episode_0078

Ras carefully chose the words for the first paragraph of the secret he was about to reveal, tracing back through his memories and emotions.

Rosalie watched Ras with an air of affection and comfort, waiting patiently.

On that May night, as a wisp of wind gently settled on the rooftop before lifting itself like a butterfly, Ras’s story began.

“Ras Etgard is a person who returned from the future. From the end of a ruined world, from the Apocalypse.”

Rosalie’s eyes widened slightly, startled by the unbelievable words, but she asked no questions nor did she deny anything.

Instead, she reached out a soft, white hand and gently took Ras’s.

Warmth and trust flowed from Rosalie’s fingertips into Ras’s, and as if gaining courage, Ras began to speak again.

“Before I came back to the past, that is… the world ten years from now was destroyed. By a being whose name and identity are unknown… a being I call ‘the Apocalypse’…”

The story of ‘the Apocalypse’ and recalling those memories remained a great trauma for Ras.

As if human struggles and efforts were meaningless, it defeated Ras with indifferent and overwhelming power.

And before his regression, Semere, the one he loved most and his own master, met her death at the hands of the Apocalypse before Ras did.

In the end, Ras lost everything he cherished and loved in his life, sending them off before him, and ultimately, he himself died.

Ras was speaking with a slight tremor, but he seemed to gain strength from Rosalie’s silent support and continued his story.

“Everything was devoured by it. I was the one who remained until the very end, confronting it. I thought I had died… and then I found myself back on April 7, 998.”

“You went through something terrible. But, if I think about it differently, that’s a bit amazing. The fact that Ras was the last human. You must have been really strong even back then, before you returned… Ah… by any chance, did I die then too?”

Was the occasional wistfulness and regret Ras showed because he couldn’t protect Rosalie herself from the inexplicable entity known as ‘the Apocalypse’?

But Ras shook his head and answered her.

“Rosalie, you passed away earlier than that, due to something else. Before my regression, you lost your life fighting Azulda.”

“Azulda? That’s really unexpected…? Wait, I’m so sorry for interrupting, but this is important, so I have to ask! Were we lovers back then too?? Right?”

Something extremely important suddenly occurred to Rosalie, and she hastily asked her crucial question.

In her clever mind, stories of her and Ras were already swirling with the question.

Herself as Ras’s lover, tragically losing her life in the war against Azulda, hand in hand with him, the two of them parting tearfully and wistfully.

And Ras, becoming a powerful avenger, taking revenge for Rosalie, then sitting alone in front of her tombstone, quietly lamenting…

‘Ugh…! Just thinking about it makes me so sad… It’s sad, but… somehow it feels fated and romantic…! And even after coming back, you still came looking for me, didn’t you? You’re totally my destiny…!’

However, her question, filled with anticipation, immediately shattered with Ras’s answer…!

“Uh… well… we weren’t lovers…. Ah…! Rosalie?… Your eyes are suddenly welling up with tears…”

“Somehow Rosalie felt sad… I thought we were always meant to be lovers…”

Ras comforted Rosalie, who looked dejected and whose eyes were slightly brimming with tears, and then got to the main point.

A very short, quick, and concise summary.

Starting from Lizley’s infidelity, the various schemes that unfolded to destroy Ras himself.

The events where he and his family were completely ruined and utterly violated, were briefly recounted by Ras.

“So Lizley cheated on you. And the plan to feed you ‘Succubus’s Tear’ got twisted because of Irha… Emma falsely accused you of rape, and Leon destroyed your family… Haah… Just hearing a summary makes me dizzy.”

“Well… life after being expelled from Leone is too long to explain… Anyway, I settled all the grudges. Lizley, Emma, and Leon, they all died by my hand. And you…”

If he were to tell the stories of others besides Rosalie, the narrative would become too long and branch out too much.

When her story came up again, Rosalie’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Ras.

“You were one of my greatest benefactors. You saved me when I was dying after taking that strange hybrid drug Irha made. If it weren’t for you, I would have died back then. So… in a way, you gave me life, and that’s why I was able to come back here and meet you.”

“Hehe…. So, I was quite a special person to Ras, wasn’t I? Can I brag about that a little?”

“Hehe, of course. But what am I saying…”

As Ras gently stroked her hair, as if she was so adorable he could die, Rosalie reveled in his touch and felt a little smug.

The fact that they weren’t lovers was a bit disappointing, but at the same time, she was quite pleased that she had desperately saved Ras’s life.

‘Hehe..! In a way, I was completely the main one back then too. A lover? A subordinate? No way..! Not for a benefactor..! Especially a lifesaver, the greatest kind of benefactor!’

Leaving the very smug Rosalie, Ras’s story continued.

“From here on, it’s not my direct story, so my knowledge is a bit fragmented, and there’s some inference involved. This is about your later actions and your end.”

