Ch.355355. Two Years of Time (3)

At first, I was secretly delighted to see the silver hair that looked just like mine.

Having essentially heard that she wanted to see me even in her dreams, I felt I needed to somehow cool my flushed cheeks.

I struggled to suppress the corners of my mouth that kept trying to curl up into a smile, not knowing what to do with myself.

But then.

“Reinesia, was it?”

How did he know that name? I had never told him. I had never revealed anything—not my mother’s name, let alone my father’s identity.

Yet his tone suggested he knew with certainty.

Though he was thorough enough that he could have discovered my name… there was no way he could have known about my mother’s appearance, which only a select few knew. Not unless he had seen the portrait in the Lantana family’s main residence in the Artena Empire.

After he mentioned the purple hair, violet eyes, and several other visible characteristics, any thought that he might be confusing her with someone else completely vanished.

In other words, it was true that he had met my mother in his dream.

“I know it might sound strange that someone I don’t know appeared in my dream. But your mother said she entered my dream.”

“Into your… dream?”

“A person entering someone’s dream—logically, it makes no sense. You might think I was under some hallucination magic, or caught in an illusion spell that artificially created an image before my eyes. But I have definitive proof.”

Junon firmly grasped Renias’s hand.

“She knew about my regression.”

“…!”

Regression. Only Renias, the Tembris members, and Junon himself knew about that.

Such evidence was too substantial to dismiss as mere conjecture.

“How did my mother know about that…”

“When your mother first saw me, she immediately described me as the constellation of Sagittarius.”

“Constel…lation?”

“The master of a star sign that people worship. In other words, a god. When I first heard it, I had the exact same expression you have now.”

But as he listened to the story, Junon said he gradually realized it wasn’t a lie. She knew truths that only he could know, which would be impossible unless she were divine, and the sudden appearance of a stranger in his dream was equally inexplicable.

And when she mentioned the Formation of the Clock Hands, he said he had no choice but to believe.

‘I feel the same…’

Renias shared his sentiment.

It’s clearly an absurd story. Difficult to believe, yet compelling evidence keeps emerging. Besides, what reason would Junon have to lie? It all feels like it can only be true.

With that, the conversation naturally shifts direction.

“What did my mother… say to you?”

What words did her mother, now the constellation of Sagittarius, speak when she visited his dream, and for what purpose did she come? Her interest couldn’t help but turn in that direction.

Junon responds as if he’s been waiting for this question.

“Rather than that, I think I should deliver the message she wanted me to give to you, Renias.”

***

Normally, this might have been quite a shock.

The word “Alcaide” was a keyword that triggered nightmares for her. It was the name of a star that was an unforgettable link to her parents.

But now, she’s alright.

“Ahaha, my mother? Are you sure you’re not lying?”

“I’m telling you it’s true. Do you know how flustered I was when she kept asking me how I met you?”

“Now that I hear it, it does sound real. That’s exactly what my mother would do.”

“Want me to tell you what her expression was like? The way she looked curious was almost identical to your expression, Renias. Her eyes were sparkling so brightly—”

Because he was sitting on the bench beside her, holding her hand tightly. Because he was calmly explaining, starting with her mother’s words rather than jumping straight to her father’s story, which was directly connected to Lord Alcaide.

That’s why she didn’t avert her gaze with trembling eyes or cover her ears in fear of the truth she had tried so hard to bury in her memories. Instead, the more she heard, the brighter her smile became.

“It’s amazing. To think that what you saw when you were asleep was my mother.”

Renias was looking at the stars with a beaming smile.

Her gaze was directed toward where the bright constellations were visible—specifically, toward Sagittarius, which she had just learned her mother now ruled.

Watching her, Junon thought that perhaps now would be alright.

However, Renias took the initiative.

“…I haven’t been deliberately hiding this from you, but there’s something I’ve never told you. Because it’s a story I didn’t want to remember, one that’s too painful to recall…”

Her expression isn’t particularly good. Junon told her that if it was too difficult to talk about, she didn’t have to force herself.

“Mmm. No, it’s okay. I was planning to ask you about it someday… and even today, I wanted to ask.”

Renias, despite her anxious eyes, candidly shared her feelings.

She spoke of the seven stars that symbolized the Artena Empire and a myth not widely known to the public. She revealed that this myth was not just a story but actual history, something that had really happened.

She told the story of how Lord Alcaide awakened as a divine apostle, sacrificing his lifespan to save the empire from a crisis that threatened all of humanity, and how, despite miraculously awakening thanks to a holy relic imbued with divine power, he only lived for two more years.

And she revealed that she was the younger sister of the siblings those two people had left behind.

With this, what she wanted to say was summed up in one statement.

“Our father, who was summoned as a Calix, was an Alcaide just like you. And… an Alcaide is someone summoned as a divine apostle to save this world. So… I want to ask you something.”

Alcaide. Calix. Divine apostle.

As she directly mentioned these specific terms, just as her final question was about to come, she bit her lip tightly.

She seemed unable to speak.

He knew exactly what question was coming. So he waited.

Until Renias opened her firmly closed lips herself.

“How much longer… can you live?”

Her voice was noticeably more melancholic than before. Her lips, which she had opened with difficulty, trembled, and there was a slight moisture in her eyes.

Because she could roughly guess what answer would come. Because she didn’t want to face that cruel truth if possible. Because she wanted to deny that such a thing could happen.

Because she didn’t want to hear that the person she loved would lose his lifespan due to the risk of using divine power, just like her father, and wouldn’t live long.

It must have been a question she never wanted to ask.

