TSMMT Ch 177

Someone's Fault

A dream took hold of him. Guiscard watched fragmented memories churn before his eyes. What began as mere glimpses grew horrifyingly vivid, pulling him into sync with the bastard's emotions.

A mere slave harbored feelings he had no right to possess. The bright, innocent smile of a young girl receiving delicate flowers filled him with sudden loathing, sparking a desire to trample her underfoot.

Guiscard recognized these memories now. They belonged to him. They were his memories.

This isn't me. I never did such a thing. I would never—

[Monster] "Are you so sure you didn't?"

Within the memory, the bastard locked eyes with him. Their faces were identical, save for the longer hair, the jagged scar across one eye, and pupils that no longer belonged to a human.

[Monster] "Would you really never have done it?"

The voice sounded chillingly identical to his own.

[Monster] "When you yourself crave even those memories?"

Guiscard followed the pointed finger and saw Dianna smiling radiantly. When their eyes met, a gentle smile touched her lips.

She was young, far brighter and freer of burden than the Dianna he knew. Her youthful innocence felt agonizingly endearing.

He stared at her in a daze.

He wanted that girl, the Dianna in those lost memories he had never possessed. She was different from the Dianna he knew.

She was the girl who had met Guiscard for the first time, caressing him with gentle hands and offering meager charity. Even her pitiful sympathy felt impossibly precious.

I want her. I want that Dianna, too.

The bastard sneered at him in disgust. Ultimately, they were the same man. Both knew the dark desires consuming their souls all too well.

Guiscard conceded.

He is me. I did it. I would have done the exact same thing.

If Dianna had not acted differently in this life, he would have followed the exact path. The future would have repeated itself.

Ah. So that was it...

He chuckled and looked back at his counterpart. Just as he knew nothing of that innocent Dianna, this monster knew nothing of the present Dianna Brienne.

The gruesome memories cut off abruptly, but they were enough. Dianna was forced into marriage while she wore a slave's collar. She was left isolated without allies, gazing only at him.

Sadistic impulses and twisted desires flickered within his heart. Even her fragile, withering state felt agonizingly precious.

Guiscard recognized the owner of those despair-filled eyes. She was the Dianna Brienne he knew.

The dying Dianna and the woman in his life were one and the same. The realization wrung a mournful laugh from his throat.

---

The king had collapsed from his wounds. Yet thanks to Dianna's quick thinking, the undead army was gone, and festive cheer filled the air among the survivors.

Inside a border-town residence provided by Adelheit, Dianna sat with Tarascus.

Adelheit observed them both with a grim expression.

Though Tarascus was regenerating, his bones, including his spine, had been shattered. Dianna's face was deathly pale, and tight bandages wrapped around her treated neck.

[Adelheit] "Dianna."

[Dianna] "Why... why?"

Her lips trembled as she struggled to articulate her anguish.

[Dianna] "Tarascus... why is he the rift?"

Tarascus placed his small hand over hers.

[Dianna] "He should have stayed dead! He was supposed to die, never to cross my path again!"

She cried out in anguish.

[Taras] "Did you not love him?"

[Dianna] "I did!"

Her voice shattered into a scream.

Had she loved him? Yes, she had loved him deeply.

Had she hated him? She had loathed him to the core.

Had she longed to see him? Not even in death had she wanted to face him again.

[Dianna] "I wished with all my heart that we would never meet again! We were terrible together. We destroyed each other!"

Tarascus lowered his gaze as he took in her distraught expression and stared at his hand resting on hers.

[Taras] "Then what do you feel toward the man of the present?"

[Dianna] "...The present?"

[Taras] "The man living in this life, your husband. Is he terrible to you now?"

[Dianna] "Tarascus!"

She snapped sharply.

As a dragon, Tarascus harbored a keen fascination with human emotions, especially Dianna's. Yet whether due to his dragon nature or sheer ignorance, his curiosity often prioritized probing over empathy, tearing open fresh wounds.

What Dianna needed to understand right now was why Guiscard had appeared wearing Fafnir's skin, bent on destroying the world, not the philosophical difference between the past Guiscard and the present one.

[Taras] "Were they not the same man, then and now?"

[Dianna] "They are different! It's completely different!"

She shouted. Truthfully, she had never bothered to compare the two. Call her selfish if they must.

