No…
She was gone.
She had followed them somewhere I could never reach.
Why was this happening to me?
Was it my fault?
Did everyone I loved have to disappear?
I sank into an eternal darkness.
There was no light to pull me out. No light to guide me.
I screamed.
I reached out my hand, begging for someone to help me—
But no one answered.
My body slowly fell.
No sensation.
No air.
I didn't even know where I was.
Maybe…
This was the end.
Then a black, slender hand emerged from the darkness.
It tore through the darkness as easily as paper.
I slowly raised my left hand, reaching toward it.
An eye opened in the palm.
It blinked once.
Then the eye fell onto my hand—
and the black hand vanished.
I stared at my palm in confusion.
It was smiling.
Then—
it swallowed me whole.
What happened?
I felt something pouring over my face.
As I drifted toward consciousness, I heard a whisper.
It was so close that it felt as though the voice had been spoken directly inside my mind.
"No…"
I woke to tears falling onto my face.
When I opened my eyes, Carmela and Seijo were there.
They were crying with relief because I was alive.
But I was sad that I was.
I wished I had died.
I wanted to leave the grief and pain behind.
I lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
Trying not to forget her face.
I stood and walked outside.
I took out a cigarette and lit it.
I tried to move on.
Tried to convince myself that I could.
But I couldn't.
My left arm had returned.
My wounds had been healed.
I went to the doctor.
"Who healed me?"
"The queen. You should feel honored. She healed a lowly human like you."
A wire wrapped around his neck.
I tightened it slowly.
"I don't care about your pathetic problems with humanity. I never did. I want to see your queen."
Blood began running down his neck as the wire tightened.
He was afraid.
But he refused to tell me where she was.
A woman who looked to be around thirty stepped out from behind the doctor.
She tried to cut the wire.
I pulled it away.
She stepped forward.
"I am Queen Rosa. What do you want?"
I looked at her.
"Why didn't you protect your daughter?"
Her answer was cold.
"I don't care about the fate of traitors… even if one of them is my daughter."
My anger flared.
My grip tightened.
My aura erupted.
I seized her by the throat and began choking her.
The doctor tried to pull me away.
I punched him.
His head was crushed by the blow, and his body slammed into the wall of the room.
My eyes returned to the queen.
"Why didn't you protect your daughter?"
She struggled to breathe.
I released her.
Then I grabbed her by the hair and screamed:
"Tell me why you didn't protect her!"
Suddenly, tears began streaming down my face.
The queen stared at me in shock.
I was the man who had fought so fiercely.
The man who had fought with everything he had.
The man who smiled and laughed in the middle of battle.
And now…
I was crying.
I broke.
My screams tore through the room as the tears refused to stop.
"Why…?
Why didn't you help me?
I was trying to save the last thing I had left.
The last thing giving me a reason to keep living like this.
I was abandoned.
Exiled.
Tortured.
I lost everyone I loved.
If your daughter was a traitor and you didn't want to save her…
then… why didn't you save me?
Your daughter was in danger.
And she still sacrificed herself for me.
For everyone in that forest.
She was saving the very people who condemned her.
Why couldn't you do even one thing?
Are you insane?
Are you just some whore who gives birth to children, leaves them behind, and walks away?"
The queen said nothing.
Her silence only made my anger burn hotter.
I wanted to kill her.
But I didn't.
Not for her.
For Miko.
I clenched my fist.
And punched the queen in the face.
Then again.
And again.
And again.
I was drowning in grief.
Anger had consumed me.
My chest felt like it was being crushed from the inside.
Every breath hurt.
I left the hospital covered in the queen's blood.
Outside, the elves welcomed me.
They cheered.
They called my name.
They celebrated the man who had saved them.
Damn you all.
If I had known this was what would happen…
I never would have saved you.
My cigarette slipped from my fingers.
It fell to the ground.
I watched it burn.
It was just like me.
I burned…
and returned to ash.
I walked through the crowd.
I wanted to leave the forest.
I wanted to return to the kingdom.
I wanted the king to execute me.
I didn't want to live.
I hated this life.
A life filled with grief and loss.
I didn't want to be alone anymore.
As I tried to leave, the trees and spirits called out to me.
I ignored them.
I didn't care anymore.
Wet leaves clung to my clothes, as if the entire forest itself refused to let me go.
I left my equipment behind.
Everything I owned.
I walked out of the forest with nothing.
I was exhausted.
I had nothing left.
But when I reached the edge, Countless trees closed in around me.
They refused to let me leave.
The sky was dark.
Rain poured down.
The queen's blood still stained my fist, slowly washing away beneath the rain, leaving dark trails across my fingers.
There was no moon to guide me.
My feet sank into the heavy mud with every step.
With every movement, I felt as though the earth itself wanted to swallow me.
I stopped.
I looked up at the sky.
Pain tightened my throat.
I lowered my head.
And then I screamed.
A scream that carried everything I wanted to say.
From between the trees, the elven queen appeared.
"What do you want from me?"
She removed her crown.
Then she took off the cloak bearing the crest of her royal family.
"Listen to me…
I am sorry.
But the law is still the law.
It must apply to everyone."
I stared at her.
"Did you come all the way here just to tell me that?"
I stepped toward her.
"Get out of my sight.
I didn't kill you because Miko entrusted me with protecting you."
My voice exploded into a scream.
"The woman you called a traitor was saving you!
She was helping you!
But you…
You're ungrateful.
I don't know you anymore.
…Just stay away from me!"
Tears rolled down the queen's face.
"My daughter told me there was someone like a lonely, sorrowful child…
Someone who had no one.
You were the person she was searching for."
"Don't pour oil on the fire."
My voice was cold.
"If you're here to lecture me about life, I don't care.
Leave me.
Or you'll die."
She looked at me.
"Your name is Tai, correct?"
"Yes.
Why?"
"Miko contacted me telepathically while you were unconscious.
She told me stories about you.
She told me that she wanted to marry you…
that she wanted the two of you to have a family.
She also told me where she was."
My expression changed.
For the first time, something returned to my eyes.
A possibility.
A light.
Something that could make me continue living this miserable life.
"Where is she?
Is she safe?
How long was I unconscious?"
"Wait.
That's too many questions at once."
She took a breath.
"She is in the Demon King's castle.
The Demon King is trying to use her as a hostage because he discovered that she is a princess.
You cannot face Diablo.
You couldn't even defeat his right-hand man."
My expression froze.
"And as for your coma…"
She continued:
"Your injuries were so severe that the Core of the Forest and the Mana Jewel had to help me heal you.
You were unconscious for three months."
End of Chapter 50