Chapter 113 

“Alexa… Alexa Eneroff…”

Alexa murmured softly. The name, though not unfamiliar, kept echoing in her mind with uncanny intensity.

Alexandria.

“Hahaha.”

Dephensores pressed a hand to his forehead. Alexa stared at him with uneasy eyes.

“So you’re using Alexandria’s name. I see.”

Dephensores’ mad eyes clung to Alexa’s face like nails, unrelenting. Alexa bit her lips hard and instinctively recoiled at the disturbing feeling creeping over her.

“Alexa. Do you know your role in all of this?”

“I… I…”

“You are a sacrifice, Alexa, offered by the Red Clan to the wolves. The key that can sever an ancient grudge and break the curse entangling us.”

Alexa shook her head. That couldn’t be true. Absolutely not.

“Dephen… Lord Dephensores…”

“You and I were searching for the same answer, it seems. Alexa, you were the answer I had been seeking all along!”

As Alexa tried to run, Dephensores seized her. After wandering the endless cycle of reincarnation for so long in search of that answer, now that it was right before him, he couldn’t let go so easily.

“Alexa, let me tell you the answer you’ve been looking for. The reason this Karakter dragged you into this place! The truths you must know.”

Her heart pounded with a fear so intense it nearly hurt. She felt like she had to hear what he was saying, but something inside her desperately didn’t want to. She wanted to flee this place. She wished Ysildus would come save her.

Alexa pulled herself free from Dephensores. Since he hadn’t been gripping her with force, she was able to escape easily. As she stumbled backward, Dephensores took one step closer.

“There is only one way to break the curse, Alexa.”

Dephensores narrowed his eyes and smiled, as if nothing could be more joyous than this moment.

“The curse born from the Red Clan must end with the Red Clan. Prepare the sacrifice. On the day the heart of the offering is torn apart by a wolf’s claws, all grudges will be lifted, and the Red Clan will reclaim its true form.”

Alexa stumbled to a stop. For one’s heart to be torn out could only mean death. Her head spun. Suddenly, she shoved aside the scattered books at her feet and took off running. The place she ran to held a book with its pages turning in midair by themselves. In the original version of this story, not long after it began, Alexa had died by Thersion’s hand.

But she had survived. In the original work, Dephensores, Lunailliah, the Red Clan, and the curse were never explored so deeply. Because Alexa hadn’t died… because the curse remained active.

Alexa gasped, barely able to breathe as her lips parted. She had survived when she was meant to die, distorting the original narrative, and that’s what had changed everything. Until the curse was fully broken, the Red Clan could never return to its original form.

“Do I… do I really have to die? I have nothing to do with any of this! I didn’t do anything wrong!”

Alexa shouted, trembling violently. She had grown too attached to life. She had sworn not to form bonds in this fictional world, but the heart would flow as it pleased. She had already formed ties, given and received affection. And now, to die, not at the hands of anyone else, but by a wolf’s claws? How could this possibly make sense? 

It couldn’t. It mustn’t.

“Still, that doesn’t mean the sins of your ancestors didn’t pass on to you. You were born for the very purpose of breaking the curse!”

Alexa reached for the floating book in the air. She wanted nothing more than to rip it to shreds. But perhaps because of that very intent, her hand couldn’t touch it. Transparent tears streamed down her pale cheeks. No matter what she did, fate still stood before them, mouth wide open, ready to devour. To drive Alexa to the very edge.

“Your death must have already been arranged many times over, both in the moments you remember and those you do not.”

Alexa blinked. The moisture on her lashes grew heavy and fell.

“The power of the gods who interfered in this world has been drawing you toward death. Remember, Alexa.”

The death laid out for Alexa was likely…

Selina?

The name flashed through her like lightning. Everything Selina had done since arriving in Thersion came rushing back. If there was anyone who could harbor such malice to drive Alexa to death, it could only be Selina. She had once believed Selina acted out of resentment for losing her place. That’s why she thought she needed to understand her, even embrace her a little.

