Chapter 12 – Why Am I So Lonely?

【Fred PoV】

“Sylvia, do you love me?”
“Yes… I… I do…”

Even though she said that…

Even though I did all that, I can’t stop thinking…

I can’t stop worrying.

My heart hurts…

My feelings hurt…

Why?

Why am I so hurt…?

I killed that homewrecker…

I killed that devilish man who wanted to corrupt my Sylvia…

But why… every time she says she loves me, I see her eyes welling up as if she were about to cry.

She loves me…

She has to…

I did everything for her…

I saved her from that homewrecker…

I saved our love… our future.

“Sylvia… do you hate me?”

“I d… I d… I love you.”

I feel as if she were about to confess that she hates me so much that she wishes to end my life…

I hate myself too…

I hate myself for being so stupid…

If I had declared my love for her, she would have loved me from the start…

Then she would have waited for me here in this world…

She would never let anyone touch a strand of her hair.

But I didn’t…

So I had to kill that homewrecker…

That damn homewrecker…

A surge of bitter, twisted thoughts explodes inside me.

How could he dare intrude on what is mine?

Every beat of my heart screams that I must protect her at all costs.

I imagine a world where no other man—no interloper, no pretender—ever dares to approach her.

That man, that abomination, is a stain on our destiny.

“Otherworlder… please surrender…”

It was a guard shouting.

At that moment, I had destroyed a good part of the city.

After killing that homewrecker, some peasants—worthless, meddling fools—tried to stop me…

They wanted to take Sylvia from me.

So I had to kill them…

They were in the way.

My mind races with a delicious, horrifying logic.

I recall the faces of those peasants as they scrambled in panic.

I remember the way their pitiful eyes widened in terror as my blade flashed in the sun.

Each of them was a mere obstacle, a transient annoyance on the path to our eternal union.

I told myself they were not worth the burden of mercy—they were expendable, destined to fall before the true hero.

Their screams were a twisted symphony to my ears, each note fueling my resolve.

“A person from another world…”

I sneer internally at their ignorance.

They believed themselves free men, yet they were nothing compared to the might of fate—and my will.

“Otherworlder… please surrender…”

Again, a guard yelled.

At that moment, as the ruins of the city bore witness to my wrath, more peasants gathered, desperate and foolish.

They wanted to stop me, to steal Sylvia away from me.

I could see their faces contorting in fear as I advanced, unstoppable.

I had no choice but to cut them down; they were in the way of our destiny.

“Otherworlder… please… surrender…”

“NOOOOOOOOO…”

I finally went to where he was.

“Otherworlder… please… I don’t want to kill you…”

“No, you want to steal Sylvia from me…
You want her for yourself…
She loves me…”

“Otherworlder… she doesn’t love you… she loves…”

“Don’t say that damn homewrecker’s name here…”

“That doesn’t change the fact that she doesn’t love you, man…
Get over it… be a man and get over this illusion…”

My heart is pounding, and my mind is a maelstrom of distorted logic.

Every word they exchange drives me further into my obsession.

I cannot let this interloper, this pretender, take away what is rightfully mine.

I lunge suddenly toward the guard with a jagged stake clutched in my hand.

“Otherworlder… please surrender!”

The stake swings through the air—but the guard dodges it with a swift, practiced move, laughing derisively as he evades my wild attack.

“It’s going to be difficult by the looks of it…”

The guard retreats behind a collapsed wall and scattered rubble.

I see him darting between broken houses for cover, his movements agile as he uses the remnants of the city to his advantage.

I hurl clumps of debris at him, my strikes fueled by raw, uncontrolled fury.

He dodges, sliding between shattered doorframes and leaning against the ruined remains of a once-sturdy structure.

My attacks grow more desperate, more frenzied.

I leap after him, my stake raised high, determined to strike him down no matter the cost.

The guard darts from cover to cover, using every collapsed beam and shattered brick as a shield against my wrath.

A new challenge appears on my quest.

《New Quest: kill the guard》

《Reward: Hypnosis Level 2》

《Punishment: Sylvia will hate you even more》

No…

I can’t…

I can’t let her hate…

But the guard’s mocking shouts echo in my ears.

His presence is a constant reminder of my failure—a failure to secure our destiny.

In a burst of uncontrolled rage, I lose control.

I surge forward, swinging my stake wildly.

Every muscle in my body burns with the need to eradicate this obstacle.

My eyes are wild, reflecting a manic light as I bulldoze through the remnants of the city.

I tear through walls and fling aside shattered beams, my path of destruction an ode to my warped devotion.

All around me, the city crumbles.

Magic and rubble mix in a chaotic dance as I protect Sylvia from stray spells that lash out in the melee.

Her delicate form stands vulnerable amid the chaos, and I become her shield, her savior in this ruined world.

The guard, his voice hoarse from shouting, makes one final desperate stand.

With his last reserves of strength, he summons a spell—a feeble incantation powered by his remaining mana.

A shimmering magic bird bursts forth from his outstretched hand.

It soars through the smoky air, carrying a single, urgent message.

In its trembling call, I hear his words: “I hope he sees this.”

A bitter laugh escapes me as I watch the bird vanish into the horizon.

But my focus returns immediately to the guard.

I close the distance with a final, decisive blow—a vicious strike that leaves no room for mercy.

I smash him into a pile of rubble, ending his resistance.

“Otherworlder… please surrender…”

He falls silent forever.

《Congratulations!! You have acquired Hypnosis Level 2!!》