Rubia

“…Rubia?”

At my call, Rubia, or rather, Lilith, who had widened her eyes for a moment, chuckled and shook her head.

“That child does resemble me a lot, doesn’t she? I suppose she was modeled after… um…”

Lilith, who hesitated for a moment, choosing her words carefully, sighed softly and gestured to me.

Is she telling me to come?

“Yes. You’re hurt, aren’t you? I’ll heal you.”

…Did she read my mind?

Or… did she predict it like Rubia?

For now… I didn’t approach Lilith.

I narrowed my eyes and stared at Lilith.

“It’s okay. I would never harm Noah.”

Still, just in case, I didn’t approach.

The existence that had taken Rubia’s form. The Nameless One’s atrocities came to mind, and I couldn’t open my heart easily.

As I thought that, tears welled up in Lilith’s eyes.

“It can’t be helped if Noah thinks that way… but I’m sorry. I really am…”

Eventually, Lilith lowered the arm she had extended towards me and bowed her head, her shoulders beginning to tremble slightly.

“Uh, uh… ah… are you, are you crying…?”

At that sight.

Seeing her look exactly like Rubia, and looking so sad, the doubts in my head, slightly, very slightly, subsided.

Meanwhile, drip. Drip. From behind, hidden by her hair, teardrops began to fall.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry… It’s my fault…”

Her shoulders trembled pathetically. Her arms hugged her body as if she were cold.

I… finally took a step towards Lilith.

I had roughly finished assessing this place.

It was similar in nature to the Divine Realm, but a space somehow different from the Divine Realm that Noah and the Nameless One had created.

No matter how suspicious it looked, the power and emotions surrounding this place were not hostile to me. Rather, they were welcoming me immensely.

Just like… Rubia welcoming me when I woke up in the morning.

And… just in case, if something bad happened, I was confident that I could destroy this place and get out.

If I did that, the things I had planned would be terribly twisted, but I focused on the fact that I could still get out.

So, I approached Lilith.

I didn’t think it would be dangerous.

It’s definitely not because I felt sorry for her appearance, because it broke my heart, and because I wanted to comfort her.

Really.

Step- Step- While walking the distance that seemed close but was quite far, I put down the greatsword.

The greatsword, placed in the air, transformed into crimson Divinity according to my will and permeated my body.

Step- Step-

Thus, my cautious steps arrived in front of Lilith.

And Lilith.

“Heh.”

Making a strange sound.

“I got you!”

“Eep?!”

She hugged me.

“S, suddenly… suddenly, what, what are you… doing…!”

“But… if I didn’t do this, Noah would be wary of me, right?”

“Eek! St, still…!! L, let go of me quickly! Eek!”

“I don’t want to.”

A firm answer. A gentle hug different from that.

The hand that had been stroking the back of my head was pulled forward with a whoosh. Following it, my face was buried in Lilith’s chest.

“Mmph?! Mwoooph!”

Soft and slightly moist bare skin… her chest embraced my face. Literally embraced it.

Perhaps bigger than my head… her chest.

It’s not that Lilith wasn’t wearing clothes.

She was wearing them, but a dress that revealed half of her chest… something a little more fancy than a dress… uh…

Because she was wearing something like a dress, my face was in her chest…

“Mwoooeuu!”

“Ehehe… Noah, if you move too violently…”

“Mwoooph…?”

I struggled to get out of Lilith’s arms. I moved a little gently, worried about hurting her, but Lilith’s arms didn’t budge.

So, a little harder.

Harder.

Even harder.

Really hard.

Really, really hard.

Still, Lilith’s arms didn’t budge.

…Is this even possible?

I’m, I’m pretty strong, aren’t I…?

Maybe I’m the strongest in this world right now…?

“You’re probably the strongest in the world Noah lives in. But this is my world, so I’m the strongest, okay?”

Lilith, who lowered my face to meet my eyes, smiled bashfully and stuck out her tongue.

The blush on her face. The seductive tongue she stuck out. The moist lips caused by it, and the disheveled hair from my struggles.

It looked incredibly… incredibly sexy.

If a little more time passes, will Rubia also exude this kind of atmosphere?

Then, it’s a little… dangerous.

“That child will also become like this if a little more time passes. Um… rather than time passing, I think it will be like this if she doesn’t hold back anymore.”

“Gasp…”

Chuckling lightly, Lilith gently let me go.

I carefully asked Lilith.

“…You’re… reading my mind, right?”

“Yes.”

Then Lilith answered very naturally, confidently.