But that wasn’t it. Selina had entered Thersion under the mandate of fate—to kill her. And Alexa, not knowing any of that, had shown her kindness, welcomed her in… Was that not the same as opening the door to death itself? She had been tricked, swept away by a force she never saw coming. 

Alexa sank to the floor.

“…What if I refuse to break the curse? What if I don’t die by the hand of a Thersion wolf?”

“Then death will always follow you. Another death will come for you, Alexa.”

A large yellow magic circle lit up beneath Alexa’s feet. The books that had filled the Karakter all floated into the air. Spinning like a massive vortex, the books fluttered as they each began their stories anew: stories of the Red Clan. Tales that had once been scattered like dots throughout the novel now surged toward her in a massive tidal wave. Everything was linked together like a chain.

“The disgraceful acts of Alexandria and Temperchi have been passed down through blood until this very moment, Alexa. It was Alexandria who presided over the contract between Temperchi and Thersion. So long as the Red Clan bears the burden of their sins, that contract can never be broken.”

Alexa’s blue eyes trembled. The fluttering books seemed to beckon her. She tilted her head back as tears continued to stream down her cheeks, unceasing.

“The curse of the Red Clan must be broken. Only then can the contract be nullified, Alexa.”

At the center of those chains stood Alexa. More precisely, it was Alexa’s death that stood at the core. Her whole body trembled. That was why she had only been given one year.

“No…”

Alexa sniffled.

“I don’t want to die…”

Dephensores crossed his arms and stared at Alexa. His figure was gradually fading. He had found his answer. And Alexa… 

The glowing magic circle beneath her was beginning to engulf her. She had found her answer, too. The very story that Karakter had been trying so desperately to tell her. Her heart felt like it was beating from her fingertips and toes. Slowly, Alexa closed her eyes. Fate had always been waiting for her, right in front of her nose.

* * *

The Mage Tower had been utterly destroyed. Only Ruella, who had been chained to the spire like a beast, survived the onslaught of the wolves’ claws. Led by Ysildus, the wolves stormed the tower, drenching the ruined structure with the blood of the mages who had once lived there. Most of the resident mages were slain; the few who survived became living warnings, sent toward the Imperial Capital.

Just as Ysildus had planned. Drenched in deep crimson blood, Ysildus, Terrun, and Jeremiah returned to Thersion. They became the sword defending Thersion, now pointing their cold blades toward the Imperial Capital. The Mage Tower and Spire had been among the greatest powers supporting the Capital. Their connection, born from the disgraceful love between Alexandria and Temperchi, had persisted to this day.

The mages, now bereft of the Red Clan, had grown steadily weaker. In return for keeping that secret, the Imperial Palace used propaganda to inflate the perceived power of the mages. The nobles and commoners feared the Palace, which commanded the eternal loyalty of the magic-wielders. 

The Mage Tower had been the pillar upholding the weakened sanctity of Temperchi’s royal authority. Now that it had collapsed, the Palace’s restraints on Thersion only grew stronger… and a fierce storm that would shake the very foundations of the nobility had begun.

Nobles who had once shunned contact with the Blue Moon now began to look at Thersion anew. Thersion had started to grow rapidly. Those who had joined hands with Thersion became the strength of Prince Jeremiah, the abandoned child who had lost his mother. That was the change that had taken place in Thersion during the five years Alexa had been unable to rise.

And the children who once trailed behind Alexa…

“Ysildus.”

…had grown into full-fledged adults. At the sound of his name, Ysildus lifted his head. His piercing, frost-honed blue eyes flashed as he looked at Terrun and Jeremiah. Terrun tossed him a towel.

The muscles along Ysildus’s bare body, glistening under the blazing summer sun, tensed like an angry beast.

“Has that much time already passed?”

His voice, now deepened, was as mature as his powerful frame.