By Zephyria 
Only then was he satisfied, seeing his pitiful brother shudder without understanding why. At some point, the air between him and Noah Hamilton had become bone dry without a trace of moisture, and his uniquely and selfishly beautiful brother often dismissed his existence very lightly, as if ignoring him from the start.
“What are you doing all of a sud—, hng, khugh!”
At this moment, could anyone exist who had a more powerful influence on Noah Hamilton than Andrew Hamilton?
Pressing his brother’s head against the velvet-finished carriage seat and squeezing his delicate neck that fit perfectly in his grip, his brother looked up at him most desperately, with eyes as if longing for a once in a lifetime love… while struggling.
Those moist blue eyes were indeed beautiful.
Just like the strange admiration Andrew Hamilton felt when he first saw him.
“Tsk, human minds are so fragile…”
It was a quiet place where no passage of time could be felt. The only thing shining in the darkness was a man’s long strands of hair. Hair that shimmered faintly as if containing all creation in the universe, glowing desolately in a place where there was no one to admire it.
The man clicked his tongue, brushing his hair off his forehead as if it bothered him.
Noah might think of it simply as being inside a game, but in fact, this place was a perfect “world” without a single thing missing. One that repeated countless times just for him.
Among the countless human souls, more numerous than the countless stars in the night sky, there was only one soul precious to the man at any time.
So, while rewinding the axis of time over and over again, the man closely observed the mental state of only one person and took appropriate measures to prevent greater harm to his soul.
Andrew Hamilton was also one of the souls strangely twisted and distorted between the timelines rewound by the man. The axis of repetition was always Noah Hamilton, and the closer to the axis, the greater the shock and pressure applied to the soul.
Even without memories, the love, hatred, compassion, admiration, longing, and countless other emotions that Andrew had felt so intensely for Noah Hamilton had long been rooted like a brand in the most intimate part of Andrew Hamilton’s soul. Yes, Andrew Hamilton was already broken. Close to having the foundation of his soul shaken.
While Andrew Hamilton’s soul, busy loving and simultaneously despising Noah Hamilton, was the first to give way and screech in agony, it would only be a matter of time before others collapsed too. That, too, wasn’t much of a concern for the man.
Whether the souls of humans other than the one person he loved, Noah Hamilton, became twisted in the repeating world, or how much the small buds they initially had rotted and collapsed, such things were none of the man’s business.
The problem was that Noah, not properly aware of this situation, had stirred Andrew’s heart as if tempering it at will.
Andrew Hamilton’s single minded determination to kill Noah before him was not a simple impulse. It was more like a dam bursting, with long-accumulated old emotions erupting all at once.
That excessive affection becomes poison is an eternal truth.
Whether Andrew Hamilton went mad or not was of little concern to the man. However, he declined having precious souls scarred by twisted desires that had grown vigorously.
There were no more chances to rewind. Just as this was Noah Hamilton’s last desperate attempt, the same was true for the man.
To offset the shock Noah Hamilton received, the man immediately intervened in the “world.” If he could have stopped Andrew Hamilton by adjusting his superficial consciousness, he would have done so, but as mentioned earlier, the cause of this “accident” was strictly speaking not in Andrew’s consciousness but in his soul. The man broke through the dimensional wall and tore the sky apart.
This noble world, once the most beloved among countless worlds in the universe, had now become a worn out piece of junk. It had become so shabby that it could no longer properly withstand the immediate intervention of a great transcendental being. Even that was the result of many repetitions for just one person.
Time stops. The man, without examining Andrew Hamilton’s turbulently boiling soul in detail, simply trampled on the problematic parts. Even this was only a stopgap measure, and the simplest solution would be to delete the problematic soul itself.
“It’s my weakness that I’m so soft on you, Noah.”
But that was impossible. On this stage set up solely for Noah Hamilton, Andrew Hamilton was a quite useful component and supporting character.
The world, unable to withstand the pressure of the transcendental being, began to creak and scream. This was an overwhelming burden unlike the usual indirect influence he exerted only on Noah Hamilton through game system notification windows, carefully calibrated not to cause harm.
He withdrew before the meticulously constructed theater collapsed entirely. He would be busy for a moment, just a brief moment, to clean up the collapsed parts, but he decided not to mind.
The man smiled tenderly, looking at the pale face of his heartless lover who had been to the threshold of death under the grip of an impudent creature.
“Still, I can understand that fellow’s feelings emotionally…”
The smile directed at the lover he loved and hated most in the entire universe showed an unfathomably deep light of deception.
When I opened my eyes, I was on the bed in my room. What…? I clearly remember getting into Andrew’s carriage after leaving the palace…
“…!”
Recalling that far, I suddenly sat bolt upright. Andrew, who had tried to kill me out of nowhere as if a button had been pressed. Could it be that I died and was already reset? But if that were the case, I wouldn’t hear Nicole’s voice…
‘Sys#!@%@^on’ is □□!@not%@ㅅ□ㅁ working.
□□□□□!!
□□!
“Wh-what? What on earth is this…”
This was no time to be surprised about not hearing Nicole’s voice. As if there was an error, the text in the system window was completely broken and unreadable. That wasn’t all. The sky visible through the large window was in chaos, the sun would rise, then it would be night, then clear, then cloudy, all within seconds of each other.
An instinctive fear welled up inside me. I frantically ran out of the room. I felt I needed to meet someone, anyone, to feel reassured.
“Nicole! Nanny!”
But it was in vain. Not that I didn’t meet anyone.
“Why, why is this happening… Nicole! Nicole!”
Neither Nicole nor any of the servants in the corridor responded to me. Not my father in his study, nor my mother enjoying refreshments in the reception room. Not even Andrew who had been strangling me just moments ago. Everyone except me was frozen like mannequins. They weren’t breathing. They weren’t blinking. Even when I put my ear to their chests, I couldn’t hear their hearts beating.
Rumble, boom!
Meanwhile, the malfunctioning sky remained chaotic. Lightning would strike in a blue sky, then it would immediately darken and torrential rain would pour down.
E□??O??
ER□O??
ER??O□
ERROR
Couldn’t I also stop if the world ended? Could I die like this? I didn’t even have time for such hopeful thoughts. I was simply terrified by the blaring warning sounds and the error window that appeared without its usual annoying tone.
“Hey! System, you bastard, answer me! Hey!”
…Temporary recovery in progress…
I don’t know how much time had passed. My face was somehow covered in tears as I frantically searched for the system, and only when the “recovery in progress” message finally appeared without a single broken character did the wildly swirling sky calm down to its usual state.
But people were still frozen, and my fear hadn’t disappeared.
(IMPORTANT) Emergency communication protocol activated: Transmittable entropy is limited to below 50%.
Romance character “Andrew Hamilton” will not remember today’s events.
Hint: Abnormal emotional crashes can accelerate human mental collapse.
Abnormal intervention by ‘Sys#!@%@^on’ has been detected. Accordingly, communication protocols with you will be fully regulated for an appropriate period.
“Damn it, what, what the hell is this…”
The various warning windows densely filling my vision had a markedly different atmosphere than usual. Those messages, devoid of any emotion, didn’t give me time to wait or space to understand.
…World setting recovery in progress (80%)…
Changing to Play mode in 5 seconds.
4.
3.
2.
1.
“Young Master! Did you have a good visit to the imperial palace?”
With that harsh countdown, the world began to return to normal. My tear soaked face and the fingermarks on my neck went unnoticed by everyone.
My world became more desolate than ever before.
…Communication protocol blocking in progress…
And so I was left alone.