Chapter 13.8

She didn’t know how many times the sun had risen and set.

Brienne waited for this hellish vision to end, sitting for days and nights in front of Herace’s corpse, clutching the birdcage and staring up at the sky.

‘I like you, I feel the same as you do.’  

Why was it so hard to say?

Thinking back, she realized she’d never even managed to say anything similar to Herace.  

She regretted it.

When she hesitated to love Herace, she naively thought there would be plenty of time to be together.  

So she hesitated, pushed him away, and let those precious moments slip by meaninglessly.  

Not knowing that the time she could spend with him would end so soon.

Deciding to love someone meant having the resolve to endure even this kind of sorrow.  

This truth, which she hadn’t known, stabbed her heart like swallowing a blade.  

It was such sharp pain that she didn’t want to think about anything at all.

Brienne swallowed her tears again and gently patted Herace’s stiff hand. She brushed the hair tickling his forehead and pressed her lips to his cold cheek.

“Herace……”  

She called his unreachable name again and again, staying by his side.

And so, Kaiden could not leave Brienne’s side.  

He simply lingered silently around Brienne as she fell apart.

<I’m sorry, Kaiden.>  

He remembered Brienne’s voice as she sobbed, holding the birdcage close.  

He remembered Brienne’s face, which now held no emotion, not even faint anger toward him, ever since Herace closed his eyes.

Several nights passed after Herace closed his eyes before Brienne regained her senses and calmly made her decision.

<I…… cannot give up on Herace.>  

To her, returning Herace’s soul was the most important thing.  

She knew she had to prevent Riela from making the same choice, so their fate would not repeat, but for her, Herace Belif was the most important.

And on the seventh day, Kaiden left her side, just as the myth foretold.

<I won’t get in your way.>  

That was the best farewell he could offer.

Brienne, unable to even properly say goodbye to Kaiden, could not answer him.

Remembering Kaiden, who disappeared somewhere, Brienne stared blankly at the fire spreading over the mountain.

The fate she could not change was flowing as it always had.

‘……It’s almost over.’

Seeing the village in flames, it seemed Riela had finally gotten Arthur’s soul as she wished.

Left alone, Brienne hugged Herace’s corpse tightly and bit her lip.

In the end, she had changed nothing.

Brienne’s eyes reflected countless flocks of birds flying toward the sky.

The vision ended with that scene.  

It was the moment when the gate of Demekia god appeared on the desolate sand.

* * *

But why?  

What greeted Brienne when she opened the gate of Demekia god was not a familiar sight.  

A collapsed ceiling, a corridor blackened by soot, statues shattered to pieces.  

As Brienne barely dragged Herace’s corpse out, the ruined scenery of the Main Temple unfolded before her eyes.

‘What is this…….’  

She believed that everything would end if only she could escape Miragium.  

Brienne, who had endured with that single hope, stared at the burnt black door, lost for words.

The smell of burnt ash lingered everywhere.  

Her vision darkened as she coughed, looking around.

“Zen……! Lusell!”  

But in the empty ruins, her voice only echoed like a hollow echo.

“Miss Diashi……! Is there really no one here?”  

What on earth had happened?  

What had occurred in the meantime?  

She was confused.

Brienne walked over the uneven ground, avoiding the collapsed ceiling, and looked around.  

The silence was so deep, it was as if even a mouse wouldn’t make a sound.  

It seemed no one was there.  

No, that’s what she thought.

“……I’m sorry.”  

A cold blade pressed against her neck.  

Up until a man’s voice was heard.

“……”  

Brienne drew a sharp breath, her eyes narrowing slightly as she slowly turned around.

“You are……”  

The face of the man flickered in her vague memory.  

He was the one who, in the underground prison of Harrington Earldom, had used a magical device to close Garzen’s mana circuit.

‘……Hamartia.’

Only then did Brienne begin to understand why the Main Temple had become like this.  

‘It’s them again.’  

The heretics who followed Riela, Goddess of Vengeance.  

Was this also related to her previous life?

It felt strange to face such events again after discovering that Riela was her past self.  

That the religion, Hamartia, kept threatening her was ultimately because Riela from her previous life had granted people’s revenge.

Clutching the birdcage tightly, Brienne managed to speak.  

“Are you…… going to kill me?”

She could read a faint sense of guilt in the man’s empty eyes.  

