Ch.75Chapter 75. Everything According to Plan.

After finishing our meal, we headed to the theater where we could use the tickets the vampire had given us.

The imposing building looked like a place where ordinary commoners or Foreign Laborers wouldn’t even be allowed to set foot.

Seeing such a grand sight, I worried we might be turned away for not being nobles, but when the doorkeeper received our tickets, his face showed deep reverence.

“I beg your pardon. I understand you were invited by this theater’s greatest patron. Please come right in.”

…I couldn’t believe that vampire was the greatest patron.

No, he probably has several false identities prepared for social activities. That’s why he hasn’t been caught despite being one of the most wanted criminals. As I was thinking this, the staff member guiding us to our seats gave Merilyn and me a warm smile.

“I see you two are a couple. I’ll show you to our special couple’s seating.”

“What? No, um…”

“Yes, we’ll gladly accept.”

“Merilyn?!”

“Hehe, what’s the problem? Everyone sees us in a positive light.”

Saying that, Merilyn pulled my hand and led me forward to our seats.

Unable to shake off her hand, I reluctantly sat down in the embarrassing seat the staff had guided us to.

It was clearly designed to announce “We’re a couple!”

“Do you dislike it?”

Merilyn asked, turning to look at me as I felt uncomfortable about the seating.

After struggling with how to answer, I finally settled into my seat with a deep sigh.

“I’m only going along with this just this once.”

Right, I decided to dedicate tonight to Merilyn.

As we sat side by side waiting for the theater lights to dim, Merilyn’s voice faintly reached me through the darkness.

“I wish you would continue to go along with me in the future.”

A voice with emotions barely revealed.

I tried to pretend I hadn’t heard it, but I couldn’t ignore the warmth of her hand as it covered mine.

I simply held her hand quietly, focusing on enjoying our time together.

****

-Murmuring crowds.

After the play ended, we came out onto the street.

As passersby around us shared their impressions or departed in carriages, Merilyn turned to me with expectation.

“How was it for you, Hyoseong? Did you enjoy the play?”

“Ahaha, well… I’m not really someone who has much connection with such things…”

Usually in situations like this, people share their impressions with companions, but perhaps because I’m more accustomed to visual media like TV and movies, I found the play didn’t quite capture my interest.

When watching TV, they zoom in on actors’ faces and add dynamic effects, but sitting in a theater, all you can understand from the stage are exaggerated movements and booming dialogue.

With my interest waning from the start, immersion became difficult, and at some point I lost interest and focused only on being mindful of those around me…

In the end, I only remember staring at Merilyn’s face.

“I’m sorry. We watched it together, but unlike you, I couldn’t focus seriously.”

Yes, unlike me, she watched the play very seriously.

Given her profession as a bard who writes stories, she probably finds others’ stories fascinating and approaches them with sensitivity.

I felt dejected about not being able to share her appreciation, but she didn’t mind my apology and simply took my hand.

“It’s okay. Even if you don’t understand… just being together like this is enough.”

Her gentle whisper was accompanied by our fingers intertwining.

Though such shyness should make my body feel warm, for some reason, I felt anxiety suddenly washing over me.

As time passed after our planned dinner…

I felt the time I could spend with her growing shorter.

“Is this…”

It’s okay. Even after today, we’ll have plenty of time together in the future.

The reason I couldn’t say those words aloud was because I already foresaw how this meeting would end.

“Is this enough?”

I worried my anxiety might be transmitted to her, but she only gripped my hand more firmly.

With a gaze that had lost its usual composure and seemed almost precarious…

“…Yes. For now, this is enough.”

Though my heart wavered at that look, I silently held her hand, wanting to accompany her.

Even if a disappointing result awaited, just a little longer.

If this was a dream destined to break someday, I wanted to create at least a few more good memories.

“Is there anywhere you’d like to go?”

“Anywhere is fine as long as I’m with you, Hyoseong.”

To fulfill her expectations, I tried to enjoy wherever my feet took us together, according to her wishes.

We experienced small performances, incidents, and structures where crowds gathered…

Sometimes we entered shops to look around, and when something caught my eye, I bought it and put it on her.

“Hyoseong, how do I look? Does it suit me?”

“You’re beautiful. Truly.”

That was the honest truth without any lies.

From our first meeting until now, that thought hasn’t changed.

“Is it okay to eat so much?”

“Hehe, it’s fine. Traveling consumes a lot of energy. Would you like a bite too, Hyoseong?”

“Hmm, then I’ll just have one bite.”

“Here you go. Aah~”

I like how she approaches me without distance.

Not just anyone, but only me.

I feel that she considers me special, and she has become someone special to me as well.

“Hehe.”

Her gentle smile too.

The faint laughter that escapes when her lips part, and her whispers directed at me.

“Ahaha~”

At some point, all of those things changed emotionally, and when that atmosphere reached me, I burst into laughter along with her.

