Chapter 71: Her Trace

“What are you doing in my house?”

“…You were drunk, and that wine girl who dared not guess your thoughts called me on your phone, so I brought you back.”

After hearing the explanation, Lyte still seemed a bit skeptical.

He searched his pockets for his phone but found his clothes stripped clean.

His face darkened with irritation, “Where’s my phone?”

Noi knew she was in the wrong, so she flipped through the pants on the floor and found the black-and-white couple’s phone with the little dog charm attached.

After taking it, Lyte carefully checked the call logs and recordings in front of her, his expression softening slightly.

“Did you peek at my phone? I haven’t even changed my lock screen password yet.”

“Do I look like someone who would sneak a look?”

Lyte snorted with contempt, “You do. You’ve already broken into my house—I can guess what’s on your mind. Only you could have the nerve to pretend to be innocent while using such dirty tricks.”

“Innocent.”

Her heart was hammered hard again, a lightning-like numbness of grievance spreading through her entire body.

“Please… take back that word.”

Noi clutched the Sapphire Necklace at her chest, her voice trembling with tears.

“Take it back? You mean that gem? You came just in time. Now’s the perfect moment—go grab some money from my spatial ring as compensation for the sword scabbard. Consider it our parting gift.”

“No… I don’t mean that.”

Noi shook her head, trying to defend herself, but Lyte’s intimidating posture left her speechless.

“If not the gem, then what? You can leave now. Within a minute—no, right this second—get out of my house, or I’ll call the Town Demon Division to report your illegal trespassing.”

‘I’m not leaving.’

If Lyte hadn’t woken up earlier, she had planned to leave quietly.

But his words stirred her temper.

“Lyte, do you even know what you’ve done today?”

“Heh, just chasing away a woman I don’t like.”

“Have you already forgotten those sea-deep, mountain-high vows? Didn’t we say we’d dance as butterflies and grow old like ancient trees together?”

“Why bring that up again? Didn’t I already tell you those were just sweet lies to fool you? You were just one of my hunting targets. You got priority only because I was down and out back then, and I wanted to see what it was like to take care of a fragile, foolish girl. Now that I’m bored, I’m letting go.”

“No! Don’t brush me off with such a reason.” Noi stepped forward aggressively.

Lyte glanced at the floor irritably, then looked back at her.

“So, what exactly do you want? Just say it straight—I need to sleep and rest now!”

“…”

Suddenly given the chance, Noi froze.

After panicking for a moment, she remembered something Simon had prepared for her—something she could use to test Lyte’s sincerity.

The deep black collar appeared in Noi’s hand.

“This is a Bomb Collar. I’ll give you the control. If you truly think I’m less than a concubine, then put this collar on me and press the button to kill me.”

“You’re bold.” Lyte laughed helplessly, anger barely restrained in his voice.

“You really want me to put it on?” Seeing him actually take the collar and unclasp it, Noi muttered in disbelief.

She couldn’t believe Lyte really intended to kill her without hesitation.

“Put it on. Why not? You brought this on yourself!”

“Click.”

The collar snapped around Noi’s neck.

In her shocked, dazed eyes, he pressed the remote’s button.

“Click.”

Nothing happened.

Lyte cocked his head in confusion, pressed a few more times, and when he confirmed the remote was broken, he angrily smashed it against the wall, shattering it.

“Too bad. Got a faulty product. A witch’s life is as stubborn as a cockroach’s.”

The fact the bomb didn’t explode seemed to disappoint Lyte greatly.

“…”

Noi’s gaze was empty as she silently stared at him.

Her pupils trembled.

She wasn’t afraid when the button was pressed—her heart shattered completely at the sound.

She didn’t resist, only clutching the edges of the collar.

Before he pressed the button, she thought it was just an empty threat.

“Lyte…”

Her eyes gradually regained color.

A mix of complex emotions surfaced before finally releasing with a sigh.

Her blood surged freely, burning magic flames flickering around her eyes as Noi entered a heightened state.

She pounced on Lyte and pushed him onto the bed, wildly kissing, biting, and licking his neck as if trying to devour him whole—venting the long-buried darkness in her heart.

Lyte, just sober, couldn’t fully mobilize his body.

Under the pressure of the blood surge, he struggled weakly, glaring at her in confusion.

Noi paid no mind and even tore open his underwear, her small hands restlessly roaming as if his body might disappear from before her eyes any second.

She thought: ‘if I can’t have Lyte, then I’ll take his body here—be it in bed or in life, I’ll take it all, and give it to no one else.’

“Stop—You’re crazy!”

But Lyte refused to yield to her will.

His hand blindly searched the sheets and quickly grabbed his phone.

Channeling a great deal of Brave’s Power into it, he mercilessly swung it straight at her head.

“Bang!”

The phone screen cracked.

The little dog charm shattered from the impact.

The girl’s white hair was dyed with crimson blood.

“…”

The Hero’s Power stripped away Noi’s blood surge.

Her ears buzzed, and her whole head spun dizzily.

“…”

Reluctantly, she came to, pressing her bloody forehead.

Lyte hadn’t expected his instinctive action would hurt Noi so badly, but he still gritted his teeth and said, “If you’re awake, then get out! This is my house! I never want to see you again!”

Noi slowly raised her head.

Her pupils contracted and dilated oddly, still dizzy from the blow.

“Is that all? Not so bad.”

Noi’s lip twitched as her expression faded—her gaze at Lyte had utterly lost all emotion.

With that, she slunk off the bed and ran step by step out of the bedroom.

Soon after, the sound of the door closing echoed.

It wasn’t loud or gentle, but calm acceptance of reality.

