I Pretended To Have Amnesia and the Hero’s Party Becomes Obsessed

28 – 4. Conclusion of Obsession (3)

Although I had lived as a servant for five years, I still found darkness uncomfortable.

It was because those five years were never peaceful.

All sorts of things pushed at me from the darkness, and among them, warm things were rare.

It felt as if I had been trapped in a thorny bush in winter.

But still, in order to survive, I had to reach out to that place. I had to constantly negotiate with the world to obtain a scrap of bread as a hand span of wounds.

And then, whenever I managed to get a bite of bread, it was always a moonless night.

But sleep refused to come.

Hunger, pain, sadness, loneliness.

They took advantage of the silence of the night and rooted themselves in my flesh. In winter, they even reached my bones.

I writhed in tattered rags, desperately trying to find comfort. And then, I struggled to fall into the depths of my memories.

The times I played with Amy and the days when I was Clara’s exclusive servant.

I counted those shining things like I was counting stars.

And through that, I could barely fall asleep. At least during those moments of sleep, I could be happy.

“Rem, are you awake?”

That’s why, when Clara’s voice reached me, I felt more relieved than confused. Because I thought it was a dream.

But the sharp scent of lavender brushing against my nose and the distinct sound of fabric rustling against my skin quickly pulled me back to reality.

Clara was really in front of me.

Instinctively, I lifted my head and opened my mouth.

“____!”

However, what came out of my throat was nothing but a sound resembling an animal growling.

Confused, I reached for my throat, but what I felt wasn’t the coldness of a bronze finger.

There was warmth from the blunt wrist spreading along my throat, and underneath my thigh, there was an emptiness.

All my senses had disappeared.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it for the sake of consciousness.”

Unable to hide my confusion, I turned my head towards where Clara’s voice was coming from.

And then, I stiffened at another sound that reached my ears.

“I…”

It was the sound of stifled sobs.

Clara forced herself to continue speaking.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t intend to cry… It’s just…”

But eventually, tears choked her voice. The sobbing sound tickled the ears.

Unbeknownst to me, emotions welled up at the base of my throat, and I unconsciously reached out towards her.

“…!”

However, a solid and smooth barrier blocked my wrist as I tried to touch her. When I moved my legs, it touched my thighs too.

“…It’s a specially made glass container. I couldn’t let you escape. At least until consciousness fades away.”

I looked back towards where Clara’s voice was coming from. The sound of Clara approaching echoed.

What followed was still a voice struggling with tears.

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“Hearing my voice might be repulsive to you, but still, I hope you’ll listen to what I have to say.”

Clara’s voice contained an indescribable urgency. That urgency enveloped my body.

I quietly listened to her words.

“Rem, all revenge is over.”

The sound of Clara’s hand sliding on the glass container was heard.

“I found those who hit you before gouging out your eyes. The executioners who gouged out your eyes suffered the same fate, eyes gouged and throats cut.”

“And Ivan, he’s still alive, hanging on the roof of the Crystal Palace. Being devoured by crows, his organs slowly consumed.”

“I tracked down everyone who made you bleed and made them pay.”

Suddenly, the weeping in Clara’s voice had subsided. What replaced it was a chillingly solid anger.

It was an emotion I never expected from the playful girl I knew.

However, it was fleeting.

“…Except one person.”

Clara’s voice, once firmly resolute, broke. Instead of the confident and strong-willed girl I knew, it became the voice of a fragile, vulnerable girl.

“But for some reason, I trusted Ivan and spilled everything,”

“The moment you were taken to the prison, I was indulging in the happy imagination until you became that way,”

“I was a fool who had been fixated on revenge until you became that kind of person.”

Clara’s words piled up in my ears. It gradually turned the anxiety in my chest into a firm reality.

“…That’s what I wanted to say.”

A melancholic laughter flowed into my ears.

“Of course, that won’t take long either.”

I immediately grasped what those words implied. That’s why I pounded on the glass wall, shouting a denial.

“____!”

But what came from my throat wasn’t words—it was an impossible scream.

And, depending on interpretation, it might have seemed like a figure consumed by rage.

Clara’s voice trembled.

“…I understand your anger. Knowing that fact, I still tried to deceive you, someone afflicted by amnesia.”

No, damn it, no!

I vehemently shook my head.

With my blunt wrist, I scribbled ‘no’ on the glass wall several times.

But it didn’t reach her.

“Even now, hiding my eyes out of fear of your hatred, I must be a cowardly woman.”

Hiding your eyes?

This…!

I grabbed my head with my wrist, desperately shaking it.

Amidst the chaos of the audio output device and the idiotic woman who had even covered her eyes, I found a way to somehow convey my words to her.

But, being incorporeal, I was utterly powerless, and Clara’s words didn’t cease.

“But please, just listen a little more, Rem. My death won’t simply end with a dagger in my throat.”

What?

My spinning thoughts came to a halt.

What crept in between them were ominous visions.

“The moment I reunited with you and saw your body forcibly stitched together with iron lumps and magic, I realized there’s only one thing I can do for you.”

No way, not to that extent…

Clara spoke with a laughter-tinged voice.

“Rem, I told you, I belong to you. My tongue, my two hands, my two legs…”

“…Even this heart.”

“Rem, once this is all over, you’ll be able to walk the world with a whole body.”

