I Reject the villain’s ending.

Episode 69.
‘Mei, this is my third life.’

‘What?’

Unbelieving, I was expecting this reaction.

I looked at Iros seriously, eyes wide and blinking, and continued.

‘In my first life, I was a terrible evil woman who brought down an empire and died by your sword.’

‘…….’

Iros froze in place as if struck by lightning.

‘Who killed you, me? I killed you……?’

I pulled the shaking Iros into a deserted alleyway and held him tightly, his face ashen blue as if panic had replaced confusion.

His body was shaking like he was having a seizure.

I had merely told him that Iros had killed me, and he was shaking more than when I had told him the unbelievable story of having lived three lives.

He gripped my arm so tightly he could barely breathe.

‘Huh, huh. Black.’

‘Breathe, Pink, it’s okay, it’s just a phase.’

The gravity of the situation dawned on me as I looked at Iros, who hadn’t calmed down despite my pleas.

‘Hmph, hmph. Hmph, hmph.’

‘Iros? Iros Elijah, I’m ordering you, to breathe. Breathe properly, for God’s sake!’

Hyperventilating, Iros staggered, then wobbled, dizzy.

He collapsed into my arms, leaning against me, his throat clutching mine as he continued to exhale.

His eyelashes dangling with tears, his brow distorted, his lips quivering and puffy, I almost feel sorry for him.

‘Are you okay? Can’t you breathe?’

‘Breathe, gulp.’

‘This has never happened to me before. What should I do…….’

Unable to breathe on his own, Iros flopped down on the floor, wringing his hands.

Calling out to me in a voice that didn’t quite come out right, I clasped one hand around his throat and the other around his desperate groping for air.

‘It’s okay, I’m here, I’m here, Pink.’

Iros burrowed into my arms, tears streaming down his pitifully wet eyes.

‘Breathe, it hurts, it hurts, heart. Do something.’

As he sobbed into my chest like a child who had lost his mother, I grabbed his chin and lifted his face.

Then I pressed my lips to his and blew in a breath.

‘……!’

‘Whoa-’

‘Ugh.’

I blew out, inhaled again, and blew in a new breath.

Again and again, until Iros’s breathing calmed, I pressed my lips to his, never letting go, never letting my hand leave his back.

Iros, who always closed his eyes when we kissed, stared at me with constant anxiety, as if to confirm my presence.

His trembling body gradually relaxed, and he clung to me weakly. My hands gripped his as tightly as if they were sinew.

‘It’s okay.’

‘I-I’m not. I’d never kill you, I swear, I’d never hurt you, I’d never hurt you, I’d never kill you, how dare I…….’

‘I know, I know too well that you wouldn’t, because you love me, because you are in love with me.’

But the Iros of my first life didn’t.

Or maybe he had a mission, a responsibility, or something that would kill him.

‘It’s not in The Mad Saint, and the crown prince never really tells me what happened to Iros after he killed me, but I think I know what happened after that.

‘You killed me, and you died with me because there was no way you could live without me because I was everything in the world to you.’

‘……!’

‘So don’t suffer. You cut your world down, and I’m sure that hurts enough already.’

Someday, if I ever get the chance, I want to know what it was like for my first life, Iros, to kill me.

How could you have killed me, the one you loved so much? How you could have killed me.

How could you kill me when you have such a hard time just hearing the words that you killed me…….

‘I pity you. My poor pinkie, my poor puppy.’

‘Sierra, I’m not losing you, not really. How could I live with losing you.’

‘I know, and that’s why I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry that you made me kill you. I’m sorry for hurting you like this, for saying things that hurt.’

I paused, my eyes squeezing shut tightly, then said firmly.

‘But listen.’

I had made a promise to you, and you wanted to hear the truth.

“You need to hear this in order to move forward.”

A frightened Iros let go of my hand and crouched, covering his ears and shaking his head.

A furious Iros refused to listen.

‘No, I can’t hear it, I really can’t, I’ll just not hear it, I’ll pretend it never happened. If I’d known it was going to be like this, I wouldn’t have listened, please. Please stop.’

‘Do you believe me?’

