SSS-Class Revival Hunter - Chapter 109

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ SSS-Class Revival Hunter ◈

Chapter 109: Her Way of Loving (1)

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Lady Silver Lily stood in the corridor at midnight.

Behind her, a large mirror was placed.

A full-length mirror.

It was smooth and clean.

Moonlight slid across the mirror, reflecting only the lady's upright back. With a single patch of moonlight and a single strand of hair as all the mirror had to reflect, Lady Silver Lily looked like an island standing alone in a dark sea.

"You're silent."

"......."

“Such a troubled expression. You wear your emotions clearly. Even in the night, it's easy to read your face. Just looking at you, I know this is the [first time].”

First time?

My heart had been restless for some time. It still was. Why was Lady Silver Lily speaking to me in such a familiar tone?

A ruthless and cold-hearted sword. The moon of House Ivansia.

There should be no reason for her to be kind to me, the butler of Lady Goldencup.

There shouldn’t be.

“...I fell silent because I didn’t know what to say. If I have been rude, please forgive me. Young Duke. Is this… a dream? Have you appeared in my dream as well?”

Lady Silver Lily responded to my question with a very strange expression. The smile on her lips somehow looked like a scar.

“An interesting question. Yes. Your dream has swallowed my life. I now understand that love is nothing but offering one's life to someone else's dream.”

What does that mean?

“I become your dream, and you become my life, and we call this exchange of dreams and life love.”

What does that signify?

I didn’t know what that meant. There was much I didn't know.

Lady Silver Lily explained one of those things without letting her scarred smile fade.

“But such a romantic question was not what you meant. I’ll answer seriously. If you're wondering why there are no servants around, don’t worry. I sent them all away.”

“Why……"

“And a warning. Never again call me [Young Duke] with those lips.”

Lady Silver Lily smiled.

“I will gouge out your heart and kill you.”

"......."

I couldn’t understand.

Just now, Lady Silver Lily had directed killing intent at me. Her declaration that she would kill me was no empty threat. It was no bluff. If I called her ‘Young Duke’ one more time, her rapier would undoubtedly pierce my heart.

Yet.

‘Why?’

Why was the killing intent the young lady directed at me not cold, but so very comforting?

Can a declaration of killing someone be this tranquil?

“Come here.”

Her voice beckoned me like a gesture. I couldn’t resist. When I approached Lady Silver Lily, she pointed to the full-length mirror. “What do you see?”

“……I see you and me standing side by side.”

“And?”

"The dark corridor... Only the moonlight barely illuminates. Apart from you and me, almost nothing is visible. Everything is buried in darkness.”

"And?”

The young lady asked. It was peculiar. She was demanding a different answer, as though something I still needed to see remained in the mirror. But what else could it reflect?

“What else do you see?”

"......."

“Don’t hide it, speak.”

I decided to look more closely into the mirror. I narrowed my eyes and frowned. But even so, what I saw remained largely the same.

‘Only darkness is visible. And unusually red eyes…’

At that moment. Zing! A headache struck me.

Unrecognizable characters flashed before my eyes.

■■: ■■■

■■■: ■■

■■ ■■: [■■], [■■■], [■■], [■■]

■■ ■■: ■■

■■ ■■■: [■ster], [Lov■], [■■■ ■■], [■■■], [■■■], [■■■■], [■■], [■■■ ■■■ ■ ■■ ■], [■■■■ ■■■■ ■], [■■ ■■■■ ■]

“Ugh, huh…?!”

Nausea overwhelmed me.

-Kim■-Ja ■ap out■ ■ ■■ ■t!

[■■■■ tells ■■■ ■■■■■ ■■■■ro!]

Instinctively, I grabbed my throat. It hurt the moment I did so, but I didn’t understand why.

Since I had no choice but to leave what I didn’t understand as unknown, I thought of something else.

‘It's good that my stomach is empty.’

I had not actually vomited. The thought of vomiting before the legitimate daughter of House Ivansia was horrifying. I desperately swallowed back my nausea.

Lady Silver Lily remained composed.

“What did you see?”

So heartless.

A bitter taste spread in my mouth.

“Strange letters… I see strange letters. And voices… strange voices… I don’t understand.”

“Voices.”

Lady Silver Lily smiled ever so slightly at that. This smile looked a little more like a real smile than the one before it.

“You are loved.”

“What do you mean….”

“Tell me about the letters.”

Without explanation, she moved on to the next topic. I just stared blankly at her. She, having lost her smile, simply repeated calmly.

“You said you saw strange letters. Speak of them.”

“…They are not clear. Not complete letters… Only fragments…?”

“Utter even a fragment.”

“Ster… Lov… Beyond that, I can’t... Nothing.”

"Hm."

Lady Silver Lily rested a hand against her chin.

