Ch.115Reunion (1)

‘I never thought things would turn out like this…’

How long had she been listening?

If she’d been there from the beginning, then a little, no…

‘This is bad…’

Right now, I was in Count Vladimir’s form.

And I had transformed into the appearance from when we last parted a thousand years ago.

In other words, this appearance was known only to Seria and me, plus the Hero’s party members, and no one else.

A thousand years had passed, and with Seria being the only one who still held memories from that time, no one would recognize me except through portraits.

Even Eterna wouldn’t know this appearance.

Basically, revealing myself to Seria while transformed like this was essentially backing myself into a corner.

‘It’s been a thousand years, but surely she would have forgotten to some extent…’

No, that’s impossible…

Especially since she’s an elf—the very idea that she could forget was absurd.

I swallowed hard, breaking out in a cold sweat.

‘What is Seria… thinking right now?’

I was taller now, so I couldn’t see Seria’s expression clearly.

And she kept her head down in silence, making it even harder.

“…”

We stood there for a long time, looking at each other without exchanging a word.

“…How long have you been here?”

In the chilly atmosphere, I was the first to break the silence, unable to bear it any longer.

Seria flinched at my question.

Perhaps she hadn’t expected me to speak first.

“Since you were alone with Irina…”

“If you’ve been listening since then, you must have heard everything from beginning to end…”

I let out a deep sigh.

Of all outcomes, this was the one I wanted least.

“Then you heard me reveal that I’m Count Vladimir.”

“…Yes.”

Seria still wore a confused expression.

Though I had revealed myself as Count Vladimir with my own words, it would still be difficult for her to believe it right away.

How would anyone react upon discovering that someone they hadn’t seen for a thousand years had not only transformed into a young girl but had also been hiding this fact all along?

Even a normal friend would be angry… and unfortunately, I knew all too well that Seria had feelings for me.

Once her confusion subsided, it would likely be replaced with anger directed at me.

And if that happened, things would get very complicated…

I cleared my throat and cautiously asked Seria.

“Can we talk about this like rational adults?”

“Vladi. You call that talking?”

…

Surprisingly, our little elf had immediately summoned the emotion of ‘anger’…

“If… if you just give me time to talk, I can explain everything.”

“Can you also explain why you told Irina first instead of me?”

“Well, that’s…”

Honestly, I had nothing to say about that.

The truth was, I had planned to reveal that I was Count Vladimir to convince Irina to retire from her position as Blood Tower Master.

Even if I explained this, from Seria’s perspective, there was room to think that becoming Blood Tower Master, making the Blood Tower great, and then retiring was the most important thing to me.

The fact that I had hidden it gave her ample reason to think I didn’t value her.

Of course, it wasn’t that Seria wasn’t important to me.

On the contrary, I had always thought I should tell her someday.

‘But how am I supposed to explain that?!’

That I disappeared for a thousand years, came back as a girl, and had become a Transcendent.

Not only that, but I hadn’t intentionally disappeared for a thousand years—I had just been sleeping in my coffin when I underwent the transformation process to become a Transcendent, was presumed missing, and ended up buried deep underground when they demolished the building.

‘Come to think of it, Seria doesn’t even know how I came back into the world…?!’

When I think about it, most people assume I appeared like a comet, but no one knows that I emerged when someone was digging up my grave to obtain the artifacts that I, ‘Count Vladimir,’ had possessed in life.

Naturally, since I hadn’t told anyone this story, not even Seria would know.

So right now, I…

‘I have to explain everything—what I did for a thousand years, how I ended up like this, why I didn’t come find her from the beginning…?’

If I had known this would happen, I should have introduced myself as Count Vladimir when I first met Seria.

I unnecessarily complicated things by lying about being his successor.

I smacked my forehead in frustration.

I felt truly stupid.

Really.

.

.

.

“It seems like we have a lot to talk about.”

“Mmm…”

I swallowed at Seria’s words.

Truthfully, I wanted to catch up with her as Count Vladimir, not as Midir Tepes, but that was impossible right now.

First, I needed to soothe Seria’s feelings.

“Seria, sis…”

“Ugh…”

Seria made a troubled expression as Irina, who had been quietly watching us, looked on with sparkling eyes.

No matter how angry she was, fighting in front of an uninvolved child wasn’t appropriate.

“Fine, I’ll let it go for now.”

Seria said this while still looking reluctant.

She clearly wanted to confront me right away, but given the situation, she was willing to let it slide for now.

‘Thank goodness…’

To be honest, I hadn’t thought at all about how to explain things to her.

Even though I knew I would eventually have to reveal the truth to Seria, I had only thought about it without taking any action.

I kept thinking I should tell her, but never actually made moves to reveal the truth.

I never dreamed I would be exposed like this.

The fact that she was giving me time to think showed how much she was considering my feelings.

“But…”

…or so I thought.

Seria looked at me with eyes that suggested there was one thing she absolutely couldn’t let go.

“Why not me?”

“…Huh?”

Her question caught me completely off guard.

Why wasn’t she first—at first glance, this question seemed odd, but in the current situation, there was only one thing she could be referring to.

“Why were you going to tell Irina first instead of me?”

“Well, that’s…”

“Logically, shouldn’t you have come to find me first when you woke up?”

Well…

It’s not like I hadn’t considered that.

But to do that, I would have needed to be in a position to meet Seria.

If I, with nothing to my name, suddenly went to the Green Tower, they wouldn’t have let me see her.

Of course, that wasn’t the reason I delayed meeting her—it was difficult to approach her because my appearance had changed so drastically and I had disappeared without a word for a thousand years.

I might not have worried about it with someone else, but with someone who had cared for me so deeply, approaching her was bound to be difficult.

Honestly, how could I not be afraid?

How much resentment must she have built up over a thousand years…

Pushing down my fear, I cleared my throat and continued.

“I needed to become a Tower Master before I could meet you. I couldn’t just go to the Green Tower right after waking up. Besides, I only learned about you after I became the Blood Tower Master.”

I could have gone to find her immediately, but that would have caused a lot of misunderstandings.

After hearing that Seria had become the Green Tower Master, I had debated whether to meet her or not, so I wouldn’t have known before becoming Blood Tower Master.

Anyway, I had planned to visit her as soon as I heard about it after becoming Blood Tower Master, so wasn’t that good enough?

If not, going to see her immediately would have been impossible.

“Ugh… that’s true, but…”

Seria nodded, acknowledging that this, at least, couldn’t be helped.

After all, meeting her after becoming Blood Tower Master and reaching the same position was the most trouble-free approach.

“Still, I…”

Seria hesitated and then lowered her head.

“I thought… you were dead…”

“That’s…”

“Making me wait for a thousand years… you jerk…”

When she raised her head again, Seria was crying, tears falling steadily.

I was taken aback—I hadn’t expected her to cry here.

“Sniff… sob…”

“Wow… you made her cry…”

As Irina watched us with that judgmental comment from the side,

I smacked my forehead in distress.

It was my fault, and I had nothing to say.