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Chapter : 29
“You’re awake, Priest.”
When I opened the door and stepped inside, Arno was already up.
“As expected, the main character buff, huh.”
His face was unexpectedly clear and delicate, not at all like someone who had collapsed on the street.
“You’re probably still not feeling well. Why don’t you sit down?”
“…Actually, that’s true.”
“You don’t need to explain.”
I sat down in front of Arno and opened my bag.
I had brought some snacks that Dainé had packed, and the sweet aroma filled the room.
“Here, have some.”
I handed him the snack that looked the sweetest.
But Arno quickly turned his head and said,
“I don’t like sweets.”
Who are you trying to fool? I know you’re crazy about sweets.
“Let’s pretend we haven’t seen each other today.”
I knew what Arno was worried about.
No matter how covered in sugar powder they were, there was no way I could have eaten them.
“I haven’t seen you, and you haven’t seen me.”
“Just because you pretend not to have seen something doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.”
Arno said, slowly adjusting his shirt. His eyes were sharp, as if he knew his weakness had been exposed.
“That alone won’t….”
“Ah!”
At that moment, I accidentally dropped the snack I was holding.
“Why is that?”
The inside of my arm, where the mark of headquarters was engraved, hurt terribly.
I quickly looked down.
“Why is this happening?”
The mark was glowing red and twitching, as if it were about to tear through my skin.
It was at least a relief that Arno, a character in this dimension, couldn’t see it.
“…Hoo.”
I gritted my teeth to hide it, but the pain was almost unbearable.
At that moment.
[Penalty applied to the controller interfering in the original story.]
A large text appeared in midair.
‘Looks like meeting the heroine has a pretty big effect.’
When a controller from headquarters interferes in the original story, they receive penalty points.
So far, there had been no reaction from previous interventions… but it seemed the story was truly twisting after touching the heroine.
It must be the result of the horrifying hybrid between the possessed DL and the controller Baek Jua.
“Ugh!”
Just as the burning pain seemed to subside, something surged through my head.
“It wasn’t the life I chose. I didn’t choose to be born as me.”
It was DL’s memory.
Stories of DL that I had never known seemed to carve themselves into my very bones.
My heart pounded as if it were remembering that day vividly.
“Princess! Are you all right?”
Cough!
At that moment, a gush of crimson blood poured from my lips.
Thick blood dripped through my fingers.
Having experienced many nosebleeds, blood itself was not unfamiliar to me.
‘But vomiting blood… this is a different feeling.’
Seeing me like that, Arno grabbed my shoulder.
“Princess!”
“I’m fine.”
I answered out of habit, then wiped the blood from my hands and mouth first.
“More importantly, the blood got on the blanket. That’s going to be hard to clean.”
“Do you know what your complexion looks like right now and still say you’re fine?”
The dizziness hadn’t fully passed, and my vision spun, but it was bearable.
Making a fuss over something like this would be far more uncomfortable.
“This happens sometimes. Don’t worry about it.”
I recalled the time when I had bled so much from my nose that the floor was soaked.
I spent the night cleaning, worrying only about dirtying the blankets, and by morning, the bleeding had stopped.
Until I was twenty, Baek Jua lived like that.
“No, really…”
Arno frowned, staring at me, his face speechless.
‘So they really did interfere in the original story.’
Regardless, I was busy cleaning up and checking the situation.
‘But does it really stop after just one time of vomiting blood?’
It seemed this was the punishment for interfering in the original story.
At headquarters, penalties accumulate as points. Here, I suppose the punishment comes as physical pain.
[Arno’s “Sorrow” increases by 20%.]
At that moment, Arno’s control panel reacted.
‘What? Why?’
With no expression other than a frown, it was even more unexpected.
I wondered if it was because of me, but…
‘When did he even see me?’
We weren’t even that close.
“Can you hear me?”
It was only a moment of puzzlement as I looked at his control panel.
“Princess!”
Suddenly, my vision spun and everything shook.
Before I knew it, Arno was shouting something, and then the world went dark, as if the film had been cut.
“…DL…!”
With that came a familiar sensation, and my strength drained.
Ah, I must have fainted.
It had been quite a while.
At the moment DL vomited blood in front of her,
Arno’s mind went blank.
“Please don’t leave me, sister!”
“Arno. Leave me to die. Do you know how long I’ve waited for this moment?”
Seeing DL brought back memories of that day.
“Finally, I can die. I can escape this miserable life! Arno.”
That day, my sister vomited dark blood and looked indifferent.
She smiled at the doctor’s words that she didn’t have many years left.
Arno realized then that he too had been just a part of her miserable life.
‘She probably just wanted to escape from me.’
Arno became a priest and left for the Judgement Temple, cutting contact with his sister.
He couldn’t remember when he heard of her death—it had been a long time.
Still, Arno thought of her every day.
Was she finally free from him?
“Princess. DL Ekaterina!”
Arno always recalled the painful lesson his sister had taught him: showing weakness only becomes a liability.
So he endured by restraining himself.
“Priest, is there nobody outside?”
But now, Arno felt like he had returned to that moment.
“Darwin! Where are you?”
He searched for the attendant priest, urgently opening the door.
‘Hah, damn it.’
Arno realized this was not the temple.
He was too distracted.
If he went out to the Bontech entrance now, could he find the temple knights?
No. He couldn’t leave the woman alone.
“Why is there… nothing?!”
Arno returned to the room and rifled through all the drawers.
He knew there was no healing potion here.
Still, he was desperate.
Even he didn’t know why.
He just felt he had to do something.
“Right, the innkeeper said she would bring antipyretics. She should be back soon.”
After that, Arno muttered to himself.
He would ask if there were any sedatives when the innkeeper returned.
“Should I ask if there’s a nearby hospital? If I go to the Bontech Monastery, I could contact the temple immediately.”
He bit his nails, paced the room, yet never took his eyes off DL. His gaze was anxious.
“DL Ekaterina.”
At that moment, there was a loud bang as the door was thrown open.
“Please, save me, Lady Ekaterina!”
The innkeeper, who had gone to get the antipyretic, stood pale.
“I know nothing. I merely received guests!”
A man was standing at the door with her.
‘Marquis Rekaten?’
It was Evan.
