8.

“Wait…… wait a moment.”

Alisa stopped Roxia urgently.

“So Roben is Eden?”

“…… Did he tell you his name was Roben?”

“……”

Roxia looked at Alisa, gone pale as paper, with sad eyes.

“You’re right, Alisa. He is Eden.”

The words dried up in her throat.

Alisa’s breathing grew rougher.

The person who had appeared one day after her mother disappeared and stayed close ever since. The one who had been there for eight years. The one who always sat beneath the shade of the yew tree, turning pages, listening to everything she chattered on about.

That was Eden.

He had lived as someone who didn’t exist in the world, unable to even tell her his own name.

“No, no…… this isn’t right.”

Before the shock could even settle, Alisa grabbed Roxia’s collar.

“Then Mum, you’re really going to……”

“Alisa, let Mum do one last thing as your mother. You’ll let me, won’t you?”

Alisa fell silent.

Roxia was serious. She truly intended to die in Eden’s place right here. To retrace what Alisa had done in the past that had already happened, and open a path forward.

‘No.’

This wasn’t why she had come all this way.

She hadn’t held on all this time just to let her go like this.

She had waited for a future where she could live with her mother again someday, even if it was in the far distant future.

‘And this is how it ends?’

Hold each other here for less than an hour, and then part ways satisfied, each going their own road?

Alisa shook her head.

There was no way she could accept this. But was there another way?

Everyone here wasn’t staying quiet because they were satisfied with this plan. They were simply accepting it because there was no other choice.

Just as it had always been — believing that today’s unhappiness would pass someday.

Alisa dropped her gaze.

‘Roben already knew everything.’

Even when she had mistaken him for her mother’s friend. Even when she had run to his house sobbing and taken the clothes.

He had known all along, and let her go on misunderstanding.

“Alisa, you can’t have everything.”

Alisa pressed her trembling hands tight together.

So this is my ending.

Losing her mother, losing the friend who had been with her for so long, and carrying on with only the love that remained. Living like that.

‘…… I don’t want that.’

She couldn’t.

She hadn’t endured all this time just to reach an ending like this.

Even if this was the predetermined conclusion. Even if everyone else found it a satisfying story with a lingering aftertaste.

‘I can’t accept it.’

Alisa snapped her head up. Her voice trembled as she spoke.

“The only thing that has to be recorded in history…… is the fact that Eden died. Right?”

Roxia looked at her.

“What do you mean?”

“Can’t we just make it look like he died?”

“It’s not that simple, Alisa. Everyone in that timeline has to believe that death without a single doubt.”

“Exactly.”

Alisa reached out and grabbed Roxia’s arm.

“Let’s put on a performance, Mum. The thing we do best.”

“…… You mean pretend to die?”

For the first time, the resolve in Roxia’s eyes wavered. But only for a moment — she shook her head almost immediately.

“Alisa, I don’t have long left anyway. I can’t ask you to take that kind of risk……”

“I can do anything for you, Mum.”

Alisa took Roxia’s hands in both of hers. Hands that still held warmth. A mother who was still alive.

She had finally come face to face with the moment she had longed for all this time. She couldn’t let it slip away so emptily.

“Even just one more day. I want a little more time with you.”

Roxia said nothing. She simply held her daughter’s hands tight. Alisa blinked back the tears threatening to fall again and whispered through reddened eyes.

“Even if death is a fate that’s been decided, I want to keep trying to change it until the very end.”

“……”

“So let’s put on a performance, Mum.”

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

The plan was simple.

Sir Roben would bring the real Eden to the gallows and let the crowd confirm his face. Then Eden, wearing a hood, would secretly switch places with Roxia.

The most critical moment was the instant of the hanging itself. Time had to be stopped at exactly the right moment to prevent the rope from snapping his neck.

“Alisa, how does it look?”

“…… The clothes fit you perfectly, Mum.”

Alisa, having swapped clothes with Roxia, stared at her in a daze. The men’s clothes that had been slightly loose on Alisa fit Roxia exactly.

While the two of them changed, Sir Roben had stepped outside the cave. He came back in with both hands full of mud.

“Forgive me, my lady.”

He carefully spread the mud along Roxia’s jaw and the back of her neck.

“This should be enough. Once the hood is on, her face will be covered anyway. Everyone is worked up — they won’t have the presence of mind to look closely.”

“Thank you.”

Soon Eden returned to the cave, mud covering him from head to toe just like Roxia. Alisa looked back and forth between the two of them. Shabby clothes, hair matted with mud. Both of them looked as though they had rolled across the ground five times while running away.

