Chapter 96
“This is what it looks like.”
The man smirked, then burst out laughing.
“My Young Lady must be a singularity, a real singularity. She keeps doing the unexpected.”
Suddenly, the area shook with a melody that began to resonate, and all the pollution he had created dissipated with its refreshing tones.
All his plans had gone awry, but the man was not in a bad mood.
He hadn’t been since they first met.
It was so fragile that if he touched it wrong, it would die instantly without breathing, and he didn’t feel any killing intent in the way it looked up at him.
At the time, he just thought it was ‘unusual’.
“A melody to wash away delusion.”
It was a gift that would drive a mage mad. No matter how weakened she was from the battle in the realm, her power had been wiped out in an instant.
He was tempted to go back and kidnap her.
“You’ve come this far, after all.”
If it weren’t for the voice that shook her out of his thoughts, he would have turned around and kidnapped her.
“What kind of thunderbird dares to defile the realm of the goddess-.”
The deepest depths of the underworld, the realm of sloth.
In a place modeled after the sanctum sanctorum of the Imperial Palace, Nathan appeared, covering his face with a fan.
“-Your face.”
“Because you won’t meet me.”
“Why should I meet with a leisurely rude residential intruder?”
“Well, I didn’t expect you to be so actively interfering, though. I thought you weren’t interested in this sort of thing, as you so eloquently put it in your ‘sleeping sloth’.”
“You’re arrogant.”
A chuckle came from beyond the fan.
“How arrogant of you to judge as you will. But you were right.”
In any other case, he wouldn’t have cared.
“Coincidentally, we are both mortals with ties to the goddess.”
Nathan folded his fan and leaned it against his cheek, not bothering to hide his fondness.
“They’re both pretty cute.”
One of them wasn’t exactly ‘cute,’ but Pession was so damn cute that a wry smile tugged at the corners of Nathan’s mouth.
His long, red hair and the curve of her slender lines showed in the dim light. It would have mesmerized anyone, but the man was indifferent.
“You must have really liked it.”
“Wouldn’t a long life be boring without such pleasures?”
“It would be boring even with them.”
Nathan smiled wryly.
“So, what’s the point of making all this fuss and coming to see you?”
“A deal?”
“Ho-ho.”
The purple eyes narrowed.
“I don’t do business with just anyone who opens up.”
“I’m sure you’ll hear differently.”
“What are you up to?”
“Our goals are similar anyway, aren’t they? You’re a dragon slayer. I am-.”
“The hunt for wizards.”
A seductive voice interrupted him, as if he knew his purpose well enough.
“Cheyenne.”
“…”
“Do you still hate the stars?”
His golden eyes, shining like stars, narrowed.
“Are you going to end the world?”
“I wouldn’t ask you to do something so boring.”
The man flashed an emotionless smile, his eyes bored and uninterested.
“If the world ends, we don’t die, do we?”
Because we’re immortal.
He glanced over at the man who laughed savagely, wondering if it would have been different if they shared the world’s fate, maybe it would have been more fun that way.
“Yes, certainly interesting, I was suddenly wondering what you would say. Tell me.”
***
Jiiim-.
Pession’s gaze swept over Arellin’s side face.
The backlight didn’t allow him to see much, but he could see the plump cheeks, the full lips, the long lashes that hadn’t fallen off.
There wasn’t a single thing that didn’t impress.
Even if it wasn’t the prettiest pair of eyes looking back at him.
He thought of Arellin, under a star night sky, looking at him with tearful eyes that looked like they were about to cry.
Just a few hours ago.
Arellin, who looked at him like he was the only one in the world.
Pession knew now. That Arellin actually likes him now.
He wonders why he feels so impatient, more thirsty, his throat burning.
So that’s good.
It must be good.
It was a love affair of disproportionate size from the start, and Pession knew it.
Such an affectionate mismatch.
The anxiety and foreboding that this unrequited love might never come to pass, though he never told anyone, was slowly eating away at him.
And yet, it’s good.
Even to the point of making choices that a Crown Prince should never make, and bringing Arellin to this world.
A mortal’s life with an immortal is unhappy.
Such was the nature of being deeply involved with beings from other timelines.
Thus, even as Emperor, Allerman had no contact with the Immortals.
Anything that wasn’t of this world was Halbern’s responsibility.
And yet he has no regrets.
Why?
Because he held Arellin’s hand as she cowered in the dark, alone.
Because he was able to lift her up when she seemed to be falling apart.
If he thinks of it this way, he’s disqualified as a Crown Prince.
A graceful melody pierced his heart.
The heart, which he didn’t know when it first appeared, grew in size until it could no longer grow.
The heart that he has built up gradually is disheveled and collapses. It overflowed and could no longer be hidden.
“Arellin.”
He can’t imagine a world without her anymore.
The whole world is her.
It’s her.
Is it possible to like someone so overwhelmingly, to have feelings that take precedence over everything else?
His short life and limited experience didn’t allow him to know the answers, but he knew it wasn’t normal.
He felt suffocated, alone in a world of vague emotions.
Part of his reason told him that he should stop feeling this way now, but another part of his reason told him that if he could, he would have stopped a long time ago.
He wants to cry.
Because the sweet, lovely melody is beautiful.
Because she’s so pretty playing it.
Because she’s so far away.
Because she’s so close, but she seems so far away.
A sliver of light filtered through the crumbling background, illuminating Arellin. Arellin smiled, her face brightening at the memory.
The light shattered and scattered.
As the only witness to the scene, the only intact observer, Pession had a premonition.
That one day he’ll regret this moment,
Such a premonition.
***
She can still hear the scattering notes in her ears.
There was no thunderous applause, but the heat in her hands lingered.
Her festering wounds that seemed to fester forever and never go away.
All the things she loved so much and hated so much at the same time, all the things she wanted so badly but thought she would never have, and finally gave up.
At one point, she thought she’d never get out of this shadow.
“Ah…”
When she finished playing, she felt a rush of shame. Suddenly, she felt shabby and unworthy.
She feels like she stripped herself down to the bare bones, showing Pession all the intimate details she doesn’t want him to see.
Nevertheless, she think it’s okay.
Because it’s Pession.
“-Arellin.”
She smiled at the eye contact.
It’s a miracle that he never changed.
She looked at the guarneri, still in her hand, with a heavy heart.
Her friend, who has been with her through all of her pain, glory, sorrow, and suffering.
“Thank you.”
Thank you for sharing countless hours of her time, buried in nothingness.
“Goodbye.”
Paat-.
With that brief greeting, Guarneri dissolves into light and disappears.
As if dawn was breaking, the darkness lifted and the surroundings brightened.
“Now let’s really get back.”
