Memoirs of a Wicked Magician - Chapter 50

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 50
Milena watched Liriope as though she were a savior appearing from thin air, speaking words Milena had longed to hear, her gaze transfixed—and then she stretched out a trembling hand forward.
But the hands of the two girls, bearing their twisted promise, never touched.
“……You thought I’d say that?”
“……!”
Because Liriope had suddenly withdrawn the hand she’d extended forward.
“L-Liriope?”
She even added her words with cold harshness to the bewildered Milena.
“If you want to stay here, do as you wish. I won’t stop you.”
“W-What……?”
Milena stared up at Liriope vacantly, as though doubting her own ears.
But Liriope merely stood motionless still, looking down at her with eyes as cold as winter stone.
“Someone who can’t even rise on her own without another’s grip—why should I bother taking her with me?”
“P-Please don’t……. Why, why? Why are you saying such things……?”
Milena’s voice trembled so violently that it was nearly unintelligible now.
The voice that had sweetly promised she wouldn’t be abandoned still rang clear in her ears, yet suddenly she couldn’t fathom what had gone wrong.
“You don’t know the reason? You think you’re useless yourself, so you cling to others and do whatever they tell you, trying to find your own worth that way, don’t you?”
But the relentless, biting words came flying at her without mercy, clawing across the thin skin of Milena’s face and piercing deep into her heart.
Milena couldn’t hide her face, burning as though she’d been slapped.
“So that’s why you were trying to just stay here a while ago, isn’t it? Because you couldn’t handle yourself—no one wants you. Because even you don’t want yourself, useless as you are.”
A storm of crushing shame, self-loathing, and profound despair swept through her entire body.
The shock of having her deepest secrets—things she never wanted anyone to know—laid bare and mocked left her with nothing but ugly sobs spilling out like vomit.
Liriope watched the broken Milena with disdain, not granting her a moment to collect her emotions before speaking again.
“But honestly, your biggest problem isn’t that at all. Do you know what your truly worst flaw is, Milena?”
Milena raised her tear-soaked face, hiccupping between words.
“You’re a serious liar.”
“W-What?”
But the next words that struck Milena contained a rebuke entirely different from what she’d expected.
“W-When? What lie did I tell? I, I never did…….”
As if this was the one thing she couldn’t accept, Milena’s wet eyes began to well with deep indignation.
“No? That’s rich. Why don’t you put your hand on your heart and think carefully? From the moment I first saw you, you’ve been lying every breath, every second, as naturally as breathing.”
Though Liriope rebuked her again, Milena couldn’t understand no matter how hard she thought.
And toward her, Liriope’s voice came again, tinged with irritation as though she shouldn’t have to explain even this.
“Stupid Milena with a poor mind who has no choice but to follow orders. Worthless Milena who can’t do anything right and only burdens others. Pitiful, foolish Milena who can’t do anything alone.”
“Ah, u…….”
“Why? That’s what you and others have been saying like daily bread. But honestly, you’re not actually like that, are you? You’re just pretending to be weak.”
“Ah……?”
In that moment, Milena’s pupils dilated wider than ever before.
“There’s no way you actually enjoy deliberately inviting others’ contempt so recklessly, so why do you live deceiving not just others but yourself?”
Liriope still regarded her with slight pity as she reached out her hand.
“Isn’t that right? I haven’t been with Jed’s Group long, but at least I haven’t seen you dragging at anyone’s heels or being a burden. If anything, you’ve been helpful to others.”
For a moment, Milena flinched, thinking Liriope was about to strike her, but that never came.
“Think about it yourself. It was you who rushed ahead and saved the others in danger at the Blue Flower Field not long ago. It was you who supported people who couldn’t move on their own as we came here. It was you who shared what little you had with those children who needed it, without stinting. It was all you.”
With an unkind gesture, Liriope carelessly plucked grass leaves tangled in her disheveled hair and tossed them aside.
“So why do you keep lying to yourself? Why do you insist on playing the weakling, a role that doesn’t suit you at all? Are you truly someone who can’t do anything alone? Ask yourself again, seriously this time.”
Milena stared vacantly at the girl before her.
Why was it?
It felt as though far greater ripples were stirring in her chest than when she’d heard that false vow—that Liriope wouldn’t abandon her.
“I absolutely believe that’s not true. And as proof, look over there.”
Milena turned her head to follow Liriope’s gaze, and she saw the grotesque remains of a boy—nothing but the detritus of a shattered illusion.
“You can use magic this splendid, can’t you?”
Liriope saw that terrible form, wrought from all of Milena’s repulsive and ugly thoughts, and praised her for it.
“You were able to judge that monster—the one who betrayed you, caused you pain, killed others and tormented them—with your own power, didn’t you?”
Rather than despising or loathing Milena for creating something so dreadful, Liriope called her magnificent.
And that alone…….
That alone was enough for Milena to be unable to hold back the emotions welling up and pouring forth.
“To m-me……. Sob, you’re the first person who’s ever said such things to me…….”
In her yellowish-green eyes, already brimming with tears, new tears welled up rapidly, carrying an entirely different warmth than before.
“Am I, am I really not worthless?”
Milena gasped, almost choking.
“I……. Am I really, sob, sob……. Is this okay, even like this……?”
Liriope didn’t answer her question.
But the words she’d just heard were answer enough, so the lack of a response was the same as having received one.
“Sob, sob! Thank you, thank you……. Thank you so much…….”
Tears streamed endlessly until Milena could see nothing ahead, forcing her to wipe her reddened eyes repeatedly with the back of her hand.
“I, I’ll do as you say.”
But even as she continued to sob uncontrollably, somehow a faint smile kept breaking through, and she found herself laughing through tears.
“I also want to, want to leave here with you…….”
At last, Milena staggered and pulled herself up on her own.
“I, I want to follow you……. I will follow you…….”
With her strength nearly gone, it was difficult to steady her legs, but still she pressed her scraped palms against the ground and struggled to stand on trembling feet.
Then, step by step, with her own two feet, she walked directly toward Liriope standing before her.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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