Ch.308Chapter 308: Too Suddenly (2)

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After parting ways due to unavoidable circumstances that neither of them wanted,

A miraculous reunion occurred between Kal and Liliansis, who had believed they would never meet again after one’s death.

It could only be called a miracle. Considering what these two people went through to reach this moment, there’s no other way to describe it.

One person returned to their 18th birthday through a miracle, carrying all the memories of a wretched life, and began living anew.

The other, in a world closing toward tranquility after everything had ended, waited for their days to fade away while bearing incomparable sorrow and guilt.

Eventually succumbing to a demon god who read and tempted their heart, crossing over to this world where everything was the same yet different due to small choices—the more one considers this sequence of events,

How could this reunion, where they recognized each other’s true identities, be called anything but a miracle?

Having finally met the person they so desperately wanted to see, they should have been able to clear up misunderstandings and regrets between them,

Sharing their tender feelings and spending even a brief moment of happiness together.

But the miracle that allowed them to meet seemed not to have considered what would happen after they recognized each other.

Even in this flow of time that seemed almost frozen due to their accelerated consciousness, a heartbreaking moment approached swiftly without warning.

Liliansis’s physical form was gradually becoming blurry.

Her very presence was slowly fading away.

Very slowly, that is.

In reality, thanks to the slowly flowing time, what would normally end in the blink of an eye was progressing extremely slowly.

The cause of this situation lay in the disappearance of the lingering attachment that had accumulated in Liliansis’s heart—the attachment that had led her to set foot on this land in the first place.

For her, who had forcibly sustained her life with the sole determination to seek forgiveness from Kal,

How could any lingering attachment remain when she saw him crying, saying he had never hated her enough to need to forgive her?

Rather, beyond attachment, the tenderness that had never been fulfilled in her heart since the moment he turned to ashes was now completely fulfilled at once.

Now that the lingering attachment sustaining her physical form in this land where she shouldn’t exist had completely disappeared,

Liliansis had no choice but to return.

Even though she didn’t want this outcome.

But regardless of whether she wanted this result or not, Liliansis wasn’t so indiscriminate.

The Kal before her already had another version of herself who loved him enough,

And if she insisted on staying by his side too, it was obvious how troubled he would be.

Not wanting this kind man to be troubled or pained because of her anymore, Liliansis calmly accepted the final moment she would face in this land.

With a bright smile bidding him farewell.

It was a smile infused with the stubbornness of not wanting to part with him wearing an awkward expression that was neither smiling nor crying, as had happened before.

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Kal Ranos sensed something was wrong when his hand, extended to comfort Liliansis as he wiped away her tears of apology, passed right through her.

Despite Liliansis’s body clearly being physically present, Kal not only failed to feel the sensation of his fingertips brushing against her cheek,

But as he watched his right hand pass emptily through her face, the unidentifiable anxiety growing in his eyes

Intensified when he saw Liliansis compose her contorted, tearful expression and smile brightly.

It might seem strange to feel anxiety at seeing the bright smile of someone so precious,

But the moment he saw her smile, somewhat forced despite its brightness, Kal instinctively knew this smile wasn’t merely meant to express affection.

The problem was that even Kal himself couldn’t be certain what Sizz was hiding behind the smile she was showing him.

“Kal…”

As if trying to eliminate even the uncertainty Kal harbored, Liliansis called his name in a soft voice without removing her deep smile.

Though it was merely a brief utterance of Kal’s name,

Unlike the dry and indifferent tone with which she had addressed him as Imperfectio, which had revealed a subtle familiarity,

Her current soft voice contained a brightness and radiance that seemed difficult to associate with her somewhat gloomy present appearance.

It was a radiance no less brilliant than her current smile, yet it too seemed merely a disguise attempting to conceal something painful until the very last moment.

While others might be captivated by the radiance in her voice, Kal, hearing Sizz’s voice right in front of him, was certain of this.

And as if to confirm that Kal’s thoughts were not wrong,

“It seems…”

Liliansis began with these words, creating a pause that felt ominous.

I knew it…

Detecting the unsettling atmosphere, Kal reached out to prevent her from speaking further.

But since his right hand had already passed through her cheek when he tried to caress it,

It was impossible for him to cover Liliansis’s mouth.

“It’s time for us to part…”

His ears heard Liliansis’s voice, still clear despite everything else becoming blurry, bidding him farewell.

Why was Sizz saying goodbye to him when they had just reunited and hadn’t even properly resolved their feelings of regret?

Various doubts and sorrows began to erupt like a volcano in Kal’s heart, threatening to bring him to his knees.

But sensing that giving in now would engrave an indelible regret in his heart, Kal moved to stop Sizz who was bidding him farewell.

“No…”

From Kal’s mouth, which had always maintained a proud and straight voice even in difficult situations, fell two syllables embodying sorrow that seemed about to burst forth.

He moved to close the already small distance between them, which had been maintained as they wiped each other’s tears.

“No…”

Before his movement could finish, the same word he had just uttered came from Kal’s mouth as he took in the sight before his eyes.

Of course, while the words were identical, the meaning contained within them differed somewhat between the first and now.

If the first “no” expressed his desperate will to stop Sizz from saying goodbye,

The current “no” expressed the frustration he felt watching Liliansis transform into a state he could do nothing about, despite his desperate attempt to hold onto her.

What exactly had he witnessed to express such deep frustration?

Though difficult to describe in words,

With maximum effort, the scene could be described as follows:

She was becoming blurry.