Irreparable, long-missing parts cannot be healed by conventional means. Only transplantation remains possible.

I fully understood what Clara intended to do.

“_______!”

I screamed and pounded on the glass tube.

My blunt wrist was torn, blood flowing, and a sour scent rising from the damaged vocal cords, but I didn’t care.

I had to stop it.

But Clara didn’t even allow me that.

“…!!”

My struggling body stiffened as if it had turned into stone, even though 13 years had passed. I knew right away.

It was the bishop’s holy scripture that Ivan had put on me back then.

“…So, even this is not enough. I understand. It’s been 13 years of accumulated resentment.”

I heard Clara getting up from her seat. With the sound of footsteps, her voice became distant.

“…I never expected to be forgiven in the first place. Just…”

The sound of the door opening, the footsteps ceasing.

A pitiful voice reached my ears, mixed with crying.

“…Could you ever smile at me, even once, while thinking of me?”

And then, the cold sound of the door closing echoed in my petrified ears.

***

As soon as I untied the bandage I had put on my eyes, it collapsed on the floor.

The knights, in confusion, rushed towards me, but I waved them off.

I just buried my face in my hands messily and burst into tears.

I’m not sure why I cried.

Was it because I realized that you truly despised me?

Or was it because the word “death” came rushing towards me?

Or is it because 13 years of revenge and regret finally come to an end, bringing a sense of relief?

Whichever it was, the tears didn’t last long. The last page of this story won’t turn by itself.

I stood up and asked the knights.

“Is the ceremony preparation complete?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Good. Lead the way.”

The knights hesitated for a moment, but soon they obediently took me to the place of the ceremony.

Ironically, it was the top floor of the highest tower in the Crystal Palace.

Rem, do you still remember? The contents of the novels you used to read to me.

Among them, there was the tale of a knight rescuing a princess trapped in a tall tower.

As I climbed the stairs, I couldn’t help but overlay that story with the current situation.

For a moment, I got lost in the blissful fantasy that I might be the princess and you the knight.

However, that was truly just a moment.

I was not a princess; I was merely a cowardly and deceitful witch. And you, entangled in her web, were a prince who had lost what he should have taken.

And now, it was the end of the story.

The foolish witch repenting for her sins, the climax of throwing herself from the tower.

Having regained everything, you will now fall in love with a woman as beautiful in character as in appearance.

And you will live happily ever after.

As is the ending of many fairy tales.

“Your Highness…?”

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it.”

I wiped away my tears and entered the prepared room.

Everything I had asked for was there.

The sacred symbols engraved on the floor and walls, the silver dish to contain the transplanted parts, and most importantly, the well-crafted dagger.

“Ensure that no one enters until the ritual is complete.”

“Yes…”

I took the dagger and stood in front of the dish.

Although my hands trembled and my breath quickened, I steadied my heart. It wasn’t a difficult task. Just thinking of your complete self was enough to stop my hands from shaking.

Smiling, I raised the dagger.

The first part I would return to you was already decided.

Your eyes, the ones I loved the most.

Wishing for your happiness, I plunged the dagger into my left eye.

***

And, not long after that, in the not-so-distant past.

More precisely, right after the Rose Rem mercenaries carried away the unconscious Rem.

The members of the Rose Rem mercenary group were confronted with news beyond their wildest imagination.

“Hah…! Hah…!”

A rough breathing that seemed to be sprinting at full speed.

The mercenaries’ eyes turned towards the blue-haired woman standing in front of the door. Clearly, she was the woman named Irene that Faye had brought yesterday.

After hesitating for a while, the woman shouted with a pale face, “Rem has been kidnapped by the paladins!!”

Originally, being a mercenary was a profession in which one could not survive without quick judgment of the situation. And the mercenaries of Roselem Mercenary Group were people who had lived as mercenaries for at least five years.

In other words, the moment they heard the shout, it meant that they had assessed the entire situation.

However, what they did after assessing the situation was not to express their anger and stand up from their seats, nor was it to look away from him with an uncomfortable expression.

They simply looked at a woman in the corner.

Derrin, the only female member of the Roselem Mercenary Group and one of its founding members.

And, when the captain was present, she was gentler than anyone else, but when he was not there, she would turn into a tyrant.

Faye, the “Dwarf Maker”.

The iron cup she was holding crumpled with a harsh sound.

“Everyone! Our captain has been kidnapped, right? But what are you all hesitating for…!!”

“Did you just stand there watching it happen?”

Irene turned her head at the cold voice. And she froze where she stood.

It was because Faye’s ice-like sky-blue eyes were glaring at her as if they could kill her.

Faye’s hand reached over Irene’s head.

Instinctively, Irene realized that the woman in front of her was capable of smashing her head.

Irene’s pupils trembled along with her legs. Her hand reached behind her back.

“Why did you just stand there watching it happen, you fucking idiot?”

“That, that’s…! I was just too startled…!”

“Tsk-“

Faye clicked her tongue and slammed Irene’s head on the table. At the same time, Irene collapsed as if she were falling apart.

Faye’s cold voice flowed over her head.

“Where?”

“What?”

“Where did they take him?”

Faye looked at Irene with a deep expression of contempt and pulled out the sword at her waist.

“I won’t go to save him unless I know where he is.”