97 – Dolce (sweet, soft)

I thought I had finished preparing my heart, but for some reason my lips didn’t open easily.

Look at the eyes that twinkle like stars. What answer are you waiting for?

Amidst the strange silence, Evan, still avoiding our gaze, let out a quiet breath.

The sound of muddy breathing disappears, buried in the sound of the wind… In the still unchanging scenery,

It was as if the cry of an insect urged him to confess.

“…Evan?”

Evan did not respond to Irene’s words. Are you not ready yet?

While calmly clearing out her voice, she gently pulled Irene’s hand before long.

As if to follow her, Irene didn’t say anything as she gently pulled her hand.

As she quietly walked along the shore of the lake, she just waited quietly for Evan to say something.

Irene’s eyes turned to Evan. What was she trying to say

Many thoughts came to her mind, but Irene couldn’t be sure of any of them.

To be precise, it was because she was vaguely afraid of what she would do if she had hopes for nothing and then collapsed.

If it’s just your own expectations, if each other’s thoughts are subtly out of sync. So I refrained from talking to her.

As they walked across the dirt floor, which was occasionally trodden by stones that protruded from it, they played in silence until someone spoke first.

Sue-

The wind that blows creates gentle ripples on the shore of the lake.

A bird sitting on a rock above the lake was reflected by the moon and cast a shadow.

After a while, it flew towards the sky with a fluttering sound. So again, the wind blows.

The wind that tickled the tip of her nose was dry. The humid air of summer disappeared before I knew it, and the cool autumn wind wrapped around the two of them.

The leaves were still green, but they were slowly changing inside.

Change, Evan thought as he looked at the leaves blowing in the wind.

Speaking of her, she couldn’t have the slightest idea of how she would change in the future.

If rejected, will she be able to continue to be Irene’s escort knight?

She didn’t like herself at all for thinking like this, but it was a legitimate fear.

Because she didn’t have the heart to die with a few rejections. Evan wanted to think a little more.

However, even so, I couldn’t back down any longer. The fight against extinction continues.

I might go back and forth between life and death like I did when fighting Viltain, and it’s hard to wait until all these fights are over.

I couldn’t tell when that time would be. If not today, when will it be next?

Evan looked at Irene, who was still holding her hand, and smiled lightly.

I wonder if she noticed that she was nervous. There’s nothing more ridiculous than having your thoughts caught before you even confess.

Slowly calming his heart, Evan looked up at the sky.

There was a star. Looking at the star that conveyed various impressions, before long, she quietly opened her mouth.

“…Sometimes I have an idea.”

Irene’s eyes turned to Evan. Clouds completely gone,

Evan’s eyes shimmered in the moonlight for a moment.

What are the emotions tangled in those eyes? However, I do not know

Irene silently looked at her Evan and shut her mouth.

Evan smiled at Irene’s gaze,

Interlocking her fingers, she waved her hand lightly and then she spoke again.

“Actually, I wondered if all of this was a dream. Being there like this, looking into each other’s eyes, and the memories that I thought of as memories. In fact, it is just a fantasy, and there are times when I wonder if I will wake up from this dream someday.”

“…That can’t be.”

“Even though I know it. Even though the transmitted body temperature cannot be false, sometimes I feel that vague fear. I was afraid that if I closed and opened my eyes, everything would disappear, and that I would go back to that time when I was miserable… and I didn’t even want to think about it again.”

Irene was a story from the unknown past.

What kind of thoughts would she have upon hearing her story?- Evan quietly twisted the corner of her mouth.

The words he was speaking were not lies. It was true that sometimes she thought that.

Perhaps the four years she spent here were just delusions.

She was still lying curled up in that single room,

Couldn’t she just fall asleep reading her novel and swim in an eternal dream?

She did, but she also knew that wasn’t the case.

Too much time has passed, I have met too many people,

It was to the point where I doubted that this world was in a novel itself.

This place was already a world to him. There was someone I loved, and there was someone precious to me.

It was such a lovely world that he was willing to give his own life, so Evan was able to erase that doubt before long.

“There was a time when I just thought that way.”

Maybe that’s why I can’t let go of this hand.

To Evan, Irene was a person that no words could describe.

It was precious, loved, and everything at the same time.

A person who proves that this world exists, a person who realizes that he or she is in reality, not a fantasy,

And. When I was in touch like this, he was the one who made me feel happy more than ever.

