Ch.307Chapter 307: Too Suddenly (1)

#

Lillianshiz’s eyes blinked repeatedly as she saw the clear tear streaks around Karl’s eyes.

Her own tears had already started from her eyes, flowed down her cheeks, and were now moistening the obsidian floor.

She should have wiped them away, but she had forgotten to do so.

As a result, her pretty face was slightly marred by a subtle crying expression.

Yet, the poignancy born from that tearful face enhanced her beauty in a different way.

Unlike the cold, stern face that had been revealed when her helmet came off during her mechanical mission following the contract after first setting foot on this land.

Now, the vitality blooming on Lillianshiz’s face faithfully served to display a beauty that couldn’t possibly be hidden by her somewhat disheveled expression.

Of course, this poignancy and the beauty it highlighted were not what Lillianshiz, whose heart was covered in sorrow, had intended.

After miraculously encountering Karl Ranos, with whom she shared memories and pain, when she thought they would never meet again.

She had wanted to convey her sincere apology with all her might and ask for his forgiveness when she met him.

Yet somehow, she found herself facing Karl, who was apologizing to her instead and showing tears, as if he had never even thought about any wrongdoing he might have done to her.

The thought of reducing the time to look at him just to wipe away the tears in her eyes no longer existed in her mind.

With a simple but clear thought in her heart, Lillianshiz’s eyes continued to take in Karl’s figure.

While watching Karl, who wasn’t sobbing but was quietly shedding tears filled with an inexpressible regret, Lillianshiz whispered softly to herself about him.

‘…Fool.’

From the content alone, it might seem like she was angry at Karl’s attitude of just crying without saying anything.

‘I’m the one who should really be apologizing….’

In reality, it was closer to anger directed at herself for making Karl apologize first when she was the one who should be apologizing.

After belatedly learning the sincerity he had left for her when he had turned to ashes.

The regret she felt for making him apologize first when he had done nothing wrong, when she had been determined to convey her apology if she ever met him again, was something she couldn’t bring herself to say out loud.

In the past, when she lived in her original world rather than this one, such lamentations would have been lonely monologues with no one to hear them.

Fortunately, now there was someone to listen to her lamentations, and she no longer intended to let them remain as mere lamentations.

She had to stop him from crying anymore.

Lillianshiz’s judgment was clear once she realized that the person before her was Karl, whom she had so desperately wanted to meet, and her actions were even swifter.

As soon as she brought her left hand to her right.

She skillfully removed her gauntlet, revealing her bare hand made of flesh and blood.

Thud-

The loud noise of the gauntlet hitting the obsidian floor swept through the hall, which had been enveloped in forced silence due to the slow flow of time.

But that sound was nothing compared to Lillianshiz’s right hand, which was revealed as she removed the gauntlet.

It was slender and formed with extremely beautiful lines befitting a woman’s body.

Yet, the calluses embedded here and there as a result of indescribably arduous sword training created a strange contrast, making her bare hand stand out with presence.

Despite being formed with delicate and soft lines.

Why did she suddenly reveal this right hand, which was so complete in its form that it could be called a weapon in itself, with a sharp aura that contrasted with the heaviness when wearing the gauntlet?

It was clear that no matter how strong it might be, it couldn’t compare to the protective ability provided by armor forged from primordial metal imbued with divinity.

Thanks to the infinitely slow flow of time.

Although she had temporarily escaped from the threat of Desire, who couldn’t even grasp what was happening before her eyes.

In this precarious situation where the flow could be interrupted at any moment, why would she defensively remove part of the armor protecting her body?

Was she trying to pat Karl’s chest with her bare hand instead of the gauntlet, the same Karl whom she had just inwardly scolded as a fool?

Naturally, that wasn’t why she had revealed her right hand.

This was evident from the fact that her revealed right hand was directed at the crown of Karl’s head.

Swish-

She stroked it. Her right hand, which had just caressed Karl’s cheek and moved to his crown, now gently stroked the crown of his head.

Her calloused hand, far from gentle even in flattery, could hardly be considered better than the black iron gauntlet she had been wearing until just now, except for its warmth.

“…”

But judging by how Karl’s subtle crying expression gradually softened as he felt her touch, it was clear that this was the most effective means available to her right now.

