Please Don’t Die, My Lady

Chapter 44

Ariana’s voice echoed in my ears.

At first, I thought it was a hallucination, but it wasn’t.

The delicate arms wrapped around my chest, pulling me into her embrace, were far too familiar.

When I met her eyes, a mix of faint relief and vivid guilt lingered there.

Her gaze didn’t linger on me for long, quickly darting elsewhere.

But the arms around me tightened, their hold growing stronger.

I didn’t understand everything, but one thing was clear.

Ariana had come to save me, just in time.

For the first time.

“You’re late.”

“I’m sorry.

I’ll go back and apologize for everything.”

“An apology isn’t enough.

You’ll have to tell me everything.

I’m tired of making bad decisions because I don’t know what’s going on….”

“…You’re right.

At this point, I can’t make excuses anymore.

It’s my failure, all of it. I’ll tell you everything.”

I hadn’t expected much when I threw out my demand, but her positive response caught me off guard.

My eyes widened involuntarily.

“Really? You promise…?”

“…Don’t worry.

I won’t lie to you anymore. I promise.”

“Wow, ah… ha…

Okay, it’s a promise.”

As soon as I felt confident that we’d truly communicated, a sense of relief—entirely out of place in the current situation—bloomed in my chest.

I hadn’t lost everything.

There was still one last chance.

After what felt like an eternity of misfortune, luck had finally turned in my favor.

Nothing had been resolved yet, but that single fact was enough to dispel the despair that had been devouring me moments earlier.

I let myself relax in her arms, my body going limp.

Though, in a way, even that felt like another kind of resignation.

There was nothing I could do in this situation.

I had no choice but to trust Ariana.

For the first time, the power she had used to confine and hurt me was now being directed against someone else.

A small laugh escaped me.

For no reason, I felt oddly reassured.

The professor, watching us, sighed deeply.

Pressing his temples as if warding off a headache, he spoke.

“Coordinate tracing through mana transference, followed by high-tier teleportation.

…I won’t ask what you two were doing locked in a room together. It sounds embarrassing.”

Ariana’s arms tightened slightly around me.

I suppose she felt caught.

“So, what’s your plan now?

Ah, are you trying to take Adelian away from me completely?

Finally rebelling outright, are we?”

“Yes, just as you say.

So, could you kindly back off?”

“Not a chance.”

“That’s troublesome.

I dislike fighting.”

“A coincidence.

So do I.”

The two magicians exchanged dry smiles, staring each other down.

Ariana seemed prepared for a fight, but the professor still appeared willing to talk.

Even as he slowly gathered mana, preparing for combat, he continued to speak.

“I honestly don’t understand.

Why are you so fixated on her?

If this had been your stance from the beginning, fine.

But suddenly changing your tune and charging in like a wild boar? It’s baffling.

You’re not the kind of person to act this way.”

“There’s no special reason. I just like her.”

“Do you really think that’s a convincing explanation?

If your feelings were genuine, you would have acted sooner.

Why start pretending now?”

His words were brutally direct, yet Ariana barely flinched.

She even nodded, as if agreeing.

“That’s because I am a hypocrite.

Don’t worry. I don’t intend to make excuses or seek forgiveness.”

At least, that’s how she appeared to the professor.

Her mask, as fragile as bare flesh yet thick and unyielding, convinced him.

I wished I could accept it as easily, but the slight tremble in her arms betrayed her unresolved feelings to me.

This must have been a matter of deep torment for her.

And, coincidentally, for me as well.

My desire to leave her had dissipated.

But I still wasn’t sure if I could forgive her—or even reciprocate her feelings.

If it were the Lady, would things be different?

Of course, they would.

I would have recoiled and lashed out before such thoughts even crossed my mind.

She had become me, and I had become her.

I could reject this if I wanted to, but honestly, I didn’t feel the urge.

After all I’d endured.

I had been stained, consumed, and bound, now falling with her into the abyss.

It seemed I had fallen into full-blown Stockholm syndrome.

Or maybe it was just lust.

That might actually be closer to the truth.

For someone like me, it felt like a fitting explanation.

“Hah. Sure, save her. Go ahead.

Defeat the villain, rescue the fragile Lady, and then what?”

“What else?