I said softly, looking at Iros’s stubborn refusal. He squeezed his eyes shut, listening to the flatness in my voice.

‘I thought you’d say I dreamed it, but you believe me, even when I tell you something as ridiculous as this, and I thank you. For not dismissing it as a dream.’

‘…….’

‘I know you can hear me, even if you cover your ears.’

Iros’s pacing head snapped to a halt. I put my hand on his cheek as he looked up at me, frightened like a child, and spoke softly.

‘I lived a second life after my first, with no memories, and grew up as a normal child somewhere else.’

Iros squeezed his eyes shut again. That wouldn’t get him out of this.

‘That’s when I learned to use a bow and read the book about my first life. Then I died in an accident, and when I woke up, I was in a coffin, and you were the first person to greet me.’

‘…….’

Iros’s legs trembled sweetly. Tears rolled down his fair face again as if to make sure he understood what I was saying.

‘When I came back to life, I didn’t know I was back in the past, I didn’t know why I died and came back, I just knew I had to change the future.’

‘Is that why you changed, so I’d kill you?’

I looked into Iros’s violet eyes, filled with resentment, and nodded.

‘At first, I thought that if I changed, you wouldn’t kill me and we could live in peace, but things didn’t turn out the way I thought they would.’

Eldrakis was dead, and an unknown group of half-humans and half-horses were after my life.

‘They say I hold the balance of this world. I’m very, very important, so the god who brought me back told the crown prince to help me.’

He spoke gently, as if explaining to a child, then smiled gently and wiped a tear from his sad-looking face.

‘The people who killed me in my first life were an anti-human, anti-horse organization that wanted to destroy the world. It wasn’t your fault. You just got caught up in their plans.’

You’re not guilty of anything.

‘I’m going to live, I’m going to survive, I’m going to love you, so don’t cry. I’m stronger than you think I am.’

Don’t be sad. Don’t be sorry. Don’t feel guilty.

‘We’re not living our first life. We’re living this one. You didn’t kill me, and I like you, so face it, Iros Elijah.’

‘Why.’

‘…….’

‘How can you be so nonchalant, how can you be so strong? I mean, if it had happened to me, I’d have been…….’

Iros couldn’t finish his sentence.

Instead, he removed his hand from my ear and pulled me into a tight hug.

‘I love you, I love you so much.’

Iros sobbed, and I could feel my shoulders getting wet with tears as lukewarm as his body temperature.

Suddenly, his sobs stopped. Hugging me tightly, Iros spoke in a determined voice.

‘So I’ll protect you, Sierra, no matter what, I’ll protect you, even if it means trading my life for yours.’

‘Pinkie…….’

‘I’m sorry I tried to avoid you, I’m sorry I let you suffer alone, and I’m sorry I-’

Emotions overwhelmed Iros, and he hung his head and bit his lip hard.

The pink hair that cascaded down his forehead swayed in time with his sobs.

A tear trickled down his cheek.

Soon, Iros’s voice escaped his lips in a small whisper.

‘I will protect you with everything I have.’

The small but firm words of assurance sounded so reassuring, I almost cried with him.

* * *

We hugged each other for a while, and when we returned to the mansion, our eyes were puffy and we looked like a pair of goldfish.

Mei greeted us in the courtyard, her mouth agape, and she struggled to speak.

‘You two, you went out on a date, what did you do that made your faces look so horrible…….’

She shut her mouth, unable to finish the sentence.

That must mean Iros and my face weren’t talking.

I looked at Iros and I looked at each other, checked my puffy eyes that wouldn’t open, and then burst out laughing.

We both looked at each other and laughed.

‘Your eyes are so puffy, it’s funny. Sometimes pink can be ugly.’

‘What about my brother-in-law, even a saint doesn’t know where his eyes are?’

‘Excuse me, but you both look the same.’

‘…….’

I waggle my finger at Iros as he shrugs off a heavy slap from Mei.

‘Am I really ugly?’

‘Do you even care about that?’

‘I think you’d hate me if I were ugly. My face, you like it, it’s pretty.’

When did my pinkie become such a brat like me?