CH 95

“Although I couldn’t see my love come to fruition with my lover, I learned of another type of love through Hylli. And that love made me, someone so filled with hurt, be able to come back to who I was.”

I quietly listened to her speak. I watched her expression as she told me that she was happy. She was being honest.

“There are times when living is much more painful than dying. I feel like I’m already blessed for being able to die now, when I’m at my most happy.”

Caradil said that she had been slightly worried about Hylli, who would be left alone. But she was now assured that he had good friends around him, and that she wasn’t worried in the slightest anymore.

Caradil plucked a few flowers to make me a necklace. She linked red flowers for Hylli’s necklace, and sky blue flowers to make another necklace for Swan.

She moved her hands busily and made another necklace for Cory. Although the two had never met, I had told Caradil about him. She was excited to hear that Hylli had more friends and busily linked yellow flowers together to make him a necklace.

“Hey, Shuraina. Your school is Augran Academy, right? There’s a mountain near it, right?”

Caradil suddenly changed the subject.

“While I worked at the royal magicians’ lab, I secretly studied black magic.”

Caradil looked completely serious as she spoke.

“Be careful of Augran Mountain. Don’t go too close to it. There was a time when I was studying it and had felt something…off-putting. Although I don’t know the details.”

“We go to subjugate the monsters there every semester for our practical examinations though?”

“…..Anyway, I want you to be extra careful.”

Caradil requested of me with a worried voice.

The space within the time-space circle was extremely similar to the place it was mirroring.

But seeing how there wasn’t a single gust of wind, it definitely wasn’t the real outdoors. The sun in the sky was similar, and the flowers in the field were the same as the ones in the real space, but the wind didn’t blow and something felt fake. It was all made up, so there was nothing that we could do to fix that.

Caradil just took in the sight of the wide open flower field.

After a long conversation, we looked at Hylli walked towards us after finishing his chores.

“You know. I want to get out of this space.”

Caradil put the flower necklace that she made around Hylli’s neck as she spoke.

“I want to see the real outside. I want to go back to my home town.”

Hylli gently held Caradil, who could no longer move her legs, and nodded his head.

Caradil’s home town was a small village located at the south-most part of our empire. The village, also known as the Village of Flowers, was famous for its emerald-colored ocean and the beautiful flowers surrounding the village.

We moved quickly. Caradil seemed to think that we would move slowly and plan out a leisurely trip, but we made it so that she could be transported there as soon as possible. Caradil seemed surprised at how quickly we moved.

Hylli prepared all of Caradil’s belongings while I drew a magic circle to teleport us there. Swanhaden, who had arrived during all of this, made a few magic stones for me. I wouldn’t have enough magic to transport us there.

We immediately headed to ‘Niwenuan,’ the Village of Flowers.

The flowers were in full bloom on the hill we had arrived on, and it was the best place to take in the view of the beautiful emerald-colored ocean. We put down Cardil on the top of the hill.

The wind was blowing softly there. It wasn’t cold. Instead, it was refreshing ocean breeze. Caradil sat on the flower field and took in the familiar sight with a flabbergasted expression before smiling softly.

Caradil told us that this was where she had planned to have her wedding with her lover. She told us stories of her past with a bitter smile on her face as she sighed and quietly cried.

“It’s pretty…..”

She seemed to want to spend the last part of her life in her home town, so we placed the dimension room that she stayed in and placed it near where she was sitting.

Even though she had changed locations, we made it a habit of visiting Caradil often. We drew transportation circles to Niwenuan village to visit often.

She was always sitting on the highest part of the hill and staring at the scenery. Caradil always erased the sad look on her face and greeted us with a smile when she saw us. We even took Cory there–Caradil had wanted to meet him.

And like that, we visited every day and prayed that she would be alive until the next day. We always sighed a sigh of relief when we saw Caradil sitting on the hill surrounded by flowers.

But it was sudden. That day was a strangely anxious one.

Caradil, who was supposed to be waiting for us on the hill, had fainted.

Hylli held onto her tightly as he watched her breathe his last breath. Both Swan and I were also surrounding her and watching as she barely held her eyes open.

Caradil told us to come closer and hugged us each tightly. Her voice was weak as she called us precious babies.

Caradil was surrounded by flowers as she looked at us once before looking at Hylli.

With trembling hands, Caradil stretched her arm to stroke Hylli’s face as she smiled. His tears dripped onto Caradil’s hand.

“Caradil, you really succeeded.” *

Those were her last words.

The rain was pouring that day. The sky was a dark gray, and the emerald-colored ocean was dim and unmoving.

There was a headstone on the hill where she had sat every day.

Hylli, who had worn a dark gray instead of black clothes, held flowers that symbolized a peaceful death as he stood in front of her headstone. It was raining, but he let the rain soak through his clothes without a thought.

