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Before I could even gather my wits about me, Ruth took me to the same forest as before. More precisely, to a beautiful lake located near the cabin in the woods where we always met, not to the cabin itself.
The lake greeted us unchanged, as if untouched by time, just as I had seen it before. It was as though everything remained the same, except for us, who appeared to have weathered the storms of time.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve been here, too.”
“There’s no need to be so formal.”
“Ah… sorry. I got used to it without realizing.”
I sat next to Ruth, hugging my knees with my arms. I murmured quietly, resting my chin on my arm, playfully scolding Ruth.
Being here brought back memories, momentarily immersing me in nostalgia. The lake, which before seemed to contain hundreds of floating diamond pieces in the sunlight, now appeared to hold thousands of pearls under the moonlight.
After confirming that Ruth’s memory had fully returned, I just stood there, unable to cry or laugh, stunned.
The surrealness of reality didn’t quite touch my skin. I remembered reading in a book that if a person dreams too much, eventually they can’t distinguish dream from reality and wander in a daydream, and that felt exactly like me.
However, the moment Ruth reached out, grabbed my hand, and asked, “Why are you spacing out?” I realized that this was reality. Ah, this is real. Such dream-like situations can be real.
A mix of euphoria and an inexplicable sadness washed over me like a wave.
Afterward, he came here through his magic. There wasn’t even a chance to ask how Ruth had regained his memory and what had happened for him to only find this place after a whole month had passed. Nor was there a desire to ask.
An eternity seemed to flow by, and it was when the chirping of crickets sounded like tinnitus in my ears. It was Ruth, stretching his arms back to support his body, who broke the long silence with a low voice.
“How have you been?”
“……”
I hesitated for a moment. I didn’t quite understand what Ruth was asking.
What does he mean by all this time? A month? Or eleven years?
“……Well.”
After some deliberation, the answer I came up with might seem trivial but was indeed sincere. I didn’t know.
There were times I felt sad and so miserable I wanted to die. It would be a lie to say I never wished that the sun wouldn’t rise the next day. Yet, there were also days I laughed, and days I felt proud seeing myself grow.
After my relationship with Ruth in the palace improved, there were days I received comfort from him that was too immense to put into words. So, I didn’t know.
Ruth snorted as if he had expected my heartfelt answer and soon blurted out a single word.
“I’m sorry.”
“Huh? What is it?”
“I’m sorry for not keeping my promise to pick you up.”
“No, you did keep your promise. It just happened differently because of my lie…”
“Also, I’m sorry for not properly listening to your request to hear your story next time.”
…
After his continuous apologies, I became as stiff as a stone. I could somewhat understand the first reason. It wasn’t that Ruth didn’t keep his promise to pick me up. Of course, things had gone differently than intended, and not just I but he must have been quite surprised. Moreover, it was indeed my fault for giving Ruth a fake name.
But I couldn’t understand the next part no matter how hard I tried.
“How did you know that?”
Because that was what I said to Ruth when we first met, and I saved his life.
“I’ve been organizing my surroundings and thinking for the past month. I read various books as well. Now I see how much I didn’t know. From the founding myths to Serbia, no, to you.”
“So?”
“While reading a forbidden book, I accidentally discovered that those resurrected by the golden blood lose all memories of its owner. But as I looked further, I found out the tale doesn’t end there.”
“What do you mean?”
“See, did you know? Those who are resurrected by the golden blood forget everything about its owner, but if they are resurrected by the golden blood again, they regain all their previous memories.”
“!”
Everything finally clicked. The pieces that were scattered and moving independently began to come together and roll as one. Then, at a certain point, it stopped.
“See. According to the tale, the gods loved humans so much that they gave them golden blood, which granted the power to oversee death – a power akin to their divinity, and the ability to discern truth from falsehood. But as humans became more immersed in desire and prioritized climbing over moving forward, the gods took back everything they had given.”