He was different from those who had called her a witch in the vision and truly tried to kill her.  

She mustn’t die now.  

She must save Herace.

Brienne lifted her head and looked at the man.  

“……”  

The silent man met her gaze with confused eyes.  

He adjusted his grip on his sword and lowered his head.

“I……”  

Brienne looked down at the sword pointed at her neck and carefully asked,  

“……Do you have any intention of stopping, even now?”

The man’s eyes were wavering.  

“It’s not too late. You’re suffering. For your own sake, please…… stop.”

But at those words, the man’s expression slowly twisted.  

It seemed to have the opposite effect.

“Ha, what do you know about me…… What do nobles like you know at all?”  

The man let out a weak laugh with a voice full of pain.

“To save my family, I have to kill someone. People like you would never understand. What can someone like me, less than a worm, possibly do? In the end, you…… you’re just another noble like that man!”

Faced with the man’s fierce tone, Brienne squeezed her eyes shut.

“Yeah, you, you’ll die because you’re a noble after all.”

With those words, the sword at Brienne’s neck pressed harder.

Even after escaping the vision, she would die like this.  

She was so powerless and weak.  

She couldn’t protect the one she loved and would lose him twice.

At that moment—  

‘……No.’  

She couldn’t let it end like this.

A last hope echoed in Brienne’s heart.

“Please, just once, just this once…….”

Brienne opened her tightly shut eyes and gripped the birdcage with all her strength.  

She knew well that it was impossible.  

She had practiced so many times since entering the Academy, but not once had she succeeded.

But then—  

A miracle occurred as a bright red flame erupted from Brienne’s fingertips.  

In an instant, a hot fireball flew toward the man’s sword hand.

“Ugh……!”

Startled, the man dropped his sword and retreated. Brienne quickly lifted her head.  

Her magic had truly manifested.

“Why now…….”

Brienne looked down at her hand with confused eyes. Her whole body felt like it was burning. A powerful force pulsed through her, as strong as her pounding heart.

Surprised by this unbelievable power, she laughed dryly for a moment.  

Why had she only now learned to use magic?  

If only she had learned sooner, when Herace was in danger……

At that moment, the man who had retreated muttered,

“……You’re a mage? I never heard about that.”

He said he hadn’t heard.

As the man, clutching his injured hand, tried to pick up his sword again, Brienne asked,

“Who did you hear it from?”

“……”

“The one who ordered you to kill me, who is it?”

More flames than before erupted from Brienne’s hand as she stared straight at the man.

“Answer me. Otherwise, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

With each word spoken forcefully, the man hesitated and backed away.  

His face was full of fear.

After a moment’s hesitation, the man’s eyes shook violently.

“……D*mn it!”

Cursing at Brienne, the man finally dropped his sword and hurriedly fled.

But Brienne didn’t chase after him.  

Her attack would leave a deep scar on his hand, and that was enough.  

There was something more important now.

Brienne’s legs gave out, and she collapsed onto the debris, hurriedly opening the birdcage.

‘Please.’  

‘Please, Herace……’

Not knowing what else to do, Brienne held the bird and rushed to Herace’s corpse.  

She laid the white bird on his unmoving body, whispering for him to come back to life.

But—  

Herace never returned.

Brienne, kneeling beside him, saw the light of hope fade from her eyes.

What was she supposed to do? If she survived alone, what meaning would it have……

But at that moment, a voice echoed in Brienne’s mind.  

It was Diashi’s voice, from when they had gone to the bookstore together, talking about soul-binding magic.

<There’s unofficial research that says mages bound by soul magic can die for each other.>

‘……If that’s the case.’

‘I’ll die in your place.’  

‘Just as you threw yourself for me, I’ll gladly give my life for you.’

Brienne prayed desperately.  

For some reason, the bird that had quietly endured tried to escape, flapping its wings, but Brienne held it tightly to her chest with all her strength.

And as she felt the powerful magic overflow within her and closed her eyes—  

White feathers scattered over the ruined Main Temple.

Brienne slowly opened her eyes.  

Her silver hair, which had been fading in color, rippled in the dusty wind.  

Light from the living world began to return to her pale skin.  

Her tightly closed dark gray eyes finally reflected her.

Just as Brienne loved him.  

Herace, like an incarnation of an angel, stood in the ruins.

‘……Thank goodness.’

Brienne took in his image and collapsed.