“Hoo.”
Even though all the paladins around had collapsed and fainted, Rin’s anger was still simmering.
The fact that she hadn’t killed anyone showed her superhuman patience, but it was also due to her personal belief that having killed countless people as an end was not something she wanted to stain her hands with any further.
Of course, the gods were an exception.
After all, she had never killed a god before.
It would be fine to do so.
No, she was determined to kill somehow.
‘How dare…’
While she was pondering how to let them know whose seat they dared to look over, Rin clenched and unclenched her fists, unsure how to cool this anger.
At that moment, two women came up through the rooftop door.
Hayun, the head of the Ren family, and her partner, Tana.
The two gazed sadly at the paladins sprawled out like soiled laundry blown by the wind.
If there was any relief, it was that they hadn’t killed them.
But what puzzled them was Rin’s reaction.
Whether the connection with the spirit realm was successful or not was completely unclear at this point.
If it had failed, she would be sorrowfully lamenting and waiting for the next opportunity, and if it had succeeded, she would have thought herself free from the curse that bound her.
However, Rin’s reaction was neither.
Her angry demeanor was far beyond anything they had expected.
Cautiously approaching, as if testing a fragile bridge, Hayun and Tana asked,
“Did something go wrong?”
“Is the Goddess of Death involved somehow?”
Tana thought that her own words sounded quite persuasive. Wasn’t it the Goddess of Death, who was almost her enemy, causing all this anger?
Rin, still huffing, forced herself to calm down as she looked at her friends. Yet, she was ready to unleash her fury at a moment’s notice.
“Um, she did intervene.”
That wasn’t a lie.
It was just that the intervention arrived in a way Rin had never anticipated, and it hurt deeply.
“Why? What’s the problem?”
“If you tell us, we can help.”
Rin looked back and forth between the two, contemplating.
Tana had once harbored feelings for Daniel but had given up, and since he was the one her best friend Eve liked, she had neatly set aside her feelings.
Hayun still had a faint affection for Daniel. As the head of the Ren family and the one responsible for the fashion business, she had grown both mentally and emotionally.
To an outsider, it might just seem like she was reminiscing about a schoolgirl crush, but Rin knew what lay beneath Hayun’s surface.
She was ready to return to her previous feelings whenever Daniel McLean appeared again.
‘Tana may not get it, but Hayun would definitely understand my anger, right?’
Didn’t they say that joy multiplies when shared, while sorrow lessens when divided?
In the end, Rin poured out what she had witnessed.
The more she reflected on it, the more shocking it became; the bitter feelings churned painfully in her mouth, but she had no choice but to endure.
And their reactions were similar.
“Hmm?”
The worried looks in Hayun’s eyes turned painful as they scanned Rin’s expression. After she had set down her sword for a while due to her business, her hand now itched, sharp as a blade.
“Ah, um…”
This time, Tana began to sense the mood. She knew the two could blow up with just a little provocation.
“L-Let’s take a breath, at least. How about we go to the mansion?”
“……”
“……”
Neither replied.
Tana felt oddly guilty and tried to lighten the atmosphere, but the mood remained heavy.
Yet, the two weren’t ignoring Tana’s words; they simply couldn’t move, fearing that even the slightest step might cause an explosion of emotions.
‘Really, this idiot!’
That’s why Tana insulted the deceased.
She knew it was wrong, but…
No, did it really matter?
Why would she defend the foolish girl who had made the situation this dire?
‘Sigh, how should I clear this misunderstanding?’
Of course, while thinking like that, Tana was well aware of the boy named Daniel McLean.
Aside from her childhood friends Rin and Ares, Tana was the first to get close to Daniel at the academy.
She couldn’t imagine her heroic classmate, who had once sacrificed himself, sticking to some goddess’s chest like a beast.
There had to be some reason behind it.
‘If his heart had fallen into the goddess’s chest, it would’ve happened long ago…’
He would’ve been captured by Eve.
Especially, Eve’s intelligent image had skyrocketed thanks to her recent charm and her job as a writer.
‘What an idiot.’
While saying that, Tana found herself surprisingly comforted. It was nice to be at ease even after Daniel had died.
Not for these two though.
“Let’s get going. It’ll be troublesome if the paladins wake up.”
“……”
“……”
As Tana pointed to the collapsed paladins like a floor pattern, Rin and Hayun glanced around and, with heavy feet, finally stepped off the rooftop.
