That Piece Of Trash Was Me - Chapter 253

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 253

 

 

 

In an instant, all too familiar scenes flashed before my eyes.

The sight of Tulia from dying at every turn.

Poisoned, frozen to death, drowned, strangled, stabbed to death, choked to death, pushed off a cliff to die, horrifically beheaded at the guillotine…

 

[Sacred Tree] Tulia Frazier was finally able to return to the original world only after passing through all her predetermined deaths.

 

‘…No. Then all of that was me actually dying?’

I had directly experienced all of that agony myself?

It was bewildering enough that deaths I couldn’t remember were being listed, but the fact that I had ‘played’ through them as a game sent chills down my spine.

Right now, as ‘Tulia,’ I could vividly smell scents and feel sensations.

To think I had experienced all those bloody scenes…

 

[Sacred Tree] You did not experience them.

 

‘…?’

I was startled by the words the branches were forming.

‘What? Did you just answer me? Right now?’

 

[Sacred Tree] Like the fairy tale where a fairy, taking pity on a young princess cursed to die by a witch, changed the death curse into a deep sleep of 100 years…

[Sacred Tree] There was someone who, though unable to completely remove the curse placed on you, neutralized it by staking their soul.

 

Almost simultaneously.

“Successor! Successor!”

I saw the Hania Tribe fighting creatures while desperately approaching little Tulia.

Then.

“…?!”

The Hania Tribe warriors hesitated. So did I.

A massive flower bloomed from the Sacred Tree, Becrux, in the blink of an eye, and from within it walked out a tearfully familiar silhouette.

What we had in common was that her entire form was translucent, as if she were in a soul state…

And her pink hair was as fresh as flower petals.

‘…Mother?’

Because I was also in a soul state, I could tell.

That Mother had already left her physical body. In other words, after being dragged away that time, Mother had died at the hands of the fanatics…

“Lady Railan…?”

“Why…! Why!”

Unlike my soul, Mother’s soul seemed visible to the Hania Tribe as well.

They were soon wailing and calling out Mother’s name, but Mother never once looked at them. She was simply walking toward the mad woman.

Step by step.

Step by step.

Mother’s stride was perfectly even. Without the slightest deviation. Like a robot that had been programmed with commands…

‘No. It looks more like… she’s possessed by some kind of determination…’

“Lady Railan! You mustn’t!”

“It’s dangerous! Lady Railan!”

The moment Mother stopped in front of the mad woman.

Slap!

“…?!”

Instantly, the Hania Tribe members who had been frantically cutting down creatures all stopped moving simultaneously. So did I.

Because Mother had slapped the woman’s cheek and grabbed her hair.

Mother was clearly in a soul state right now, so how could she inflict physical impact on the woman? That puzzlement was brief…

‘…!’

I saw Becrux’s branches blooming in circles along Mother’s arms and hands!

‘Ah! Mother must be hitting her with the Sacred Tree’s power!’

Mother’s hands, sprouting with the Sacred Tree, were beautiful, just like roses blooming along the white fence of a spring garden.

Fresh and sacred, as if gathering all the fragrance of spring flowers.

Smack!

Mother hit Coriko.

“…?!”

The Hania Tribe’s shock matched my own.

The pink-haired woman—no, now I could see her features too. I could describe her more accurately.

Pink-haired Coriko rolled her eyes and cackled.

“Ehehe! Ehehe! Ehehe…! Something already dead is clinging to life and struggling! Get lost to the afterlife right…”

Slap!

Coriko’s face turned to one side.

Slap!

Slap!

Smack!

After repeatedly striking Coriko’s cheeks, Mother said expressionlessly with her translucent face.

“Where did this crazy thing come from to torment my daughter?”

“…”

“…”

Mother grabbed Coriko’s hair and slammed her to the ground.

Thud!

Then she mercilessly kicked Coriko. Coriko couldn’t even get up. Whenever she tried to rise, Mother would immediately kick her shins and knock her down again.

Eventually, Coriko screamed and rolled around on the ground.

“Aaaah! You wretched soul! Ehehe! Get lost! Aah! You’re dead! You can never come back to life! Aah! Aaaah!”

Thud! Thwack! Thud thud thud!

I gaped in bewilderment.

Suddenly, I remembered what I had thought when I first opened my eyes in Tulia’s body.

When I was trembling with that thought.

‘Grand Duke Frazier tears people apart with his bare hands…’

Now it seemed the subject of that sentence had changed.

‘Mother tears mad women apart with her bare hands…’

Mother mercilessly slapped Coriko’s cheeks while shouting.

“How dare something created so filthily touch my daughter, get lost! Go back to your world! Animus can freeze to death! The Sacred Tree is eternal until the world ends! No one can torment my daughter, so get lost right now with your damn minions!”

“Aah! Aaah! Aaaaah!”

Coriko wasn’t in a soul state like Mother and me. She had a definite physical body, so blood streamed from her nose and her face became a real-time mess.

Coriko, her face full of venom, moved her hair tentacles toward Mother, but it was useless.

“Ha! You want to attack me? Try it! This is under the Sacred Tree! I was born inheriting the Sacred Tree’s blood!”

Even after performing the rights renunciation ritual, the Sacred Tree’s protection seemed to remain effective.

“Aah! Aaaaah!”

When Coriko couldn’t inflict any damage on Mother, she screamed in frustration.

Only when Coriko was completely unable to open her mouth did Mother step back, dusting off her hands.

