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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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I couldn’t remember all 100 lives in detail.
I couldn’t remember everything I had experienced during my nearly 300 years, and what I carried in my heart and lived with were just fragmentary memories.
Memories that were too intense or too brilliant to ever forget.
In the midst of that, there were faces of people that vividly came to mind, and there were also people I couldn’t even remember.
But I knew for certain that there was one thing that had never happened in all those lives.
Someone recalling memories of my previous rounds.
Since these 100 lives were limited only to me, when I died, those memories remained completely with me alone.
Did this regression really not affect anyone else?
No matter how many times I thought about it, I believed that only I couldn’t belong to the time that went back.
The person who said they loved me until yesterday became a stranger when I regressed, and the one who had been like an enemy whispered to me that they loved me again.
The question of whether I was the only one feeling this sense of discrepancy was something I had been pondering endlessly since the beginning of the regression.
I had also investigated the moonstone before, but after the first round I experienced, I couldn’t find any records of the moonstone, could I?
The moonstone I had used seemed to not exist at all, as if it had completely disappeared.
It was natural.
Since the moonstone had disappeared because I used it, it was natural that it wouldn’t exist in subsequent rounds, right?
So I had completely given up on that.
If it weren’t for what Adele had said to me, I probably wouldn’t have had any doubts about this at all.
– A long time ago, I think I wanted to show you this.
“…What did she mean by that?”
I couldn’t understand.
Since this was the first time she had said such a thing to me, the more I thought deeply about it, the more my thoughts sank into a quagmire.
Adriana’s attitude was also unusual.
She reacted particularly sensitively to the name of Miragen, who was just a close friend, and whenever she looked at me, she made an uncomfortable expression.
Perhaps only Adriana herself knew the reason for that.
It wasn’t simply a matter of my inner self.
I just felt a rather subtle feeling that there was something more than what she had told me.
The room where Miragen had occasionally stayed, and where I was now staying, unexpectedly had good sunlight coming in.
Staring blankly at the light coming in through the window, I then wiped my sleepy eyes and slowly got up from the bed.
I always used to wake up around dawn, but today it was a bit late.
Even so, I thought there was still a long time until noon.
After washing up briefly and shaking the moisture from my hair, I heard a knocking sound from beyond the door.
“Robert, it’s me, Adriana.”
I was a bit surprised that Adriana had come to see me at this hour, but I wiped away the moisture appropriately and opened the door.
She seemed to have woken up quite early, as she was already fully dressed.
When I slightly opened the door, Adriana, who had a servant beside her, grabbed my arm and slowly entered.
Adriana, who had been carefully touching my arm in a bathrobe, tilted her head and looked at me.
“You’re not wearing your usual clothes?”
“It’s a bathrobe. I just finished washing up.”
“…Ah. I didn’t make a faux pas, did I?”
“It’s fine. Since I’ve already washed up, I just need to change clothes.”
I laughed softly as Adriana was startled at the words that I would change clothes.
Would I change clothes in front of her?
Even if she couldn’t see, as Verod said, men and women were different.
I tapped Adriana’s nose, who was blushing as if imagining something, and then playfully opened my mouth.
“I don’t know what you’re expecting, but I’ll change clothes a bit later.”
“Oh, it’s not like I can see anyway. Expecting what?”
“But what brings you here? As far as I know, there’s nothing special today.”
Departing for the south was a matter of a few days later.
I had to receive a report from Arwen about what he had investigated so far, and this time I was thinking of having Renold procure about two swords.
Today was rather leisurely in many ways.
Didn’t Adriana not even mention meeting today?
So when I asked in puzzlement, Adriana, who had been hesitating slightly, carefully moved her lips.
“Um, you don’t know much about the church below the Moon Tower, right?”
“I don’t know much about the church.”
I hadn’t been there in this round, so it would have been awkward for me to know the inside in detail at this point.
When I answered with that thought, she smiled brightly for a moment and continued.
“Then I’ll guide you. I have a lot of free time today.”
“Is that so? I’m fine with it, but wouldn’t it be inconvenient for you on your day off?”
“I like going out of the Moon Tower no matter what. If you don’t like going together, there’s nothing I can do, but… that’s not the case, right?”
“Why would I dislike it?”
Just being with Adriana was a gain for me.
If she was someone the Saint cherished, what would the people of the church think?
It wasn’t that I was using Adriana.
She directly said with her own mouth to be together, so even if the paladins said anything, I could be upright.
I didn’t really plan to move today, but if Adriana was going to be with me, I would have to make time and move.
When I permitted it, Adriana smiled happily.
But there was one thing that was confusing.
Was she happy to be with me, or was she happy to go out?
Her unreasonable favor sometimes caused misunderstandings in people, so there were times when I had to be careful.
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There were two ways Adriana walked.
If it was a place she had perfectly memorized the terrain of, for example, her own room, she could move around sufficiently on her own without anyone’s help.
But if it was unfamiliar or the terrain was too wide, she needed the help of a servant.
Even if walking while clinging to an arm might look a bit ridiculous, such help was necessary for Adriana to get around.
Tightly, as if worried that she might fall, Adriana’s body clinging to my arm slightly touched my side.
When we first walked, it was just to the extent of supporting her, but after she almost fell earlier, she was now completely holding my arm.
