touchnovel Chapter 228: Victory At What Cost
Chapter 228: Victory At What Cost
I slowly close the door behind me before leaning against it and the voices outside become muffled almost immediately.Good. I don’t really want to hear whatever conversation they are having right now.
Rokuro isn’t the type of person to lose in the slightest... Not to anybody. I’m positive he’ll come back to us like he always does.
I let out a quiet sigh before looking around the small room.
It isn’t anything special. Just an old bed, a broken table, and dust covering almost everything.
This church has definitely seen better days but I can’t complain too much since it is a place to stay. Eliza is very kind for letting us stay here.
The floor creaks beneath my feet as I walk over towards the window.
Everything outside is pretty quiet, almost like the whole realm turned itself off. Yet, I could hear everything going on in the other room with the other girls.
...
Why does everything feel wrong? I don’t like this at all.
A knock suddenly comes from the door.
"Ghost?" Lilly’s voice calls out.
I don’t answer at first.
Another knock follows.
"Can I come in?" Lilly asks softly.
"Sure," I answer loud enough for her to hear.
The door slowly opens and Lilly steps inside before quietly closing it behind her.
She doesn’t say anything at first, but neither do I.
We both just stand there for a few moments before Lilly finally give in to say something first.
"He’s coming back..." She says with sadness in her voice.
I’m glad she broke the silence before I could since I’m already having a hard enough time with this.
"...Right?" She asks with hopes of assurance.
I keep staring out the window.
"Yeah," I answer.
My answer comes out almost automatically.
"He always takes longer than everyone else. That is just how he has always been so it’ll be fine," I try to assure her.
Lilly smiles weakly.
"I knew you’d say that Ghost," Lilly responds.
Silence fills the room once again.
Then... A quiet sob reaches my ears.
I slowly turn around to see Lilly has lowered her head.
Tears continue falling onto the wooden floor.
"I...I-I tried to believe that..." She struggles to speak.
Her voice trembles.
"...They all looked at me like they already knew what happened," She continues on as tears hit the floor.
For the first time in a long time I don’t even know what to say because a small part of me starts wondering if they’re right.
No, they couldn’t possibly be right about something happening to him.
I immediately shake the thought away.
Rokuro promised that he would come back to us no matter what... Even if it took him a bit longer than usual... He’d come back. Plus there isn’t any proof that he is even dead, right?
Footsteps collectively make their way towards the room. I can tell they are coming to talk with us both.
I don’t want to talk about any of it. I’d rather not even think about it either.
The door creaks open as footsteps enter shortly after. I could tell they are all quite sad about the whole situation.
"Ghost I don’t think he is coming back," Velia speaks up before the others can.
I don’t turn around as I listen for a moment.
"There’s just no way... Not with the person who showed up," Aria chimes in with sadness in her voice.
"Who showed up?" I ask without hesitation.
"The Monarch of Greed. He was a lot stronger than anyone we ever faced," Velia answers with a serious tone.
The monarch of Greed. I didn’t think we’d get a chance to see any of the monarchs this soon but I guess it was inevitable. They weren’t going to sit around doing nothing forever.
Rokuro probably bought them time.
Tears slowly begin to stream down my face as I start to understand that it might just be the truth. The others are probably feeling the same exact way as me but all of our bonds are different.
"Ghost there is nothing we could’ve done differently," Velia tries to assure me.
I don’t have it in me to speak right now.
"Let’s just give her some space... We could all use it actually," Eliza speaks up.
"It is probably the best idea," Velia agrees.
They all exit the room... Except for Lilly who is still crying in the far corner of the room. It is very easy to tell that she’s in here.
I don’t mind it though. Being alone isn’t always the best when you are trying to get through a hard time. Especially when I don’t even know if this is really the truth...
Damnit! Do I really have to believe that he is dead after everything we’ve gone through together?
I fall to my knees as I begin to cry even more.
Slam! Slam!
A slam my fists against the ground a few times before I finally lean up against the wall. I wrap my arms around my legs and bury my face.
Everyone is going to be upset for quite some time but shouldn’t we figure out what’s next...?
No. No. No. I can’t worry about that right now when I don’t even know how to process everything I was told.
Another set of footsteps enter the room, but it doesn’t feel familiar in the slightest.
"I don’t remember if we’ve met before Ghost. I’m the monarch known as Lust," She speaks up.
I can hear Lilly calm herself down after hearing this woman speak. It doesn’t take long for me to do the same since this is one of our enemies.
"What the hell could you possibly want," I respond with a mix of anger and sadness in my voice.
"To tell you that I still think you guys can make a difference here. I haven’t confirmed anything yet but I did feel the pressure earlier," Lust says while looking towards me.
"You can’t even confirm that Rokuro is dead? What kind of a monarch are you... You are just a joke," I reply while looking away from her.
"I’ll talk more with you all soon. I will confirm it, okay?" Lust says before exiting the room.
I don’t want it confirmed...