Chapter 48

Outside the wall…? Talli was stunned.

“They say that anyone who has seen the vortex goes mad, so everyone is terrified, which is why this order was issued,” the sprite explained.

Talli looked toward the northern region. Some ancient tamed creatures carrying huge stones were also moving in that direction, gathering in large numbers like a black tide.

She descended the tower, planning to check it out. The sprites didn’t stop her, though Lina asked, “Miss Sacrifice, where are you going?”

“I’m going to see the procession,” Talli answered vaguely.

Lina, however, had an understanding look on her face. “Miss Sacrifice, you must want to see if you recognize anyone in the crowd, right?”

Talli hadn’t considered that.

“His Highness cares a lot about you,” Lina said. “If you recognize anyone in the procession, you can ask His Highness to show some mercy.”

Talli simply said, “Okay,” and turned to descend the tower.

She hadn’t thought she would know anyone here. The sprites probably thought she had been sacrificed here due to some unavoidable circumstance.

The line on the ground was long. Talli walked along with them, first passing the ancient creatures. They looked docile, their eyes lowered, appearing to have been completely tamed.

The line was surprisingly long, and by the time she reached the adventurers’ group, she was out of breath, yet she still couldn’t see the end.

After walking a few steps, a voice called out to her:

“Talli?!”

A somewhat familiar voice.

Talli turned her head.

She hadn’t expected it, but as the sprite had predicted, she really did run into someone she knew in this place.

The man in front of her was tall, but his face looked fierce. His clothes were tattered, and his body was covered in scars. He wore handcuffs and shackles, dragging his feet as he walked, his hair messy, and his cheekbones sunken.

Talli stared at him for a while before finally recognizing who he was.

—Crown Prince Mustafa.

How could he be here?

And in such a sorry state.

“You’re still alive,” Mustafa said, his expression twisted. “It’s really quite infuriating.”

“Thanks to you, I won’t be dying anytime soon.”

Talli coldly said, “How did you end up in this state?”

“…Hmph,” Mustafa’s chains rattled as he glared at her with a venomous expression, grinding his teeth, “If I hadn’t failed in the rebellion battle…”

Talli thought for a moment and remembered that this plot point was indeed in the novel.

Crown Prince Mustafa had been sent to suppress the rebellion, with the female protagonist, Theresa, accompanying him to heal the wounded with her light magic, playing a crucial role in the victory of the battle.

However, in the novel, this suppression of the rebellion had been successful.

Talli had a vague premonition. “…Didn’t Theresa go with you?”

Mustafa glared at her coldly, his gaze filled with hatred, as if laced with poison. He didn’t respond to her question.

Talli understood in her heart.

It seemed… the trajectory of the story had been completely changed and shifted onto a different track. It probably started when she revealed Theresa’s true background… or perhaps even earlier.

The predestined fate that the book hinted at had been unknowingly altered.

“So, you failed in the battle and were stripped of the crown prince title by the Emperor?” Talli asked.

Mustafa shot her a venomous glance. “If only it were that simple… Hmph, your good little brother…”

Before he could finish, the officer in charge of guarding him lashed him with a whip. He groaned in pain, his face contorted and ashen, nearly unable to stand.

“Miss,”

The officer in uniform stepped forward, holding the whip and bowing to her. “This lowly human is a war criminal exiled from the human realm. Speaking to him may tarnish your status. To avoid him offending you, it would be better if you stayed away from him.”

…A war criminal?

Talli couldn’t help but wonder, had something happened in the human realm while she was away?

She touched her nose and simply said, “Okay,” before walking away.

As she continued forward, she could see the wall that was already under construction. The grayish-blue bricks were being stacked one by one, stretching out into the distance, much like the gray and overcast sky above.

Talli hadn’t walked far when a small bird landed on her shoulder, its fluffy wings brushing her cheek. It pecked her ear with its sharp beak. “Talli! Talli!”

Talli extended her finger, and the bird gracefully perched on it.

“Follow me,” the bird said. “Let’s talk by the wall.”