I also headed over to stand in front of her headstone without a care about the rain. I had the flower necklace she made for me around my neck and Hylli also did the same.

The rain made it easy to hide our tears. The rain and our tears both mixed together as they fell.

Hylli put the flower crown he made for her on top of her headstone.

Swanhaden had also appeared to stare at her headstone as well. He placed a single flower on it, and I followed and put my bouquet down as well.

Soon, Cory visited too.

Cory wordlessly let the rain hit him as well and put umbrellas over the three of us. But the umbrella was too small to cover all of us, so he put the umbrella over the headstone to prevent the flowers from getting damaged instead.

The rain poured down with such vigor that our heads and shoulders felt heavy.

“She must’ve been happy in her last moments, right?”

When Hylli asked with his hoarse, broken voice, I quietly nodded.

Chapter 11. Nice and Relaxing

Hylli became a model student once again. He began to use the dorms just like before, and he was much more stable now during swordsmanship class.

I tried to keep my promise with Caradil.

Caradil had requested that I drag Hylli around and play with him because he would feel her loss keenly. So recently, I made sure to go out often. We headed out to the city to eat delicious food and to play games.

Thankfully, Hylli seemed to overcome this without my continued efforts. His aura became more mature.

He stared playing pranks first, and we exchanged dad jokes and puns often. It looked like everything was back to normal, but Hylli was a lot more reserved than before. I decided to take that change of his as a positive change.

The weather was becoming warmer. Right now, we were slowly shifting from spring to summer. But strangely, today’s weather wasn’t hot–instead, it was kind of breezy. The wind felt cool.

Around the school, the burgundy-colored Augran flowers bloomed all year. They survived through winter, spring, and now, they were going to beat summer as well. They were disgustingly hardy.

But today’s weather felt superb. The sky was clear without a single cloud, and the color was beautifully blue as well.

The breeze was gentle and cooling. The sun wasn’t too hot, but was the perfect warmth. I yawned widely. The weather was warm and the wind was cool, so I began to feel incredibly lazy and relaxed.

Pollen was still floating in the air, though. I felt as if a sneeze was coming, but I barely stopped myself from sneezing.

I kept my eyes barely open as I walked lazily.

It was around time for club activities to start, so I headed over to the club room. The moment I opened it, I saw Cory lazing around.

“….oh, you’re here.”

Cory blearily opened his eyes as he spoke.

I wasn’t the only one affected by the good weather. Cory was lazier than usual because of it too. There was a window right above the sofa, so his spot on the sofa was warm from the sun.

Cory seemed to like the warmth. He stayed there without moving an inch.

I couldn’t help but smile at Cory’s prone form and how he hadn’t changed in the three years I’d known him. I always felt this way, but he reminded me of a lazy cat. Cory’s aura was shifting slightly as he grew older.

If he felt like a rebel with a cute side when he was younger, his scary looking face was shifting to a cold-looking beauty, and his cuteness was slowly shifting to sensuousness. He was still kind and was great at listening to others, though. That didn’t change.

I wanted to take a look at our Augran mountain model so I passed by Cory’s sofa and headed to the desk. As I passed by Cory, he stretched his hand to grab at my shirt.

“Let’s just rest today…..”

I could hear Cory’s sleepy, low voice. I thought about it for a moment.

Today’s weather really was top-notch, and I did feel like sleeping more than actually doing club work. I wanted to laze around today.

When I agreed, Cory happily cheered with a “Yaaay”.

“Do you want to lay on the sofa?”

Cory’s face was filled with sleep as he recommended the sofa. He didn’t look like he was moving an inch, though. You have no plans on letting me have it, do you?

“It’s okay. I’m going to sit on this chair right here.”

I dragged the chair next to the sofa. I relaxed and got comfortable on the chair. A cool breeze blew through the open window.

Cory stared at me.

“Aren’t you uncomfortable?”

I must’ve looked uncomfortable. Cory looked like he was worrying about something for a moment.

Come here.”

Cory held up the blanket he was using right now. It looked like he was telling me to get in. The sofa was a bit too small for the two of us to fit, though. If we didn’t squeeze together, one of us would fall off. I respectfully declined.

It might’ve been a possibility when we were younger, but you grew too much. I’m basically the same though. Sigh.

Cory didn’t seem to like how I was sitting. In the end, Cory moved from his spot on the sofa to lay midair. I got the sofa to myself.

Just as Cory has said before, this was the best spot in the room. The sun was just warm enough to warm up the sofa. I was relaxed and lazy before I knew it. He was a saint for giving me this kind of spot.

Cory threw me a cabbage blanket for me to use as I slept. How many blankets did he have?

I thanked him and was just about to fall asleep when I remembered a question I wanted to ask him.