I felt nauseous and my eyes throbbed. I pressed my palm over my eyes. My eyes throbbed so painfully that I thought that they would pop out of my head any second. The headache accompanying the pain in my eyes continued from within the time magic. It was hard to keep my eyes open. They hurt so bad. I knew the cause of the pain and I resolved to endure it.
It felt like a sort of karma for my sins. I was going to endure it and get used to the pain as much as possible. The pain in my eyes woke me and reminded me that I had indeed gone crazy. That it wasn’t all a bad dream.
Whenever I had gone out during the time magic, Acrab was my only reality. The people in it didn’t feel real. But whenever I go out now, it fills me with fear. I wanted to run very far away from here. I didn’t have the courage to look at the people of Acrab directly. They were no longer the shell of people anymore. They had become real.
“You still haven’t gotten up?” The low-pitched voice said with pity.
It wasn’t even whispered in my ear, but somehow the words felt so near, they stuck to my mind. I slowly lowered my hands which were still covering my face. Kaichen’s eyebrow twitched as he looked at me and glanced at the room, which was very messy.
He seemed to be having a hard time believing that he had visited this place twice. The dust blew even at the slightest movement and the smell of alcohol festered in the room. I was surprised that I was able to read the expressions on such a cold, sculpture-like face which never changed. How was I able to read this man from even the slightest shift in his facial muscles?
It’s definitely my first time seeing him, I confirmed. Maybe it was because I have missed him for so long. I had pictured him in my mind for the hundredth time. His personality was really cold and indifferent, not what I had imagined. But his existence was a salvation for me. The pain in my eyes melted away just by hearing his voice. This is amazing! Is it something like the… imprinting effect?
It is said that even a petty beast repays the favor it receives. I owe Kaichen a debt I can’t repay even if I spend a lifetime here. I could no longer delude myself that him coming to rescue this place was a natural flow of events in the original story as I had assumed when I first entered Dalia’s body.
For me, who endured a terrible period, Kaichen was not just an archmage who, faithful to his role, appeared as a friend to the main character.
“How long do you plan to lie down?”
“I am getting up now.” I sat myself up. I clenched my hands to not be caught trembling. “I didn’t expect you to come this early. You are very diligent.”
“Aren’t you just lazy”?
I had already gotten up at dawn and worked diligently, but I just nodded. It was just too much work to argue and clarify. His words weren’t really a lie. Dalia was a lazy person. I didn’t have Dalia’s memories to confirm this, but I didn’t need them. If I even so much as take a stroll around Acrab, I heard people whispering about the laziness and drunkenness of Countess Alshine.
Kaichen raised his eyebrow and sat on the sofa across from me. Great! So, it wasn’t going to be a short conversation like yesterday. He had just stood there and talked and left yesterday. I felt embarrassed that I didn’t have anything to offer him, not even tea. I scratched my head and turned to him.
“Hmm, so…” I began, “What do I have to do?”
“You are ready to cooperate so easily?” asked Kaichen, suspicion lining his expression.
“Of course,” I said, “You saved my life. It is only natural to repay you in gratitude. I am not an imbecile.”
Kaichen frowned and still looked at me suspiciously. I tilted my head at the gaze full of doubt. Why was he looking at me like that? Isn’t that what any human being would do?
Looking at Kaichen, I realized that I didn’t really have Dalia’s memories. Maybe she had been an ungrateful person. Was that why he was so suspicious?
No way! Even so, she wouldn’t be this ungrateful. They say blind faith can kill a person. Kaichen obviously held onto that belief. The way he was looking at me, anyone would think Dalia had been despicable.
Walking around the streets of Acrab for a hundred years, I had thought I had understood everything about people’s perception of Dalia. She was a drunkard. She was addicted to gambling. She could not last a day without alcohol. I had also heard that she had been intelligent, kind and thoughtful when her parents were still alive.
‘How was the old miss? Why are you asking that all of a sudden?’
‘It’s just that I am thinking of the old days. I want to know how people saw her before.’
‘She wasn’t good at expressing her emotions, but she had a warmer heart than anyone else.’
‘That sounds like a lie.’
‘It’s not a lie. When she grew up, everyone said that the future of Acrab was bright.’
So, Dalia had been a very good person until her parents passed away.
I felt that Las minced some words about her childhood, but I didn’t pester him. Everyone’s childhood has some dark history and Dalia’s did too. When she grew up, she got into drinking and gambling but would offer to pay people’s taxes if they were in difficulty. She only spent her own assets on these excursions.
The land wasn’t properly managed. But I felt that the situation had been too hard on Dalia as well. She inherited everything right after her parent’s death. She must have found it difficult to cope. People’s dissatisfaction with the land’s deteriorating situation was ever increasing. Fortunately, despite her shortcomings, Dalia endured patiently. Until now, I felt sympathetic towards Dalia’s plight.
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