“……Scarlet, Scarlet.”

Jessie muttered my name, staring at me intensely.

When our eyes met, I couldn’t help but let out a small gasp, ‘eek.’

It was probably because I sensed that her gaze towards me was different from before.

Her eyes, which were kind and warm when she looked at her friends, were now glimmering with an unidentifiable emotion.

The only thing I could surmise was that the feeling was certainly not one of fondness.

It hurt too much to see her looking at me like that.

Just as I was about to say something to her, trying to find the right words,

“……Scarlet, I have something to ask.”

Jessie said to me.

“Please tell me the truth.”

Then came her persistent question,

“Is it true that you’re a witch… and that you put Yoon Si-woo into a coma?”

I felt my breath catch in my throat.

Yoon Si-woo, in a coma?

As I stared blankly at Jessie in shock, she continued with her questioning.

“They say he might never wake up again. But Scarlet, you wouldn’t hurt anyone like that, right? Please, tell me it’s not true.”

Everything before me faded to white.

I knew he was badly hurt.

I also knew that he had excessively used his powers.

But hearing that he might never open his eyes again felt like a crushing blow.

To save me, to help me.

Because of me, Yoon Si-woo…

Guilt, self-blame, and regret surged up inside me like bile.

Jessie, as if accusing me, shouted loudly.

“Why… can’t you answer? Why can’t you say it’s not true…?!”

“……”

I couldn’t respond to her.

After all, she was right.

I was a witch, and Yoon Si-woo was in that state because of me.

As I silently bit my lip, questioning whether I even had the right to make excuses for myself, Jessie seemed to take my silence as confirmation, muttering with her face crumpled in pain.

“……So it is true. Everything, it was all real.”

“……”

“Haha, I believed you. I thought we were friends…”

Turning away from the laughter and tears in Jessie’s eyes, I felt that I didn’t have time to stand there facing her.

After all, Yoon Si-woo wanted me to escape.

I had to at least listen to his last words—

Thud.

“Stop right there.”

Just then, I felt a sharp voice pierce me like a heavy blow.

Looking down blankly, I saw a sharp metal skewer protruding from my chest.

The pain made me stop in my tracks, and I slowly turned around.

There was Jessie, her face twisted like a diabolical figure, extending her staff towards me.

“Unforgivable…”

Her voice, full of hostility, echoed, and simultaneously, it felt like the skewer lodged in my chest was vibrating strongly as if propelled by telekinesis.

Blood surged out from the wound in my chest.

It was hard to believe that this was an attack from gentle Jessie; it was filled with a fierce will to kill.

More painful than the physical injury was the truth of what was happening.

I grimaced as I pulled the skewer out of my chest with my hand.

The wound began to heal immediately, but it seemed Jessie wasn’t going to give me a chance to recover. She swung her staff again and sent another skewer flying in my direction.

“Unforgivable…!!!!”

Her cry was filled with vengeance.

But this time, flames erupted from my body and melted the incoming skewer in an instant.

“Ugh… die!!!”

As I deflected her attack, Jessie glared at me with wide eyes and slammed her staff into the ground.

Suddenly, sharp shards of stone scattered around us began to levitate into the air and all at once shot towards me.

It probably was an all-out attack for her.

However, it was a level of power that wouldn’t inflict significant harm on me, who had grown stronger by becoming a witch.

Neither the stone shards nor the skewers could penetrate my flames now.

Even if I were to take some damage, I could heal from it easily.

The difference in our strength was painfully obvious.

When I looked at her as if to say “You know this too,” I noticed Jessie biting her lip, realizing her attacks were futile.

I thought maybe it was time to turn away from her.

But contrary to my assumption that she would give up,

“Die…! Just die…!!”

She didn’t stop her relentless assault on me.

Cursing me along the way.

Attacking me over and over, again and again.

“Ugh, cough…?!”

In that moment, Jessie’s face, filled with holes, erupted with blood.

She must have exhausted all her energy today, pushing past her limits without any real rest.

Seeing this made me gasp, and I called out to her.

“Jessie…!”

“Die, cough…! Ugh… Die…!”

