天天精品

I could still vividly remember the moment in the novel where Claudia was helplessly swayed and distressed by Nihilis, the Spirit of Hopelessness.

Therefore, it was refreshing to see her strongly assert her opinion against the spirit whose temper was hard to control at will. I felt like I was about to burst into tears.

Now that she’d signed a contract, that damn Spirit of Hopelessness wouldn’t bother her again. Although I didn’t like the Spirit of Life too much, at least it wasn’t bad since his tail was lowered in front of Claudia.

“Why should I leave this place?”

‘…….I can’t believe you’re rebelling as soon as you can. Please let Claudia feel like it was worth choosing you.’

I swept my face with my palms and let out a deep sigh.

But Claudia responded naturally as if she had already expected Ilypia to act like this.

“The Mendello authorities.”

She mentioned the topic that Ilypia currently loathed the most. At the same time, the murderous energy in the spirit’s jet-black eyes began to rise like a tide.

“You exploded when they dug up the tomb, but your rage must have accumulated from before…….”

I thought so too. There was no way the people, who were capable of digging up other people’s graves, wouldn’t have done worse than that.

It must have been because there was nothing more precious to Ilypia than the tomb and the relics of his former contractor.

“I’ll let you take revenge.”

“I can do that on my own.”

“I heard you’ve lived on this island all your life even though you weren’t actually tied on a leash. That means you don’t care about what’s going on outside the island. Furthermore, you don’t know what’s going on in the world.”

I didn’t expect a day like this, where such words came out of Claudia’s mouth, would come. How much hardship did she go through until she, who previously didn’t care about the world and knew nothing about it, said this?

This time, in a different sense, my eyes brimmed with tears.

‘Is this how a parent feels?’

I watched Claudia happily from the sidelines.

“I’ll place those authorities before you. It doesn’t matter if you eat, grill, or boil them. The choice is yours.”

‘But you’ve grown up too fast.’

A teacher like me, who was like a blue-collar worker¹, had nothing more to say. Although I wasn’t aware of what happened in that village, I had nothing more to teach you so you could descend the mountain now.

Ilypia showed slight signs of hesitation at Claudia’s suggestion. He was shaken from the beginning by the words of revenge, but he also seemed confused.

I asked, “Is there a reason why you cannot leave the island?”

The spirit hated the Mendello authorities to such an extent that he reacted to the word ‘revenge’.

He could have chased and killed them earlier, but he only dealt with those sent to the island.

Then, there must be a reason why this spirit couldn’t leave the island.

Ilypia remained silent for a while before answering.

“If I leave, the island will sink. It should have already sunk during the disaster four thousand years ago. I was barely keeping it in shape.”

Oh, so that’s why he didn’t leave.

After the tomb was dug up, Ilypia chose to recreate the past from four thousand years ago.

That was how much he missed those days, so it must be heartbreaking to have this island, filled with his memories, become buried in the sea.

But, wait a minute.

I suddenly had a question, so I asked it.

“Why did you drag all the people to the island?”

I understood that he wanted revenge on the Mendello authorities, but what the hell was wrong with the rest of the islanders?

Let’s screw you all together! Even if he was a spirit who signed with Claudia, considering his self-destructive character, I should stay a fair distance away from him.

“Arista enjoyed mingling, drinking, and talking among the people. If I showed her that, I thought she would show up.”

“Show up?”

“I also elaborately embodied her, but she disappeared the day after she was created and never showed up in front of me.”

Ilypia tried to speak indifferently, but he couldn’t completely erase the bitterness. It must have been rather traumatic for him.

But, in any case, it was slightly shocking to hear.

Even if Ilypia was the Spirit of Life, he had the liberty and power to replicate a person based on their appearance?

Wasn’t that practically the person? There was just no soul in it, but it was still amazing.

The Spirit of Life might be more powerful than I expected.

When Claudia heard that, she fiddled with the necklace that I had never seen before.

“Are you sure you don’t know why the Holy Lord showed up in front of me but not you? I think I know why. She wanted you to leave without any needless regrets.”

“…… ”

“It’s not like you don’t know that.”

‘Chloe, your words are still as outspoken as ever.’

Even as I listened, I felt like a cold dagger flew and stabbed me.

Of course, it wasn’t a bad thing considering all the things the spirit had done so far. He deserved to die tens of thousands of times.

But right now, he needed the courage to change his life and remain calm.

‘If I’m an authentic person, I can’t pretend to be ignorant of this.’

Even if I hated him, he was Claudia’s spirit.

I’d have to see him for the rest of my life.

“If you decided to give up your life in the spirit world and live with the humans, you better get used to it.”

Then, for a moment, his smoldering black gaze fell on me.

“Human beings call life ‘sublime’ because there is death. An artificial flower that imitates the shape of a flower will never wither, but it will also never bear fruits.”

Spirits lived much longer than the lifespan of humans. Thus, there were many more days to come.

If he reacted like this whenever he lost something precious, his mind would never remain intact.

The more he tried to hold on to the past, the more it would be destroyed.

“It is said that everything that disappears is beautiful. Even if you don’t know much about the lives of humans, as a spirit, you should know the order of nature better than anyone else. Even if it decays and becomes a handful of ashes, you’ll have to bear with it until the end.”

Then he wrinkled his eyes as if in pain.

“There’s no way Arista means the same thing as a weak flower that blooms and withers in the middle of the season.”

As expected, it seemed that he couldn’t let go of his lingering feelings over her death. It was to the point of admiration.

Since the time for a spirit was different from that of humans, I mistakenly assumed that four thousand years would feel like nothing to him.

“She innocently died among the devils and the ungrateful humans who forced her to make sacrifices for no reason at all. It was a dog’s death.”

I understood very well how the spirit felt because of Felix. Unlike me, who somehow managed to prevent it, the depth of Ilypia’s sorrow must be unbearable.

“You should become her fruit so that her death isn’t in vain. She bloomed so beautifully, so you can’t let it end as a dog’s death.”

If Felix had really died, my heart would be torn apart, but I would have tried my best not to waste his noble sacrifice.

Life was all about the process of leaving something behind.

That was the case with animals and plants, who constantly sowed and nurtured the seeds of life.

If Arista was born on this land and left something behind, one of those things must be Ilypia.

“She just knew that it was time for her to disappear. And you, who were left behind, should know when to bury her in your heart.”

That’s called human virtue.

I ended my speech there.

Ilypia stiffened for a moment as if surprised and then swept back his black hair in annoyance.

That was the first time I discovered that even spirits could shed tears.

* * *

I never imagined that I would suffer such hardships after we left home.

The island we bought with great difficulty sank deep into the sea like Atlantis. All the people I hired were of no help. I experienced the crisis of being buried alive. And I constantly suffered from the fear of losing Felix.

It started with the lightest feelings as we were simply going on a trip to the island I received as a birthday gift, so how did it become such an arduous journey?

I seemed to have underestimated this novel which was labeled as the essence of tragic novels. I didn’t expect it to be so tough to sign a contract with a spirit.

In any case, no one died, and everyone was well. That, in itself, was a relief and comforting.

And, most of all, despite all the suffering I went through, I was delighted that Felix finally opened his eyes!

“I want to go to the sea.”

Those were his first words as soon as he opened his eyes.

* * *

^{1. A blue-collar worker is a working-class individual who performs manual labor such as construction, mining, or maintenance. (White-collar workers are those who are known as the “suit-and-tie” workers who work in the service industries to avoid physical labor.)↩}

* * *