Mod7 Translations

The Extra Saved the Terminally Ill Princess and Ran Away - Chapter 2

Added 2024-12-04 07:08:06 +0000 UTC

Chapter 2: You, Once More

Four years had passed since I became paralyzed.

Lately, I've been wondering… what if I hadn't told the Emperor about the elixir?

Perhaps all of this was a consequence of my desperate attempts to save the terminally ill princess.

A consequence of trying to alter the original story.

Perhaps that third-rate, angst-loving author, that damn bitch, had thrown me into a pit of despair from which there was no escape.

Such thoughts plagued me.

I moved my eyes to look at her.

Silver hair, unkempt and brittle now, but undoubtedly once as smooth as silk.

Soft violet eyes, shimmering like the Milky Way in the night sky.

Even in her tattered state, her beauty still shone.

Her innate grace testified to her noble bloodline.

Perhaps it would have been better for her, even, to have devoted herself to the protagonist, experiencing at least a flicker of love before dying.

Rather than this life, spent changing the diapers of a useless extra, meticulously chewing each grain of rice before feeding it to him.

"Finn! Dinner's re… cough! hack hack! cough…!"

She began coughing up blood. A sign of her worsening condition. She would likely die before this winter ended.

…And I, under her care, would starve to death alongside her.

"Oh no…! What a waste! I finally made a proper meal…! After so many days…!!"

She frantically scooped out the blood-tainted top layer of rice from the pot, transferring it to her own bowl.

"There…! Now Finn can eat the clean part at the bottom!"

She smiled at me, her characteristic flower-like smile. Warm enough to melt the biting winter air.

Yet, the warmth in my chest, kindled by her smile, was overshadowed by a searing pain.

Every night since the beginning of winter, I had heard her pained moans.

I alone knew the agonizing face hidden behind that endlessly bright smile, a face too painful to bear witness to.

-Groan…! Ugh…! gasp gasp…! sob…!

-It hurts… It hurts… Mother… Father….

-Please… anyone… Just kill me… sob sob….

Our home was a single room. With only one bed, we had no choice but to sleep side-by-side.

I couldn't bear to ignore her cries, her sacrifices made for me.

***

"Here, Finn… Dinner. Chew thoroughly, okay?"

Otherwise, you might choke. Saying that, she placed my portion of rice into her mouth and began diligently chewing.

Then, her lifeless lips slowly approached mine.

As her lips touched mine, the chewed food flowed in.

"Munch munch… mmm… chump, chump… mmm… Hah…!"

Chew thoroughly? There was nothing left to chew. She had chewed it all into a liquid, feeding me mouth-to-mouth.

'Even toothless elders in a nursing home would exclaim, "This broth is mighty smooth!" at this level of mastication.'

Why? Why would she, a former princess, throw away even her first kiss like this, just to keep a mere attendant alive?

The answer wasn't hard to find.

…It was the night we slept in the same bed, the night I became her first kiss. The night we arrived at this dilapidated shack.

'Finn… Promise you'll never leave me… Okay?'

'Mother and Father are gone… Now I only have you, Finn…'

'Finn… Please live. Stay by my side… Please don't die before me.'

'If you just live… Then I'll gladly give you my body. So wake up, Finn… I'm scared… I'm so scared to be alone… I hate it…'

'This is all I can do for you, Finn… after you lost your parents and became like this because of me…'

'Finn… If you can hear me, please answer…'

'…I'm sorry, Finn, for being selfish. But I…'

Love you.

With those words, we shared our second kiss, the first in its true meaning.

My first kiss tasted warm and sad… a hot, salty flavor.

Her lips, pale yet soft. Her body trembling with anxiety and fear.

And her tears, streaming down her cheeks, mingled with the taste.

Yes. She, destined to devote her life to someone, had fallen in love with her attendant, who had become paralyzed serving her.

That was the reason she clung to life, even though it was unbearable for someone who was once a princess.

She wanted to hear the voice of her beloved, just once before she died.

A small wish of a young girl… that her paralyzed attendant would speak… Perhaps the most selfish of wishes.

***

…It was a morning and afternoon like any other.

So, I waited for her, complacently assuming she would return soon.

….
….
…Strange. No matter how much time passed, she didn't return.

Had something happened? Had she been attacked by a wild animal on her way back…?

Anxious, I frantically moved my pupils, the only parts of my body I could control.

-Creak.

The familiar creaking sound of the old door echoed.

Ha… What were you doing all this time, Your Highness? I was worried!

That's what I would have said if I could move my mouth. Because I truly was worried.

…But something was wrong. She didn't greet me with her usual cheerful voice.

Instead, I heard…

" gasp gasp… ugh… F-Finn… sob!"

Thud.

I heard her collapse onto the floor.

Then, a sharp, metallic scent, slightly fishy… the smell of iron.

…Blood. The smell of blood.

I wanted to turn my head and check on her. To see if she was injured, or if it was just a minor incident.

…No. I already knew, even without turning my head.

This was the world of Academy Demon Hunter Chronicles.

This couldn't be just a minor incident.

…She crawled towards the bed where I lay, her face meeting mine.

Her attempt at a smile was distorted by unbearable pain.

Unable to bear the sight, I averted my eyes, only to see her mangled side.

It wasn't the work of an animal, nor a weapon wielded by a human.

"S-Sorry I'm late, Finn… I went to the village today… and there was a demon… It was firing magic everywhere… I tried to dodge… Hehe… ugh!"

Thump.

