When I Finished Playing the Terminally-Ill Villainous Omega C42
by berryChapter 42
I looked at him, still standing there with a bewildered expression, and continued.
“You just have to keep me conscious.”
“If I stay conscious, I’ll be able to endure the pain somehow.”
“So…”
“If I collapse, carry me to my bed without letting anyone find out.”
“And please…”
“Wake me before the ball begins tomorrow.”
“That’s absurd.”
“You lose consciousness every single time from the pain.”
“How can you possibly—”
“I know.”
“I know I’m being stubborn.”
“I know I probably look like an idiot.”
“That’s why…”
“You’re the only person I can ask.”
“Because you’re the friend who knows exactly what a hopelessly stubborn fool I am.”
The determination on Locke’s face wavered ever so slightly.
“…I truly can’t understand you.”
“How can someone care more about a promise than their own body?”
“I don’t need your understanding right now.”
“I need your help.”
He bit his lower lip hard as he looked at me.
“Please help me, Locke.”
The moment those words left my mouth…
I abandoned the mission.
One of the hearts flickered…
Then vanished.
Immediately—
A searing pain, as though a sharpened spear had pierced straight through my chest, exploded throughout my body.
“Ugh—!”
Blood gushed from my mouth.
It was so dark it was nearly black.
Locke had been watching me with puzzled eyes.
The instant my knees gave way…
He rushed forward and caught me with one arm.
Thanks to him…
I didn’t collapse onto the dirt.
Even though he had to be shocked…
He didn’t call my name.
He didn’t panic.
Instead…
He simply bit down on his lower lip, swallowing every sound.
His eyes darted around first, checking whether anyone had seen us.
I trusted Locke.
He was steadfast.
Quiet.
Reliable.
Even while my flesh felt as though it were being torn apart and my bones shattered…
His presence alone brought me a brief moment of relief.
Thank goodness…
I slowly raised a hand toward his right eye.
I wanted…
To touch the brilliant sun I’d managed to protect.
But another wave of agony surged through me.
My hand abandoned its path and clawed desperately at my own chest.
I bit my lip until it bled to keep myself from screaming.
Let this be the last time.
Let the chapter where Locke loses his eye disappear from this novel forever.
Still holding me, Locke searched through his pockets for something.
Apparently finding nothing…
He hesitated briefly.
Then he tore off the decorative jabot pinned beneath the brooch on his chest.
Rolling the long lace into a thick bundle…
He gently pushed it between my teeth.
No matter how cold he acted ten times over…
He always became quietly thoughtful that one last time.
Watching him…
An indescribable warmth spread through my heart.
Through tear-filled eyes, I stared at his face while enduring the unbearable pain.
Eventually…
Darkness swallowed my consciousness.
Before Cedric’s body could hit the ground…
Locke rushed forward and caught him securely in his arms.
“…Honestly.”
“How does this damned body break down again before even a month has passed?”
Looking down at the frail body resting against him…
Locke stared toward the heavens with an utterly exasperated expression.
“…I genuinely have no idea what I’m even doing here anymore.”
A hollow sigh escaped his lips.
Night had settled over the gardens.
Lamps hanging here and there cast a gentle glow across the darkness.
The Marquis’s servants walked the paths, ensuring none of the lights went out.
Servants busily followed the shadows of their still-awake masters.
The Marquis’s estate was livelier at night than during the day.
Yet amidst all that splendor…
There was one place swallowed entirely by darkness.
The towering boxwood hedges, twisting together like a maze.
Just as Locke was about to move Cedric somewhere safe…
He noticed nobles beginning to pour outside now that the evening had cooled.
Immediately…
He slipped into the shadow beneath the hedges.
Then he ordered Erebus to conjure a veil of dark mist.
Moments later…
The place where they had stood appeared completely empty.
Nothing remained…
Only the long shadows cast by the hedges.
At this rate…
I’ll find that apothecary in another hundred years.
Whenever Locke stayed beside Cedric…
He sent Erebus to continue searching for the apothecary.
But recalling the familiar every single time left little room for progress.
Perhaps…
He would have to suppress the cycle by some other method.
Cedric’s room.
The lamplight left burning by the servants caused faint shadows from the bookshelves to sway across the walls.
From the darkness…
Locke suddenly emerged, carrying Cedric in his arms.
Cedric’s face was twisted with agony.
The moment Locke laid him upon the bed…
Cedric’s entire body began writhing violently.
It bordered on a scream.
Yet…
He kept swallowing every groan.
Every cry.
Every scream.
As though he intended to keep his promise…
Until Locke had safely brought him back to his room.
“Hm.”
Cedric was already safe.
Still…
Locke found himself wondering just how much pain the young man could endure.
He’d seen Cedric scream until he fainted countless times before.
Unfolding his arms…
Locke quietly placed a hand over Cedric’s heart.
It was nothing more than idle curiosity.
He simply wanted to know how severe the pain truly was.
Even the greatest pain humans experienced felt no worse to him than a splinter in his hand.
Without much thought…
He closed his eyes while feeling Cedric’s heartbeat.
Then—
His eyes snapped open.
