From the coast to the horizon.
A gap opened across the sea.
The split waters raged like a canyon, continuously pouring down, yet they did not fall through the exposed gap.
The submerged floor of the sea refreshedly revealed itself.
Judas was momentarily lost in thought at the phenomenon that could justifiably be called a miracle, rather than magic.
Meanwhile, Eliya, who performed that miracle, spoke with a smile like a child anticipating a picnic.
“Let’s hurry.”
“…Yeah, let’s go.”
In the end, Judas also smiled willingly and was led by her hand.
“Did you suddenly want to see inside the sea?”
“Yeah. I never thought about being able to see under the sea, but when I remembered and saw it in Judas’s memories, I got curious.”
Curiosity led to parting the sea.
It was a scale that left one’s mind in awe.
The gentle sandy hill from the coast to the sea stretched like a slope.
As Eliya was about to step in, she hesitated as her wet shoes would get soaked.
Judas casually asked.
“Should I carry you?”
Carrying just Eliya down was no big deal.
“That would be nice, but… I want to try walking myself.”
She was also curious about the sensation of stepping on the wet sand.
“Be careful not to fall.”
“Okay.”
Eliya firmly held Judas’s hand and stepped onto the wet sand.
The tightly packed sand crumbled as her foot sank slightly.
Cold and damp sensation.
Though it wasn’t barefoot, she could still feel it.
“It’s amazing…”
Everything felt amazing for the first time.
Seeing her childlike wonder, Judas smiled contentedly.
“Have you ever been to the sea?”
Checking his memories was something that required her to be conscious of it.
Wanting to hear it from him directly, she purposely chose not to look into his memories and asked.
“Hmm, no. I’ve only seen it indirectly through pictures; this is my first time coming here.”
“Thank goodness.”
First times are inherently extraordinary and impressive, leaving a deep impression.
Eliya was genuinely happy that she could carve her name and presence into his countless firsts.
Judas felt the same way.
Before they knew it, they had reached the sea.
To be precise, the spot where the sea used to be.
Carefully, they walked along the gently sloping sandy hill.
The flowing sea water on either side resembled steep cliffs.
“But…. Parting the sea….”
The view of the water between the parted sea was a rare spectacle.
Judas looked on in awe, feeling a bit scared.
He didn’t doubt Eliya’s abilities.
But the instinctive wariness triggered by the cliffs on either side was more than enough.
He gently touched the water.
It felt like an illusion.
The cold water was unmistakably real sea water.
Eliya nonchalantly commented.
“I just wanted to do it, and it worked out.”
“Hmm…”
Now, he was tired of being amazed by her talent, but she kept providing reasons to admire her.
Among people, Eliya was called a living god.
If she could part the sea, didn’t that just confirm it?
“Wow, so this is what the sea floor looks like.”
The brown sand, soaked and wet.
What was unique was that the sand had wave patterns engraved in it.
Like the waves themselves.
“Did it form because of the flow of the sea water…? How fascinating.”
Eliya walked slowly, observing everything with the curiosity of a child.
Judas found the wave patterns intriguing, but it brought him more joy to watch Eliya express her wonder.
They couldn’t stroll on the wet sand for long.
Upon reaching a certain point, the sandhill sank dramatically, revealing a steep cliff.
“Wow…”
Standing at the edge of the cliff, Eliya gasped.
The shape of the cliff that dropped straight down was chaotic.
Rocks protruded in various directions.
On top of them, various types of corals formed a colorful forest.
Between the parted sea water on both sides, small fish swam amidst the foam.
Judas stared at the scenery for a moment, lost in the beauty.
The mystery of nature.
The experience granted to him by Eliya.
The experience of gazing at the sea’s essence amidst the grand sea water was something he had never even imagined.
Eliya looked down at the contours of the coral forest dropping below.
Irregularly sloping coral forest.
Beyond that, distantly, the deeper sea floor.
By Eliya’s estimation, that floor must be about 1km from the surface.
‘I wonder if there are even deeper points if you go out to the ocean.’
He wasn’t curious enough to pursue that.
In the completely lightless deep sea floor, there likely wouldn’t be a beautiful scenery like this.
“I can’t just walk down here.”
She couldn’t step on the corals.
Eliya decided to use her buoyancy magic to explore slowly.
“The colors are fascinating… There are such colorful colors in the sea?”
