“Dear Etricia.”
She pressed her soft lips against the back of my hand.
Startled, I instinctively tried to pull my hand away, but she rested her cheek against it.
The warmth and gentle touch made me stop resisting and let her be.
“I’m truly glad to have the opportunity to greet you.”
“Greet me?”
“Thank you so much for bringing down Lunox. And I sincerely apologize for making you bear the weight of my mistakes.”
“…I think you should apologize to someone else first.”
“Ah…”
Leticia trembled at my sharp words and straightened her posture.
Naturally, she let go of my hand, clasped her own, and bowed her head.
“Because of my naive arrogance, I caused trouble for everyone. I sincerely apologize.”
I let out a deep sigh and crossed my arms.
“I’ll pass that apology on to my lover and friends once I leave your consciousness.”
She widened her eyes momentarily, then smiled softly.
Tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear, she looked up at me again.
After a brief moment of contemplation, I finally asked the question that had been lingering in my mind.
“Did you deliberately leave your journal for me to find so I would remember my past life?”
Leticia gently shook her head, like a soft breeze passing by.
“I set it up so that only those with ‘Purification’ could see it. I was waiting for you to find it someday.”
“In the end, you did, and that was a stroke of fortune for me.”
Leticia smiled warmly and then suddenly grabbed my wrist.
“It’s time for me to go. Once my consciousness fades, I won’t be able to come out again.”
She smiled as she guided me somewhere.
“You said you’d deliver my apology, right? I’ll show you the way, so please take care of it.”
I followed her and soon, before my eyes, a massive door appeared in an instant. She opened it and stepped aside, allowing brilliant light to pour through.
“This is the best reward I can give you for completing what needed to be done.”
I shrugged and made a playful remark.
“Then of course I’ll accept it. After all the trouble I went through.”
She chuckled and patted my back, a warmth spreading from her touch.
“Leticia.”
She hummed in response and turned to look at me.
“I just have one question.”
I smiled faintly as I faced her. She nodded, signaling for me to ask anything.
After hesitating for a moment, I finally spoke.
“Did you truly love Lunox?”
As a friend. As family.
Leticia’s widened eyes trembled slightly.
“Even if he killed my family… I couldn’t completely hate him.”
I had seen it in my dreams, so I was sure.
The hesitation, even as she knew her once-close friend had crossed a line.
The traces of grief and agony.
Unfortunately, as someone who had lived as a servant of the gods, she never learned how to hold onto hatred for long.
Meeting my unwavering gaze, she let out a helpless smile, as if she had no excuse left.
“Really, Etricia, you always see right through me.”
Then, she looked up at me with a serene smile.
“My family’s deaths were entirely my fault. So while others may see Lunox as a heartless monster, to me, he was simply a broken part of my past.”
Lowering her head slightly, she let out a bitter chuckle.
“I only realized too late that the best way to save him was to make sure he could no longer fall further.”
Though I had only met Leticia for a brief moment, she felt like a long-lost sister.
She wiped away the tears forming at the corners of her eyes and smiled.
“It’s time for you to go, Etricia.”
She turned my shoulders and gave me a gentle push. Her strength was surprising, and before I knew it, I had crossed the threshold of the door.
As I naturally stepped inside, the brilliant light swallowed me. I turned back one last time.
Through the blurred glow, I could see Leticia’s face.
There was something I needed to say.
“Thank you. For letting me meet him.”
She looked surprised, momentarily dazed. Seeing her expression, I let out a small chuckle.
Just saying those words made my nose sting with emotion.
“I wanted you to know that, because of you, at least one person found happiness.”
The light engulfed my vision.
“Now, rest in peace.”
With her eyes glistening with tears and a radiant smile on her lips, Leticia was the last thing I saw before closing my damp eyes.
‘So heavy…’
As I regained consciousness, even moving a single finger felt impossible.
But the familiar softness beneath me told me I was on a bed. I willed my fingers to move.
Slowly, as I tested my senses, I parted my dry lips.
“Ah…”
A hoarse gasp barely escaped my throat.
As my body slowly awakened, I forced my heavy eyelids open.
Sunlight streamed gently into the white room where I lay.
By my bedside, with his head resting on my hand, was Edmund.
Fatigue was evident in his face.