“Indeed. [Ster] is from [Master] and [Lov] is [Lover]. It’s typical of you to leave such things at the very end. But why is the master ahead of the lover? I understand, but I don't like it.”

“My Lady, there has been far too much I cannot understand. You said this is not a dream, but then what do you want from me?”

“I want you.”

“I'm sorry, I still don’t understand......"

“What dream did you have?”

Lady Silver Lily cut me off with ease.

‘Even though she's the daughter of the Ivansia family-’

‘I am the only butler of Lady Goldencup-’

‘Considering His Highness favors Lady Goldencup, this treatment is-’

Numerous thoughts tangled in my head.

But none of them resonated in my heart. Like music that lost its rhythm, just wavering. Soon to collapse.

“I don’t remember well. But in the dream......"

In the end, the only words that found a voice on my lips were an answer obediently given to the young lady's question.

“In the dream.”

“......you looked at me and shed tears.”

Yes.

“I was tied to a chair… Perhaps. Tied with something like ropes. I didn’t know why I was tied, but only you were there, looking down on me in a splendid room.”

Right before waking up.

I definitely saw such a scene.

“My heart hurt. My chest… pierced by your blade. But, that wasn't all. In the dream, I......"

“You?”

“……I felt very guilty towards you.”

“Is that so.”

Lady Silver Lily smiled again.

“At least you know how to feel guilty. That is a relief.”

"......."

“Do you know why you had such a dream?”

“No. I don’t know. Not at all….”

“That’s because it is my [trauma].”

Trauma.

“I haven’t mentioned it yet. My mother committed suicide.”

What?

My mind went blank from the shock.

“She killed herself when I was too young to know why. The wife of the Ivansia family. The moon of Ivansia. A person with such power and wealth ending her life is inexplicable. I distinctly remember the words she whispered to me on her last night and how everyone hushed up her death and quietly cremated her.”

This…

This is something I should not know. Something I shouldn’t hear. A dreadful secret hidden in the Ivansia family, too grave to be used even as a tool in political battles.

“However.”

Lady Silver Lily looked at me.

“That memory is no longer my trauma.”

"......."

“His Highness gave Goldencup a ring of blue coral today.”

One step.

Lady Silver Lily stepped toward me.

“In my last life, I despaired over it. Or perhaps I was furious. You could say I envied her and was jealous. All of it filled my heart. I took up a sword out of hatred for the world and drove it into the heart reflected in the mirror.”

There was no sound of footsteps.

Only then did I realize she was barefoot.

“But even that is no longer my trauma.”

Light pressure.

Her foot stepped on one of my shoes.

Her weight was light and inconsequential, yet it bound one of my feet. I could have stepped back or broken free whenever I wished, but that mere fraction of her weight held my entire body captive.

“Even the eternal ten days we repeated.”

Her hand came closer.

“The sight of my world drenched in blood and destroyed. The forms of demons that mimicked my tongue and lips to spread their mockery. Everything that once scarred my heart is no longer my trauma.”

Slender fingers.

“It ceased to be.”

My neck.

“From now on, only you have the exclusive right to hurt my heart.”

Her hands lightly gripped my neck.

“No matter how vicious the curses thrown at me for two days by the most wicked tongue, they are nothing compared to the sighs you carelessly throw at me.”

From pinky to index. From the thinnest to the thickest finger, every pressure she applied was felt.

"The most malicious person in the world could beat and whip me, but that's nothing compared to a single sneer from you. Though countless in this world could kill my body, only you can wound and kill my soul."

I felt suffocated.

“So my trauma is already determined."

I felt my throat constrict.

“My Lady……”

“You fool. I warned you clearly.”

『If you scar my heart, I will kill you.』

“You. You've scarred my heart.”

Warm killing intent.

Her red eyes smiled.

“I haven’t broken a promise since I was four. Die."

"......, ......."

“Die and love me again.”

For some reason, couldn’t resist.

[You have died.]

And then.

[Re-enacting the trauma of your killer.]

[The level of penalty is medium.]

[Hungry Ghost Realm.]

A dream within a dream unfolded.

ㆍ

I don’t want to kill him.

Looking at the man before her, Raviel Ivansia thought. She didn’t want to lose him. She, Raviel Ivansia, felt absurd realizing how possessive she was.

-Lady, think about it. You will come to the exact same conclusion I did. Because you, too, are a Returner like me.

A dangerous man.

Raviel quickly realized what he was planning. He willingly immersed himself in the role of ‘Butler’, intending to return to ‘the butler’s perspective’ from a day ago.

A strategy that could turn the game board upside down.

‘A brilliant idea.’

Truly, a plan striking the weakness of the tower.

‘With such a gentle face, how does he come up with such schemes?’

Feeling pleased that the man she loved wasn’t stupid. Yes, it was a very pleasant feeling. But still, Raviel Ivansia opposed it.

