Chapter 137
Selena Drunkard.
To summarize her actions shown in the original work in one word, it was as follows:
'Traitor.'
What other words could be added or subtracted?
It was all choices she made herself.
There was no coercion or pressure in that process either.
The woman simply betrayed the academy for her purpose, and ended up joining hands with those she shouldn't have gotten close to.
None other than black magicians who worshipped slaughter and greed.
An endless path of destruction.
Of course.
It wasn't that she had intended to betray from the start.
Just as villains usually have their own circumstances, the drunkard had her own circumstances.
Perhaps the woman could have become a more excellent educator.
If only she hadn't clung to the past so foolishly.
'Memories.'
To adults, memories are lingering attachments, or alcohol.
A deficiency that makes life wander aimlessly.
And this... was the stupidity and intoxication attached to the name Selena Drunkard.
The time goes back to when she was very young.
-Lianne! Look what your big sister brought!
-It's bread that hasn't gone bad...! Today's begging was completely successful!
Selena had a younger sister 5 years below her.
Lianne.
A younger sister she raised like a daughter.
-As expected, big sister is the best!
-The smell is so savory too! It must have just been baked at the bakery!
-Hehe... I feel like I'm already drooling.
There was no other family.
Their parents had passed away in times they could barely remember.
Selena had to take responsibility for her sister as the older one.
Though it was a life moving from slum to slum. Though they were in a position of begging for others' charity, the children didn't let go of hope each day.
Because they had each other by their side.
On the other hand, it was ordinary.
Beggars were widespread in the slums. It was a life no different from theirs.
In difficult moments, they briefly leaned their bodies on shoulders extended.
Even in desperate, cold, hunger-creeping winters... the girls survived with thick affection as their season.
Along with dependence thickening as they grew older.
-I like big sister the most in the world!
A life at the bottom where even faint light didn't enter.
A life always chased by misfortune.
A life hoping despite that.
Perhaps a reward returned to the children's hearts.
Sunlight shone even on days covered in pitch darkness.
-You... have talent.
-Would you like to learn magic under me?
-I'll take in your younger sister too.
An old man who appeared one day.
He introduced himself as the head of a renowned educational institution, and proposed to Selena and Lianne to become his disciples.
He had recognized the magical talent Selena possessed.
The children hesitantly took his hand.
-Call me master from today.
An unforgettable moment.
Afterwards.
Color was painted on the girls' lives for the first time.
Experiences piling up one by one anew. A comfortable home, soft clothes, warm food, even a fluffy bed.
A miracle that came overnight.
-Master! Master! Can you teach me the magic big sister is learning too?
-I want to become a great magician later too.
-Like the sage in fairy tales!
-Lianne... Master said it's difficult because your body is weak.
-It's not very fun to begin with. Do you really want to fall into the swamp of homework on your own?
-Yes! Because big sister is working hard too!
-I want to become strong enough to protect big sister too!
-So please teach me!
-Hoho. If you want to learn, there's no reason not to.
-Though it will be difficult to be like Selena... Lianne, I'll teach you magic too.
-Yay! Long live Master!
The children learned the meaning of peace.
Smiles that didn't leave their lips.
It was a life where they no longer had to starve, cry from fear, or shiver from cold.
The morning that came after a long dawn was so precious.
So they wished and believed only happiness would be full from now on.
But
-Three months from now.
Misfortune didn't let them go.
When Selena turned twenty and Lianne fifteen... the younger sister suddenly received a terminal diagnosis.
The exact cause was unknown. They could only guess. That her body weakened from life at the bottom finally couldn't endure and broke.
Tragedy shattered even the momentary dream.
-Don't worry.
-Big sister will definitely make you better... somehow, without fail, I won't let you die.
-Master is looking into it too. There must be a way.
No.
There was no such thing as a way.
Should I say it was an incurable disease.
Every doctor they met furrowed their brows, priests shook their heads, and in the end even the master put down his pen.
The girl in the sickbed was just slowly using up her life.
While holding her beloved older sister's hand.
-I'm sorry... big sister.
-I wanted to, be by big sister's side, a little longer... I wanted, big sister to be by my side...
-I'm sorry... I'm sorry for not being able to be by your side...
Lianne muttering with breath about to cross over soon.
Emotions overflowed in her tears flowing endlessly and voice constantly apologizing.
As if about to overflow at any moment.
-...
Selena was helpless.
There was nothing she could do for her sick younger sister.
It just stopped tightly holding the body heat contained in her hand.
Until the faintly continuing breath stopped... and even the body heat representing life cooled coldly.
The older sister couldn't leave her younger sister's side.
-It's a lie... it's a lie.
A lump of meat with the soul gone.
The girl cried out while holding what was once Lianne.
The colorful world instantly regressed to black and white.
-Lianne... please open your eyes.
-We just became happy, why, why do only we...
What your death left behind was only a cold world without you anymore.
Only after losing everything in life did she realize.
The light that had come to them wasn't morning at all.
Just a meteor that shone briefly then disappeared.
Happiness was such an empty and false concept for Selena.
