Today felt like the longest day ever.
At the round table were Yulia, Jill, and Mia.
They were merely spending time in their own awkward silence, each in their unique way.
Yulia quietly observed the people around her.
Jill, looking anxious, kept shaking her legs and glancing at her watch.
Mia, on the other hand, would occasionally yawn while taking it easy.
“M-Mia.”
“Yes, Yulia? What is it?”
“U-Um, about the other person… the woman that Yoo Jin is involved with… that would be you, right…?”
“No way?! I-I don’t think so… Probably…”
“……”
“……”
Mia blushed and denied it.
In response, both Yulia and Jill instinctively realized.
Mia definitely had feelings for Yoo Jin.
It didn’t seem like it had progressed to a serious relationship yet, but it was clear they were fairly close.
“Sigh…”
“I don’t know what Yoo Jin thinks of me… but the woman he mentioned just now, the one he promised a future to, isn’t me…”
Feeling guilty for hiding the truth, Mia finally spoke up.
There were more than just the three of them who were special to Yoo Jin.
She wasn’t talking about the blood ghoul girl he often had by his side.
That girl was indeed special, but more in a closer sense than just ‘woman.’
What Mia was referring to was Countess Cornelia Briam.
‘Yoo Jin asked me, right? If he ever receives news about his death, to pass it on to the Countess…’
Yoo Jin had only four people he specifically asked to notify if he were to die.
Cornelia Briam, Jill Diner, Yulia Petenburg, and Yerina Frost.
Thinking back about what Yoo Jin confessed to the three of them today made it easy to guess his relationship with Cornelia as well.
“Who is that?”
“I can’t share that much. I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s fine. More than that, ha… I had some expectations, but I didn’t think it would hurt this much…”
“……”
To her surprise, Jill was quite calm, rubbing her temples as if feeling dizzy.
Yulia’s response wasn’t overly intense either.
Perhaps they had sensed Yoo Jin’s flirtatious nature, unlike Yerina.
There was a significant difference between getting vaccinated in advance and not.
They had known it all along.
Yoo Jin was a caring person.
Whether it be in a short time or a long time, he shared bonds with people in any way possible, giving and receiving trust.
That’s why they fell for Yoo Jin.
He never treated people lightly.
He was the type that always pondered deeply.
But the problem was that Yoo Jin didn’t just live one life.
Had his life been just once, dreaming of a happy future together for a hundred years wouldn’t have been impossible.
But he gave affection to every woman he encountered in each of his lives.
It was in his nature.
His essence, something he couldn’t control.
Yoo Jin had never wasted any of the many opportunities he was given.
Not once did he approach someone insincerely.
With every moment, he believed in people while suffering heartbreak.
He must have exchanged feelings continuously.
Even though he clearly knew his heart was being chipped away.
Knowing that people would disappear once this life cycle ended.
He would still foolishly, and steadfastly, continue to love.
Yoo Jin was that kind of person.
Yulia and Jill had fallen for that kind of person.
By the time they realized it, it was already too late.
“……?!”
Suddenly, the door swung open, and Yulia, Jill, and Mia all turned to look and stood up.
Yerina was slowly stepping out of the room, closing the door behind her.
Unlike when she stormed in looking furious, her ears were drooped down.
Her eyes were red, and her makeup was slightly smudged.
From just looking at her upper body, anyone could tell she was a woman who had been heartbroken.
But the way her tail swayed back and forth, despite not being able to control it, clearly revealed her feelings of joy.
And simultaneously, the three thought.
‘She accepted it.’
They could roughly guess what had happened inside.
No doubt Yerina had bawled at Yoo Jin as he tried to comfort her.
After a mixture of resentment and denial, she had finally accepted his confession.
There’s no way she would have slapped his face, right?
Jill thought to herself.
“Next up is m-me, right…”
“Wait.”
Just as Yulia hurriedly reached for the doorknob, Yerina’s hand gripped Yulia’s wrist.
The moment that paw, rough with calluses, enveloped her, Yulia’s mind went blank.
‘My wrist is going to break!’
It was a primal fear.
Her body stiffened, and no words would come out.
Knowing that the Frost Duchess wouldn’t harm her here meant nothing.
She felt like her head was being thrust into the mouth of a giant wolf, trembling all over.
“Listen well. Yoo Jin is still the same. Kind and tender-hearted as always… Don’t go thinking of hurting him. If you don’t like it, just say no to his face and leave. Don’t dig into his heart.”
“……”
Only then did Yerina’s grip loosen.
Free from the fear, Yulia took a moment to collect her thoughts before silently turning the doorknob.
Yulia stepped inside as the door swung open.
With a thud, the door closed behind her.
This time Yulia’s mana enveloped the whole room, making sure no sound could be heard from inside.
.
.
.
Looking back, I realized I had never been able to approach Yulia with a comfortable heart.
Of course, when dealing with Yerina, I was anxious about being caught in a romantic situation.
And with Jill, I was afraid of her picking a fight.
But when it came to Yulia, I couldn’t feel comfortable in another way.
I couldn’t fathom what Yulia was thinking.
