"You may kill me, grandmaster."
Kahu said as if vomiting blood.
If Charlize hadn't seen Kahu's memories, she might have been insensitive to those words.
However…
She could see for a moment as long as she breathed in Kahu's world.
How painful and heartbreaking Kahu is now. It is the first time she realizes that a man's Adam's apple can tremble like that. Is it hatred and murderous intent?
There were all kinds of emotions that were hard to describe in his eyes that were revealed even when he tried to suppress them.
'Victim.'
Collapsed into shock and trauma. And yet he tries to hold on to his rationality.
It is true that Kahu is an evil god, but it was certainly sealed right now.
Therefore, even with permission to kill him, she did not have a serious intention to kill.
'What's this feeling?'
She felt weird.
Charlize kept her thoughts at a distance. Kahu knows Charlize, who lived 400 years as Kiera. Because he 'really' watched her.
She told Dylan her past, so the Emperor knows. It was different from what Kahu knew.
Is it a feeling of sympathy?
She doesn't have to ask him to understand, but he understands.
Even in the silence of a few seconds of exchanging glances, they notice each other's thoughts.
Kahu has always been wary of Charlize. He didn't understand why she was trying to raise Dylan into a tyrant, or why she was trying to bring the empire to ruin.
But at this moment, Kahu sincerely wanted to die at the hands of Charlize.
"Kahu. I'm sorry to say this to a high-ranking person. Even if we do kill you, we'll do it with our hands, not with the leader's hands."
Said Payne, taking a few steps.
Lucy, who was next to him, agreed with him, saying.
"That's right! We'll make sure that honey never gets blood on her hands."
"…"
She doesn't remember being particularly nice to them, but Payne and Lucy were acting as if there was nothing they couldn't do for Charlize.
Charlize quietly raised her palms above the night.
It doesn't look like her own skin, but it's unfamiliar.
She lowered it again and turned her head back. Charlize's sword was missing. No, Lucy was holding it, and hiding the sword behind her back in surprise.
"Honey, you really can't…"
"I won't kill you."
She was just thirsty and stuffy.
"Bring me water."
It was Chase who moved at Charlize's words.
He grew up to be the successor of the Rapine clan in his own way, but his rank was lower than that of the transcendents such as Payne and Lucy.
Chase naturally brought the water, and Charlize drank it at once.
Now she's feeling a little better.
"That master of the magic tower…."
"…!"
"I've seen him, too, young duke."
Kahu shook himself in Charlize's slow voice.
The fear deepened by the trauma seemed to have been particularly imprinted on a man of the master magic tower. That's expected. Having watched it in person, Charlize could understand it.
Charlize asked, keeping her eyes fixed on Kahu.
"Payne, you know who the master of the magic tower is, don't you?"
"I know… I've heard of rumors, but I've never met him in person. Everyone likely said he was a real madman. Almost nothing is known about him because it is hidden under the veil of the dictatorship."
Charlize, who had been listening quietly, asked Kahu again.
"What do you think, young duke?"
Kahu was very shocked.
His jaw is still shaking.
It hasn't been long since he regained his memory, so it's going to be hard to imagine.
Charlize also softened her voice lower.
"I think this whole division's point of view comes from one person's idea. It's right to find him and punish him, wouldn't it be a waste to give up your life?
"Grandmaster…"
Kahu grabbed the blanket with his pale face at the soothing sound.
The evil power made the young duke's fingerbones stand out.
Now that he has regained his memory, he knows that Charlize was Kiera.
He would also know the pain she had to go through as Kiera.
And now, he knew that Charlize in front of him had survived and overcame that hell anyway.
They were no longer human.
The evil god and God.
Even if it wasn't intentional, it happened. As if looking at his senior who had already walked a difficult path, Kahu stared deeply at Charlize.
'I was originally going to kill him, but.'
That's harsh.
Lucy's words made sense. There's no need for Charlize to kill Kahu for Dylan.
The water's already been spilled. The fairies said that the real pieces of Ehyrit stained with evil were almost impossible to recover.
Charlize's gaze glanced at Kahu's necklace.
It was a necklace that kept the evil from touching anyone except Kahu himself.
'He won't be dangerous anymore.'
Maybe he's the only one in the world who can feel the same way.
Kahu was innocent.
The greed to reach the level of the wizard by dragging an evil god for greater power.
The master of the magic tower who stood at the apex of that corruption.
In the end, both the Kiera Project and the God Project are horrendous immoralities committed to inhabiting evil gods.
It's just the catastrophe he caused.
However, this did not mean that the sins committed by the magic tower and the imperial family went away. Those who joined in greed and hung out together. They are all rotten roots. It would be right to cut them out.
"Lucy."
"Yes?"
"Could you bring some food to the young duke?"
"If that's what you're saying, honey."
Lucy immediately got up and went out.
It felt good because Charlize simply called her name.
'If he had passed out for a few days, he would be hungry.'
Of course, the Master can control their hunger, and if he is already an evil god, he won't die anyway.
Still, Charlize wanted to take care of Kahu.
As if Kahu couldn't get used to it, he looked at Charlize and trembled.
