episode_0114

Noah gasped, swallowing roughly. She first realized that her vision was turning white.

“What is this? What..?”

Her dizzying sight, the heightened sense of excitement, and the emotions from the past when she felt like she could do anything vividly came back to her.

As she recalled tearing off her clothes roughly and even unwrapping bandages, Noah let out a scream unknowingly.

“Ahh!”

Her suppressed high-pitched scream, which she would never have let out normally, showed how much she was in turmoil.

Rustle, swish!

As Noah’s scream echoed through the room, a new white book popped out of the bag.

[ What’s this! What’s happening?! ]

Noah, who usually only whimpered even when stabbed with a knife, screamed loudly, showing how confused she was. Juliana was startled as the object popped out of the bag and immediately approached Noah.

[ Are you hurt?! Is it a curse?! ]

Juliana began checking Noah’s condition seriously. Her flushed face, tear-filled eyes, and trembling gaze showed how disoriented she was.

It was clear she wasn’t in her right mind. Juliana prodded Noah seriously.

[ What on earth is going on?! ]

“Me…”

[ What…? ]

“I…to Lian…uhh…”

Noah couldn’t continue speaking and buried her face in her hands, collapsing onto the bed. Juliana, who had a serious expression, remained silent for about 3 seconds before looking puzzled.

“Could something interesting have happened overnight?”

Juliana’s expression quickly turned cheerful.

“Noah.”

“Uhh…”

Noah didn’t respond to Juliana’s voice and couldn’t break free from yesterday’s memories. Juliana leaned close to Noah’s ear and whispered.

“…Did you use contraception?”

“Wha-! What are you saying!?”

As if a button had been pressed, Noah abruptly stood up and shouted at Juliana. She was so flustered that she even used informal language.

“Ey… No? Really? Since I can’t say anything anywhere, can’t you just tell me? Huh?”

“No, no! That’s really not it! With Lian, I…”

“Just?”

“…”

Noah hesitated to speak further, breathing heavily. Her head was spinning from the rush of blood.

“What did you do? Huh? If you don’t tell me, I’ll go to Lian and…”

“Ah! You can’t do that!”

“Then hurry up and tell me what mischievous thing you did last night! Come on!”

“Well, the mischievous thing was…”

When Noah recalled pressing her chest against Lian’s body, she bit her lip.

“What? Why can’t you speak? Did you attack first?”

“…!”

“Really?”

As Noah remained silent and hung her head low, pleasure filled Juliana’s eyes. Noah could withstand any trial, but in the face of the trial called ‘love,’ she was as fragile as a chick.

“Ju-Juliana… What should I do? I made a huge mistake with Lian.”

Noah started to confide in Juliana, who always provided answers for her confusion, while choking up.

As Juliana reacted with amazement to Noah’s explanation, she clapped her hands at the end.

“If you’ve sealed the deal, it’s over!”

When Noah mentioned kissing Lian, Juliana cheered. To sum up her emotions in one line, it would be something like “The stock I picked skyrocketed!”

“When do you think the wedding should be? Spring? Summer? Oh, it’s held in the Empire, right?”

“W-Wedding?”

When Noah hears the word “apple,” he unconsciously recalls an image of apples in his mind, just as when he hears the word “marriage,” he envisions a scene where he dates and marries Lian, has three children, and lives happily until they become grandparents, reminiscing about their past with laughter.

In a fleeting moment, Noah stammered, pursing his lips, then lowered his gaze and hesitantly spoke upon a sudden realization.

“That… Actually, my memory of that time is vague. It feels like it happened and didn’t at the same time…”

[“Really? Then I’ll go ask Lian.”]

“No no! Absolutely not!”

Noah and Julianna’s struggle continued even after finishing their meal when a colleague brought Noah’s portion of the meal.

***

The journey’s path began again.

“…”

“…”

A huge, impenetrable wall emerged between Noah and Lian that couldn’t be expressed in words. They couldn’t even look each other in the eye or have a conversation.

“Did you fight with the boss?”

“Huh? Oh, no. Why would I do that?”

“But we’re not talking and looking elsewhere like this.”

“Yeah, we’re in the middle of playing such a game.”

“Weird game.”

The awkwardness between the two became so palpable that even the youngest, Ribbon, noticed. Their transition from friends to potential romantic interests made things awkward. Hearing Lian and Ribbon’s conversation, Noah blushed.

As Noah pondered the reason behind his inability to converse properly with Lian, memories from that time naturally resurfaced. Julia, who had been bored and confined to her bag during the tedious journey, watched the two of them strangely floating in the air, laughing ominously.

[“Cute. So cute. This is youth.”]

A week passed with the continuation of the awkward and ticklish journey. Lian and Noah started speaking a little again but were attacked twice in between.

Once by slave traders and once by mercenaries, all situations were resolved by Lian and Noah.

“Wow… Brother, you’re so cool!”

Seeing Ribbon witness Lian fighting properly for the first time, she clung to Lian’s leg with sparkling eyes. Perhaps due to Lian’s attention to avoiding any ominous feelings, Ribbon’s eyes were filled with admiration.

[“Haha, praise me more!”]

At the rare compliment from Magam, he sparkled with joy and exclaimed. Of course, only Lian heard the sound.

“Brother! Brother!”

“Yes?”

Ribbon, who was clinging to Lian’s calf, smiled broadly and shouted.

“Let’s get married!”

“Pfft!”

It wasn’t Lian but Noah who reacted first to Ribbon’s words.

“Cough, cough!”

Due to a rough gust of wind, tears welled up in her eyes as she coughed.

“Huh? Boss, are you okay?”

Surprised, Ribbon quickly ran to Noah. Lian breathed a sigh of relief, knowing she didn’t have to answer the awkward question.

‘But marriage…’

Lian, like Noah, imagined becoming grandparents with two children and a puppy, then snapped back to reality.

Noah, and even Lian’s face, turned bright red.

“Boss, did you see Lian fighting? It was like swoosh and swoosh! He looked like a knight from a fairy tale!”

Beside the now composed Noah, Ribbon’s excited voice could be heard. The word ‘knight’ reminded Lian of one forgotten fact.

‘Come to think of it, where is the knight from the original story who saved Iris? I wanted to escape with him if possible… Is that too much to ask?’

Rubbing her flushed cheek with the back of her hand, Lian pondered.

The person who took Iris to the Duke’s house alone… will be living well, right?

Two men in white research gowns sat facing each other on an elegant library sofa, engaging in conversation.

“Hmm… I thought at least one of them would come.”

“Originally, a new Four Kings was supposed to come to our side.”

“Really?”

“Yes, but they had to go to the other side due to a more urgent mission from above.”

“Darn… They have no idea how important our research is!”

“That’s right.”

“If it weren’t for the intruder, there would be no need for such worries!”

A researcher with a mustache stood up and turned towards the library window. Beyond the window was a new white research space.

Inside the research space, a 2m tall female spirit with black skin lay pierced by dozens of iron chains.

[ My child.. my child.. ]

The spirit shed tears while desperately searching for her child.

Clang!

[ Aaah! ]

As the iron chains gleamed black, the spirit screamed. The man, twirling his mustache, spoke to the researcher with glasses who had approached him.

“Has the intruder said anything yet?”

“No, but we haven’t found nothing.”

“Oh..! What did you find out?”

“It seems likely that he is a knight from the Empire.”

“A knight?”

“Yes, many items suitable for the Empire were found among his belongings. His behavior also seemed habitual of a knight.”

“A knight of the Empire…”

The man grinned widely, showing his white teeth.

“He might make quite an interesting test subject.”