I was happy to be the one who drew out her genuine laughter, something I hadn’t seen when we first met.

As if meeting me had somehow completed her as a person…

Her smile, now clearer than when we first met, made me wish it would continue forever.

“…Before returning to you, I wandered the world after leaving my lord’s side.”

But cruelly, despite those feelings, the time to end our evening was approaching.

The moon had risen, and the lights illuminating the night streets were dimming one by one.

As we navigated through alleys barely lit by faint lights, she stood behind me on our way home and began to speak in whispers.

“It’s a chaotic world. Except for the Empire, countries that could be called nations have almost perished, with only small tribes or those maintaining hollow traditions barely surviving.”

“…Merilyn.”

“I’ve seen even the Beastmen who threaten humanity get entangled with the Undead. Even those whom humans consider plagues are merely survivors in this chaotic world.”

“…”

“…I headed beyond the continent just in case, but it was already in a state beyond human control. As if to isolate us on this land, they wouldn’t even allow us to leave.”

What followed was the truth of this world that I had only heard from others.

As she conveyed her impressions from traveling on foot and seeing with her own eyes, I once again realized how precarious this world is.

This daily life could collapse at any moment.

In the blink of an eye, everything could disappear—we must continue living with such anxiety…

“In that chaotic world, one thing…”

As I gradually realized this, I felt her weight leaning against my back.

She placed her hands on my body as if to embrace me, but then lowered them and simply rested her head.

“There was one special person I never forgot for a single moment.”

With such a modest action, she stopped expressing her feelings directly and began to whisper while standing behind me.

“You know that my feelings remained constant during our time apart, don’t you?”

I know.

How she feels about me.

“I know it’s an unreasonable request.”

Betraying the one she had sworn loyalty to, even risking her life.

The fact that after traveling this chaotic world, she chose to return to my side carries enormous significance.

“But since I’ve come this far, I think I need to speak, regardless of the outcome.”

“…”

In the moment of silence.

Taking advantage of that gap, I slowly turned my head to look behind me in the darkness.

Unlike me, who had refused to face my true feelings until now and finally found the courage, she had been looking only at me from the beginning, waiting for an opportunity to convey her feelings.

“Hyoseong.”

Merilyn Sutherland.

Someone who might have represented a possibility that preceded the connections I’ve made now, who could have taken their place.

“Would you please become my partner?”

Upon hearing that precarious confession, I clenched my lowered hand tightly and mulled over the words I had kept inside.

The time had come.

Yet my mouth wouldn’t move easily, probably because my resolve was insufficient.

Just a little more…

I felt regret that if we had been given just a little more time on the day we parted, the future might have been different.

“I’m sorry, I…”

But in the end, it was only a matter of sooner or later.

I had to give her the answer I had decided on.

Because I truly cared for her, I wanted to forget her as written in the letter.

“I cannot be with you, Merilyn.”

Replacing her with a new connection during that gap would be an insult to the feelings I had for her.

****

‘I cannot be with you, Merilyn.’

As those words leaked from the crystal ball, born from such sentiments…

Irie, who had repeatedly gone over the future she had foreseen, bit her lip as she continued to reflect on the content.

‘…Cannot be together.’

‘I’m sorry. I… already have someone I need to be with.’

The beginning, the choice to be together, and the future as well.

She knows better than anyone that his pledge is not taken lightly, having proven his heart to her many times in his embrace.

She can be confident in her belief that they will be together forever, knowing what future he is heading toward.

“…That’s right. You chose me.”

“Because you chose me, I should trust you too, Hyoseong.”

While the future can change, even that changed future is based on the present.

So Irie has repeatedly reminded herself of one truth.

No matter what happens to the future, it was she who was connected to him in the past, and it is she whom he chooses now.

‘Well, she came back too late.’

The key is how the other person accepts this reality.

At least in the future she foresaw, there was no sign of the other person trying to force him.

She had already left his side prepared to die, and too much time had passed for her to return.

She must have resolved to withdraw quietly if he rejected her.

‘I can’t help it. I don’t want to trouble Hyoseong either, so I’ll just…’

Yes, according to the predicted future, she would surely give up here.

-Static noise.

But the opponent is the second-in-command of the Demon Lord’s army.

Given her track record of changing the future Irie had prophesied multiple times, it would be narrow-minded to assume things would proceed as expected when dealing with someone who could be the starting point of such changes.

“It went as expected, so I should start preparing.”

So what’s needed now is a plan.

A meticulous and perfect plan to stop someone who possesses the possibility to change the future in ways even they cannot predict.

“…Irie, stay alert from now on.”

Irie, who had repeatedly reminded herself of this until this moment…

Waited at the place where she expected the opponent to arrive, strengthening her resolve.

“Changing the future against a Transcendent is no easy task.”

Everything is for love and mission.

Keeping in mind that it’s all to find the best future where those two can coexist.