The Lady Only Deals With the Real Ones - Chapter 218

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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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Having caught Rougenote, I immediately headed toward the World Tree.

I was flying through the air. I could feel divine power surging from the top of my head to my toes. It was probably because I had realized who I was.

But, even so.

“That, give that to me. It’s dangerous, please. No….”

I had no intention of agreeing with ‘End’ who was closely chasing behind me.

Very old memories of ‘Start’ whispered in my ears. Memories of when the divine-grade sacred objects were created.

To destroy the World Tree, all four sacred objects must be used.

「The Ruby Tablet will guide you to where the World Tree is. Then dip this holy sword in flames….」

Gripping Rougenote, I flew skimming over the sacred flames.

Then fire blazed up along the long, sharp blade. Brilliant sparks of light that were dazzling to look at turned the pearl embedded in Rougenote red.

It was the moment I raised my sword after taking a deep breath.

Grab, my shoulder was seized.

“I told you not to!”

‘End’ let out a shout so loud it made heaven and earth tremble, looking at me while trembling violently.

“Anyway, you can’t destroy the World Tree by yourself. That’s something I can do.”

It sounded more like he was making a resolution to himself rather than speaking to me.

“And do you think this huge tree will fall just by stabbing it with a flame-covered holy sword? No, no….”

End, who had been muttering as if half out of his mind, squeezed his eyes shut then opened them.

“I’m sorry.”

“….”

“Sorry for shouting. If I hurt your feelings, I’m sorry. For running away without saying anything, for using ‘Crescens’… if I made you upset, I’m really, sorry.”

Taking a deep breath, he forced the corners of his mouth upward.

“I was wrong. I’ll fix everything. I won’t… behave like this again. Okay?”

With ‘Crescens’s’ face contorted as if about to cry, End continued speaking haltingly.

“So let’s go back….”

“Where to. To the World Tree?”

‘End’ flinched and trembled as if my quiet words were a whip, then nodded his head frantically.

Swallowing a sigh, I removed the hand gripping my shoulder and spun his body around.

There was a reason I acted so forcefully.

“Look properly. At what state the World Tree you want to return to is in.”

‘Thinking about it, this guy never tried to look at the World Tree properly.’

Not only during battle, but even when he approached me, he had been standing with his back to the World Tree the entire time.

At first, I thought maybe he was trying to protect it in his own way. But now that I had glimpsed ‘Start’s’ memories, I thought I understood.

“You know too.”

He was deliberately turning away.

“…The World Tree is withering away and dying.”

The real reason why ‘Start’ had said to stop.

Recalling how the World Tree’s fruit had gradually diminished in the sacred painting I saw at the temple, I illuminated the frozen tree with the glowing Rougenote like a lantern.

Then the World Tree, already at the end of its life, became clearly visible. The branches had lost their strength and the leaves were all withered. The bark was roughly peeling, with cracks and scars splitting through every gap like wounds that had dried of blood.

It wasn’t preservation. It was taxidermy.

End shook his head.

“No.”

“Start told you that because he knew the World Tree’s life, the necessity for ‘us’ to exist in this world, no longer remained.”

“…No.”

“He made these tools capable of destruction because he knew from the beginning that there was a predetermined end.”

“No….”

“No. You knew.”

End, who had been repeatedly saying no, suddenly stopped speaking.

“That’s why you repeated life over and over again, preventing time from flowing, wasn’t it?”

When End, who had been silent for a while, raised his head again.

Tears of blood were flowing from one of his eyes.

With pain deeply shadowing his face, he shook his head then stopped.

“…Is that not allowed?”

In a voice that seemed ready to break at any moment, he pleaded with me.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s an ugly and pathetic existence. It’s fine even if a life of being pointed at and despised by people is all there is. That sort of thing… that’s nothing to me. Because it’s something I’m too familiar with.”

He desperately reached out and grabbed my shoulder again.

But this time, rather than holding me back, it felt more like he was clinging to me.

