R4STWH - Chapter 128
Chapter 128
How did he treat her at their first meeting? Didn't he coldly brush off her hand when she tried to gift him an S-grade ring?
'What was I even thinking, trusting in myself with that valuable thing...?'
Putting aside his past self who was much more pathetic and trash-like than he had expected, he was baffled by her naivete that had blindly followed even such a person.
The moment Ilesha happily accepted his offer to be his mistress was enough to make him feel dizzy.
Fortunately, he had realized his feelings before it was too late and had managed to marry her safely, but he had almost acted like an idiot and had almost made her extremely sad.
'Not only that, but also things like skinship....'
He hadn't clearly known at the time just how ignorant Ilesha was about the matters between a man and a woman. Nor had he tried to understand the situation that had made her that way.
He was just blinded by his desires, and busy lusting after her.
'To act so irresponsibly like that.'
If he were to witness someone treating her like that now that he had regained his memories, he would absolutely not have stood idly by.
'I would have almost killed them.'
Anyway, things that had already happened could not be undone and he couldn't bring up the events from that time to her right now either.
All he could do was beg for forgiveness after the situation was over.
He was planning on explaining to her everything, starting from what a mistress meant, why he had made that offer back then, and what he had done wrong, before apologizing for each and every one of them.
Of course…….
That would only be possible if she wouldn’t despise him and throw him away for having teamed up with Neo.
'I was prepared for it, but I can't help but be afraid.'
It wasn't that he was scared that he wouldn’t be forgiven.
It was that he was worried that she, who had already fallen in love with a person like him, would become unhappy because of him.
He was worried that she would never be able to smile so brightly again, that she would have a life that was far from happiness, that was what he was the most afraid and worried about.
“It seems like everything here is roughly taken care of.”
Crow said as he walked over, dragging his sword with a tired look.
It was already dark and night had fallen.
Currently, about half of the priests and the holy knights from the Amern Order, and half of the Tenaclad and Lakdel knights were gathered here.
“I’ll go and scout the area to see if there are any stragglers left, so please rest in the meantime.”
Everyone except Ilesha and him had noticeably tired expressions, as they had been running all over the continent while fighting fiercely all day.
“You also should be resting, Your Excellency……”
“I wonder who’s worrying about who.”
As he patted Crow on the back and started walking, Ilesha, as expected, started following him while trailing behind him.
“Let’s go together.”
Elias smiled and grabbed her hand.
How happy and emotional he was to finally be able to hold her hand and share his warmth, unlike the times that he could never touch her in the past.
Ilesha.
The meaning of the name that he had given her after misunderstanding the CODE NO.124 that she was given by the lab, meant ‘fully bloomed flower’.
It was a very strange thing.
That he, who had been called ‘butterfly’ was able to experience happiness through Ilesha, whose name meant ‘fully bloomed flower’.
The last wish that she had made while handing him a pot that had a seed planted in it had been fulfilled.
“Elias.”
It was when they had come quite a distance away from the others.
“Is it true that you made a contract with the Gluttonous Monarch?”
She stopped and turned her body towards him before asking.
Elias, who had been waiting for her question all along, answered without hesitation.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Ah…….”
He stared quietly as a shadow fell upon her face.
“Is it something related to the contents of the contract……?”
“There are restrictions that make it impossible for me to speak about it.”
“……I see.”
Ilesha nodded as if she understood.
“You met ‘that existence’ in the dungeon near Tenaclad, right?”
This time, it was Elias who asked her.
“Yes.”
“Were you disappointed in me?”
“Disappointed, why?”
“Because I teamed up with that existence and led a world to its destruction, even several times. Even though that was the case, many times over.”
Ilesha, who had been staring at his face, shifted her gaze towards their clasped hands.
“Elias, I…… I don’t know what kind of heart you had when you made such a decision. Because I wasn't by your side back then.”
Her eyes were drooping as she said that. Her expression looked as if she had lost all her energy.
“How am I supposed to judge you now because of something that can no longer be undone.”
“Even if the core of me is still the same as back then?”
Now that he had regained all of his memories, even if he was taken back to the past, Elias would still make the same choices again without hesitation.
“Are you going to destroy this world again this time as well?”
“……No. There’s no way I would be able to do that when you are in this world, by my side.”
“Then that’s enough.”
She lifted her head and smiled at him.
“Thank you for making that decision. I’ll do my best so that you won’t regret it.”
While staring at her like that, Elias thought.
What would Neo propose to her?
That was something that Elias had also been pondering about for a long time.
The starting point of that question was ‘why did he choose me in the first place’?
'He didn't choose me because only I was capable of doing this. There must be another reason why it had to be me.'
Just as he had discarded all of his values, his thirst for revenge, and the bare minimum of ethics that he had to uphold as a human in order to bring happiness to Ilesha.
There was a high possibility that he would use his contract with him to control and manipulate Ilesha. Because he had already become her biggest weakness.
“Ilesha, as I said, there are restrictions that make me unable to speak about what I gave to that existence in our contract.”
Elias lowered himself so that he could meet her eyes.
“However, I can definitely tell you one thing…… that I didn't make a contract that would be disadvantageous to you.”
Even though the shadows of the thick forest were cast over them, only Ilesha’s orange eyes that looked like the sun in the middle of the day were as bright as ever.
“So trust me, and do whatever it is that you want to do.”
“……!”
As if she had reacted to some kind of words, her eyes widened.
Elias involuntarily smiled when he saw her blinking her wide eyes that reminded him of the time that she had first looked at him and had called him ‘butterfly’.
He had thought every time she had said that she was cute and pretty. That you're the cute and pretty one, not me.
“You’re beautiful.”
He whispered lowly as he stroked her hair gently.
For this moment where they looked into each other’s eyes from a very short distance, as if they were the only two people in the whole world, even the forest held its breath.
It was when her eyes shifted towards his lips that she grabbed the hem of his clothes.
“You know, Elias…….”
“Yes.”
“It seems like everyone’s tired and needs to rest, and it seems like there are no more monsters around, so…….”
Elias was taken aback at what she said, as he had been waiting for her to say something.
“Do you want to go bathe together? It seems like there’s a lake nearby that’s suitable for it.”
He had perfectly hidden his surprised expression, but he couldn’t help but hesitate before answering.
“……S-shall we?”
That was because after regaining the memories from hundreds of years ago, his body had had no time to have any kind of deep skinship with her because of all the things that had been happening.
Elias was certain.
That his face was bright red right now.
He could only earnestly pray that the darkness would cover the changes in his skin color.
“If we have a refreshing bath, we’ll feel much better.”
Ilesha moved one step back after pecking his lips.
Even her playful expression was overly lovely, making Elias's heart feel like it was going to burst.
No, actually…… It wasn't just his heart that was hurting.
It was because his body had started reacting crazily to her a while ago.
'Just how……'
It seemed to have started around the time when they first held hands.
'Just how obscene has my body become?'
He couldn't help but palm his forehead in this embarrassing situation.
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