Chapter 219.

At my call, the man slowly turned to me.

“Ms. …….”

A familiar voice called out to me. Probably because of the intense movement, half of the rabbit mask came off. His face was revealed at once.

“You …… No, Marquis, what is this instead ……”

I was startled and immediately ran to the mirror.

“Marquis!”

Why is Winter burning in front of the mirror of truth, I can not imagine all this.

Within a month, I, who had learned the magic formation, frantically slapped Winter with the sleeve of my robe. There was no water, so in order to extinguish the fire on his body, the only way to put out the flames on his body was to use this method.

Slap, slap!

“Uh-uh! Miss, wait!”

He grimaced and groaned as I flailed about with my robe, but unfortunately, the fire showed no signs of going out.

“Bear with it! Let the fire go out first!”

“No, no! Wait a moment! I’m the patient, for where the lady is hurt ……”

He yelled sharply. Only then did I stop hitting him. The inexplicable beating made the already dangling bunny mask fall off completely.

His forehead was stained with blood and my eyes widened.

“Are you hurt?”

“Slightly, slightly.”

“It’s because of the fire ……”

“It’s not because of the magic array. Iben-sama, no……”

He corrected himself by gently biting his lower lip.

“Dealing with Leila made it so.”

The unsettling premonition hit. The evil spirit went to someone close to me before coming to me.

“…… The shard, it was taken.”

“…… I’m sorry.”

My words were a sharp darkening of Winter’s face.

“Lavon was brainwashed.”

“Lavon? When ……”

“Perhaps, on Sorel Island.”

He muttered in a bitter tone.

“I ended up …… holding nothing.”

A strong melancholy and pain swept over his face.

Perhaps it was the suffering he hadn’t experienced that made his face gaunt.

When he heard the words “Lavon was brainwashed”, he immediately understood the reason why he was robbed of the fragments and the children were taken hostage. For him, it had nothing to do with personal feelings, so I understood his feelings.

When I was devoured by the Duke, I felt helpless and bewildered by despair. He would feel even more miserable because everything was his blunder.

“First of all …… how to put out the fire.”

The water had already spilled, and it wasn’t good to go back to right and wrong. I still stared at the flames burning on his body. It’s amazing to be alive when the fire is this big. Was the magician supposed to be alive.

“Isn’t it hot?”

“Is Miss hot?”

In that case, in order to save him, I entered the center of the magic formation without fear.

I slowly looked around. Even if one stood in a place where no magic formation was drawn, it’s impossible for a person to be fine while the fire is right next to him.

“…… It’s not hot.”

“I’m not hot right now either.”

Grunting blankly, Winter replied coldly.

“But still, we have to go back, so please tell me the spell to sprinkle.”

“It shouldn’t work.”

“Why?”

“It’s not reality, it’s the future and past that hasn’t happened.”

I had no idea what he was talking about and frowned.

“What is that?”

“Did you meet Ibn?”

Winter interrupted the rhetorical question to change the subject. I nodded briskly.

“Met him on the road.”

“Did the shard …… get snatched?”

The military blue pupils faltered. I didn’t answer. Instead, I took a piece out of my pocket and showed it to him.

I can’t give you security, except by seeing it.

But instead of being as reassured as he expected, Winter reached out with difficulty, bound by fire, and grasped my arm that held the piece.

“Never let Ibn finish the relic. The ancient Leila removed a part of the Mirror of Truth beforehand, which was a preparation to unseal it. That’s what Iben is trying to do now.”

This was a fact known through the Mirror of Truth. I’m glad that Winter knows it too. I asked eagerly.

“How to stop it? Please tell me the way.”

“If Ibn has gone to the palace, the way to stop it is ……”

Winter suddenly closed his mouth. After a while, the absurd words came out with difficulty.

“There is no way to stop it.”

“What ……?”

“Take this and hide it.”

The next words were even more discouraging.

“Now you’re telling me …… to run away?”

“If need be.”

I wondered if I’d misheard, but he answered firmly.

Crazy because he’s about to be burned to death?

I looked at Winter with unfamiliar eyes.

“Might as well let me kill Iben. Because even if you get injured in battle, the Marquis won’t be blamed.”

“Since the body has been made complete with the golden dragon’s fangs, you can’t kill her with magic.”

“What did you say!”

My eyes widened. This is the first time I’ve heard that.

“Why are you telling me now!”

I unknowingly reprimanded him in plain language, and his face was grim.

“I didn’t know until a little while ago either ……”

“Should have killed her just now!”

Wynter listened to my menacing words and lay twitching his body on the ground, but didn’t look at me.

Regardless of whether the Duke was caught by the python or not, the magic should have been cast as is. A minute difference, the opportunity to easily kill someone was missed, feeling crushed. I sighed repeatedly and suddenly regained my senses.

“What happens if the body is completely transformed?”

“Even without the Mirror of Truth, they would become too powerful to be sealed again. In addition, if even the last fragment is held in the hand, the sealed Leila will be resurrected.”