“Th, then… you know very well what I’m thinking right now…?”

“I do?”

“I’m begging… you. I’ll, I’ll be right back, so…”

I had to get out as soon as possible.

‘Take care.’ It’s a complete farewell.

I have to go find Rubia quickly and explain that it’s not like that. Otherwise… Rubia would be too upset.

“…That’s impossible.”

Lilith, who had been lost in thought for a moment, shook her head and said.

“I don’t have much time either. Me too.”

Then she smiled.

It was a bright and innocent smile, but.

It was a smile that made me think that the tears from before, the sad appearance, were not a lie.

“I, I’m all healed.”

“Hmm, I think I need to see a little more. Can you take off your clothes?”

“Eek… N, no way. I, I’ll go to Rubia to get the rest treated.”

I moved to the side, avoiding the fingers that were stroking my spine.

And then, I was caught again.

Not only was I caught, but I was hugged in Lilith’s arms.

“Really?”

I felt the breath and voice that dug into my ear stimulate every nerve in my body.

“Y, yes…! Eek, st, stop it… R, Rubia will hate it if you do this… She’ll get angry too.”

“Isn’t it that only Rubia hates it and Noah likes it?”

“M, me too…! M, me too, I… ha… hate… Eek! Ah, anyway, you can’t do this! I’m… I’m in a relationship with Rubia…!”

For a moment, the breath digging into my ear stopped.

Slowly, the arms that had been hugging me loosened.

I immediately crawled away from Lilith.

“Hoo… hek…”

Then I took a deep breath and looked at Lilith.

She was still smiling.

…I had so much to say, but I kept forgetting it because she kept bothering me like this.

“It’s okay. I know everything.”

“Th, then… that’s a relief.”

I scratched my ear, which was still covered in goosebumps, and sat up straight.

In response, Lilith also put away her playful atmosphere and straightened her posture.

Silence fell for a moment.

It was Lilith’s voice that broke the silence.

“Before we get to the main point―”

Lilith, with a very serious expression, closed her eyes and bowed her head towards me while kneeling.

“I’m sorry. I… brought you here without permission. I’m sorry for not being able to do anything for Noah after bringing her here… for only making Noah suffer, for making it hard for her. It’s all… my fault.”

Even so.

“Thank you for saving this world, the world that was ruined by my fault. Thank you for not giving in, for not collapsing, for fighting to the end, and for, like this, not giving up, for living, for being alive. Thank you so, so much.”

I didn’t answer those words.

“You were cool. The coolest in the world. The coolest of any hero.”

Before I could answer, Lilith’s head was raised.

The smile on her face was so sweet, so painfully bitter.

While I was blankly looking at Lilith’s face.

Clap! Lilith’s clapping sound awakened my mind.

“Shall we move on to the main point now?”

The atmosphere changed in an instant.

I wondered which appearance was the real Lilith, but it was a meaningless worry.

I already knew.

So, I quietly nodded.

“What should I talk about first…”

Lilith, who was tapping her hands politely gathered on her knees, nodded as if she had finished organizing her thoughts.

“You may already know this, Noah, but I haven’t disappeared.”

“…Yes.”

It wasn’t a certainty, but I had expected it.

The image of Lilith that I saw in Sirin’s memory wasn’t an existence in the memory, but the real Lilith, I thought.

Besides that, various circumstances told me, but…

I won’t think about that.

Lilith might read my mind.

“All the Divinity I possessed was taken away by the Nameless One, but my existence itself remained here, in this place. I was hiding… right?”

Hiding…?

Lilith was hiding because she wanted to live… no, that’s not why she remained here.

Surely, it was for some purpose…

“I’ll explain that a little later. There are many things I need to explain before that.”

The way she answers everything I think is a little strange and scary.

Uh… did she read it again?

I raised my gaze, which had been lowered.

There was Lilith, smiling bitterly as if she had read my thoughts.

…I need to be a little careful.

“Please listen to my story while thinking that the me who is talking to Noah is the real Lilith. I have no intention of harming Noah at all, and also…”

Lilith, who was fidgeting with her fingers on her knees, sighed and shook her head.

“Anyway. Let’s really get to the main point now.”

What did she want to say?

I was just thinking that it was unfair that I couldn’t read Lilith’s thoughts, but Lilith could read all of my thoughts.

“Noah.”

From Lilith’s mouth, a story I didn’t want to believe flowed out.

“Noah, you can’t be saved.”

What?

There was no need to even think about that.

That ‘Noah’.

Was talking about ‘me’, not me.