Lastly, Tana followed, glancing back with a heavy sigh.
“It’s okay to wake up now.”
Tap tap tap tap.
The sound of their steps echoed down the stairs beyond the door.
That sound gradually faded.
And from between the fallen paladins, a handsome face peeked out. It was Ares Helias, the paladin and top power of Batian Cathedral.
“I really thought I was going to die.”
If he had known Rin had become this strong, he wouldn’t have tried to join this expedition, even with a fuss.
Complaining, Ares leaned against the rooftop railing. His body was stiff, but knowing that he wasn’t seriously hurt showed that Rin’s control over her strength was remarkably delicate.
From the outside, it seemed it could destroy all of Nirva.
“Still, looks like you’re doing well.”
Having played possum and overheard Rin’s entire tale, a small laugh escaped Ares.
Thinking back, who would he worry about?
It was Daniel McLean.
The one who saved the continent all on his own, a damn cool childhood friend.
He must’ve been managing just fine on his own.
As he puffed out a breath, wondering how to wrap up this mess, Ares suddenly turned at the sound of approaching hooves.
The Cheonggeuk Chariot, the pride of the royal household, was charging into Nirva, flaunting its speed.
Anticipating who might be inside, Ares covered his face with his hands.
“I miss Arni.”
It was a day he deeply missed his wife.
*
“I’m fine, you know?”
“What’s fine?”
The gloomy days in the spirit realm continued.
Well, it was the same sky of the spirit realm, so the sense of time was vague; he couldn’t tell if days had passed, but it felt like several had.
During that time, aside from swinging his sword in training, he had fallen into deep thoughts.
He had promised the future to two different women.
How trashy was that?
If his past self, who used to criticize Ares, had seen this, he would’ve clucked his tongue in disgust.
But what could he do?
They were different timelines.
The Eris from the 0th timeline was no longer in his memory, so he let her go.
He had tried to love her, but concluded that the Eris in his mind had vanished.
However, memories began to resurface, and she was coming to find him.
The same went for Rin.
He had tried to confess his feelings to Rin, but failed because of the God of Life’s meteor. There had been so many incidents afterward that he couldn’t simply confess.
In the end, he was the last end, and knowing how it all would conclude, he couldn’t spit out any feelings.
After all, it all ended with his death.
Now, Mei, Eve, Elise, Hayun, Adriana, and even the white-haired assassin girl were nagging him in his mind.
“I mean, there’s also that white-haired assassin girl.”
The Goddess of Death beside him spoke casually. Just when he thought she was comforting him by patting his back, she suddenly dropped a bizarre remark.
“She’s my little sister.”
To be exact, she was a stepsister.
“That’s a more convenient way to think about it.”
“……”
He pretended not to hear.
“Why not just marry them all? Wouldn’t that be easier?”
“Are you kidding? What do you think I am, a king?”
That was something that used to be common.
Right now, the king of the Frisia Kingdom had only one queen.
“I’m such a piece of garbage, right?”
Seeing this made him realize he was genuinely the trashiest trash. Originally, he planned to prevent the God of Life’s invasion and return to the continent.
“Not going back seems right.”
“No, what kind of judgment is it to say you’d rather die than live?”
The goddess beside him snarked unimpressedly. But he shook his head, denying that meaning.
“I’m not trying to live. I just think it’s better not to sway the children’s hearts. For their sake, I think it’s best not to return to the continent.”
He hoped they wouldn’t get tangled with a guy like him and could live their own lives.
If someone like him came back to life, it would only confuse them.
He had lived a life loving one person.
But with the regression caused by the Goddess of Time, that life had multiplied, leading to complications.
“Is that the right way?”
The goddess looked at him skeptically. She let out a sigh, explaining that he was misjudging the core of his thoughts.
“What you should be contemplating now isn’t whether you can repay those kids’ affections or whether you’re causing them harm.”
“……Then?”
“What’s important is how should you repay them.”
Putting her hands on her hips, the goddess straightened her shoulders. It was evidence that she believed in what she was saying.
“In my view, your choice doesn’t matter at all. You’re the one who’s killed, and now you want to save them; do you think they’ll listen to your opinion?”
“……That’s true.”
“So think carefully about what you should do.”
“Easy for you to say, acting all high and mighty without ever dating.”
It felt like a reasonable statement while also irking me somehow, so I shot back.
“You’re the same! You can’t even handle the girls; you’re such an idiot!”
But the counter I received was pretty painful.
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