Judas, who usually had little interest in flowers or plants, couldn’t help but find today fascinating and amazing.
Seeing the underwater world with his naked eyes was nothing short of astonishing.
“Flowers or mushrooms on land are similar yet strangely different.”
Looking at him with a satisfied smile, Eliya said.
“Did you know? Corals aren’t plants; they’re animals.”
“Really? This? It looks just like a plant… How did you know that?”
“It was in your memories.”
“…Why does Eliya know what I don’t remember?”
“I can look at parts where you don’t remember like a book.”
“……”
Judas momentarily fell into thought.
He felt a deep, dark fear about something even deeper than this sea.
Eliya could know even the smallest details about him.
So, for example, say…
The first time he experienced that incident while asleep…
When his blanket had become sticky…
‘No way.’
Eliya simply looked at Judas kindly and smiled.
Whatever he was thinking, she seemed to know it, as if it were all correct.
Then she mumbled in a slightly dissatisfied tone.
“Though that first should’ve been mine…”
“……”
Judas gave up on thinking.
“But there aren’t as many fish as I expected.”
In the aquarium Judas remembered, the blue water was filled with all sorts of fish.
From swarms of sardines to large rays and sharks.
However, there weren’t that many fish here.
Just a few small ones swimming around the corals.
Aside from that, there were only sparse groups of fish scattered about.
The rest of the vast space was simply tranquil.
Just the flowing seawater.
“True. Well, the sea is quite vast.”
“That’s true. It’s a bit disappointing, but I’m glad in its own way. I never thought I would get to see such a colorful spectacle.”
Judas felt the same.
He never dreamed he would have a chance to see the coral forest up close like this.
It was a miracle made possible by Eliya, and it was an even more joyous first experience because it was with her.
They gradually moved deeper down, admiring various corals.
Sometimes, they watched little fish darting around the coral through the watery barrier.
After a while, they reached the end of the coral forest.
A somewhat flat bottom appeared.
A pleasant ground to walk on.
The two of them walked side by side, holding hands like before.
Ahead lay an endless stretch of the unknown sea.
On either side, the wall of flowing sea water.
Eliya spoke first.
“What was it you wanted to say earlier?”
“Oh, that. It’s nothing amazing…”
Somehow feeling the urge to make it sound big and serious, he hesitated.
But what he was curious about wasn’t remarkable at all.
“It doesn’t matter what it is. Just talk comfortably. I can tell you anything and show you anything.”
With those assuring words, Judas smiled pleasantly.
“It really is nothing special. Just…”
He wasn’t sure why he was bringing this up, but he felt it might sound weird to ask what Eliya thought while diligently working as an emperor.
He switched to another question.
“Why did you use the family name Bevel?”
“Oh. Right. That might seem strange.”
“It’s not that it’s strange, but it’s definitely curious.”
She probably didn’t like the name Bevel much.
But he refrained from saying that.
Eliya thought for a moment before speaking.
“The old me was someone trapped by the past. In fact, it wasn’t the past that trapped me, but rather I was the one holding onto the past.”
The tragedy that began with Narcissi dragging her back to her family.
Maria’s death.
The harsh training she received there.
And the beginning of her revenge.
“Because they tormented me, I believed I had an obligation to return the favor. Not even realizing my mother was by my side. Ah, of course, I don’t regret being foolish then or the acts of revenge I took. Even if I were to return to that time, I would repeat the same actions.”
So deeply did Eliya despise those who bore the Bevel name.
Still, she didn’t abandon that name.
“Maintaining the name Bevel and establishing the empire in its name serves as a sort of proof and badge that I have overcome my past.”
She had decided to move forward into the future with Judas.
She didn’t want to be shackled by her past.
She chose to let go of the past clinging foolishly.
That did not mean she intended to turn her back on or evade her history.
She had proudly triumphed over the things that oppressed her.
She had conquered the repulsive Bevel.
Despite the arduous process.
“I don’t want to either exaggerate or downplay my past. I wanted to acknowledge and face it, and then move forward with you. So, I decided to keep the name Bevel.”
Eliya held Judas’s hand and smiled brightly.
“The reason I gave you that name is similar. If you weren’t here, I could never have won. It’s a symbol of our shared victory.”
This did not mean she believed she couldn’t have overcome Bevel.
