WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ SSS-Class Revival Hunter ◈

Chapter 100: Drama (1)

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Splat.

The blood flowing from the mirror surged over the surroundings.

Initially, only a few drops fell, like a tap not fully closed. But then, ding… ding… as the distant grandfather clock chimed, the flow of blood changed dramatically. Blood gushed uncontrollably from the cracks of the mirror.

Ding…

Midnight. Twelve chimes.

A single drop turned into a stream.

One stream split into six.

The corridor was covered in blood.

A sea of red.

The last bell tolled from the grandfather clock.

We stood in the middle of a carpet made of blood.

"Lady."

Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around Lady Silver Lily. Our ankles were submerged in the blood puddle. It felt slimy, an ominous sensation.

"This is..."

"My nightmare."

Lady Silver Lily whispered from my embrace.

"Don't let your guard down. Butler. This place is no different from another realm. Others do not know or see what happens here."

Burble! 

Bubbles surged from the sea of blood.

Thousands of bubbles formed and burst.

However, some formed complete shapes instead of vanishing like bubbles.

[The silver-clad heart manifests itself.]

They were demons resembling lips. No, they were lips themselves. No face, no body, just red lips and tongues.

They snickered wickedly.

-Crown Prince.

-I despise you.

The blood bubbles' lips kept forming and bursting, their murmurs barely coherent, abruptly cut off. A discordant chorus.

-Gentle Crown Prince.

-Back when you were not yet the Crown Prince, you picked flowers for me.

-You wiped my tears with your sleeve. You're a good person.

-Kind-hearted, that's why.

-Even so,

Snap!

Lady Silver Lily thrust her rapier through a blood bubble's lips. The demon burst. But twice, thrice as many tongues surged from the blood sea.

The demons' laughter echoed in red.

-Lovely.

I swung my sword too.

-What meaning is there in loving someone who has been exceptional from birth?

The demons were weak in combat. They didn't resist us. They meekly accepted the blade.

It’s just that…

-Flawed, but...

-Embracing and guiding a flawed person is true love.

It was irritating.

It wasn’t a physical attack, but a mental one.

-I love you, Your Highness.

-I too know how to love.

-I'm a noble in love.

I bit my lip. It was unpleasant. I slashed the blood bubbles faster.

-Will you kill me?

-Useless. Tragedy becomes sweeter the more it's trampled.

-Did you see that Goldencup creature wagging her tail at His Highness the Crown Prince?

-Disgusting.

The blood sea laughed as it surged.

-The Prince is so naive, still dreaming of a romantic life. He doesn't love Goldencup. He just uses her as an escape from the throne.

-Pitiful Prince.

-Poor Prince.

Damn.

I've witnessed a similar phenomenon before.

'Demon King of the Autumn Rain!'

Before I took that Constellation in and gave her the name Preta, she had behaved like this. The Demon King spilled blood from the sky and freely commanded an army of monsters.

This is the power of a constellation.

These demons are Lady Silver Lily's familiars.

[The silver-clad heart’s existence becomes better defined.]

Something other than lips emerged from the blood sea.

Hands.

Like a bride and groom at a wedding, two hands clasped each other.

-Raviel. Your family and the imperial family betrothed us.

-An engagement?

-Yes. But I don't want a political marriage.

The demons’ hands interlaced their fingers. Drops of blood streamed endlessly from the hands made of blood. I realized that these demons were staging something that had happened in the past, like actors in a play.

-Ignore the engagement the adults arranged however they pleased. Regardless of them, I will love you. Today, I came to propose to you formally.

-Prince.

-Raviel. Once we're a bit older, will you marry me?

Dozens of lips surrounded us.

Simultaneously, they responded.

-Yes.

-I will definitely love you.

-I too will love you, Prince.

What a bastard.

To say such things and not take responsibility?

-Probably the Prince has forgotten.

-A childhood promise.

-Can't be helped.

-People easily forget.

The lips of the blood bubbles laughed.

-Can't be helped!

I couldn't take it anymore.

I was boiling with anger.

Squelch! I stepped forward, concentrating aura in my forefoot.

Divine Art of the Demonic Heaven.

The Eighth Form.

Sword of Burning Death.

As the blood wave spread, my aura expanded too.

I incinerated the blood sea covering the corridor with my aura.

-Oh.

Behind me, the Guardian Spirit spoke.

-These small fries are not even worth a single blow from you anymore, are they? You have grown a lot, my little sparrow.

Normally, I would have responded to his teasing. But not in the mood now. I swept the corridor. The demons burned up, vanishing without even a scream. Instead, they laughed to the end, infuriating me.

"Damn it."

I burned the demons in one strike, but my insides still boiled.

Anger and contempt for the Crown Prince.

That someone noble like Lady Silver Lily was hurt because of such a man, turning her wish into an eternal curse. That infuriated me.

"Since when...!"

I inhaled sharply, steadying my voice. I didn't want to raise my voice to Lady Silver Lily, no matter how angry I was.

“...Since when did you become a constellation? These are constellation's familiars. You created them, didn't you?"

That's why they recognized us as allies and didn't resist.

Lady Silver Lily nodded as if she knew this.

"It happened the moment I plunged the sword into my heart."

Gradually, the blood began returning to the mirror. Squirming and squelching, the streams of blood crept back into the mirror's cracks.

Reversal. Lady Silver Lily watched the leech-like squirming blood droplets with a calm gaze.

"It seems this world originally had no constellations. Whether they were killed or never existed in the first place, it's hard to tell."

Probably Leafanta Aegim killed the constellations. But now is not the time to discuss that. I listened carefully to Lady Silver Lily's words.

