I arrived at a bitter yet liberating realization: All this time, I had been living inside a story invested in keeping its protagonist alive. Now, I was standing in a real world that didn't care whether I breathed or died in the next second.
Not cruel. Not kind. Just pure cause and effect.
"Ah…"
The fear that hadn't surfaced earlier began to creep in. Not a fear of monsters, but the primal terror of realizing there was no longer a giant hand guiding the path. From now on, if I fall, I will truly hit the ground. There will be no coincidence to catch me.
I turned toward Selene. She was still here. Bound to me not by written fate, but by choice—and perhaps our own shared foolishness. And strangely enough, that felt more precious than any scenario Agatha had ever offered.
I stood up slowly. My knees trembled slightly—this time purely from muscle fatigue, not for dramatic effect.
One awareness settled firmly in my mind: The old story ended because I closed the book myself.
