Enough with Dying as an Extra chapter 24

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After my fate was decided, everything moved swiftly.

I had no belongings to pack, nor anything left to do.

All that was required of me was to submit the seal I had carelessly shoved into my desk drawer—my final duty within this estate.

It wasn’t just because I had left prison empty-handed.

As a criminal exiled from the duchy, it was only natural that I had nothing to take with me.

The process was so simple, it felt almost humiliating.

And once it was over, it was time to leave.

Under strict surveillance, I hadn’t been able to speak to Haen again.

But that didn’t surprise me.

I had fully expected him to act this way.

I finished my preparations without fuss.

Just before I was expelled from the estate, I made one final request—to say goodbye to Sia.

Perhaps because I had been obedient all day, Haen agreed without much trouble.

Since last night, after I told Sia that we would be parting ways, he had been avoiding me.

He had thrown a tantrum, sure, but for a child his age, he was remarkably mature.

It was almost as if he believed that as long as he didn’t see me, the farewell wouldn’t happen.

And yet, in the end, he was brought before me, led by the hand of a knight.

“Sia, you’re here.”

“…Let go. I can walk on my own.”

For a brief moment, he struggled, but as soon as our eyes met, Sia fiercely smacked away the knight’s hand that had been half-dragging him.

Then, pushing through the crowd that had gathered to witness my end, he came to a stop right in front of me.

I had never seen such a turbulent expression on his face in all the time I had spent with him.

Even until the very end, he left me with a new experience.

As I carefully studied Sia’s face, I smiled, scrunching my nose slightly.

Even now, he instinctively hid whenever he saw an unfamiliar adult.

And yet, that same child had pushed through a sea of them just to reach me.

It was a sentiment that didn’t quite fit the situation, but it felt as if Sia truly cared for me.

The sunlight landed gently on his face, so pale it was almost ghostly, layering over his features with confusion, anger, fear, and terror.

All those emotions intertwined to create an unstable yet heartbreakingly endearing expression.

Unable to resist, I bent down and carefully pulled Sia into an embrace.

I gently brushed back the bangs covering his round forehead and pressed a light kiss to his exposed skin.

When I lifted my gaze slightly, Haen was watching me in silence, as if convinced I was saying my final goodbye.

Our eyes met for a moment before I slowly pulled Sia away from my arms.

As I pushed him back, Sia, who had kept his head lowered the entire time, suddenly snapped it up.

His gaze locked onto mine, filled with deep, unspoken questions.

He didn’t understand why I was doing this.

In just a few short months, he had come to trust me so deeply.

His young, harmless face was full of quiet confusion, and I took my time engraving it into my memory before offering him a gentle smile.

“Sia, I’m sorry I can’t stay with you until the end. Do you remember what I promised you when we first met? I told you I’d find your family. …Oh, Sia, don’t cry.”

At my soft words, Sia’s tears began to fall.

Having learned the pain of parting, he looked at me with wounded eyes.

His tear-filled blue-gray irises blurred at the edges, and as I watched, I hesitated before reaching out to wipe them away.

“But why can’t Vivi just be my family? I want to go with Vivi too. I’m good at camping. If it really comes down to it, I’ll even beg for money, so just take me with you.”

I felt a strange weight on my sleeve—Sia was gripping my clothes tightly.

His small hands had turned white from how hard he was holding on.

My heart twisted as I looked down at them, and I lightly patted the back of his hand.

“You think you’ll miss me a lot?”

“Why are you even asking that? Of course I will! So can’t we just never separate?”

“…Damn. You really shouldn’t miss me too much, since we’ll never see each other again. That’d be a problem. The thing is, I already found your family, and I plan to send you to them.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that sooner?! Wait, you don’t mean I have to leave right now, do you? Or… are you coming with me?”

Sia muttered darkly, as if he’d let it slide if I were the one taking him there, before grabbing me by the collar with alarming strength.

I let out a small laugh at his grip and teasingly tickled his chin.

The familiar touch made him instinctively loosen his hold, his reaction so simple that it made me smile bitterly.

Resting my forehead against his, I murmured:

“No. You’re leaving right now, on your own. But don’t worry—Asis will be waiting for you.”

Sensing something was wrong, Haen moved immediately, but unfortunately for him, I was just a bit faster this time.

“It’s really time to say goodbye now, Sia.”