-Gong-Ja. It is dangerous.

The reason was clear.

-I won’t remember you.

She, Raviel Ivansia, won’t remember Kim Gong-Ja.

Even if he returns to a day ago, stopping her from plunging the sword into the mirror, thus preventing the eternal ten days of tragedy, if she doesn’t remember him, it’s meaningless.

-I don’t want to live.

-I want to live with you.

The days spent together.

The fifteen-day holiday you granted me for the first time.

All those memories make who she is now. Without them, she can’t be Raviel Ivansia.

Does the man before her understand that she would not be grateful at all, even if he freed her from the ten-day labyrinth that way?

-It’s okay.

Maybe he knew.

-I will find a solution.

The way he irritatingly spoke.

-Please trust me.

-.......

Raviel Ivansia fell silent.

Stunned by the severity of his words. Trust me. Trust someone without any reason. She regretted promising to trust him just a few days ago. But Raviel Ivansia was too desperate to linger in paralysis and regret.

‘I trust you.’

She trusts the man she loves. She trusts his competence. He is her chosen man. Her person. Surely, he will convince the tower to return a day earlier.

The real issue is what comes next.

'How to reverse the immersion that’s risen beyond 90%?'

If he successfully returns a day earlier, he will surely not remember her at first. Even if he does, it would be a faint feeling. It’s impossible to vividly recall the days spent together.

'.......'

No.

‘Wait.’

There is a way.

Upon realizing this method, Raviel groaned and then groaned again. The saying that all the poisons of the empire come from her heart passed through her mind. It wasn’t long. She couldn’t afford to linger.

Raviel Ivansia realized she would carry out that method.

‘I,’

Thus, Raviel Ivansia firmly etched into her heart the method she had thought of, the method she would execute.

‘I just have to kill this man.’

Trauma.

He had confessed nearly everything about himself to her. His ability came with a side effect of glimpsing the memories of those who killed him.

‘If I can make [this moment] my trauma.’

When she kills him, he will glimpse [now].

Not her past, but this very moment and the thoughts she is having now.

-.......

Then. If only that’s possible.

-I can tell him all the things I want to say, the memories I want to give back, everything, once again.

-He will recall it through me.

-Yes.

Raviel was certain of her success.

-Since I became your first bastard, you will become my last bastard.

Gong-Ja

-Really, I've ended up with a bad man as a lover.

Can you hear me?

I am happy because you are here. I don’t want to lose you. I don’t want to let go of the time we spent together just like this.

You said, "I will start writing a diary from today." You said that to show me every day of your life. Was that a lie?

You said, "I will learn music." You wanted me to listen to your music and enjoy peaceful evenings. Was that wish truly a lie?

I want to see your day. I want to spend the evenings with you. Your day will surely make me smile, and the evenings spent with you will be happy. I want my smile and your happiness to overlap.

I don’t want to kill you.

I don’t want to lose you.

-Are you okay?

-Yes…… Still, I’m okay…… more.

-More kisses, is that it? My lover is such a spoiled child.

Look at me.

Look at the you who was with me.

You are a foolish person. Naive even. With such naivety, I wonder how you will survive in the world, but then it gets resolved soon enough, considering you died thousands of times.

There are many reasons to discard naivety. Few reasons to keep it. Even with many reasons, you don’t discard it, and even with few, you keep it. I call you pure.

I cherish your purity.

-Are you still okay?

-Raviel.

Are you afraid of losing yourself? Scared?

-I love you. I love you, Raviel …….

-I know.

It's okay.

"Even if I'm reborn, I will love you.……"

I am here.

As I trust you, trust me too.

Rely on me.

“So that I never forget you. So that even if I die, I never forget you…….”

-I know.

You alone can't protect yourself.

I alone can't protect the world.

But together, you and I, we can do anything.

I am also afraid. I'm scared of killing you.

Approaching you knowing it will hurt me, is terrifyingly scary.

But my fear will not hinder being with you.

Look.

-……My goodness.

Eventually, you, completely submerged in the role of the butler, speak to me.

“Young Duke.”

Throbbing.

My chest aches. It hurts that you call me [Young Duke] instead of [Lady].

-Could it be that you've kidnapped me right now?

An incredulous face. Looking at me with doubt, it hurts. It's painful to have you react as if you're seeing me for the first time.

"This is too much. Even for the power of the Ivansia Duchy that covers the sky, this is too much. Do you despise Lady Goldencup so much that you threaten her servant like this?"

Listen.

This is the wound you've left me.

"Gong-Ja."

Don’t forget.

"……Whom are you looking for?"

Never. Even in death, don’t forget.

"My lover."

The man who gave his heart to me.

"The man to whom I will give my heart."

You are here.

In my heart.

"Go then."