The physical form of Liliansis, who had bid Kal farewell with a bright smile.

Though still physically present before Kal,

That presence was becoming increasingly blurry, as if it would soon disappear without a trace.

Even Kal, who had initially tried to persuade her with words when he heard her farewell, immediately realized this was beyond his control.

“No…”

As Kal repeated the same word for the third time, only sorrow was etched on his face.

The precious person who had wished for his happiness until the moment they turned to ashes,

Not only had he met her in a fallen state no different from his pre-regression self, clinging to a hopeless hope,

But despite all of this being his fault, she was repeatedly apologizing to him.

He should be the one saying it wasn’t her fault but his, asking for her forgiveness.

How could he not be sad when the opportunity they had gained after wandering such a long and winding path was slipping away so fleetingly?

Finally, Kal’s legs, unable to support his body in the face of this unavoidable reality, sank to the obsidian floor.

“I’m sorry… I’m truly sorry.”

From Kal’s mouth, wanting to convey words left unsaid, came only endless apologies.

Drip- Drip-

Tears that had seemingly just stopped began to flow again with renewed force, wetting the obsidian floor.

Though it was merely an act of repeating apologies without specifically stating what he was sorry for,

It was still alright. The two people here already had the capacity to fully convey the feelings accumulated in their hearts to each other with just these brief, seemingly fleeting words.

Not only Kal, who repeated his apologies while grieving,

But also Liliansis, whose presence was fading faster than the blink of an eye, understood well what he was trying to convey just by looking at him.

Because their shared mental state was activated at a pace incomparably slower than the normal flow of time,

Liliansis, whose will to exist in this world remained full despite her fading presence, turned to Kal who was showing incomparable sorrow at her farewell.

“Thank you.”

For the first time since recognizing each other’s existence in this place, she expressed gratitude to him.

It was the best choice of words she could offer for this precious person who had never forgotten her for a moment.

And as if not intending to express gratitude with words alone,

She slowly extended her blurry body and arms toward Kal, embracing him.

Due to her already blurred existence, even though she embraced him, she couldn’t feel the warmth transmitted from Kal’s body, and the same was true in reverse.

But it was an embrace born from a purely altruistic heart, thinking that at least this way, Kal might be able to feel the warmth emanating from her heart.

As Kal, who had been crying, raised his head as if entranced by Liliansis’s embrace,

“I was truly happy to have met you, even if just for a moment.”

Her lips delivered a farewell speech to mark the final moment.

Hearing this, Kal’s expression, which had been full of denial of this unbelievable reality, began to slowly break down.

The still flowing tears, the bloodshot eyes from those tears, the mouth that seemed about to burst with something condensed inside—

The moment she saw his expression filled with every expressible sorrow,

Liliansis felt something like a new attachment sprouting and growing within her heart, as if facing an attachment she had already shed.

Compared to herself, who could depart having received overflowing happiness just from being forgiven by Kal and knowing he still cherished her,

The new regret accumulating in her heart was the remorse that he still seemed not to have found true happiness.

If she had known even a little sooner, she could have stayed and made him a little happier before departing.

Unfortunately, Liliansis had no time left.

That’s why she couldn’t respond to Kal’s pitiful attempts to grasp her intangible body, trying to delay her departure even slightly.

It was regrettable, but even if it wasn’t her, the other self living in this original timeline…

She had faith that this other self would surely make him happy when he was grieving over her departure.

‘Please…’

In her fading physical existence, Liliansis’s inner thoughts were not of regret but of a prayer.

‘May Kal truly live happily…’

Liliansis might not know this, but

Just like Kal, who wished for her happiness while watching the wish stone miraculously shine as his body turned to ashes,

Liliansis too was wishing for the happiness of Kal, whom she was leaving behind.

As they say, people who love each other grow similar,

These two people had both made wishes not for themselves but for the person precious to them.

“Sizz!!”

As she lowered her head slightly in response to Kal’s desperate call, matching the completion of her wish,

Liliansis recognized that her physical presence, which had at least maintained a clear form until now, had completely blurred.

As if expressing that the power sustaining her in this world had been exhausted the moment she made her wish.

Her consciousness was fading along with it.

Everything indicated the regrettable situation that there was no time left for her.

But Liliansis didn’t try to forcibly hold onto her fading consciousness.

Even though the threat of Desire, completely immobilized beyond, still remained,

Her intuition had already detected a light of hope approaching not far from here.

“Live… well…”

That’s why the final words she left for Kal in her diminishing strength were not of regret but an expression of incomparable gratitude.

Shedding the shell that had defined herself as Imperfectio—meaning “imperfection” in ancient language—from the moment she set foot on this land,

This was the most fitting farewell speech for her, who had reclaimed her original name, Liliansis Proxian.

As Liliansis’s existence completely vanished from this land with her farewell speech,

The last thing her eyes captured was quite a remarkable sight.

As if responding to the wish she had made,

Something red was glimmering from Kal’s nape.

Though there was no time to express appreciation,

To her, it looked both wondrous and incredibly beautiful.

It was a natural sentiment, as the light seemed to be responding to her wish for Kal’s happiness.

Yet, Liliansis still doesn’t know.

What new miracle that light will bring to her.

That it will be a miracle that will also come to the other Liliansis, who cherishes Kal no less than, or in some sense even more than, herself.

Of course, not right now,

But it won’t be a miracle of the distant future either.

Why? Because a moment requiring a miracle has just occurred.