CHAPTER 71: CH:71 THE MEMORY SHE NEVER KNEW

Suddenly—

The double doors blasted open, slamming against the stone walls with a thunderous clang! The gentle hum of mana crystals flickered under the force of the interruption.

Fran’s blue eyes widened in shock.

The wind rushed in as King Albedo, breath heaving, stormed into the chamber, his royal cloak fluttering behind him like a red flame.

Behind him, the healer who led him stood stunned in silence.

Fran instinctively stepped back.

Her lips parted to speak—

"...It... it’s..."

—but no sound followed.

Instead, she covered her mouth with both hands, eyes trembling as she watched the towering figure approach the bed.

But Albedo didn’t even see her.

His eyes—wide, desperate, and glistening with tears—were fixed only on the unconscious girl lying in bed. On the blood-stained sheets. On her stained pale face.

"D... Dila...?"

His voice broke as he dropped to his knees beside the bed. The mighty king of Eldor, now reduced to a grieving father, shakily took her hand into his.

"My baby..."

His fingers trembled as they held hers.

"Where have you been...?"

Tears spilled freely from his eyes, falling onto Dila’s motionless hand.

"I thought I’d lost you forever..." he whispered. "Rumors said you were held and kidnapped at Exonory castle so that’s why i send my hero assassin to spy or to retrieve you when the time is right... others said you escaped from a berserker’s hands. I... I didn’t know what to believe."

His breath hitched. He gently reached forward and ran his fingers through her silver-white hair, his touch soft, like handling fragile glass.

"...Some said you were just simple stranded at the Exonory Kingdom. Others said you’d died in the wilderness even though it’s a bit exaggerating, it... it’s because i can’t use my mirror of communication everytime it has cool down you know... And I..." His voice cracked. "...I stopped breathing that day."

He leaned forward, pressing his forehead gently against her hand.

"I’ve waited... for years. Hoping. Wishing... praying. And now you’re here—"

He looked up, eyes filled with broken hope.

"...Now that you’re here... I’ll never let you go ever again."

Then, slowly, he pressed a soft, trembling kiss to her cheek.

The entire room fell silent.

The healers stood still.

Fran—still covering her mouth—was frozen at the side table, tears rolling silently down her face.

And somewhere, in the realm of dreams...

Dila remained asleep.

Meanwhile...

In the stillness beyond the veil of consciousness...

Dila floated again—weightless, alone—in a vast sea of darkness. The space around her was silent, endless, as if the entire world had been swallowed into a void. There was no ground, no stars, no wind—just cold silence.

Her silver hair drifted around her in slow motion, her arms curled slightly to her chest.

Her breath was shaky. Her voice, broken.

"...Again?" she whispered.

She turned her head slightly, staring into the pitch-black nothing. Her voice cracked.

"I’m in the dream world... again?"

Her lip trembled.

"How many times... how many times do I have to collapse... just to become stronger?"

A single tear floated upward, defying gravity in the timeless void.

"I try... I try so hard..."

Her knees curled toward her chest, hugging herself tightly. Her small body shivered, not from cold—but from helplessness.

"I’ve bled. I’ve fought. I’ve given everything I had..."

She shut her eyes tightly, and cried out—

"But in the end—I’m still weak, aren’t I?!"

Her scream echoed...

...but no one answered.

Just the void.

Then she whispered—

"Nari...?"

Her voice trembled.

"Nari, where are you...?"

She turned slowly, spinning in the empty space.

But there was no reply.

No system voice.

No light.

Not even the comforting flicker of a status window.

Only silence.

"...Don’t leave me too..."

Her voice broke into a sob.

"I’m tired of losing people..."

The vast emptiness stretched around her—uncaring, infinite, and quiet. For a long moment, she simply drifted... surrounded by her loneliness.

"Aghh... my head...!"

Dila clutched both sides of her skull as pain surged like a sharp spike through her mind. Her floating body twisted, knees drawing in as her form dropped heavily onto nothingness—a flat, invisible floor in the void.

A low hum echoed.

A sudden distortion snapped the air, like a glitch tearing the dream world open.

And then—

Light.

A blinding flash burst in front of her, forming a rippling circle of golden projection—a glowing memory disc in the center of the black void.

Her eyes widened as a scene began to play.

Like a film reel coming to life, the image of a garden bloomed into view.

