Surprised, Lily groped the hand around her waist. It was a small child’s hand.
“I can reach you now. Aren’t you coming?”
It wasn’t the time to worry about the words that didn’t make sense. Lily hastily loosened the hands around her and turned around then kneeled down.
Among the tangled white blond hair and uncared for features, Lilian discerned the familiar purple gaze.
His purple eyes, shining like pieces of broken jewels put together, must be…
“Your Highness…?”
It was Damian’s.
“I was looking for you.”
But the child didn’t have Damian’s smirk.
“I kept looking for it, but it wasn’t here.”
The expressionless face was not like Damian at all. Lilian answered dutifully, even though her body trembled with an indescribable foreboding.
“Yes, Your Highness. I don’t live here.”
“I know that now. So I’m here to call you back. But to no avail.”
He’s here to call Lilian. It was something that was difficult to understand the context of.
“Are you saying you broke this place…?”
Upon checking again, the child presumed to be young Damian nodded. Lilian recalled the horrific destruction she had witnessed until she came here.
‘It’s not possible with the power of a child.’
Even when he was young, Damian seemed to be Damian.
Come to think of it, she had heard that Damian went to the battlefield in his early teens.
When she first heard it, she let it go without feeling much, just like hearing a story about a great man in history. Now that she thought about it with the young image in front of her, she finally realized what that meant little by little.
“…oh my, Your Highness. Do you have any wounds?”
Come to think of it, Lilian had followed the bloodstains all this way.
“I’m hurt.”
He held up his hand as if the child was telling her to look there. The back of his hand, which he proudly showed off, was torn in a mess.
“Oh my gosh…”
It was a grievous wound that was so tattered that the bone was exposed. Lilian became serious all at once. She thought about it.
‘The wound isn’t healing. As expected, this child is not His Highness…?’
Just then, they both stumbled. The stuffed deer head barely hanging on the wall fell to the floor.
Lilian hurriedly looked at the child. However, the earthquake of unknown cause had already subsided.
“Your Highness, are you okay?”
“…you’re hurt.”
Instead of answering, the child pointed at Lilian’s ankle bone.
Indeed, there’s a small wound caused by brushing over an obstacle to find the child earlier.
“You’re hurt. Is it because of me?”
“No, it’s because I wasn’t paying attention. Rather, we have to get out of here…”
“I can’t get out of here. Mirror is mad because I broke this place.”
“Is the mirror mad?”
At that moment, as if responding to Lily’s question, there was a rumbling sound.
It sounded like thunder from afar. At the same time, Lilian’s vision was greatly blurred.
“No…”
At that moment, the child’s purple eyes flashed desperately and grabbed onto the hem of Lilian’s skirt.
“No, don’t go back. Stay here with me.”
“Your Highness, I…”
Her head was spinning. Lilian clenched her teeth tightly. Her vision was gradually blurring.
“You can’t go…!”
The desperate child’s voice gradually faded. She wanted to comfort him, but her voice wouldn’t come out.
Her consciousness began to blur. Lilian thought she was about to wake up from her usual dream.
However, it was in another space, not next to Damian, that Lilian came to her senses.
“Here again…”
Where is she? Lilian looked around the space which was all silvery.
She couldn’t tell where the bottom was.
“…this is inside the mirror.”
Suddenly, a familiar voice filled with dissatisfaction answered.
Lilian hurriedly rose from her seat. The person behind her…
“Your Highness?”
…it was in the form of Damian.
“No.”
A being with a very dissatisfied expression on Damian’s face answered.
“Because I am a mirror, I am often fixed in the image of the being who has recently used me. But the way your husband looks is quite distasteful.”
As soon as it snapped its fingers, its shape changed in an instant. Lilian saw a young man with blue hair she had never seen before.
“That’s better. Shall we talk now?”
“You are…”
“My name is Zagreb.”
Zagreb!
Although she expected it, Lilian was surprised. Appearing in human form…
“Are all ancient weapons like this?”
“Huh?”
The already sharp-looking young man’s expression crumpled.
“Let me tell you one thing, I am not a weapon. I am called ‘The Mirror of Facing’.”
“But they say that everyone loses their minds when hit by you…”
“I was created as a therapeutic tool to help people get over the past they couldn’t overcome. It’s not my fault that the weaklings tend to become like that in the process.
