Precious Memories

Rotten coughed up blood, barely managing to open his eyes.

He realized the house was on fire from the black smoke and intense heat. Rotten felt a sense of powerlessness, as if all the strength had drained from his body, but he forced himself to get up.

Even if it was a stone statue, only scorch marks would remain if a fire broke out, but Rotten couldn’t leave his beloved Rael alone in the inferno.

Rael was always by his side, and he was always by her side.

He couldn’t give her up in any situation.

Rotten walked into the raging flames, coughing up blood, and found Rael’s statue through the blinding black smoke, guided by decades of familiarity.

Rael’s statue was burning hot from the fire, and the skin on his hand stuck to the statue, causing excruciating pain, but Rotten only pulled the statue closer into his arms.

After coughing up blood several times, Rotten barely managed to escape the house with Rael’s statue, his legs giving way, and he collapsed onto the cold ground.

His body on fire, covered in burns, Rotten lay on the ground, looking up at Rael’s statue, which was blackened, covered in ash, and stained with his burnt skin.

Dark clouds hung low in the sky. Rotten wondered if it was because of the smoke or if it was going to rain today.

,A wizard…,’

He found it incredibly funny that even as he knew he was dying, he was wondering if it would rain today.

Like a small animal dying, Rotten let out a strained laugh that sounded like a painful groan.

As if falling asleep, his consciousness slowly faded, and his eyelids grew heavy against his will.

At that moment, Rotten could barely hold onto his consciousness as he heard the sound of horses’ hooves.

“Grandfather…!!!”

Ross jumped off the horse, almost falling, and grabbed Rotten’s grotesque hand, his skin melting away.

Rotten couldn’t feel anything in his hand, but he felt that Ross’s hand was warm.

Rotten barely managed to hold onto his sanity at Ross’s voice and called out his name with difficulty.

“Ro, Ross….”

There were many things he wanted to tell Ross. But the time he had left was only fleeting.

Rotten gathered the last bit of mana he had and created a red thread.

“Thi… s….”

Rotten struggled to hand the red thread to Ross. As Ross accepted it, Rotten was finally able to give a very faint smile.

***

Raindrops fell like tears on Rotten’s face, who had closed his eyes with a peaceful expression as if he had fallen into a deep sleep.

“Kkeueueueuk―!”

Like a wounded beast, an unknown scream escaped from my mouth. I bit my lip until it bled, but it was a scream from my heart.

It hurts.

I felt a pain as if an invisible spear had pierced my chest, so much that I couldn’t pinpoint where it hurt. I hadn’t even repaid him for healing Luna… I had so much I wanted to say….

I couldn’t do anything.

If only I had been faster.

What if I hadn’t hesitated in the alley…?

As if trying to wash away my sadness, thick raindrops pounded my body painfully.

The hair covering my face, soaked with rain, was annoying, and my head was dizzy with rising emotions.

I took out a cloak from the space warehouse and covered Rotten so he wouldn’t get rained on.

I wanted to bring Rotten into a warm house, not this cold ground, right away, but.

The last will Rotten left me tickled my palm, so I couldn’t ignore it.

I got up and followed the red thread Rotten left behind, heading into the house where the fire was dying down in the relentlessly pouring rain.

Following the red thread, I entered the house, which had turned completely black, and saw that the red thread was connected to a box that was untouched by the flames among the ashes.

I pushed the ashes aside and took out the box. As if waiting, the box opened on its own, emitting a bright light.

When I examined the contents, there was an enormous amount of research material inside the box, as if space magic had been installed, along with a pocket watch, unlike its small size that could be held in one hand.

The red thread was piercing through the pocket watch. Was this what Rotten wanted to leave me with last?

With questions and curiosity rising from the bottom of my heart, I picked up the pocket watch with the hand that had been holding the red thread.

As if winding the spring, the red thread I was holding was sucked into the pocket watch, and the hands of the watch began to move on their own.

Mana suddenly began to be sucked into the pocket watch from my palm.

I suddenly felt as if the whole world was spinning and felt like I was falling endlessly.

My vision blurred, and suddenly the sunlight that came hurt my eyes. Before I could grasp the situation, I heard someone’s voice next to me.

“Hyu, should we stop here for today?”

A handsome man who had closed his book turned his head and looked at me. Not understanding what was going on in this sudden situation, I greeted him first.

“Hello…?”

I greeted him in a cautious voice, but the man didn’t seem to hear my voice as he looked at me, touching his chin or fixing his bangs.

Thinking that the man’s gaze didn’t seem to be looking at me, I turned around and saw a mirror hanging on the wall.

Even though I was clearly in front of the mirror, I realized that this was an illusion as the handsome man’s face was reflected in the mirror, passing through me.

“Rotten, if you’ve finished reading ‘Edio and the Golden Dragon,’ can I borrow it?”

A man with a gentle impression appeared and said something that greatly surprised me, and I observed the handsome man who had been looking in the mirror once again.

Now that I thought of him as Rotten, I could see a bit of his features in his face.

Rotten’s younger self was very different from the pathetic look and shabby clothes I knew.