Charlize muttered to herself for a moment.
"I didn't know that the day would come when I would say this to someone."
"…"
Charlize looked directly at Kahu.
A person who suffered as much as Charlize and eventually became an evil god.
Charlize refused to be the evil god to the end, but Kahu took her place.
She didn't want to easily judge the difference in mental power.
It's a miracle that Charlize kept herself sane in that situation.
"Time is medicine. I won't say that. No matter how much time passes, pain is pain, and memories are memories. Just… Hang in there."
She can't give him great advice.
In the end, the pain is entirely on one's own. Even if there are people who are lucky enough to protect you when you are falling into a swamp, there is no one in the world who will feel like falling into the swamp instead.
But Charlize had the words she wanted to hear most.
When she felt abandoned by everyone. When she was suffering from loneliness and pain.
When she was in despair on the edge of a cliff that she wouldn't be empathized with by anyone.
"You are not alone."
She was glad to hear that Kahu was looking for the missing Charlize.
He was her only hope and a ray of light.
Even if she was not saved, she found comfort in his existence.
So, she can say something like this.
"Don't give up. I will save you, as much as I can."
The young duke's eyes, which were at a loss due to fear and frustration, opened wide.
Even at the moment of confessing love, Kahu maintained his public rationality, but not anymore.
Even the walls that had been so hard to build collapsed. A blind look at the savior.
Would it be more painful if Kahu, who survived like that, couldn't forget Charlize at the end?
But she doesn't know.
Charlize had to reach out.
Life is more important than love.
Your new pain will be yours to take care of.
Soon Lucy returned. Charlize turned her head.
***
Silver hair gleamed in the dark.
A handsome man with red eyes.
He was called the master of the magic tower, and he had long since abandoned his name. Only his cruel ambitions were the uniqueness that had been consistent since childhood.
'It's not too late to make a name after the evil god returns.'
When the evil god returns, he may acknowledge the sincerity of the master of the magic tower and reward him a name personally.
He will enjoy the honor of being the first human being to be given a name by the evil god.
However, the evil god was still not found in the eyes of the secret magic tower.
"We must find the evil god soon…"
The master of the magic tower muttered to himself, sweeping his chess piece long.
Some of the wizards, who were closest to the master, remained quiet beside him.
Although there was no word as incompatible as black and fastidiousness, the secret magic tower in the form of a temple had a very noble and neat atmosphere.
The corner of the master's lips twisted.
'I did come back, but.'
He couldn't remember who the evil god was.
In the first place, he was given memory in return for removing it.
Even with whom he traded was erased from his memory.
The only thing that the master of the magic tower knows is. That this world has been turned back once. And the project was successful, and he witnessed the birth of the evil god with his own eyes. And the evil god returned with him.
"He wasn't even the emperor."
"I'm sorry, master."
The master did not care about the surroundings and placed a chess piece on the unfolded portrait.
"Charlize Ronan is the Kiera Project…"
Ash blond with a mixture of blonde and silver hair. An imperial grandmaster with mysterious navy blue eyes.
The master lowered his gaze.
"I'm not sure, but there's a possibility that this is the evil god."
The order of the magic tower's master is given gracefully.
The wizards who understood properly bowed their heads faithfully.
***
Dylan left the palace in a hurry.
He later heard the news from Shadow and went to Rapine.
Charlize's rampage had already been three days ago.
'It was Lucy who stopped the rampage.'
The cost of not being able to control the energy of Charlize was horrendous.
Half of the monster forest was blown away, and the buildings of Rapine village were destroyed.
Seeing Chase with a bewildered expression on his face, Dylan had said that the imperial family would pay all the cost of the reconstruction.
Therefore, it was easy to rebuild.
Dylan was just worried about Charlize, who fainted after the rampage.
The emperor said he would stand by Charlize, but Payne rarely got angry.
[You don't know why the leader is like that? We're saying that we're going to protect her.]
[…]
[Let's wait until the research is done. We're going to make a necklace soon. She never left Kahu until that time.]
The necklace was soon finished.
However, Payne warned that there may be a risk that has yet to be identified and that she should come to Rapine only after Kahu wakes up.
So Dylan had no choice but to sit by and watch Charlize and Kahu sleep together in the recovery room.
'Finally, they both woke up.'
But now it's okay.
He hurried his steps, as he desperately wanted to see Charlize.
But Dylan had no choice but to stop at the door of the recovery room.
"Honey is a very kind person when you look at her closer."
"I'm not kind."
"The more you deny it, the cuter you look. Is this because I'm blinded by love…?"
"The grandmaster is indeed kind."
"Well, leader, you're a little cute."
"Shut up."
The conversation coming through the open window was just friendly. The atmosphere was relaxed like a warm spring breeze. Like a family.
'Family?'
Dylan paused, startled by his thoughts.
His hand holding the doorknob suddenly lost its strength.
Charlize had to only look at Dylan and stay with Dylan.
'Are you happy?'
He vaguely felt Charlize happy.
Because of the feeble white light that remained, just like a needle hole.
And Dylan thought that he wanted to protect that little happiness. He felt a little happy too.