Chapter 17

༺ The First Letter (17) ༻

For a while, silence lingered in the air. I couldn’t understand Seria’s intentions.

Is she angry? After all, I had just brought her into my personal fight since Seria and Emma had nothing to do with each other.

Or maybe it was just a simple question. Since it was Seria, it was quite plausible. She was indifferent to most things except for the sword, and was even clumsy when it came to human relationships.

There was no obvious answer, so I hesitated for a moment, avoiding her gaze. But in the end, what came out of my mouth were my honest feelings devoid of any pretense.

“…… I don’t know either.”

Those words that I uttered with a sigh were my true thoughts.

I honestly didn’t know. Why did I become so obsessed with that letter from the future?

It could be out of a sense of duty, or it might have been a sense of responsibility. However, emotion did not need a motive for them to exist. Perhaps I myself didn’t realize that I was being controlled by those feelings from the moment I heard the news of Emma almost passing away.

Guilt and even rage.

The only rite of atonement that can wash away this guilt I felt towards Emma was to slay that beast.

Revenge.

Of course, it was a foolish decision. There was no way that Emma would simply wake up if I killed that demonic beast.

It was unknown what would happen if we offered a valuable sacrifice to receive a miracle from Arus. But neither Emma nor Emma’s father, nor myself, could afford that.

I’m aware of that fact. I know it’s meaningless.

But how can I pretend otherwise and look away?

What if I had stopped Emma?

How I couldn’t protect her.

Only if I had taken the contents of the letter a bit more seriously.