READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 129 - Lecture.
TN: Thank Viiyen for the chapter.
I tightly closed my eyes.
Like a child about to get hit, preparing for the pain to come.
But the pain of being stabbed by that weapon I saw before closing my eyes was nowhere to be felt.
“?”
Doubting that, my eyes, which I slightly opened while trembling, were shocked at the sight before me.
Siwoo was bleeding in front of me.
Siwoo embraced me, who couldn’t do anything about the attack flying towards me.
He got hurt instead of me.
“Why, why… No, how…”
“Ugh… Ah, this hurts quite a bit…”
Even with the attack that pierced his shoulder, he was smiling at me.
It must hurt.
It must be far more painful than the bruise on my side.
He was worrying about me as if he didn’t care about that at all.
“I’m glad I wasn’t late, Arte. It would have been better if I had come a little faster. You look like you’re in a lot of pain.”
“H-how are you here…”
“I told you, Arte. I’ll always be by your side.”
The bracelet on Siwoo’s wrist caught my eye as he said that with a smile.
“You shouldn’t go to dangerous places alone. Got it?”
“Who are you? Don’t interfere. If you interfere…!”
“Be, be careful…!”
As I was about to warn him, I saw the girl trying to attack Siwoo again by transforming her hand.
With a refreshing sound, the girl flew far away.
“Hey! You should at least say where you’re going before leaving!”
When did she appear here?
Amelia, who was nowhere to be seen until now, instantly struck the girl with her spear.
And she started getting angry at Siwoo.
“Where were you wandering off to without a word?!”
“Sorry. I felt like I had to come here.”
“You felt like you had to come, what does that…”
Amelia’s voice trailed off powerlessly as she looked at me.
“Oh, having a good time? Your taste is really something.”
“It’s not like that, Amelia. You know that well.”
“I know, I know. Why are you getting so worked up over a joke?”
“Because it’s not the time for jokes.”
Ah.
Come to think of it, I’m naked.
I had completely forgotten because the pain was too severe rather than the embarrassment.
“Here, Arte. Wear this for now. Sorry, it’s a bit dirty with blood.”
“Th-thank you.”
It’s strange.
My heart hasn’t shown any signs of stopping since earlier.
Is it because of the excitement after the battle?
Or is it because my body is releasing chemicals to suppress the pain?
When Siwoo took off the clothes he was wearing and covered me, my heartbeat grew even louder.
Thump, thump.
I heard the Author complaining of dizziness, but my heartbeat showed no signs of stopping.
Thump, thump.
“Hey, Siwoo. Don’t tell me that’s the target we were searching for? The one we were trying to kill?”
“Yeah. Probably.”
“Wow, that’s awful. Is she even human? I hit her with the intent to kill…”
The girl who flew far away started walking towards us again.
Not only her arms but also her other body parts were irregularly repeating contraction and expansion.
That sight seemed to show that the girl was no longer a being that could be called human.
“So? Is there a way to win?”
“No.”
“What?! Then what do we do?!”
“What else?”
The girl lowered her stance like a track and field athlete preparing to run.
A stance called a crouching start.
As soon as the girl staring at us intently lifted her foot, Siwoo hugged me and turned his body.
“We run.”
Kwaaang!
We hurriedly dodged as the mass slammed into the wall behind us, perhaps unable to control her speed.
The girl went through it, and only dust filled the spot.
“Running away is good! That’s my specialty! But what are you going to do by constantly running away?! Everyone is busy fighting off those spiders! Dorothy is busy helping people too! There’s no one to help us now!”
“Who says that?”
“What?”
“What do you mean there’s no one to help us? That can’t be.”
Kwang!
While Siwoo and Amelia were talking, the girl tried to rush at us to attack as we quickly left the spot, but she failed every time.
The girl’s attempts always ended with her going through a wall.
There’s someone to help us.
Who on earth is he talking about?
“I think it’s about time they come…”
“Aaaaaaaah!”
“?!”
“Ah, they’re here.”
Perhaps frustrated by the continuous failures.
Or realizing that this wasn’t working.
A giant wolf suddenly appeared and bit the neck of the girl trying to strike us again by greatly transforming her body.
But was it to no avail?
As the girl made a gesture as if bothered, the wolf hurriedly ran away to where we were and transformed into a human.
“Ptooey, why is she so tough? Ow, my teeth hurt.”
“Wha-what. You… Weren’t you… dead? And what’s with that appearance?”
“That’s how it is, young lady. This appearance… Let’s say it’s my ability.”
“I-I don’t know! You’ll have to explain everything from start to finish later! My head hurts right now?!”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll tell you everything later.”
