CH 399

Everything had been fine because the sea was calm and quiet. However, the story completely changed once the sails were unfurled, and the ship started moving.

“Ugh…”

In a way, one could say that Aeria’s reaction was only natural.

“I’m, I’m sorry… Ugh!”

Aeria looked like she was suffering from terrible seasickness. It was to the point that she had to cover her mouth and force herself to endure her nausea. She might be a beastfolk and had a very good affinity with spirits and nature, but that did not mean that her physical ability would become as good.

Teary-eyed, Aeria tried desperately to hide her ugly appearance from Davey. However, Davey grabbed her by the shoulder as he placed his index and middle fingers at a spot right under her ear.

“Urk!” Aeria flinched in surprise, her eyes the only ones moving.

She looked as if she had been frozen in time. She looked so surprised that both her face and her ears were dyed red. The physical contact must have been very unexpected and unfamiliar to the girl.

“There. You’re all good,” Davey said as he slowly pulled his hand away from her.

Aeria’s dazed eyes grew wide as she hurriedly tried to say something. “Ah…”

“I numbed some of your sensory organs. This would last for a while. It will probably lessen the effects of your seasickness.”

“Th, thank you.” Aeria retreated shyly. Then, her face suddenly turned curious. However, she shook her head as she patted her cheeks lightly. “Hoo…”

“If you feel uncomfortable somewhere, please tell me right away. If you pretend to be fine even if you’re not, then we might miss the perfect time to deliver treatment.”

Davey’s calm words surprised Aeria once again as she immediately scampered away. “N, no. This. Wait… What’s wrong with me?”

Aeria’s actions and behaviors made Davey realize that a gap had already started to appear because of the deletion of her memories. She was already showing a bit of distance now, but in a bit more time, her affections for him would most probably also be erased.

‘Perhaps that’s the best way.’

Seeing that her memories were being erased more precisely than he had thought, Davey thought that there would be no problem. However, the penalty was called a penalty for a reason. It was necessary for Davey to ponder what it truly meant for the things that she held dear to disappear without a trace.

No one would think that what Aeria was experiencing was simple if they could just see her expression once.

***

“Where… are we?” Aeria asked, an uneasy expression on her face.

The scene around them looked like it was a scene from hell, especially with the dark red sky above them. Although Davey could not feel much around them, he could tell where this place was.

“This is the maritime city of Valkass.”

Aeria nodded as she followed Davey. “Ah, Valkass. I also know about it well… yes?”

However, she paused in her tracks and turned stiff. Davey ignored Aeria and slowly scanned the enormous curtain that covered a portion of the city.

“Did you just say Valkass? That… Isn’t it located in the southern region of the continent…?”

“Yes. This is the very same Valkass.”

Aeria could not hide her embarrassment at that. This was because the city in front of her was in ruins. It looked like it had been hit by dozens of gigantic meteors.

“That, that can’t be… From, from what I know, it’s a peaceful and thriving city…”

“Have you ever been here?”

“Yes… I… I was told that I would be able to get medicine here that can cure my illness…” Aeria murmured sadly. “B-But just like the prince said! This is a different world. Ah… Uhmm. Even though you say that it’s a different world, it’s still a bit hard for me to understand how that works. But…”

“This is the Tionis Continent. However, the timeline is a bit different. I believe they’re living in a timeline that’s a decade or so from the timeline that we lived in. It also is a world that has plenty of other possibilities and circumstances from the world that we lived in.”

Aeria was rendered speechless for a very long time when she heard Davey’s words.

***

Davey actually did not intend to do anything in this world. This world was completely different from the world where he currently lived.

In this world, all the people around Davey had died. As for the country that was supposed to be here? It died and disappeared without even seeing the light. His only lingering attachment to this place would be Perserque, who would have been the Dark Lord, but even that was something he could not do anything about.

The ship docked on the shore, and they were able to set foot on land. But before they could even pass through half of Valkass, an unidentified curtain appeared and completely blocked Aeria from moving forward. Davey thought that he could probably get through that curtain somehow. However, it did not let him in either. It was like a referee blocking him from making a false start and pushing him back to the starting line.

