* * *
The rain poured harder, mingling with the eerie cries of the otherworld creatures.
Jerome, staring at the gate, turned back toward me and spoke calmly.
“I’ll keep it brief.”
“….”
“I’ve already informed the bank. You’ll have unrestricted access to my safe. Once you leave the East, head to the tailor shop in the marketplace. Don’t go back to the Duke’s estate.”
He sounded as though he had foreseen this moment long ago.
A piercing ring echoed in my ears.
His words made no sense to me.
Jerome, noticing my confusion, stopped speaking and simply looked at me.
My lips trembled as I asked in a strained voice.
“What are you talking about?”
“Exactly what I said.”
“….”
“I don’t think my body can hold out long enough for a miracle.”
I flinched. The image of Jerome coughing up blood haunted me.
Unless Mephisto was destroyed, Jerome’s condition would only worsen.
Gathering the crystals to perform a miracle seemed endlessly out of reach.
That was the reality I had avoided until now.
There was no miracle for us.
As reality sank in, my breathing grew ragged.
I clenched my fists and hung my head low.
“Why can’t we find happiness no matter how hard we try?”
My voice, thick with anger, startled Jerome.
The countless hours I had spent trying to save Jerome seemed meaningless.
It was ironic.
The moment Jerome discovered a reason to cherish life, I, who had always clung to idealism, began to loathe it.
Scraping at the muddy ground with my nails, I muttered like someone unhinged.
“I tried so hard. So damn hard. I wasn’t asking for the best outcome. Just not the worst. Is that too much to ask? Why does everything have to be so cruel?”
“Jeanne.”
“I don’t care if the empire collapses. Jerome doesn’t have to sacrifice himself. If survival means someone must die, then we might as well all perish together!”
I clung to Jerome’s arm, almost screaming.
Memories of my father’s death and the indifferent faces of the workers who ignored it flashed through my mind.
Life repeatedly gave me hope only to betray me.
Effort guaranteed nothing, and time waited for no one. Jerome cupped my tear-streaked face with his hand.
“Even as a hero, I never understood why I should protect the weak or why sacrifice and devotion were noble.”
“….”
“Life felt meaningless when I couldn’t see beauty in anything.”
I thought of the first time I met Jerome.
Back then, he had been like a beast, chained and awaiting death.
Now, he was different.
His once dull, ash-colored eyes shone brightly.
“But now I’ve found something beautiful.”
“….”
“It’s you.”
Jerome pulled me into a firm embrace, burying his face in the crook of my neck as he whispered.
“A miracle didn’t fail to happen for me—it already did. It was the moment I met you.”
“I feel the same…”
I had to say something, but my throat was so tight that no sound came out.
I could only open and close my lips, while Jerome gestured for me to take my time.
A memory of the river scene I once saw in front of Howard’s mansion flashed before my eyes.
About that endless river, Jerome once said:
“There’s a river in front of this mansion. When I was young, I would always wonder where it ended. So one day, I decided to follow it, imagining something incredible might be waiting there. But at the river’s end was a cliff where they threw the corpses of traitors.”
I’d always wondered why Jerome’s words lingered in my mind.
Then, fragmented memories buried deep below the surface finally resurfaced. In a trembling voice, I murmured:
“I also once followed a river when I was young.”
The river I’d seen while riding on my father’s back crossed my mind—a river that seemed to flow without meaning, as if to say everything was ultimately futile.
But at the end of that river, where my father had awakened me to show me something, there had been…
“Ensu, wake up and look over there.”
The breeze carried the faint scent of salt.
I barely managed to open my swollen eyes and turned my head in the direction my father was pointing.
With a delighted face, he spoke as he adjusted me on his back:
“Isn’t the sea beautiful?”
Under the red sky of the setting sun, the vast sea stretched endlessly before me.
I saw seagulls flying in flocks and massive ships waiting to set sail.
With my face buried in my father’s back, I thought: ‘So, at the end of a river, there’s a sea.’
My tear-stained eyes widened. Entranced, I lifted my head.
“The sea. At the end of that river, there was a sea.”
So, the river didn’t flow without meaning.
All this sorrow was just a journey toward a greater, expansive sea.
I vividly remembered how I’d once comforted myself with that thought.
As I quietly spoke, Jerome’s face showed a fleeting trace of surprise.
Wiping away the tears running down my clenched lips with the back of my hand, I whispered:
“One day, I’ll show you that sea.”
“……”
“So wait for me.”
The Netherworld was a realm that only the dead could enter.
Once a living person stepped into it, they could never leave.
That was the place Jerome intended to go alone, leaving me behind.
But even if that place was hell, I had no intention of letting Jerome go.
Jerome looked at me with trembling eyes, then gave a bitter smile.
Without another word, he quietly stood.
“Jeanne, the moment the gate to the otherworld closes, you must purify Oberon.”
“……”
“Remi, Rhea, cast defensive buffs around me and debuff Oberon with enhanced gravity.”
Jerome’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
I turned my head, startled, and saw the rabbit siblings looking at us with tearful faces.
Rhea, seemingly lost in thought, spoke hesitantly:
“Jerome, you might not remember this, but… years ago, when a monster attacked the market district, you risked your life to save me and Remi.”
“……”
“That’s why we joined the Luna Guild instead of any other. We wanted to become heroes like you. Even when people started to forget you, you were always our hero.”
Jerome’s lips parted slightly at Rhea’s confession.
In that moment, the rabbit siblings’ dedication to preserving the Luna Guild made sense.
After a brief silence, Jerome gave a faint smile and nodded.
Rhea, now composed, wiped her reddened nose and drew her staff.
As Rhea chanted a spell, a massive barrier of light appeared between Jerome and me.
At the same time, Jerome bit into his hand, using the flowing blood to draw a magic circle on the ground.
Watching him, I could do nothing.
“Oh, I almost forgot to say this.”
Jerome turned toward me as he completed the magic circle.
For a few seconds, he just stared, as if trying to etch my image into his memory.
At Jerome’s feet, a massive hole appeared, sucking in the monsters swarming the sky.
Amid the deafening noise, Jerome’s lips moved silently.
I didn’t need to strain to hear him to understand what he was saying.
Bang!
The black hole that had swallowed the monsters and the remnants of the World Tree grew larger and larger.
Jerome stepped into the Netherworld of his own accord and sealed its gate behind him.
When I opened my eyes again, Jerome was gone, as if he had never existed.
Staring at the silent earth, I thought:
‘Maybe this means I won’t have to keep up this ridiculous act anymore. And maybe I’ll see Jerome again. After all, the Netherworld is where the dead go.’
My mind felt blank.
No options came to mind besides ending my own life.
With a groan, my body collapsed.
Tears dripped down as I bit my lip.
Taking a deep breath, I slowly raised my bloodshot eyes.
‘No, I can’t die. I won’t give up on you like this.’
Resolving myself, I staggered to my feet.
A bitter laugh escaped me.
At the edge of despair, it wasn’t hopelessness but love that kept me alive.
Passing by Carlisle, who silently watched me, I aimed my bow at Oberon.
My hands trembled as I pulled the bowstring so tightly that blood dripped from my fingers.
Tears, carried by the fierce wind, streamed down my cheeks.
‘I will live.’
My trembling fingers released the bowstring, and the arrow of light, soaked in my blood, pierced Oberon’s heart.
A howl, almost like a scream, echoed across the land.
As the ribbon tying my hair broke, I felt something inside me snap.
Watching Oberon collapse, I thought blankly:
‘I’ll survive… and save you. No matter what.’
* * *
Yes! Save your man!!
YES JEROME!!!
U better do itttt