(If Rin’s personality was much more twisted than in the main story, this is the theme of the “if.”)
“Isn’t Rin a bit scary?”
“The kid can be downright creepy at times.”
“She gets up every dawn and goes somewhere. But I have no idea where.”
“Rin noona is pretty, but she feels awkward to approach.”
Every time I heard the townspeople saying these things, Ares and I couldn’t empathize at all. To say Rin doesn’t fit in with people is one thing, but to say it so harshly is another.
I had comforted Rin, who cried and felt hurt by such words, more than once.
She wasn’t just a girl from a rural village but a princess of the kingdom, and her appearance didn’t seem out of place at all, having drawn people’s gazes since childhood.
Because of that, the delicate girl began to fear people’s gazes, was scared of conversations, and always hid behind me.
Even when Ares, who was beside her, offered to help, she strangely adhered only to my back.
It had been a long time since she caught my eye.
“……Rin?”
It had already been two years since I was expelled from Aios Academy. The memories of that day still tormented me, pained me, and haunted me with trauma even in dreams.
But a person can’t stay in pain all day, can they?
I became hungry while eating,
found myself endlessly running for my life in the Forest of the Demon Realm,
worked out to get stronger,
and surprisingly, there was little time to remember that moment.
Even when I slept, I only thought about how cold it was and how the smell of manure bothered me as I slept in a nearby barn.
Anyhow.
Today, before me, Lin appeared while I was swinging my sword right in front of the Forest of the Demon Realm. I was glad to see her since, during my expulsion, I hadn’t even properly greeted her due to being so flustered.
“Ah…”
On the day I heard about my expulsion, the sight of Ares and Rin walking away from me from the window kept flashing in my mind.
I had wondered if the two were dating since they were a perfect couple as a handsome young man and a beautiful young woman among the third years.
“Umm.”
What should I say? Should I ask if she’s been well? Or should I say I’m sorry? Or perhaps ask if she was doing well with Ares?
I had all sorts of thoughts swirling in my head, but Rin slowly walked up to me.
With her dull eyes and skin that was normally as white as jade, today it looked even paler, and her hair was all over the place as if it hadn’t been combed.
“Rin? What’s wrong?”
Seeing Rin, who looked really unwell, slowly reaching out and carefully touching my cheek sent a shiver down my spine.
“It feels… cold…”
“Rin? Why are you like this? What on earth happened?”
Could it be that something similar to what happened to me was happening to her? Especially since Rin was a girl, I worried it could be a really serious situation.
“Is it really… Daniel…? Not a hallucination or a dream?”
“Yeah, it’s me. Rin, just focus a bit…”
The black energy that had begun to spread had already tightened around my ankle.
Until now, I hadn’t realized.
Rin was someone who inflicted harm and trauma on others, but she would never be someone to become a victim herself.
“Ugh?”
I tried to move in panic, but it felt like my legs were stuck to the ground, not budging an inch. The black energy began to seep into my body.
“Where have you been? I missed you. I really missed you. So. So much!”
“Wait, hold on! What’s happening…!”
Now, the dark energy began to cover my face. The last image I captured was Rin’s spine-chilling smile enveloped in bliss.
*
“Gasp! Gasp!”
The darkness spat me out.
After being absorbed into Rin, familiar scenes and voices from my memory began to stir.
I didn’t know the name of this place, but it was called the Hertz Inn. I had seen the sign when Rin entered the inn.
“Are you awake?”
“Eek!”
Seeing Rin waiting behind me, I immediately fell backward on the floor, fleeing. Not even a bug could crawl away faster than that.
Rin looked completely different from the way she had come to me before.
Her skin regained its vitality, and her hair was beautiful again. She was wearing a deliberately white dress, one I had previously called pretty.
“Daniel, you can’t leave me. You can go, but you should’ve come with me.”
“……!”
But her eyes remained unchanged, no, rather they had transformed into something even more distorted.
“It’s alright. I finally found you, Daniel, and you’ve become mine.”
“What… what the hell is this…?”
As Rin moved in gracefully, she crouched before me. Her loose dress allowed me to see her cleavage clearly, and from that place, strange markings released the black energy that had swallowed me, billowing out like smoke.
“Daniel, don’t you have something to say to me?”
Rin’s gentle smile wrapped around me like a shroud.
Under that overwhelming pressure, I found myself begging for my life.
“Please… save me, Rin!”
I didn’t know her intentions, but I just begged. I thought she might let me go thinking of our childhood friendship.
But Rin’s eyes turned icy, and her smile completely vanished.
Then she stood up and turned away.
“You’re wrong.”
Soon the darkness began to engulf my consciousness again.
*
The next day.
In the same hotel room, with the same clothes, Rin summoned me from the darkness.