After speaking, the bird flapped its wings and took off. Talli ran after the bird, chasing it toward the wall. From a distance, she looked like a small white bird, flying toward the wall without turning back.

When she reached the base of the wall, she was relieved to see that construction had only just begun, and the wall wasn’t too high yet. The bird flew to the top of the wall, and with a gust of wind, it transformed into a young man. He sat on top of the wall, swinging his legs, and stretched out his hand toward the girl running toward him.

Talli grabbed his hand, using her other hand to grip the wall, and with a strong push, she climbed up.

Due to the momentum, she clumsily knocked the young mage over as she made her way up, frantically helping him up. “Are you alright?”

Her cheeks were flushed, and she was slightly out of breath.

“No, no problem,” Alex said dryly.

“That’s good.”

Talli sat down next to him. “Did you come here to escape from those people’s gaze?”

“Yes.”

Alex turned and sat shoulder to shoulder with her, both gazing at the distant horizon.

Blocked at the far north, the end of the world was the swirling vortex that could lead her home.

The wind blew from the northern vortex, traveling southward. It spread across this barren, desolate land, brushing against everything in its path.

The magician took out a chessboard and crouched down beside her, starting a game.

They played two more rounds.

Talli won.

Alex knew he should speak up, but he hesitated, glancing at Talli.

The girl was in a good mood, looking ahead, her hair swept back by the wind. She wasn’t afraid at all that the abyss filled with dark waters lay beneath the wall. Instead, she looked toward the vortex with longing in her eyes.

She stretched out her arm, almost touching the vortex. “…I never imagined that, for a moment, I could be this close to going home, this close.”

“The things I love, my family, are on the other side of this vortex. Alex, you must find it unbelievable, right? Just a vortex separates us. On this side, everything is barren and decaying, but on the other side, it’s thriving.”

“Mm…”

Alex lowered his head. At this moment, a feeling of timidity rose inside him for some reason.

He said, “I’ve never seen such a prosperous and advanced place, but I guess that’s why you have to go back.”

“Yes.”

Talli smiled. “That’s my… reason for going back, no matter what.”

“So, even though I have a feeling of how cruel the reality will be, I won’t shrink back. Alex, what I want to know is just one truth.”

—

For a long time, Talli had indeed felt this way. She was someone with strong intuition and a sixth sense.

However, now, all she could remember was a vague and blurry old memory. The only thing that remained clear from that time was the fear she felt in her heart, caused by the loss of her ability to control her thoughts and words while she was in the bathtub.

Although later, when she saw Deritz again, it was in the old dreams of the temple, she could still sense a faint connection.

—The connection between Deritz and Dusk.

The same smile, the same ruby-colored eyes, and the voice in her ears that, upon recollection, seemed somewhat distorted but almost identical—something she had somehow failed to notice.

Why hadn’t she thought of it?

They were the same person.

Talli glanced at Alex, then turned her head away, mechanically, as if she had forgotten how to turn her head naturally. She forced a smile, one more painful than crying, then buried her head in her knees.

Alex was startled, worriedly leaning over to pat Talli’s back. “Are you okay? I… maybe I shouldn’t have told you so soon…”

“No,” Talli said, “I should thank you for telling me.”

Alex furrowed his brow and lowered his eyelashes. “The Monarch placed a forgetting spell on you, so you would forget many of these seemingly insignificant things. You don’t need to blame yourself for not realizing it sooner…”

It turned out that those little things she had forgotten, once pointed out by Alex, now surfaced one by one, each piece coming back to her.

For instance, the brooch that was mysteriously damaged when she faced danger, the priest Ryan who had promised to tell her about the reason for the brooch’s damage but couldn’t remember anything when the time came, the book that disappeared from her bag, and the flint the Crimson Witch gave her, and the “don’t trust those around you” hint from the Lord of the Abyss, along with the curse of undeath…

Looking back now, everything had been pointing toward the truth of the matter.

She had just missed it.

“Back then, He did return to the mortal realm to retrieve the ‘Curse of Undeath’ that Kristen stole, but it was also because of that, through the Crimson Witch’s divination, He learned of your existence.”

