Drunken Fool (5)
“I… I just sobered up.”
Selena was always drunk.
Whether on alcohol.
Or longing.
Or grief.
She staggered with faltering steps, as if about to sink forever.
But.
Inebriation eventually fades.
Because reality lies outside of intoxication.
The drunken fool was no different.
Nothing had changed.
She had simply sobered up.
From the long-lasting intoxication and the liquor.
From the memories.
From her younger sister.
“I was drunk for far too long.”
The woman lamented softly.
The executive, who had been looking down at her for a long time, clicked his tongue.
“What a pathetic pretense.”
“…”
“I'll make sure your death is the most agonizing.”
A mana oath.
Making the inscription carved into her heart go haywire would kill Selena easier than squashing a bug.
But instead of killing her, the executive handed her over to his subordinates.
A deep mockery hung on his lips.
“We can't let a traitor go so easily, can we?”
The executive commanded.
“Lock her up in the dungeon. In a cell where even light cannot reach. I will personally flay the flesh from the traitor’s bones.”
Afterward.
Crimson robes busily moved about.
The woman was dragged away, powerless.
“…”
Her receding figure.
For a brief moment, a sliver of black shadow seemed to cling to her slender back.
A shade that soon dispersed like a dream.
***
In the underground prison where not a sliver of sunlight reached.
Selena was bound in chains.
Three days had already passed in this blood-soaked scenery.
Perhaps it was because she hadn't had even a sip of water during that time.
“…”
The woman was utterly weakened.
Her unfocused gaze, the blood that had dried a dark crimson, the festering wound on her thigh.
She felt like a flower that had been trampled underfoot.
But.
If asked if she was broken, the answer was no.
The drunken fool was merely waiting for an opportunity.
A chance to strike back at them one last time.
Creeeaaak—.
The closed bars opened with a shriek.
A man walked in.
The executive who had imprisoned Selena here.
He had kept her confined without any other action for the past three days.
It seemed he had finally decided to do something today.
“Did you have a pleasant stay?”
A perfunctory question.
The man's hands held various torture devices: a saw, tongs, a knife, and more.
It seemed his words about an agonizing death were no mere jest.
Was he deliberately trying to intimidate her?
The executive laid out the tools one by one before her eyes.
So that she could easily imagine the pain to come.
“Then, one last offer.”
Before beginning everything.
The man made a final proposal.
“I won't worry about the loss of data. Burning down a single branch… well, I suppose that's all they were worth.”
A tone that feigned mercy.
“He still needs your power.”
“Ha.”
“If you express your willingness to cooperate, He will take you back. He will grant you mercy.”
“Bullshit… It's not mercy, it's that I'm still useful to him.”
“Indeed. Planting a spy within the Academy's leadership isn't easy.”
“Shameless bastards…”
“Choose carefully.”
The saw the man held gleamed menacingly.
As if ready to tear flesh and bone at any moment.
The executive whispered.
“His resurrection is imminent. When that time comes, your younger sister might also receive mercy. Haven’t you longed for your family all these years? Are you saying you'll give that up now?”
Younger sister.
Those words, in particular, pierced her heart.
Lianne came to mind involuntarily.
—Sister!
Her voice was still vivid in her memory.
How could she ever forget you?
Even at rock bottom, you were my star, the only meaning I cherished in life.
My love for you never wavered, not even for a moment.
But.
“Screw you.”
Lukewarm tears streamed down her cheeks.
But her eyes were wide open.
Because she had decided not to be bound anymore.
Selena Drunkard.
Family, to her, no longer referred solely to her younger sister.
Her master, who had taken her in when she was at her lowest.
Her fellow professors, with whom she bickered but also shared camaraderie.
The students who always greeted her with bright smiles.
‘Gallimard Academy.’
All of that was her home, her family.
A belatedly realized affection.
And.
—Master.
A certain boy.
The boy who had taken so many of her firsts.
A student she felt grateful for and simultaneously sorry for.
She hoped that even in the end, she wouldn't be ashamed of her kindness.
