Confident in my words, Celly wore a bewildered expression. She seemed confused.

It was at the moment when Celly was about to say something.

“Are you coming up with such pointless ideas?”

It sounded mocking. When I turned my head, I saw Cedric and his companions approaching from where I had just run. It seemed like they had followed the path I had taken earlier.

Cedric, who had walked slowly, looked at Celly with indifferent eyes.

“…You’re not dead?”

Cedric’s brief words made Celly’s shoulders tremble. Instinctively, I hid Celly behind me and protected her as I faced them.

“Why are you speaking as if you wish someone were dead?”

“Why are you making such a scary face? I thought you might have died because you were making such a fuss earlier. But you seem perfectly fine.”

“Do I look fine to your eyes?”

“If you walked all the way here on your own two feet, your limbs are fine. What more do you want?”

Cedric sent a mocking glance over my shoulder.

“And not only that, you’re not even hurt, yet you’re suffering from a farewell. When your body is in pain and you feel like you might die at any moment, do you think about farewells? It means you have something worth living for.”

Cedric spoke sharply and painfully, as if he were choosing his words carefully to stab Celly to death.

With trembling hands, Celly tightly gripped my sleeve. The emotions at her fingertips seemed to be a mix of anger and humiliation, tinged with sadness.

“Instead of that, you were saying something interesting.”

Cedric arrogantly put his hand in his pocket and walked forward nonchalantly.

“You’re saying you’ll be chased away from the North?”

Although he had no qualms like Raches, his large stature and broad shoulders, typical of a knight, were enough to exert pressure on people.

“Is your memory that bad? Or are you so foolishly brave? Didn’t I say earlier? When rumors of an affair between an elite knight and a maid circulate, it’s you guys who will be chased away, not me.”

“You, of all people, have a bad head, Cedric. Didn’t I say earlier? I don’t think I can catch your sword again.”

Cedric clenched his jaw. The sound of grinding teeth was audible from up close.

“I get it. You have a bad head, so you don’t understand when I turn around and talk to you, Cedric. Even without culture, I was just swearing at you in your face, but you didn’t even understand that.”

“What?”

“I’ll say it clearly, Cedric Hilos. Whether you’re the youngest of the Hilos family or an elite knight from the North, that’s not important.”

“…Okay.”

“As a human being, you did something you shouldn’t have done, and you don’t even reflect on it. Cream won’t do that either. Ah, Cream is the hunting dog I’ve recently been in charge of.”

“You’ll regret it if you don’t shut up. I warned you.”

“Being a maid, I’m here brazenly begging like this, so you should check what kind of crime you’ve committed. If your head is bad, you should at least be quick-witted.”

“What? How dare you…”

Enraged, Cedric suddenly pushed my shoulder with force. I was pushed back as my legs, which had been running so hard to save Celly, gave way.

…!

Celly was the only one who reached out her hand to grab mine.

“Lea!!”

And with Celly’s desperate cry as the last words.

Splash!

The icy water threw me as it was.

The freezing water penetrated my body as if all my veins were freezing. It felt as if all my blood vessels were freezing.

The water was so cold that it seemed like I might fall asleep like this, so I snapped my mind back.

“Ugh…!”

I had only ever come here to watch the lake, and this was the first time I had been thrown in like this.

Of course, I didn’t even know how to swim.

The surface of the water seemed to get farther and farther away.

My legs, which had been unlocked due to my desperate running to save Celly, did not regain their strength.

The bewildered faces of Cedric and his companions and the surprised face of Celly as she reached out her hand towards me gradually disappeared, and the sky appeared.

I reached out my hand to swim and tried to climb up, but instead of floating up, I sank lower and lower.

The lake at night was so dark that nothing could be seen in front of me. It was as if I had been thrown into a deep abyss, and fear filled the air.

“Ugh…!”
The air bubbles scattered frantically. My muscles trembled and quivered as I moved my hands and feet, and my breath was labored. It felt like I was suffocating. I tried to catch the escaping air with both palms over my mouth, but it made no difference.

“Damn it…”

I tightly shut my eyes in agony. I exerted all my strength to crawl upwards, but my body didn’t respond as I had hoped.

“I can’t die like this…”

I promised to take responsibility for Celly…

If I die like this, my connection with Celly will be severed. When I open my eyes again, I’ll be at the Nireal Mansion, not in the North. Dettor and Delia will be smiling at me.

I’ll become a stranger to Raches, and I won’t be able to see Cream either.

Even my small but peaceful room in the Violetus Castle will disappear.

“Back to that hell again…”