I wasn’t honest.
That was my first mistake.
It was my second mistake as well.
It was the root of all my mistakes.
I realized this only after Yoo Jin left.
Way too late.
Jill begged Yoo Jin for just one more chance, and when that didn’t work, she turned to the gods.
I knew the gods were already dead.
But the story that they had resurrected and were watching over us from the heavens was something the church made up.
Even so, I couldn’t help but want to lean on something transcendent.
And surprisingly enough…
A second chance came.
I couldn’t tell if it was the gods’ help or some other transcendent being, but regardless of that, Jill had been struggling hard to make the most of this second chance.
This time, she tried to find Yoo Jin politely.
She even blew up and made a blunder by putting out a bounty out of frustration.
Finally, she managed to reunite with Yoo Jin.
In the end, it led to this.
Even though it wasn’t the form Jill initially wanted.
There were obstacles not in the plans.
But knowing that wanting more than this was greedy, Jill accepted it right away.
She swore that she would become Yoo Jin’s woman.
To make up for the mistakes she had made until now.
To heal the wounds she had left on Yoo Jin’s heart.
Now, there was no use for her inflated pride in front of Yoo Jin.
The tiring battle of wills was meaningless.
From way back, Jill had focused on bending her knee to Yoo Jin, thinking of him as her subordinate.
But that was completely wrong from the start.
Regardless of status or position.
Yoo Jin was not someone who could be beneath anyone.
No amount of money or wealth could make Yoo Jin bow down.
He walked his own path, and what Yoo Jin needed was not a master to pull him along, but a companion to stand by his side.
“The old me… was really foolish…”
Looking back on the past made Jill chuckle wryly.
She used to yell at Yoo Jin wildly over the slightest irritation.
Even if it was something that didn’t really anger her, she overreacted.
And then Yoo Jin would bend first and apologize.
He would gently reassure her and treat Jill like a princess.
It was always like that, and she believed it would work every time.
She had thought he was an ordinary person who would kneel before money and power just like any commoner.
She never thought about the unique nature he had hidden…
“Was that perhaps the moment I fell for him?”
Upon reflection, when Yoo Jin used to pamper her, it may not have been love at all.
For a moment, Jill thought about that.
She certainly relied on Yoo Jin and felt a strong attraction to him.
But that was nothing more than a primitive and childish desire to bind Yoo Jin to her.
It was definitely not love as a rational being.
What had developed into clear love was when he left.
When Yoo Jin refused to be the Priestess’s dog any longer, severing his leash and running away.
Only then did Jill start to perceive Yoo Jin as a person, not a puppet, and as an equal.
The most painful heartbreak had helped Jill grow and led her to this point.
In the past, just recalling it would squeeze her heart and make her tear up.
But now, she felt she could smile and talk about having gone through that heartbreaking experience.
“Yoo Jin…”
“Yeah?”
“What about that other woman? Who is she?”
“…”
Of course, separate from all of that, there was something that needed to be made clear.
It was time to turn suspicion into certainty.
Wrapping her legs around Yoo Jin’s waist and holding him tight, Jill felt his body tremble.
Yoo Jin was tense.
Having brought it up himself.
Wasn’t he prepared to be questioned in return?
Jill pondered such doubts.
“Why are you not answering?”
“Uh, well, you see… I thought I should talk about it…”
“You’re stammering. You were so confident in front of everyone earlier, but now you’re nervous in front of me, meaning I probably know the person.”
“…”
“If I think about who among the young women that Yoo Jin likes… there’s only Countess Briam left.”
“…”
It seemed she hit a nerve as Yoo Jin froze up and stayed silent.
Silence was a sure sign of affirmation.
Jill sighed deeply and gently grabbed Yoo Jin by the collar.
She had thought it was strange from the beginning.
After a certain mercenary visited Cologne, Count Briam disappeared.
Remaining vacant for the position of head, the countess hadn’t talked to anyone about marriage.
And then she kept sending letters to someone…
No one could deny that the Countess was having a secret rendezvous with someone she couldn’t speak about to others.
But she never imagined that it could be Yoo Jin.
She even promised him a future…
“I trusted you. And it turned out to be Cornelia of all people.”
“…”
Since she had even consulted Cornelia for legal advice, the sense of betrayal felt significant.
But Jill knew that fueling such feelings here was meaningless.
There were far more urgent matters at hand.
“So… have you been involved with Cornelia?”
“?!”
Clarifying up to what point they had progressed was the most pressing matter.