As her hand gripped her pods, Irene quietly wrapped Evan’s hand in her other hand. She

She was shaking. Are you anxious? You might think she was nervous, but

Irene could tell that Evan was slightly uneasy.

What are you afraid of? If you are thinking about your previous death.

As Irene was about to open her mouth, Evan smiled again and opened her mouth.

“However, I don’t think so anymore.”

Her hands no longer trembled. Maybe even if Irene let go of this hand,

I was sure Evan wouldn’t be anxious anymore. She met someone who cried for her.

Evan quietly wiped Irene’s eyes. She didn’t cry, but Irene slowly leaned against her at the gentle touch.

What kind of emotion did she feel when she saw Irene holding onto her red eyes and telling her not to leave.

She’s more than relieved to stop her tears,

Forever. She felt the urge to wipe away those tears herself.

It was a selfish idea. It was a desire, a thought that could be called ugly.

However, he himself did not deny that. She didn’t want to let go of her hands on her waist.

This is not anxiety or obsession, Evan quietly recalled the name of this emotion.

Obviously, it was love.

Leaning against her chest, Irene pursed her lips.

Because Evan didn’t know what the hell she was talking about.

Even as her face was swept away like this, she couldn’t bear to look at that smiling face.

The feeble passion mixed with her voice touched her heart.

What does it mean to say that you are anxious, but not anymore?

In the silence that lasted for a while, Irene finally met her gaze and pursed her lips.

“…I don’t know what you mean.”

“It’s a complaint. It used to be like that, but now it’s just meaningless talk.”

Irene slightly moved away from Evan and slightly frowned at her.

Since you still keep saying things you don’t know why, why are you talking about meaningless things with Yije?

However, for a person who talks meaninglessly, Evan’s expression looked very serious.

His eyes were on the sky. To be precise, it was towards the stars, the stars embedded in the scattered darkness.

“Byeol, didn’t you say you didn’t like it?”

“…Was like that before.”

Because the star looked lonely. Evan added his words and slowly looked up at the sky.

Curiously, even though he remembered his younger brother, no other emotions rose.

Without regret, sorrow, or remorse. Isn’t it just an impression that the sky looks beautiful?

“Isn’t it now?”

“It just looks pretty.”

“Put.”

Hearing that he looks pretty, Irene looked at Evan with her mouth covered by her sudden burst of laughter.

Evan was embarrassed and scratched his cheek. She could have been so he had to laugh.

In my opinion… I’ve been through this and that, and my thoughts have changed.

However, he couldn’t explain the reason in detail, so Evan soon shrugged his shoulders and ignored his words.

Cook cook, Irene looked at Evan and hid a smile.

It was rare to see Evan so shy,

Irene’s hair, which had been laughing quietly, fluttered in the sudden wind.

Her wavy hair blended into a cluster of lights. Hwiyeongcheong The rising moon.

She closed her eyes to the solid light shining on the shore of the lake, and only then did she realize that the wind blowing was warm.

It’s warm. A pleasant warm breeze that is neither hot nor humid like a summer breeze, nor a bit cool like an early autumn wind.

When she opened her eyes to something brushing her cheek, Irene opened her eyes wide at the completely changed scenery.

White petals and clusters of flowers that grow up to your waist and cover your field of vision.

From noble mtl dot com

“…Ah.”

When the pure white dress blended with the flowers and shone, Irene was embraced by the pure white light beating down the surroundings.

A vast hill, a hill full of white roses, was surrounded by brilliant light.

As she was staring blankly at the tree that rose up in the middle of the hill, Irene was slightly startled by her voice in her ears and her shoulders trembled.

“This is my favorite place. In the past… It’s a place I’ve been to many times.”

“I heard you came a lot. Was there a place like this around?”

“Nothing like that. Because it doesn’t exist now.”

It was the same for Evan to stare blankly at a tree growing up on the hill.

However, rather than surprise or bewilderment, her eyes were a mixture of pure wonder and joy.

The hill was a familiar place. It was a place I came to a lot even when it wasn’t Evan Fried,

Because it was a place I saw in the world of images. Approaching the tree and touching the branch, Evan smiled lightly.

The flower on that hill wasn’t a rose, but the scenery the siren showed was more romantic than I thought.

The sky she saw with her brother was a starry sky, but now it was just a cloudless blue sky.

The sunlight pouring down on the surroundings, and the roses and Irene shining in the light.

Evan, who was still blankly looking at Irene around her, eventually approached her and quietly held her hand.

