Nightmare Came to The Place I Escaped - Chapter 80

“Ha? How can you be sure that I’ll do that for you?”

“Please.”

 

Ian stared at Roosevelt’s red eyes, as if he already knew everything.

 

At the end of the day, he would have no choice but to do him this favor.

 

Roosevelt frowned, and took a few steps back.

 

“You know that. How painful it was to wander in the past.”

“….”

“There is nothing wrong with that child. You don’t have to put that burden on me.”

 

Roosevelt let out a cold laugh.

 

Ian, who acted like he knew everything about him but didn’t, made him feel annoyed.

 

“Ha, what do you know about me?”

“You’re probably similar to me.”

“What?”

“You regret something because you made a mistake in the past. You’re like me.”

 

The expression slowly faded from Roosevelt’s face.

 

“Isn’t that why you want to check? You want to know whether I can be forgiven by Rachel.”

“….”

“Don’t you want to get a glimpse of hope through me?”

 

Ian blinked slowly .

 

Or maybe he wanted to rationalize through Ian.

 

There was another scumbag like him, through the temple he was allowed to beg for his life.

 

It was impossible to know exactly what his feelings were, though.

 

What was clear, he wanted to see if there was an opportunity for him through Ian and Rachel.

 

“No.”

“What?”

 

Roosevelt shook his head stubbornly.

 

“I don’t like it. I don’t want you to give up.”

“Then you do it.”

 

Roosevelt’s eyebrows twitched again at the eyes of a man who didn’t care.

 

“How are you sure? I’m gonna erase her memory. It’s none of my business whether that child is struggling or sad. It’s the result of your choice.”

“Please, I said please.”

 

Ian swallowed a sigh at the stubborn Roosevelt and asked again.

 

Roosevelt didn’t need anything he had. Neither gold coins, nor an Empire, he wasn’t interested.

 

But Ian knew he would do him this favor in the end.

 

He must feel sorry for Rachel, too.

 

Perhaps Roosevelt knew how Rachel died. No, he was sure it was a high probability.

 

But he pretended not to know on purpose.

 

That’s why he first approached Rachel.

 

At first, it was similar to what he was looking for. So, Roosevelt would’ve been interested and bothered, and then it might have been painful to see Rachel.

 

So, he would’ve pretended not to know Rachel on purpose.

 

“Roosevelt, to be honest, you could have helped Rachel if you wanted to. You could’ve saved her. Don’t you think so?”

“….”

“So, help me this time.”

 

Roosevelt glared at Ian. He figured Roosevelt didn’t like him because he was feeling guilty.

 

“This is why I hate smart alecks.”

 

Then he turned around.

 

“And I don’t want to! So, I won’t listen to your request!”

 

Bang!

 

The door of the office closed violently. Was it because of him?

 

Ian clicked his tongue quietly, and lowered his head again.

 

In reality, he’d already finished all of the work he needed to do, but Ian found more work and took charge. Otherwise, he would be thinking about Rachel all day.

 

She’d left him, and he couldn’t meet with her anymore.

 

Day by day, this painful desire to see her grew.

 

Yeah, maybe they were in some kind of relationship, but it only existed because he was holding it together forcefully.

 

It was a relationship that couldn’t be achieved in the first place unless he deceived Rachel. So, while he was heartbroken, it was only natural for Rachel to leave him, it was normal for him to be abandoned.

 

And now that everything was exposed, nothing could be done.

 

The string he was forcibly holding was broken, and he could no longer meet Rachel.

 

It was something he was terrified about happening and swore when he heard Rachel found out, because Ian had hoped he could fool Rachel for just a little bit longer.

 

He shook it off quickly with a small frown, but Ian still hoped a little bit.

 

***

 

Knock Knock

 

Rachel tilted her head slightly at the knock on her door.

 

The sun had already set, and her father and brother had said goodnight a long time ago. There was no one else who would knock on the door right now.

 

Knock Knock

 

The person knocked on the door again while Rachel was pondering for a moment.

 

“Come in.”

 

Rachel stood up from her seat and called out.

 

Soon the door opened and a man walked into the room. In the darkened room, the light didn’t reach his face, so she couldn’t see that well above his shoulders.

 

But what was certain was that it was neither Mike nor the Duke who’d entered.

 

“Who…”

“It’s me, Rachel.”

 

Rachel took a half step back at the playful man’s voice.

 

“Hana?”

 

It seemed that he wasn’t from Oates castle, and there was no way that Hana would’ve let him in.

 

“Hana?”

 

Rachel fearfully called her maid’s name while gradually widening the distance between her and the unknown man. The man stopped walking, and raised his hands at the sound of fear in her voice.

 

“Huh? Is she your maid?”

 

He didn’t seem to want to do her any harm.

 

“She’s sleeping right now. She must’ve been very tired.”