A pain like flesh being seared with red-hot irons…
Like thousands of needles boring into every joint…
Ripped through him.
It was agony beyond anything a human body should ever be capable of enduring.
Pain that devoured life itself.
Pain so terrible…
It almost made him wonder whether death would be preferable.
Cedric suffered these attacks over and over again.
Which meant…
Knowing exactly what awaited him…
He’d still insisted on keeping his promise to that woman.
…Could she be…
The gentle, kind woman he once spoke about?
“…Ridiculous.”
To think there existed someone foolish enough to endure suffering like this…
For something as trivial as romance.
Locke clenched his tingling hand.
For a brief moment…
He remembered someone else.
Just then…
Cedric’s hand reached toward his own throat.
Unable to endure the agony any longer…
He had apparently decided to wound himself instead.
As his fingernails dug toward his neck…
Locke hurriedly caught his wrist.
“No.”
Smack.
Cedric violently tore his hand free.
His nails raked across the back of Locke’s hand, leaving vivid bloody scratches.
“Tsk.”
Clicking his tongue softly…
Locke restrained both of Cedric’s fragile wrists using only one hand.
Then…
He waited.
Surely Cedric would surrender.
Surely he’d beg to go home.
Instead…
As though mocking that expectation…
Cedric bit down even harder on the lace jabot.
Blood slowly spread through the white lace.
Seeing that…
Locke’s brow furrowed.
Finally…
He admitted defeat.
Covering Cedric’s tear-soaked eyes with one hand, he murmured,
“The vessel mustn’t be damaged.”
“I have to return it to Sel intact.”
“This isn’t for your sake.”
“It’s for Sel.”
As he concentrated…
Locke remembered the only man who had ever reached out to someone different from everyone else.
Slowly…
The poisonous energy crushing Cedric’s organs began flowing into Locke’s palm.
Cold and scorching currents intertwined.
They spread through his veins.
Then—
A pain like being impaled through the chest exploded inside him.
“Ghk—!”
Dark blood burst from his lips.
This wasn’t remotely comparable to the brief moment he’d shared Cedric’s pain earlier.
It was immeasurably worse.
How…
How has this tiny, frail human body endured this dozens… hundreds of times?
Wouldn’t death be easier?
Was his desire to live truly that desperate?
Perhaps…
That was why Cedric had been able to kneel so pathetically before the people who had murdered both his family…
And himself.
Another wave crashed through him.
It felt as though flesh were being torn apart and bones split open.
Wiping the blood from his lips with the back of his hand…
Locke suddenly stiffened.
Something felt wrong.
As though something were scratching lightly against the surface of his skin.
…Don’t tell me…
His expression darkened.
Focusing carefully on the unpleasant sensation…
He immediately detected a faint, inferior magical presence emanating from below.
He looked beneath the bed.
Hidden behind one of the bedposts…
A small concentration of weak magical energy lingered.
A surveillance device?
With magic this cheap?
A dry laugh nearly escaped him.
Apparently…
The Marquis’s household liked to act refined and dignified in public…
While doing dirty work behind everyone’s backs.
Locke reached beneath the bed.
He pulled out a crystal sphere.
Crack—!
Crash!
The crystal shattered completely within his grip.
Moments later…
The fragments melted together like water.
Then…
They reformed into a perfect sphere.
Black smoke churned inside before disappearing.
The crystal returned to its original clear blue color.
“Erebus.”
Something long and slender crawled down the wall through the curtain’s shadow cast by the lamp.
Fluttering its wings…
It landed upon Locke’s shoulder.
“I wonder…”
“Why the Marquis’s household is so interested in this sickly young master.”
Erebus shook its round, head-like form.
Then…
It melted silently into the wardrobe’s shadow.
Walking back to the bed…
Locke quietly looked down at Cedric’s sleeping face.
Has he really wandered around carrying a body like this every single time?
…Sel was the same.
Now that Cedric’s pained expression had relaxed…
His peaceful sleeping face suddenly reminded Locke of another man.
The Count.
Pale…
Yet beautiful.
The fool who always promised to protect him…
Only to fall asleep first at his side.
Even while calling him an idiot…
Locke had always willingly offered his thigh as a pillow.
Before he realized it…
Guarding that quiet space had simply become his responsibility.
He’d never minded.
Rather…
He’d liked the comfort of having that man beside him.
Sometimes…
He’d deliberately waited until dawn before waking him.
Deep within the silent forest…
After the monsters had settled and birds began singing…
The wind would gently brush across the man’s face.
Whenever that happened…
Locke would quietly tuck away the strands of hair that had fallen loose.
Careful not to wake him.
And then…
That fool…
Had truly died protecting Locke at the most important moment.
Lost in those memories…
Locke unconsciously reached toward a loose strand of hair lying across Cedric’s face.
His hand stopped halfway.
His fingers slowly curled into a fist.
He stared at his own hand in shock.
“…He’s not him.”
“He couldn’t possibly be.”
“…I’ve truly gone mad.”
Locke stood there in silence for a long while.
Then…
He roughly raked a hand through his own hair.
In the end…
Without brushing Cedric’s hair aside…
He quietly left the room.