CH 107

Chapter 107

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King Achaia’s wish that he could pray to the silver forest once in his life. The forest did not grant his wish to satisfy his personal desires. The forest was the guardian of Achaia, and when the turbulent times came, it only accepted what was helpful in saving the kingdom.

<But isn’t your wish very personal?>

Kwanach’s arms, kneeling and touching the ground, trembled.

“Then…what should I do…….”

His voice cracked pitifully. My feelings shook in a mess as my emotions assimilated.

My guess was right. Kwanach had a heart for me since his childhood meeting, and that was why he proposed a marriage alliance.

The immense purity that lasted for two lives, the past and the present. I didn’t dare to guess the depth of Kwanach’s affection.

“Forest, please. You can take my life instead…….”

Kwanach quivered and begged. Then the voice of the silver forest rang out again.

<But it’s a little different in the case of Usphere.>

Kwanach’s gaze, which had been stuck to the ground, was slightly raised.

<Because she’s special. So her soul can’t leave and is tied to the ground.>

“……What?”

<She was born with the fate of the savior, but I couldn’t show her destiny because of the weakness of Fahar’s power. Perhaps my sister is keeping her because she thinks she’s her last hope.>

The Savior. I heard the silver forest’s voice overlapping what it said to Genesa.

<Your wish’s motive is very personal, but the child’s fate is not personal…… I’ll give you one chance.>

Kwanach couldn’t even breathe properly and was concentrating on the voice of the silver forest. I could feel his heart beating so fast.

<From your tenacity that has come so far, I wonder if this was the fate of the child.>

“Usphere….are you bringing her back to life?”

“I can’t save a dead man again.>

“Then, how…….”

<I’ll just twist the timeline. When would be a good time? Yeah, something might change when the child goes back to her awakening point. I think it’ll be fun to watch.>

“So, we’re going back in time?”

Kwanach began to lose his breath.

“If we go back to the time before she met me…… Then, I will never show up in front of her again. No, I’d rather take my life as soon as I get back so I don’t get involved with her…….”

The words that Kwanach muttered were bitterly embedded in my heart. I guess he thought I died because of him. Deep self-loathing and grief destroyed him, bringing blood to the continent.

“Because of me, because of something like me, Usphere…….”

Kwanach’s tears fell to the ground. It was a deep remorseful voice.

It was the first day he finally got married after living alone since he was a child. I died as soon as I finished the ceremony without a word of communication. It was understandable that Kwanach had collapsed.

Kwanach, who held onto his broken spirit with the thought of making a wish in the silver forest, continued the war for several years. His past life must have been terribly miserable and lonely.

<You can’t do that. No matter how many times you change the timeline, it will flow according to the existing causality until Usphere’s death.>

“Then, what should I do? I was greedy for her, and I killed her…… What face would I ever see her again?”

<Watch closely so that she won’t die this time.>

“But I failed once, and I can’t do it twice. I just can’t…….”

<Or the child could change for herself. That’s all I can do for you. I hope Uspear will achieve her destiny this time. That way, my sister’s power will come back. Now go back.>

At that moment, my vision was blackened once more. It was in the blink of an eye. And when I woke up, the surrounding landscape was completely changed.

A barracks with young slave soldiers. The messy little beds were clung together.

‘It’s the same as when I regressed…….’

The moment Kwanach’s wish was granted, we both went back a decade at the same time.

Kwanach rose from his bed and the wooden frame creaked. He looked at his body. A boy’s body that was not yet fully grown.

Young Kwanach clenched his fists and began to mumble.

“I’m back… I have to protect her this time. Never…Usphere…….”

He recited my name over and over again. The voice, which had just begun to pass through puberty, was full of tremors.

Boom! Then the old door opened violently, and a soldier with a club came in and shouted harshly.

“Everyone, come out quickly! It’s time for labor.”

The boys lying on the bed quickly moved at the man’s appearance. Everyone looked scared. There was not a smile on the faces of the children.

“Who are you to be so slow?”

When Kwanach, who was in thought, stood up slower than others, the man approached and strongly held Kwanach by the collar.

“Pull yourself together!”

He was shoved sideways like he was thrown away and his back was hit with the club. The intense pain was vividly felt in me as well.

‘After he returned, he went through all this again?’

Kwanach, who returned to slavery, must have had a miserable and painful time once again. The process of the revolution was not smooth, and it must have been with many deaths and wounds.

He may be desperate for the future he had to go through again, but the muscles of Kwanach’s mouth, walking in line, wriggled and moved. It was a faint smile.

“But then again…… I can meet you. I can protect you.….”

The little murmur was a mixture of anxiety and hope.

Afterwards, Kwanach endured a harsh time, and in a few years he came out of the stable and faced me again. In another few years, he came to me under the pretext of an alliance. And he stayed around the whole time worrying that I would die again, in a state of constant anxiety and fear.

Emotions flared up. I wanted to hold onto the ragged spirit and whisper to the boy who started his second life.

‘It’s okay. It’s not your fault.’

‘I’m sure I’ll love you. We’ll protect everything.’

At that moment, I felt like my body was scattered around. When I opened my eyes again, the silver leaves filled my vision.

“Ah….”

When I turned around, Kwanach stood with a blank expression.

“Kwanach, I, I…… I saw you.Your younger self, no, past life…….”

The moment I faced Kwanach, the emotion that had clumped in my heart exploded at once. My eyes were burning. Tears welled up before I knew it.

I was surprised at the depth of the affection when I knew that he liked me since he was young. My imagination was humble.

I felt suffocated by his greater and deeper affection than I thought. I wanted to ask what he had gone through but couldn’t.

