Not A Regressor - Chapter 204

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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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I Am Not a Regressor Chapter 204
Interlude – A New Hope (1)
“…Ah.”
A short sigh escaped Isabella’s lips.
She gazed at Kwon O-jin with trembling eyes.
Kwon O-jin, his lips pressed firmly together.
His gaze held no pity for her.
As if he wanted to tell her, ‘I didn’t kill Paulo because of you.’
He simply regarded her with composure.
“Kwon O-jin….”
But how could she not know?
That he had killed Paulo with his own hands for her sake.
That he had raised his spear in place of her, who was paralyzed by fear of losing the hope she had cherished in her heart forever.
“…Thank you.”
“You don’t need to thank me.”
Kwon O-jin released his arms from around Isabella and created a slight distance between them.
“I did it for myself, not for you.”
“….”
Isabella’s pupils wavered.
Why was it?
His clumsy lie—that he had killed Paulo for his own sake—somehow calmed the anxiety that had filled her heart.
“…Hic.”
Tears burst forth once more.
Even when she had suffered from that terrible bloodlust, she hadn’t shed a single tear.
‘When did I become such a crybaby?’
She herself could not understand it.
Why her heart grew so loose whenever she was with Kwon O-jin.
Isabella gazed down at Paulo’s corpse, his neck severed as he lay fallen.
Memories from an era that no longer came to mind clearly—existing only as vague images—flickered through her consciousness.
The image of her kind father, her gentle mother, and her beloved Elder Sister above all others.
‘Now.’
Those memories from a time that would never return.
Drifted through her mind like lingering fragrance.
“Kwon O-jin… what should I do?”
Isabella approached Kwon O-jin and rested her forehead against his chest.
“The hope I’ve been dreaming of all this time has disappeared.”
Her Elder Sister had vanished, and her father and mother were dead.
Even if she miraculously discovered her Elder Sister’s whereabouts, she could never return to the past she had longed for.
“…It’s because of you, Kwon O-jin.”
Isabella laughed softly at her own words, finding them somewhat absurd.
Hope had disappeared because of Kwon O-jin.
She knew better than anyone that it was an absurd thing to say.
“Yes. It’s because of me.”
Kwon O-jin nodded with a composed expression.
By killing Paulo, I had completely trampled and obliterated the tiny spark of hope she had harbored deep within her heart.
Isabella gazed at Kwon O-jin with trembling eyes.
Thump, thump.
Her heart pounded wildly as if it had malfunctioned, though it wasn’t the bloodlust surging through her.
“Then it’s your responsibility.”
Isabella lowered her head as if to hide her flushed cheeks, wrapping both arms gently around Kwon O-jin’s waist.
“Please… become my new hope.”
She spoke with childish petulance.
She was well aware that she was being unreasonably stubborn like a child.
“Yes.”
Kwon O-jin stroked the hair of Isabella, who rested her head against his chest.
Her silken platinum blonde hair flowed softly through his fingers.
“Sob… hic.”
Isabella’s shoulders trembled.
“Waaaaahhh!”
As if vomiting up suppressed emotions.
She wept like a child in Kwon O-jin’s embrace, her voice breaking with sobs.
Kwon O-jin silently patted her back.
So that through her flowing tears, she could let go of the hope she had cherished so carefully.
“Hic, sob.”
Several minutes passed like this.
Isabella lifted her head, her eyes swollen and red.
“Will I… be able to forget?”
She wouldn’t be able to forget.
This incident would remain embedded like a thorn in her memory for the rest of her life, endlessly tormenting her.
Kwon O-jin wrapped his arms around her pitifully trembling shoulders and opened his mouth softly.
“Yes. You’ll be able to forget.”
He whispered a sweet lie.
“Everything… will be okay.”
It doesn’t matter if it isn’t the truth.
Sometimes a single lie brings more comfort than a thousand truths.
* * *
News that Demian Salvatore, a member of the Seven Stars and wielder of Justice’s Sword, had died spread rapidly across the world beyond Italy.
According to the testimony of Isabella Colgrande, the next head of the Colgrand Family who was present at the scene—or rather, who had now become the head—the outline of this incident was as follows.
