CHAPTER 33: THE AFTERMATH[1]

Three days later.

I woke up in the infirmary with pain coursing through every inch of my body.

’Damn, I’m here again.’

I thought while looking at the white ceiling overhead. At this point, I had lost count of how many times I had nearly died in the past month alone.

My jaw tightened as I thought of the sick bastard of an author who had dumped me into this world.

Yet even now, a part of me couldn’t quite hate it.

I had loved this story once—loved it so much that reaching the final Chapter only to find no real ending had felt like a blade to the heart.

And now I was inside it. Fighting to stay alive, to crawl toward whatever ending waited at the far edge of this cursed road.

Even if the world itself seemed determined to bury me first. Giving up wasn’t an option. Not yet. I was determined to survive until the end, no matter what the cost.

"About time you woke up."

A small, familiar voice piped up, echoing in my head.

I turned my head and saw Nyx sprawled out on the windowsill, soaking in a patch of sunlight.

The black kitten looked perfectly content, with a tiny paper crown flopping over one ear. His fur was messy, and he was busy batting lazily at a dangling thread from the curtain.

When he noticed me staring, his violet eyes brightened. His tail twitched in that quick, impatient way he had when excited.

"You look funny when you sleep," Nyx announced, his paws kneading at the windowsill. "Your mouth was open the whole time."

"Great," I rasped at his words. My voice came out rough. "Glad to know someone enjoyed the view."

"I thought you were dead," he said, bouncing upright before flopping back down again. "Then I remembered you’re too stubborn to die."

"Thank you for your overwhelming faith in me, Nyx," I muttered, pushing myself up an inch before the pain made me stop.

Nyx’s ears perked up, seeing me struggle. "Don’t move too much! You’ll tear your bandages! Then the scary nurse will yell again!"

"She yelled at you, didn’t she?" I asked him.

His tail flicked, clearly guilty. "...Maybe."

"Did you at least stay out of trouble?"

"Nope!" He chirped, sounding far too proud. "I knocked over her basket. And the water bowl. And maybe the medicine. Twice."

"Of course you did," I sighed, pressing a hand to my forehead. "Remind me why I keep you around?"

Nyx blinked, then scrambled down from the sill and landed on the floor with a soft thud. He padded closer with little paws, almost silent on the stone.

"Because I’m cute," he said, sitting down beside my bed and puffing out his chest. "And because you’d be lonely without me."

"Mm. Debatable," I said, managing a weak grin. "Mostly the first part, maybe."

Nyx’s ears twitched. "Hey!"

"Relax," I rasped. "You did good, Nyx. Guarded me while I drooled all over the sheets, right?"

His tail curled happily, and he gave a tiny, triumphant nod. "Yep! And I kept the crows away too."

"Crows?" I raised a brow. "In here?"

"They were thinking about it!" he insisted, voice going high and indignant.

I chuckled despite the pain. "Alright, brave little knight. I owe you one."

"You owe me two," Nyx corrected quickly, lifting a paw. "One for the crows and one for the scary nurse."

I leaned back, still smiling faintly. "Deal. But you’re still not getting extra fish tonight."

Nyx pouted as his ears flattened. He then climbed back onto the windowsill with a small hop. "Mean," he muttered, curling up again.

That’s when the bombberries came to my mind. I stared at Nyx as I asked him.

"Hey, Nyx," I asked, my voice lower and more serious this time, "you didn’t happen to plant bombberry bushes anywhere else, did you? Other than where I told you to?"

Nyx paused mid-lick, blinked at me with those big violet eyes, then tilted his head. "Nope! You only gave me one bush," he declared, sounding almost insulted that I’d even question him. "I can’t just grow more out of nowhere, you know."

I believed him, but the thought that someone saw through my plan and thwacked it also pierced my mind. It didn’t sit well with me.

Or maybe this was what they called the butterfly effect. A single change twisting the story in ways even I couldn’t predict.

At this point, I had no way of knowing. Either way, it was a reminder of how little control I really had over myself and this world.

Sigh~

I sighed as I looked out of the window. The outside area was lively, a bit too lively.

Then suddenly, a strange word entered my ears from the chatter of people.

"Did you hear that divine voice? Holy Grail War was it. I wonder what that is."

In the distance, two infirmary workers were talking in the garden.

Since the room where I was staying was so close to the garden, their voices carried to me as clearly as if they were standing beside my bed.

And the moment I heard what they said, I felt the blood drain from my face.

’Holy Grail war!?’

The words slammed into me and kept echoing in my skull.

No... no, no... this can’t be happening. Not now. It shouldn’t be time yet.

My thoughts raced faster and faster, each one tripping over the next. And then, almost on instinct, I turned toward Nyx. I needed to hear it from him. This wasn’t the moment when the world was supposed to know.

"Nyx," I called out, my voice thin and strained.

He lifted his head, blinking at me with that small, innocent look of his.

"Did... something happen? While I was out?" I forced the words out, barely keeping my voice steady.

Nyx tilted his head, paws curling under him. "Hmm... lemme think," he mumbled. Then his ears perked up. "Oh! Yeah! There was a loud, booming voice that everyone heard everywhere. It happened right after you passed out."

I stared at him, my body completely still. For a full minute, I didn’t move, barely even breathed.

I let his words sink in, all the way down to the marrow of my bones.