One person has departed.

Rudger recalled the aged appearance of Gabriel as he gazed at the sun slowly rising outside the window.

The morning light spreading through the hazy sea mist.

The light shining equally on this broken and half-destroyed island seemed to give warm hope to those who had lost heart.

Rudger stood still in his place for a while.

If he hadn't felt the wave of magical power from the room where Rene was sleeping, Rudger would probably have continued standing in the outer corridor.

-Wooong.

A majestic resonance vibrated through the atmosphere.

Rudger felt this vibration was somehow familiar.

'Could it be?'

Hurriedly opening the door and entering, what he saw was Rene's magic familiar floating above her head.

Unlike ordinary magic familiars, its form resembled a peculiar geometric shape.

Born from spatial attribute magic, it was a unique entity never seen before.

The one rising above Rene's head emitted a subtle energy, and Rene, who was asleep, seemed to feel it and opened her eyes.

Rising from the bed with a dreamy face as if she had been dreaming, Rene looked at Rudger and her expression suddenly stiffened.

"Oh...no, Teacher."

Rene was confused about what to call Rudger.

'Does this mean the sealed memories have almost returned?'

Rudger's guess was correct.

In the midst of her body deteriorating from the battle between holy power and spatial magic, Rene was able to recall everything that had happened in the past.

It was because the seal that Rudger had cast disappeared due to the aftermath of the battle raging inside her body.

Because of this, Rene remembered everything that had happened in the past.

Rather, perhaps due to the aftermath of all the memories that had been blocked being released at once, despite the long years that had passed, the scenes from that day were as vivid as if they had just happened.

Rudger was a subject that evoked complex emotions in Rene.

As a child, Rene liked him. Even after losing her memory, the Rene who met him again liked him.

But Rudger was the one who killed her mother.

On top of that, he even erased her memories and hid the truth, so it was natural to resent him.

She had feelings of affection and dislike.

For Rene, her emotions toward Rudger could only be complicated.

So instead of choosing an answer, Rene chose to run away.

-Wooong.

Anywhere without Rudger would be fine.

Rene's magic familiar, having felt her will, emitted a wave and activated its power, taking Rene with it.

Rene and the magic familiar disappeared from their place like a phantom.

Rudger was surprised by this and checked his surroundings.

Initially, they were brought here after being swept up in a spatial transfer due to Rene's out-of-control magic.

But the spatial transfer that Rene deployed now was completely different from before.

'Faster and more precise.'

Perhaps because her magic had stabilized, or because the holy power that was interfering with the operation of space magic had disappeared.

Maybe it was both reasons.

Rudger captured the remnant of magic from where Rene had been.

'There are still traces left.'

A faint thread-like thing extended from where Rene had disappeared, indicating where she had gone, all the way outside the window.

'Not far away.'

Rudger confirmed the direction with his eyes and wrapped his entire body in shadow.

Rene gazed at the changed scenery.

The view of the endless mechanical island and the sea mist and ocean visible beyond it captivated her eyes.

So this is Isla Machina that I've only read about in books.

Rene could guess why she had come here.

"Is it thanks to you?"

She asked her magic familiar, but there was no answer.

Rene understood. The magic familiar had merely helped; it was her own will that had most strongly influenced her coming here.

She just wanted to go somewhere, anywhere.

When she had just recovered part of her lost memories, she was so confused that she thought anywhere without Rudger would be fine.

In the midst of confusion, she had very unconsciously thought that she wanted to see her master.

Just because of that, the spatial magic had guided her to the island where her master was.

Rene could feel what her power was.

A power that responded deeply to her heart, not something deployed through consciousness and techniques.

It was closer to a miracle than modern magic.

If she had thought she wanted to escape from Rudger, she would have left Isla Machina long ago.

Yet she did not leave the island because deep in her heart, there remained a desire not to leave Rudger.

Surely, her former self would have chosen to run away.

The suddenly recovered truth was too painful to face.

No matter how strong a mind Rene had, it was a trial difficult to endure.

But while she was unconscious and fainted, many things had happened.

Rene could vaguely feel that there were people who had tried to save her and that Rudger Chelici was one of them.

But ultimately, what brought the biggest change to her heart was her master.

Her master had said: There will certainly be times when you want to run away, but fight instead.

Though she didn't know why he had said such words, Rene felt that this was that moment.

It was then that she sensed a presence behind her.

Rene slowly turned around.

Blue eyes could be seen rising from behind the dim shade.

It was a formless shadow.

As the shadow slowly walked out and left the shade, its identity was revealed.

"Teacher. No, Brother Heathcliff."

"...So, you've finally recovered all your memories. Rene."

Rene nodded.

Even as they were conversing at this moment, Rene couldn't figure out how to treat Rudger.

But there was one thing for certain.

She shouldn't run away anymore no matter how cruel the reality, she must face it to the end.

Sensing Rene's resolute determination, Rudger felt an indescribable heaviness at the sight of her grown figure.

Rene had grown, but that growth was probably not what she had wanted.

A cruel fate had driven her mercilessly, and Rene had no choice but to become stronger to survive.

Was it not himself who had played a role in the ring of that cruel fate?

"Now I remember everything. From the day I first met you until the last thing that happened."

"...I see."

