I 14

My hands keep strangling Regina’s neck. She doesn’t even resist, her mouth forms a smile, as tears fall down from her eyes.

“You truly hate me that much? Ryle?”

I keep trying to increase the force of my hands as much as possible. Until I can no longer do it anymore.

The last person I expect to be here is Rick, who appears from behind me, “It’s time to kill her, Ryle. You should pay back for whatever she has done to you. Yes! I have been a traitor to you in the first place, Regina. Before you rewound the world, I had seen everything you did, and vowed to myself: I would try to rewrite in every single world I reincarnated into, the story of the bad deeds you had done in the name of the kingdom while justifying every single bad things committed by your own compatriots, the people you had killed. Even if my memories carried over or not, I would still try to write a story. They might not all resemble each other, but they all aimed to bring you down. Even if the chance a soul may read that story may not reincarnate back into this world, I would still try to spread the story as far as possible, of all the horrifying and despicable things you had put us through. ” He doesn’t look like he’s still sane anymore.

I release Regina.

Not that it still means anything anyway.

Caterina has died. My only purpose of being in this world has disappeared.

“I don’t hate you.”

That’s why I released her.

Since I truly… just don’t hate her… at all.

“And besides… I’m a subject of the kingdom of Maskiev anyway. A subject is supposed to obey the obligations he is supposed to abide by.”

I carry Caterina’s body in my arms.

Just stop crying, Eos. How do I even know what to do now, if you are crying already?

Please stop, Eos.

Since if you don’t… I will also cry as well.

I return to the building, with the bald man.

“You were right. That wasn’t my final decision yet.”

I gently lay Caterina’s body on the ground. The man looks at her with gentle eyes.

“How do you feel about your journey? I don’t mean the previous trips you made to the kingdom of Hope and kingdom of Mist and here, but your entire experience, since you came to this world.”

“I don’t have a lot of things to say. It’s still life no matter where you go or reincarnate.”

“I guess that’s all there is to it. For you at least.”

“This is needless to say,” I pat Caterina’s hair, “but the special thing about this world… you know what I want to say. It would be lying if I say this world is completely just like anywhere else.”

This is the world in which I learned what love is, after all.

“Can I really return to my past world?”

“Perhaps.”

“Perhaps?”

“What we are doing is to end your dream. The world is a dream,” he says.

“A dream?”

“Once your dream ends, you will return to reality.”

People gather around me. I look at Rick.

“…”

“You don’t need to say anything. Our ties from now on are done anyway, even if you stay in this world,” he says.

I look at Alina, who seems to have come to the building just a bit ago.

“Good to see you here.”

“So you are coming back,” she says.

“Yeah. What about you?”

“I think I will keep staying here. I don’t have anything left to do in my own past world anyway. Besides, there’s still a friend here who is dear to me. I need to take care of her.”

“Roselyn right?”

“I guess you know her. She’s the most precious friend I have ever had ever since I came to this world.”

“Send my regards to her. And my apologies as well, for not being able to do what I have promised in the letter. If she does wake up.”

I turn to Eos, who does look like she wants to cry again.

“It’s been a good time, being with you. Sorry for not having much to say.”

She nods, “I will miss you.”

Before I could turn my back to that person, she already hugged me from behind. I give her some pats in the back. Eventually she stops hugging. I turn to her, pat her hair, give her a kiss to the cheek.

“Now lie down,” the bald man tells me, I do as he says.

I look at the face of Caterina one last time, as I lie on the ground.

“Regina,” I look at her face, “I used to love you, many years ago.”

Her face flushes as I say my confession.

That was the last expression I saw, before waking up.