“I wish you happiness, Mahina.”
Merlin’s voice grew increasingly calm.
But — that calmness was about to collapse.
Merlin clutched her chest tightly, and her voice began to tremble uncontrollably, carrying a long-suppressed sob.
“I’m in so much pain… Mahina, I don’t want to be tortured by you like this anymore. I really… can’t take it. I don’t want to love you anymore. This love hurts too much; I don’t want it…”
Merlin’s small mouth pouted high, her nose twitching as her face filled with the grievance of a small child.
“After you leave, live happily with your fiancé. I’ll let go. I don’t want to love you anymore.”
The aura around Merlin changed abruptly as ice-cold mana exploded.
Extreme Cold Frost surged frantically into the giant Magical Beast’s blood through the wound that had been slashed open.
Even the restless, burning Life Fire deep within the heart of the Fallen Beast was instantly stripped away by the coldness of the girl’s despairing, dead heart.
*Bang —!*
A crisp, pleasant sound of shattering echoed.
Like grand fireworks blooming in a snowy field, the giant body of the beast burst into countless tiny ice crystals.
Merlin stood amidst the ice crystals flying through the air, letting them fall onto the tips of her hair.
Her eyes gradually became clear, yet they also gradually lost their light.
“But it’s okay. You will have your own happiness, and I won’t be in pain anymore. I will also try to find my own happiness.”
Under the beautiful white snowscape, Merlin slowly turned her head and flashed a smile at Mahina.
It was the most brilliant smile Mahina had ever seen Merlin give.
It was far more brilliant than Merlin’s smile when the two of them had relied on each other in the Slums.
There was no gloom, no possessiveness—just a pure, clear smile that was so foreign it was terrifying.
At the same time… there was no love.
As the smile bloomed, the final tear at the corner of Merlin’s eye, containing all her love and hatred, froze into ice the moment it slid down her cheek.
It turned into a transparent bead of ice, rolling silently into the snow.
That was Merlin’s last trace of warmth.
“Thank you for that last lie. It let me experience the illusion of being loved by you one last time at the very end. In the future… please laugh under the blue sky with your fiancé, even if I’m not in that picture.”
“That’s not it…”
Looking at the light gradually fading from Merlin’s eyes, Mahina felt as if her heart were being crushed by a giant hand.
Mahina reached out, but her fingers froze in mid-air, catching only the biting cold wind.
‘That’s not it…’
‘The fiancé… never existed from the start.’
‘Not true…’
The bloody pain made it almost impossible for her to breathe, and her throat was filled with the metallic taste of blood.
‘Merlin, listen to me…’
Everything was over.
In exchange, Merlin had offered up — Love.
Just like this Arena now, it was like a blank sheet of paper.
Disregarding her image, Mahina shrieked with all her might, her voice breaking from extreme anxiety.
She leaned forward, like a drowning person trying to grab onto a last piece of driftwood, her eyes full of pleading, trusting tears.
“That’s not it! That fiancé was a lie from the start!”
Merlin only tilted her head slightly. Her eyes, which used to be filled with love, were now like a pool of stagnant water, chillingly calm.
This time, the calmed Merlin finally tuned into Mahina’s frequency.
She looked at the weeping Mahina and calmly expressed her logical confusion.
“Didn’t the Talan family acknowledge it too? How could it be fake? You… you said it yourself… so happily… so sweetly.”
Mahina desperately grabbed Merlin’s sleeve, clinging to it like a final lifeline, her voice shattered by sobs.
“It really was fake… Even in a political marriage, we would attend major occasions together just for show, but I always attended alone… Really.”
Merlin looked down at the hand grabbing her sleeve. She didn’t shake it off, but she didn’t hold it back either.
“I haven’t participated in those kinds of events, and I haven’t seen those scenes. Since you say it’s fake, then I suppose it’s fake.”
“It’s true… I haven’t even danced with anyone.”
There was no relief, no tears of joy, not even a hint of realization.
“Merlin…”
Mahina’s heart twitched violently.
‘Don’t be like this, Merlin.’
‘Even if you hit me… scold me… hate me, it would be fine.’
‘If you hit me, I’d actually be happier.’
‘Don’t look at me with that expressionless face.’
‘Don’t be like this.’
She wasn’t willing to accept this… How could it end like this?
Mahina tremblingly wiped the tears from her face and forced herself to calm down.
“Right… That’s right! During those two years when we were reunited, were you always at the Talane Estate?”
Mahina still had things she wanted to confirm. Since they had talked so much, there was no harm in asking more.
“Yes… I lived an ordinary life with everyone every day. Besides, I hadn’t saved any money, so I had no chance to leave. My original plans were all ruined.”
“What plans?” Merlin didn’t even look at Mahina, casting her gaze into the distance instead.
“It has nothing to do with you anymore.”
A Yellow Crystal appeared floating in the air where the Magical Beast had died. Touching it should allow them to leave.
“The letters I wrote, did you not receive a single one?”
Merlin’s footsteps paused.
But it was only for one second.
“At the very beginning… there were some. Just those first two.”
“Merlin…”
“I see… It seems someone was interfering… But so what? I don’t understand things like love anymore anyway.”
Mahina wanted to say something more. Even if it was a late apology or a weak explanation, she wanted to tell Merlin how much she regretted it, how agonizing these past two years had been.
But when Merlin looked back, all of Mahina’s words were choked in her throat.
The girl whose eyes once held nothing but her now radiated a strong sense of resistance, a distance that pushed people thousands of miles away.
The meaning was clear—
‘Whatever you say, I will hear it, but I won’t adopt it, believe it, accept it, or understand it.’
“Let’s leave first.”
After Merlin said this, she turned around again.
‘Don’t be like this.’
Mahina wished she could cut open her chest right now, pull out her red, beating heart, and present it bleeding to Merlin.
She wished she could crack open her head, which had been filled with arrogance and pride, and lay out all the truth about her love for Merlin to see.
“Merlin!”
Mahina was foolish, so this was the only way she could think of now.
Mahina rushed forward, the high heels of her loafers crushing the ice crystals on the ground with a harsh, crisp sound.
‘No.’
She grabbed Merlin’s wrist and pulled her toward herself.
The face she had dreamed of day and night was inches away, still so familiar, yet frighteningly strange.
Mahina looked into Merlin’s calm, waveless eyes, and her tears burst forth once again.
At this point, what exactly could she do to make amends?
Mahina no longer knew. She just instinctively moved toward Merlin.