“Tarantella, I’ve already read it more than four times. You’re the only one in the Magic Tower who hasn’t read it yet? Hurry up and take it and read it. Don’t read it before you go to bed so your days and nights don’t get mixed up.”

Rotten warned with a playful smile.

I remembered that Tarantella’s name was the Green Magic Tower Lord and glared at his face.

A gentle impression that instinctively softens wariness.

It was the younger version of the kind-faced old man when he came to find Rotten with Luna.

Tarantella, who had taken a book from the bookshelf, gave a gentle smile and patted Rotten’s shoulder with his other empty hand.

“Thanks. I’ll enjoy it. Judging by how you’re dressing up, are you going to meet Rael again today?”

At Tarantella’s question, I thought of Rotten’s lover, Rael.

“Yeah, I can’t miss a day. Because it’s Rael.”

Tarantella snorted at Rotten’s appearance, as if he were a devout believer, clasping his hands together and looking up at the ceiling.

“Aigo, you’re already a fool for her. A single person like me should just read a book.”

“You introduced me to Rael, so I was able to meet her. Thanks, friend.”

Tarantella snorted at Rotten’s expression of sincere gratitude.

“Yes, yes~ While the genius wizard is on a date, I’ll stay in the Magic Tower and read a book.”

Rotten, who smiled at Tarantella, who was gesturing for him to leave quickly, left the room, and the surroundings began to distort like a mirage, and the background began to change.

Deep in the mountains. Rotten arrived at a small house and knocked on the door, but there was no sound from inside.

“Rael, it’s me, Rotten!”

As Rotten was knocking again, someone was seen sneaking up behind Rotten.

I realized that the woman with the very beautiful blonde hair looked exactly like the statue Rotten cherished.

Then, is that woman Rotten’s lover? Is she Rael…?

She carefully approached and hugged Rotten’s waist tightly.

“Gotcha!”

Rotten, who released the hand that was wrapped around his waist and turned around, gave a bright smile full of sincerity, which I had never seen before.

Rael, who made eye contact with him just like Rotten, also gave a bright smile and hugged each other.

Just watching this scene from the side. I could clearly feel how much these two loved and sincerely cared for each other.

“What are you staring at so intently?”

“I was just thinking how pretty you look today.”

Rotten must have been a lover boy.

The Rotten I met was someone who always grumbled with a hoarse voice, but the Rotten of the past was someone who knew how to whisper sweet words to the person he loved.

The fact that I had learned a new side of Rotten and that I would no longer have the opportunity to tease him about it made my heart ache once again.

Rotten, who hugged Rael in his arms with a happy smile, looked down at Rael.

“You didn’t slack off and come here, did you?”

“I was late because I did tomorrow’s work too.”

Rael, who had a suspicious look at Rotten’s quick answer, made a playful expression. I didn’t know when she was a statue, but Rael’s warm brown eyes, which were looking at Rotten, were so clear. It seemed impossible to hide the sincerity in her heart.

Feeling each other’s warmth, the two exchanged glances silently and gently kissed each other’s lips.

“Let’s get married.”

“Not that again!”

Rael, who had been hugged by Rotten, pinched Rotten’s side.

“Ouch! You know I’m not kidding.”

“Heung, someone needs to be punished, Rotten~”

Rotten, who grabbed Rael’s hand and kissed the back of her hand, made eye contact and confessed.

“You are the most precious thing to me. You have now become more precious to me than myself. You know I mean it.”

Tears began to well up in Rael’s big brown eyes at his sincere gaze and voice.

“I know, but you’re a great wizard who is being evaluated as someone who can become the Green Magic Tower Lord. And unlike me, who is a commoner, you’re from a count’s family….”

“What does that matter? If I can be with you, the Green Magic Tower or the family. They are worthless to me. When I’m with you, I can feel my true self. I’ve only just realized that the reason I was alive was to meet you.”

Rotten continued, gently stroking the back of Rael’s hand with his fingers.

“Wizards are curious animals. Whether it’s an invention or a discovery, it starts with a small curiosity. I met you and I kept getting curious. I wonder if you think the time we’re spending together now is meaningful, if you smile whenever you think of me like I do. There are so many things I want to ask you, who is full of questions.”

“If you marry me, you’ll only suffer losses…. Do you want me to be selfish…?”

Rael released the waist she had been hugging and moved away from Rotten’s body.

“I don’t want to be selfish and block your path, Rotten….”

Rotten said as if he was frustrated at Rael’s appearance, who was speaking tearfully as if she truly thought so.

“I’m not asking you to block my path. I’m asking you to walk beside me.”

As Rotten finished speaking, an awkward silence crept between them. A single tear that had been welling up in Rael’s beautiful brown eyes flowed down her cheek.

Rotten, who made eye contact with Rael’s moist eyes, approached and gently wiped away her tears with his hand.

“I love you, Rael. If you ask me to pluck a star in the sky, I’ll steal a dragon’s magic to do it.”

“Tch, you idiot.”

Even though she pouted her lips at Rotten’s words, the sight of the two of them eventually drawn to each other’s warmth and touching each other was so beautiful that, as someone who knew the ending of the story, it looked so… sad.