Chapter 13

She hadn’t known! Maybe Loren had a secret crush. The way he spoke made it clear.  

Loren shrugged and tilted his head a little.  

“Hmm, well. I’ll just stay by their side, so nothing will happen.”  

“Why just stay by them? You should confess. You’re a good guy, so I doubt anyone would turn you down.”  

It wasn’t just because Loren was her friend. He was smart, second in class, cheerful, and caring—a great boyfriend material. No one would turn him down unless they already had someone.  

Loren gave a bitter smile.  

“It can’t happen. If I confess, things will get awkward. I don’t want that.”  

“Oh, I see.”  

She looked away, feeling sorry. For a moment, she understood Loren’s feelings.  

If that was the reason, she’d pretend not to notice his feelings. She’d treat him as usual, not wanting to lose such a caring friend.  

“If anyone makes you cry, tell me. I’ll punch them.”  

Loren joked, gently touching the corner of her eye. His big hand looked like it could really hit someone.  

“Okay. I will.”  

She smiled softly and nodded. She decided not to cry in front of Loren.  

Ding ding. The bell rang, ending break time. After waving goodbye to Loren, she entered the classroom.  

Her gaze went straight to Harensys. She hadn’t meant to go, but her body was moving on its own now.  

Without stopping, she approached Harensys, put her hand on his desk, and smiled brightly.  

“Harensys, after class, do you want to walk under the cherry blossom trees with me?”  

“I’m busy.”  

Harensys refused immediately. She wasn’t disappointed, knowing he’d say no, but her past self was.  

‘Ah, it’s not going to work.’  

Her past self was a little disappointed, but didn’t show it, keeping a smile.  

“I see. Maybe next time.”  

“Yeah.”  

His attitude was cold, so different from when they kissed earlier.  

She sensed the chill in his brief reply, hoping no one else would notice, and returned to her seat.  

“Prezia, that must be disappointing.”  

Fortunately, Lea hadn’t noticed.  

“It’s fine. He’s busy, so what can I do?”  

She gestured that she was okay, and Lea clapped.  

“Prezia, you’re a saint.”  

That was a bit much.  

Well, at least she wasn’t suspicious.  

Despite the sudden public relationship, they handled it well. Harensys’s coldness seemed like it could be a problem, but they got through it.  

Four months passed since their relationship went public. Whenever she could move freely, they kissed, hugged, held hands, and looked at each other with loving eyes, becoming the Academy’s model couple.  

There were three months left until her death. Now, she could move her fingers freely.  

‘But I feel like I’ve forgotten something important.’  

Maybe it was just her imagination, but with three months left, she felt like she was forgetting something.  

With past and present overlapping, she couldn’t remember what happened around this time.  

‘It feels like something really important….’  

It seemed like something she had to know, so she quietly asked Harensys.  

“Harensys, didn’t something happen around this time?”  

Harensys blinked, looking thoughtful. He didn’t seem to know.  

After thinking for a long time, Harensys finally spoke.  

“I think something happened, but I can’t remember.”

“That’s right. What was it again?”

It seemed Harensys also couldn’t remember. It felt like it was a huge incident, but neither could recall it, as if someone had erased only that memory.

What could they be forgetting? Was it something serious?

Whenever deep in thought, Prezia found that walking helped her remember, so she took a stroll along the path.

That was when the ground began to shake.

‘Why is the ground…?’

Before she could even process the question, a huge, dark shadow appeared ahead. When Prezia met the eyes of that shadow, she flinched and stepped back in surprise.

“…Why is a monster here?”

A monster as big as a house stood in front of her, drooling and growling low. There shouldn’t be such a large and vicious monster here.

There were monsters living in the mountain behind the Academy, but they were strictly managed and never came down to the Academy. If one had come this far, it must have avoided the management.

That meant this monster was much stronger than the others.

“I don’t even have a sword…”

She had learned swordsmanship, but didn’t carry a weapon. There was no way she could face such a huge monster without anything. She would die in one blow.

“Graaaah!”

The monster screamed and attacked her with its claws. Prezia shut her eyes tightly and shielded her head with her arms. If her head was injured, it would be over immediately.

