Advent of the Three Calamities

Chapter 689: I guess so [2]

The moment the words came out of my mouth, it felt as though a massive boulder had been pressed against my chest.

Was I fine?

I never really thought about the question before. No, it was more like I never had the time to properly think about the question.

There was simply no time for me to think about myself.

I had to train. I had to look for Noel. I had to go to the Mirror Dimension. I had to solve a situation.

I…

I had a lot of things to do.

Be it in this world, and in my previous world.

When was the last time that I properly took care of myself?

I tried to think about it, but the more I tried, the more I came to realize that…

‘Nothing.’

Nothing really came to mind.

Back on earth, following my parents’ death, my life simply revolved around Noel. All I could think about was how to make sure that Noel lived a good life. Education, health, diet… Everything.

I took all sorts of jobs and did things that I didn’t want to do in order to fill in for my parents’ jobs.

In that time, I never took care of myself.

And that was… probably what caused my death. Or at least, that was how it was supposed to be. Now… I wasn’t even so sure how I had actually died.

Nonetheless, even as I arrived in this world, my life revolved around Noel and getting back to him. In order to become stronger, I put myself through a lot of pain and suffering. I didn’t mind the pain.

I was used to the pain.

…And that was probably the first sign.

In the end, be it past, present, or future… nothing really changed.

I… simply didn’t care enough about myself.

I tried, but didn’t.

But it wasn’t like I could just go around and say that I wasn’t okay.

Who even did that?

Sometimes… a few simple words count turn out to be the hardest thing someone could say.

But what did it matter if I wasn’t okay? What did it matter if I was struggling?

At the end of the day, I didn’t have the time to think about myself.

And so, slowly lifting my head, I nodded in the silence, staring towards the pair of obsidian black eyes that stared squarely at me.

“Yes… I am not okay. But I will be fine.”

Because I had to be.

“…..”

The silence that followed my words felt suffocating. And yet, I was unbothered by the silence as I stared straight into her eyes.

Even now, she refused to say a single thing.

She was just standing there. Looking at me.

‘Is she not going to say anything? Is she just going to stand there and stare at me? I’d rather she say something. Why isn’t she saying anything?’

My thoughts started to spiral as I continued to feel her gaze.

I was at a complete loss. Why was she not saying anything?

I already…

“Do you… two know each other?”

It was right in that moment that a certain voice spoke, and I turned my head to see Anne staring in our direction with a weird expression. An’as was also sporting a similar expression as they looked between the two of us.

“Well…”

I looked at Delilah before eventually nodding.

“Yes, you can say that.”

“….!”

“….!?”

Although the two already seemed to have gotten an idea due to our conversation, the moment I confirmed it to them, their expressions changed quite a bit. However, it was also in that moment that I found Delilah’s attention turning towards them, and a sudden chill swept through the air as she settled her gaze over to them.

…Or more specifically, Anne.

‘Eh…? Why is she looking at her like that?’

For some reason, the atmosphere felt cold. I wasn’t the only one who felt this way, as Anne looked like she was experiencing all sorts of things.

Seeing the two of them, I was left momentarily confused.

‘Does she hold a grudge against Anne? Why…’

“Wait. Wait.”

However, before I could figure out the reason for Delilah’s sudden change in attitude, I saw Anne raise both of her hands as she looked at Delilah.

She then turned her attention towards me.

“….?”

“I think I understand what is going on.”

She did?

Looking at her, and noticing the subtle trembling of her body, I saw her suddenly glare at me as I cocked my head in confusion.

What sort of—

“I… have someone that I like.”

“….?”

“….?”

Question marks popped on top of my head, and An’as’s. It was clear that we were both confused. She had someone she liked? Well, maybe?

We didn’t really bother asking her. It wouldn’t be strange if that were the case.

But what did that have to do with the situation?

“It’s this guy.”

Anne placed her hand on top of An’as’s head, and the atmosphere froze.

“….!”

“????”

The question marks multiplied, and An’as’s face seemed to lose all sorts of pigmentation. At the same time, Anne looked my way.