The tears falling from Karl’s eyes gradually diminished.

The regret that had built up layer by layer from the realization that he had driven a stake into her heart with harsh words and cold treatment, even if it was for a greater cause.

It was evident from his expression that this regret was melting away like snow under spring sunshine, leaving no trace, thanks to Lillianshiz’s touch, which understood and accepted everything as it was.

Seeing this, Lillianshiz finally felt relief.

It was the relief of confirming that her life, which she had lived consistently with the desire to be someone who could support Karl, following in the footsteps of the man who had offered her a broad and warm back when she was young.

At the moment when she thought that everything had been denied when the person she had so desperately wanted to protect turned to ashes.

Although it took time and the form was a bit different, she felt relief in confirming that she could comfort his heart in this way.

And as that relief gradually filled a corner of her heart.

Lillianshiz realized.

The lingering attachment that she thought she had completely shed and hidden while watching this time’s version of him and another version of herself moving forward with firm trust in each other after encountering them shortly after setting foot on this land.

The fact that the person she thought was from a different timeline was actually the very person she had so desperately wanted to apologize to.

And receiving an apology from him first when she should have been the one apologizing.

And the relief she felt from being able to comfort him as he apologized to her, not knowing what to do.

Because of all this, she realized that the lingering attachment that she thought had already disappeared, but had been deeply asleep in her heart, was now being uprooted and disappearing with this as a catalyst.

Just by the fact that something she couldn’t be certain of when she first set foot on this land had become reality.

She had received an overflowing reward at the end of a life lived mechanically, as if she were living because she couldn’t die.

But this suddenly revealed truth and.

The fulfilled heart that came with knowing that truth led to an unexpected situation that even Lillianshiz herself hadn’t anticipated.

The identity of that which was rapidly approaching even in this slow flow of time was….

#

I feel a somewhat rough touch through the crown of my head.

It was a hand formed with delicate lines, but the sensation was created by calluses embedded from holding a sword and ceaselessly training with it.

Though far from soft, it wasn’t a sensation I could dislike.

A familiar feeling that I couldn’t forget even if I wanted to….

How could I dislike Shiz’s touch?

It was a touch I felt more often after returning than before.

Always looking at me, who had been her support. It was that gentle touch that had soothed my tired body and mind after grueling training, filled with the desire to give rather than receive support.

If there was a difference between the touch I’m receiving now and the usual one.

It’s that the one giving this touch is not the current Shiz, but you from before I returned, giving it to me.

I never thought. That I would receive such an affectionate touch from you.

I couldn’t even fully convey the regret I felt seeing you, who had come to face me even in this state.

The comfort from your touch, with eyes that seemed to say it doesn’t matter anymore, gave me a small reward for a life before my return that had been marked only by guilt and regret.

The tip of my nose becomes numb with overwhelming emotion.

The tears that had been about to stop become even more concentrated.

I wanted to just indulge in the warmth you were conveying, and that feeling grew stronger.

“…”

But I couldn’t do that in a situation where I didn’t know what Desire, who unlike before was strangely motionless as if enslaved by the slow time, might do next.

Barely composing my lips, which were about to melt and go limp from the warmth.

I steeled my heart to express a small gratitude to you, who had given me this warmth, and then finish what needed to be done.

Once decided, it must be done immediately.

First, I need to express my gratitude.

Because that’s the best gift I can give to you, who still hasn’t lost the kind heart to comfort me, who only left painful memories.

Let me reach out and wipe away the tears flowing down your cheeks.

Then perhaps a brighter look will come to your face, which is still tinged with sadness.

All sorts of happy thoughts arose even in the momentary time of reaching out my hand.

“…Huh?”

My right hand passed through Shiz’s face, as if it were hopelessly empty.

As if your face, which should definitely be there given this trajectory, wasn’t there at all.

“…Wh…what.”

While looking at me, who was stammering in shock.

I saw you stopping your tears and slowly forming a smile like a flower bud about to burst.

But I couldn’t return your smile with a smile of my own.

Because from your smile, which mixed the difficult-to-coexist elements of infinite gratitude and regret.

Somehow, I felt a poignancy as if you were bidding me farewell.