"As time passed, the demons became stronger and their numbers vast. Their forms also grew larger. Controlling them as now becomes difficult. And on the tenth day..."

On the tenth day.

There, Lady Silver Lily paused, then shook her head slightly before continuing.

"...Anyway, as the tenth day kept repeating, I inadvertently became the 'Representative of the World.' Whether I wanted it or not, the world's clock revolves around me."

-Hmm.

The Guardian Spirit stroked his chin.

-It's not a normal ascension. In terms of martial arts, it's not the orthodox path but the unorthodox. That sword stuck in the mirror, though just a fragmented relic, was once a relic of the 'Goddess of Protection.'

The Guardian Spirit muttered,

-Sticking such a thing in your heart, you'll ascend to a constellation, albeit reluctantly... Especially if you keep returning, it's a karma that a human body can't handle. A half-baked constellation, but still, a result of many coincidences.

'Can one become a constellation against their will?'

-Yeah. Did you choose to be born a human, zombie?

Really, this man's way of speaking...

-It's about conditions, not will. There are many who suffer as humans and as constellations. It's easy to make life miserable. Understand, Vice-lord of the Demonic Cult?

“Phew...”

I suppressed the anger towards the Crown Prince within me. The suppressed anger left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Lady Silver Lily observed me.

“How strange. Are you not disappointed?”

“What you said is correct. Whatever the circumstances, those demons are my familiars. They are not inventing words that never existed and singing them. Every one of those words is something I muttered in a dream, something I recited even if only unconsciously.”

Lady Silver Lily tilted her head.

“I swore an eternally unchanging love. To preserve that love in its pure state, every day I must remove the dust and flaws that accumulate upon it.”

Disappointment.

Frustration.

The desire to receive as much as one gives.

“Those creatures are the result.”

The greasy grime of the heart.

A curse in the purest sense of the word.

“Is it not ugly?”

Lady Silver Lily spoke as if murmuring to herself.

“I showed you love. But I merely showed it to you. I intended to withdraw that love around this point. I deliberately brought you here to shatter your illusion.”

“Disappointed?”

I let out a breath involuntarily. It wasn't a sigh. It was a breath filtering my anger.

“Ugly? I may not know about other things, but I would never be disappointed in you over something like this. Truly ugly people, my lady, never show their hearts to another person. They pretend to be carefree. They pretend to be unruffled. All they know is how to hurt people.”

Flame Emperor, the bastard.

"Rather, I'm worse. If you knew what I think inside, you'd be disgusted, wouldn't you?"

"I'm curious now."

"If you brought me here to drive me away, you thought wrong. Lady, I didn't start to love you because you're an untarnished person."

Lady Silver Lily hesitated for a moment at the word 'love.' I too felt my face burning, but I didn't hesitate to speak.

"You've only started to adore me today. How eloquent."

"Is it a problem because it's only been a day? Will it be okay if I love you for a year? After 1000 days? Should I come back then?"

"..."

“I can see what kinds of people you hate and despise. Whatever I hate and despise, you would hate just the same. I can also tell what wounds you and causes you pain. I love the way you live, because you and I are living the same kind of life.”

Did my words reach her? Did I express myself correctly?

I don't know.

I have never said anything like this to another person. I am not used to it. But I want the person before me. I want Lady Silver Lily to possess me. I want each of us to possess the other and share a single life.

"I like you as much as I like myself. I hope you'll come to love me as much as I love you."

That's my sincerity.

And I only know how to give my all to my sincerity.

"I'll definitely make you love me. I won't tell you to abandon the Crown Prince. Even without me saying, you'll eventually leave him."

"My heart..."

"Yes, whether your heart is mortgaged to the world doesn't matter. If that's the problem, I'll solve it. But if you still love the Crown Prince, I'll become an overwhelmingly better person than him and linger in front of you."

"..."

"Did the Crown Prince give you unforgettable memories in childhood? That doesn't matter either."

I whispered into Lady Silver Lily's ear.

"We're both returners. The only two in this world."

I knew my face was red. But I said what I needed to say.

"There will be plenty of time only you and I can enjoy in this world. During that time, I'll gift you memories so breathtaking that they'll outshine the Crown Prince's. I'll try my best."

"Hmm."

The corners of Lady Silver Lily's eyes rose.

"Planning to infinitely repeat the last ten days? You'll wear out and collapse."

“That threat will not work on me. This is not my first time repeating the same days.”

"What if I get tired of you and ask you to disappear from my sight?"

"I'll disappear, but..."

I moved my hand. Moving it, I caught the fingertips of Lady Silver Lily, who had lost her lantern during the fight with the demons. It required courage. A lot. Fortunately, I had enough courage.

"There won't be such a thing in the first place."

"Why?"

"Because you haven't grown weary of the Crown Prince, and I am a better person than him. If I'm troublesome, please tell me now. I'll disappear."

Silence.

Lady Silver Lily looked at my face.

“...This is awkward.”

The Lady's lips parted.

“I ought to find you bothersome, yet at present I do not. Nor does it seem likely that I will find you bothersome easily.”

That moment.

"...ler! ..."

A voice echoed from afar down the corridor. It was urgent. Lady Silver Lily's quarters, silent with all the servants asleep, suddenly became noisy.

"...Where...! But...!"

Soon came a thunder of footsteps. The servants had awakened. Lights appeared here and there, and before long, the graying servant ran to where we stood.

"I apologize, Miss."

Lady Silver Lily released my hand.

"What's this commotion at such a late hour?"

"I regret to report..."

Then, a voice, clearer than before, reached us.

"Butler! Where are you, Butler!"

My face hardened.

All too familiar a voice.

The half-white servant bowed to us.

“Lady Goldencup, the baron’s daughter, is causing a commotion.”

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