Why is Lyla here?
Perhaps realizing I was blankly staring at her.
She smiled at me as if mocking me.
But based on my experience living with her, I knew it wasn’t really that.
Lyla is just terrible at smiling.
“You look terrible.”
“Why are you here?”
“Obviously to save you.”
“Why would you?”
“Huh?”
I couldn’t understand.
Lyla has no reason to help me.
Putting aside that she forcibly made me her subordinate, I tried to kill her.
Putting aside that I tried to kill her, I ruined her life.
I made her, who was living an ordinary life, succumb to an inferiority complex and join a villain organization.
So there’s no way she would come to save me.
Perhaps because of the rapidly changing situation.
I spoke without even realizing Lyla wouldn’t understand.
“If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have joined that organization…”
“Huh?”
“If it weren’t for me… If not for the Author, you would have lived an ordinary life as a happy hero.”
That’s right.
If it weren’t for me.
If it weren’t for the Author.
If she was called a heroine candidate, wouldn’t she have had some potential?
Couldn’t she have become an ordinary hero and lived joyful lives with others?
But the one who twisted all of that was me.
I suggested it to the Author.
What if we use Lyla differently?
What if we make her a villain?
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“What do you mean…! Your life has changed! A life where you could have lived ordinarily, like this…!”
“What’s the problem with that?”
My words got stuck in my throat.
Because Lyla denied my words from the root.
“What, what do you mean what’s the problem? Everything…”
“Everything? Why? I know very well that my life is like this.”
“But, but… You could have lived ordinarily…”
“That wouldn’t be me.”
She declared to me.
As if she had no idea what I was talking about.
“I really don’t know what you’re saying, but the one who got jealous of you and lent a hand to villains was me.”
“Bu-but that’s the Author… If we hadn’t touched it, you could have ordinarily…”
“I never wanted to be ordinary from the beginning.”
“…”
“That’s why I became like this.”
She smiled bitterly while stroking the wolf ears on her head.
“Have you ever seen me before entering the academy? Why do you think I would have lived ordinarily?”
“That’s…!”
“Did you receive a prophecy or something?”
“Well…”
I couldn’t say anything.
Because it wasn’t wrong, even if she called it a prophecy.
She was destined to become a heroine.
“What, did you really receive one?”
“…Similar.”
“Huh. So I might not have become a villain?”
A sharp voice rang out behind Lyla, who was scratching her head as if it were a headache.
It was Amelia’s voice.
“Hey, how long are you going to just talk?! Didn’t you come to help?!”
“I sent a snake over there! Just wait a bit!”
“This woman is no help at all! You’re much better!”
“That’s mean?!”
“Kill her first, her first! Aaaaaah!”
“Eeeeek! I-I-I almost died! What are you doing?!”
“You’re alive, so it’s fine!”
“You trash! You call yourself a hero after that?!”
Lyla scratched her head and thought momentarily, then said to me.
“So, I was destined to become a hero?”
“Yes.”
“And you twisted that into a villain? Something like that?”
“That’s right.”
“What’s the problem with that?”
“Bu-but…”
“No, I never deeply wished to become a hero.”
Lyla seemed unsatisfied even after saying that, so she asked me a few more questions.
“One more thing. Let me ask one more thing. When did you twist that so-called prophecy? When I was in elementary school? Middle school?”
“It would have been within a week of entering the academy. To be precise…”
“Did you know me before entering the academy?”
“No…”
“Then we first met after entering the academy, where I was learning swordsmanship?”
“…Yes.”
“And when we first met, you already knew about that so-called prophecy?”
“Exactly.”
“This girl was really thinking useless things…”
“?!”
I never thought she would react this way.
So I could only be swayed by her.
I thought she would have nothing to say even if I threw her to that monster, demanding her life back.
“The person I met for the first time judging my past and future… Really…”
Lyla tapped my head with her index finger and said.
“You shouldn’t decide everything about a person based on first impressions. Got it?”
“What does that have to do with the current situation…”
“It has to do with it. You thought I would become a hero as soon as you saw me. I’ve been jealous since I was young.”
“Bu-but that’s because of the Author’s setting change…”
“Look at this?”
As if she was getting annoyed, Lyla poked my side.
“Owww…!”
“Is there a way to confirm that’s true?”
“There isn’t.”
“Listen well, stupid leader. I’ve lived like this my whole life, and this is my life. I’ll say one last thing.”
Perhaps thinking I really looked like I couldn’t endure it anymore.
Lyla, who kept looking back, said to me one last time.
“Me becoming like this was my choice. Not your lousy prophecy or whatever. If you want to properly understand a person, you can’t just look at them once.”