Irene just looked around her, unaware that Evan had held her hand.

Surroundings changed like magic.

I’ve experienced this before, but isn’t it too unusual a sight to get used to at once?

Irene, who was staring blankly at the scenery around her that had changed in an instant, moved her lips.

“…It’s pretty.”

“……”

“Looks like you don’t have a piano. Play, I wanted to hear it one more time.”

Seeing Irene looking at her surroundings with regret, Evan let out a smirk.

If I knew what kind of performance the performance was, what would Irene answer?

The tension that had been pressing on her shoulder had long since disappeared. If she’s going to say something, it probably is now.

However, Evan did not open her mouth right away. Don’t be in a hurry, slowly. Naturally.

She was just looking at the sky while sitting side by side on a hill lined with roses, in a very small empty space, but Irene felt happy just by that.

It was nice to be close together in this cramped space, with our bodies touching each other.

Touching the corners of her slightly raised mouth, Evan opened her mouth as she watched the white petals fluttering like butterflies in the sky.

“When I was young, it was my dream to build and live in a place like this. I wanted to make a swing in the tree and sit in her chair at night and count the stars in the sky.”

“It is unexpectedly romantic. It’s a little… it seems trivial.”

With her slightly questioning gaze, Evan quietly met Irene’s eyes.

It’s trivial. She was sometimes praised as a hero of national salvation,

She used to hear the pianist of the century even before she did. However, that dream did not go away easily.

She found happiness in little things.

Because trivial things were more difficult for her to achieve than anything else.

In the past and now. Maybe it won’t change my mind in the future.

“Do you have a dream, young lady? Whatever she wants to do.”

“Well…I’m still too busy to think about that.”

Her dream, Irene shook her head as she buried her face in her lap.

That was just a luxury. I don’t know if everything is over

I thought it was too much to think about the future in the current situation.

Evan looked at her blankly, then quietly opened her mouth.

“I have many. What I want to do and what I want to see.”

“I see, what is that?”

Holding her hand, Irene asked with her eyes sparkling. Her blue eyes rippled like the sea.

Blue ripples alone in these pure white waves, but I like it. Evan spoke slowly.

“I want to sleep all day. To go to bed in the morning and wake up the next morning, then sleep all night until sleepy.”

“What is that?”

As Irene smiled, Evan, who smiled softly along with her, raised his eyebrows.

Everything is sincere, but aren’t these trivial things sometimes the happiest than anything else?

However, she didn’t seem to believe it, and instead of saying anything about it, she continued to open her mouth.

“I want to put 3 sugar cubes in my coffee and stir them, and sometimes I want to go out on a snowy day and make a big snowman. It wouldn’t be bad for her to go to the imperial palace and play an impromptu song without sheet music, and it wouldn’t be bad to stay alone in the spacious mansion and wander around as if exploring.”

“…Looks like a child.”

“When spring comes, I want to fall asleep buried in the fluttering flowers. In summer, I want to leave my body in the flowing river and flow as it is. In autumn, it would be okay to enjoy eating and drinking under the autumn leaves, and in winter, buying warm clothes would not be bad.”

But in the meantime, if there’s one thing you wish for. Evan closed her mouth as she added her words.

Looking at Irene, feeling her hand touching, little by little, I approached the woman sitting next to her.

And when they got so close that their foreheads could touch each other. Evan quietly whispered in his reddened ear.

“I wish there was a young lady next to him.”

Evan didn’t let go of his flinching hand.

Because if there was anything I needed to enjoy the act, it was you.

Because I had a vague fear that if I lost this hand, I would lose it forever. Evan opened his mouth again.

“When it rains, I want to hold an umbrella by her side. When it snows, I want to hold her body between the snow and cover her with her body heat. In the spring, I want to drink tea together in the flower garden, and in the summer, I want to see each other in the cold water.”

“At, half.”

Irene’s voice trembled. It took her a lot of time to accept what she was hearing.

And when she finally figured out what that meant, she said what Evan was doing to me.

As soon as she realized that she was talking her heart out, her heart started beating.

Her heart thumped. The heat enveloped her rising body, and she let out a quick breath as if she had contracted a fever.

But she couldn’t escape. It was because Evan, who was holding her gripped wrist, was approaching me with a smile.

Confession? She had imagined it, but she couldn’t come to her senses at this sudden situation.

The words stuck in my ears one by one pierced my heart. And it melted softly, and it seemed to wrap her heart sweetly like chocolate.

