BXBX NOVEL Chapter 57 – Regret (1)
Chapter 57 – Regret (1)
Diana regained consciousness after being dragged into the carriage with Kyle.
The guilt of failing to protect her master.
Memories jumbled together in chaos.
The incessant rattling of the carriage.
Her head throbbed with pain, and the situation was pure chaos.
‘Master…’
Kyle was lying so close she could feel his breath.
At that moment.
“…!”
Kyle’s tightly shut eyelids slowly lifted.
Diana froze as their gazes locked at such a close distance.
And Kyle, watching her closely.
After a brief moment.
— Shh.
Kyle placed a straight finger to his lips, signaling Diana to be silent.
Then he slowly closed his eyes again, as if he had been unconscious all along.
“…”
Diana kept quiet.
Momentarily flustered, she followed Kyle’s instruction and closed her eyes.
Rattle—
After a time of endurance, the carriage began to slow down.
And then, in the middle of an unfamiliar forest, the carriage stopped.
“Huh, they’re sleeping soundly.”
The coachman, after checking on the supposedly sleeping Kyle and Diana, got off the carriage.
Clunk— as the door closed.
“Haah.”
Kyle, who had been pretending to be unconscious, let out a short sigh and slowly raised his head.
“Diana.”
“Master.”
“Yes, but don’t get up yet. They might see through the window.”
Kyle smiled and bent down.
He began to gather the scattered luggage on the floor.
“What is the coachman doing?”
“He is waiting for the Saintess’s carriage to arrive.”
“Good, keep watching like that. Inform me immediately if there’s any sign of him returning this way.”
Diana cautiously lifted her head to look around.
Her dizzying vision only captured an incomprehensible forest.
“Where is this…”
“Probably somewhere in the Eastern Continent.”
“The Eastern Continent?”
“Yes, this whole situation is Isabel’s doing.”
Isabel Yustia.
The Saintess of the Papal See and the master’s former fiancee.
Diana sighed.
She had witnessed the Saintess’s near-mad obsession with her master several times, but she never imagined she would resort to kidnapping.
“We probably haven’t gone far. It hasn’t even been a day since we left.”
Kyle started stuffing the scattered luggage into a bag.
After a while, he handed the hastily packed bag to Diana.
“Take it.”
“…”
Inside the bag were a significant amount of checks and various necessities neatly arranged.
And.
‘This is…’
An Elixir.
The only potion that could revive her master in the future, gleaming in the corner of the bag.
The master’s intention in giving this to her was clear.
“Do we move now?”
At Diana’s question, Kyle nodded with a nonchalant expression.
Then he asked back.
“What about the coachman?”
“He’s just letting the Saintess off the recently halted carriage.”
“The distance?”
“Exactly in the blind spot.”
Without hesitation, Kyle carefully opened the carriage door.
Then he summoned his magic to erase any signs of his presence.
“Follow me.”
Kyle jumped out of the carriage and ran into the forest path.
Diana adjusted her speed and followed closely behind.
She didn’t ask Kyle anything.
She just ran, ears perked, attentively listening to her surroundings.
“…”
“…”
A heavy silence settled between them.
Then, something cold fell on her nose.
Plop—
Rain began to pour from the sky.
The dampness spread, and the smell of rain grew stronger.
After running for several minutes.
Kyle, who had been running for a while, suddenly stopped.
“Diana.”
The moment she met his resolute blue eyes, Diana knew.
Ah, it’s today.
To return to his original world, to escape the nearly violent obsession.
Her master would eventually choose his own death.
“Do you remember your orders?”
“Of course.”
She definitely remembered.
It was all part of the plan her master had designed.
His death, and her having to witness it.
She was merely following the predetermined script.
“It won’t be easy.”
“…”
“She’s such a madwoman that she won’t easily accept the fact that I’m dead.”
Yes, it was just a plan.
So there’s no need to grieve.
Even if her master dies, she could revive him later.
But why?
Diana couldn’t say a word.
Does her master… really have to die?
Even if it’s part of the plan, facing his imminent death must be terrifying.
Is this truly the right thing to do?
Is there really no other way?
Diana barely swallowed the words that rose to her throat.
She exhaled a hot breath and struggled to lift her head.
At that moment, she met his gaze.
His blue eyes filled with guilt, as if he had something to say.
That look was answer enough.
“Don’t worry.”
So, she smiled nonchalantly.
That was all she could do.