“In that case, the young lady won’t be able to handle it alone. That’s why …… took the shard and hid it in a safe place.”

Once again, the story boils down to escape. I didn’t come to Winter to escape.

“What about the children?”

Came the raspy voice.

“You gave me the shard for those children. And let me live or die?”

“Those children ……”

As expected, Wynter’s face changed when he touched the scales. It was always the same, why say the words that killed people.

“I was the one who brought those children around. It has nothing to do with the lady, nor is there any fault.”

“If Leila is resurrected, those children will most likely become their food. Although very young, they are magicians after all.”

“Until then, welcoming peace is even more important for the children ……”

“Ha, I didn’t realize you were so enlightened.”

I scoffed icily.

“Miss.”

There was something sinister about my words, and Winter’s eyes widened. I gazed at him coldly and retorted calmly.

“…… If that survives with a shard.”

“When will Ibn show up, where should the shard be hidden, and will that person be brainwashed?”

It’s so tiresome dragging this out. Only now have I seen the ending. I know how to end the damn game.

“Make me live my life in fear and trembling?”

I clenched my teeth.

“Why don’t you just drink the poison you gave me. I can’t do that, Winter Belldandy.”

A waste of time. Might as well go back and think about how to kill Eben.

I looked down at his dark expression and immediately stood up.

“It looks like it’s a long way from here.”

“You’re on your own. I don’t care if I resurrect dozens or hundreds of Leila, I’ll master it on my own.”

Whether it’s that burning flame, or alive, I don’t know. I kicked up a cold breeze and turned around in the middle of the magic formation. Just moments before leaving.

“Just before I took the shard away, I cast the forbidden magic.”

The dry voice echoed.

“I touched time and peered into the future. To find a way to stop Leila. ……”

“But what I saw wasn’t the future. It’s what has happened in the past and what could happen in the future.”

Ignoring him, his footsteps suddenly stopped. No wonder, with his limbs wrapped in flames, there was something strange about his face. It was as if he knew it would turn out like this.

“Actually, before I came here, I was afraid of the price I would pay for using forbidden magic. But it was all in vain, because in the past, I even did a lot of things to turn back time.”

I stared into the spinning military blue eyes. He stepped toward me.

“My lady is right, as a price for touching time, I can’t get rid of the magic line.”

“The line never deviated.”

“Then that magical array ……”

I realized the true identity of the magical array that surrounded him and shut my mouth.

He escaped from Ibn, who had taken over the world, and stood before the Mirror of Truth, giving his life and turning time. A vision of him surrounded by magic and burned alive passed before his eyes.

“I don’t want to force you to sacrifice anymore …… Why are people so kind.”

“What did those who made you die say.”

Now I realize why he even abandoned his children and told me to run away. Knowing everything about the past, Winter looked at me like he was crying or laughing.

“…… Don’t misunderstand.”

But he didn’t seem to know this. It’s no longer about survival for me, it’s about ending the damn game.

“Because it’s all about me.”

“…… Is it?”

Even with calm words, he agreed. Sympathy and annoyance with the past was temporary. Winter’s eyes slowly returned to reality.

“Do you still have the rose I gave you earlier?”

Suddenly, he asked inexplicably. I took it out with the pieces and showed it to Winter.

The petals were wilted and the withered stem looked like a stick. It could have been thrown away, but somehow, like the hiding of the fragments, the entwined flowers were not forgotten, but carried together.

His face changed at the sight of the roses.

“Then …… from now on, please listen to me carefully, Miss.”

The military blue pupils looked straight at me.

“The sight of the merchant group before coming here told me that there was an explosion before snatching the shard.”

“It didn’t obliterate the shard, but there was a slight crack.”

“She wouldn’t have kept the relic in her arms. If it’s taken by someone else, she won’t be able to rule over the resurrected Leila, so ……”

In a calm voice, he told me how to stop the status quo. My pupils shook as he finished speaking.

“What if …… if I fail?”

I asked him in a voice devoid of confidence.

“If I am taken from the shard and die at the hands of Iben …… then what happens next?”

“Don’t worry, my lady.”

He said gently, to reassure me.

“Didn’t I turn back the clock to be here?”

I looked at the flames across his limbs and made a terrible assumption.

“What if I can never come back after turning back time?”

“Then I’ll repeat it forever.”

Looking at the speechless me, he guffawed and added.

Back then. Bell- The mirror of truth vibrated. At the same time, white light emitted from the mirror above.

“The time the mirror gave me is up, go now.”

Winter said to me eagerly. I nodded briskly. Walking towards the brand new door. Before entering, I stopped and looked back at him.

“If it works, can the Marquis get rid of it too?”

“I don’t know …… I’m not really sure.”

“I’ll try.”

“Don’t push too hard.”

The old courtesy was over. Finally I entered. Chanting a crazy spell, a white light flashed before my eyes. So did not hear Winter’s last grunt.

Only one person was left in the space, and purple rose petals began to fall.