“I know that much. The golden blood disappeared entirely, and the ability was lost, but the bloodline continues through the royal family.”
“Right. But we must always remember that the gods loved humans so much that they not only gave them tragedy but also fortune. After all, the gods can’t help but love humans.”
“…Why are you telling me this story now?”
“I wanted to let you know that even after your tragedy, luck followed. Look at me.”
“…….”
Ruth was Ruth. I had no choice but to say that. The overwhelming emotion, was it long-standing resentment or newly discovered hope? I couldn’t even define it myself, my eyes welling up with tears. The voice from my subconscious that had been tormenting me no longer sounded. It was a flawless victory for ‘me’,
“Serbia…, Selena…. So, what is your real name?”
It was the signal for a new beginning.
“……Selena.”
I called my name with a choked voice through tears. Selena. Selena Obelton. It felt quite unfamiliar and embarrassingly nostalgic to utter my name after so long, and it made me miss it tearfully. It felt like I had found something I had lost a long time ago.
As I told him my name, Ruth slightly lifted the corners of his mouth and showed a very attractive smile.
“Selena, huh.”
Then he unconsciously placed one hand on my cheek, which was streaming with tears, and leaned his waist towards me. Then our foreheads lightly bumped into each other. Seeing his clear eyes, which seemed to hold the full moon, up close made my heart thump suddenly.
“A name that resembles the moon.”
Murmuring softly, Ruth slowly closed his eyelids and pressed his lips against mine.
The surprise of the sudden kiss was brief, and as I quickly suppressed my trembling heart and accepted him, something slipped through the slightly parted lips.
The boy who made flower rings and the girl who painted the world had become adults who loved even such a world.
***
“Sister.”
“Yes?”
“I wasn’t going to ask this out of obliviousness, but…”
During breakfast.
Ian, who had been silently eating his salad, stopped and looked at me to speak. At that, I stopped smiling at Ruth and met Ian’s eyes.
“…Why exactly is His Majesty here?”
After glancing back and forth between Ruth and me, Ian asked with a sigh. Confronted with his question, I could only respond with an awkward smile, unable to hide my troubled expression. It seemed Ruth was also pondering what to say to Ian, deeply thinking over his words.
Last night, after spending time with Ruth by the lake, we returned to the mansion together.
Then I grabbed Ruth, who was about to return to the palace immediately, and asked him to stay by my side until I fell asleep. It was a whim I wouldn’t have dreamed of indulging in the past.
Ruth agreed to stay at the mansion, and we ended up falling asleep together in my bed after an unfinished chat in my bedroom.
Therefore, when my mother found us sleeping together in the morning, Ruth ended up staying for breakfast with us until now.
As Ruth and I remained silent, Ian eventually gave up, shaking his head as he moved on to the next question.
“Beyond that, what do you plan to do now, Your Majesty? As you know, my sister’s face has already become known under the name ‘Serbia’, and our family once had a member engaged to Your Majesty. Do you still wish to be with my sister? Now that you are finally gaining the attention of the senior council and solidifying your position as Emperor, our family can’t possibly be a burden to you, can we?”
While it might sound like a challenge at first, it was filled with practical advice, concern for me, and even worry for Ruth. Maybe that’s why. Ruth didn’t seem too upset and swallowed what was in his mouth before responding calmly.
“I’ve already found a way.”
“What way are you talking about?”
Ian asked, his eyes widening in surprise at Ruth’s confident reply. Not just Ian, but I and mother, who were quietly listening, stopped what we were doing and looked at Ruth.
With all of our attention on him, Ruth, without any hesitation, murmured, “A frontal breakthrough.”
“What?”
Truly an unexpected response, Ian, mother, and I all gasped. Ian was the only one to regain his composure, frowning as if he couldn’t believe it.
Despite Ian’s cool reaction, Ruth glanced at me and shrugged his shoulders.
“No longer will I hide or be hidden.”
This meant the same as saying that he, too, had no particular solution.
