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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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The fireworks exploded like that for a while, and then gradually disappeared, and the original night sky began to show again.
Since the lingering feeling from earlier wouldn’t disappear so easily, I slowly lowered my head, still lost in thought.
I didn’t expect to see fireworks here.
It seemed the fireworks she saw at the Full Moon Festival left quite a strong impression on Adele.
However, what I saw was not the fireworks, but Adele standing under the firework lights.
There was no need to specifically tell her that.
This round could be considered to have completely passed the singularity since I started breaking off the engagement with Theresa.
There were things I had already experienced, but wasn’t this the first time my relationships with Adele, Adriana, and Miragen were intertwined simultaneously?
What if I had let go of my expectations for Yuria and Theresa from the beginning?
If I hadn’t expected things to change and only dug into the Crown Prince to tighten his breathing.
Maybe I wouldn’t have had to face the memories I’m recalling now.
“You don’t look like you’re in a good mood. For saying it was pretty.”
When I raised my head at the voice that suddenly reached my ears, Adele was looking at me with a strange expression.
The words Adele had just uttered sounded meaningful to me as well.
– A long time ago, I think I wanted to show you this.
Those words just now sounded as if she remembered the previous rounds.
Even though I thought it couldn’t be, I wanted to reveal my regression with a slight hope.
If I told her about my 100 lives, about the 300 years.
Would Adele understand that?
When I looked at her face with that thought, I suddenly felt afraid upon seeing the faint smile lingering on the corners of her mouth.
Afraid that she would see me as a strange person.
With a sigh at that ever-present fear, I slowly parted my lips.
“My mood is fine. Just something came to mind.”
“Something came to mind?”
“Should I say it’s something from the past?”
If I were to put a timeline on it, it would probably be a few months later, but to me, it was already something from decades ago.
The North I had visited before Adele died, and after she died.
The reason I was reluctant to be with Adele at first was because I didn’t like the idea of this situation happening again.
Of course, now I also knew it was something I couldn’t turn back, so I just watched Adele with mixed feelings.
Adele, who furrowed her brows at the words “something from the past,” then twisted the corners of her mouth and spoke again.
“It seems there are too many things from the past that I don’t know about. Come to think of it, aren’t I older than you?”
“That’s true. We have a 3-year age gap, don’t we?”
“Yet you have so many secrets. How annoying.”
Despite her words, she didn’t seem to have any intention of asking me more.
Although Adele seemed to live as she pleased, she had her own lines.
The problem was that it only applied to those she liked, but fortunately, I met that standard.
Adele quite liked me.
I didn’t know before, but now I knew the reason.
It was probably because my attitude was quite similar to her father’s.
The reason Adele first formed a mercenary group was to find her father.
To find news of her father who had left her behind when she was young, and to slap his cheek.
There were many who threatened the girl who held a single sword.
However, Adele’s talent was so brilliant that it only took 5 years for her to become the commander of a mercenary group that couldn’t find a match in the North.
By the time Adele led the mercenary group and received the position of Grand Duchess, there was one thing Adele had lost while gaining many things.
– When I thought I had gained everything, I realized I hadn’t found my father.
Adele’s expression as she said that looked indifferent.
As if it was nothing, Adele’s expression as she spoke of it as just an old story was expressionless.
But that very indifferent expression was proof that she was agitated.
She was overlapping her father with me.
Because I had heard her say before that she felt like I would disappear one day without a word, just like her father.
– I was always afraid you would disappear. My father was like that too, with hazy eyes like you.
It was the same scenery, but what Adele was saying now was quite different from back then.
Perhaps it was a difference in timing.
Because in the round when I was in the North, I always stayed here regardless of the season.
But now I had to leave.
I had to leave the North, go to the south, and finish the things I needed to wrap up now.
Clearing the memories lingering in my head, I met Adele’s eyes again.
During these two days, I had thought about Theresa’s matter, but also about how to bring up the topic of rebellion to Adele.
However, I couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud.
If I said it out loud, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to control my emotions due to the old memories.
So I thought of writing it in a letter, although it might seem quite strange, it would be better to tell her to read it later.
If I wanted to explain her death, it would take a long time.
It was also strange to suddenly mention death in this atmosphere, so it would be better to give her time to think about it in her own way.
If she read all the contents I had written in the letter, I thought she would at least be able to understand.
Even if she didn’t believe it, it didn’t matter.
If Adele still headed to the imperial palace despite that, I would stop her even if I had to modify the plan.
“I also have something to give you.”
“You’re giving me something?”
“Do you read letters?”
When I took out a neatly wrapped letter from my bosom, Adele stared at me blankly.
Reading the embarrassment in her wavering eyes, I smiled slightly and gently placed the letter in Adele’s hand.
“Read it after I leave. I wrote down what I wanted to say.”
“… You’re doing unnecessary things. Do you think I’ll read it if you give it to me like this?”
“I hope you’ll read it. Definitely.”
At my slightly desperate voice, Adele furrowed her brows.
I thought she probably wouldn’t be able to refuse.
Even if she didn’t care when we first met, she wouldn’t be able to ignore this letter now.
Moreover, it was a letter from me.
Adele, who had been examining the letter placed in her hand for a moment, then accepted it preciously with a fake cough.
“Don’t write things like letters next time. It’s better to swing your sword more at times like this.”
