I Will Die for You, My Darling! - Chapter 60
Chapter 60
“Fine, let’s say you really want to die.” He paused. “Is life that terrible? Enough to make you want to die? Why, all of a sudden?”
You were fine just a few weeks ago. That unspoken accusation hung in the air.
Arietta sighed. Isaac’s imagination, as always, was limited. It’s only natural. You don’t know how many New Year’s Eves I’ve lived through…
She lay sprawled on the bed, tracing the intricate carvings on the ceiling with her eyes. I’ve seen this for too long. I’m sick of it. The only thing I haven’t grown tired of is love. Remarkably.
With a sense of resignation, Arietta spoke, “On New Year’s Eve, you’ll kill me.”
“What?”
The expected reaction. Incredulity laced his voice. Disbelief colored his tone. It was so predictable that Arietta laughed.
“I’ll be brushing my hair in front of the vanity, and you’ll attack and kill me. It always happens on New Year’s Eve. No matter what I say, you won’t change your mind, and you never tell me why you’re doing it.”
If only you had told me why, I wouldn’t have had to wander for so long. A sudden resentment towards Isaac flickered within her. But even if she questioned him now, she wouldn’t learn why she had to die that day. His memory would be gone.
“If I fail this time, please tell me why you kill me on New Year’s Eve. It would make things less daunting in the next cycle…”
“You’re speaking nonsense.”
Despite the thorns in Isaac’s voice, Arietta continued her resigned monologue.
“This New Year’s Eve, you’ll kill me again. But when you kill me like that, I don’t actually die. I go back to a random day between January 1st and New Year’s Eve, and I wake up again.”
Isaac placed his hands on his hips, clearly convinced she was rambling.
“I don’t know how many times it’s happened. Your feelings are so intense that you kill me on every single one of those countless New Year’s Eves, yet you never truly succeed. Even if you kill me, I escape. And then I die by your hand again.”
Fatigue laced Arietta’s voice, the inevitable consequence of conveying an impossible truth. But to the listener, it could easily be misinterpreted. She’s making up outlandish stories because she doesn’t want to give me a proper explanation.
“But it’s always New Year’s Eve. Why that date? I keep telling you that I come back when you kill me then, but you never listen. So…” A brief silence followed. “I’ve decided to die on my own, before New Year’s Eve.” Arietta’s voice turned chilling. “So, this is for you.”
“What?”
“It’s for you.”
Isaac’s gaze turned icy. Although Arietta wasn’t looking at him, she could feel the weight of his stare.
“Ever since we met, you’ve never once done anything for me.”
Arietta thought this was unfair. She’d turned a blind eye to his thievery, protected him from beatings, and helped him become Maud’s right-hand man. Weren’t all of those good things for him?
In return, she had only witnessed the humiliation in his eyes, a humiliation that was so dazzling and beautiful, so rare in a place like Downstream.
“All you know how to do is leech off me while talking about love.” Isaac spat, his body trembling.
At that moment, both of them happened to recall the same poem from the same book: Sacrifice.
Arietta believed she was sacrificing herself.
Isaac believed Arietta was incapable of sacrifice.
“You’re still avoiding the question with nonsense. You won’t achieve anything this way.”
Arietta thought of New Year’s Eve. Who was avoiding the question first? If you had just answered me then, I wouldn’t have had to do this.
“If there’s a problem, tell me clearly. Then I can decide whether to listen or ignore you. Because of you, things are…” By now, Arietta felt that convincing Isaac was more important than being honest.
“I can’t stand being trapped here anymore.” She lied. “I want to leave the Glass Dome mansion.”
Coincidentally, her words echoed those of the malicious young man who had descended from the celestial city. Fortunately, Isaac was unaware of that conversation. Had he known, he would have been furious.
“What?” Isaac’s brow furrowed.