“Right. I’m actually curious. The fact that I lost my life in the war against Azulda is quite surprising to me, actually. I wouldn’t have intended to leave Leone and return to the battlefield…”

Ras also didn’t know why Rosalie had participated in the war again, especially with the strange and jarring title of ‘Saintess’.

However, considering her nature that he had observed, the probability of her voluntarily leaving Leone and going to the battlefield was slim to none.

“Before I regressed, you… roughly five years from now, you will be known to the public as the ‘Saintess’.”

Rosalie’s face flushed deep red. It seemed she couldn’t stand the title of ‘Saintess’.

“Saintess…! Good heavens, what is that!! Those people are weird. Did they really call me that?”

“Yes. Um… I was quite flustered when I first heard it too… Anyway, since the demon who unified Azulda called himself the ‘Demon King’, I suppose the Empire probably put you forward as the ‘Saintess’. Azulda started an all-out war with Sephiroth, you see. Also, the Empire even had a ‘Hero’ from the Holy Order…”

Rosalie felt even more embarrassed because of Ras speaking so calmly, but she didn’t miss his unignorable words.

“Azulda was unified? And an all-out war with the Empire… Good heavens, international affairs must have been extraordinary. A ‘Hero’, huh… I spent quite a long time in the Holy Order, but I don’t really have anyone in mind. Do you know them?”

“It’s a woman named Lea Iorca. She was said to be an academy student before being appointed as a Hero, and she’s a junior cohort to me. Have you ever seen her when you were in the Holy Order?”

Lea Iorca. Thinking that even her name sounded incredibly beautiful, Rosalie racked her clever brain.

But no one came to mind.

“No, I don’t know her at all. If the Holy Order was promoting her so strongly, it means they put a lot of effort into raising her… It’s been about five years since I left the Holy Order, so she might be a divine talent they’re cultivating right now.”

“Well, let’s move past the Hero for now. Anyway, the Hero and the Saintess, like in old tales… infiltrated Azulda to strike down the Demon King, and they killed the Demon King there. And you were the one who killed the Demon King.”

Rosalie’s eyes spun around in disbelief at the utterly unexpected revelation.

“And ‘to the public’, it’s known that you and the Demon King mutually annihilated each other… That’s what’s been reported. You and the Demon King killed each other.”

As could be inferred from the phrases ‘for now’ and ‘to the public’, Ras didn’t completely believe this.

The biggest basis for his disbelief was none other than the Hero, Lea Iorca.

Because Lea Iorca, the Hero who had fought a life-or-death struggle in the burning Sephir before his regression, had been hiding something.

She, who had fought so fiercely, seemed as if she was about to tell Ras something, but in the end, she said, ‘Just kill me. What’s the point in talking?’ and chose to die in silence.

‘The secret Lea Iorca took to her grave… It’s just a hunch, but my conclusion is that it has something to do with Rosalie.’

So Ras intended to kill the Hero if they were a suspicious individual, or at least prevent them from doing anything strange.

“Me… I fight pretty well, but my limit is just barely beating Isera. The Demon King…? It’s a rustic nickname, but they must be incredibly strong, right? If they unified Azulda…?”

“That’s right. I generally know who that person is and how strong they are. In the world before my regression, they were one of the strongest, counted on one hand… And that means you were on that level too.”

Rosalie was perplexed and groaning in confusion. She trusted Ras, but from her perspective, the future she would experience was still too absurd.

Seeing her, Ras firmly resolved to also investigate the Heavenly God Order.

“And it’s my inference, but it seems the absurd person who calls himself the Demon King also regressed. Things happened that wouldn’t have if only I had regressed. This time’s attack on Delphy and the Academy. That was aimed at you… My guess is that he tried to keep his rival or enemy in check.”

“Ugh… I don’t like that..! Still, Ras, you protected me well. So… that’s why you said that back then. That no one could harm me when I was by your side. Hearing that makes me even more excited, hehe.”

In addition, Kardmos was coveting Rosalie and Lea, but this was an area Ras was not aware of.

“He’s on my kill list. I can’t stand it when someone messes with me, but I absolutely cannot stand it when they mess with people precious to me. In this life, I plan to eradicate him myself. It might take a little time, though.”

Ras intended to kill Kardmos before he could become the Demon King, start a war, and harm Rosalie.

Of course, there was the difficulty of directly invading Azulda and somehow reaching Kardmos, but Ras’s mind was a blazing inferno to think about that in detail.

As always, he just thought that if he pushed through with strength and somehow managed, it would be resolved.

“Ras… so that’s why you were wielding such unusual power. Anyway, Ras, I intend to trust and support you completely. And if anyone messes with you, I won’t tolerate it either. I’ll help you my best. We’re… lovers, after all…!”

