Solution?

Solution?

As Delia had said, Rumi’s face had turned black and white, as if she was about to commit suicide.

Looking at Rumi’s face, which I thought might be best described as haggard, I slowly opened my mouth.

“Rumi.”

At my call, Rumi hesitated for a moment.

Then, standing still in her place, she looked at me and started to shed tears drop by drop, just like Luna had done earlier.

‘This is troublesome.’

Although it was a suicide note I had written hoping others would find it.

The timing was too early, and I was just bewildered.

As I stood still, wondering what words I should say or what actions I should take while looking at Rumi sobbing in front of me.

Rumi looked at me and started to approach slowly, beginning to say something.

“De-Deren… you know. Uh…”

I’m not sure if it’s because her throat is choked up from crying, or if she doesn’t know what to say, but.

Rumi began to speak to me in a hesitant, subdued voice.

“Th… that, until now… I was wrong… That’s not what I meant.”

I had no idea what she was trying to say, so I looked at Rumi with a somewhat perplexed expression.

Soon, I felt this wouldn’t do, so I slowly approached Rumi and said.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it. I wrote it in the first place to prepare for any unforeseen situations.”

At those words, Rumi roughly wiped her tears with her palm and said.

“Ah, but still, for an Academy student… and a child of a noble family at that, to write a will in advance doesn’t make any sense…”

At those words, I tried to say something but had to close my mouth.

Certainly, as Rumi said, for someone who only had success ahead… no, who had already succeeded and was guaranteed a rosy future.

It was an undeniable fact that writing a will in preparation for an unexpected death was quite strange.

“Be-besides, Deren is… far from gloomy emotions. He’s an extremely talented and self-centered person, so he wouldn’t have depression or anything… why on earth would he do this.”

Thinking that her concern might be an excuse and she actually wanted to scold me, I smiled bitterly.

Rumi wiped her tears with her sleeve, took a step closer to me, and said.

“I’ve been thinking… if I were Deren. There would only be two cases where I’d write something like this. Either I had a terminal illness, or I was anticipating a situation where I might die and prepared it in advance.”

At this rather sharp guess, I silently looked at Rumi.

Rumi, sniffling, grabbed my hand and started crying profusely as she began to question me.

“Hic… I don’t know which is correct, but… you can’t die, Deren…”

Then, like a widow at a funeral.

She collapsed on the floor, wailing loudly, and then grabbed my ankle and started crying out loud.

“Waaaaaah.”

The situation is quite embarrassing.

I sigh as I notice the employees glancing at me from afar and Luna watching with interest beside me.

Realizing that if this continues, the story of me being like this with Rumi might reach Delia and Sien, I decided to move to a different location.

‘This is driving me crazy.’

I picked up Rumi, who was lying face down and sobbing, and entered a nearby room.

*

“… Sniff.”

Rumi is still crying while lying on the bed, and I’m standing next to her, holding my forehead and sighing.

Strangely, I think of the scene I saw right after being possessed here, as I look up at the ceiling.

‘So, how should I resolve this?’

The first thing that came to mind was to persuade her and make her understand.

The problem was, no matter how much I tried to persuade her, would Rumi really understand and comprehend?

‘When emotions are tilted to one side, nothing you say will be heard.’

At times like this, emotional empathy is better than logical persuasion… Ah, I don’t know.

I messed up my hair, unable to figure out anything beyond this.

Slowly turning my gaze, I spoke to Rumi.

“Let me just be honest. I might die, or I might not.”

“……”

Deciding to speak straightforwardly since it’s already been revealed, I continued slowly.

“…And to be precise, it’s closer to the concept of disappearing rather than dying. In other words, I’m not disappearing due to illness or murder or anything like that.”

At those words, Rumi composed herself and stared at me intently, then asked while sniffling.

“Is it because of the… Heaven God Cult?”

It’s not unrelated.

If I said it was, the conversation would likely become very complicated, so I denied it and eliminated everything Rumi might worry about.

“No. It’s not because of the Heaven God Cult, and it’s not because of you. This is just a personal matter, so you don’t need to worry about it.”

At those words, Rumi seemed unable to grasp the situation and started to whimper again.

Then, crouching down in front of me, she began to say something.

“That, that can’t be. Deren is also the youngest son of the Lercier Family, and if there’s a problem that’s difficult to solve alone, the family would solve it, and above all, Deren is an incredible genius, so he can solve most things by himself, right?”

From Rumi’s perspective, it seems she thinks that except for the Heaven God Cult issue, most problems are ones I can easily solve.

‘Well, in most cases, that’s not wrong.’

However, the problem I’m currently facing is one that would be difficult for anyone other than a god to solve.

At least, it would be right to say that what Rumi is saying now is incorrect.

So, as I was wondering how to explain this, Rumi started crying again, looked at me, and then pulled out the will from her bosom and said.

“Hic… You can’t die. If you die…”

It seems difficult for her to control her emotions.

She keeps repeating the same actions and telling me not to die.

As I watch Rumi like this, thinking that I might have written the will too early, I run my hand through my hair.

Luna, who was dragged along with me, looks at us and says.

[Should Luna give you a solution?]

At the mention of a solution, I glanced at Luna and nodded.

To be honest, I don’t think anything she says will be of much help, but still, grasping at straws, I tell her to go ahead and speak.

Luna then spoke somewhat triumphantly.

[But I won’t tell the master about this! Since he bullied Luna earlier, I don’t want to tell him!]

“……”

I was clicking my tongue, thinking that I should probably ban snacks.

Luna approaches Rumi and starts whispering something.

“……”

As Rumi listens to Luna’s story, she seems to have heard something shocking.

She gradually stops crying and starts nodding blankly.

‘What on earth did she hear to react like that?’

As I watch this, thinking it’s somewhat incomprehensible.

Rumi speaks to Luna with a sad yet compromising expression.

“I think… you’re right.”

[Yes! If you do as Luna says, it might get better!]

Wondering what they could have possibly discussed to say such things, I signaled Rumi to tell me.

But Rumi shook her head, refusing to talk about it.

‘Well, it’s fine. At least she stopped crying.’

Although I’m curious, I think that if the issue is resolved, that’s good enough, so I said to Rumi.

“Then let’s continue this conversation later. It seems you’re not ready yet.”

“… Yes.”

I looked at Rumi, who was nodding silently.

Then slowly turned my gaze and left the room.

* * * * *

Rumi, to recall the conversation she had earlier with the black cat… no, the cat called Luna.

She reminisced about what had happened earlier.

[Luna will give you advice!]

At first, it was a confident voice offering advice.

To be honest, since it was a cat, I didn’t even expect it to be able to solve the problem.

‘I just want to hear something right now…’

Knowing it was a foolish thing to do, I nodded and decided to listen to the cat, lending my ear.

The cat gave me some shockingly unexpected advice.

[They say the most important thing for humans is to leave offspring! So if you get pregnant with Deren’s child… Even if Deren disappears, you can at least leave Deren’s seed behind. Wouldn’t that be okay!?]

Seed…?

For a moment, my brain froze, and I blinked blankly while staring at Luna.

But Luna, seeing my reaction, continued with a proud expression.

[And who knows! If Deren has a child too, he might struggle harder not to die! The boss cat said that after getting pregnant, husbands become more devoted to their families!]

“……”

[What do you think? Does Luna sound right?]

With sparkling eyes looking at me, I honestly thought it wasn’t right, but I had no choice but to agree.

Luna nodded with satisfaction and whispered again.

[Then… give me one more snack later!]

It seems the snack was the goal all along.

At Luna’s words, I awkwardly smiled and nodded, and Luna returned to Deren’s side, humming a tune.