“I probably won’t be able to see you for a long time after I leave this time, so it’s my way of saying goodbye.”
“For a long time? Hmm, yes. We won’t be able to see each other for a long time.”
Adele, who smiled meaningfully, slowly got up.
The night sky where the fireworks had all exploded regained its silence.
The light that had spread around had also completely faded now, and it was time for the forest to be darkly dyed in the night shadows again.
Perhaps it was time to go back now, Adele must have had the same thought as she quietly moved her lips.
“Let’s go back now. You need to sleep too.”
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Rustle.
The sound of leaves being stepped on was heard whenever Adele moved.
She, who had been walking briskly as if she had gotten used to the shoes, noticed that I was lagging behind and turned her head.
“You shouldn’t be slower than me. How can you be slower than a woman wearing heels?”
“I’m deliberately going slow.”
I took a big step, then another step to stand next to Adele.
“I have to catch you from behind if you fall.”
“I won’t fall. I’m completely used to it now.”
“If you say so.”
If we walked a little more, we would see the castle.
Realizing that we had walked quite a distance from the castle, I swallowed.
Considering the time, it would be close to midnight now.
People who would be waiting under the bell tower for the New Year that would start soon, although not visible, the bell tower standing tall in the distance definitely caught my eye.
“The New Year hasn’t come yet. You set off the fireworks a little earlier than the time.”
“Originally, the most important thing in welcoming the New Year is the bell. I think it’s natural.”
“I don’t like the sound of the bell. It hurts my ears.”
Yet, the reason she didn’t remove it was probably because she cared about the people of the North in her own way.
The bell would probably ring soon.
I could see the priest who had climbed to the top of the bell tower offering prayers to the people and then preparing to ring the bell.
When I stopped walking towards the castle for a moment and quietly looked at it, Adele quietly opened her mouth.
“… Come to think of it, I haven’t apologized to you yet. Since the New Year is coming, it’s better to say it now.”
Her slender fingers tugged at my sleeve, and at that small touch, I turned my head.
Adele, who hesitated and blinked her eyes several times as if slightly embarrassed, slightly bit her lips.
The word “apology” was puzzling.
However, recalling that it might be about her getting angry at me last time, I just waited like that until Adele opened her mouth.
Some time passed, and it was when the priest, who had almost finished ringing the bell, reached out his hand towards the bell.
“I’m sorry. For getting angry at you.”
The fingers that had slightly grasped my sleeve had now become a palm.
Wrapping around my collar, as if telling me not to run away, she held it like that.
My arm was caught in Adele’s hand.
Firmly grasping my wrist, Adele, who had been staring at me intently like that, continued.
“I’m sorry for cutting your throat when we first met, and for acting a bit selfishly. I… think that way.”
“Didn’t you already apologize for that before?”
“I have a feeling that if I don’t say it now, I won’t be able to.”
When I raised my head at the words that suddenly reached my ears, Adele was already looking at the bell.
It was an expression as if she was recalling something.
Yet, as if unsure about it, I could see her furrowing her brows.
“If I don’t say it now, I feel like I won’t be able to say it.”
It was evident that she was anxious.
However, not knowing what she was anxious about, I could only slowly grasp the hand holding my wrist.
Her hand that had been applying force for a moment gradually loosened.
And between that falling hand, my fingers dug in.
Our body heat overlapped under the cold wind.
Although it was only an area as small as a palm overlapping, it was enough contact to feel each other’s warmth.
It was closer to just holding rather than grasping.
It was to reassure her anxiety even a little, but Adele’s eyes widened in surprise instead.
I met her wavering blue eyes.
After a moment of silence like that, a moment that felt like a very long time.
Ding-
The sound of the bell announcing the New Year began to fill the surroundings.
“I’m here.”
“… I know.”
“I was here last year, and I’m here this year too, aren’t I?”
Since the bell had rung, hadn’t the year changed?
The 20-year-old Robert and the 21-year-old Robert being by Adele’s side hadn’t changed at all.
Even if Adele’s anxiety was a unique feeling to her, even if it was a premonition of her own death.
That was no reason for her to be anxious.
“Do you dislike me leaving?”
“Don’t say unnecessary things. It’s just a feeling I had.”
“Then let’s make a bet. About whether we can see the bell ringing together next year, or whether we won’t be able to.”
Although Adele, who didn’t know what those words meant, looked at me with strange eyes, I knew what would happen to Adele next year.
Adele wouldn’t be here next year.
Because in the rounds so far, Adele had always died this winter.
Since it was a fact only I knew, the bet I mentioned was actually equivalent to me asking myself.
“Which side will you bet on?”
But I asked without showing it.
I believed Adele would bet that I would still be here next year.
And as I thought, Adele answered without any hesitation.
As if uttering something obvious, with an indifferent expression.
“I’ll bet on the side where we see it together. Then what does the losing side do?”
“Who knows.”
The answer to this bet would probably converge to one.
The side Adele had chosen, where we would see the bell ringing together.
Adele wouldn’t die.
Even if the future was set that way, it was natural because I wouldn’t just watch it happen.
“Let’s say the winner gets one wish granted.”
“Not bad.”
I thought I should consider what wish she might make.
Because in this life, Adele Igrit would definitely survive.
Just like the catchphrase Adele always had on her lips, because I had decided so.
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