“…”
Kyle looked down at Diana silently for a while.
A myriad of emotions flitted across his face.
Then, after a moment, she turned away without hesitation.
At the same time, she muttered.
“I’m sorry.”
She felt powerless.
As powerless as the raindrops that couldn’t halt her master’s steps.
She was, truly powerless.
****
Rain poured down heavily.
“Kyle…?”
Isabel murmured in a cracked voice as she looked at Kyle lying in her arms.
Naturally, there was no response.
At that moment, Kyle’s voice, which had been alive just moments ago, echoed like a hallucination in her ears.
— I curse you.
The words he spat out while looking at her with desolate eyes.
— Let’s never meet again.
The words he uttered with a voice as dry and brittle as ash.
Those were his last words before dying.
“This isn’t right…”
She desperately reached out with trembling hands.
Though she couldn’t feel a pulse, the skin she touched was still soft and warm, as if he were alive.
Isabel suddenly burst into laughter at the contradictory reality.
It’s warm.
I can still feel him under my fingertips.
He’s still in my arms.
There’s no way he’s dead.
He shouldn’t be dead.
“You’re acting… aren’t you?”
This doesn’t make sense.
I know you’re angry with me, but this isn’t right.
“Please, just open your eyes….”
There’s so much I need to say.
So many plans, preparations, things to show you.
None of it has even begun yet.
“Why…”
Isabel choked back her sobs.
She kept checking Kyle’s pulse, knowing he had stopped breathing.
“Why… why…”
I managed to come back to the past.
So why.
Why waste such a precious opportunity like this…!
“…Ah.”
Suddenly, a huge realization struck her mind.
There was only one plausible explanation.
“It’s because of me…?”
Kyle loathed her.
He found her detestable.
So he escaped.
To ensure I could never chase him again.
“Really…?”
Her mind grew hazy.
She fumbled to hold on to Kyle’s face, which looked so peaceful in his eternal sleep.
Kyle’s scent pierced through the heavy rain smell.
Her voice squeezed out through clenched teeth.
“You hated me… that much…”
This isn’t what I wanted…
If I had known you hated me enough to choose death so easily, I would never have done this.
I just… I just liked you…
I just wanted to be with you…
That’s all.
There were no ulterior motives.
Suddenly, Kyle’s voice faintly echoed in her blank mind.
— I loved you.
— But not anymore.
Maybe, she had known all along.
That there was never any chance for her and Kyle to be together.
She just ignored it.
Because admitting it would hurt her pride too much.
Kyle’s changed demeanor, as if he was stirring the shadows of the past.
— It’s been a year.
— A year since you started treating me coldly. A year since I started moving on from you.
— During that year, I made a decision that felt like carving my bones.
So she had blocked her ears.
Clinging to Kyle even more desperately.
— Why.
— Why now.
She wanted to set things right.
Her own mistakes, their twisted relationship.
She thought Kyle would be happy to see her changed self.
— After a year of struggling, I finally managed to say that I want to break off the engagement.
— Isabel, you demanded affection from me within days.
Kyle had looked utterly fed up back then.
Just as she couldn’t believe Kyle’s sudden change, Kyle couldn’t believe her transformation either.
In her mind, she might have already known.
How her current self, begging for affection, would appear to Kyle.
— Please, just leave me alone.
She should have stopped then.
Melancholy wasn’t power, but she had mistaken herself in her sorrow.
Her vision turned white.
Isabel slowly lowered her face to the limp hand of Kyle resting on her lap.
The warmth that once was there, was slowly fading.
She couldn’t feel his heartbeat or breath anymore.
Kyle’s face, so peaceful in death, overlapped with the image of him blushing as he confessed his love to her, then melted away.
“…”
Kyle was dead.
There was no bringing him back.
It was right to hold a funeral.
To send him off with proper respect.
But.
But…
“It’s still… we still don’t know.”
Regret, thick and heavy, overwhelmed Isabel.
She was struggling to breathe properly.
“Just one more day…”
We don’t know yet.
Maybe he’ll wake up if I wait a little longer.
Or… maybe another opportunity to go back in time will come…
So…
“Just one more day…”
Isabel stood up slowly, still holding Kyle in her arms.
Her vision was blurry, but she staggered forward, barely keeping herself from collapsing.
She gritted her teeth and swallowed her sobs.
She had no right to tears, no right to sorrow, so she just walked with bloodshot eyes.
“…Hng… Uhh…”
The rain had stopped.