If you’ve ever told the truth… maybe I could…
Ariel gripped the pocket watch tightly.
At that moment, Kylance, kneeling before her, cried out passionately.
“I love you. I’ve always loved you. I never stopped loving you for a single moment.”
“Kylance never loved you, not for a moment.”
The truth spoken by the Duchess of Viasteus drowned out the words.
Ariel finally let out a hollow laugh.
How stupid I was to almost believe you again.
“Haha, really… even in the end you’re still lying to me”.
There’s no miracle for them.
“What?”
Kylance felt a shiver run down his spine at the disturbing sound of her laughter.
“You’ve executed your revenge perfectly, Kyl.”
I have to stop this.
A cold instinct surged through him and he stood up and rushed towards her.
Ariel gave him a beaming smile.
“Then never forget this moment, Kylance. Me, dying in front of you.”
“Goodbye, Kylance.”
As the storm clouds finally parted, Ariel’s body fell from the cliff.
“Ariel…!”
Kylance’s hand reached up, but he couldn’t catch her. Dazed, he stared down.
Splash…
With a short, heavy sound, Ariel disappeared beneath the surface.
Ariel had indeed… disappeared. Gone from his sight, forever.
Kylance screamed in despair as he stood at the edge of the cliff.
“Ahh! No!! No, Ariel!!”
As he called her name, Kylance’s eyes widened. He had to save her, he had to pull her from the cold sea.
Just as he was about to leap into the dark sea after her,
“Your Highness! No! I must stop you!”
Deryl and the knights rushed at him.
The knights clung to Kylance’s arms and legs, struggling to hold him back with all their might.
“Let go! Let me go! Agh!”
Kylance’s desperate cries echoed across the vast sea.
Unable to match Kylance’s incredible strength, Deryl and the knights were dragged along as he struggled to reach the edge.
“Damn it!”
Gritting his teeth, Deryl realised he couldn’t stop him this way.
“Your Highness, please forgive my disloyalty!”
In a final attempt, Deryl struck Kylance hard on the back of the neck, taking advantage of his momentary vulnerability.
Struck in the vulnerable spot, Kylance’s body collapsed, leaving only the crashing waves and the thunderous roar of an angry sky.
* * *
Splash!
The cold, icy seawater engulfed her entire body.
An instinctive cry escaped her lips, but the force of the water took her breath away.
The violent waves left her disoriented.
The fear of death consumed her, but soon Ariel found a sense of peace in her fading consciousness.
This really is the end.
It was time to forget everything – the pain, the agony.
As her eyes closed and the pocket watch slipped from her hand, a blinding light burst from it.
Deep beneath the water, the brilliant light wrapped around Ariel’s body, enveloping her in its radiance.
As if to protect her, a transparent sphere formed around her.
The sphere of light enveloping Ariel, who was on the verge of losing consciousness, slowly descended into the depths of the ocean.
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MangHose
All the other stories I’ve read about going back in time and taking revenge/correcting events only do a minimal backdrop of lore and eventually put out bits and pieces of the past just to maintain a mysterious effect.
This one dropped the entire backstory, the prologue before the time reversal.