“What a pity. If I weren’t in this state right now, I would have just killed you and been done with it. Consider yourself lucky. You filthy existence.”

“…”

Bloody Coriko, lying face-down on the ground, trembled. She realized Mother’s words weren’t bluster but sincere.

‘She does feel fear after all.’

Mother shifted her gaze to look at the Hania Tribe. The creatures were almost all dead, but the Hania Tribe likewise appeared to have suffered devastating damage.

A momentary flash of sadness crossed Mother’s eyes.

I muttered to myself inwardly.

‘Can’t the Hania Tribe be saved?’

 

[Sacred Tree] The Hania Tribe will perish.

 

A message appeared as if answering my question.

‘Why?’

 

[Sacred Tree] Because they have already staked their lives on you.

 

‘On me?’

But… little Tulia seemed to have no hope of opening her eyes.

And Mother too, how should I put it, I could see that her soul’s vitality was nearly exhausted.

Mother, who had failed to lift my small sleeping body, crouched down directly and carefully stroked only my cheek.

“My love, my treasure. Mother is sorry.”

 

[Sacred Tree] The heretics think the Hania Tribe is spilling blood in vain, but the reality is different.

[Sacred Tree] The Hania Tribe has already activated ancient magic by staking their lives.

 

‘Ancient magic?’

 

[Sacred Tree] The Hania Tribe are beings originally born from the Sacred Tree. Their souls will return to the Sacred Tree and bloom into one giant flower…

[Sacred Tree] Together with the Star Sacred Tree, this Beta Crucis, they will return to the stars and be eternal.

 

At the same time as those words, the Hania Tribe warrior who had cut down the last creature coughed up blood and collapsed.

With both creatures and Hania Tribe all having breathed their last, this space was as quiet and desolate as the deep forest.

Fireflies began to rise among the corpses stained with grass. No, small glowing souls that looked like fireflies rose up and flew leisurely toward the Sacred Tree.

They looked like little birds returning home. I felt no resentment or suffering from them. They just felt like spirits returning to where they originally belonged.

‘…’

And before long…

The spirit-like souls settled on each branch of the Sacred Tree, then the being that bloomed like flowers was none other than…

‘What is that.’

‘It’s Kim Ddongbyeol!’

It was a moment when all emotion came crashing down.

 

[Sacred Tree] The souls of the Hania Tribe and Beta Crucis will thus become one star and protect the Guardian for eternity.

 

‘When did you ever protect me.’

 

[Sacred Tree] And will grant you countless powers.

 

‘Grant my ass. I barely managed to seize what you tormented me with through all sorts of Quests.’

 

When I grumbled, the Sacred Tree didn’t display any messages for a moment.

 

[Sacred Tree]

 

‘What.’

 

[Sacred Tree]

 

‘Hmph.’

As I thought. It really was having a conversation with me.

The Sacred Tree continued its silence, then finally displayed a message again with its own principle of ‘public and private matters must be distinguished.’

Coriko was already melting away into mush.

‘But he’ll survive anyway.’

This was the past, and in the reality I had seen, Coriko was still alive and well.

While killing me over and over again, gradually stealing away the power of the Sacred Tree Successor that Tulia had inherited…

 

[Sacred Tree] Due to Railan’s soul, your countless predetermined deaths will not be painful.

[Sacred Tree] You will simply be endlessly lonely as predetermined.

 

I recalled my life as Han Ina.

I couldn’t forget the life of being an outsider since childhood.

Later, even when I resigned myself to it, I was always lonely as if I was outside of warmth, and it seems there were reasons for everything.

 

[Sacred Tree] However, the souls of the Hania Tribe

[Sacred Tree] will be with you in the name of Han Ina

[Faith] We will win until the end.

[Imm stel ortalis la] You will win.

 

‘…!’

 

[System] You must win.

 

Almost simultaneously, Mother came running as if flying and embraced me, my soul.

‘…Mother?’

How is an embrace possible? Can Mother see me?

“I can see you.”

‘…!’

“We’re both souls, aren’t we, baby.”

‘…’

Tears were already forming in Mother’s eyes. Could I feel warmth even in a soul state?

Just as my nose was about to tingle.

“Tulia. And Ina.”

For a moment, it felt like my heart stopped.

I stared up at Mother blankly.

That name that had been corrupted into some ridiculous sacred artifact’s name.

Han Ina.

Since I had become Tulia, no one would know that life. Because I didn’t want to tell them either. And thus I didn’t want to be pitied.

I thought it was a life and name that no one would feel sorry for.

Only Mother…

 

[Sacred Tree] You will simply be endlessly lonely as predetermined.

 

Only then did I realize. Under the Sacred Tree, as the successor, I had become able to understand so many things on my own.

That lonely life of Han Ina was also part of the predetermined trials.

That was all it had been.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you until the end.”

‘….’

“My poor daughter.”

‘Mother….’

Somewhere in my heart had always felt stiff, as if something was stuck there. That gap, which I had grown accustomed to ignoring like an old scar, shattered in an instant. The pain that had taken deep root scattered into fragments.

Had those tiny pieces actually been ice? They melted completely and flowed down along my eyes.

‘I missed you, Mother.’

“I missed you too.”

‘I really missed you….’

“Tulia.”

Mother, who was translucent just like me, pressed her forehead against mine.

“You will definitely win.”

At the same time, my vision changed.

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