“Aaah!”

The monster’s sharp, thick claws raked her arm, and she screamed in pain, writhing.

Her arm was badly wounded where she blocked the attack. Blood poured out, and the pain was unbearable, bringing tears to her eyes. She couldn’t even stand and collapsed to the ground.

‘What do I do!’

She couldn’t even defend herself anymore, and the d*mn monster raised its claws to attack again.

“Someone help me!”

Desperately, she scrambled backward, her voice filled with despair.

As the monster’s claws came closer, she squeezed her eyes shut, praying for anyone to save her.

Just then, a frantic voice rang in her ears.

“Prezia, get down!”

It was the voice of salvation. The kind that saves someone right before they fall off a cliff.

Prezia quickly dropped flat to the ground.

“Gyaaah!”

This time, it was not her pain but the monster’s scream. Looking up, she saw the monster had lost its claws to a thrown sword.

“Prezia!”

“Lo, Loren.”

She gathered her senses and forced herself to stand, then ran with all her strength to Loren, who was rushing toward her.

As soon as they were close, she hugged Loren tightly, wanting to erase her fear.

“Does your arm… hurt a lot?”

Seeing the blood gushing from her arm, Loren asked in a worried, trembling voice.

‘I want to say I’m okay… but I can’t…….’

She wanted to reassure Loren, but she was still shaking with fear, unable to erase the terror, and her injured arm hurt as if someone was pressing down on it. She couldn’t bring herself to say she was okay.

“Loren, I… I thought I was going to die. I was so scared.”

She buried her face in Loren’s chest and clung to his collar. Tears wouldn’t stop. The image of the monster charging at her kept replaying in her mind.

“It’s okay now. The teachers are coming to take care of it.”

“…Yeah.”

Loren gently patted her trembling back. Comforted in Loren’s arms, Prezia slowly calmed down.

‘My vision is blurry.’

Whether it was from the tension finally releasing or from losing too much blood, drowsiness washed over her. Soon, her blurry vision faded into darkness.

***

In the deep darkness, Prezia slowly opened her eyes to see Harensys, with familiar black hair, looking at her with the saddest face in the world.

“Prezia, are you all right?”

“Harensys, I’m fine. When did you come?”

She answered, her eyes half-open from exhaustion. Harensys stroked her cheek and spoke.

“I just got here.”

His warm hand gave her a comforting sense of security. She closed her eyes and focused on the warmth.

Then, suddenly remembering something important, she sat up abruptly.

“Oh, right. This was what I’d forgotten. Why couldn’t I remember? It was a really big deal.”

Harensys placed his hand on her back and gently laid her back down again. She felt a bit dizzy but was otherwise fine, though Harensys seemed overly worried.

He brushed away the hair stuck to her face, looking puzzled.

“I only remembered after hearing you were hurt. So I asked another friend to bring me a book about regression and read it while you slept.”

He picked up a book from the bedside table and showed it to her. The title was <All About Regression in Fantasy>.

“Did you find anything?”

He must have found something, even if it was small. She was curious to know what. Harensys flipped through the book quickly, his eyes scanning for the right page. Soon, he stopped and focused on one spot.

“There are side effects to regression.”

“Side effects?”

“It’s also called a price. At a certain time, you return to the past and have to relive events related to someone you loved deeply, and you randomly forget one piece of your past memories.”

“So that’s why we forgot.”

“Yeah.”

Harensys answered in a gloomy voice.

The side effects of regression were worse than expected. Living through the past again brought discomfort and difficulties, even causing lost memories.

It seemed Harensys was troubled by this. There was no need to be so upset just because she was hurt.

She wanted to show she was okay, since she’d experienced this before, so she rolled up her sleeves. But the long scar that should have been there was nowhere to be found.

“There was a scar last time, but not this time. What happened?”

“Mel healed you. But there’s a problem.”

Ah. In the past, she’d avoided Harensys so he couldn’t heal her, but this time, she hadn’t, so healing was possible.

Regression brought inconvenience and fear, but in this case, it was a good thing.

But what was the problem? Everything seemed to have ended well.