Regardless of my confusion or hesitance, she continued to attack me, even while spitting out blood.

Her determination to harm me, disregarding her own body’s deterioration, caused me immense pain.

It was a clear indication of how deeply she felt betrayed.

The mere fact that she was behaving that way made it incredibly hard for me to bear.

It was already excruciating enough that Yoon Si-woo was gravely injured because of me.

Seeing Jessie getting hurt because of me was unbearable, and I screamed for her to stop.

“Enough, Jessie! Stop it…!!”

“Why…! Why?!!!”

“Jessie, I said stop…!”

“I believed in you, and my brother too…! Why did you deceive us…! Why…!”

Even my words didn’t stop her, and our cries resonated in a sorrowful harmony.

In that moment, Jessie’s assault abruptly came to a halt.

It wasn’t due to a lack of vengeance; rather, she stumbled and collapsed onto the ground.

“…! Jessie…!”

“Ugh, ahhh…!”

The fallen Jessie seemed to have no strength left to use her powers. She swung her staff a few times in futility while screaming, her eyes bloodshot, still crawling toward me, clutching nearby skewers.

“Why…! Cough, why…! Why can’t I even take revenge on that wicked witch…!”

Still sobbing from her own powerlessness, yet desperately crawling toward me, I finally extinguished my flames and rushed towards her.

“Jessie, please. Please stop…”

It was a plea.

I begged her not to do anything, and as I embraced Jessie lying on the ground, she weakly poked me with the skewer she was holding as she bled.

I didn’t resist that attack but fully accepted it with my body.

Though it didn’t inflict significant wounds on me.

The pain felt worse than anything I had experienced before.

But the pain didn’t matter at all.

If this could finally make her stop.

I held her tightly, pleading with all my might.

Then, at last, Jessie’s arm, which had been stabbing me while she bled, fell still.

“……Why.”

Looking into my eyes, Jessie’s face contorted in confusion as she muttered, “Why?”

“Why are you making that expression…? I’m the one who should feel wronged, the one who wants to cry…”

Tears welled up in her eyes.

“Why, as a witch… why aren’t you resisting my attacks… why are you still the same…?”

“……”

“A witch is undoubtedly my enemy… so what am I supposed to do now… sob…”

Thud.

The skewer in Jessie’s hand dropped to the ground.

As she sobbed, she buried her head against my chest.

Relieved that she had ceased to harm herself, I embraced her head tightly and whispered softly.

“Jessie, I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”

“Ugh… what are you sorry for?”

“Just… everything… hiding my true identity from you until now, though it wasn’t my intention, that I hurt Yoon Si-woo like that… and that I broke the arm you and your brother gave me… all of it…”

“……My arm’s healed, so that doesn’t matter anymore.”

Jessie mumbled that and buried her head in my embrace for a while.

Then, after a short moment, she suddenly pushed me away, keeping her head tilted down.

“Let’s hurry and go…”

“……What?”

“……If we stay like this, people will come. So hurry up and get away. Otherwise, I might change my mind and set off fireworks.”

As she muttered, Jessie pulled out a device from her bag and showed it to me.

Understanding that it was likely the same device that would signal my location with a colorful firework, I flinched and stood up quickly.

“Your body must have taken a lot of damage, so we need to get to the hospital fast…?”

“……I’ll manage on my own, just hurry and go.”

Although I wanted to take her to the hospital, I decided against it, fearing that if I hesitated any longer, she might shoot off the fireworks in anger. I quickly decided to leave.

I didn’t feel the need for goodbyes.

I hoped from the bottom of my heart that we would meet again someday.

*

Not long after Scarlet left, the area became noisy again.

It meant that the heroes had resumed their pursuit of her.

Hearing those sounds, Jessie let out a deep sigh, gazing momentarily at the magical tool in her hand.

“……I’m not sure if this is the right thing to do.”

After hesitating for a moment, Jessie squeezed her eyes shut and pressed the button on the device.

Bang! A loud sound echoed, and arrow-shaped flames brightly burst into the sky.

The flames pointed in the opposite direction of where Scarlet had disappeared.