Chapter 54
“Ahaha, haha….”
I let out a dry laugh as I gazed at the endless expanse of the green field.
It seemed he had brought me to the empty land where Elysion supposedly practiced his magic.
“Ah, that was fun.”
“You almost got hurt, Tania.”
He nagged at me, checking my body here and there to see if I had any injuries.
Seeing him so calm despite the madness I had just caused at the banquet, a question arose.
“What is it? Aren’t you going to ask why I did that at the banquet?”
“Because you’re no different from your usual self.”
I straightened my face and asked with an expression of utter disbelief.
“…Was I always that crazy?”
“Something like that.”
The immediate, blunt answer was absurd, but I couldn’t bring myself to refute it.
Since I had considered this life disposable from the start, it was true that I had been living recklessly at this save point.
Elysion spoke as if it were truly nothing.
“Honestly, considering your personality, it’s more surprising that you’ve held back until now.”
My expression turned even more sour.
Just how much of a mess did this guy think I was?
But soon, I shrugged it off, thinking, *What does it matter?*
Since these memories would disappear anyway, it didn’t matter what happened.
I lay down on the field and giggled. It felt wonderful to have the breeze tickle my hair against my face.
“Ah, I should have watched the bald Count’s teary-eyed expression a little more closely.”
As I let out a small sigh of regret, Elysion chuckled and sat down beside me.
“So, did that relieve your stress?”
“Yeah. I feel so refreshed.”
How pathetic those people were, acting so noble on the outside while doing all sorts of filthy things behind the scenes.
I had wanted to strike them hard from behind for a long time.
“Tania, how are you going to clean up the mess?”
I rolled my eyes.
“I’m not going to.”
“…It must be nice to be so carefree.”
“Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to become the second Laspi. Turning the entire empire into my enemy.”
At that, Elysion narrowed his brows and asked.
“Who is Laspi?”
Ah, right.
At this point in time, Laspi was dead, and only Rosemary knew his name.
“There’s this guy.”
I wondered how Elysion would react if he found out that I had saved Laspi in a different timeline.
Would he hate it? Or would he think positively of the fact that I had rehabilitated a future criminal?
Just as I was wondering, Elysion opened his mouth with an uncomfortable look.
“I don’t even like the name Laspi.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. So, I’d prefer it if you didn’t mention that name.”
“Is it that bad?”
I chuckled, remembering how he had been at odds with Laspi during the Adoption Competition.
Were they natural enemies from the start?
It was fascinating how their hair colors were divided into black and white.
I looked up at the red sunset and the marbled blue sky, then stretched my hand upward.
It felt as if I could catch the clouds if I just reached a little closer.
I glanced over at Elysion, who had laid down beside me at some point.
It wasn’t the young Elysion, but the adult version I remembered.
The one who remembered me completely.
*Thump.* I let my hand, which had been reaching for the sky, drop limply and turned my body toward him.
Only then did Elysion’s face come fully into view.
“Sion, I missed you so much.”
Silence settled between us. Elysion tilted his head slowly.
“What are you talking about? We saw each other yesterday.”
“…Did we?”
“Yeah. I came to find you, just like always.”
I blinked slowly.
It had only been a few months, yet my memory was already fading.
Is it because this is a timeline I’ve truly discarded?
It was clearly a life I had lived, yet it felt as unfamiliar as someone else’s.
“Sion, you know.”
“Yeah.”
“Did you look for me this morning?”
Back when I returned to the current timeline to check if Rosemary was indeed Laspi’s younger sibling.
They said Elysion had let out a strange scream that morning and ran out of the Duchy.
After that, he had come to find me at the Papiope Duchy and called my name with an angry face.
I had been so flustered then that I had reloaded the save point….
I was curious. Why had he been looking for me in such a rage?
After a brief silence, Elysion asked back as if puzzled.
“How did you know I was looking for you this morning?”
“…A hunch.”
“Huh.”
He let out a dry laugh as if it were absurd, then raised the corners of his mouth to explain.
“I did look for you. Though I stopped halfway, wondering what on earth I was doing.”
“What happened?”
“I found that you had left your fingerprints on the special glasses I sometimes use for research, claiming it was a prank.”
…Ah, I remembered.
The memory of me giggling while diligently leaving fingerprints, thinking about how he would go wild later, was vivid.
Why was it that only things like this were so easy to remember? It wasn’t even easy to deny.
But I decided to be shameless. It was absurd, after all.
“…You looked for me over something like that?”
“Hey. ‘Something like that’? That’s rude to people who wear glasses.”
As we exchanged our usual idle chatter, my heart felt at peace, yet at the same time, I felt a pang of sorrow.
I had left behind too great a lingering attachment to Elysion in this discarded timeline.
This was exactly why I had tried not to get attached to anyone in this place I intended to throw away.
I stared blankly at Elysion’s face.
…Could you and I ever be like this again?
“Sion, what do you think it would be like if I were adopted into the Papiope Duchy?”
“Do you want me to give you my spot?”
“Haha, stop joking.”
I gave his shoulder a playful tap as if to tell him to stop joking, but Elysion grabbed my wrist.
“I’m not joking.”
Flustered, I tried to twist my hand away, but he tightened his grip, holding me firmly.
“I think this position suits you better than it does me.”
“…Then what about you?”
“I have the Master of the Magic Tower.”
Elysion let go of my wrist so easily, as if he hadn’t intended to keep holding it.
“Tania, I want you to have a family, too.”
“…Why?”
Elysion chuckled and ruffled my hair messily.
“Because I think that would make you happy.”
It was said as if it were a light, throwaway comment, but I realized at once that he meant it sincerely.
“Then, Sion, what if you became my family?”
“…What?”
For a moment, Elysion’s eyes widened. I explained it simply so he could understand easily.
“You stay in the Papiope Duchy as you are, and I just get adopted on top of that.”
“…What, is that the family you meant?”
Elysion, who had been wearing a somewhat disappointed expression, suddenly muttered in a serious voice.
“Tania, let me be clear: I don’t date my family.”
“What does that mean? That’s, obviously, between family members…”
I froze on the spot, about to say that it was something you shouldn’t do.
Did he just beat around the bush to say he wanted to date me?
I was staring blankly at Elysion, trying to grasp his true intentions.
He opened his mouth as if to say that my thoughts weren’t wrong.
“Tania, I want to marr…”
*Thump.*
I hurriedly covered his mouth with both hands.
Because I knew what words would follow.
I must not hear them.
If I did, I would want to stay here. I wouldn’t want to leave him behind in this timeline.
“Sion, I’ll pretend I didn’t hear what you were about to say.”
[Loading Save Point 3.]
✦ ✦ ✦
Having barely managed to keep my composure and escape from Elysion, I slammed my forehead against the desk.
“I’m crazy, I’m truly crazy.”
Heat rushed to my face belatedly.
[Sion, you like me, don’t you?]
[What are you talking about? You’re the one who’s liked me for a long time, aren’t you?]
Today was the same day I had said goodbye to Elysion.
Back then, he had gotten angry, asking if I wasn’t the one who had liked him for a long time, so why was he trying to confess first this time?
I had been able to leave, letting go of my attachment to Elysion, because he had spoken as if he didn’t like me.
It was truly troublesome.
Because it meant that, in the end, he had liked me all along.
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