Transmigrated as a Ghost

After being kicked away by Lilia and being told she never wanted to see him again, Marcus was absolutely astonished.

Lilia had never acted this way before, and it was making him very worried.

He could not fathom what sort of test she had been put through to suddenly hate him like this, especially when the two of them had always been very close since he adopted her.

The two of them had shared adventures together, faced down numerous hardships, laughed together, cried in each other's arms, and shared their dreams with each other.

"Lilia I am your guardian. I cannot just leave you alone like this. Please at least let me heal your arm?" Marcus said, trying to break past whatever trauma Lilia was experiencing.

Nevertheless, she would not face him and kept her left side hidden against the wall so that he could not reach it.

Sighing, Marcus did not know what was wrong with her, but there was simply no way he could leave her like this.

Holding his hands out, he started using his spirit healing regardless of what she wanted and engulfed her entire body with it.

Quickly Lilia's arm began to regrow despite her wishes, and for the first time she turned towards Marcus and met him in the eyes.

She then lunged at him to try and force him to stop, but she was not strong enough and her heart was not really in it.

Soon her arm was fully restored, and she began crying as she looked down at it.

However, during this time when he was able to face Lilia, Marcus saw the look in her eyes and realized that they held no hate or disgust for him.

No, Lilia had the eyes of someone who hated themselves.

Wrapping her up in a hug, Marcus refused to let Lilia go even as she cried and said, "Please just let go. I do not deserve your kindness."

Hugging her tighter, Marcus said to her, "It does not matter if you deserve it or not. You are my sister, and I will love you no matter what. You do not have to do anything for my kindness."

Hearing this Lilia began sobbing even more, obviously having been through something very difficult.

There was no doubt in Marcus' mind that her scenario had been very tough on her emotional state, and right now she regrated it deeply enough to believe she was not worthy to be around him.

'She must have been forced to make a choice where she forsook me, and now she thinks that makes her a monster. '

Petting the back of Lilia's head, Marcus told her that everything would be fine and that he did not care what happened in her no-win scenario.

"Listen Lilia, as I already said we all had to go through a scenario that forced us to choose between those we care about. I was forced to pick either you or Mrazivý to save, but in the end I could not and both of you died. So, I also let you down Lilia, but it was not real. We are still all alive and can grow stronger from this experience if we do not let it eat us up from the inside. Forcing yourself to suffer some kind of self-inflicted penance is not going to help and will only make all of us more worried."

After opening up about what had happened to him and reassuring her, Marcus slowly coaxed Lilia out of her self-destructive mindset, and got her to open up about what happened to her during her trial on the tenth floor.

"I am so sorry Marcus! I should not have done it! But I just could not help it!" Lilia said while sobbing and yelling loudly.

Still, he just held her comfortingly and let her know that he was here for her.

"It is fine. You do not have to push yourself. Just take it slowly and tell me when you are ready."

Gulping and trying to stifle her tears, Lilia began telling Marcus about what her scenario had been on the tenth floor.

She had been faced with the guardian just as all of them had been, well except for Roxene, and been shown Marcus bound in chains.

Seeing this, naturally Lilia was distressed, but there was nothing she could do to free him, and the guardian just waited until she tired herself out trying to do so.

Then she was given with a horrible choice. The guardian told her that it could separate the piece of Irene's soul from Marcus and bring her back to life as she had been before.

But in order to do so it would need to destroy Marcus.

Hearing this Lilia was torn.

Marcus had taken care of her and becoming her now sibling in place of her original sister.

He even had most of her memories, and Lilia saw plenty of her sister in Marcus, but they were also very different.

In the end she gave into her desire and asked for her sister back. The longing for her original family being too high to throw away.

She also had some amount of hope that Marcus would still be fine afterwards thanks to the unique skill he had told her about, so she took a chance that she could have both of them.

Of course, the dungeon did not have the power to actually bring Irene back, and the Marcus in front of Lilia had never been the real one.

After she heard this, she felt like a spike had been driven into her heart, and she realized how awful she had been to prioritize her original sister over Marcus.

He had saved her from a life of slavery, become her new family, and given her a home to live in.

Truly she felt like the worst scum in the world for having forsaken him like that just for the chance to bring Irene back.

Once Lilia had finished relaying all of this to Marcus, he could not say that he did not feel hurt to hear this.

To hear that the little sister he cared enough about to die for had scarified him for her original sister, was a heavy blow to him.

Still, he could understand Lilia's feelings. He was just an incarnation of Irene, a replacement.

Truly he was very different from how her sister used to be, since the majority of his personality still came from his originally self.

Of course, he could not say to truly be either Marcus or Irene at this point.

"Lilia it is okay. It certainly does hurt a little to hear that, but I understand. You have only known me for a couple of years now, while Irene was your sister your whole life. I am simply a stand in, just a fragment of what your sister used to be. So, I do understand that you still love her more than me. But that does not mean that I do not care about you still. I choose to take you in as my sister in Irene's place and will never stop caring about you no matter what. So please, you do not need to feel guilty because you love your sister more than me."