Only Wisdom Awakened - Chapter 272

Chapter 272: Fated
As if it were a beacon, a blinding light was reflected off the castle, attracting my attention.

Finally… I had made it to my destination.

…

‘I see…’

Hans displayed an emotionless face as he watched the scene unfold before his eyes…

He didn’t need to watch any further to understand what drove his aunt to madness.

She was manipulated into believing her parents had abandoned her and her sister had betrayed her…

‘As for why the whole thing escalated… after she killed her mother my grandfather started hunting her down.

Even for someone like him… trying to forgive the person who killed your lover wasn’t possible…

That must also be when his class changed…’

Hans was floating in the gloomy darkness as he pondered….

It was sad to an extent… knowing the whole family crumbled because of such a thing…

Especially when realizing that for my grandfather, the hope of saving troubles for his two daughters turned into a curse that killed his wife…

But something else was even worse… no one was in the wrong…

His aunt had turned into a tyrant and had killed thousands of people, but seeing her story and feeling the same emotions she felt, Hans could understand why she turned out like that.

The only thing left from the whole matter was pain, sorrow, and a lot of deaths…

Hans sighed, he almost felt like he had stumbled upon something he shouldn’t have discovered…

‘What now? Do I need to tell my grandfather?… how do I explain it to him?’

But while his mind had already begun thinking about what his next move should be, his eyes noticed something moving a few meters away from him…

Gradually emerging from the endless darkness, a woman appeared in front of Hans…

Her black hair and her facial features made her easily recognizable…

She looked around confused, and Hans could see it… there was a bit of sadness in her eyes.

Was she sad because of her death? Maybe…

Hans looked in her direction, scrutinizing her and making sure she noticed him…

The woman stared right back.

Hans waited a few seconds before opening his mouth to greet her…

“It’s nice to meet you…”

“You are…

A familiar voice echoed through the nothingness, Hans had already heard it many times as he watched the woman’s memories.

“… the boy who killed me… no, the one who almost killed me…

What happened? Did the woman also end your life other than mine?”

She wasn’t joking, her serious expression was still on her face as she watched the boy in front of her.

“No… I am not dead”

“You… I see, so I must be already…”

Hans nodded and replied:

“Mh…”

His aunt’s gaze turned towards the darkness, her eyes seemed lost in it while not even a single word came out of her mouth…

Hans couldn’t help but notice that she wasn’t as dumb as he made her out to be… she was successful in life before retiring because she was smart and quick-witted, so how could she be manipulated so easily?…

Was her mind unstable after leaving society for so many years? Or maybe she was sensitive because they were talking about her father whom she loved…

It could also be because she wanted to get revenge on her mother and found a justification to do it…

But if it isn’t any of these… then something strange might have happened to her.

“How are you…”

She acted politely… the beast Hans had seen when she was alive had truly died…

Maybe that was her real personality… maybe… even after all that time… only her facade had changed… how she felt inside might have remained the same way as it was when she cried in those woods.

“How am I here if I am not dead?”

Hans guessed, receiving a nod from the other side.

“Sigh…

That… shouldn’t really matter though, aren’t you dead anyway?”

The woman flinched at the mention of the fact that she was dead…

“When we die… does everything we have done in life become meaningless? Does what we felt, what we thought, not matter anymore?”

She asked Hans those questions as if he were the only one who could give her an answer, but even the boy didn’t know…. He just said:

“Maybe… or maybe not… but it definitely doesn’t erase what we have done”

Hans saw… Hans knew… he had witnessed everything, every atrocity the woman standing in front of him had committed.

They were so many, and so terrible, that he didn’t even want to think about it.

‘It wasn’t her fault’…

that was how he justified her actions, but deep down, he knew that whatever happens to someone… there is always a second choice.

She could’ve avoided doing certain things…

Ashamed… the woman lowered her head.

“What are you here for?

Or… what am I here for?”

“I was just here to satisfy my curiosity… it’s already been done, so I could just get out of here and let you drown inside this immense darkness for the rest of eternity…

But that would be pretty rude considering who you are.

The woman’s eyelids closed, she was tired of being the crimson lady…

‘Even after dying…’

She thought.

“It sure wasn’t really polite as a first greeting… but we finally meet …

Auntie.”

The woman’s eyes immediately opened and her chin was quickly raised.

She stared at the boy standing in front of her without saying anything.

Just like her… the boy looked saddened.

He had an emotionless facade, but his eyes gave away the emotions he truly felt.

“What did you just call me?”

She couldn’t believe what she had just heard…

For a second, she had even thought that might’ve been a hallucination caused by her subconscious as she died.

But whatever it was… she wanted to hear it once again…

“I’m your sister’s son… that means you’re my aunt doesn’t it?”

What a weird thing to hear…

“I thought… I thought she died”

The woman murmured while her gaze was still fixed on Hans.

Annoyed by the exclamation, Hans replied:

“It might soothe your soul to know she hasn’t opened her eyes for the past five years”

“No… no I- I want to ask her why?”

“I know what you wanted to do, I felt what you wanted to do.

Thinking of tearing your sister apart isn’t cute is it?”

“That… that was just momentary, I was lost In anger for a second, but as the years passed, I just hoped she would tell me why… why did she betray me?…

I know it’s pointless to ask you now but… please, please… I beg of you…

What did I ever do wrong? What pain did I cause them? What should I have done better?”

She sounded desperate…

Hans pitied her… but was telling the truth really what would make her rest in peace?

Or would that cause her to spend the rest of her existence full of regrets and remorse?

Hans didn’t want to decide on the spot, so he silently observed the woman before getting enveloped in darkness and vanishing.

The woman looked around… everything was dark… it was empty… it was… scary.

‘So this… Is the punishment I get for what I have done?

But… what about the things I have suffered? Isn’t there anything I will get in the afterlife?’

She thought she had been condemned to a terrible punishment, but little did she know… It was simply the fate of every living being.

Hans opened his eyes… he was lying on the comfy bed of the hotel, staring at the white ceiling…

“What a mess”

He whispered.

His words resounded throughout the whole silent room.

He wanted to go to his grandfather and tell him everything, but he couldn’t find a way to explain how he got the information so quickly.

It would also be weird to visit him twice in a single day.

He decided that he would take it slow and try to improve his abilities inside the plain of darkness, and the following day he would go and visit his grandfather again before making his way towards what he thought would be the final step he needed to take before he could face off against the abyssal snake…

The night passed slowly as Hans spent a lot of time inside the plain of darkness.

Everything he had discovered that day continuously resounded in his mind making it difficult to concentrate.

…

Eventually, the sun rose, and Hans waited for a few more hours before going to his grandpa’s house…

He walked there, using the refreshing breeze to wipe his thoughts for a few minutes.

The temperature wasn’t too cold since winter had almost come to an end, the buildings all around him were already open, and a lot of people were roaming around the streets.

The further away from the center of the city he walked, the fewer the people around him became until he found himself in a desolate street, seeing an old white house with a little lawn in front of it.