She smiled in front of me, but I could never tell what she was hiding.
Whenever things were quiet and peaceful, I couldn’t help but wonder if she was plotting something, causing me sleepless nights.
She tormented me in a different way than Yerina’s paranoia.
At first, I resentfully blamed Yulia.
There had been more than a few rounds ruined because of her, and the sixth round, when she regained her memories, was no exception.
I was way too normal to accept Yulia’s twisted love.
“You’re here?”
“Y-yeah… Yoo Jin…”
When I turned around at the sound of her familiar hesitant steps, I saw Yulia standing a bit apart, hands clasped, hesitant.
It seemed she couldn’t bring herself to come closer, just watching me anxiously.
Even now, I truly didn’t understand what Yulia was thinking.
Had she come to reject my confession?
To accept it?
Or perhaps, was she just pretending to accept it while plotting something entirely different…?
“Want to sit down for a bit?”
“N-no… I want to talk while standing…”
But.
I had to trust her.
I decided to have faith.
I was the one to open my heart first.
I chose to face Yulia.
In that light, harboring any further doubts would only make things worse.
There was no reason to hold onto such unhelpful suspicions.
“About that drink…”
“Drink?”
“Trium, you know, Trium. You’re not just enjoying it in front of me, are you…?”
“……”
Yulia said with a slightly sad face.
“I thought… you were doing it on purpose, being nice to me… to take advantage of me… I thought you’d be talking behind my back… But you… Yoo Jin, you were always sincere…”
“That’s not wrong. I said earlier. My intentions in getting close to you were to conquer you and escape this place.”
“None of that matters… No matter how it started… I don’t remember that first round… All I can recall is Yoo Jin who cared for me and then betrayed me…”
“……”
It felt strange.
Back in the sixth round.
When the war broke out due to Yulia’s troll behavior, I had felt intense anger.
But now, I wasn’t angry at all.
Not that I had forgotten.
I didn’t think the vanished timeline held any meaning either.
I just classified past events as the past.
And I believed that people could change.
“I know… that I guarded against people, worrying about them talking behind my back… I know… but I couldn’t stop myself…”
“You can take your time to heal. Those are habits built over hundreds of years. It’ll take a lot of time to fix them.”
“Um, no… It didn’t actually take that long… Look… I’m no longer stuttering in front of you…”
When I came to my senses, Yulia was right in front of me.
She grabbed my hand and placed it on her chest.
I could feel her weak heartbeat.
Yulia, who had trembled and stuttered every time she met someone (myself included), was now completely at ease, her heart beating at a steady pace.
“You truly are a terrible person… Making me like this… coming into my life and unlocking everything… and then bringing numerous other women along…”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine… Everyone’s probably like me… Because you’re that kind of person… You can’t help but want to assist someone struggling or in a bind…”
Yulia nervously glanced at me, as though asking for permission, and then hugged my waist tightly.
Sobbing, she soaked my chest with tears.
Having just changed clothes because of Yerina, I now faced another wardrobe change.
“I love you too. I love you, Yoo Jin… But I’m… I’m… extremely jealous, have a terrible personality, can’t speak nicely, and I’m awful at relationships… Is that okay?”
Her tear-streaked face looked so pitiful I couldn’t help but smile.
I wiped her tears and snot, then met her gaze.
“When you gather all your flaws, you really seem like a failure of a human.”
“That’s the truth…”
“Wrong. There’s something I’ve wanted to correct since earlier. The reason I fell for you is different.”
“What is it?”
“Because you’re pretty and have a big chest.”
“R-Really?”
“Of course, I’m just kidding. Why are you taking that seriously?”
Only then did I feel the irregular thumping of her heart through the hand resting on her chest.
I had finally succeeded in bringing out the emotions of Yulia.
Blushing slightly, I tightly embraced Yulia, who was staring at me with shaken pupils, almost lifting her off her feet.
“Is there a reason for love? Can anyone pinpoint exactly when they fell in love? It simply happened that whenever I came to my senses, you were always in my mind… wondering what you were doing, and what you were thinking. But if I put it that way, it sounds boring… So, I think the thing I fell for was, yeah, your innocence.”
“Innocence…?”
“That innocent side of you that you tried to hide so much. When you completely let your guard down, that sincerity visible just to me melted my heart. I wanted to do something about you, yet it changed me.”
“But… after that, when you leave… I schemed to make sure you’d have to come to me through informants and agents…”
“So what now? Are you still doing that?”
“No… I’m not…”
“Then it’s all good.”
“……”
The past is gone.
Though we may have hurt each other, that past no longer exists.
The world tarnished by our mistakes has already vanished into another dimension.
We have been given a new opportunity.
What matters now is the future ahead.
As long as we don’t mess things up anymore, we can start anew.
“Can I… love you…? Can someone like me… love Yoo Jin…?”
“What are you hesitating about? I told you I love you.”
“Hoo, I love you too… I love you, Yoo Jin…”
Once more, she sobbed.
The strength in her embrace grew stronger.
There was no longer any distance between us.
Not a single gap remained.
She squeezed me tightly as if trying to crush my heart, sharing her warmth with me.
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