1. The Leech Faction, one of the Black Star Society’s factions, had set its sights on the Colgrand Family, which wielded such considerable influence over Italy that it would be no exaggeration to say they held actual power.
2. Paulo Colgrande detected the movements of the Leech Faction and invited Demian Salvatore to the family estate to request assistance.
3. However, the Leech Faction, which had already deeply infiltrated the family, took Paulo and Isabella hostage and attacked Demian. He fought fiercely, but ultimately met a noble death.
This was the truth of the incident revealed through Isabella’s testimony.
It was shocking news that was difficult to believe, but thanks to Isabella’s absolute credibility throughout Italy and Noe-rang’s testimony—he had been invited to the mansion at the time—few people harbored doubts about the account.
The entire world was astounded by the news that the Black Star Society possessed enough power to kill the Seven Stars, and public opinion coalesced around the urgent need to track down and apprehend the Black Star Society.
While tributes to Justice’s Sword continued around the globe and attention focused on what moves the other Seven Stars would make.
“Ahhhhh! How long has it been since I’ve been home?!”
Ha-eun kicked off her shoes carelessly and rushed into the house.
It had been a month—nearly two months—since she’d returned home.
Though not quite as much as Isabella and Kwon O-jin, she too had been shuttled around as a key witness in this incident, managing a hectic schedule.
“Hehe. Our place really is the best, isn’t it?”
After the Colgrand Family Mansion was destroyed, they had stayed at a Five-Star Hotel owned by the Colgrand Family in downtown Rome.
But there truly was no place as comforting as one’s own home.
“Hehe. How long has it been since I’ve slept in my own bed?”
Ha-eun flopped face-down on the bed, wriggling her body like a worm.
Kwon O-jin entered, neatly arranging the shoes Ha-eun had kicked off.
“You like it that much?”
“What? Are you saying you preferred Isabella’s fancy hotel?”
“Of course not.”
Despite the luxurious facilities and room conditions befitting a Five-Star Hotel.
“Our home is still the best.”
“Right?”
Kwon O-jin sat beside Ha-eun on the bed and gently stroked her hair.
“Hehe. It’s nice having just the two of us.”
Ha-eun rubbed her cheek against his palm like a cat seeking affection.
She smiled with a sweetness that seemed to melt away and pulled him toward the bed.
Just as Kwon O-jin was about to let himself be drawn in.
Crackle!
A blue spark erupted between them.
[Just the two of you? Have you forgotten that I exist?]
Vega, sitting atop Kwon O-jin’s head, crossed her arms and frowned.
Ha-eun looked up at Vega and snorted.
“Hmph, you’re so tiny I didn’t even notice you.”
[What did you say?]
Vega flew up with a flutter and smacked Ha-eun’s forehead with her tiny palm.
Though her palm was no larger than a coin, the force behind it was quite substantial.
“Ow! Why did you hit me?!”
[Hmph. I have directly imparted proper respect for the Constellation into your head.]
“For something so tiny, you sure pack a punch.”
[Ti, tiny…!]
Vega trembled with indignation and smacked Ha-eun’s forehead repeatedly.
[How dare you!]
“Ow! Stop! Stop!”
A familiar sight by now.
Kwon O-jin watched the two bickering with a faint smile on his face.
“I’ll do some cleaning then, so call me when you’re done with work.”
“Tsk! Look at this attitude!”
[Ho. So you dare defy my etiquette lessons?]
It seemed they didn’t hear him.
Kwon O-jin chuckled softly and left the room.
“Phew.”
After finishing a quick cleaning of the Living Room, I entered the empty room we used as a Storage Room.
‘Let’s see then.’
I slowly raised my hand and concentrated my mind.
Whirrrrrr!
A brilliant cluster of light gathered in my palm.
It was the light created by the stigma of Libra Constellation that I had absorbed from Demian.
“I wonder how I should use this to make a good impression.”
I gazed at the brightly burning light cluster, lost in thought.
The light created by the stigma of Libra Constellation possessed the power to crystallize the stigma’s mana into solid form.