It was terrifying to think of his heart, which had been torn to shreds many times before. I wasn’t the only one who returned. Kwanach also had all the memories of his past life. Such miserable and devastating memories.

Tears ran down my eyes.

“Usphere…”

Kwanach spoke in a rapturous voice and hugged me tightly. Being trapped in his broad arms, the tears only grew stronger.

“I saw it, too. I don’t know what happened, but your past life……. I thought you didn’t remember your past life.”

Kwanach stammered and continued. His voice was also watery.

“Why, why, why didn’t you tell me…….”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. In my past life, I’ve been to your country…… I made it like that. I was afraid you wouldn’t like me. No, I wasn’t brave enough to tell you….”

Even at this moment, Kwanach was lowering himself and asking me for forgiveness. Tragically soft and pure.

“Why would you…… How can I hate you?”

Kwanach’s hands clasped my back desperately.

“What am I going to do with someone who went so far for me…. Are you a fool?”

My voice cracked as my overwhelmed and sad heart raged violently. I lifted my face. Maybe it was ruined by tears.

Kwanach looked at me with his eyes wide open and bewildered. The rough fingertips swept my cheeks.

“Don’t cry.”

“I’m so upset…”

Then a huge voice echoed throughout the forest.

<You two came together this time.>

We hugged each other and looked around in a daze. I couldn’t see the substance, but I felt that the silver forest was talking to us.

<Kwanach came to make a wish, and Usphere came to gain strength. What will it be for this time?>

I couldn’t open my mouth for a moment because I felt it ringing in my head. I swallowed my tears and tried to calm down. While I was wrapping up my emotions, Kwanach opened his mouth first.

“I want to have a child, so I’m here to have your blessing.”

<You heard about Genesa. You two really want a lot.>

It was not a harsh tone, but a voice that seemed to gently surround us.

<But somehow I always help you. Maybe it’s because of your persistence. It was the same when you came to me with a young body. I thought maybe something could be different for you. Like Genesa.>

After returning, I clearly remembered the day when I visited the silver forest again with a desperate heart. At that time, all I wanted to do was change my second life.

<Yes, you have fulfilled your destiny, and I will allow you to have children. But the power of your awakening will not be inherited. That power belongs to the Catatels. Maybe the next Awakener is one of Jenner Catatel’s children.>

My heart leaped at the silver forest‘s words. It was a guarded place that I came just in case. Because even if things didn’t go the way we wanted them to, we tried our best.

Having a child between us would have been much more advantageous in stabilizing the next generation of the empire. Above all, I wanted to make a more noisy and harmonious family with Kwanach, who grew up lonely without knowing the concept of family.

“Ah….”

While I couldn’t speak properly to various emotions that were being overwhelmed from the inside, a group of lights suddenly floated around and the warmth permeated around me, which was filled with cold air.

I felt dazed, as if my body was being dragged beneath the ground, and the forest’s final greeting rang out.

<May the blessing of Fahar always be with you.>

With the last greeting, the flow of ambient air changed. Instinctively, I felt that the silver forest had hidden its existence again.

I and Kwanach stood dazed for a moment, then embraced each other. My body was much warmer than before. Kwanach hugged me tightly.

It took my breath away, burying my face in his broad chest. The tears I shed earlier made my eyes sting. Kwanach said, gently caressing the back of my head.

“As expected, you were the chosen one. I can’t believe I let such a person die once…….”

“It’s not your fault.”

“In my previous life, I was excited and complacent at the thought of getting you. It’s my fault.”

Kwanach told the story in a murmuring voice. In this life, he said that before the ceremony, soldiers were ambushed on every side of our way. And he got on the same carriage with me, ignoring etiquette.

It was all an attempt not to let me die this time. I remembered him being very nervous and stiff at the first meeting. It was understandable.

“How scared he must have been.’

After that, whenever I faced a crisis, he was ready to pull out his sword, afraid. At last I could fully understand his anxiety.

“Kwanach, but you brought me back to life.”

“…….”

“Tell me more. How you’ve lived, what else has happened then……. How did you feel? I thought I knew everything……I didn’t. There’s still a lot of you I don’t know. Don’t hide from me.”

I spoke in a muffled voice. I wanted to make it all transparent to Kwanach. May my affection reach him completely.

“……okay.”

Kwanach gave me a short kiss on the head as he exhaled a murky breath.

“I was born to be a savior, but if you hadn’t revived me…… It wouldn’t have worked. You saved me.”

“That’s not… No.”

“No….but after I came back to life, I changed. In my previous life, I was very weak.”

If I saved the world and the Goddess, it was Kwanach who saved me. Without Kwanach’s persistence and love, I wouldn’t have been revived.

Kwanach flinched for a moment and spoke in a dreary voice.

“But even in my previous life, I thought I was saved by you. So I have to repay you somehow…….”

I raised my buried head and made eye contact with Kwanach. Before I knew it, his eyes were red. I was overwhelmed with emotion, and the water was muddled.

I opened my mouth with a faint smile.

“Then… we saved each other.”

Kwanach stared at me in silence. But his emotions were clearly read in the flaring eyes. Now he has cleared up his anxiety, his eyes were full of deep affection.

“Will you continue to protect me?”

“Of course…”

“I’ll protect you, too.”

We hugged and took a breath for a long time, then walked out of the silver forest hand in hand. And the moment I turned my head and looked back at the forest covered with silver leaves, I was very sure.

If this man was next to me, there would be nothing I would be afraid of now. I could be complete, and we would be happy forever.

The fate that has been intertwined in two lives would never be shallow.

It would continue to be like this. We would protect each other, save each other, and love each other like that.

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