The power I had been quietly gathering since before I met Sia—I poured all of it into him.

Unlike before, this time I gave it everything, even my own life force.

Pain seared through my body. I swallowed down the blood rising in my throat and held Sia’s gaze to the very end.

I wanted to see him for just a little longer.

“Sia, I was a pretty decent guardian, wasn’t I?”

“Vivi? Vivi! What are you doing?! Stop—”

Before he could finish, Sia’s form began to blur.

The power had activated properly.

The proof of it came in the form of Sia’s desperate hand brushing against my cheek as he reached for me, his expression crumbling.

“No, no, Vivi. Your face—it’s gone pale. Stop. Don’t do this. Don’t do anything. Just stay with me. Please… Vivi… Vivi….”

His trembling hands pressed against my skin as I tilted my head slightly and whispered:

“I’ll be the one to remember our time together for both of us. So please, don’t spend too long thinking about someone who was only ever meant to pass through your life. …Take care, Sia. Goodbye.”

Maybe… I’ll miss him.

With that thought, I let out a clear, bright laugh—one that belonged to a time when I had known nothing of misfortune.

“I said stop, Vivi! Vivi, please… don’t abandon me too….”

Sia screamed my name, shaking his head frantically.

But in the end, he vanished completely.

I stared at the empty space where he had been before finally lowering my head.

My breath came in short gasps, and between my slightly parted lips, the blood I hadn’t managed to swallow spilled out in thick, gushing waves.

“This time, I’ll really die, won’t I?”

I muttered to myself, and the moment the words left my lips, screams erupted around me.

People shouted that I’d lost my mind, that I was about to go berserk, and in an instant, chaos erupted as they scrambled to flee.

I forced myself to lift my head against my fading vision—

And then, I saw him.

“…Haen. My friend.”

As he came closer, I staggered to my feet.

Seeing my laughing face, Haen frowned slightly.

Even that small reaction seemed like a masterpiece—he was that beautiful.

Then, without hesitation, he struck me across the face.

‘Strong, too.’

I coughed up blood and let my head hang, like a puppet with its strings cut.

But even through my heightened senses, I felt a hand reach toward me.

My body was no longer cooperating, so I couldn’t avoid it.

As I lifted my head, wincing at the rough touch, I found myself staring into Haen’s furious blue eyes.

Outwardly, he looked the same as ever, but if I looked closer, I could see the anger completely wrecking his usually composed gaze.

Strangely, just looking at his face made me forget the pain for a moment.

Sia was gone.

There was no longer any reason to hold back the blood rising in my throat.

I coughed violently, and Haen’s white hand, which had been gripping my jaw, was soaked in crimson.

Even as we stood there, both of us in ruins, our expressions remained unchanged.

Haen stared at me for a long time, his face cold and rigid, before finally grabbing me as I nearly collapsed.

“…What the hell did you do?”

“Haha, Haen… You already know the answer to that, don’t you…?”

There was nothing left for me to protect or take from Haen.

So, for the first time, I threw away my usual calm mask and smiled mockingly, whispering sweetly.

Haen’s expression didn’t shift in the slightest.

But the tightening grip on my jaw told me just how furious he was.

He had realized it.

That I had poured everything into sending Sia to the Grand Duchy.

That all I had left now… was death.

“…Vivisian. You’ve finally lost your mind.”

He let out a faint laugh at Haen’s murmured words, though it was anything but joyful.

Slowly, yet unmistakably, he could feel himself approaching death.

His abilities, which usually obeyed his control despite occasional disobedience, now ran rampant, tearing through him from within.

The sunlight felt scorching, the wind brushing against his cheek stung like pain—his senses, sharpened to unbearable extremes, were now beginning to dull, one by one, fading into death.

That was when he smiled a little at the dampness of his prison and the stench of iron bars, which no longer reached his nose.

The fact that the smell, once a torment born of his own mind, no longer affected him—wasn’t that clear proof that he had finally freed himself from it?

‘Death was the right answer. This time, I’ve finally chosen the right path.’

Once all his senses died out, his body, stripped of reason, would go berserk, wielding its power uncontrollably until exhaustion finally took him.

If that happened, he wouldn’t be dying alone—there would be more than a few to accompany him to the grave.

But he felt no need to share death with others.

So, he decided to ask for death once more.

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