“I have no interest in the merchant. The circumstances back then were because of his skill.”

I blinked my eyes, my mind churning as I dug through Lazarus’s memories.

It was also then that my eyes slowly started to widen as realization dawned on me.

‘Oh, shit.’

My heart sank as I looked at Delilah, whose single point of focus was Anne and the frozen An’as. In the end, she still didn’t say anything as she just stared at the two of them.

For whatever reason, her mouth didn’t appear to be working today.

And yet, just her gaze alone was enough to make us understand what she meant as Anne started trembling further. I could see from the expression she was making that she was screaming things like, ‘You believe me, right? I really don’t have anything to do with this! Please believe me!’

However, even as a few seconds passed, nothing happened as Delilah remained rooted where she was, her gaze hovering over Anne.

“Kh.”

In the end, clenching her teeth, Anne pulled An’as’s head back and brought her head down, smacking her lips against his.

“….!”

Color quickly returned to An’as’s face as his eyes shot open.

I stared in shock, eyes wide and lips parted, barely able to process what I was witnessing. It felt unreal. Like my mind refused to accept it. As the agonizing seconds crawled by, Anne finally pulled her head back and released An’as. His body crumpled to the floor, limp and lifeless, like a puppet with its strings severed.

Thud!

Lying on the floor, he opened and closed his mouth repeatedly. Like a fish that was out of the water.

I wanted to react the same way, but as I slowly pulled my head up, I saw Anne slowly wipe her mouth as she looked at Delilah.

“See? T-the… two of us really love each other.”

Her face was incredibly red as she spoke.

“….”

Delilah stared at Anne for a few good moments before pulling her head away and turning her attention back towards me.

I… could only force a smile.

“I’ve seen them… do this a lot.”

An’as’s body twitched on the ground. He probably heard me, but was too stunned to even do anything. Not that he could even if he wanted to.

“I… do love him a lot, haha.”

Anne scratched the back of her head as she looked at me, her expression containing all sorts of emotions. Mostly, she looked like she was still scared shitless. I couldn’t blame her. I was just as scared of her.

“…..”

In silence, Delilah’s gaze slowly hovered towards An’as and then Anne again.

I stared at her in stunned silence for a long moment — until, without warning, she turned her gaze toward me. Her eyes locked onto mine as she pressed a hand gently over her lips, then slowly pursed them.

“…?”

My nose twitched for a brief moment, feeling her actions were a little weird.

But then…

As if she had had enough, Delilah slowly turned away and started to move into the crowd behind her.

I wanted to reach out to her but felt that it would lead to nothing.

In the end, staring at her retreating figure, I slumped down on the chair behind me as I wiped the cold sweat that had accumulated on my forehead.

‘Fuck, why do I feel way more tired than when I fought against Xa’hurl?’

…While it was technically Lazarus who fought, the mental toll and exhaustion were still on me.

I felt way more drained by her mere presence than the fight I recently had, and as I took a couple of breaths, I felt a pair of emerald eyes stare directly at me.

“You…”

It was Anne. Before I knew it, she was now standing in front of me, her face hovering right before me as she looked back toward Delilah’s retreating figure.

“What’s… your relationship with her? No…”

Anne shook her head, mumbling things like, “It’s obvious enough the relationship is not normal. There’s no way she would’ve reacted like that otherwise. ”

In the end, looking at me, she asked,

“Was that your companion?”

“What?”

I frowned, looking at her. Companion? What sort of nonsense was this? While it was true that I liked her, our relationship was quite complicated.

In fact, as of right now, that was probably the furthest thing from the truth.

I wasn’t even sure if she was fine with me.

‘In fact, she might even hate me.’

The fact that she didn’t say anything the entire time was proof of this, and just as I was about to answer, I raised my head to stare at the distant figure, who, for some reason, appeared to pause.

She was listening, wasn’t she?

In that case, she probably wanted to know my answer too.

I clenched my teeth.

Staring at her back, and then Anne, I leaned back on the chair and muttered.

“I guess so…”

By the time I looked towards the distance again, she was gone.

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