Chapter 139: The voice
Mary — POV
Then the pages changed abruptly.
The warm colors vanished.
Blood replaced them.
Cassel appeared again.
But this time, he was kneeling on the ground, blood covering his entire body.
My breathing stopped.
Cecil and I stood before him.
I saw myself crying.
I saw Cecil saying something I couldn’t hear.
Then—
I plunged a knife into Cassel’s chest.
My eyes widened in horror.
The pages did not stop.
I saw his body collapse.
I saw blood spreading beneath him.
And I saw myself... crying as I extracted his crystal core.
An icy chill spread through my limbs.
No...
No.
But the book continued.
It showed how Cecil and I obtained his power.
How we became stronger.
How the story ended with our victory.
Me...
The final queen of humanity.
I lived happily.
Beloved.
Revered.
Immortalized in the eyes of the world.
Slowly, I covered my mouth as my breathing grew heavier.
So...
This was the original story?
Was I the heroine?
Was I the main character of this world?
At first, I felt stunned.
But after a few moments...
It all began to feel strangely natural.
Reasonable, even.
All my life, people had loved me.
Everyone had been drawn to me.
Everyone had protected me.
Even after the apocalypse began, people remained by my side.
I had always been special.
Different.
As though the world itself treated me gently.
So of course...
If this world were a novel...
Then I was the heroine.
Who else could it possibly be?
But...
If all of this had truly been destined to happen...
Then why had everything changed now?
My gaze froze.
The book had not been wrong.
Everything it showed about my past was true.
Every detail.
Every emotion.
Every person.
So...
When did the story go astray?
When did everything begin to fall apart?
My fingers trembled.
Then I whispered a single name.
"Rosalia..."
The instant her name left my lips—
The pages stopped turning.
Silence filled the white void.
Something cold brushed against my neck.
My eyes slowly widened.
Yes.
Ever since Rosalia appeared...
Everything had begun to change.
Cassel changed.
People changed.
The events changed.
Even the way others looked at me was no longer the same.
Rosalia.
She was the mistake.
The foreign existence inside this story.
The stone thrown into the river that altered the entire current.
She stole my life.
She stole my destiny.
She stole my place.
She stole... Cassel.
And suddenly—
I heard a voice.
A deep, majestic voice so overwhelming that my entire body froze instantly.
"At last... You finally understand."
My eyes widened sharply.
"Who’s there?!"
The voice echoed throughout the endless white void.
"That girl is the source of your suffering."
A shiver crawled down my spine.
"She stole everything from you."
My heartbeat quickened violently.
I spun around, but there was no one there.
The voice came from everywhere at once.
"Who are you?"
Silence lingered for several seconds.
Then—
"I am the one who wrote this world."
My breath caught.
"I am the one who created your story."
My fingers trembled.
"I am the one who chose you to be the heroine."
My head began ringing.
The voice continued in a disturbingly calm tone.
"Your story was perfect."
The visions appeared around me once more.
Me upon the throne.
Cassel is standing beside me.
Humanity is cheering my name.
"A beautiful and pure heroine who saves humanity."
"A loyal monster who falls in love with her."
"A grand and perfect ending."
Then—
The images suddenly tore apart.
Rosalia appeared.
I saw her approaching Cassel.
I saw her smiling.
I saw her changing everything.
And finally, I saw myself...
Alone.
Broken.
Forgotten.
"She ruined my story."
This time, fury was unmistakable in the voice.
"That girl does not belong in this world."
"Her existence is a mistake."
My breathing became uneven.
"She stole your role."
"She stole your love."
"She stole your ending."
I bit my lip hard.
Yes.
Yes!
That was right!
Everything should have been mine!
I should have been the one standing beside Cassel!
I should have become the queen!
I should have been loved by everyone!
But Rosalia...
Rosalia took everything.
"Do you wish to reclaim what was stolen from you?"
The voice whispered slowly.
I lifted my head.
"What... do you mean?"
"I will grant you power."
My breath halted.
"Enough power to crush that intruder."
Darkness slowly began gathering behind the black book.
"Kill her."
"Return the story to its rightful path."
"And then..."
The voice paused briefly.
"Everything will return to you."
An image of Cassel appeared before me.
Once again, he looked at me with absolute obedience in his eyes.
Then I saw myself seated upon the throne.
My heart trembled violently.
Everything...
Would it return to me?
Cassel too?
"Yes."
The voice answered as though it had heard my thoughts.
"That monster was created to belong to you."
My breathing faltered.
"But Rosalia stole him."
Hatred began boiling inside my chest.
I remembered her smile.
The way Cassel looked at her.
The way he protected her.
None of that would have happened if she had never appeared.
She was the reason.
The source of everything.
Slowly, I raised my head.
"If I kill her..."
The voice smiled.
I could feel it.
"The world will return to the destiny it was always meant to follow."
I closed my eyes for a moment.
Then I opened them again.
This time...
There was no hesitation left inside them.
"Alright."
My voice was quiet.
But the smile spreading across my lips was frightening even to me.
"I’ll kill her."
In the next instant—
The entire white void trembled violently.
Darkness exploded from the black book like a raging sea.
Something cold pierced through my body.
Power.
Terrifying, overwhelming power.
A soft laugh escaped my lips as the darkness coiled around my arms like a living creature.
Finally...
Finally, I understood.
I am the true heroine of this world.
And Rosalia...
Is nothing more than a mistake.
And now—
All I have to do...
Is erase that mistake.
