Somewhere along the story, Cedric had begun to rub his temples, for the young man was overwhelmed by all the information he was receiving.

Beside him, he could hear Seo-yeon continue in her tired voice:

"After being brought here, I pretended to be a part of the Lords, biding my time until the end. But... I never once used the powers I received from the God of Unearned Misfortune, because doing so would mean that I was praying to the bastard, and he is not my God."

Her voice grew upset with those last words.

...And rightfully so, for he was the one who caused all this misfortune after all.

She sighed.

"A few days before this final battle, I used my privilege to hide from everyone. That way, I could take them out by surprise—"

She suddenly coughed a few times and her face reddened as she covered her mouth. Cedric frowned and turned to her, but before he could say anything, she quickly continued, "I’m sorry. I would have killed Mr. Lim too, but I couldn’t because a Lord can’t kill the leader due to the authority of Admin Privileges.

"It had to be you, Min-jun."

"..."

But...

Killing him came with consequences, so Cedric could not help but ask softly, "Now what? I killed him, but that just made me a Lord."

Seo-yeon turned to him and after a beat, she nodded. "Yes. But you can break out of it."

"How?" he asked, but rather than answer, she looked away and stared into the dark for a moment.

"It is said that after the arrival of the veils which connected the worlds to the Cradle, the oracles of the churches in the empires received a revelation from the Gods. To stop an invasion, the red bridges must be destroyed, and to destroy the veils, the Lords of the rings must be killed.

"This revelation has guided the people of the Cradle for over a thousand years. But little did they know that they had been played. They did not receive a revelation from ’the Gods;’ they received a revelation from ’a God’ — the Trickster, the God of Unearned Misfortune."

’Ah...’

Cedric arched a brow tiredly. At this point, he did not have much shock left in him to show. The previous revelations had almost completely killed his capacity for surprise.

’So it really was a lost cause from the start,’ he thought.

It was all the plan of the God of Unearned Misfortune, and everyone was playing right into his palm. From the beginning, the system was designed to remain unbroken. The dominants were supposed to visit the rings, and they were supposed to destroy the red bridges every single time.

If, by some miracle, they managed to kill the Lords, the cycle would simply continue because the person who killed the leader would take their place.

It was a lost cause from the start.

"Why?" Cedric’s jaw clenched. "Why is he doing this?"

Why the bridges? Why all of this?

"I..." Without looking at him, she answered with a frown. "I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you the reason right now. Telling you why he does what he does would kill you. That is for you to find out on your own. When you are stronger, of course."

He sighed.

Slowly, he turned to gaze at the dark horizon, and for a moment, the space between them fell quiet.

After thinking for a bit, he finally said in a gentle voice, "I think I understand now. What I must do to put an end to the veil. And what I must do to get rid of his authority."

Since killing the leader of the Lords meant the killer would take over, there was only one thing to do.

Seo-yeon turned to him and a small smile touched her lips.

"Your authority is preserved in your bond, which is why both you and Aika share this authority. However, the authority of your junior brother comes from killing the leader of the Lords, which is why only you bear it."

Cedric suddenly smiled because he realized he had nothing but bad luck with little brothers. First, he had to deal with Levi, and now, it seemed that he had to deal with an even more sinister little brother who was a god.

Ha.

The thought was indeed laughable, though his smile disappeared as he let out a heavy sigh.

After a few seconds, Seo-yeon added:

"When you completely consume yourself, the first ring will be without a Lord. You would lose the privilege, and because of this, the red bridge won’t be born. Without the bridge, the veil connecting this world to the Cradle shall disappear alongside its rules.

"When that happens, Aika will bring you back to life in the Cradle from nothing."

Cedric slowly turned to her.

He could see just how tired she was, with dark circles under her eyes.

But now... now he understood.

She was not tired, she was dying.

...All this while, Seo-yeon had been dying.

Cedric felt his heart grow heavy. For the first time all night, he finally reached out a hand and held her cheek, gently turning her to face him.

Then he looked into her beautiful brown eyes and whispered with a heavy heart, "You are dying, Seo-yeon."

Her eyes shook, and she lowered her head slightly as he continued.

"Your home was destroyed, which means you have no home to return to. All this while, you suffered in realms not yours.

"I’m guessing that the only reason you managed to survive this long was because you had this pendant, which grants you access to the protection of Narrative Privileges.

"But... it seems that its power has been diminishing with time, considering it has lost its luster.

"And since you need mana to survive, you had no choice other than to continually poison yourself every day with the mana of these realms."

His voice broke.

"All this while..."

She looked up at him, biting her lips, and her eyes were clouded with tears. As she began to nod, he quickly pulled her into his chest and hugged her small frame tight.

"I had to hold on..." she cried. "I had to bear it, endure and hold on until I met you again, my Lord. Until I fulfilled my duty."

She wept against his chest.

...And, unable to contain it any longer, he broke down alongside her.