The Obsessive Maniac Is Trying To Confine Me Chapter 225 - Side Story Chapter 15

Even though he must have felt pain as if his body would shatter into pieces, he walked toward me as if he couldn’t feel anything.

“Noona, my noona….”

Yurtha’s voice dropped strangely low.

Slowly, deliberately, he knelt on one knee. Then he moved closer beside my collapsed body and lowered himself until our eyes were at the same level. His breath was far too close.

At that moment, my chin was grabbed roughly.

“Ugh….”

My head was forced upward.

“I didn’t know you had been living with that monster.”

Yurtha’s gaze slowly seemed to sweep around the house.

“And in a place like this, no less. Playing house.”

As his eyes wandered around the inside of the cabin, a hollow laugh slipped from between his lips.

“You said I was disgusting. That I repulsed you. Yet you seemed to get along just fine with that monster, didn’t you?”

Blood from his hand smeared across my chin.

It clung there thickly, as if it would never be wiped away.

My head spun and my stomach churned.

Ha….

I strained my worn-out body like a wrung-out rag, trying to grab the artifact somehow, but my body wouldn’t move.

“…Whatever I’ve been doing with my life has nothing to do with you.”

Trying to steady my spinning vision, I grabbed Yurtha’s wrist.

“Let go, Yurtha!”

Every time I opened my mouth, my injured ribs from earlier screamed in pain.

“Do you want to cough up blood again?”

“As much as you want.”

“…What?”

His words confused me.

“If I cannot have you, noona, it would be better to die.”

“You….”

“Then just kill me.”

His burning eyes were not being stubborn.

He meant it.

“But before that….”

A cruel smile flickered across Yurtha’s lips.

“I’ll break it.”

Break it?

“It irritates me terribly. It seems you were quite happy in a lowly place like this….”

“W-wait, Yurtha…!”

Was that bastard really about to destroy this house?

Yurtha’s hand moved toward the hilt of his sword.

No!

I tried to grab him.

“Ah….”

My ribs, injured earlier, throbbed again. I still couldn’t breathe properly.

At that moment, Yurtha looked back at me.

“Yurtha….”

I grabbed him desperately.

It hurt too much.

The pain I had been holding back rushed in all at once, and it felt as if my whole body was being beaten.

“Haa….”

“Ha. You really…!”

I grabbed the edge of his robe so he couldn’t leave. I tried to stand up to stop him with all my strength.

At that moment, my vision spun.

…Huh.

“Noona!”

Yurtha caught my collapsing body.

It seemed my overworked body had finally reached its limit. I had no strength left to force out even a little more.

The hand gripping his robe loosened.

“Don’t go….”

With those words, my vision went dark.

I had no strength left to endure.

“…You truly drive me mad, noona.”

 

 

 

*****

 

 

 

One year ago, Yurtha regained consciousness.

Because of the fatal wound Dylan had inflicted on him, he had been forced to sleep for quite a long time.

But the world that spread before him when he awoke was terrible.

Rose was gone.

< Rose will not come back. >

< Where is noona? >

< Give up, Yurtha. >

That damned Dylan Hertas.

Dylan had tried to let her go even if it meant stabbing his own brother.

An idiot who thought that was love.

You’re wrong, Dylan.

If you truly love someone, you tie them to your side by any means necessary.

After waking up, Yurtha fell into a living hell.

Rose had left, even if it meant killing him.

And with her gone, the suffering he endured as a transcendent returned as well. He had to survive by relying on terrible drugs.

But now that horrible time had finally ended.

Rose lay limp in Yurtha’s arms, her eyes closed.

The moment he held her in his arms, the pain subsided.

At the same time, a fragrant scent wrapped around his mind.

But that bliss lasted only a moment.

A crude house made of rough wooden planks entered his view.

An old table placed by a sunny window.

Two chairs set close enough to hear each other’s breathing.

And on the table, two teacups left half-drunk….

“That bastard took noona and….”

He would kill him.

“…Hng.”

A painful groan escaped from Rose’s lips.

Yurtha brushed the back of his hand across her forehead.

It was hot.

She had a fever.

“That makes sense.”

She had walked a long distance without resting for a very long time.

It must not have been an easy journey for her.

She said he was in the capital, didn’t she.

If it was that man, he must have already realized something had happened to Rose by now.

He would try to return as quickly as possible.

But the cursed territory was far from the capital.

Even if he ran without sleeping, it would take a week.

Even a transcendent couldn’t escape the limits of physical time.

No matter how fast—four days.

He left noona behind in the first place?

After pretending to love her so much.

If it were him, he would never have left her side.

Idiot.

Yurtha stared at Rose’s unconscious face.

Her eyelashes trembled faintly as if she were in great pain.

The sight would make anyone’s heart ache.

And Yurtha was no exception.

Even though she had always treated him cruelly, whenever she looked fragile like this, his heart softened.

Yurtha gently pressed a kiss to her pale cheek.

“…I will protect you, noona.”

Even though you hate me so terribly.

As always, he would never leave her side.

 

 

****

 

 

 

A jewelry workshop on the outskirts of the capital.

Richard picked up a small object placed on the display shelf.

It was a ring set with a pale pink gemstone, decorated with delicate silverwork.

“It’s more valuable than it looks. It’s called Rose Quartz, a gemstone said to protect love.”

Protect love.

Normally, he would have dismissed it as superstition.

But the light of the stone looked exactly like Rose’s eyes.

“I’ll take this one.”

“An excellent choice! Shall I wrap it as a gift?”

His heart beat quickly like a boy’s.

He wanted to return quickly.

He wanted to hold her hand and put this ring on her finger.

Before he knew it, images of Rose wearing the ring were playing in his mind.

Rose smiling so beautifully it was almost dazzling.

Rose crying because she liked it so much.

…Rose saying, Why did you buy this? You didn’t have to.

The last one was probably the most likely, which made him a little sad.

But he still wanted to give her the rose quartz.

“Here you are. Your wife will surely love it.”

Wife.

That word felt deeply satisfying.

For the past year, the two of them had looked quite like a married couple.

If this little game never ends until we die… wouldn’t that make it reality?

It was a completely ridiculous thought.

Thinking of Rose didn’t stop there. It turned into a deep longing.

Even though they had only been apart for four days.

Richard took out the artifact.

He desperately wanted to hear her voice.

“Rose, are you doing well?”

Rose had said she was going to Piet Territory.

He was worried about her.

But he didn’t think she would actually make it there.

Surely she would become exhausted and give up quickly.

…No, it was closer to hoping she would realize it herself and give up.

“I’ve arrived at the outskirts of the capital.”

A day earlier than he had told her.

Then—

[Rich—!]

Rose’s cry was desperate.

CRACK—!

Through the artifact came the sharp sound of something shattering into pieces.

Richard’s expression froze solid.

…Something had happened to Rose.