"So I want to ask. Why did you do it?"

Rene couldn't understand.

After killing her mother, he gave her the belongings her mother had organized.

After erasing her memories, he treated her well in subtle ways, and when she was in mortal danger, he fought with his life to protect her.

From Rene's perspective, Rudger's attitude didn't make sense.

If Rudger had been a bad person, she could have gotten angry in a refreshing way, but she couldn't.

Just looking at those eyes that were gazing at her now, though he was trying hard to hide his emotions, the melancholy in his eyes could not be concealed.

Why are you looking at me like that?

"Why did you save me?"

Just asking such a question was no different from disrespecting what Rudger had done but Rene had to ask.

After killing her mother and sealing her memories, why?

Rudger, who received the question, opened his mouth.

"Because I wanted you to live."

"In this cruel reality? Did you want me to suffer more?"

"I..."

After a moment's hesitation, Rudger conveyed his heart.

"Still, I wanted you to live."

"Why?"

"This world may be cruel to you. It is now, and it will be in the future. Sometimes you might wonder. Is there value in living while enduring such pain?"

Rene couldn't respond to those words.

She realized that Rudger's words were meant for her but at the same time, they were also words he was saying to himself.

"There is value."

Rudger said with certainty.

At that moment, Rene saw something fluttering with small wing beats, it was a butterfly, an ordinary insect that can be seen anywhere.

In this bleak city of machines and steam, a butterfly was flying around. Even in a world where wings would wither if they just brushed against high-temperature steam, and where there was no vegetation to sit and rest comfortably, only sterile metal pipes.

The butterfly had broken out of its chrysalis and spread its wings.

Its wings got wet in the sea mist, and in a harsh environment where flowers were hard to find, it still didn't stop flapping its wings.

Continuing.

Continuing.

To live.

"No matter how hard and painful it is, even if you want to give up everything right now. Still, this life has value."

Because living itself is beautiful.

"Rene. There's something I want to show you."

Rudger approached Rene.

"With your power now, it's possible. Close your eyes and recall the scenery of that day. The plains and hills, the house on top."

As if entranced, Rene followed Rudger's words.

She closes her eyes and recalls the scene.

In that vividly remembered landscape, Rene felt both longing and pain.

A peculiar feeling of her skin tingling.

And the moment she opened her closed eyes, Rene couldn't help but be surprised.

Because the landscape she had been imagining in her heart was truly unfolded before her eyes.

Rene gazed with trembling eyes at the small cottage where she had lived in the past.

Wondering if it was fake, she reached out her hand, and the rough texture of the door was vividly felt at her fingertips.

Rene took a deep breath and opened the door to go inside.

-Are you back?

For a moment, Rene almost replied yes to the sound of her mother welcoming her.

Right after, seeing the dispersing illusion, Rene could perceive reality.

Even after more than 10 years had passed, the interior of the house still retained its former appearance.

"Everything, it's all the same."

Looking at the dust-free table, Rene murmured in disbelief.

It was as if someone had been diligently maintaining it.

"Did you do this, brother?"

"I thought that someday, you might come back here again."

"But why..."

Instead of answering, Rudger gently traced the table with his finger.

Just as Rene reminisced about that day, Rudger also reminisced about the scenery of that day.

The times when they sat around the table, laughing and chatting while sharing meals, still lingered before his eyes.

A distant past that can never be seen again, like a mirage that seems within reach.

"Because I, too, long for that day."

Just as Rene longed for that time, Rudger was also longing for that time.

"Rene. Having come this far, you probably know, but your mother was a possessor of the same magic as you. More precisely, you inherited that magic from your mother."

"My magic..."

"Non-attribute magic. Now we know it's spatial attribute, and we know the cause of the pain was holy power, but at that time, no one knew that."

Rudger's voice sank gloomily.

"If only I had found that method a little earlier, it wouldn't have come to this."

He knows it's a meaningless wish.

Because of the memories of that day, thanks to all those elements piling up one by one, the current Rene could survive.

But people's hearts are always like that.

Holding onto such futile thoughts of "what if" was the lingering attachment that one could not help but have as a human.

"Mother was..."

"Originally terminal. Just like you."

Originally, Rene's mother was not in a state where she could live for so long.

Nevertheless, she endured.

She must have felt the pain of her body tearing apart, yet she pretended to be strong and endured it.

"Could it be because of me?"

"It's the opposite. It's thanks to you."

If there had been no Rene.

If there had been no family to protect.

Could she have endured?

Rene's mother sought all kinds of methods with the determination to not to leave her only daughter alone in this world.

She schemed ways to live somehow, desperately trying to live.

But such things as heaven being moved by people who do their best to live and extending their lifespan, did not exist.

In the end, having lost even the last resort and unable to bear the growing pain, she chose the path of escape.

"Your mother was tired. She had endured the pain for a long time, but because she had already lived beyond her natural lifespan, she couldn't suppress the growing pain anymore."

Having thus judged that her life didn't have much left, she tried to make an extreme choice.

Taking advantage of the time when Rene was asleep, she tried to go to a quiet place where no one knew and face death alone.

"I tried to stop her, but."

Rudger looked down at his hands.

The hands reflected in his eyes.

"I couldn't."

They were stained with blood.