Being inside her wasn’t painful. I felt like I was half-asleep, and her actions and words seeped into me like a dream.
“Ugh!”
Yet, this sensation was something I never got used to.
Being spat out from the darkness was no better than being inside a gigantic fish.
“Daniel, how is it? Have you thought a lot?”
“……”
Rin’s hand gently stroked my cheek. With her smile filled with anticipation, I immediately responded.
“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry for leaving you behind!”
Yes, that’s the right answer.
She came looking for me, someone who had abandoned her, and resented me for it.
I thought like this, but then…
“You’re wrong.”
Rin’s darkness began to devour me once more.
*
“Daniel, what is your answer?”
“My apology wasn’t enough, right? I-I’m sorry! I’ll cut off a finger…!”
“You’re wrong. And don’t recklessly hurt your own body.”
*
“How is it? Do you know the answer now, Daniel?”
“……I don’t know. Not at all, I don’t know! I don’t know!”
“Then that won’t do. If you think calmly, you will surely find the answer.”
*
“What’s your answer?”
“Ares! It’s because I interfered with you and Ares…!”
“That’s the worst answer.”
*
“……”
“Stop it! Stop it! You crazy…!”
*
“I think I was a little too excited yesterday. So, how are you? Have you calmed down?”
“I-I’m sorry.”
“No, I’m not looking for an apology. From the beginning, Daniel, you really have no tact. If that’s true to you, that’s that.”
She gently tugged at the tips of my hair and answered with a smile.
“I still believe you’ll find the answer soon.”
*
“……”
I thought I would never get used to this sensation, but now I’ve accepted it as something entirely normal. Emerging from the darkness, I naturally knelt before Rin.
“How is it? How about today?”
Rin was still in that same dress, looking down at me from the same hotel room. Just like before, with an expression full of expectation and a smile blooming on her lips.
While being within her, the voice, actions, and flow of thoughts that I heard naturally seeped into me.
And I think I finally found out the answer.
But speaking it out loud held me back. Would saying this allow me to escape this gentle purgatory?
Can I stand up from within the embrace of darkness that held me like a bed?
“……Don’t you know today, either?”
Looking up at Rin, who began to again summon the darkness with a feigned disappointed expression, I dropped a heavy word, like a treasure, with a single tear.
“I love you.”
“Ah…”
Rin’s expression changed drastically. She immediately knelt and fiercely hugged me.
“That’s right. I really love you, Daniel!”
As her darkness bound my arms and legs, my body floated. Then she threw me onto the bed, which had only been a decoration until now.
Rin climbed on top of me.
“Wait! Wait a minute, Rin!”
“It’s alright, it’s my first time too, but I’ll figure something out.”
“No! I’m not talking about that…!”
She swiftly pulled down my pants, checked something, and blushed.
“Ah, what a good boy.”
*
Even if I solved the problem, the time being consumed by darkness didn’t decrease, nor did the time of emergence change.
However, after coming out, I was allowed to enjoy the world for a longer period.
“Ugh! Daniel!”
The longer I held on, the more time I had outside, so naturally, I became better at those skills.
If Rin fainted from pleasure, I could see her asleep on the bed, and that would allow me to stay outside longer. Thus, I became even more desperate for survival, as if I were a warhorse.
However, at some point, Rin stopped calling for me.
I was only floating in a half-sleep state, drifting through the darkness. I thought she must have gotten bored with me.
I thought that perhaps being a completely insignificant existence, swimming in darkness forever wouldn’t be so bad, but before I knew it, it hadn’t been long before Rin called for me again.
This time, it wasn’t in a hotel room.
It looked like a small church in town. Even after glancing around as a habit, naturally, there was no one there.
Just one person.
A girl with black hair, slightly protruding belly, and wearing a wedding dress welcomed me.
“I’m sorry for keeping you all this time. I held you forcibly, just in case you would run away.”
“……What?”
With a charming expression, Rin muttered while stroking her belly.
“Now it’s alright; you can’t run away anymore.”
“Wha-…”
*
I woke up with a rough breath in the room prepared by Elise in the mansion, looking around as I felt around my body.
Outside the window, it was still dark as dawn approached, but strangely, the darkness felt frightening, so I turned on the bedside lamp, bringing bright light into the room.
“Is this… a dream?”
Slowly, I retraced the memories of today.
Yes, I had come to find Elise with Tana by carriage to prevent Prince Oliver from taking the throne.
That’s right.
Yes, that’s right.
“Phew.”
Wiping away the cold sweat streaming down, I looked around.
“Really, since it’s the room a crazy girl prepared, I’m having crazy dreams!”
I blamed Elise for no reason and lay back down again. But feeling the fear for the first time in a long while, I got up and began searching the mansion for any books to read.