White roses fluttered and wrapped around Evan. Like the pouring sunlight,

Evan, who at once removed the darkness that covered the lakeside, was a light.

No, it must be that only he sees it that way.

“… I thought she would be okay just by being around.”

Evan murmured. At first, she thought she would be content with just being by her side.

Because she herself was the one who would leave someday. Even if it did reach her, there was a high possibility that she wouldn’t be able to connect.

But as time goes on, her heart grows bigger and she becomes greedy beyond control.

Now, for the rest of my life, I won’t just be by my side as an escort knight. She wanted to be a one-woman man.

“But it wasn’t.”

At Evan’s words, Irene quietly met his gaze.

He was smiling, but on the other hand, his eyes were slightly trembling.

What she was afraid of, Irene could vaguely understand.

What he is going to say next. But his mouth was not opened,

Because my beating heart still won’t allow me to answer.

All Irene could do was look at her quietly while holding her hand.

“I don’t want to let go. Just being around is no longer enough.”

Evan added with a wry smile.

“It’s all the lady’s fault.”

“…Ah, no-“

“Do you know what song I played before? It was the second song I played.”

Irene shook her head. She always had her doubts about the name of the song because she hadn’t always answered well about the song’s name.

But now you’re asking about it. As Irene tilted her head,

Evan opened her mouth cautiously, looking up at the sky.

“…It’s a serenade. That song.”

“Serenade ramen-“

“That’s right, a love song.”

A little embarrassed, Evan kissed his cheek, and Irene looked at her Evan with her mouth slightly open.

Although she thought the song she heard was strange,

I couldn’t have imagined that the music at that time would be like that.

What is the feeling of finally knowing a song you’ve been curious about for three years? Irene slowly raised her hand and covered her mouth.

To cover the reddened cheeks, and the joyous mouth.

Evan did the same, so she tried to catch her breath slowly so as not to stutter her words.

“I love you, lady.”

I couldn’t tell what words were leaking from my throat.

The words came out much faster than he thought and without the slightest hesitation, and Evan himself did not feel the words.

She was like that, but maybe she could have been a little bolder.

I thought it was quite insufficient to express that I just like this feeling.

This heart that tickles hotter than you like it, more than you like it.

It made new words come out of Evan’s mouth.

“No, I love you. Irene.”

Evan didn’t laugh anymore. She was more serious than ever.

Her heart, straddling the precarious boundary, was shaking precariously, as if it would be destroyed if it went wrong even a little.

I love you. However, if this heart was rejected, Evan laughed inwardly.

I felt sorry for Irene, but it was probably going to collapse.

She might wander all her life, trapped in an uncontrollable abyss, in invisible darkness.

However, because he was so desperate, Evan’s eyes contained more emotions than ever before.

After a moment of silence, Irene pondered for a moment what she should say in this situation.

“…Evan.”

However, her worries did not last long. Irene looked at Evan.

Confession, maybe it wasn’t today, so she didn’t expect it.

Maybe that’s why, the reason my heart beats while making my presence known.

As I spent countless hours, I thought that one day this day would come.

In that case, what should I say in response? Should I accept lightly?

Or, she pondered over and over again as to what to answer at length.

But she hadn’t already decided that she would answer him.

Her tiny hands wrapped around Evan’s neck. Her covered body,

The scent of roses tickling Evan’s nose was not the scent created by the flowers around him.

When I stare blankly at Irene at the enchanting scent that makes her spirit faint at the moment,

Irene, sitting on top of Evan, smiled lightly.

“Me too.”

“…Irene.”

“Since the day you played for me at Siren, no. From the moment we first met and asked if I was okay…”

At a distance where it was almost impossible to touch, at a distance where each other’s noses could barely touch each other, Irene whispered softly.

“She must have been in love with you.”

The overlapping bodies, the lips facing each other collided and began to gently embrace each other.

Now that she has confirmed her heart, she has finally revealed her hidden heart.

The sunlight, brighter than ever, surrounded the two of them. The wind blew and the petals fluttered.

A green garden with no people, a huge tree towering over green grass, and white roses.

The roses in full bloom sang. Stars have white keys, and darkness has black keys.

A period is finally stamped on the staff paper called a pure white rose.

Now the garden, where two people’s aria resound instead of one person’s serenade, sways as if dancing to the melody,

Like that, love greeted the untimely spring.

With nothing more warm and pleasant wind.

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