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Chapter 5
Part 1. Hell
Chapter 1. Return (4)
“Long time no see.”
“……!”
Rainerus immediately flung away the hand he had been clutching as though it were a lifeline. As if he had touched something filthy.
I let out a mocking chuckle and sat up. His eyes trembled as he scrutinized every inch of my face.
“It’s been five months for me, but for you, it must have been five years.”
“Don’t tell me….”
“You said you would protect her, even if it cost you your life.”
I dredged up the memory, recalling the confession Rainerus had whispered to that woman.
“You said Jang Hyunji and I were different, that there was no way you could ever confuse us. Yet you couldn’t even recognize me.”
I knew at a glance that you were someone else. You shine, Hyunji. My Florence.
Rainerus’s fair face turned deathly pale. If he was as clever as I thought, he must have realized the moment I opened my eyes.
The real Florence, who had disappeared for five years, had returned.
Jang Hyunji’s soul, which had inhabited Florence’s body.
One soul in one body.
If the real owner had returned, where had Jang Hyunji gone?
I was just about to smirk and tell him the truth when Rainerus lunged at me in an instant and seized me by the collar.
“Why have you appeared again? Where is Hyunji?”
“Khk, ngh, cough! I—I can’t breathe….”
His merciless grip tightened around my throat. I struck at his hand, trying to knock it away, but he wouldn’t budge.
Damn it.
“Did she disappear because you came back? Did you steal that body from her?”
“My body!”
Steal? Who stole what from whom?
I gritted my teeth and shouted back. Then, with every ounce of strength I could muster, I wrenched myself free of his grasp and sucked in several desperate breaths.
Rainerus looked down at me, curled up on the bed, as though I were a bug.
I knew that look all too well.
You used to look at me like I was a bug.
You looked down on me and despised me, even though I had never done anything to hurt you.
All because I loved you.
“This was my body from the very beginning. She was the one who stole it from me. Your beloved stole my body! Now that the rightful owner has returned, the thief should leave, don’t you think?”
“…So if you disappear, she’ll come back.”
“AAAH!”
The moment I could breathe again, he lunged on top of me and grabbed me by the throat.
“Give her back! Bring her back right now! Put her back where she belongs!”
“Khk, ngh….”
His grip was tight, but he couldn’t bring himself to squeeze my throat too hard.
Of course he couldn’t. If Jang Hyunji returned, she would need this body. As long as he believed there was a chance she might come back, he couldn’t afford to damage it.
“Right now…!”
I spotted the pain flickering in his lifeless eyes as he glared at me. Even as the pressure around my throat mounted, a crooked smile crept across my face.
Serves you right.
I felt good.
“What’s the matter? Why aren’t you killing me?”
The muscles in Rainerus’s clenched jaw twitched. I smiled broadly.
“Can’t you kill me? Didn’t you say you would get rid of me?”
“Nobody wanted you to come back! Bring her here right now!”
“I know.”
I could hardly contain my delight. Honestly, this was just too satisfying.
“So what if nobody was looking for me? I’ve merely reclaimed my own body! The owner doesn’t need anyone else’s permission to take back what belongs to them!”
His fingers tightened around my throat. But so what? It barely even tickled.
With strength like this, you couldn’t even kill a child.
I was certain he couldn’t bring himself to harm this body, so I continued.
Rainerus had demanded that I give her back.
He accused me of stealing this body.
My head grew hot. I finally let out all the words I had wanted to hurl at them for so long.
“Give her back? The woman who stole this body is a thief, and you, who took this body into your arms, are a rapist. A thief and a rapist. You two made quite the perfect couple, didn’t you, Rainerus?”
“…….”
“How did it feel to rape a stolen body? Hm? Did you like it? Were you happy?”
“You… how dare you….”
“Oh, whatever shall become of you now that the beautiful love between two criminals can never be fulfilled again?”
Can never be fulfilled again.
Rainerus must have understood exactly what I meant.
That Jang Hyunji would never return.
That he would never see his beloved again.
Because I had returned.
The fingers squeezing my throat loosened. I seized the opportunity and kicked him as hard as I could in the stomach.
Normally, my kick wouldn’t have moved him an inch. But he was shaken, and this time, he staggered backward.
I scrambled away to the far side of the bed and wrapped myself in the blanket.
A thin blanket wouldn’t be enough to keep that man away, but I had learned something.
Simply rejecting him with this face, with this body, was enough to hurt him.
Just look at him now. Even as he glares at me, he can’t hide how wounded he is.
Rainerus gritted his teeth. I heard them grind together. His eyes were filled with murderous intent as he glared at me.
If an ordinary person were to face the killing intent of a Sword Master head-on, they might even suffer a heart attack. But he couldn’t actually unleash his full killing intent.
Because this body couldn’t die.
Because if it did, even the smallest glimmer of hope would disappear.
The sight of his pitiful, heartbroken love made me want to laugh.
What a beautiful love story, Rainerus.
Truly beautiful.
The two of you shared such a beautiful love.
“Where… where did she go? Where is Hyunji?”
“……You already know, don’t you?”
“Damn it! Bring her back to me right now, or else….”
“Or else what?”
“…….”
“You know, Rainerus. Just as I’ve returned to my rightful place, that woman has simply returned to hers.”
To a terminal illness, with death waiting just around the corner.
To days spent writhing in agony every night.
To the fire that had taken my family, where she would feel the pain of her skin melting away.
Back to that nightmare where she scraped at the walls until her fingernails tore off, yet the pain was still too much to bear.
With every word I spoke, Rainerus’s handsome face crumpled a little more.
“Do you think she’ll come back if you kill me? What do you think?”
“If I… kill you….”
Rainerus’s dark eyes were unfocused as he stared at me. I realized he was genuinely considering killing me.
But he didn’t move.
This is really too satisfying.
“You’re finally starting to act like a human being, Rainerus. I guess your love for that thief really was genuine.”
“…….”
“So even if you’re a thief and a rapist, the love you feel can still be beautiful.”
I smiled broadly.
His pain eased the suffocating feeling in my chest, if only a little.
“Why don’t you wait and see? You never know. Maybe one day, just as she suddenly stole my body from me, she’ll do it again. Maybe your beloved misses you so much that she’ll push me out and come looking for you. Perhaps God will be moved by your tragic love and abandon me once more….”
But she can’t come back, Rainerus.
“Of course, that would only be possible if this body were still alive.”
“……Hyunji….”
He called her name as though I weren’t standing before him, as though the woman herself were right in front of him.
To him, this situation must have been nothing short of horrific. The body of the woman he had loved was still alive and well, but the woman herself no longer existed in this world.
It was a sudden, devastating loss.
He covered his mouth with his large hands and crumpled to the floor.
I looked down at the crown of his head as he collapsed.
He must have been happy when he whispered words of love while occupying my body.
He must have been happy when he shoved me into that agonizing quagmire and shared his love with her.
But now, the world had returned to its proper order.
Jang Hyunji would die soon.
And even if I died, no one would ever steal this body from me again.
Never.
But I couldn’t tell Rainerus that outright.
If he became certain that she would never return, he might kill me on the spot. The only reason he hadn’t strangled me to death was that he still clung to the faint hope that she might come back.
For now, I had to keep that hope alive if I wanted to survive.
Otherwise, Rainerus would kill me.