She finally collapsed, her body falling onto mine.

…A demon. Probably the one Ian Cedric let escape. That damn author loved planting such things as foreshadowing.

Then, she began to sob.

"Sob…! sob sob…! ugh…! I'm sorry… I'm sorry, Finn…."

What was she sorry for? She hadn't done anything wrong to me. I was the one who had been a burden.

"I… My body feels strange… Cold and numb… I think this is it, Finn…."

She kept apologizing.

She hadn't expected such a farewell. She was sorry to die like this, leaving me, unable to move. Sorry to leave me alone…

…She looked at me with pitiful eyes.

Her tear-filled eyes met mine.

Her violet eyes, once so vibrant, were now bloodshot, stained red with pain.

"Finn… I know it's not my place to say this, leaving you behind… but I have a favor to ask…."

What favor? I wanted to do anything for her.

If my death could save her, I would gladly accept it. If she needed my organs, I would have offered them up without hesitation.

…But her request wasn't like that.

A request that was, in a way, much simpler, yet infinitely more difficult for me.

"Please… Just once. Just once… I want to hear your voice, Finn…."

She wanted to hear my voice. The moment I heard those words, something hot began to boil within my chest.

"Please, I beg you, Finn… If I could just hear your voice once… I think I could die happy…."

She pleaded, tears, tears of blood, streaming down her face. Her final, dying wish.

I wanted to grant it. I wanted to speak. I wanted to call her name.

"…"

But I couldn't move. The words wouldn't come out. The sound rising from the depths of my chest only swirled in my mouth.

Whether she knew or not that I was struggling, desperately trying to move my mouth for her, she caressed my cheek with an icy hand, pleading.

"Finn… Finn… I love you… So please… Just once… for me…."

"…Ah."

Her icy hand, the hand caressing my cheek, lost its grip and fell onto the bed.

A sign that she was about to leave this world.

This wasn't the time. I had to move. It was her last wish. It was the only way I could repay her, after failing to cure her and being so complacent.

So move. Move. Move. Move. Move, damn it!!

After an eternity of struggle, the hot lump in my chest surged, and hot tears welled up in my eyes. My lips began to tremble.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!!

Just a little more! Just a little more strength…!

"Li…."

Just as I was about to utter her name…

…Thump.

She…

Her body succumbed to gravity and fell against me. Her body, cold as ice, pressed against my skin.

To an outsider, she would have appeared long dead.

"*Ugh… ugh… ugh… ugh…!!!"

A sound escaped my barely parted lips.

Lili! Lili, look! I'm talking!! I'm speaking with my mouth!!

It's my voice, the one you wanted to hear so badly!!

Wake up! Wake up and look at me!!

But she…

She didn't react, didn't stir, to my babbling.

"*Ugh… Lili!! Lili!!"

No… It can't be… Lili can't be dead…

She…

Lili wasn't supposed to die yet, according to the original story…

Yes, the original story. According to the original story…

…Ah.

I ruined that original story, didn't I?

I… messed it all up…?

Her parents, her encounter with the protagonist, even her own status.

Yes. She… Lili suffered, agonized, feared, and died lonely because of me.

She, who was supposed to die peacefully in the arms of her family, in a warm and cozy room and bed, surrounded by her attendants, including Finn… died like this because of me.

"*Chuckle… sob… sob sob sob…."

The realization of my own foolishness was agonizing.

…You idiot.

Did you think you were special just because you experienced the reincarnation trope from a webnovel?

You complacent fool.

Lili… Lilisiana died because of you… You idiot.

Overcome by guilt and remorse, I gasped for breath, and the scent of her hair, nestled against me in eternal slumber, filled my senses.

A bittersweet fragrance stung my nostrils.

…No, the sweetness was all her. The bitterness was all my fault.

My pathetic life was so bitter, like swallowing dry medicine and rolling it around on my tongue.

She suffered so much, died so tragically, for me, the one she loved.

And I couldn't even utter a single word for her.

Then, it happened.

As I wallowed in self-pity and despair at failing to fulfill her last wish…

-Ding!

A translucent blue window appeared in the air.

At the same time, a surge of energy coursed through my body.

================================

<You have failed to save Lilisiana.>

Choose a point to return to. You only have one chance.

South Korea / The Eastern Mountain Range of the Empire

================================

Regression?

South Korea, I understood, but the Eastern Mountain Range of the Empire?

The damn author's intentions were clear.

'You can go back now. What will you do? Give up? Or try again?'

Just like the author who responded to my comment with "Then why don't you save her," it was infuriatingly provocative.

….

I moved my head, now moving without any unnatural stiffness, and looked down at her.

A pool of blood had formed from the gaping wound in her side, and the dried tear tracks of blood stained her cold face.

Yet, her beauty remained breathtaking. Because that's who she was.

And because she was a character who devoted herself until the very end, even after losing the protagonist and never hearing the voice of her beloved… her death was all the more tragic.

…Without hesitation, I reached out my right hand towards the button on the right.

And with my left arm, I embraced her tightly.

"Lili, Lilisiana…."

Lilisiana.

A name shared with one of the most beautiful and magnificent succulents, a unique plant that blooms in winter.

She was truly a Lilisiana to me.

In my cold, painful life, paralyzed and neither living nor dead, like winter, she bloomed by my side like a single flower, warming my world.

I'll never forget the love and grace you showed me.

I'm so sorry for being such a burden.

You went through so much, taking care of a useless cripple like me.

….

"Now, it's my turn to repay you, Lili."