Will You Cry for Me If I Die? - Chapter 30

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

Chapter 30

 

Vladimir’s laughter burst out briefly from below the stairs, then quickly disappeared.

 

The Emperor’s gaze swept in that direction.

 

It passed by briefly.

 

“Children are quite honest indeed.”

 

He said.

 

I climbed one more step.

 

My foot went up.

 

Now it’s the third step.

 

The height decreased.

 

I got a little closer to eye level with the Emperor.

 

I took a deep breath.

 

My chest rose.

 

There is much light.

 

It’s layered.

 

But the directions are different.

 

The flow splits.

 

Nothing here is directly aimed at me.

 

Not right now.

 

The Emperor spoke.

 

“Today is a festival.”

 

His voice spread widely.

 

“So.”

 

I asked back.

 

I threw it out briefly.

 

“How about showing your power.”

 

His words continued.

 

Gentle ripples spread through the banquet hall.

 

People held their breath.

 

Nina’s eyes sharpened.

 

The light grew thin.

 

Yurahel’s hand grabbed his sleeve.

 

The fabric was pulled slightly.

 

Theodor’s hand gripped mine tighter.

 

His hand grew warm.

 

I looked at the Emperor.

 

I didn’t avoid his gaze.

 

“Why?”

 

I asked.

 

The Emperor gestured.

 

His hand moved to the side.

 

One priest stepped forward.

 

White gloves caught the light.

 

He was holding up a crystal orb.

 

Round light swirled inside.

 

“This is a ritual of stabilization.”

 

The Emperor explained.

 

“When Rumel touches it, that light will react.”

 

The words continued slowly.

 

I looked at the crystal orb.

 

My gaze went down.

 

It was similar to the scent I smelled from the envelope yesterday.

 

It reached me faintly.

 

But it’s more diluted.

 

The connection is weak.

 

It continues as if about to break.

 

I raised my head.

 

I lifted my gaze again.

 

“If I touch it?”

 

I asked.

 

The Emperor answered gently.

 

The corner of his mouth moved.

 

“Nothing will happen.”

 

I smiled a beat late.

 

My mouth opened slightly.

 

“Sounds like a lie.”

 

The air in the banquet hall wavered.

 

Sound stopped for a moment.

 

The Emperor’s expression hardened very briefly.

 

“On what grounds do you dare speak such insolent words?”

 

He asked.

 

I said immediately.

 

“The light, it’s shaking. Even now!”

 

In that moment, the priest’s hand trembled slightly.

 

The crystal orb shook just a little.

 

The Emperor immediately recovered his expression.

 

A smile came back up.

 

“Then you try to stabilize it.”

 

A challenge?

 

I understood that word.

 

If I refuse, it’s recorded.

 

If I accept, it’s a test.

 

Both leave a mark.

 

I steadied my breathing.

 

Inhale, hold, exhale.

 

Lermiel’s gaze followed me from the side.

 

It stayed quietly attached.

 

He didn’t say anything.

 

His mouth was closed.

 

But his eyes were asking.

 

Will you choose.

 

I climbed all the way up the stairs.

 

My foot stepped on the last step.

 

To the same place as the Emperor.

 

The priest held out the crystal orb in front of me.

 

The white gloves caught the light.

 

The round surface glowed quietly.

 

I didn’t reach out my hand.

 

I stopped my movement.

 

Instead, I felt the air around the crystal orb.

 

The flow circling nearby.

 

The surface is calm.

 

Tranquil.

 

But inside, it twists subtly.

 

Trembles thinly.

 

I spoke quietly.

 

“This has two layers.”

 

The Emperor narrowed his eyes.

 

The light grew thin.

 

“Explain.”

 

He said.

 

I steadied my breathing.

 

Inhaled, paused, exhaled.

 

“The outside is stability.”

 

I spoke clearly.

 

“The inside is recording? It’s recording.”

 

I continued my words.

 

The banquet hall swallowed its breath again.

 

The sound thinned out.

 

The Emperor maintained his smile.

 

His lips didn’t waver.

 

“The child has quite an imagination.”

 

He said.

 

I shook my head.

 

“It’s not imagination!”

 

I raised my hand and placed it over the crystal orb.

 

Not touching directly, but very close.

 

Leaving only distance.

 

I felt heat.

 

Subtle.

 

It touched thinly.

 

I brought my finger a little closer.

 

The gap narrowed.

 

The light inside the crystal trembled.

 

It reacted only from within.

 

The outside remained calm.

 

The surface didn’t change.

 

The inside reacted.

 

They overlap.

 

I stopped my hand.

 

Cut off the movement.

 

“Recording.”

 

I said in a low voice.

 

“Who touches it, it remains.”

 

The Emperor’s eyes completely stopped smiling.

 

The surface cooled.

