Progress didn’t necessarily mean a hopeful story.

After the relentless research, she found a way to save Rodion. It was just that it was a path that didn’t deviate an inch from the fate given to them.

“Elios is the only thing that has access to fate.”

Human hands couldn’t reach the absolute coercion above it — destiny.

Perhaps it was natural. Ordinary human beings wouldn’t have even noticed the existence of fate. Only Elios, whom they treated as an unknown being, had the record of fate, which meant that only through Elios could someone intervene with fate.

And in order to deal with Elios, she had to make someone who could use Elios.

To sum it up…

“It’s the starting point.”

It was the first time she’d come back.

With the argument that Rodion should be forced to be experimented on so that he could handle Elios. Edith let out a devastated laugh at the fact that no matter how many hypotheses and repeated experiments, the fact didn’t change.

“It’s the starting point, after all…”

Rodion was only three years old at the time.

In other words, the time Edith spent all three years trying to save her child was only just to conclude that she had to force her child to suffer. That day, she cried a little more than the day she realized the existence of fate.

She couldn’t even enter the room where the child was.

…Seeing the tiny hands of a child babbling in the cradle and seeing the spotless innocent face of an angry child made her want to run away from all this truth.

How weak human beings became in front of love.

Edith, who had never regretted her choice, regretted it endlessly after falling in love with Rodion. Nonetheless, when she thought that the choice was also to meet her beloved child, she became infinitely happy.

She remembered the moment she held her baby for the first time. At that moment, she had never been touched by the warmth of a human being, and how she was deeply saddened while holding a child who wasn’t even half her size.

That moment when she couldn’t help but cry because she didn’t know if the fullness that filled her heart was happiness or sadness…

…Only then did Edith admit that she had awakened to irreversible emotions.

It may have started on the day she uncovered the true nature of Elios, but she couldn’t understand the fact that she loved her child, whom she had never met in person. It was probably natural since she couldn’t understand the feeling of affection.

However, the moment the warm warmth of a child wrapped in cloth reached my heart, all of that incomprehensibility was resolved.

The years of wandering around without a place for a lifetime disappeared in just an instant. The child was hers… He was an opponent that wouldn’t be a waste even if she poured out all she had to him. So, she couldn’t break the child down with her own weakness.

How strong humans became in front of love.

“I have to do anything to save Rodion… No matter how inhumane it is, I have to do it.”

Edith pondered over her affection, which hadn’t faded even for a moment, and uttered. Her only purpose was to live for her child and to break his destiny for him.

After listening to all the confessions, Irene asked.

“Then, do you know how to break that fate?”

“Of course. I explained earlier that using Elios is the only way to reach fate… but that’s not all.”

Nothing could be changed just by touching fate.

“…I’ll twist fate, find the manager of this destiny, and kill them.”

Hearing Edith’s story, Irene was a little taken aback.

The manager of fate… She had never thought of anything like that. It was only natural that she thought that the game was run by the system.

So, she asked back.

“Is there such a thing as the manager of fate?”

“Why, because you don’t think there will be? Then, who do you think spent all that time?”

“That’s… it’s just…”

Didn’t the game automatically return when it reached its ending?

…Was someone turning back time? Was such an idea possible?

When Irene was speechless and unable to answer, Edith frowned. It was her chronic habit that came to mind when thinking about a problem that hadn’t been completely solved.

“I don’t know exactly what role the manager plays. Still, the manager does exist, and I think they’re the mainstay of turning time.”

“What is the rationale?

“It’s simple. You know that time is ticking, too, don’t you? While I was researching information about the fates of Elios, I found out that all fates are cut off at the same point.”

Up to that point, Irene didn’t have to raise any questions.

‘Because time turns back the same in the ending.’

It was because, at the same point, this world returned to the beginning again.

“But only once, I checked the time that went back from a different point.”

“….!”

“It was quite a surprise. Before that, I had been thinking of fate as a so-called automated system that works without human intervention, seeing that it all revolves around the same point.”

“Then… wouldn’t there be a possibility that there was an error in the system?”

“It’s a possible story. Fate ended at the same point… but only time went back after that.”

She realized what Edith was trying to say. It meant that even at the moment when the game reached its ending, time didn’t turn back. And it also completely overturned Irene’s idea that the ending was the point of return of time.

“Even though it was over… time didn’t go back?”

“Yes. So, I looked at the records to see what on earth happened before that incident.”

And Edith found a singularity.

“As soon as fate came to an end, there was someone’s death.”

“…Death?”

So, did that mean it was the ending of Die?

“This isn’t the end. There’s also a record of Elios being resurrected since then. And right after the resurrection, time went back.”

However, the record wasn’t complete, so she could only know about ‘death’ and ‘resurrection.’ What was in between, and whose death and resurrection really belonged? Even the death and resurrection of the same person were unclear, Edith explained.

Still, even though it was full of unclear things like this, one thing was certain.

“The regression of time is determined by a certain person. Even if we die, it’s by someone who doesn’t die.”

What a thrilling sensation that categorical tone came to Irene.

‘I can break free from the restraint of time.’

Even if she couldn’t go back to reality, that was good enough. It was because leaving the game and returning to reality was something she had already given up at the beginning of this life.

‘Rather, this could have been a better thing.’

She’d already spent way too much time in this game. If only she wouldn’t have to repeat this tragedy again… it’d be nice if she could be free from the game. As she thought so, Irene tried to calm her shaking heart and opened her mouth.

“Then, you couldn’t figure out who that person was…?”

“Unfortunately, the Elios I have is a fragment so the record in it is also incomplete. I couldn’t know everything.”

Saying that, Edith frowned as if asking if she knew how long it took for her to find out this much. Rather than being annoyed by the current situation, it seemed to be because the pain in her foot, which had been treated simply, had worsened again.

“Rather than that, if I told you this much, wouldn’t it be okay if you let me go soon?”

“I can’t solve it without the Young Master’s permission. I’ll let you know when I’m done talking with him.”

“Then, at least let me smoke a cigarette in my pocket? The pain is killing me.”

‘I can do that much.’

Irena got up and approached Edith. As she searched the pockets of the gown she was wearing, she soon found a tin case and a lighter.

Chiiik.

The end of the cigarette lit up red, and acrid smoke flowed out. Edith, who took a deep breath to endure the pain, continued the story while frowning.

“It hurts terribly. Anyway, that’s why I’m going to catch and kill the manager of fate… who touches the bridle of this time.”

“You don’t know who it is, so how would you catch them?”

“Even if I’m not sure who it is, there are candidates.”

“Who’s that?”

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