TVWD 27

Chapter 27

Lexian held me tightly in his broad arms and whispered softly,

“I love you, Roa.”

“Lex!”

I tried to push him away, but he stood firm like a wall of stone, smiling sorrowfully.

The sky darkened again.

His hand pressed gently against the back of my head so I wouldn’t be swallowed by the shadows. Strangely, his embrace smelled of sunlight, warm and bright despite the grim moment.

“I just wanted to protect you… so you wouldn’t be hurt.”

Before his faint whisper had even faded, there came harsh, violent sounds — thud, thud.
But Lexian didn’t let go of me.

I couldn’t see what was happening, but the sudden downpour made my whole body tremble.

“Lex. Lexs.”

I called his name — the name of the man I loved — but no answer came.

Thump, thump, thump, thump.

Only the frantic beating of my heart told me something was terribly wrong.

“Lex…?”

A burst of blinding light made me squint, and my gaze instinctively followed something toppling to the side.

Ah… the man who had always stood so tall and proud was collapsing helplessly.

“Lex…”

He didn’t answer when I called. Tears — ones that hadn’t come even when I was branded a villainess — blurred my vision.

“Lex… Lexs. Lex!”

I clutched his limp body and called him again and again, but there was no reply.

“Lex, please, open your eyes. Please… please!”

I couldn’t accept the cold stillness of his body. Desperately, I began pulling out the arrows that had pierced him, one by one — thinking that if I removed them all, he might open his eyes again.

But I stopped when a shadow fell over me.

It was the Crown Prince.

“Damn it. Still causing trouble, even in death.”

He kicked Lexian’s body carelessly with his foot.

“If only you’d died sooner.”

How dare he — how dare that filthy man touch him with those feet.

The rage I thought I’d lost surged up from the depths of me.

Fine. Let the world kill me — that was always my fate.
But not this man.
Not Lexian Lysiansius.
He wasn’t meant to die.

When I lifted my head, the Crown Prince was grinning wickedly.

“Now all my rivals are gone.”

I rose to my feet slowly. His smile widened — smug, amused, satisfied.

“Now it’s your turn, witch.”

Before he could finish his sentence, I drew the dagger hidden in my clothes and struck.

“Ghk—”

His eyes went wide, but I didn’t stop.

“Die. Die! Just die!”

The soldiers finally realized what was happening and rushed toward me.

“You crazy woman!”

Rough hands seized me, binding me tightly, but I didn’t stop glaring at the Crown Prince.

“How is His Highness?!”

A soldier checked and shook his head. The faces of the others darkened immediately.

The Crown Prince — who had killed Lexian — lay there, eyes open, lifeless.

“Hahaha… hahahahahaha!”

I had avenged myself on the man who had tormented me to no end, but all I felt was emptiness. Killing him didn’t bring back the one I loved.

For murdering the Crown Prince in rebellion, I was executed in front of the palace gates.

And in the next life, Lexian died again, shielding me.
Then again in the life after that.
And the next.
Over and over.

No matter what I did, if Lexian loved me, he would die.

There was only one way left — to make Lexian stop loving me.

He was never meant to love me, after all.
He was supposed to love Merina and despise me.

So I would make sure he stayed true to that role.

Even if his hand no longer reached for me,
Even if those sapphire eyes never looked at me with kindness again,
As long as he could live —

Then I would gladly tear my love-filled heart out of my own chest.

But Lexian didn’t act as I expected.

After the timeline where he first truly saw me, no matter how cruelly I spoke, no matter what traps I set, he still came to love me.

And the more lives passed, the sooner he realized it — approaching me faster each time.

So before his feelings could take root, I led him to misunderstand them — to mistake them for something else. Like familial affection.

I made him realize his emotions as late as possible,
and even if he did, I made sure he couldn’t express them.

Don’t protect me.
Stay away from me.
Don’t die in front of my eyes again!

“Rosia.”

Even through my haze, I clearly heard Lexian’s voice calling my name.

“Please stay out of this, Duke Lysiansius.”

“No.”

He steadied my staggering body.

“I can’t just stand by and watch someone die before my eyes. That’s against my creed as a knight.”

The scent of sunlight around him cleared my fading consciousness.

If you die protecting me, then what meaning is there in any of this?

I forced back the tears rising in my throat and forced a faint smile.

“I’m sorry for saying such harsh things when you saved me. Of course you’d want to help — you think of me as a little sister…”

At the word sister, Lexian’s brow twitched. Maybe he sensed that something about it felt wrong.

But I ignored it and drove the nail in deeper.

“From now on, I’ll rely on you more, like a big brother.”

Lexian frowned and sighed, then held a water flask to my lips.

“Your voice is a mess. Drink.”

I drank, and my head cleared.

While I leaned against a tree, soldiers in armor bearing the Lysiansius crest approached.

“My lord, there are no suspicious individuals nearby.”

The man in the robe lying on the ground had been decapitated — his head far from his body.

I needed to make sure Lexian didn’t see the mark on the robe.

“What happened here? Who was that man?”

I recalled what that man had said before he died.

He had been serving the Tower Master — but the Tower Master hadn’t ordered my death. This had been his own doing.
That meant this wasn’t my fault.

The Tower Master had promised not to kill me unless I interfered with him again, so even if this man’s identity was revealed, I should be safe — as long as the Tower Master didn’t change his mind.

But what about Lexian…

Even if he fought the Tower Master, his skill rivaled the strongest in the realm. He wouldn’t die easily.
Except — when he was involved with me, he always did.

“Rosia?”

“Ah… my head just hurts a little…”

Lexian seemed convinced at once, seeing how pale and fragile I looked — as though I might faint any moment.

Eventually, he too would encounter Blue Bird — the criminal syndicate that ran illegal gambling dens in the capital. In the original story, Lexian was the one who destroyed them, though he never learned who they truly were.

That meant it wouldn’t matter if I let him find out —
As long as he didn’t learn that I knew them too.

“I… I don’t really know. I was just looking for the Silver Fox, and then that man suddenly…”

I turned away, trembling as though terrified of the corpse beside me.

Lexian frowned, then said nothing more.

“Take the body away.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“More importantly, Rosia, you need to get to headquarters. Your neck…”

He muttered a curse under his breath.

But as I was thinking about how to deal with Blue Bird’s members, a realization struck me, and I tried to stand — only to falter as pain throbbed through my body. I took a vial of medicine from my pocket and swallowed it dry.

Lexian’s eyes widened.

“Rosia, what is that—”

“—The Silver Fox is dead.”

“What?”

“I found the body. That man killed him. What should I do?”

“Rosia, that’s not what matters right now. You almost died.”

“The Silver Fox is more important to me.”

Because no matter what, I had to obtain the Mirror of Truth.

The Mirror of Truth could answer any question truthfully — and if certain conditions were met, it would reveal the map to Delphoi.

In my previous life, I had met those conditions…
But Merina had stolen it — by pleading with the Crown Prince and the Empress.