A Villain's Will to Survive - Chapter 224: Wooden Pocket Watch (3)

Epherene opened her eyes and rolled her pupils, scanning her surroundings. The blizzard still howled outside, and she was still in Rekordak, lying on the sofa in Knight Yulie's office.

“… Ah,” Epherene muttered.

Hoping the despair had only been a dream, believing—if only for a moment—that it wasn’t real, Epherene slowly pushed herself upright from the sofa.

"... You are awake," Delic said with a faint chuckle, seated at the nearby table.

But Epherene lacked even the strength to respond.

"Epherene, what made you cry out like that?"

Epherene clenched her teeth, her lower lip trembling as if she were holding back tears.

"With that chubby face of yours, pretending to be worn out isn’t all that convincing," Delic said.

“... Who says I’m chubby.”

"I heard you ate all the steamed potatoes by yourself."

Epherene lay back on the sofa, staring at the ceiling as she thought of what would come next.

The Altar's sudden attack is coming soon. We'll be scattered, everyone will die, and I’ll do nothing but run—only to regress again. And it'll repeat, over and over. As far as I can tell, there's no hope. There is probably less than half a day left before it begins, Epherene thought.

"Oh, right. When you regress, do you return to early March?" Delic asked.

“… It has to be February, not March, to stop everything.”

February… back to when Deculein was giving the admissions briefing…

Crunch—

Just then, Delic took a bite of something.

Munch, munch— Munch, munch—

The sound kept tugging at her focus. Still staring blankly at the ceiling, Epherene’s head slowly turned toward Delic

“… What is that?” Epherene asked.

“A sandwich,” Delic replied.

“…...