Alex continued, “At that time, when He realized your identity could get Him closer to Kristen faster, He originally tried to use your power to kill him, while testing your depth. But you weren’t brainwashed by His magic.”

“He then decided to take the form of a dying fox and pretend to encounter you by chance, wanting to see how you would fulfill the Crimson Witch’s prophecy.”

“This is… the beginning of all truths.”

Talli slowly lifted her head.

Alex saw a faint light in the corners of her eyes, but there were no tears on her cheeks, just an unusually pale face.

Her gaze was clear.

“It’s not that simple, is it, magician?”

“……”

Alex turned his head away.

“Deritz has been trying to gain my trust. Just like He said at the beginning, He hates being someone’s pet, hates being forced to obey commands, hates wearing a collar… He clearly despises it, yet still unwillingly bows his head in front of me,”

Talli said in a tone of statement, “—He probably wants to see me die miserably after being betrayed.”

Talli extended her hand, lightly grabbing at the air, and a particularly beautiful violet appeared in her palm, swaying in the wind.

“Moreover, I even said that to Him.”

—”I want to take you back, Dusk.”

— “How do we go back?”

— “I will make the arrogant Monarch, Deritz… I will win His heart. After the power dissolves, the world’s vortex will be struck, and we will return together.”

—

“How ridiculous. Back then, I actually said those words in front of Him…”

Talli’s pale face twisted into a smile as she turned the violet in her hand. “He must have been laughing at my audacity in his heart, thinking about how to make me die in the most miserable way.”

“…No,”

Alex couldn’t help but reach out, grasping her cold left hand. “The Monarch never thought of killing you.”

“Back then, when we were playing chess outside the Abyssal City’s palace, I felt it. Talli, in the first game, He helped you, right? At that moment, I sensed that He was different with you.”

As Alex spoke, he picked up the witch piece from the chessboard. “He’s a capricious and moody person, and no one ever dares to raise their head and peek into the true heart beneath the Monarch’s mask on the high throne. But, Talli… you must believe, He is different with you. I can feel it…”

“—Back then, He really wanted you to win.”

Talli was slightly taken aback.

She turned her head, looking at the chess in Alex’s hand, then at his eyes, and couldn’t help but smile, a touch of sorrow in it.

She handed the violet in her hand to Alex and asked him, “Is it beautiful?”

Alex paused for a moment, then took the violet from her hand. The tiny flower was radiant and lovely in his hand, blooming vibrantly in the wind under the pale blue sky as sunlight filtered through.

“Be—beautiful,” the young magician stuttered.

He even couldn’t resist bringing the delicate violet closer to his nose to smell its fragrance.

After a while, his eyes widened. “Huh…”

“The violet has a rich, fragrant scent, sweet and pleasing.”

Talli said, “But the flower in your hand has no fragrance.”

Alex was a bit slow and confused, looking at the violet again, pausing for a moment before beginning to speak, “This—”

Talli’s voice sounded in his ear.

“It’s a fake flower.”

Alex froze.

Talli took the flower from his hand.

She lowered her raven-like eyelashes, gazing at the flower, which was still as beautifully bright and charming as ever, and repeated:

“This is a fake flower, Alex.”

She let go of her hand, and Alex watched it fall into the abyss beneath the city wall. It would fall into the cold, lifeless black water, where it would be buried.

Talli watched it disappear into the abyss below and said, “There is no flower more beautiful and captivating than a fake flower, because they are all made of lies. But when the lies break, it seems like the two hearts that once beat because of them will also break together.”

Alex looked at her expression and for the first time felt a bitterness rise in his heart.

But the girl quickly pulled herself together. At least that’s what her expression said. She turned her head, forcing a smile at the young magician, and raised a finger at him.

“One piece of news… there’s another, right?”

Alex was momentarily stunned.

“Yes.” He hadn’t forgotten their agreement. “The first is… His position, and the second is the truth about everything you want to know.”

Talli nodded. “Mm, that’s right. Now, it’s the third.”

She asked, “Lord Magician, I want to know, is there a way in this world that, after removing the Monarch’s power, He could still survive?”