Without Judas, she wouldn’t have managed to triumph over her past.
Eliya was certain of that.
“……”
Judas had no idea of such depths.
That was only natural.
It wasn’t something one casually talked about.
He still knew very little about Eliya.
But today, he learned one more thing.
And perhaps that was enough.
One by one, they kept coming to know and accept each other.
No matter what, she was ready to share it all with him, and so was Judas.
“I had no idea it held such deep meaning.”
“Well, it’s not so deep that it needs to be called that.”
Eliya chuckled awkwardly, looking up as if reminiscing about the past.
The path formed through the sea gap.
The bright sky revealed between the deep blue sea.
She briefly reflected on the time from when she first met Judas to now.
Taking a step ahead, she spun around and jumped lightly into Judas’s arms.
She embraced him gently.
“Thank you for coming to me.”
For lifting her up so she wouldn’t be bound by her past.
For being by her side in frightening situations.
Without him, Eliya was certain she wouldn’t have been able to overcome her past.
“Thank you for giving me this red scarf, for protecting me, for getting hurt severely trying to save me, and for coming to the afterlife to find me…. And thank you for telling me that I wasn’t at fault for the events that transpired. Every moment I spent with you has been my salvation.”
Eliya, who had been struggling with self-blame, was finally able to see the world correctly only by holding Judas’s hand.
Judas smiled softly and stroked her little head.
When was it?
He didn’t quite remember, but he recalled answering Eliya when praised like this before.
That he had simply done what he had to do.
That it was just his duty, nothing more.
It was probably around the time he almost died because of the assassin instead of Eliya.
Now, he felt differently.
Before it was merely duty.
“I also wanted to save you.”
He wanted to do that.
Saving her was his desire, hope, and wish.
Though the meaning was slightly different, he had wished for such things before being reborn.
Most importantly, saving her was about saving himself.
Eliya smiled, a hint of tears in her eyes.
They shared a brief, natural kiss.
She nestled in his arms and spoke.
“In the past, I couldn’t recognize my ‘self’ as a person. I was merely a tool meant to achieve a goal, like avenging the Bevel family. That’s how I viewed myself, not that I thought like that then but that’s how it was when I look back now. But after meeting you, thanks to you, I came to see myself and learned about me. Because you love me, I was able to love myself.”
“……”
“By loving myself and loving you, I came to love this world. Because this world exists as long as you are alive, and this world is you; you are everything to me.”
Before that, she had been indifferent to the world, partly cynical.
Contempt. Annoyance. A negative feeling of not caring what happened.
That was the result of projecting herself onto the world.
A life with nothing but revenge.
Because living after revenge ended was inconsequential, she viewed the world similarly.
World saviors and such.
Exploitation by the privileged, devastation by wars, the peace and comfort humanity should pursue.
She didn’t care.
But once she met Judas, everything turned upside down.
It became very important.
She wished for there not to be anything bad in this world where he should live.
She only hoped for peace.
That was why Eliya took the affairs of the empire and world seriously.
Inadvertently, Judas understood the original question he had.
The reason Eliya was so mechanically diligent in her duties as emperor.
Ultimately, it was for herself.
A wave of emotion surged in his chest.
There were countless words to define that feeling.
Touching. Moving. Grateful. Joy. Happiness.
There were countless, but none could singularly define it.
Yet there was one word that could encapsulate all those feelings, explaining the emotion he felt at that moment.
Gently, he placed his hands on Eliya’s shoulders and leaned down towards her.
Though it was slow, it was an impulsive action.
He passionately kissed her, lingering on the warmth and sensation for a long while.
When their breaths lightly quickened, he finally pulled away.
He encapsulated that feeling he just experienced with those words.
“I love you.”
Eliya smiled brightly.
She felt every bit of the emotions condensed in that simple phrase.
“I love you too, Judas.”
Though her short response held many feelings, he felt the same way.
Just as he was about to kiss her again, white snowflakes began to flutter down.
It snowed.
Not in the middle of summer, but within the parted sea, snow fell.
Pure white flakes descended slowly, swaying and shimmering, as if they would pile up when they touched the ground.
“……”
Judas and Eliya stared blankly at the sea.
White snow fell like heavy snowfall onto the deep blue world.
The snow falling underwater.
The two of them embraced each other, watching that miraculous phenomenon, not knowing how it happened.
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