DBOFS 68

Chapter 68

No, this isn’t just wrong—it’s back to square one!

I was at a loss for words and stared blankly at Harris. He raised his eyebrows in response.

“What kind of thought process leads someone to come up with something like that?”

“That’s my line!”

I shouted in disbelief.

Harris pressed his large hand against both my cheeks, warning me.

“If you keep yelling like that, you’ll lose your voice.”

“Wh-what?! (Is that really important right now?!)”

“It is. Here, drink this.”

“Ah, thanks… no, that’s not it!”

As soon as I regained feeling in my cheeks, I reflexively brought the cup of perfectly warm tea Harris handed me to my lips (I really was thirsty) but snapped out of it just in time.

“Harris!”

“Hmm?”

“You really can’t do that!!”

“Why not?”

Normally, I would’ve just resigned myself with a “Harris being Harris” and quickly tried a tailored persuasion. But in that moment, thinking I’d somehow connected with him, I was far too flustered to do anything else.

“If you keep doing that, you’re going to hell!”

I blurted out something that ridiculous.

“…?”

Harris squinted one eye. I regretted saying it as soon as it left my mouth.

They say what comes out in moments of panic is a person’s true feelings. I shouldn’t say this now, but I actually believed in the afterlife, at least a little.

‘More precisely, I wanted to believe.’

I had a terminal rare disease.

Due to the nature of my illness, I was treated with experimental therapies rather than systematic ones, and my sister and mother didn’t explain every single reason why I needed each treatment.

‘They were probably worried I’d be more scared if I knew.’

A patient’s will and mindset can greatly influence treatment outcomes. I understood my family’s intentions.

Still, it didn’t change the fact that it hurt and was painful. So it was natural to think, “If life is this painful, please send me to heaven afterward!”

“Jade… you came from another world, and you even believe in things like that.”

“……”

But I wasn’t so fervent as to make Harris look at me like, “Well, you’re kind of naïve!”

‘Besides, Harris should be the one believing in heaven or hell!’

This world’s faith was stronger than mine. And yet, a resident of a fantasy world was a skeptic!

Harris seemed to read my expression again and said:

“That’s because of you, Jade.”

“Huh?”

Why? What did I do?

“You said it yourself at first—you’re a prophet from another world.”

My point was “prophet” (I only added “from another world” to avoid mistakes due to my lack of understanding of this world), but Harris seemed to see it differently.

“So then, how did you end up falling from that other world into this one?”

“Ah… well, I…”

“You must’ve died.”

That was… precise. Are you some kind of shaman?

“Your eyes are unkind.”

“Ugh.”

Harris pressed my cheeks lightly again with his large hands.

“So if you died and ended up next to me…”

Harris chuckled.

“That’s hell.”

“……”

No, I was bewildered. Why does he strangely self-objectify in moments like this?

‘Well, the first meeting really was hell.’

It was the moment just before S-rank ability user Harris, restrained and imprisoned in the underground cell, went berserk. Only a gruesome death awaited me.

‘I… probably haven’t exactly lived a virtuous life either.’

I even doubted myself. To die and end up here, I realized I had done a lot of bad things. Just the worry, money trouble, and pain I caused my sister and mom alone…

‘Definitely unfilial.’

And I died first. That was apparently the ultimate unfilial act!

“Jade, I know your nature is good.”

“Not really—ugh!”

I tried to argue as Harris loosened his grip, but he easily dismissed me.

“Then you’d want to save anyone you could.”

“Ugh!”

“Even a rude brat or their mother.”

“Ugh-!”

“But, Jade.”

Harris moved his fingers from my cheeks to grab my chin, pulling me closer.

Our noses almost touched. His red eyes shimmered like liquid fire.

“Does living a good life even matter?”

“……”

It was a logical conclusion. So logical that I couldn’t help but agree. He was beautiful, dangerously so.

“So, Jade…”

Let’s be wicked together.

Fall into hell with me.

His deep, seductive gaze seemed to speak those words. Dark hair swept across his forehead, cascading down his neck, layered like shadows.