‘So be it. Our relationship ends like this.’

“Enough~”

The church bells shattered the silent night sky—it was midnight, and her birthday had passed.

In the rented house, only he was left.

The bedroom returned to quiet.

Lyte lay back on the bed, a complicated feeling twisting inside him.

‘Had I gone too far?’

Under the bedside lamp, Lyte lit his phone.

The shattered screen and lock wallpaper tightly aligned with the photo of the two of them.

That photo was taken casually after a sticker booth session.

The shop’s decorations just happened to frame Noi pulling him along.

They took several shots everywhere and carefully picked this one.

Noi’s apology words were spoken but already unheard.

Sitting up, Lyte put his feet on the floor.

She had even helped him take off his socks and shoes.

He quietly looked at the little porcelain cup, the framed photos beside the lamp.

Then he slowly placed the frame down on the table, leaving only the bare back visible.

He lifted the cup and drank the last bit of liquid, trying to sober up.

So cruel… Lyte Montis, you knew how fragile she was, yet you chose to hurt her like this.

After putting on his pants, he walked step by step into the living room, still numb from the alcohol and leaning on the wall to avoid bumping into corners.

‘Damn it, this is my rented place, but why do I feel like Noi knows it better than I do?’

He pulled aside the living room curtain.

Noi had a good eye—when buying it, she spent little but got soft, quality curtains with nice patterns.

He looked at the window facing Noi’s small room.

The light was off, and the setup was simple—a small wooden stool by the window.

Actually, when Noi handed him the Bomb Collar remote, he had a sudden urge to give up and just hold her, comfort her, and spend their final moments somewhere alone.

But in the end, he chose to press the button—only after using his magic to destroy the device inside first.

Back on the sofa, the tea set on the coffee table was spotless, without a speck of dust.

The tea bag wasn’t sealed tight, and the aroma lingered, faintly recalling their morning tea and casual chat.

Lyte grabbed a soft bread roll from the table, silently tore open the bag, and chewed while repeatedly lighting up his phone.

The flickering light cast on his swollen, alcohol-ridden eyes.

At the café, he had used Brave’s Power to check Noi’s body.

The Abyssal Poison was indeed spreading rapidly inside her.

Without intervention, she’d be dead within a day, with no clear cause.

He didn’t believe the Nightmare kept any antidote, and there wasn’t enough time.

He had to transfer the Abyssal Poison into himself with Brave’s Power and temporarily suppress it.

How long he could last was uncertain, but no more than a month.

If he wanted to survive, he had to find a way to solve the Abyss problem within that time.

It was as hard as storming the Sin Domain headquarters and forcing the Domain Lord of Sin Domain to make an antidote.

He had considered solving it together, but he knew better than anyone how painfully hopeless waiting for death was.

While their relationship was still shallow, he had to unravel it and cut ties.

Lost in thought, Lyte’s eyes accidentally caught something familiar on the coffee table—a Sapphire Necklace.

She left it behind.

Lyte reached out to touch it, but suddenly his heart tightened painfully.

He turned his head away, bitterly rushing into the kitchen, his movements revealing anger at not wanting to face the truth.

He habitually opened the fridge but saw a note stuck outside: “There’s still half a basin of hangover soup inside. When I’m gone, remember to drink less, okay?”

“Seriously! I don’t need you telling me what to do!”

Crumpling the note, he threw it into the trash.

Gritting his teeth, he opened the fridge and grabbed a few beers, then sat down on the kitchen floor.

‘Damn it, she even mopped the kitchen floor. It doesn’t feel greasy anymore.’

Without realizing it, he had opened seven or eight cans.

Empty bottles lay scattered crookedly, the thick, sour smell of alcohol filling the air.

Pretending to be a mad drunk, Lyte exiled himself to this sea of booze.

His body floated, but his mind sank deep underwater.

In the end, he was only redeeming himself.

In his past life, after battling the Abyssal Poison, he was told that the Domain Lord of Sin Domain personally dealt with that Chen Xing and captured Noi, branding her and feeding her the poison.

When Lyte found the drifting Noi at the bottom of No Man’s Land, she was already dead.

After burying her, he left.

No one expected that poison to become a critical trigger, transforming Noi’s body and turning her into a world-ending Witch who only knew destruction.

Even the Domain Lord hadn’t foreseen that her potential had exceeded his control.

He reaped what he sowed.

The entire Sin Domain paid the price for his actions, forced to urgently evacuate Tria Planet to find a new home.

Drowsiness rolled in with the alcohol haze.

Lyte half-awoke and opened his phone’s map, seeing Noi had safely reached the church.

He finally exhaled.

In the end, it was today that he learned the true reason why Noi became the world-ending Witch.

They had all misunderstood her.

Moreover, Shang had said that if not for accidentally discovering the even more dangerous Noi over Lyte, the Sin Domain would have used the last of the Abyssal Poison on him.

Meaning, Noi took on the death sentence for him.

“How ironic.”

The beer can  smashed hard against the kitchen vent fan, spraying foamy alcohol everywhere.

Lyte only hated that he was the one reborn, the Chosen One, the so-called savior and strongest Hero in the eyes of others—but in truth, just a useless brute bullying a fragile girl who knew nothing…

He could do nothing.

The window wasn’t shut tight.

The cold autumn wind sparsely slipped through the security bars and blew inside.

Lyte endured the chill, limping back to the bedroom, opened the wardrobe, and stared at the clothes filled with Noi’s scent before crawling inside and clutching the bronze sword scabbard she had given him.

Surrounded by endless comfort and safety, he quietly slipped into sleep.