I’ll do everything I can to delay her death and ensure she lives the rest of her life happily.”

“If you’re planning to keep her as a doll, I’d suggest stopping now.

She doesn’t have much time left anyway. Three years, at most.

You know what it means for someone to have their blood drained daily, don’t you?”

“Guh, cough!”

I choked, coughing uncontrollably.

I was shocked.

At the Very End

I had always known that my body had deteriorated and that I wouldn’t live long.

But I hadn’t expected such a straightforward and hollow confirmation of my terminal condition.

Hearing it so suddenly dulled my resolve to die on graduation day, a determination I had clung to for so long.

Was even the choice of death being taken away from me now?

…No.

In this case, it was more accurate to say that I had never had that choice to begin with.

The thought that a corpse had entered the academy and become a doll was nothing but delusion.

I had been mistaken.

So terribly, laughably mistaken.

Haha.

“I have no such intention.

I will do whatever the Lady desires.

If you wish for me to disappear, I will disappear. If you want me dead, I will die.

Because I do not deserve happiness by your side.”

Ariana’s hand gently stroked my back.

She didn’t seem surprised.

Perhaps she had already known.

Her touch was warm, but it made me feel a little sad.

“…And your family?

How devastated will the poor Warton Count and your sister be when they see what you’ve done?

Their beloved kin dragging them to the guillotine?”

“They’ll be sad.

They’ll resent me, hate me, curse me—that’s easy enough to imagine.”

“You speak as though it doesn’t matter to you.”

Ariana smiled faintly and held me tighter.

“It doesn’t. I’m a flawed person.

I can’t hold onto anything beyond what fits in my hands.

It’s far too late for me to save everything, so I let go of everything except one thing long ago.

Now, all I can do is devote myself entirely to seeing that one thing through.”

Perhaps because I was already hurting inside, I couldn’t summon the will to resist.

In truth, even if I’d been fine, it wouldn’t have been much different.

“…Abandoning your family.

I suppose I’ll have to reconsider how to use you as a hostage.”

The professor frowned deeply and let out another heavy sigh.

It seemed he had exhausted every method of persuasion, with no results to show for it.

There was only one option left.

From beneath his feet, a white hexagonal pattern etched with geometric symbols began to spread, slowly consuming the room.

A world centered on him began to form in what had once been my personal space.

A wave of visceral revulsion washed over me.

It was sickening.

“Let me ask you one last time: give up.

If you stop now and turn back, I might just let you go.”

“That’s unfortunate.

It’s far too late to turn back.

And I’m not naive enough to believe your promises of sparing us.”

The arms that had been wrapped around me let go.

I felt a twinge of regret, but knowing what she was about to do, I didn’t try to hold her back.

She stepped forward, and from her, I could sense a surge of magic unlike anything before.

Even I, who knew next to nothing about magic, could tell that she was fully prepared for battle.

She was serious.

Good.

But could she win?

Could she survive this?

Her opponent was the professor.

The same man who had broken through the concept-blocking array with ease.

Even for Ariana, was there any chance of victory in a direct confrontation?

Had she been forced into an unplanned fight to save me?

My already chaotic mind became a storm of relief, anxiety, and worry, threatening to spill over.

Despite promising to trust her—

I found myself consumed by useless thoughts, incapable of doing anything.

No, that wasn’t true.

There was one thing I could do.

Pray.

Anyone could do that much, couldn’t they?

With a self-deprecating expression, I slowly clasped my hands together.

Yes, I would pray.

At least then, if things ended badly, I could console myself with the thought that I had tried.

“You’ve turned into a moth flying to the flame.

At this point, all I feel for you is pity.”

“I agree. I’m as foolish as an insect.

No, perhaps even less than that—at least insects aren’t hypocrites.”

“Good to see you’re aware of it.”

“Coming from you, it’s not a sentiment I appreciate.”

With faint smiles exchanged between them, silence hung in the air for a moment.

As though it were a signal, incantations began to flow simultaneously from both their lips.

I tried to ignore the sharp, crashing sounds of their magic clashing and focused on murmuring my prayer with as much care as I could muster.

There had always been only one deity I believed in, then and now.

To the one who sent me to this place, I pray.

Please, I don’t want to witness another person’s death.

I beg of you.