An Extra’s POV
chapter-730

'I'm sorry…'

With hunched shoulders, he watched as Esme's body lay on the bed he placed her in. Her delicate body displayed a kind of fragileness that nearly made him pity her.

Despite his own unfortunate circumstances, he couldn't help feeling even worse for Esme.

'No… do I really feel bad for her, or myself?'

At this point, Rey could feel the emotions within him rise up at a terrible pace. He had suppressed them for so long that their compounded effects were beginning to disturb his mind.

Unable to resist any longer, he fell to his knees and released everything at once.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" Screaming at the top of his lungs, he had tears descending down his eyes as his whole body trembled.

He felt bad—very bad.

All of those feelings—rage, fear, shame, sorrow, and much more—oozed out of his voice, which would have normally filled the room, but thanks to his Sound Magic, Rey controlled the flow of the noise he was making and restricted it greatly.

In essence, not even Emil who slept beside him could hear his wails and screams.

'I… I… what am I doing?'

Despite being the one that was betrayed by Emil, he couldn't help but blame himself for how everything ended up this way.

'If only… if only I was a better Master…'

He had taken Emil for granted all this time, and he carelessly trusted Adrien. Now that he thought of all these things, he hated himself and all his course of actions.

"I'M SO STUPID!!!" He cried out in utter and pure anger.

Perhaps this was nothing but self-pity. However, Rey didn't care about that at all.

All of the current emotions that nearly suffocated him were very real—too real. He hated himself for feeling so much disgust towards himself, and towards how he handled so many situations with such incompetence.

'I'm just an average idiot who got blessed with this power. In the end… I haven't changed a single bit!'

Whether as Yer, or Ralyks… or whatever other identity that had been framed around him… he was nothing but ordinary. He was nothing else but a fool.

"Hicc… hiccc…" Sobs that were buried underneath layers of suppression sprang out, alongside a myriad of other emotions here and there.

'I… I…'

All of a sudden, every single emotion that was consuming him within that single window vanished in their entirety. In essence… the System intervened.

"A-ahh…" Rey no longer felt the urge to cry, and he even wiped off the tears that streamed down his eyes. His mind became much clearer, and his body felt strangely rejuvenated.

All the overwhelming emotions that he felt like would kill him if he didn't release them suddenly seemed like a thing of the distant past. Despite crying and screaming mere seconds ago, it seemed like it happened much further into the past.

That was how disconnected he was from the atmosphere he had just created.

'I've gotten it out of my system, so it's best not to remain too fixated on feelings and focus on the most important matters at the moment.'

Slowly rising to his feet, he took in a deep breath and began to calculate a bunch of things in his head related to the pertinent issues that he had to address. Before he could even make it very far, though—

"R-Rey…?"

—A voice stopped him dead in his tracks.

His cold heart suddenly felt warm, and he could feel the jitters spread through his brain and throughout the rest of his body.

He couldn't resist turning after hearing his name, and he found Esme in the bed looking at him with a slightly curious—but mostly emotionless—facade.

"What's going on here?" She asked, turning around to see a rather familiar surroundings.

This was definitely Rey's residential room in the Elf Community, which meant she was no longer in the paradise that was the Oracle's Domain.

The moment she realized this, her expressionless face became that of a frown. "I know what's on your mind. But, if you'd allow me to explain what—" As Rey spoke, Esme's frown only became more grim, eventually raising her hand to stop him from saying any more.

"Hold on… let me get this straight, Rey…"

"Yeah?"

"You took me away from my destiny as the Oracle's Heir and brought me back here…. Right?" "Yes…"

"Why would you? Even after I told you…"

'Because I—' Rey wanted to utter certain words, but he let his rational mind take over and stop him from making more poor choices.

In the end, the best thing he could do—which would also be the least selfish—would be to tell her all about wha happened when she was with The Oracle, and how he arrived at a solution.

"I'll tell you everything…"

He would have to tell her about Ciela, about Feralia, Adrien, as well as so many people who played their part in the intricate scheme. In the end, he could find no better way.

'It might make her angrier, and it's unpredictable what she'll say or do, but…'' Rey's thoughts trailed as he watched the stoic Elf stare at him waiting.

'... I owe her that much.'

Yes, some might argue that he saved her from assimilating with The Oracle and losing all her personality, but since she was willing to do all of that to achieve her goals… Rey was the one who butted in unnecessarily.

This was the only way he could offer recompense.

****************

[Moments Later]

"I see. So that's how it happened." Esme's voice was cool, and her expression remained unchanging after listening to all of the news.

She was even accepting the news rather maturely—all things considered.

"Thank you, Rey."

"Eh? For what?" He was slightly flustered by Esme's good-natured words. He was sure that she'd flip, but she seemed completely relaxed about the whole thing.

"You came back for me… you cared for me… you went through such lengths…" She made a slight smile as she looked at him. "Thank you."

At this point, Rey felt warmth slowly permeate his heart.

Perhaps he wasn't such a bad person, after all. "Esme, I—"

"That being said, Rey… I can never forgive you for what you did." Esme interrupted him with even more words that rose from the depths of her heart.

Her smile had turned into something a lot darker.

"You ruined my chances of helping my people my way. I know why you did it, and I also considered it… but in the end, I chose that path anyway. I even told you to just… y-yet you…" It seemed like Esme would cry, but she actually didn't.

Instead, she looked Rey straight in the eyes with a deep glare and moist eyes.

"You chose my mother instead… a mother I never got to meet." Rey knew just how curious Esme was about her mom. But now, just to ruin her plans, Rey went to sacrifice the one person that Esme wanted to talk to the most.

"She's gone forever now, Rey… thanks to you."

In response to this, Rey remained silent for the longest time. After a few seconds of silence following Esme's last words, though, Rey had to say something.

"I know."