No matter how often she visited a place, the positions of objects couldn’t always be the same, especially since it was a church where many people came and went, it meant she had to rely on me a lot to walk.
Adriana also seemed to know that she was excessively clinging to me, as she slightly blushed and lowered her head.
“I’m sorry. Normally, it would be fine to just touch, but.”
“You don’t need to mind it. Other people… will probably understand, right?”
I said that, but in fact, I couldn’t help but be conscious of it.
I laughed hollowly at the strange sensation of her touching my arm, but I smiled bitterly at the gazes of the priests glancing at me.
The fact that I was staying in the Moon Tower must have already spread widely.
Since it was a rumor circulating in such a small place, they would curiously look at me who had gained the qualification of being the Saint’s friend.
Although they were a bit more favorable than the paladins, there were sometimes those who expressed hostility towards me.
I ignored such looks and walked.
If I interpreted every malicious gaze one by one, it would only be tiring for me.
Excluding such things, it would be enough to just focus on what I had to do today.
As I walked with Adriana for a long time like that, at one point as we passed somewhere, Adriana abruptly stopped.
“This is where I stayed when I was young. Before the Moon Tower was completely built, Cardinal Verod let me sleep here.”
A faint holy power was flowing in the direction Adriana was looking.
Fortunately, the door wasn’t locked, and when we went inside, Adriana swept the surroundings with a slightly gentle smile.
“I wonder if the arrangement I remember will still be the same. Originally, there was a drawer right here.”
“It doesn’t seem to have changed much. Isn’t it preserved just as it was when you stayed here?”
“Is there a bed in the left corner? That’s the bed I used to sleep on.”
As she said, there was indeed a bed, so I walked with her and carefully sat Adriana on the bed.
Adriana tapped the bed and laughed playfully.
Her face as she recalled memories of her childhood and talked about her memories with Verod one by one looked very happy.
“Once, I jumped on the bed and fell down. So Verod scolded me a lot. He probably put something under here after that. Since I often stumble.”
“So the carpet was a bit thick. I thought it was awkward.”
The floor was so soft that it sank when pressed with a finger,
I couldn’t help but agree with the words that Adriana often stumbled.
I had seen it several times myself, and even today, I had caught her from falling.
But that wasn’t Adriana’s fault.
Wasn’t it very uncomfortable to walk even though she couldn’t see ahead?
Adriana, who had been sitting on the bed for a while, got up from her seat while staring at me.
“Do you want to sit for a bit? You’ve been quiet for a while.”
“… Ah.”
The reason I had been looking at Adriana was because of the thought that she often stumbled, but it seemed she thought I was interested in the bed.
Since I didn’t have anything to say to make an excuse, I carefully took a seat where Adriana had been sitting.
Naturally, there was no particular difference.
It made a slight creaking sound due to being old, but other than that, wasn’t it no different from an ordinary bed?
The holy power spread around here was probably left to spread for preservation.
The room the Saint used when she was young, even if it wasn’t kept for tourism, it would have a symbolic meaning to the believers.
“When I went to sleep, Cardinal Verod would read me a fairy tale. I could sleep very comfortably like that, but I’ve already grown up so much.”
“Time always flows fast. It would be more comfortable for you not to worry about it too much.”
For example, if I accurately counted the time I had passed, wouldn’t my head start to ache?
So I tended to calculate by rounds rather than time.
Even that, I only recalled when necessary, and it was better for my mental health to live without dwelling on it as much as possible.
I couldn’t help but laugh at her complaining that time seemed to pass too quickly.
Perhaps it was because I had lived too long, but for her, who was only 21 years old, to say that time was fast.
Wouldn’t it be something I couldn’t help but laugh at?
But she seemed to have mistaken my laughter for ridicule, as she opened her mouth in a slightly grumpy voice.
“You’re younger than me, so I don’t know why you’re laughing like that. Have you had your coming-of-age ceremony?”
“Even though I look like this, I’m twenty-one years old. Haven’t I already had it long ago?”
“That… is true. I guess so.”
If I felt like it, I had the intention to say I was a 300-year-old monster, but I didn’t say it out loud since it would be something to brush off as a joke anyway.
Like that, we spent time with small talk.
Adriana searched each room, recalling her memories in her own way, and I sat on the bed and watched her.
Being able to immerse oneself in memories is a good thing. And it’s even better if you can smile in those recollections.
With that thought, I was looking at her warmly for a moment, but then I hurriedly reached out my arm upon seeing her staggering body.
“Ah?”
Perhaps there was something she didn’t remember, as she staggered after tripping over something, I grabbed her body like that.
But my body was already in a sitting position on the bed, so in the end, I, who had caught her in an unstable posture, had no choice but to fall while hugging her.
I moved my body so as not to hit any furniture or the bed, and thud.
A stinging pain was felt in my shoulder that hit the floor for a moment, and then her hair that fell down touched the tip of my nose.
“Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m fine. I think there was something I didn’t think of.”
With our bodies completely overlapping, Adriana slowly raised her head from my chest.
Her white hair that fell down tickled my nose bridge.
It took only a fleeting moment to realize that she was on top of my body.
A faint blush bloomed on her pale cheeks, and when her fumbling hand finally touched my cheek,
Adriana moved her lips slightly in a crawling voice.
“…Oh my.”
And like that, her blush began to deepen even more.
As if a flower was just blooming, it turned red like that.
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