“If you’re going to abandon me again at any time.”

Abandon? How could he say such a word to himself?

Illeone’s words were like a blade made from an ice shard buried in perennial snow. Extremely cold, sharp, and piercing. Therefore, each word made a chilly wound in Elysia’s heart.

“You made the right choice. I realized it after I became blind again.”

His voice had no strength. His speech, once as dignified and impressive as the clear color of his eyes, was now filled with sadness as if never having been that way before.

“You couldn’t have accepted the entreaty of a man who might fall ill again at any time.”

The misery Illeone felt doubled and came back to him.

That wasn’t it.

He didn’t mean to hurt her like this.

Elysia was just at a loss.

She did not possess the borrowed body’s memory, and she didn’t even know the original work properly.

Mariella said that the envelope of chocolate she meant to give to Illeone spontaneously combusting and disappearing was something like a side effect that occurs when one goes against the original.

Seeing it with her own eyes was an entirely different matter from hearing Mariella’s words and understanding or imagining it.

Vivid fear.

Like the envelope that just burned away, leaving not a trace of ash, she fanned the fear that it might happen to her too.

Illeone was, after all, the male lead.

An existence that must be at the very center of the original work’s flow.

Being by his side was the most dangerous thing. He would be the one most directly influenced by the original work, and no one could predict the outcome.

Now was the time when this world was first encountering the original’s timeline. The first journey toward the ending was about to begin.

“It hurts. It hurts so much.”

Her heart was aching. She wanted to argue with him, to deny what he was saying. But she could say nothing because of the sharp pain that was wrenching her heart.

“Sob.”

She could only shed tears.

Only then did Elysia fully realize the depth of her feelings.

If she had merely cherished Illeone because he was the male lead, she wouldn’t have been this disheartened.

That she couldn’t accept his desperate plea.

That she couldn’t face his beautiful, glowing red eyes with a joyful smile.

Nothing could be sadder.

“Go.”

The second despair.

The fact that this was not the first time seemed to make Illeone even more listless.

He was not heartbroken, desperate, and broken like before. He didn’t howl like a beast.

He was just like a withered flower, waiting to rot and crumble.

When she first entered the bedroom and saw him, he looked pitiful, lying motionless without even blinking, staring into space.

“Don’t come back again.”

Each word carried a chill.

It wasn’t the coldness towards Elysia. It was the temperature of the endlessly dark world that Illeone was experiencing.

She lowered her head, biting her lower lip.

Then she saw his hand, resting on the sheet.

“It’s trembling.”

The big hand of a big man.

A hand that seemed big enough to grasp her face, trembling as it gathered the white edge of the sheet.

Elysia gently placed her hand on his. At that moment, Illeone’s eyes widened in surprise.

“I won’t go anywhere.”

As she had done in Café Cardinal.

Elysia pulled Illeone’s hand to her cheek.

“Nowhere.”

But he did not gently caress her face as he had then. That made Elysia even more uneasy.

She wanted to believe that his heart was not completely closed yet.

Because the man who was about to pledge his lifetime to her couldn’t have turned away in just an instant.

“Lord Illeone.”

When she blinked, the tears that had gathered flowed into Illeone’s palm, resting against her cheek.

“I am… Rona.”

She felt Illeone flinch when she uttered the name ‘Rona.’

“I will be your eyes, and your hands. Just like before.”
The small animal seemed to act affectionately as Elysia grabbed his hand with both of hers and pressed it to her cheek.

“If you leave me again.”

An emotion surfaced on Illeon’s face. For the first time since Elysia had entered the room, a crack had appeared in his previously expressionless mask.

“I might not be able to live.”

Still holding his hand to her cheek, Elysia nodded her head.

“I’ll do anything for you, Sir Illeon.”

It was her only sincere wish.

Though she didn’t think he would wish for it, right now, she felt like she could die for him if that’s what Illeon wanted.

I want to even burn my life away if it can help him recover his sight.

Elysia looked at his ashcolored, unfocused eyes without a pause, shedding tears.

“Anything you want.”

Then, Illeon’s hand, which had been soaked by Elysia’s tears, moved.

Cautiously.

He tried to wipe away the flowing tears with his fingertips.

“Stop crying.”

“Ah. I apologize.”

Elysia was suddenly kneeling on his bed. Due to her sobbing, the sheet that he had to cover was soaked.

“I’ll wipe my face and come back.”

As she was about to awkwardly get up, her body was grabbed and pulled back by Illeon’s hand.

“Don’t go.”

“……Sir Illeon.”

“I hate it, even for a moment.”