Even to an adult like her.
—Because he’s a good person’s disciple.
—That is also proof.
—Proof that despite his outward indifference, a warm heart resides within.
For the voice that called her a good person.
Selena stared directly at the man.
Life sparked for the first time in her dull red eyes.
“Five years of being manipulated by you bastards is enough.”
“You’re mistaken.”
Perhaps sensing that persuasion wouldn't work.
The executive clicked his tongue in annoyance.
Finally, the saw was thrust forward.
Her demise was at hand.
“Very well… if that’s how you feel, I’ll send you to your beloved younger sister.”
“You won’t. Lianne is in heaven.”
The woman laughed as if relieved.
Because she knew the end was coming.
“A bitch like me will probably fall into hell.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
“And you’ll be falling into that hell with me.”
“What?”
The executive, caught off guard.
Selena didn't miss the opportunity.
It was the card she had kept hidden until the very end.
“Ugh…!”
She channeled mana into the inscription on her heart.
The device she had inscribed with her own magic just before arriving here.
Fwhooooosh—!
Her body overloaded.
Energy circulated rapidly.
The [Oath] inscription that had originally existed, and the [Resistance] inscription she had added later.
The two clashed fiercely, generating immense power.
“You, don’t tell me…!”
The executive's eyes widened in alarm.
It was an explosion caused by the fusion of the inscriptions.
A suicidal attack, or self-destruction, that caused an artificial collision by sacrificing all the mana residing within her life force.
It contained enough magical power to easily obliterate a mere branch.
Selena sneered.
“Let’s go. To hell.”
A slowly unfolding moment.
The woman closed her eyes.
Her body was hot. Soon, it would be shattered… no, not even a trace would remain.
As she felt the rampaging mana, a smile formed on her lips.
‘If…’
A meaningless hypothesis.
Even so, it was something she thought about at the end.
In the contemplation that marked the conclusion of her long life.
‘What if things had been different between us?’
At the end of her monologue hung the image of a blonde boy.
The always kind blonde boy.
‘If I hadn’t been immersed in grief…’
If.
If we had met under different circumstances, could my relationship with student Judas have been better?
I resolved to be indifferent to death, but… you alone remain as a lingering regret.
I never properly conveyed my gratitude, my apologies, my affection—none of my feelings were properly expressed, so they linger in my mind like an unwritten letter.
It’s truly ironic.
‘I… perhaps I…’
Her monologue remained unfinished.
The end that had chased her to the brink of life. Just as she exhaled her last breath.
Snap—!
“That’s enough.”
A sharp sound like a finger snap echoed.
Followed by a voice.
“Shatter.”
Clang—!
With the sound of shattering glass, a pitch-black darkness enveloped the drunken fool.
Shadows seeped into every inch of her skin.
And then.
The energy that had been about to explode vanished without a trace.
As if someone had lied.
“…?”
Selena expressed her confusion.
She had sensed her death and braced herself for the impending pain, but her limbs were intact, far from being torn apart.
She couldn’t feel the inscription that had been painfully constricting her heart either.
It was strange.
She felt a comforting warmth behind her back.
As if she were embraced in the arms of someone familiar.
The woman opened her closed eyes.
And what she saw was…
“Master.”
“Student Judas…?”
It was none other than the boy.
The very subject of the monologue she had just muttered, the recipient of her unspoken words.
Their unexpected eye contact lingered, brief yet long.
“I came to save you.”
The Snake whispered as if answering her question.
His usual gentle smile graced his lips.
“Didn’t I tell you? I’d take responsibility.”
For some reason, a scene replayed itself naturallyThe day they attended the banquet together, a fragment of the conversation they shared alone in the garden.
For a fleeting moment, the moments overlapped.
—Well, what do you think?
—If it’s true… will you take responsibility, like a superstition?
—Gladly.
—If that’s what you wish.
Just like then.
The Snake held the drunken fool in his arms.
As if he wouldn't let her go.
“I came to keep my promise.”
His eyelids slowly lifted.
The pupils behind them shone brightly.
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