A warm breeze danced over bright green hedges and golden flowerbeds.

In the middle—

A young Dila.

Just seven years old.

Her silver hair shorter, fluffier.

Her tiny hands reached upward, laughing.

And lifting her high above the ground was—

King Albedo.

His face was younger, softer.

His armor nowhere in sight—just royal casuals. His laughter echoed, full of joy.

" "Hahaha! Now daughter—what will you be when you grow up?" he said, spinning her around in the air. "

The little Dila grinned proudly, placing her hands on her hips mid-air.

" "I want to be a powerful mage! More powerful than you, Father!"

She giggled, cheeky and proud.

"Fufu~!" "

The king laughed louder, pulling her close.

" "Hah! Bold move, my darling. Bold and brave! You’re just like your mother!" "

Then—

A figure entered the scene.

But her face was smudged, as if painted over in white, blurred like a memory that refused to sharpen. Her voice echoed, gentle and teasing:

" "Alright, alright~. How about you bond with Mommy for once? She’s fun, right? Funnier than your Daddy!" "

"Hey!" Albedo huffed, and they all laughed.

The faceless mother scooped little Dila in her arms, pressing a loving kiss to her cheek—though no lips could be seen.

" Then, the king hugged both of them, arms wide, pulling them into a family embrace. "

Dila’s lips trembled. Her fists clenched.

Her heartbeat raced.

"No... No, no, no..."

Her voice cracked, trembling.

"What is this? Is this... a lie?"

She walked up to the projection. Slowly. Carefully.

Then suddenly—

She struck it.

Her fist passed through the image like punching through water. It rippled, distorting, but didn’t vanish.

Her breathing grew louder.

"This... This isn’t mine. I never lived this! I never had parents like this—!"

She backed up, holding her head again.

She shouted with anger her right hand is on her chest and fling it side ways. "I made this body... this character... through the avatar maker...

This whole world is just a game i still keep refusing this world is real or not."

She whispered still with disbelief while her face is darkened. "Isn’t it...?"

But the memory continued, paused in that perfect moment of love—one the Dila now had never known.

She fell to her knees again.

"Am I being lied to...?"

"Am I being gaslighted by the system... or by this world...?"

The void echoed her thoughts back at her.

Still no answer.

Only silence.

And the memory light flickered faintly, as if it too was waiting... watching.

Suddenly—

A soft, indistinguishable woman’s voice echoed through the darkness.

It was calm. Neither threatening nor kind.

Just... present.

As if it had always been there.

"It’s real, Dila... You are not being lied to. You simply... forgot."

Dila’s eyes widened. She snapped her head side to side, trembling.

"W-Who’s there?!"

Her voice echoed through the void, swallowed by the darkness.

"Show yourself!!" she shouted, backing away, her feet making no sound against the invisible floor.

But there was no figure—no silhouette, no form.

Only the voice, drifting in from every direction, as though the world itself was speaking.

"You forgot... something deep within your soul. It’s always been there."

"Nonsense!"

Dila snapped, her fists shaking.

"I was transmigrated here! I was dragged to this world by that... that Distorted freak! He gave me a cursed contract and I for a moment but back-out after that but still it’s too late because i accepted it with mesmerising curiosity!"

Her breathing quickened. Her hands pulled at her hair.

"I remember now—he told me to purge the infected demons scattered across the world. That was my mission!"

"So how... how did it come to this?!"

Her voice cracked.

Her knees gave in.

She dropped.

"I don’t understand anymore..."

"Nothing makes sense..."

Tears burst from her eyes like a dam breaking.

Her nose began to run. Her hands trembled, wiping at her face in a mess of sobs and confusion.

"I don’t believe you... I... I can’t—!"

She coughed, the sound choked, her voice shrinking into a whisper.

"...I didn’t ask for any of this..."

"I just wanted to be free..."

She broke down completely, falling forward on her hands, tears dripping into the endless void below.

And the voice replied again—gentle, never forceful.

"No... you didn’t ask. But the truth is not bound by your permission."

"It waits... inside you."

The memory projection behind her flickered again, now glowing softer. The image of her childhood still paused mid-laughter.

The voice whispered one last thing before going silent:

"Look again... not with doubt. But with courage."

And then—silence.

Only Dila remained.

Small.

Crying.

Alone in a dream...

But with a seed of truth now planted.