“You, who are used to being loved by people, might find that unpleasant. Then, I’ll do all the dirty work. Getting blood on my hands, bearing infamy, I’ll do it all. Just like I always have. You just need to stay by my side, just smile at me….”

“….”

“Because to me, you are both my half and my everything.”

Speaking with trembling lips, he looked at the World Tree with dim eyes.

The World Tree’s withered leaves, empty shells… Everything was a reality with no place left to escape to.

Finally letting out a sigh, he looked at me, who gave no answer, with eyes mixed with resentment.

“Aren’t you the same? You’re all I have. How can you be so, so calm….”

End, who had been speaking incoherently, finished his words in a voice that was completely breaking down.

“You might think you’re making a choice for the world, but to me, it feels like you’re abandoning me. Because you’ve grown tired of an eternity together with me.”

This must be his true feelings.

The genuine feelings he had hidden layer upon layer, complaints he couldn’t bring himself to voice for fear of being hated.

‘Start’s’ consciousness hadn’t consumed me. As I wondered what Start would have answered if he were here, I slowly glided down to land on the ground.

Looking back and forth between the flame-blazing Rougenote and ‘End’ who had followed me down, I opened my mouth.

“No.”

“What do you mean no?”

“It’s not abandoning you. …And it’s not a choice for the world, either.”

There was no need to guess what Start might have said.

So I could just say what came from my heart.

“Rather, it would have been a selfish choice. By ‘Start’ who loved the entire world, and therefore loved you too.”

His actions don’t change. They were things deserving of condemnation.

Start was the same. Even though ‘Start’ existed within me, I didn’t suddenly feel reverence or think about looking down upon the world with holiness.

However, I could at least say this much.

“Would he have wanted his other half, his everything, to live eternity being pointed at and bearing all the infamy? Would he have been willing to watch you remain in endless suffering.”

My heart felt heavy.

End stared at me blankly.

“…It probably wasn’t like that.”

[…The face of Start, left alone, could not start anything…]

As I recalled Grandfather’s fairy tale, End reached out his hand.

“I’m sorry. I was wrong. Don’t cry….”

Beyond the cold hand that wiped my eyes, not knowing what to do, I could see his face.

Strangely, he seemed somewhat relieved.

Perhaps because he realized that I didn’t hate him, that just as we had shared laughter, we could also share tears.

“Yes. You did do wrong.”

“Yeah….”

“Then please cooperate with me now.”

End approached.

Together with him, gripping Rougenote, I thrust the sword into the trunk of the World Tree.

The sacred flames that had been flowing along the blade found their rightful place and began to spread through the tree.

The flames that seeped into every crevice of the bark soon spread throughout the entire tree.

The flames devoured the World Tree. The sight of the massive tree slowly crumbling as if melting in the fire remained deeply etched in my mind, accompanied by a stillness as if time had stopped.

The fire did not go out and End did not disappear. He was looking down at the empty sap bottle.

The reason he, who feared the end, could not destroy the divine-grade relics that could burn the World Tree in advance was because he couldn’t. It was a kind of constraint.

But the reason only the sap had dried up was probably because it was the only divine-grade relic connected to the World Tree’s life force.

At some point, Crescens, or rather he, had said this.

“And the sap is very close by.”

The reason the sap was particularly emphasized in Grandfather’s notes.

The reason End terribly hated seeing me get hurt.

I took out the pocket knife I had borrowed from Tesagh and cut my fingertip. End was momentarily surprised, then he too cut his fingertip and drew blood.

As blood dripped onto the flames, the fire that had been blazing as tall as a house was extinguished in an instant.

And what remained was surprisingly…

“A sprout…”

The cycle of circulation.

As if proving that the end touches the beginning, a small sprout that had bloomed in the place where everything had burned swayed in the wind.

The Frozen North was no more. Looking around at the sanctuary that was gently melting away, I stared at End.

“See you again” wouldn’t be appropriate words. Then.

“Farewell.”

He seemed to choke up for a moment, then raised the corners of his mouth as if copying my expression.

“Yeah. …Take care. Take care.”

The water demons rushed in like a tidal wave.

I closed my eyes.

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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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