Davey was someone who would not give up just like that. So, he tried to touch the curtain. And for a very brief moment, he noticed an instant change in his body. The change was similar to the effect of the activated jewel he had before, the complete synchronization of his body and soul. At least that was what he felt during the brief contact with the curtain. However, the truth was it was not really synchronized.

In the end, Davey had no choice but to bring Aeria back to the ship in regret. This was because he could not break the curtain without using a considerable amount of force.

In fact, Davey wanted to see it at least once. What was the world that Reina desperately tried to protect and how it was now? After all, her death spelled the end of the resistance. That meant there was no longer any hope for the surviving human beings here.

There was no need to explain anything to Aeria. It seemed like she opted to stay quiet and did not ask any questions for fear of Davey finding her annoying. However… to put it simply… there was nothing that they could do in this place.

They still had more than three more days left here. Since the entire city had been ruined, there was nothing to see anymore. If Davey did not speak, he felt like they would remain quiet for days on end, especially if Aeria left him alone. After all, she was someone who did not draw any attention nor asked to be paid attention to first.

“It’s called the Parallel Universe Theory. Simply put, this is the same world as ours. However, the events that happened and would happen in every world would change depending on the actions of the person in each world.”

Aeria looked confused at Davey’s words. “Then… is that really possible?”

“It’s impossible. If you choose one of the two, then the unchosen world would disappear from existence. This world is practically an illusion.”

But for some reason, this world was created. Perhaps no other case like this would exist in the wide span of the universe.

“Then, this place…”

"If you look at it closely, it's just a little irregular. But don't worry too much. This world's rules and providence are already twisted. It will probably disappear not long after."

All Davey needed to do was to protect the world that he belonged to. He did not have any reason to save or protect the rest of the worlds in existence.

"Prince Davey… You’re truly kind," Aeria said as she stared at the bonfire.

After a while, she carefully opened her mouth again. "You must have said this out of consideration for me, right?"

"It's just because I'm bored. There’s pretty much nothing we can do in this place."

Davey was just like an extremely busy person who was suddenly left with nothing to do and was left anxious. He just couldn't sit still and waste his time doing nothing. His body was in dire need of recovery, so he was circulating his mana non-stop, but that alone was not enough.

"Hehe. But I still think it’s because you’re being very considerate of me," Aeria said, sighing briefly. "You think it’s weird too, right? All of those knights are seriously injured while trying to protect me, but… I feel very much at ease just because the prince is by my side…"

"Humans will always think of themselves first before others. That’s instinct. Those that are truly selfless are extremely rare. It’s not wrong for the Imperial Princess to think that way."

It might not be the truth of one's life, but it was also not wrong. All living beings had this instinctive self-defense mechanism.

"That…" Aeria flinched, the end of her words turning into an indistinct murmur.

"Do you want to say something?"

"N-Not at all! What am I…"

"You can speak comfortably," Davey said softly.

Aeria, whose face had turned a deep shade of red, avoided Davey's gaze as she said, "Don't you find me annoying, Prince Davey?"

"What do you mean by annoying? We're on a very quiet deck, having a conversation partner is not too bad, don't you think so?"

"That, that's not what…" Aeria mumbled, her face turning even redder.

However, she could not hide how the corners of her mouth curled up. It seemed like she was strangely happy.

"Just rest for a bit more. There's nothing much we can do here anyway."

Aeria nodded quietly at Davey's words as she crouched down and buried her face in her knees.

Silence fell upon them.

And since Davey had accumulated enough fatigue to last him a lifetime, he did not resist the drowsiness that washed over him. It felt like all of his fatigue and exhaustion came together and decided that it was time to show themselves. It was like telling him, Now! This is the perfect time!

Under the gentle rocking of the ship, Davey placed an alarm magic around them to notify him of any kind of invasion and slowly fell asleep with his back against the wall.

Thud… thud…

The overly exhausted Davey, who had fallen into a dreamless sleep from which he would not wake up so easily, woke up to someone's painful moans and groans.

This ship only carried Aeria and Davey, along with the remnants of the trapped cockroaches. The cockroaches could not groan or moan, so the source of the sound was very obvious.

"Imperial Princess… Aeria?"

Search "pawread dot com" for the original.