Long lashes cast darkness over his red eyes, and that decadent stare captured my mind…

“Not…!”

Snap out of it!

Bam! I head-butted Harris to escape his overwhelming allure.

“……?!”

Harris squinted. He didn’t seem hurt, just annoyed, smoothing his forehead in disbelief.

‘Phew, that was close.’

Even that face was dangerous, but just now, it was the kind of face that would willingly give away bank passwords, join MLMs, cosign loans, and even give up organs!

‘Insane beauty attack, mental defense is urgent.’

Why doesn’t one ever get used to it? It hits my taste dead center every time.

“Ouch! First of all, Harris, I have a lot to say, but let’s get one thing straight first.”

I pressed my head down firmly.

“I don’t think being next to you is hell.”

“…Jade, I understand your feelings, but…”

“Just listen!”

I covered his mouth with my hand. You think only you can do that? I can too!

“In my previous life… I was a terminal patient, waiting for my last day.”

“……”

Harris’s eyes wavered.

Back then, I didn’t want to admit it, hoping for improvement despite all my ailments… but at some point, I knew.

Ah, this really is the end.

“Still, I desperately wished… not to die like that, to walk outside the hospital on my own two feet, and…”

I smiled at Harris.

“To meet you, even just once.”

“……!”

Ripples spread across Harris’s face. The waves of emotion spread through his body.

Yes, finally, I could see him.

“Really… I wanted to see you, Harris.”

How could this be hell? This is the person I longed for even before death.

“I’m glad to meet you.”

You’re even more wonderful than I imagined.

‘…Maybe even crazier than I thought.’

Still, that’s part of who you are, so I’ll accept it.

I leaned my forehead against his.

“So, Harris, don’t say things like that.”

Sounds like hell talk to me.

I grabbed his face with the hand covering his mouth.

“Already ruined life? Then let’s ruin it more? I’m living well, so R=VD!”

“R… what?”

“Then you should live better too! You should be good!”

Thinking about it made me angrier. No matter how self-critical you are, calling yourself hellish, what’s that about?

‘I won’t allow my favorite to be insulted!’

Even if it’s Harris himself!

I grabbed his collar with vigor and shouted:

“Seriously, don’t say things like that ever again!”

“Jade, calm—”

“Calm my foot! Say “hell” one more time, and I’ll drag you down with me! I won’t forgive you!”

“……”

“Understand?”

“……Understood.”

Harris reluctantly answered, perhaps subdued by my intensity.

I let go of his collar and grinned.

“Now, for our happy-happy life together, let’s save Demuard and Princess Irene while doing some good deeds too.”

“How does that relate—”

“Save them! Shall we?!”

“……”

Harris sighed.

“Really, I don’t know who’s in charge here.”

“Yeah, yeah~ Anyway, let’s get to the main point!”

It’s a fact that Princess Irene didn’t appear to aim for Godwin’s succession.

“If she really wanted it, Layre wouldn’t have introduced the siblings then and there.”

At the banquet, the atmosphere overwhelmingly favored Princess Irene.

‘That advantage vanished when she insisted on passing succession to her children, not herself.’

That statement destroyed her support base among the old Godwin faction.

‘She could’ve hinted at taking over at the banquet and only revealed her intentions during the real succession dispute.’

Irene had lived as the wife of the Layre family for many years. Surely she knew the impact of her words.

Even if she did aim for succession, she could have acted earlier to snatch it.

Yet even in the “Shicheon-Gwi” account of the future two years later, she made no such move.

“So, the succession dispute is a facade. She has another goal…”

Linking it to the original future destruction of the Layre family…

Jade unconsciously looked at Harris.

‘Could it be…’

Harris twisted the corner of his mouth.

“She’s lured the enemy here.”

Not in Layre, but in Godwin.

Jade’s face turned pale. Not because of fear of an unknown enemy, but because:

‘That means Princess Irene knew the future.’

But how was that possible? Jade unconsciously clutched the Adrian (stone) necklace.

“Viscount—!!”

The office door was forcefully knocked, and urgent voices rang out.