Somewhere only we know without the writing's on the wall

Chapter 3: Like A Stone

Penelope runs quickly, trying to get out of the garden of the imperial palace. She's holding the handkerchief Callisto gave her in her hand and she is pressing it with all her strength.

She feels a lump in her throat, she has an immense urge to cry and finally feels free to do so.

'Penelope Eckart, did you also feel this every time you went back in time? Repeat everything and try to win back the appreciation of the ones you loved and save them ... she feels so miserable and suffocating, right? And they don't remember you...'

'Callisto Regulus, Callisto Regulus, Callisto Regulus...' is the only thing her mind repeats. She is so shocked with the information and opportunity that she has been given, but she just feels so bad.

It was true that she and Callisto had gotten off to a very bad start, but over time they had also built a special relationship. Although they both denied it, they felt good next to each other. Since they were children they had had miserable lives and childhoods that the last thing that had occurred to them in the past was to fall passionately in love with someone.

《He, little me, we just have to survive in this cruel world.》

Before their final battle with Leila, they had both tried to talk about their relationship and confessed that in itself, that feeling called love was rare for them, but it felt warm. When they were children, even if only for a short time, they had felt the warmth of love in their mothers arms... but when they left their sides, everything was dark for them.

Surviving, getting stronger, and trying to get out of the hell they lived in had been their only purpose. Neither had been prepared to one day meet someone to call their own... a home.

Penelope and Cha Siyeon had never prepared to have someone who loved them more than life itself. Callisto hadn't been prepared either, but they had decided that they wanted to get to know each other better and discover more deeply the feeling that united them and gave them comfort.

But that did not happen, fairy tales with happy endings did not exist for them. The Death visited them and unlike another unknown universe, Callisto and Penelope didn't meet Princess Judith Regulus.

Penelope is close to finally getting out of the garden, but she stops for a moment and she can't help but collapse on the ground. She cries and blows it off for a long time. She had been holding back her pain since she had restarted the game. She understands everything but she hurts.

She had promised herself that if she ever saw her prince again, she would swear her undying love. But life isn't how she wants it to be... and the system only gives her a Callisto who doesn't remember her and much less looks at her with warmth. To fulfill at least a little of her promise, she told the new Callisto that she liked him and her reasons for doing it in a setting that they had already lived through before. Bittersweet. Her Callisto with his memories is not there to smile from ear to ear lovingly at her oath of love to him.

She's alone again.

"System, why are you doing this to me? Why doesn't he remember me? I was going to tell him that I wanted to stay by his side, I wanted to tell him that I loved him. He promised me that I would never be alone again. I wanted to promise him the same..." When the system notified her that the game had restarted, Penelope understood that she would be the same as the original Penelope. No one would remember her, she wasn't prepared for that and she didn't yet know how to fully face it.

Her face must be disgusting and her eyes must be red. Penelope brings Callisto's handkerchief to her face, and notices his initials. The handkerchief is soft.