“……”

“Did you really kill him?”

‘Why can’t you just trust me?’

Daphne looked away.

Oswald grabbed her shoulder.

It was strong yet gentle, an all-too-familiar grip.

Without looking at his face, she could sense the turmoil raging within him.

‘You still smell the same.’

Just like Father said, will this scent be etched deep into my memory?

“Answer me!”

At his raised voice, Daphne squeezed her eyes shut.

Still keeping her gaze angled away, she slowly parted her lips.

“…Yes. I did.”

Oswald’s body went rigid.

A hollow question followed, his voice stripped bare.

“Why?”

“……”

“Why, Daphne? Why would you do that to me? You shouldn’t have done that. He was the only person I had left. The only one—!”

‘Yes. I knew this was possible. I knew you might find me this quickly.’

‘So calm down.’

Daphne steadied herself and opened her mouth.

“I… killed the man who was like a father to you. I handed over all of Phozmeri’s secrets. I led your homeland to defeat.”

“……”

“I betrayed you, Oswald.”

“……”

Say it as cruelly as possible.

‘He came here to kill me.’

‘And even if my life were repeated again and again—’

‘I would make the same choice.’

“You already figured it out, didn’t you? That I was a spy? To you, I was nothing more than a means of extracting information. Needless to say, my country, Astasha, mattered more to me.”

The moment she spoke as if placing a period at the end of it all, Oswald’s expression shattered completely.

After a brief silence, he spoke again, his voice trembling.

“…You said you loved me.”

“Love?”

Daphne faltered for a moment at the unexpected word.

Love? Why bring that up now? As if it still mattered in a situation like this!

She could barely steady her racing heart, instead letting out an exaggerated scoff.

“Did you forget? I’m an Astasha Army special agent. I’ll do whatever it takes to lead my country to absolute victory.”

“……”

“Even if that means pretending to love you for years, only to betray you in the end.”

“……”

Only then did he let go of her shoulder.

And then, like a madman, he began to laugh uncontrollably.

Daphne watched him with a dry expression. Seeing him laugh in the grip of rage made her chest ache.

‘Where, exactly, is the end of us?’

‘In the next life and the one after that, must I betray you again, only to be resented, hated and killed by you?’

“…I came here to kill you. As long as our lives are bound together, we’ll always return to the same place.”

“……”

“If you die, we wake up again in that damned October front-line prison. Then your betrayal, and this miserable reality, all disappear like they never happened.”

Oswald drew a gun from his coat.

Click.

He chambered a round. His hands showed no hesitation yet they trembled faintly.

Daphne met his gaze calmly.

Slowly, Oswald raised his arm and aimed the barrel at her.

As if she had been waiting for this, Daphne pressed her forehead against the muzzle.

“If that’s your choice, then go ahead. Kill me.”

A faint tremor continued to vibrate against her forehead.

Daphne closed her eyes.

‘I didn’t fail to anticipate this.’
‘I prepared for it.’

‘So that even if I lose all my memories, I can make the same choice again in the next life.’

‘Again and again—no, even dozens of times—I don’t mind.’

‘The first person who ever showed me light was you.’

‘You will always be my first light.’

‘So it’s fine.’

‘This is the end of my blind love. Fate pushed me down this path, and this is the best choice I can make as someone who loves you.’

“In the next life, things won’t go the way you want.”

“No.”

She smiled.

“I’ll make the same choice, Oswald. Even without my memories. So in the next life, don’t make the foolish mistake of trusting me.”

“……”

She didn’t have the courage to see the expression on his face.

Daphne closed her eyes and whispered to herself:

“Goodbye, Oswald. I’ll see you again in the next life.”

Bang!

A single gunshot sounded, and a pain like her skull was shattering exploded through her. The world went dark.

***

Oswald woke up gasping for breath.

He was certain he had felt pain like his head was splitting apart. And yet—nothing made sense. He had seen the gun barrel at the execution ground, clearly and unmistakably aimed at his forehead. He had even heard the merciless gunshot.

‘Why am I alive?’

His hands trembled violently as he looked around, like someone just waking from a nightmare.

A familiar desk pattern.
A familiar smell in the air.

A place he had stayed in for some time.

Looking down at himself, he was wearing Phozmeri’s sharply pressed military uniform. His mouth was no longer dry, his body no longer weakened from malnutrition.

‘This place is…’

He knew it.

The place where his life restarted, again and again.

He lifted his head and looked at the calendar on the desk.

[AH. 640, October.]

‘The northern front-line prison…’

Before he could even process the thought crashing through his mind—

Knock, knock.

A soldier entered the room.

“Major, she’s incredibly stubborn. She’s screaming for us to just kill her, but she insists we’re not allowed to inflict injuries, so we can’t even t*rture her…”

“……”

“Major?”

Oswald, who had been sitting there blankly like a broken doll, suddenly sprang to his feet. In three strides, he closed the distance to the soldier and roughly seized his shoulder.

“What year is it, what day?”

Startled by the pressure, the soldier couldn’t hide his flustered expression and let out a hiccup. He blinked stupidly for a moment, then—perhaps fearing he had done something wrong—snapped into a salute and answered loudly.

“October 20th, 640!”

“……”

Even after hearing the answer, Oswald stood rooted to the spot. Then, clutching at his head and tearing at his hair as though he were enduring unbearable t*rture, he slumped to the ground.

That couldn’t be possible.

There was no way that Daphne Winfred would make such a choice. But how?

How could she have taken her own life?

Then something flashed through his mind.

The silver revolver that he had once returned to her.

“Ma—Major?”

“……”

‘Did she shoot herself with that?’

The soldier was utterly at a loss at the sight of his commander, whom he had regarded as towering above him like the heavens. He fidgeted helplessly. Unable to stand on his own, he eventually crouched down too.

Oswald’s face was contorted with pain to such an extent that it was impossible to tell whether he was laughing or crying.

“Ah… ugh…”

‘I thought it was all over. Giving her the chance to hear my apology, that alone should have been enough.’

‘How could you…?’

“Major! Are you all right?”

At the soldier’s voice calling out again, Oswald staggered to his feet. The soldier hurriedly followed suit.

A hoarse voice continued.

“…Bring her in.”

“Pardon?”

“Bring the prisoner in.”

“Y-Yes, sir!”

The soldier snapped into a salute once more and quickly turned to leave.

“And.”

At the added word, the soldier—who had been about to exit—stopped and looked back at him.

In the lowest voice he had ever used, Oswald added.

“She’s an extremely important prisoner. Do not treat her roughly. If she so much as has a single scratch on her body, everyone involved will face disciplinary action.”

“…Understood!”

The soldier saluted again, responding in a resounding voice, before leaving the room.

Even after he had gone, Oswald stood there for a long time, dazed.

Daphne.

Her memories surely erased.

‘Were you there when I was executed?’

‘Without any guarantee that life would repeat itself, did you willingly take your own life?’

‘Did you turn back time, even at the cost of abandoning all the memories you had searched for so desperately?’

“……”

‘Did you… still love me?’