When Davey opened his eyes, he saw her sitting by the ship's deck wall quite a distance away from him. She had her head bowed down and her hands clenched tightly on the railings near her.

"Ah… Aaaaaah…"

Seeing Aeria behave strangely, Davey slowly stood up and approached her.

“Ah… Heup… aaaaaaaaaah!” Aeria’s hands were covering her mouth tightly to stop herself from crying out loud in desperation and helplessness.

Davey had seen many sides of Aeria. However, this was the first time that he had witnessed her like this. She looked extremely unstable.

“Did you get seasick again?” Davey asked Aeria.

He thought, ‘Did the magic that I cast on her already disperse?’

But then, Aeria, who had been sobbing pitifully, jumped up from her seat and ran to where he was. Then, she buried her head in his arms.

"Aaaaaaaaah… Aaaaaaaaah!"

Davey could not help but frown when he saw her expression. Aeria looked like she was suffering immensely, which left him at a loss of what to do. Why was she suddenly acting like this?

Davey caught a glimpse of Aeria's expression when she rushed into his arms. Her expression looked quite distorted with desperation.

“What, what should I do, prince…? I feel strange… My head… Something is wrong with my head! What should I do…? What do I do… Sob, sob!”

Aeria tried desperately not to show the ugly version of herself to Davey, but she could not help but ask for help despite the tears that marred her face.

"Please calm down. What in the world is happening?" Davey handled her carefully and gently, trying to calm her down.

However, he found it hard to do so.

‘Don’t tell me...’

Davey did not want to let Aeria know about it, so he had chosen to remain silent. However, the moment he tried to speak, Aeria, who had buried her face in his chest, pushed him down. She quickly climbed on top of him, wiped the tears from her face, and pleaded, "Prince… please, I beg you… I don’t want to forget everything like this…"

"Damn it…"

Just as Davey had expected, the penalty had made Aeria aware that her most cherished memories were slowly disappearing from her head.

"I don’t want to forget. Please…! I… I can’t even remember what the prince looks like! I can’t even remember your name! I really… like you… I hold you very dear to my heart… I love you so much, but…"

Aeria's desperate cries continued, "I don’t want to forget the prince like this… I want to carry you in my heart for the rest of my life…"

This was the first time Aeria had openly and strongly expressed her intentions on her own free will, not because someone told her to. Aeria had always done her best to cover up both the good and the bad in her to avoid causing anyone trouble. But now, she had reached her breaking point. She looked like she was in terrible pain as she begged for the truth.

"My memories related to the prince are disappearing one after another… Please help me. I… I don’t want to lose my precious memories with the prince like this… There’s something weird happening to me. Please…"

"Imperial Princess, there's only one way to solve your problem," Davey said. He felt Aeria flinch above him as he continued, "And that is to nullify your resurrection."

There were two miracles. The First Moon’s Miracle had saved her life by taking away her most precious thing. So, the answer was obviously to use the Second Moon’s Miracle, the miracle that would take away her life and the penalty in exchange for her regaining all of the erased memories. There was a huge gap between them, and it was a very difficult choice to make.

"I don’t want to forget… I also don’t want to experience something as painful as dying… But what I would hate the most is to lose all memories of the prince and the moments I spent with you!" Aeria sobbed loudly as she buried her head in Davey’s chest. "If I have to live like that, then… I’d rather die with all of my memories with you…"

Then, Aeria stood up. As a member of the Nine Tails race, a race that was excellent in seduction, her eyes looked very alluring despite her sad gaze.

She looked down at Davey as she sat firmly on his stomach. Then, with familiar ease, she bent down and placed her lips upon Davey’s. Her actions were impulsive, not instinctual, and that brought about a different effect.

At the same time, nine turquoise tails popped out from beneath her skirt. The light of the dark red moon above made the tails shine more brightly and take on a reddish tint.

"I'd rather…"

Davey could hear Aeria’s way of speaking change under the desperate tone of her voice.

"...you kill me… That way, I won’t lose any more memories of you…"

"Let’s stop talking nonsense now," Davey said, trying to reason with her.

However, his words only made Aeria grab onto his collar tightly and say, "Then… I want you to leave your mark on my body. Take me… Before I forget you like this… Make sure that I remember you even if it’s just through my body…"