Chapter 199: You’re not thinking of resurrecting someone, are you?

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On the stone-paved path leading to the Sacred Heart Monastery, Letia felt her temples throbbing, as if two tiny people were inside her head hammering away at each other.

‘Should I take responsibility? Or should I just run away?’

This damned choice was tangled in her mind like a ball of messy yarn, growing more convoluted the more she tried to unravel it.

If the person involved hadn’t been Red, she would have already walked away, playing the part of a carefree, heartless woman who pulls up her pants and disappears without a trace.

But… it was Red!

He was currently living in her house.

They saw each other every single day.

She couldn’t very well abandon her own home just to avoid this mess, could she?!

At the thought of this, Letia wished she could travel back in time and deliver two harsh slaps to the self that had been blinded by the prospect of “saving on rent” and enthusiastically invited Red to move in.

‘You greedy woman, always looking for a bargain. Now look what happened. Even the house is going to be a problem.’

What about the down payment she had worked so hard to save?

The monthly mortgage payments she made on time every month?

Were they… were they all going down the drain?

The thought made her heart ache so much she could barely breathe, as if she could see her hard-earned gold coins swirling down a gutter.

“What are you thinking about?”

A gentle, familiar voice, which sounded like a sudden clap of thunder at this particular moment, rang out beside her without warning.

Letia jumped, her whole body jerking.

She whipped her head toward the source of the sound and saw Otto standing in the morning light at the monastery entrance.

He wore that same eternal, all-knowing smile on his face.

She was shocked!

Why was Otto still in Nightbright Town?

He shouldn’t be here, right?

Based on the intelligence she possessed and her own deductions, Otto would definitely be behind the scenes pushing the plot for the upcoming spectacle on the Twenty-Fourth Floor.

Yet right now, there were only two days left before that critical turning point exploded.

Two days…

Even if he rushed to the script’s location on the Twenty-Fourth Floor without stopping, he would never make it in time.

‘Did I really misunderstand him?’

While Letia struggled to make sense of it, Otto continued speaking.

“I noticed you’ve been agonizing over something. Why not confide in me? Perhaps I can offer a little assistance.”

“Oh, that…”

Letia snapped back to reality.

She followed Otto’s lead and sighed, tossing out her worries.

“It’s about what you said before—that I can’t keep wearing this mask, right?”

“But when I spoke to Red, I told him the house was registered under the name ‘Litt.'”

She threw her hands up, her face twisted in financial agony.

“Once I can no longer use Litt’s identity, getting that house back is going to be a real issue.”

“You know me. I’m not worried about Red’s feelings; I’m just worried about the money. My down payment… my monthly installments… those were all real gold coins.”

Listening to her over-explained complaints, Otto couldn’t help but let a knowing smile curl onto his lips.

He understood Letia too well.

To put it simply, everything about her was soft except for her stubborn mouth.

Especially when it came to Red, most of what she said was just empty talk.

“You needn’t worry too much about such trivial matters regarding the house.”

Otto waved his hand gently, his tone carrying a soothing, calm weight.

“Once you handle the matter in the Underground Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart Monastery, everything will naturally fall into place and be resolved.”

He shifted the conversation, the morning light catching his seemingly casual smile.

“However, since it is still early, the streets are quiet, and there is no one around, I find myself somewhat curious. Priest Letia, how… how do you actually view Red?”

Hearing Otto’s question, Letia shrugged and spoke with a casual air.

“How do I see him?”

As if she had just heard an incredibly boring question, Letia spoke in a tone that was almost flippant and entirely indifferent.

“How else could I see him? He’s just a bleeding heart who doesn’t even know how to value his own life. Not to mention, he’s a blushing little virgin who turns red with just a bit of teasing.”

“Hehe. If he is truly as unbearable as you say, then the question remains: why do you stay so close to him?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

Letia scoffed, as if mocking Otto for asking such a redundant question.

“A person needs to find some fun in life, don’t they? And Red… to me, he’s a particularly interesting ‘source of fun.'”

She paused for a moment.

As if to completely shut down Otto’s questioning, she continued in a tone that was reckless and intentionally superficial.

“To put it simply, I like him. Are you satisfied now?”

Though the content of her words was explosive, her posture—entirely nonchalant as if she were merely commenting on the nice weather—and the deliberate distance in her eyes actually made Otto laugh.

He wasn’t fooled by Letia’s performance.

Instead, he continued.

“In my understanding, emotions—whether their original purpose is to seek fun, to dictate actions, or some more primal desire… as long as they drive you to want to be near someone, to long for a connection, that itself is the seedling of love…”

“Huh?”

Before Otto could finish, Letia gave him a deadpan look and flipped him the middle finger.

“You’re an old bachelor; what do you know about love? Give me a break.”

But Otto didn’t take the bait.

He simply continued with his original train of thought.

“There aren’t that many stories like Romeo and Juliet in this world. Most romances aren’t grand or soul-shaking; they are like a small bridge over a flowing stream. They often bloom when no one is watching… perhaps even when the parties involved are still ignorant and dazed.”

As he finished speaking, an indescribable, complex expression crept onto Otto’s face.

It looked like nostalgia, mixed with a hint of self-pity, but it was certainly a feeling of deep lamentation.

It was as if he were reminiscing about someone from the past who was long gone.

Seeing this, Letia couldn’t help but think of a game from her previous life called Restoration 3.

In that game… there just happened to be a character named Otto, though his surname was different.

The first time she had seen Otto’s face, Letia had felt it was a bizarre coincidence.

After all, whether it was his personality or his appearance, the Otto from that game was extremely similar to the man standing before her.

‘Could it be that even their experiences are the same?’

If so, it wasn’t a coincidence.

It could only be attributed to the script’s god-awful sense of irony.

However, if the Otto in front of her also had a “Bright Moonlight” who had died… then his motive for seeking God and pursuing divinity would make perfect sense.

“Otto, I’m not one to talk nonsense, but I want to ask you a question.”

Letia narrowed her eyes, her gaze scrutinizing him.

“The reason you keep trying to become a God… it wouldn’t be because you want to resurrect someone, would it?”