-It was all a lie.
After death.
The girl wandered endlessly.
As if giving up everything.
Light disappeared from her pupils.
Her expression gradually hardened.
She downed bottles of alcohol that didn't suit her taste at all, and the time she spent drunk only grew longer as days passed.
It felt like times when she was sober were rare.
-Lianne...
Though she had now shed her childish appearance.
Though she came to be called a woman, not a girl.
Selena lived only chewing over memories.
While buried in the happiest moments of her childhood.
As meaningless days continued like that.
-Won't you join hands with us?
Certain figures approached.
None other than heretics.
They who planned to use the wandering Selena whispered a proposal the older sister could never refuse.
It was the devil's whisper saying they could revive her dead sister.
-Don't you want to meet her once more?
-Your beloved younger sister.
The woman couldn't refuse.
Her mind wasn't whole enough to make a proper judgment.
She just wanted to meet the departed girl once more.
In the end.
Selena decided to become their puppet.
She even placed a mana contract on her heart.
Perhaps she was drunk on alcohol.
Her mind was only full of thoughts that she had to revive Lianne.
The woman who killed her emotions ended up participating in all that tragedy.
-You just need to properly follow instructions.
-Beyond that... we'll handle things on our side.
Their demands were simple.
Periodically handing over the academy's secrets and information.
As Selena was in the position of the dean's top disciple and head professor, it wasn't particularly difficult content.
The person who delivered the underground passage map to the heretics was also her.
-Wait for me Lianne... surely.
-When that time comes, can we, become happy again...?
The woman knew she was covering herself in evil.
But her precarious steps didn't stop.
Like a truck with broken brakes, her broken mind just ran blindly.
Selena drove her life like a drunk driver.
But.
-Th-this... what in the world.
Even such a mess of drunkenness eventually wakes up.
After consciousness returns, she had to face it.
All the tragedies she had committed herself.
-Kuooooo!
The dragon roared ferociously.
The disaster stood tall centered on the collapsed academy main building.
Hot flames and death poured like rain.
The surging hatred had momentum to destroy the whole world.
Corpses were strewn around.
Students she had taught.
Colleague faculty members who were always bothersome.
It was once a place that became home for her, but now it was scenery more fitting to be called hell on earth.
The choice the woman made caused numerous lives to be buried in ashes.
-Ah.
The woman belatedly realized.
About her foolishness, and the sins dyed by it.
-What, what have I...
-This wasn't my intention, I, I just... wanted to see that child, just once more...
-No... I didn't want this!
What remained in the ruins full of despair was only blood and flesh pooled in puddles.
And emptiness that filled those puddles and overflowed.
Screams, sadness, fear, pleas.
Selena watched the bright red burning scenery.
While blankly sitting in place.
-It's all... tragedy I caused.
Tears flowing down.
As she was out of her mind like that.
Squelch-!
Something pierced through the woman's chest from behind.
It was none other than a sword.
-Thank you for your hard work all this time.
When she turned around.
The heretic figure she had been cooperating with was standing there.
He was stabbing a sword into Selena's heart while wearing a vile smile.
As if he had intended this from the start.
-It's right to dispose of a card that has served its use... now.
-The plan was successful as you can see.
-Now we can finally hasten His revival.
The drunkard collapsed while coughing blood.
She stopped her miserable breath along with the burning academy.
Perhaps it was a fitting end for a traitor.
'...The content revealed afterwards is more shocking though.'
Selena Drunkard.
According to settings revealed later, the fact that she too had just been played in the heretics' hands was revealed.
Lianne who had suffered from an unknown incurable disease... the heretics were behind that death.
A spider web struck to draw in Selena from start to finish.
The younger sister's death was thoroughly fabricated, and the revival promised in exchange for cooperation was also a lie.
The woman couldn't escape from fate.
'In the end... it was a story where no one could be happy.'
An ending that couldn't be more gloomy.
I erased idle thoughts and met gazes with the woman before my eyes.
"......"
"......"
Sitting on the sickbed was the traitor, or sacrificial lamb.
Only chilly silence circled inside the hospital room.
As I slowly chewed over the gloomy atmosphere, suddenly the woman who smiled bitterly asked.
It was a sunken voice.
"...Since when?"
"Hmm?"
"When did you notice my betrayal?"
"Well. Let's just say it was a hunch."
"A hunch... I see. Student Yuda does have many secrets."
"Moreover, it's a meaningless question at this point, isn't it?"
"That's true too."
Conversation flowing like water.
Similar to usual, yet different on the other hand.
Shaking off such a sense of dissonance, I spoke.
"There are many stories I want to hear. And many stories I need to hear."
"......"
A complicated expression returned.
What emotions are you feeling now?
Resignation?
Despair?
Sadness?
Loss?
Or...
"...Do you regret it?"
A question that took time unlike me.
As if reacting to that, her red eyes wavered.
I was quietly waiting for the woman.
It seemed I could only choose how to act afterwards after hearing the answer she gave...
I waited for you.
'Please.'
Hoping you would be different from me.