His usually neat, short-cut hair was disheveled. Dark circles had formed under his eyes, as if he had stayed up watching over me.
His lips looked dry. Had he even been drinking enough water?
‘How foolish… waiting endlessly, not knowing when I’d wake up…’
A surge of emotions welled up in my chest. My throat tightened.
“Ed… mund…”
My voice barely came out, cracking with effort.
I forced myself to call out once more.
“Edmund…”
At my weak voice, his eyelashes fluttered as he opened his golden eyes.
Dazed, he blinked, trying to grasp reality.
Then, as if witnessing a miracle, his eyes widened, filled with disbelief and awe.
“Ah…”
His parted lips trembled. His expression was that of someone seeing a sacred revelation.
Overcome with indescribable emotions, my chest ached.
“Edmund…”
I reached out a trembling hand toward him. My fingertips brushed against his cheek before finally cupping his face.
“I’ve come to see my moon.”
My moon, Edmund.
Tears spilled down my cheeks, but I didn’t care. I simply smiled—brightly, triumphantly.
As if to say, See? I told you I’d return.
Edmund reached out his hand.
His fingertips traced from my forehead, down my nose, and to my lips—calm and gentle, without any strange feeling.
Then, he lowered his head and brought his rough lips to mine.
As if he was checking if I was really alive, he stayed like that for a while, feeling my breath, then slowly pulled away.
His soft and sorrowful gaze fell on my face.
“Etricia.”
At the sound of his tearful voice, a wave of sadness came over me, and my lower lip trembled.
I brushed his lower lip and forced a smile.
“Yes, Edmund.”
“Is it really you?”
“Of course. Were you afraid my soul might have changed?”
At that moment, Edmund let out a rough breath, slid his hand under my back, and pulled me close.
As I suddenly fell into his arms, I finally let go of all the emotions I had been holding back.
I cried hard, wrapping my arms around his neck, and he planted small kisses along the back of mine.
“I really opened my eyes. Really…”
My throat tightened, and I couldn’t speak anymore.
To be honest, I was scared.
Even up to the moment I promised Edmund I would wake up, my heart had been filled with fear.
What if I never woke up?
What if I never saw him again?
As if he knew, he silently wrapped his arms around me and rested his face on my shoulder.
After a while, when my tears had calmed, he slowly pulled back and kissed my lips.
Holding each other’s dry lips, he whispered with his breath,
I love you, Etricia.
You are my everything.
It was the moment I was finally able to keep my promise to him.
Lying in bed, resting against Edmund’s chest while eating comfortably, I was shocked.
“I was asleep for a month?!”
“Yes, you were asleep for a whole month. Now, say ah.”
I opened my mouth wide and obediently ate the soup Edmund fed me, chewing slowly.
My goodness. I had been asleep for a whole month.
Did that mean my life had been shortened by a month?
But thinking about it more, sealing and destroying a high-level monster… maybe that was a fair price.
“Well… a month isn’t too bad.”
At that moment, his sharp gaze fell like a blade on the top of my head, and I flinched, quickly correcting myself.
“I-I mean! Losing a whole month of my life…! That’s really dangerous. I should never use this power again!”
Only after I made that strong vow with wide eyes did his cold stare finally fade.
Whew. I patted my chest in relief and glanced up at him.
After I woke up, Edmund immediately called for Lova.
Following Edmund’s orders, I stayed lying quietly in bed and realized the outside was noisy.
When I listened closely, I could hear the cheers and relieved sighs of the duke’s servants.
‘Thank goodness, Lady Etricia. We’re so glad you woke up. You have no idea how worried His Holiness was.’
Lova had sniffled as she finished the check-up and left, and I saw Rail’s teary eyes as he brought my food. That’s when I realized I had really been asleep for a long time.
And that everyone around me had suffered in worry.
“Lova came to the duke’s house often to check on me, right? I should thank her later—”
As I was chattering, a pill was placed in my mouth.
I looked up at him with wide eyes.
When he lifted a water cup, I pushed it away, said a word, and stuck out my tongue.
“This one’s really bitter. Do I really have to take it?”
His eyes, lowered like a fine thread of gold, stared at my tongue.
As his gaze stayed there and began to feel more intense, I blushed and shyly started to pull my tongue back in…