After counting to three in his mind, Junon answered with action.

“Lord Alcaide experienced a symptom of magical loss. More precisely, as he was filled with divine power, all his strength as a human gradually disappeared. But that’s not the case for me.”

Whoosh!

As if to demonstrate that his body was still intact, a wave of magical energy wrapped around his hand and transmitted to her. Feeling that clean, refreshing sensation, Renias’s eyes widened.

“A human’s mana becomes increasingly faint as they approach death. But how do I feel to you? Do I seem that weakened?”

He was saying he was fine.

But how could she believe that at face value? Junon, who was known for telling lies or slightly twisting his words to avoid things, claiming he was fine—she couldn’t believe it.

Everything matched the myth of Alcaide. Her father’s identical path of awakening as a divine apostle to save the world while sacrificing his lifespan had unfolded before her eyes. How could she possibly believe otherwise?

“You’re lying.”

He must be trying to get away with a pretty lie. Even that magical display must be just a means to pretend he’s fine on the surface.

Renias shook her head, saying it couldn’t be true.

“Just be honest with me. I’m… somewhat prepared for it. Don’t lie to me with this false bravado.”

Tears were already flowing. The lukewarm liquid that flowed from her eyes ran down her cheeks, wetting her skin.

“I’ll be okay. I just need to create lots of happy memories with you from now on, right? No matter how painful and difficult it will be to live in this world alone without you… I won’t do anything that would worry you.”

That’s how Renias declared she would be fine, promising she would never commit impulsive suicide, which she knew Junon would hate the most.

Then, fingers calloused from hard work reached out to wipe her tear-dampened cheeks. And gently lifting her bowed head, their eyes met.

Between eyes already deeply immersed in sadness, Junon softly pressed his lips.

“It’s not a lie. In my dream, I didn’t just meet your mother.”

“What…?”

“Jack Hannon Alcaide. Known as Lord Alcaide in the empire, but to me, he’s the one who restored my bound limbs to normal and allowed me to meet you when I once tried to jump from a rooftop.”

Yes. If the constellation of Sagittarius who entered his dream and conversed with him was her mother, if it was Reinesia who permitted the Formation of the Clock Hands and allowed his regression.

“The one who extended my life that should have been cut short long ago, who called me to the Kempton continent, and who helped me protect you, Renias, even by appointing me as a divine apostle, was the constellation of Ursa Major. In other words, your father.”

The man who connected two people who had lived difficult, lonely lives.

That person was Lord Alcaide.

“I met your father in my dream too. That’s why I’m certain.”

***

Once again, it was a difficult story to believe.

After thinking about it from various angles, it made sense that he had met her mother, who had become the constellation of Sagittarius, in his dream. The fact that he couldn’t have seen her mother’s portrait in the Lantana ducal family’s main residence, and that he knew about her regression through the Formation of the Clock Hands, added weight to the credibility of his claim.

But what about her father’s story?

Even if he had heard it from someone else, that wouldn’t be enough. It meant he couldn’t have discovered other details that only she, as his daughter, would know. While understanding that he might be called Lord Alcaide, he shouldn’t have been able to clearly pronounce another name that was only recorded in a music box, or describe his exact appearance with black hair and black eyes.

He shouldn’t have been able to, and yet.

“—. I heard that was his name.”

How on earth?

“That’s the face you’re making?”

Seeing Renias maintain that expression for quite some time, Junon wiped away the remaining tear marks and continued.

“I thought I was dead after using up all my power. The surroundings were all night sky, and there was only a white path laid out before me as if telling me to walk. I thought it was the path to the afterlife, so I walked, and guess what appeared? The same place where I saw your mother in my dream. Your mother was actually there too.”

And not long after, he said, he met him.

Her father.

“When I realized I had used up all my strength and died, I was immersed in sadness, knowing I would never see you again. At that moment, I met Goden, who said he would arrange for me to meet you even if only in dreams, and I thought I would do anything for that. But after talking with Goden and calming down a bit, do you know what the two of them started arguing about?”

Whether the initial meeting or the process was more important in a romantic relationship.

And then, out of nowhere, the couple started arguing in front of him.

Thanks to this, Renias’s complicated thoughts were instantly sorted out. Clear evidence had emerged that made it impossible not to believe Junon’s words.

“Kids, the first meeting is super important, right?!”

“No, honey. Even if the meeting is important, the process is what matters.”

“What are you saying, dear!”

“What are YOU saying, honey?”

In the music box, her parents had been divided on whether the focus of romance was the meeting or the process. That was a squabble that only the Lantana family twins, who could access the music box, could hear.

Yet Junon recited those contents directly.

As if he had seen the scene with his own eyes.

‘So it’s… true.’

It wasn’t a lie that he had seen her father in his dream.

Then were the other things he said merely well-intentioned lies?

As she answered that question for herself, dew began to form again in her eyes, which had been calm for a while.

A strange sense of relief welled up at the realization that he truly hadn’t spoken any falsehoods, and soon that relief flowing through her body trickled from her eyes. Sniffling, Renias asked to tie a definitive knot.

“So you… won’t die? You won’t disappear from my side like my mom and dad?”

As Renias nestled into his arms with relief, Junon embraced her with both arms and patted her soothingly.

“Yes. I’ll live with you for the rest of my life. I won’t die until we’re both covered in wrinkles.”

“Hic, huu…!”

At that, Renias, who had been sniffling a little, broke into sobs. The tears she had been holding back began to flow like a faucet that had been tightly closed, and her crying spread softly as her accumulated worries transformed into relief.