“Ah…I see…”
This notorious weapon was actually for treatment. The wizard who first created this must have been quite an eccentric person.
“Anyway, I barely got connected, but I don’t have time to be talking nonsense like this.”
“I also want to ask you something.”
“What, if the child you saw earlier is your husband? That’s correct.”
Zagreb admitted that great fact without hesitation.
“That child…”
Even when she’s unaware, Lilian was shocked when she remembered the poor behavior and expressionless face that was uncharacteristic of a child, which she pitied.
His voice, telling her not to go and stay there, was still vivid in her ears.
Regardless of her shock, Zagreb continued to explain.
“To be precise, a piece of your husband’s soul. Your husband used me and left on his own.”
“I see…”
“I see? Did you just say ‘I see’? Even after seeing that horror just now, is that all you have to say?”
“…yes?”
For some reason, the mirror seemed very angry.
“Since I was born from my master’s hands, I have lived in peace for many years! But since your husband left that piece of his damn soul, I haven’t had a moment of peace!”
“Yes?”
“Your husband is a nightmare!”
Looking at the trembling young man, Lilian thought it’s a relief that Zagreb wasn’t in Damian’s image.
“Do you know how many atrocities that piece of soul he left behind has committed so far? No matter what kind of memory moment you lock in, in the end, he’ll break it all and escape! He tried to kill me again and again!”
“Yeah…that’s right…”
Lilian was on Damian’s side, not to mention emotionally, but she couldn’t openly take sides in front of the mirror that almost died at Damian’s hand.
“In the end, it calmed down a bit after I turned him into a child and buried him in the darkest memories I could think of. But even that became useless when you appeared!”
“…wait a minute. You imprisoned him in his darkest memories?”
“Otherwise, I would have died. Why don’t you remember that?”
The mirror was annoyed. But Lilian just calmly looked at him accusingly.
Damian hadn’t looked into this mirror of his own accord. He had only been tricked by the Emperor and Rachel. Besides, his soul was also split.
Even if it wasn’t Zagreb’s intention, the biggest victim in this situation was Damian, not Zagreb.
“Give me back my husband’s soul.”
“Oh, please take it. In fact, I also connected this passage to ask for that.”
Zagreb kept trying to ‘connect’ to Damian, but it didn’t work on Damian.
He said.
“It seems like he’s a guy with a damaged soul.”
In the meantime, fortunately, Lilian started to receive Damian’s mana so he’s able to connect with Lilian occasionally.
“Then please…”
“Okay. The fact that we’re having this conversation today, and that kid was able to reach you, is all thanks to me finally succeeding in connecting the magic pass.”
There’s a hint of pride mixed into his grumbling tone.
“Anyway, take that damn troublemaker away as soon as possible. I’m not saying this just to be nice. Your husband is also a monster that just looked human, but he’s been holding on until now. Perhaps by now, the symptoms of soul damage have begun to appear?”
The mirror’s words reminded Lilian of Damian’s unhealing wound.
Zagreb laughed.
“Looks like you’ve got something figured out.”
“The gap created by the loss of a piece of the soul will widen over time, and the symptoms will become widespread. Eventually, your mind will collapse.”
Lily’s expression became serious, knowing how much Damian was broken.
Zagreb warned.
“Before that happens and before I die, please take your husband’s troublemaker soul.”
“…what can I do?”
“Right now, this magic pass cannot be maintained forever because the connection is unstable. It’s too unstable a channel for transporting souls.”
“Then…”
“You have to come see me yourself.”
Just then, the space where Lily was standing began to crack open with an ominous sound.
Zagreb clicked his tongue.
“It looks like that troublemaker is causing another accident.”
Lilian recalled young Damian’s words of destroying the surroundings to meet her.
For the child who lost her in front of his eyes, she guessed that he wouldn’t stand still.
“The connection is also slowly becoming unstable, and since I’ve said everything…I’ll have to go catch that kid again.”
“Again?”
Zagreb said he imprisoned Damian in his darkest memories to render the soul powerless.
‘No way…’
Zagreb laughed at Lilian in a world that was breaking apart.
“If you don’t like it, you’d better pick it up quickly. I’m a mirror that heals so I try not to do anything nasty, but if I can’t stand it, I might try to destroy that soul altogether, you know?”
The mirror waved. Then her vision blurred.
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