She had loved the past Guiscard, and she loved the present Guiscard. At times she viewed them as one and the same. At other times, they were complete strangers.

[Dianna] "What matters to me is whether Guiscard Lodbrog subjects me to that hellish life!"

[Taras] "..."

[Dianna] "The present Guiscard doesn't do that. That is the truth!"

Unlike his cold past self, the current Guiscard was tender toward her, more honest and desperately devoted. Coldhearted? Not in the slightest. He was a man clumsy at expressing his feelings.

Yes, hearing Tarascus' words made Dianna realize it with utter clarity: to her, Guiscard and the monster were distinctly separate beings.

[Dianna] "Tarascus, please... explain what is happening. That isn't what matters right now. It's..."

None of them had ever seen Dianna lose her composure so completely. Grief, rage, and despair consumed her, driving her frantic.

In truth, she had not gone to check on the wounded Guiscard because she was pouring all her focus into containing the turmoil raging inside her.

Tarascus looked at her and closed his eyes.

[Taras] "It is my fault."

[Dianna] "What?"

Dianna froze, stunned by his sudden confession. Tarascus bowed his head and spoke in a low, heavy voice.

[Taras] "Because I carelessly granted dragons such immense lifespans."

[Dianna] "What... granted lifespans?"

Was it because he was the Dragon of Time? She struggled to process his words.

[Taras] "I am a unique dragon. Strictly speaking, I am a 'dragon,' but I am not merely one of them."

Dianna watched him, her face tense.

[Taras] "Dianna. I created the dragons. I created humanity."

He gazed at her with an unreadable expression. With pure silver hair and silver-blue eyes, his otherworldly face gave nothing away.

[Dianna] "What are you talking about? Created them?"

[Taras] "..."

[Dianna] "You sound as if you're a god."

A strained smile touched her lips. Though Tarascus appeared as a young boy now, in her eyes he was still just a little child, a hatchling dragon.

Such a being created humans? Created dragons?

Adelheit, who had been quietly listening, spoke up.

[Adelheit] "Dianna, it is true."

I am a special dragon.

I am no hatchling.

I am unique.

Sudden realizations echoed through her mind as she narrowed her eyes at Tarascus.

[Taras] "Being a god is not as grand as you imagine. If anything, I am merely a 'maker.'"

[Dianna] "..."

[Taras] "I didn't create the earth or the seas, nor did I forge the sun or the moon. I didn't invent spirits, souls, time, or death. I crafted humans and dragons within an already existing world. Nothing more."

[Dianna] "What does that even mean?"

[Taras] "Deity status is nothing miraculous. Strictly speaking, I was a dragon capable of creation, tasked with safeguarding time."

Why had Tarascus been excluded from the Oath of Dragons? The answer was simple: he was their creator.

[Taras] "I created beings in my image, and together with the dragons, I created creatures reflecting theirs."

[Dianna] "So that is why you referred to us as creatures..."

She recalled how, when she first met him, he had used the term 'creature' far more frequently than 'human.'

Tarascus sighed softly before continuing.

[Taras] "I am the root cause of all this. I bestowed an inherently unequal span of time upon dragons and humans."

[Dianna] "..."

[Taras] "Fafnir was the most sentimental among us, the most peculiar, the most bizarre, and the most obsessed with humans."

[Dianna] "..."

[Taras] "You heard from Zmew, did you not? Those dragon slayers who bathed in dragon blood became immortal because the dragon's vitality transferred to them. It was a method devised by a dragon who refused to watch the human she loved perish."

[Taras] "Yes, Guiscard must have carried Fafnir's vitality within him as well, and along with it, her lingering malice and hatred."

Dianna felt breathless with shock.

Fafnir. Fafnir! That Fafnir! She could burn with hatred for that name now.

[Taras] "To make matters worse, Fafnir's blood flows directly through his veins."

[Dianna] "..."

[Taras] "Fafnir refused to forgive the kingdoms that slaughtered her daughter, nor the world itself. That vengeance reared its head when Guiscard was at his weakest."

Dianna stood dazed.

Was the Guiscard of her past life already consumed by the dragon's hatred? What about the present Guiscard?

Amidst her spinning thoughts, Tarascus spoke again.

[Taras] "Your death made him weak."

---

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