‘This is really happening.’

Not a single mistake would be allowed.

The moment the timing was off by even a fraction, she would lose her mother right before her eyes. And without someone connected to her, she wouldn’t be able to turn back time again.

“Are you scared?”

Eden asked.

Alisa squared her trembling shoulders and shook her head.

“No. Not at all.”

She had held on even when there was no mother, no Eden, no one at all. Anything was less frightening than losing her mother without even having tried.

Just before stepping out of the cave, Roxia quietly pulled Alisa into her arms.

“I love you, Alisa.”

“I love you too, so much.”

“Everything will be all right, so don’t worry.”

“Of course. I’m not worried at all.”

Alisa slowly pulled herself from her mother’s arms and looked at Eden. Sir Roben was lifting the rope he had been holding and tying Eden’s hands behind his back. The rope around his wrists must have stung, because Eden briefly furrowed his brow, but he quickly smoothed his expression away.

“Your Majesty, are you ready?”

Eden drew in a deep breath and looked between Alisa and Roxia. Then he nodded.

“Let’s go.”

˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗

The sea wind swept in and scattered her hair in every direction. Alisa held her mother’s hand and hid among the crowd, looking up toward the hill where the gallows stood.

The briny smell of salt and the endless sound of waves. In that familiar landscape, Alisa thought of Roben.

What had he been thinking, sitting beneath that gallows tree.

Had he blamed himself. Had he told himself that this time had to be different.

Or had he simply recalled the last face he had seen, and grown weary of a longing that showed no sign of fading.

She would probably never know what expression he had worn under that tree. The moment the past changed, Roben would be gone.

‘There is one thing I’m holding onto, though……’

It was a thread-thin possibility. Most likely, when Alisa returned to her own time, Roben would be gone.

A wave of grief surged up from her chest.

‘You made me a promise.’

You said you’d say goodbye, even if you were leaving.

Alisa recalled the last moment she had seen him. The man bowing politely as she ran past in a frenzy. He must have already known that could be the last time.

She pressed her lips tight.

Foolish man.

What good was saying goodbye alone. She hadn’t been able to bow back, hadn’t been able to hold him once.

“Alisa, it’s starting.”

Roxia whispered to her where she stood with her head down. The hand holding hers tightened gently.

The helmets of soldiers began to appear over the hill. Moving in a wide circle around a central figure, they were slowly making their way toward the gallows. Alisa rose onto her toes and looked for Sir Roben and Eden at the center.

Her heart lurched every time Eden limped on his bad leg with his head bowed.

‘I really should have found something to splint it.’

Eden had stopped her, saying he didn’t want to draw attention, but she should have pushed harder.

‘When I broke my legs jumping from the attic, it hurt so badly.’

Alisa shuddered at the memory. Even the slightest pressure on her legs had brought tears to her eyes — she had no idea how Eden was managing to walk at all.

Thud — something flew toward Eden at that moment. Eden grabbed his shoulder and let out a low grunt.

“Coward! Kill him before he runs again!”

“Running away like a frightened dog!”

The worked-up crowd was throwing stones. Sir Roben drew his sword in a hurry.

“Everyone stand back! Any interference with the transfer of a prisoner will not be tolerated!”

Soldiers raised their spears and pushed back the people surging forward. The hands holding stones came down, but there was no stopping the insults that flew through the air.

The mood turned in an instant. A torrent of screaming and curses poured toward Eden all at once. Alisa and Roxia were caught in the surge of bodies pressing forward, jostled back and forth without stopping.

The heat of strangers pressing against her from every side, the roaring and shouting that pierced through even covered ears, and in the middle of it all, Eden with his head bowed in the same resigned way as before……

‘No. He’s not resigned. He’s only pretending to be.’

Alisa gritted her teeth.

Not yet. She had to wait a little longer.

Until Sir Roben brought Eden up onto the gallows. Until everyone had confirmed his face, and that face was covered by the black hood.

When Eden finally climbed the gallows steps, the crowd erupted in a single roar. In that frenzied noise, Sir Roben’s voice rang out.

“Leonard II.”

“Yeaaah! Kill him!”

“For the crime of tyranny, sentenced to death by hanging!”

The cheering swelled. Fists thr*st into the air above the crowd.

Thud, thud — her heart began to pound faster. Kill him, kill him, that man, the one who was once our king, right now, before our eyes, put an end to—