KFBRV Pt 2 Ch 26

I usually wake up from the hallucinations right around now......

He knew perfectly well that his mind was deteriorating. He also knew the hallucinations consuming him grew more severe with each passing day.

Lately, he always awoke to find himself half-submerged in the freezing ocean.

Recently, he had even begun speaking to the phantom Odette in front of others. He had happily chased after her illusion while in the middle of crucial discussions with the Pope or the Emperor.

The boundary between hallucination and reality was steadily crumbling. But even so, he had never physically grasped her like this before.

Zion had tried to touch the hallucination countless times. Yet, the absolute moment his fingers closed around her, she always dissolved into peach blossom petals or fluttered away as a butterfly.

This was the very first time the hallucination remained solid, perfectly anchoring itself in his grasp with vivid, lifelike sensation.

Furthermore, this is the first time she's looked this dazzlingly, breathtakingly beautiful.

A low, hollow laugh escaped his lips.

It was fortunate she lacked her signature scent; had she smelled of peach blossoms, he would have believed she was the real Odette.

[Zion] "The Pope is going to treat me like a total joke now. He already looks at me like a madman."

While his inner self had entirely collapsed, he desperately fought to maintain a functional exterior. However, after two years, even the facade was becoming impossibly heavy.

Consequently, the Pope and the Emperor were already well aware of his mental decline. Zion endured daily reprimands reminding him that while the other Transcendents might have lost their minds, the Marquis of Kleist needed to remain sane.

Did I have an appointment with the Pope at the Grand Cathedral today?

But what was the point of pretending to be sane? If he could just gaze at this hallucination a little longer, that would be enough.

Zion stared at the phantom, completely captivated.

It's a shame.

This particular hallucination was exceptionally beautiful. So stunning, he felt blinking would be an absolute waste.

After staring at Odette unblinkingly for a long time, the edges of his eyes reddened. He felt moisture welling up over his violet irises before spilling over.

[Zion] "Haha, I don't want to wake up...... Odette."

He knew this Odette would soon evaporate into nothingness, just like all the others. Waking from the hallucination meant facing a reality utterly devoid of her once again.

The cruelest aspect of a hallucination was its inherent falsehood.

Returning to reality always forced him to agonize over what had stolen her from him. And that agonizing spiral always led to the same conclusion: he was the one who had driven her away.

Then the suffocating guilt and regret would crush him all over again.

If only I could live in this hallucination forever.

That desperate thought had haunted him for a long time. However, even descending into madness proved difficult for a Transcendent. Neither alcohol nor drugs possessed the potency to intoxicate him.

It was then. She twisted her wrist and spoke.

[Odette] "Let go."

The physical sensation of her wrist twisting was astonishingly vivid. It genuinely felt as if she were standing right in front of him, alive and breathing.

Platinum-blonde hair tinged with red from the setting sun. A furrowed brow. The most brilliantly radiant teal eyes in the world.

Fascinating. How can it feel this real?

As if bewitched, he released her wrist and immediately cupped her cheeks with both hands.

The hair tickled his palms. The warm body temperature. The soft cheeks.

The sensation was so overwhelmingly realistic that it made his stomach churn.

If I experience this level of sensory detail, will I even be able to function when I wake up?

A dizzying vertigo washed over him. His throat constricted. He couldn't even remember the last time his heart had hammered this violently.

Everything was excessively realistic.

His gaze, meticulously mapping every detail of her face, locked onto her lips as if entranced.

A sudden, ravenous impulse seized him.

Since this hallucination will shatter anyway, is it okay to be greedy?

Once he woke up, his life would return to absolute hell. Surely he deserved at least one memory to help him endure the misery.

A damnable mixture of profound longing—the desperate urge to cherish and protect her—clashed with an all-consuming desire to devour and possess her entirely.

Zion took a deliberate step closer to Odette. He lowered his head. As the distance between their faces shrank, his internal agony deepened.

Right. This is just a hallucination. Whatever I do, I don't actually do anything wrong to her.

Even knowing they were mere phantoms. Until this moment, he had never once forced himself upon Odette's illusions.

His guilt was so absolute, he couldn't bring himself to wield authority over her even in his dreams. But two years had passed. He was completely broken.

If I'm broken, shouldn't my patience shatter as well? Hmm? Odette.

His gaze remained anchored to her lips. As if savoring the anticipation.

It's just a hallucination. I can kiss her as much as I want, and no one will ever know.

His dark desires seemed to whisper the justification into his ear.

He slowly closed the remaining distance. Just as his lips were about to claim hers.

[Odette] "You must be starved for purification. Your Excellency."

A cold, sarcastic voice sliced through the air.

---

Zion froze instantly at her voice. She glared into his violet eyes, her gaze saturated with absolute contempt.

I never expected that bastard Zion to fundamentally change, but still.

Since he hadn't pursued her for two years, she assumed he had at least discarded his ridiculous obsession with her.

She figured he must have met Charlotte, experienced true love, and dedicated his noble, pristine affections entirely to her.

He was always terrible, but he's mutated into something absolutely wretched.

Grabbing her wrist without permission and attempted to force a kiss. The yearning expression he wore, as if handling something infinitely precious, was utterly repulsive.

He's just going to do whatever he wants in the end anyway.

The palms feigning gentleness, the gaze stubbornly seeking permission—it was all a sickening act.

They stood close enough to share breaths. Odette unflinchingly held the gaze of the violet eyes scrutinizing her.

[Odette] "......."

[Zion] "......."

How much time passed in this tense standoff?

He finally released her cheeks and took a step back.

[Odette] "Why stop? Please, continue indulging yourself."

[Zion] "No. I was wrong. Odette."

Did this bastard even realize that suddenly acting like a gentleman now only made him appear more absurd and detestable?

Odette rubbed her left wrist, aggressively brushing off his lingering touch as if wiping away filth. Then she raised her head again.

[Zion] "......I miss you."

His face crumpled miserably, like a man on the verge of sobbing. He spoke with the desperate, yearning tone of an abandoned stray calling for its master.

It was an expression and voice entirely unsuited for a man who routinely exploited and tormented others as a matter of course.

Who is the one being exploited in this relationship? He acts as if he's the victim.

Incredibly, tears were now actually streaming down his face.

What is this 'I miss you' nonsense? Shouldn't he be saying 'I missed you'?

[T/N: Odette finds "I miss you" grammatically bizarre because she is physically present and the period of separation is over. However, Zion uses the present tense because he is convinced she is dead and just another hallucination.]

Of course, even if she had an abundance of time, she wouldn't have wasted a single second on him.

The Rothbart River flowed directly behind him, blocking her path.

[Odette] "Step aside."

But he remained rooted to the spot, entirely unmoving.

Right. Since when did he ever listen to my commands? Naturally, he'll just ignore me.

He was just a uselessly massive roadblock.

She shifted a step to the left, attempting to bypass him and access the open path.

He instantly mirrored her movement, sliding a step to his right. He deliberately used his sheer bulk to block her.

And he moved with terrifying speed. It appeared as though they had shifted simultaneously.

[Zion] "......Odette. Look at me."

[Odette] "Step aside. Your Excellency."

[Zion] "You despise me, don't you? Aren't you curious to see how thoroughly the man who treated you so horribly has been ruined?"

She furrowed her brow in irritation.

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