Chapter 112 

Alexa rifled through the bookshelf. Despite having read quite a number of books, she still couldn’t find a way out of this place or any clue as to why she’d ended up here in the first place.

“Ugh. What exactly is the answer I’m supposed to find?”

“Hm. So you haven’t figured it out yet either.”

From behind her, Dephensores stuck out his head and clicked his tongue disapprovingly.

“The kids must be worried…”

Alexa murmured with a sigh.

“The kids? You mean the wolves? As if wolves are capable of that kind of attachment. Besides, you’re a human.”

“…What difference does that make? That has nothing to do with it. I believe that just as I think of them, they’re thinking of me too.”

“I can’t tell if you’re just naive… or incredibly shrewd. But if you get betrayed for believing that, it’s on you.”

Alexa puffed up her cheeks and stepped away from Dephensores. About three steps to the side. She just couldn’t bring herself to like him. Still, perhaps bored from combing through the vast archive of Karakter, Dephensores kept initiating conversation with her.

“Time flows differently here compared to the outside. It feels like about four days have passed in here. But who knows how much time has passed out there?”

“What?”

Alexa turned her head, startled. He didn’t know how much time had passed?

“What if… only five minutes have gone by?”

“Usually, time in here runs slower than outside. But Karakter won’t let you go until you’ve found your answer. There’s a reason you and I were brought into this place, don’t you think?”

Ah, this is bad. Alexa squeezed her eyes shut. It felt like she was stuck here while her little ones were left at home, waiting for her. How long had Ysildus, Terrun, and Jeremiah been waiting for her? Every time she left Ysildus behind to go to work, it was the same. He’d follow her to the door, scratching at it with his thick front paws, whining… It always tugged at her heart so painfully. She imagined he was probably sitting under the doorframe again, waiting for her.

‘Please let not much time have passed…’

Alexa shoved the book she’d been holding back into the shelf and moved to search for another one. Behind her, Dephensores trailed after.

“But aren’t you one of the Red Clan?”

“Does that matter?”

“Hm… there’s a scent. The Red Clan, before they were cursed, used to give off the same scent as you.”

“I… smell?”

Alexa looked shocked and sniffed at herself. She had never heard anyone say that before, but come to think of it, she hadn’t bathed since arriving here. 

Still, this was an alternate dimension! Do you stink here too if you don’t wash? As Alexa sniffed at her wrist, Dephensores calmly watched her and then burst out laughing.

“That’s not what I meant. It’s more like… a scent from your soul. Do you know why the Red Clan is called the Red Clan?”

“…No.”

That was something the author had never explained. Even among the many books she’d read here in Karakter, many of which went into the detailed history of Temperchi, there was no mention of such a thing.

‘In the end, I couldn’t find the knowledge I didn’t know.’

Alexa turned slightly toward Dephensores. A gesture that she was listening.

“They’re called the Red Clan not just because of their red hair, but for a more important reason. They were once a people of light magic. They possessed stronger magical power than anyone else. The magic the Red Clan held in their core was pure light. That’s why they carried a scent like sun-ripened apples. Just like you.”

“…I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Of course you don’t. After I cursed the Red Clan and died, they became dark sorcerers who reek of rotten fish. Hmph.”

Dephensores slowly circled Alexa. The fact that she had been born in defiance of his curse made her an irresistibly curious existence.

“So, you’re the key to breaking the curse…”

“Me? That can’t be.”

Alexa shook her head furiously.

Maybe Selina, but Alexa? There was no way she had such an important role. She was just a foreigner dropped into someone else’s story. Even without her, this novel had been moving along just fine.

“My nose doesn’t lie, child. If I say I’m right, then I am.”

Dephensores narrowed his eyes and studied Alexa closely. The sweet scent that pierced his nose confirmed it. She undoubtedly carried the blood of the Red Clan. While pretending to search through books, he’d been tailing Alexa, observing her. Only after confirming she hadn’t found any answers did he finally approach her.

Dephensores was a more seasoned wolf than even Carlisle or Ysildus. And he knew instinctively that his decision to approach her was the right one. The key to breaking the cursed cycle of endless reincarnation… was none other than Alexa.

Alexa twirled a lock of hair around her finger.

After four days of searching, she’d come to realize that learning anything new in this place was nearly impossible. The answer had to lie elsewhere. She tried to think about why Karakter was keeping her here.

This place was essentially a vault of knowledge and history. But everything here was limited to what Alexa already knew or had studied. That was her conclusion. The only one who could offer information beyond her knowledge… was Dephensores.

Alexa took a deep breath and spoke.

“There’s no way I have some grand mission. I was supposed to die a long time ago.”

“And how do you know that?”

Dephensores asked, intrigued. Alexa pulled out the most convenient excuse she had.

“I can see the future. I’ve been making different choices all this time to avoid my fate. Because I didn’t want to die. But according to that future… I was supposed to die around the age of sixteen.”

“You were supposed to die… Do you remember how, in that future?”

Alexa searched her memory. True to his nature as the main villain, Thersion had launched a brutal attack on her village. It was as if they’d aimed to wipe out all life. Alexa should have died in the chaos too. But just as she said, she’d twisted the novel’s plot entirely in her struggle to survive.

“…I remember dying at the hands of the Thersion knights.”

Dephensores’ eyes widened. His large hand gripped Alexa’s shoulder tightly. He leaned in close, carefully examining her expression.

“And what happened after that death?”

The curse of the Red Clan had never been deeply explored in the novel. It had only been mentioned in passing, like an old legend. Looking back, it was treated like a thing of the past.

The central plot of the novel had always been the conflict between Thersion and the imperial family. Throughout her reading, Alexa had assumed Selina would be the one to break Thersion’s restrictions. She now summed it up succinctly.

“I wasn’t there. Thersion went down their path without me.”

Dephensores let go of Alexa and took a step back.

“You…”

Over Alexa’s face, the image of someone from long ago came to mind. His comrade, his friend and ultimately, his betrayer. A Red Clan woman. Her name was Alexandria. The leader of the Red Clan, who had once joined forces with Dephensores and Lunailliah to bring peace to the continent and plant the banner of Temperchi.

Dephensores’ lips quivered.

[‘Dephensores… I’m sorry.’]

More than the cold blade that pierced his heart, what hurt him most was the betrayal. That Alexandria had betrayed him.

“…Alexandria loved a knight of Temperchi.”

“What?”

Dephensores spoke slowly, his eyes now clouded.

“The knight feared being overshadowed by his Master’s glory. He made light of the restriction I’d placed on Thersion, speaking as if it meant nothing. He went around saying that the wolf god of Thersion had to be killed in my absence. Alexandria loved that knight, even as he was slowly consumed by his inferiority complex.”

“…So she betrayed you for him?”

“Yes. Alexandria believed that she would do anything for Temperchi. Even if it meant betraying the Master she had served her whole life.”

A cold smile crossed Dephensores’ lips.

“And so she did what should never have been done. She plunged a cold blade into my heart. A blade laced with poison and curses. It shattered my soul and eventually drove me into this place. That’s why I cursed Alexandria. A curse that would bind her kind forever. A curse to live only in darkness, not in light. A curse to carry the stench of rot, reviled by both humans and wolves alike.”

Alexa blinked. Her heart thudded violently without reason.

“Where she and I died, I erected a tower to symbolize the curse and bound the Red Clan to it. So they would never forget what had happened. And now, that curse… is nearing its end.”

Dephensores suddenly grabbed Alexa’s wrist. His blue eyes glinted with a lunatic gleam, like moonlight gone mad.

“What is your name?”

Alexa’s lips began to tremble.