“Well…”
Yoo Jin’s lips trembled.
.
.
.
Worries weighed heavily on her mind.
While her intuition was blazing, she lacked certainty about whether this path was right.
Confessing to all three of them could very well stagnate her completion rate at 94 percent.
And whether all three would accept it remained just a hopeful wish.
But she succeeded.
It wasn’t an easy road at all, yet.
She confronted all three and confirmed their feelings.
While it might be a bit awkward among the three, at least they shared the same goal as her.
She wanted to stay here and prevent Draken’s descent.
And they wished to dream of a future with her.
That was enough.
There was plenty of ground for a mutual agreement.
“This day has come.”
Jill, Yulia, Yerina, and Mia sat around the round table.
Looking around at them made her heart swell.
How long had she dreamed of this day?
How hard had she struggled to create this scene?
As those thoughts swirled in her mind, she felt a sense of fulfillment.
She wasn’t ignorant of the fact that taking Jill or Yerina into a dungeon would make the conquest significantly easier.
But there was only one heroine she could take at a time.
That restriction existed in the game, and it was essentially the same in this world.
But today, she had broken that limitation.
She made the main heroines all work towards a common goal.
In a single dungeon, the Priestess’s recovery ability, the Witch’s curse, and the Frost Duchess’s combat power could all be projected.
Even if ten enemies came at her, it would be an unbeatable combination.
“We’ve had some time to talk, but it might not have been enough. You probably have a lot more to say. But if we start reminiscing, it’s never-ending, so let’s first address the pressing issues at hand. Any objections?”
“…”
The girls shook their heads silently.
Their expressions clearly showed that they had mountains of things they wanted to say.
But it seemed they couldn’t voice those feelings in front of her, their eyes only chasing her gaze.
Among them, Jill especially seemed to fixate on her gaze.
Was it because of what was said earlier…?
It felt like there was a hint of longing in her eyes.
Now, with their hearts aligned, she had so much she wanted to do.
There were desires she had held back during the 12 regressions.
A strong urge to unleash them surged within her, but there were issues that needed resolution first.
In the first place, bringing these girls together was precisely for this reason.
“You probably knew something about the Four Heavenly Kings. The four leaders of the invading forces from the underworld are four in total, but one of them is vacant.”
The would-have-been contender, Sola, was the one I had drawn out.
“One has already been killed by me.”
Strictly speaking, he was alive and resurrected.
He was probably sulking outside the door right now.
But, explaining about that guy would just complicate matters, so I skipped it.
“Two of them are alive and stuck inside that dungeon. But it’s certain that those guys have already been abandoned by their leader. This will be their last-ditch effort to pour all of their abilities into this fight, and if we just suppress this, there will be no more threat from the Four Heavenly Kings.”
“Is there a means to suppress them? I heard one of them is a spiritual body that can’t be killed…”
“I can catch them. By tearing open the dimensional barrier and contacting the God of the Underworld…”
“I don’t need the full details. So you have a surefire way to suppress them, right?”
“Exactly.”
“Well, that’s good enough. We can move on from this point, Yoo Jin. Are you all also okay with that?”
“Yeah…”
Yerina cut off the explanation and moved on to the next topic.
If it had been the past, she would have pried into every single detail of the plans one by one.
But now she seemed to realize that time was more precious than that.
Was she placing her trust in me?
I could feel the thick trust coming from her obedient, azure-eyed gaze.
It seemed my Lunar Induction method helped with suppressing Yerina’s frenzy.
“Um, so… what should we… do?”
“While suppressing the dungeon, buy us some time. If the dungeon assault is interrupted, they will jump out like they just did. We need to keep them contained, and if possible, feel free to destroy the dungeon altogether.”
“Is that really okay? If we destroy the dungeon, they might escape!”
“Doesn’t matter. We can just suppress it again later. Right now, that dungeon is too threatening, so if it’s possible to assault it, we should do it without delay.”
The Undead Army alone is quite dangerous.
If things go wrong, they could become strong enough that even all the forces in the world wouldn’t be able to suppress them.
The problem is, that’s not the end of it.
The dungeon clearly bears traces of transformation.
It means their intentions are not for the Undead Army at all.
But what that intention is, I still haven’t grasped…
So, we need to prepare ourselves for this.
Prepare to lose a lot.
“And Mia.”
“Yes, what is it?”
“If things get dicey, we might have to sacrifice Elvenguard. Just keep that in mind.”
“?!”
In the worst-case scenario, we might have to give up Elvenguard.