 

The whispers in the banquet hall grew louder.

 

Small ripples spread.

 

Vladimir muttered very quietly.

 

Barely moving his lips.

 

“Interesting.”

 

Nina closed and opened her eyes.

 

A brief movement.

 

Yurahel’s gaze alternated between the Emperor and me.

 

Moving back and forth quickly.

 

I withdrew my hand.

 

Folded my fingers.

 

“I won’t do it.”

 

I said.

 

The Emperor spoke.

 

“Are you afraid?”

 

His voice came down softly.

 

I shook my head.

 

Firmly.

 

“There’s no need.”

 

Short and clear.

 

The Emperor’s lips rose again.

 

Rose slowly.

 

“If you refuse, people will be curious.”

 

He said.

 

I answered immediately.

 

Without hesitation.

 

“Let them be curious.”

 

Suddenly strange laughter burst out here and there again before dying down.

 

The Emperor looked at me for a moment.

 

Cold eyes rolling strangely.

 

Is the daytime Emperor a monster?

 

He’s human, but it felt strange because he seemed like a monster.

 

“Good.”

 

When I stared at him, he stepped back.

 

One step backward.

 

“Today is a festival.”

 

The words spread widely.

 

The Priesthood took the crystal orb away again.

 

The light moved away.

 

Music started again, and the banquet hall began moving as if nothing had happened.

 

Sound returned.

 

People laughed again.

 

I came down the stairs.

 

Moved my feet one by one.

 

Five steps.

 

One by one.

 

Lermiel approached from the side.

 

Slowly exhaled.

 

In the middle of the banquet hall, I was no longer small.

 

The words that sometimes echoed in my head are quiet now. But I can also feel that they’re with me.

 

Is that why? The surrounding gazes changed.

 

People began looking at me again.

 

But it was different from before.

 

I was no longer the test subject who had blood drawn and was displayed to the Lord.

 

* * *

 

The air in the banquet hall grew heavier.

 

Breathing moved a little slower.

 

People laughed, but their laughter didn’t reach the end.

 

Only their mouths moved.

 

Even when they lifted their glasses, their gazes flowed back toward me.

 

They came and stopped.

 

I took Theodor’s hand and returned to our seats.

 

I didn’t let go of his hand.

 

Theodor sat right next to me.

 

Our shoulders touched.

 

“You did well, really.”

 

My brother said that if you get scared by the Emperor’s words and just accept them, you’ll definitely be ruined.

 

‘Demian?’

 

When I asked back, Theodor nodded slightly.

 

My heart wasn’t beating fast.

 

The pace remained the same.

 

Instead, my ears became sensitive.

 

Sounds became clearer.

 

Murmurs continued like threads.

 

Thin and long threads.

 

“How is the immortal child so bold in front of the Emperor?”

 

“Truly quite impudent.”

 

“Isn’t it because the Winter Family has become too arrogant?”

 

I picked up my fork.

 

My hand didn’t shake.

 

The food on the plate was splendid.

 

There were many colors.

 

But the smells were mixed together.

 

They layered and rose up.

 

Spices.

 

Alcohol.

 

And faint metal powder.

 

I twitched my nose.

 

A brief reaction.

 

A memory brushed past.

 

The Research Institute’s iron door.

 

Cold instruments.

 

Metal that touched my hands.

 

I shifted my gaze.

 

Turned it immediately.

 

On one side of the banquet hall, a group of Priests quietly gathered.

 

White clothes overlapped.

 

Their fingertips moved.

 

Very slightly.

 

As if they were doing nothing at all.

 

However, the light of the crystal columns trembled very faintly.

 

Almost visible, almost not.

 

Nina spoke quietly beside me.

 

Mixing her breath.

 

“It’s flowing from over there. That strange feeling. Right?”

 

I answered immediately.

 

“I know.”

 

Whether Vladimir and Theodor felt it too, they both held their juice glasses and smiled at me.

 

Demian interjected.

 

“A festival is a festival, no need to be so tense.”

 

Yurahel silently put down his drink.

 

We brightened up a bit, but his eyes never became light.

 

They remained heavy.

 

Naturally, Millayen, being an adult, maintained a comfortable expression.

 

His expression didn’t waver.

 

However, that comfort was more frightening.

 

Something that doesn’t move.

 

It seemed no one could shake him.

 

Then from the dais, the Empress rose from her seat.

 

Her dress hem brushed the floor.

 

The sound lingered long.

 

‘Alde Amaransa.’

 

The name remained in my head.

 

She smiled and spoke.

 

The corners of her mouth rose gently.

 

“What a spirited little child, speaking so clearly too.”

 

I raised my head.

 

Lifted my gaze.

 

A face with fine, pretty features.

 

‘What did Demian say?’

 

Before coming, he had said that this person smiles prettily while cutting people in half.

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