The Tyrant Won’t Let Me Go – Chapter 115

Author: Nikss

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The room, devoid of all life except for one, was eerily silent.

Amidst that silence, Cedric couldn’t let go of Ciel’s slowly cooling hand. Her left hand, which had always gently held his.

On the ring finger of that hand, a mark imbued with the strongest of emotions still remained.

Cedric stared at the mark and muttered in a low voice.

“…Answer me.”

But nothing happened in response to his plea.

“…Please, just answer me, anything.”

He still hadn’t forgotten the words he once heard—that one could form a covenant to protect someone.

And now, he was staking everything on that possibility.

“Please, just say something—”

At that moment, as if responding to his call, the mark on Ciel’s left ring finger began to glow.

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“Ciel.”

Startled by the voice, I opened my eyes.

“W-what?”

A space filled with stars, like the center of the universe.

In the middle of that familiar place, Caliberne, in human form, was calling out to me.

“Caliberne…?”

“Yeah, it’s me. Why are you so surprised?”

Caliberne frowned slightly, her voice tinged with annoyance.

“N-no, I just…”

I trailed off, unable to continue. Somehow, it still didn’t feel real.

“Because I died.”

Originally, my connection with Caliberne should have been severed the moment I died.

That’s why I couldn’t help but be shocked when I found myself back in this space.

“I’m not your master anymore, am I?”

But Caliberne casually flicked her finger and replied.

“Until I find a new master, you’re still my master, even in death.”

“Oh, is that how it works?”

“…Well, there’s no rule saying it has to be that way. I’m just doing as I please.”

Caliberne walked over gracefully as she spoke.

“Now I can finally do things a little more freely.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“First, sit down over there. I’ll explain everything slowly.”

Following her words, I sat down in the empty void, as if there were an invisible seat beneath me.

Caliberne approached me naturally, as though walking on solid ground.

“To put it simply, I’ve lived as this existence for a thousand years, according to the timeline of this novel.”

Caliberne’s blue eyes sparkled as she spoke. Her eyes looked like stars twinkling in the Milky Way, beautiful beyond words, but that wasn’t the important part right now.

“N-novel? You…”

“When I first saw you, you stood out to me in a strange way. And unlike all the other masters I’ve chosen, I could actually talk to you.”

I couldn’t help but gape at Caliberne’s words as she continued.

“Yeah. I’m also a transmigrator. You are too, right?”

The sheer enormity of this revelation hit me like a storm.

Unable to hold back, I grabbed her shoulders and shook her, shouting.

“Hey, why are you telling me this now?! You didn’t say a word for over eight years, and now you’re dropping something this important after I’ve already died?!”

“Hey, wait, let go of me! There’s a reason!”

Caliberne desperately pried my hands off and shouted back.

“I told you earlier, I’ve lived like this for a thousand years according to this world’s timeline. After living for a thousand years, I eventually forgot all my memories of my past life.”

A thousand years.

It was an unimaginably long time.

“I couldn’t talk to anyone during that time. I just floated around in this space, quietly watching the lives of those I chose. Over time, I naturally forgot everything.”

“So you’ve been Caliberne for a thousand years from the start…?”

“No, I wasn’t always like this.”

Caliberne shook her head as she answered, “When I first transmigrated, I was a knight. Just like you.”

“Wait, really…?”

“Yeah. I was a knight living through the chaotic times before the Deamant Empire was established.”

“Before the Empire was even founded?”

“Yep. And you know what? This novel’s setting says that the legendary knight who laid the foundation for the Deamant Empire died and became one with his sword, and his soul became Caliberne.”

“Right, I know that…”

So, it seemed she had lived the life of the legendary knight as per the original story, died, and became Caliberne.

‘A thousand years ago…’

It was an unfathomably distant time.

So far back that it was hard to even imagine.

“But if you know this is a novel, that means you’re from Earth, like me. A modern person.”

“Right. But I transmigrated into a completely different time period in this novel’s world.”

“How did that happen…?”

“You heard Jayden Ackeleta earlier, right? He said he repeated regressions countless times.”

Caliberne’s calm expression twisted as she gritted her teeth.

“Yeah. Does that have something to do with our transmigration?”

“When you excessively disrupt the order of this world, like with regression, there’s a very small chance that external beings can enter this world. That’s how you and I ended up here.”

Come to think of it, Jayden did mention that. He said he once made a mistake during regression and ended up in a completely different era instead of this one.

“Caliberne, don’t tell me you’re here because of that bastard Jayden Ackeleta…”

“Unfortunately, yes. That scumbag’s mistake sent him to the era I transmigrated into. By jumping a thousand years through regression, he disrupted the world’s order, which allowed an outsider like me to enter this world.”

Caliberne sighed, brushing her hair back as she spoke.

“Anyway, that’s how I’ve lived. And I eventually forgot which world I came from and how I lived—until I saw you.”

“You’re saying that before you saw me, you had forgotten, but after seeing me, your memories came back?”

“Yeah. They didn’t come back all at once, but gradually after meeting you. By the time a year had passed since we met, my memories were much more complete than I expected.”

“But why couldn’t you tell me?”

Caliberne brought her finger to her lips.

“Every time I tried to tell you that I was also a transmigrator, it felt like my throat was being choked, and no words would come out. No matter how much I called your name, my voice wouldn’t reach you.”

Caliberne stared into the dark night sky as she spoke.

“It felt like this world was preventing me from revealing that I was a transmigrator.”

The more I learned, the more astonishing the facts became.

“Why would it block you? Ugh, you must’ve been so frustrated.”

“I don’t know why, but maybe it’s because this world is bound to the original story. Without transmigrators, the story would flow more smoothly according to the original plot.”

Then, Caliberne glanced at me and added, “Though your appearance already disrupted the original story, making it meaningless.”

“Oh, right.”

“In the end, we reached a completely different conclusion from the original.”

Caliberne stood up with a smile.

The hem of her gold-embroidered dress rustled softly, and her glossy black hair swayed gently.

“This world, which has diverged from the original story, has now separated from it. It’s become an independent world. That’s why, unlike before, I can now tell you that I’m a transmigrator.”

“Wait, really…?”

Has the world broken off? I knew I wanted to change the ending, but the scale of it was much larger than I expected.

“Yep. It’s what you ultimately achieved.”

Caliberne smiled warmly as she spoke.

“Persephine Ackeleta and Felix Flithia can now live without going through war. The same goes for the people of the Deamant Empire and Ackeleta.”

That’s right. In the end, I stopped the war. But there was one person who, even with the changed ending, might not have found happiness.

“But Cedric—”

“You changed Cedric Deamant’s life too.”

A gentle hand touched my head.

Like someone comforting a child, Caliberne patted my head and spoke softly.

“You became the light for someone who would have lived and died alone in the darkness.”

I looked up at her. Her blue eyes, a similar color to mine, glowed with warmth.