The scene in One’s office suddenly changed.
Lloyd blinked in surprise.
He was confused.
This place was unmistakably the execution ground from the day he had been beheaded.
“Trash!”
“Kill him! Kill him!”
The shouts of the onlookers were loud and clear.
It was only natural.
In this world, devoid of excitement, the beheading of a convict at an execution ground was the most thrilling spectacle one could witness.
“Move!”
Clunk.
His steps dragged as he was led by the executioner. Not because he didn’t want to die, but likely due to the aftereffects of torture.
Colluding with the Demon King.
He had endured severe torture while being imprisoned, forced to confess to a crime he had never committed.
Useless memories of pain resurfaced.
‘…’
Lloyd bit his lip.
What on earth was happening?
Time travel?
Regression?
Countless possibilities flashed through his mind.
Having already experienced being brought back to life once before, Lloyd could consider a long list of possibilities.
‘But that’s not what’s important.’
The important thing was whether he could survive or not.
At the time of his execution, his mana circuits had been completely destroyed from killing the Demon King, rendering him unable to use magic and making escape impossible.
‘But now…’
Lloyd looked around.
There were a few guards, but they didn’t seem particularly threatening.
And then there were the familiar faces on the platform.
Several high-ranking officials and the three heroes sitting quietly, watching him.
They were the problem, but Lloyd now thought he might be able to defeat them.
‘I must escape.’
Lloyd blinked and began to activate his mana circuits.
Or rather, he tried to.
‘Damn it.’
Lloyd cursed inwardly.
No mana gathered. In fact, he couldn’t even muster any strength in his body.
It felt as though his hands and arms were merely flailing in the air, like in a dream.
‘…No.’
Lloyd tried to bend his index finger slightly.
But it didn’t move.
Yes.
It didn’t just feel like a dream—he had no control over his body at all.
He could only observe and feel as if he were possessed by his former self, Lee Han.
“…Haa.”
A sigh escaped him.
To be precise, it was timed perfectly with a sigh that Lee Han had let out in the past.
‘Am I losing my mind?’
That thought was fleeting.
Some of the possibilities he had considered earlier quickly resurfaced in his mind.
This probably wasn’t possession or regression.
Rather, it was likely that memories buried deep within him were being replayed.
In other words, this was an illusion or a hallucination.
The world hadn’t changed; only the images and sensations in his mind were being replayed.
The vivid sights, smells, sounds, and emotions.
All familiar.
Frustratingly familiar.
– Crunch.
He gritted his teeth.
And then—
“Kill him! Kill him! Kill him!”
“The criminal has arrived at the guillotine!”
“Waahhhh!”
The overwhelmingly vivid cheers rang out.
– I killed the Demon King to save you all.
The sense of betrayal that had once sunk deep in his heart resurfaced.
‘Stupid, foolish humans…’
His faith in humanity diminished, as if in reaction to the resurfacing anger.
He knew it.
Lloyd knew just how foolish humans were, how they couldn’t see beyond what was right in front of them.
But even so!
How could they treat him like this after he had defeated the Demon King, achieving an impossible feat by sacrificing everything for that sole purpose!
In the vast square of the capital.
Kneeling on the sandy ground, waiting for death, Lee Han had certainly been thinking those thoughts.
The emotions of that moment were conveyed to him as if they were his own.
Though he couldn’t move his body, he was, after all, now Lee Han.
‘Don’t even think about coming out, Ortega.’
Despite everything, Lloyd could still keep Ortega in check. Even though Ortega hadn’t said a word, Lloyd knew he was biding his time, waiting for the right moment.
‘Because I’ve replayed this in my mind hundreds, thousands of times.’
Humans have memories that, whether they like it or not, keep replaying in their minds. For Lloyd, the memories that were now unfolding before his eyes were like that. After he had newly possessed this body, he had spent months holed up in his room, under the blankets, replaying only these memories.
That’s how he managed to maintain his sanity.
Where Lloyd’s vision had once been filled with a blinding red, it was now calm.
The tunnel vision that had once narrowed his sight for psychological reasons was now broader.
He had the capacity to look around.
The first thing that caught his eye, as expected, were the three heroes. They were sitting on the high platform, looking down at him with faint, blurred outlines.
The reason for the blur was likely because, at that moment, his former self was crying tears of blood.
Lloyd bit his lips, though they couldn’t actually be bitten.
“Execute the sentence!”
Someone shouted.
Lloyd’s gaze remained fixed on the platform.
His vision was blurred, but the shapes were still recognizable.