‘The problem is that it’s too conspicuous.’
Since no other stigma besides Libra Constellation could crystallize mana, it was difficult to use freely in front of others.
‘The ability to crystallize mana can probably only be used when Vega isn’t watching.’
But if it was simply ‘the ability to manipulate light,’ there were plenty of other ways to utilize it.
‘And in a rather broken way at that.’
I concentrated and moved the light gathered in my palm.
Whirrrrrr!
The light pouring out from my palm gradually took shape, forming an illusion that looked exactly like me.
‘A phantom image.’
Since it was an ability to manipulate light, if I could control it with enough precision, I could create a hologram-like phantom made of light.
“This could be useful.”
An ability with endless applications.
Especially for someone like me, who had a natural talent for deceiving others.
“Well… it seems I’ll need some practice to get used to it.”
When I reached toward my reflection as if looking in a mirror, my hand passed right through the body.
Ripples spread across the light like a stone thrown into water, and my phantom image scattered like smoke.
Creating phantoms by manipulating light required such precise control that I wasn’t yet comfortable maintaining the form.
‘But with enough practice, I’ll definitely be able to use it.’
I smiled with satisfaction, pleased with the newly acquired stigma.
“But why didn’t that bastard Demian use this excellent ability?”
Sight is the most important sensory organ to humans.
If I could properly utilize illusions to deceive the eye, the entire dynamic of this battle would have shifted 180 degrees.
“Ah, surely not.”
Kwon O-jin cycled the radiant light dancing across his palm through multiple colors.
Like touching a dye section in a game customization menu, the light transformed through countless hues.
Only then did Kwon O-jin understand why Demian hadn’t utilized the absurdly broken ability of “illusion.”
‘It wasn’t that he hadn’t used it.’
Demian lacked the “transformation” ability that Kwon O-jin possessed—the capacity to manipulate light wavelengths and alter colors—making it impossible for him to use illusions.
‘Come to think of it, that bastard Demian was a one-trick pony with white light.’
If that were the case.
“Does this mean illusions are an ability only I can use?”
Kwon O-jin’s eyes gleamed as he conjured his illusion once more.
His own image, gripping a pitch-black spear with a menacing gaze.
“Damn, I’m pretty handsome.”
He muttered something that would have made Ha-eun double over with laughter, then dispelled the illusion.
Part of me wanted to practice creating illusions right now.
But given that I’d just returned home after so long, Ha-eun wouldn’t let me rest.
“O-jin! Let’s order delivery to celebrate you coming home!”
So I really can’t become a gentleman.
The moment that thought crossed my mind, Ha-eun burst through the door into the room.
Vega was perched on top of her head as if they hadn’t just been fighting.
[Delivery? You mean eating food without making it yourself?]
“Yeah! Let’s order pig’s feet, pizza, and chicken—everything!”
[Ooh! What an excellent idea!]
“Huh?”
Ha-eun squinted and reached toward Vega sitting atop her head.
Ding-dong.
The clear chime of the doorbell echoed through the house.
“Did you already order?”
“Huh? No, I haven’t ordered yet….”
Kwon O-jin tilted his head curiously and opened the foyer door.
Click.
“Hello, Kwon O-jin.”
Isabella greeted him with a radiant smile and a wave.
Behind her stood a line of burly bodyguards in black suits and sunglasses, each gripping large trunks.
“…What is this?”
Ha-eun pointed at the large trunks and asked.
“Moving luggage.”
“…Moving luggage?”
“Yes. You did have one empty room in Kwon O-jin’s house, didn’t you?”
Isabella’s eyes sparkled as she stepped inside.
“Hey, hey, wait! Who said anything about moving? Who’s moving?!”
“Oh my, didn’t Kwon O-jin tell you?”
She gracefully lifted the hem of her dress and bowed respectfully toward Kwon O-jin.
“As of today, I have been appointed as Kwon O-jin’s exclusive maid, Isabella Colgrande.”
“…What?”
Appointed as an exclusive maid?
By whom?
“W-who appointed something like that?!”
“Hehe. Who else? Kwon O-jin appointed me directly.”
What?
Me?
…When?

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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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