“You’re awake?” Grin greeted Viseliane.
Even though he tried to ignore her expression, it was difficult to look away when the young woman’s eyes were brimming with tears. More than that, it was unexpected for an elf like Viseliane to show such a wealth of emotion.
The Viseliane he had known in his past life and the one he had seen in this life both shared a faint sense of calm, bordering on a lifeless stillness. Thus, Grin truly found it hard to imagine her making such a face. This cold elf maid was actually standing before him, repeatedly uttering the word “sorry.”
“Viseliane, calm down first… Tell me what happened above and how you got down here.” Grin waved his hand, interrupting her murmurs.
Viseliane opened her mouth, then fell quiet and composed herself before she began to recount what happened before her descent.
“After you fell, we encountered Third Prince Hoyt. I entrusted the Princess’s safety to his care and then brought the accompanying Royal Knights down to find you.”
“Monsters are wandering below. During our exploration, we encountered a large monster with strength nearing the Transcendent level. The knights suggested I retreat… but I sensed your presence. So, I took a risk and ducked into a dangerous path.”
“The accompanying knights didn’t follow. They were cut off by monsters, and there were too many twists and turns on the road… I have a Tracking Ability, which is why I was able to find my way here.”
A Tracking Ability… Indeed, Grin had asked Viseliane if she had such a skill back at the North Gate. Her answer then had been yes. However, Viseliane hadn’t used it to track the enemy back then; instead, Grin, who possessed knowledge of the future, had led them directly to their destination. Although they had still been a step too late.
He hadn’t expected Viseliane to use this skill to find him.
So, Viseliane had risked separating from the knights just to save him? Given her heavy injuries, the only reason she was able to leave Dolores and come down here was likely because those knights served as a guarantee, allowing Dolores to let her go.
With Viseliane missing now, Dolores must be incredibly worried up there.
“If you go missing down here, Dolores will be anxious and sad,” Grin said truthfully. Then, intending to hide nothing further, he began to confess to her.
“Viseliane, I did something wrong before. I did indeed use something similar to Brainwashing Magic on Dolores… That was my fault. Therefore, I won’t be angry with you for wanting to kill me.”
“I don’t know if you’re willing to believe it, as it is a difficult truth to swallow, but I come from the future. I have lived through nearly fifty years beyond this point. In the near future, you die while saving Dolores, and I eventually die from Dolores’s betrayal. Before that happened, she and I were husband and wife for forty years.”
“At first, I carried the hatred of her betrayal. Because I gained this power for certain reasons, I naturally used it on her. I once gloated, thinking she wouldn’t notice—but I was wrong. The current Dolores knows what I’ve done.”
“She is trying to save herself.”
“And after confirming a few things through certain means, I realized that Dolores did not actually betray me… So, I was the one who did wrong. I plan to confess everything to her once we go back up and seek her forgiveness.”
Viseliane listened to Grin’s words, and after he finished, she nodded and replied, “I believe you, Mr. Grin.”
As she spoke, Viseliane suddenly turned her head away as if she didn’t dare look at his face, though she continued speaking.
“I was such a fool, taking it upon myself to do something like poisoning you… Hagel was right. I shouldn’t have ignored your actions. I was willing to kill you based on a few words from the Princess, yet I kept ignoring the voice in my heart that believed you were a good person.”
“Mr. Grin, I am terrible… Fortunately, you didn’t die. Otherwise, I might have truly lived with the guilt of what I did for the rest of my life.”
Hagel. Grin remembered the conversation he had with Hagel outside the city. At the time, Grin thought the man was talking about the Dolores in his memories. But looking at it now, could he have been referring to the Dolores of reality?
After all, if he had trusted Dolores from the beginning and confessed everything to her, things wouldn’t have turned out so poorly. He hadn’t expected Dolores to be able to see the System, or that she had understood it since their very first meeting.
Greed and selfishness were also triggers. If he could have maintained trust in Dolores, if he hadn’t wanted to hide the System from her, or if he hadn’t thought of using the System’s incredible functions… everything wouldn’t be this bad.
Though the greatest incentive was Dolores’s betrayal before his rebirth… Under that kind of provocation, it was almost impossible for anyone to remain rational toward her. And that hatred was something Dolores had orchestrated herself.
‘Wait, could Dolores’s betrayal have been a scheme to make me return to the present with hatred?’
‘Is the System something I could only obtain by harboring hatred? Or did Dolores want me to use the System to “kill” my current self in some way?’
Not in a physical sense, but perhaps a spiritual one. The underlying reason could be all sorts of bizarre symbols. It might be similar to his status as the “Outsider who laid down the claim of the King of Land.”
Moreover, he still didn’t know what the [System] actually was. He had originally thought it was a contract signed with a Demon, but if it involved Dolores, she likely wouldn’t sit by and watch him fall into such a dangerous situation.
This might be part of the reason, but thinking along these lines failed to explain why the Dolores in his memories didn’t speak up when they first met. It also suggested that the goal of the Dolores in his memories had not yet been achieved, and that this goal was something better left unsaid.
He couldn’t figure it out… If he could see the current Dolores and talk to her, he might find a clue.
“Mr. Grin, are you thinking about the Princess?” Viseliane asked. Her physical strength was recovering quickly, but her spirit was more withered than Grin’s.
Pain and mental fatigue washed over her intermittently due to the erosion of the curse, but she could no longer return to her homeland. She could understand the way she died in Grin’s description. Therefore, even hearing that she would die—and soon—did not cause a single ripple of emotion in her.
This was because she was already in this state. Although she didn’t possess the future sight or memories that Dolores and Grin had, she was well aware of her own physical condition.
The curse on her body originated from a God and was irreversible. Only the Elf Tree in her homeland could briefly purify a portion of the curse, which was why they usually needed to return periodically. Failing to return on time meant entering a countdown to death. This was the fate of the elves from the Aihexie region.
If Grin hadn’t appeared, the Dragon would have destroyed the Royal Palace, and coupled with the chaos caused by people like Count Canko, the situation in the Capital would have been dire. To ensure Dolores’s safety, Viseliane would have certainly refused to return home for treatment. She would have forced herself to fulfill her duty to protect the Princess and eventually would have been consumed by the curse without suspense.
Though the future Grin described was somewhat fantastical, Viseliane believed him. She believed he came from the future, and she believed in her own death. After all, the only things she cared about now were Dolores and the Princess’s mother. Perhaps now, she would add Grin to that list because he had saved her life.
She didn’t care how brilliant the future would be or what the world would look like decades from now. She wouldn’t see the beautiful poetic drama of the future, nor did she need to.
Viseliane looked up and asked Grin, “Mr. Grin, in the future you experienced, was Hagel still alive?”
“He died after you, in a battle against the Abyss.”
At this, Viseliane also realized her own future. Perhaps saying she would have lived in guilt was, to some extent, a lie.
“Mr. Grin, thank you.”
“Why the sudden thanks?” Grin asked, a bit puzzled.
Truth be told, he was still not used to seeing any expression other than a blank stare on Viseliane’s face—especially not a smile. It was a faint smile, one that seemed so bright and gentle in this dark environment. It felt very unfamiliar…
“I just wanted to thank you because you saved me, forgave me, trusted me, and told me such important things.”
“So, there isn’t really a special reason. I just wanted to say thank you…”