The one raising her head towards the sky with her eyes tightly closed was likely Claire. Her red hair was fluttering in the wind.
Was Aria lowering her head? Outside the fluttering veil of the saintess, there was nothing more he could see. However, Aria’s hands were delicately clasped together as if in prayer.
And. Aina.
She was clearly looking directly at him. Her eyes, sharp and bright, alternated between the blade and Lloyd’s neck.
‘Is she smiling or crying?’
The slight tremor in Aina’s shoulders was ambiguous.
He tried to focus, but it was difficult.
And it was no wonder.
“Kill him! Execute the demon!”
“Waahhhh!”
The cheers of the crowd.
And the one sound Lloyd still couldn’t overcome.
— Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap!
The sound of applause filled his ears.
Oh, yes, he remembered.
This applause had stuck in his memory so disgustingly for a reason.
The sound of applause had been there even before the guillotine’s blade fell.
— Thud!
And as his head rolled on the ground.
— Waahhhhh!
— The demon is dead!
— Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap!
The applause continued.
The taste of blood was bitter.
‘F*ck.’
He thought he’d be used to it by now.
— Clap, clap, clap… clap, clap…clap…clap.
As his consciousness blurred and the applause faded.
Just as the last clap was about to disappear and darkness was closing in.
“Hey. Long time no see, Lloyd?”
The man with the red eyes, whom Lloyd never wanted to see again, greeted him.
◆
No matter how hard she swam, she couldn’t escape.
Yulia didn’t stop moving her hands, though.
Because she knew the moment she did, she would surely die.
Someone will come to help her.
She just needs to keep holding on.
She kept moving her arms, trying to ignore the corpses and ghosts watching her from the side, just swimming.
Then.
– “Yulia…!”
A distant voice echoed in Yulia’s ears.
Surely, it must be the savior coming to rescue her.
With renewed hope, she flailed her arms, certain that a heroic figure was approaching…!
“Snap out of it, Princess Yulia!”
A rough voice broke through.
It was the voice of someone who had likely spent decades drowning in alcohol and cigarettes.
It sounded less like a savior and more like a drunken old man’s gruff voice.
As Yulia furrowed her brow in response, the voice continued.
“This is an illusion spell! It’s preying on your trauma! It’s not real!”
“Ah.”
Yulia’s eyes snapped open.
– Gasp!
She gasped for air, her breath coming in ragged bursts.
Only after several deep breaths, lying on the ground, did Yulia manage to lift her head.
“Have you come to your senses?”
“Y-yes…”
“What sort of hallucination did you see? You were flailing your arms like you were drowning. Have you ever been caught in a flood?”
“… Something similar.”
It was even more hellish than that.
Yulia swallowed back the words that threatened to spill out.
“More importantly, where is Lloyd?”
“Oh! Lloyd… That young man is in a dire state! At least you reacted, but he hasn’t moved a muscle!”
The village chief’s alarmed reaction sent Yulia searching for Lloyd in a panic.
She didn’t have to look far.
He was standing right beside her.
“Ah…”
Lloyd.
Lloyd, her advisor.
Yulia’s expression crumbled as she saw him.
Lloyd stood there, utterly still, without the slightest movement.
And yet, drip, drip.
Tears traced down his face, dripping from his chin onto the ground.
A puddle of crimson slowly spread beneath him.
Yulia staggered toward Lloyd, who stood there with an eerily serene expression, tears of blood streaming down his face.
“Lloyd…”
Forgetting all propriety and dignity, Yulia wiped away Lloyd’s tears.
“Lloyd… Are you okay?”
She gently caressed his face, trying to soothe him.
The dark circles under his eyes, the hollowness of his cheeks, the sharpness of his jawline.
All she could do was continue to stroke his face, desperate to ease even a fraction of the pain he must be enduring.
“Lloyd…”
What on earth had this child been through?
She couldn’t even begin to imagine what could have caused him such agony.
“Please, come back to your senses…”
Was his soul being dragged into some abyss?
Would this bring him even a little comfort?
She didn’t know, but this was all Yulia could do.
She had no idea what kind of life Lloyd had lived.
Then.
– Flash.
Lloyd’s eyes opened.
“…!”
Yulia instinctively took a few steps back.
Lloyd’s eyes were strange.
And then.
– Slice!
The sound of something being roughly severed filled the air.
Yulia blinked in confusion.
– Splurttt!
A fountain of blood sprayed out, filling the space.
Beyond the cascade of blood, an arm was falling to the ground.