 

The man said as he glanced out the door.

 

“Who…”

 

Rachel took another step back, then fell onto her bed.

 

“It’s me, the magician.”

“What?”

“It’s me. We were pretty close. You didn’t forget me, did you?”

 

His low voice mixed with laughter.

 

“It’s not easy to forget my appearance.”

“By any chance…”

“Yes, it’s me.”

 

He moved his hand a little, the fireplace and the small oil lamp on the desk turned on, and the door closed. With all the fires lit, only then did the man’s face appear.

 

“Now do you remember?”

 

The man smiled as if he was very happy.

 

Jet black hair, and bright red eyes beneath. Rachel finally knew who he was.

 

“Magician?”

“Yes, it’s me Rachel.”

 

Once she confirmed the man’s identity, Rachel looked away in confusion.

 

Apparently he was an official at the Imperial Palace.

 

Then how could he be at the Oates estate, in the inner room of this castle, and at this late hour?

 

“But how…”

“I have something to say.”

“To me?”

 

He nodded. For some reason, unlike his voice that was mixed with laughter, the man’s face looked sad.

 

With that sad look on his face, Rachel almost forgot something important.

 

What she wanted  to ask the man was not why he came here, but how he got here.

 

How the heck did you get here, with or without something to say?

 

Why did Hana fall asleep in that cold hallway? Were the lights suddenly turning on and the closed door magically handled by him?

 

No, was it possible to light a fire with magic?

 

Magic was to surprise people with tricks by preparing a device in advance. But today must be the first time the magician was here.

 

Who brought them into the castle?

 

Or did he get fired from the Imperial Castle, and get re-employed with the Oates family?

 

“Magician…”

“Yes?”

“I thought you were a bureaucrat of the Imperial palace, so how are you here?”

 

Rachel wanted to ask that, and who he was.

 

“A bureaucrat? Hmm, Rachel. You’ve heard of the Prophet of the Empire, haven’t you?”

“…Yes, I’ve heard of it.”

“Well, that’s me.”

 

The man smiled again.

 

But Rachel couldn’t smile along with him.

 

Rachel couldn’t believe the man’s words, and felt dizzy when she thought that it might be true.

 

When the man moved his hand again, the room brightened in an instant.

 

“This is magic, not illusion.”

 

At the end of his sentence, the bright light faded again. Rachel closed her eyes in surprise at the sudden bright light.

 

The darkness fell again, but Rachel’s eyes were still suffering from the afterimage of the bright flash of light.

 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

 

He looked at Rachel, who was squinting, with an apologetic stoop.

 

“Rachel, the reason I’m here is Ian Dakendov. I need to tell you something about him.”

 

The man hesitated to speak to Rachel, who didn’t seem to understand the situation yet, then he opened his mouth again.

 

“Ian told me not to say anything, but he doesn’t have much time left.”

 

There was nothing more he could do for him. From now on, whether she believed him or not, it was all up to Rachel.

 

“The bottle I gave you before time was turned back. Ian used that bottle to turn back time.”

“…His Majesty did?”

“Yes, those who turn back time have to take responsibility accordingly. If they don’t achieve their purpose of turning back time, they end up being eaten by the time they’ve turned around.”

 

Rachel frowned at Roosevelt’s words.

 

“Ian doesn’t have much time left.”

“The purpose? What was the purpose of His Majesty turning back time?”

“To get you back.”

“What…”

 

Rachel frowned as if embarrassed.

 

An unbelievable reality faced in a sleepless situation. A guy who was saying things that she couldn’t understand.

 

Rachel just looked up at him.

 

Ian doesn’t have much time left. Does that mean he was going to die?

 

As soon as she understood what Roosevelt said, her heart sank.

 

She couldn’t believe Ian was going to die. Ian, who always seemed to live longer and healthier than her, would die.

 

Rachel couldn’t easily believe the man’s words. Ian hadn’t even caught a common cold.

 

“….”

 

Not too long ago. Rachel remembered Ian, who was suffering from cold sweat on the day they went to the beach.

 

Maybe the guy was talking about that day?

 

She couldn’t believe Ian was going to die. She couldn’t believe it.

 

She didn’t know why, but she just couldn’t believe it.

 

Besides, he still had a lot of work to do. It hadn’t been that long since he’d won the war and ascended to the throne, but if he died like this, what he’d achieved was all in vain. So what did Ian go around the battlefield for?

 

Ian also had no descendants to hand over his post to yet.

 

But Ian was going to die?

 

Did he know? That he might die soon?

 

“Only the marriage vows of eternal love can save him.”

“Marriage? He needs to get married?”

 

The man nodded slowly.

 

A vow of everlasting love, it was Ian’s deepest desire when he drank that potion.

 

To swear his love to Rachel, and be together for the rest of their lives. Marriage.

 

***