Even while speaking boldly, Rosalie would blush and hesitate at the word ‘lovers’, clearly none other than a girl in her first love.

“For now, I’ll be counting on you. It might sound shameless, but I’ll have to rely on you a lot from now on. Anyway, let’s share more details gradually, and for today, shall we go inside now?”

“Shameless, you say? Ras’s business is now my business. I’m actually looking forward to hearing more of Ras’s past, too. Hmm…! Wait!! I have one more thing to ask.”

As if something important had occurred to her again, Rosalie quickly asked.

“What is it?”

“Ras. By any chance… before your regression… did Ras have a lover…? Excluding Lizley, since she’s not human, I mean.”

In Rosalie’s perception, Lizley, Leon, and Emma were now something less than human, so naturally, Lizley didn’t count as his ‘current boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend’.

“Ah… I didn’t have a lover. Rosalie, you are indeed my first lover.”

“Hehe! Then it’s fine. No… actually, if you had a lover, I would have been a little upset, but I would’ve thought it couldn’t be helped. Ras is too wonderful a man to just leave alone, after all. So… am I also the first person you’ve ever liked…?”

Rosalie looked at Ras with bright, expectant eyes, her gaze asking ‘By any chance…!’

Of course, she knew the truth.

“It might sound bad, but… there were people… I loved. I’m sorry.”

Marisa and Semere.

The slightly light, yet fleeting and thus more wistful, brief love he felt for Marisa.

The love he felt for Semere was sharing joys and sorrows and experiencing complex emotions, including love, during those final few years of his life.

Rosalie shook her head, cutting off Ras’s apology.

“No… there’s nothing to be sorry about. Actually, I have a good feeling, so I already noticed that Ras isn’t only holding me in his heart. So, the people you have by your side now must be those you had fated connections with in a past life, right? Irha is a bit of an unusual ill-fated connection… Pisces must have been your subordinate back then too… and then there’s ‘our’ Marisa…?”

“There are complex stories for each, but roughly, yes.”

“And… one more. It seems there’s a very, very formidable rival? There’s someone Ras often thinks about, gets depressed about, and feels wistful about. You must have loved her very much… right?”

With her question, Rosalie pressed her body close, nestling into Ras’s embrace.

The undeniable feelings of deep longing and wistfulness he sometimes showed.

Until recently, Rosalie had felt a slight unease because of those feelings she sensed from Ras, a desire to go find someone even if he had to abandon everything.

But not anymore.

Rosalie buried her face in Ras’s neck, fully reveling in the pleasant sweetness she felt from him.

She playfully bit Ras’s collarbone lightly, her eyes sparkling as she waited for his answer.

“…It’s someone who’s far away now, someone I can’t meet… They were with me until just before I died. And yes… I loved them very much. Even now…”

Ras’s answer was hesitant but honest, and Rosalie spoke to him in a soft voice.

“Just to tell you one thing: I like it best when Ras is honest. Of course, even if you lie sometimes, I won’t get angry or hate you, but I’ll be a little sad. So please, try to be honest about everything. Hmm… actually, it’s quite something to be talking about this on the first day of our relationship, but… I did ask you to tell me, so it’s okay. The important thing is that I’m the one who received Ras’s confession today.”

Rosalie pressed her soft, moist lips against Ras’s neck and kissed him deeply.

She, who had always been pure and gentle, was now kissing him in a provocative and seductive way, like a truly alluring succubus.

She kissed him for a while, as if devouring him, rendering him utterly still. She finally broke the kiss and lifted her head only when he was starting to lose his breath.

“Phew— So it’s fine. No matter how many people are around you… I’m confident I can make Ras love me ‘the most’ anyway. I’m beautiful, kind, a rich older sister who buys you good food, and most importantly, I love you the most. Does that make me sound too annoying?”

“Thank you…?”

Seeing Ras, who was flustered by the deep kiss, hesitating and answering a little foolishly, completely spaced out, Rosalie giggled.

She, a predator like a dragon as Pisces would say, was truly confident, as if asserting her pride, no matter who came.

Of course, her sinful man, like the great sinner he was, kept hooking only attractive women from who-knows-where, so securing her position wouldn’t be an easy task.

“Just saying this out of an abundance of caution, but it’s fine as long as they’re not like Lizley or Emma. And don’t steal taken women. Or I’ll scold you, okay?”

“That won’t happen. If I gathered them all, it would be Lizley, Emma, and Leon. Like a triangle of death.”

Anyway, true to her extremely generous nature, Rosalie somehow allowed Ras to legitimately have multiple partners.

The awkward lovers quietly went down to the infirmary and had a comfortable night’s sleep.

It’s no secret that, like the inexperienced fools they were, they only held hands while they slept.

Their first day as a couple, which faded with the night, could be described in three words:

Love, Confession, Successful.