Chapter 159

Allen was not an S-class male lead.

“You’re accepting my proposal? Wait… are you crying?”

“…”

“Yes, well, you have every reason to be happy. I am too.” Allen’s voice lightened with laughter. “I promise you won’t regret it. I’ll do my best to make you the happiest person in the world.”

His words faded into the background.

I looked up at the sky again, my vision blurring.

9 13 : 12 : 38 : 27

One less user. But the timer was still ticking.

Allen wasn’t the S-class male lead.

My knees buckled.

I collapsed.

Allen caught me before I hit the ground.

“Are you alright?” His voice trembled with concern.

I looked up at him.

“Your Highness…”

He tilted his head slightly, waiting.

I wiped away my tears and forced a smile.

Then, quietly, I asked, “Will you take me back to the hotel?”

Without hesitation, Allen helped me into his carriage. He said he was headed to the capital anyway and would drop me off first.

His tone was cheerful—more cheerful than I remembered—and somehow that only made me feel further away from him.

By the time I opened my eyes again, we were at the hotel entrance.

I turned in time to see Allen’s carriage roll away.

The street was deserted.

No festival-goers. No vendors. No sounds from across the river.

Only the black sky above—unchanged.

9 13:09:01:25

The numbers blurred.

I hadn’t saved Johann. I hadn’t stopped the disaster.

I stepped into the hotel, muttering to myself:

“It’ll be okay…”

But my legs gave out again.

I collapsed in the lobby.

No matter how many words I whispered to calm myself—no matter how I tried to frame it—reality didn’t care.

I had ruined everything.

Wasted my only chance.

---

“Daisy?”

A familiar voice cut through the fog.

Siena knelt in front of me in a sleek black dress.

“What are you doing here? Why are you crying?”

She opened her handbag and gently dabbed my cheeks with a soft handkerchief.

I glimpsed tickets tucked between her fan and compact—she must’ve been headed to a show.

Even now, Siena remained calm.

I let out a wet laugh.

The day I used the S-class viewing pass, I had wanted to tell her. But Siena had waved me off. “I don’t want to play by the system’s rules,” she’d said.

Still, I couldn’t stop crying. I brushed her hand away.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“I think I ruined everything.”

My head bowed again. My voice broke. Tears fell fast.

Siena sighed gently. “Come on. Let’s go up and talk.”

---

Wendy brought tea and quietly left the suite.

In the stillness, Siena sipped her tea and tilted her head.

“Third-years can be pretty mean, huh?”

She smiled faintly. “By the third year, people get bored. They start poking into other people’s storylines, looking for drama. Too many restless players, and… well, here we are.”

She said it like we were talking about a slightly unpleasant meal, not impending catastrophe.

I stared at her, stunned. “How can you be so calm?”

“Me?” She blinked. “It’s just a game. If we die, we log out.”

Her lavender eyes were clear. Unafraid.

“And anyway, twenty billion just for finishing [Kyeol]? That always sounded too good to be true.”

She shrugged. “People told me I was being negative. So I stopped talking. I just focused on the parts I liked. Honestly, even if I had twenty billion in real life, I couldn’t live as lavishly as I do here.”

She looked out the window.

“It’s been amazing. Luxury. Fantasy. Romance. When would we ever live like this again?”

Then she turned to me.

“Maybe this is the end. Maybe they’ve gotten all the data they needed. And we’ll all go back. Don’t you want to?”

I didn’t answer right away.

I hadn’t thought about going back.

I was just scared of losing this—of having it taken away.

“I don’t know,” I whispered. “But… the freeze. They said we’d feel everything. That it’d hurt.”

“Oh.” Siena frowned slightly. “Then maybe we should log out before the timer ends.”

She looked up at the glowing numbers outside the window.

9 13 : 08 : 31 : 21

“We’ve still got time. Might as well enjoy it while it lasts.”

“…If I’d just made the right choice…”

The guilt returned, pressing down like stone.

Siena’s voice stayed steady.

“You didn’t cause the disaster, Daisy. The system did.”

“I still chose wrong.”

“What exactly did you do wrong?”

I said nothing.

Siena leaned forward.

“No one has reached [Ending] in fifty years. Doesn’t that tell you something? Maybe we were never meant to finish. Maybe they just wanted to see how far we’d go.”

I looked at her, my voice hoarse. “So… it was never my fault?”

“I don’t think it was.”

She paused. “I never told anyone… but I have a time-travel buff. Once-only. No cooldown.”

My eyes widened.

“Why haven’t you used it?”

“Because I liked who I was becoming here. I didn’t want to go back. Didn’t want to reset.”

She smiled. “It’s a secret from Arina. She keeps trying to switch routes with me.”

Then, more serious: “But if you want to try again…”

Her tone shifted.

“Do you believe it would change anything if you chose differently?”

I didn’t answer. But my face must’ve said enough.

Because Siena sighed, stood, and gave me a quiet smile.

“In that case… I’ll change your choice for you.”

CH14. Rechoice