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Despite her strangeness, Raeyan had grown accustomed to being with her. It was strange that even though they lived together in the same house, it didn’t feel uncomfortable.
Moreover, after living so fiercely just to survive, it had been a long time since he lived a daily routine without any particular thoughts or obligations.
However, it wasn’t all peace and quiet.
Once, while cooking, he suddenly heard a scream and rushed to the kitchen only to find flames shooting up from the frying pan.
“…….”
“My eggs!”
Raeyan calmly extinguished the fire. Lili, on the other hand, looked down in despair at the burnt eggs.
“That was the last egg…..”
True to her word, all that was left was a bit of meat and a few vegetables. Lili was in no condition to cook, overcome with grief.
Reluctantly, Raeyan tried to cook, but the result was disastrous.
“I-It’s delicious.”
“Leave it.”
“It’s delicious!”
Meat and vegetables should’ve been a combination that couldn’t fail, but he had managed to pull it off.
Lili forced herself to eat the dish with a forced smile.
Raeyan, while reluctantly eating his own tasteless cooking, pondered.
‘Maybe I should study cooking.’
After all, there might be occasions in the future where cooking would be necessary. Raeyan was momentarily surprised by his own thoughts.
It was ridiculous. There was no telling how long this strange life would last.
And that time came sooner than expected.
A week later, as Lili examined Raeyan’s wounds, she spoke with a satisfied expression on her face.
“Now, I think you’re all healed.”
She was right, the wound had healed long ago. All of his power had returned. But Raeyan had never mentioned it to her.
‘Why?’
He asked himself but couldn’t find an answer.
Raeyan narrowed his eyes as he looked at Lili, who was smiling affectionately.
“…….No.”
“Hmm?”
“It hurts.”
She would stay by his side until he was fully recovered. So as long as he was still in pain, she couldn’t leave.
As he thought, Lili looked at him with concern. Meeting those pale pink eyes that held only him, Raeyan couldn’t have been more satisfied.
‘I still don’t know enough about her.’
That was why he couldn’t let her go.
During his time spent with Lili, Raeyan had learned a few things about her.
Lili. He didn’t know her exact age, but she seemed older than him. Estimated to be in her early twenties. A skilled mage who handled elements exceptionally well. Her cooking skills were not bad, but if it’s not her main dish, it’s mediocre. She seems prideful, but surprisingly, her self-esteem is low. When praised, she quickly smiles like a puppy.
And….. her smiling face looks beautiful.
Even though he was vaguely aware that these weren’t just observations to glean information from the other person, he tried to deny it.
Time passed quickly, and he grew more and more anxious.
Because he couldn’t use the excuse of being in pain forever.
‘Should I pretend to make a mistake and get injured?’
Even such an extreme thought crossed his mind.
He went to the kitchen to light a fire with the intention of actually burning himself, but just as he was about to stick his hand in the flames, he made eye contact with Lili, who had come running out.
“What are you doing at this time of night?”
“Just…….”
“Come here.”
“…….”
“Come here. Raeyan Vietan.”
Drawn by the voice that even called him by his forgotten last name, Raeyan followed her.
It was an irresistible command.
After the incident that night, Lili started sticking closer to him, watching him closely. But instead, Raeyan welcomed that surveillance.
Until one day.
Lili entered his room with a serious expression.
“Raeyan.”
“Yes?”
“I can’t stay here for much longer.”
Upon Lili’s declaration, Raeyan simply looked at her in silence.
“I have to go,” she continued.
“Don’t go.”
Raeyan grabbed Lili’s hand, surprising himself with his own actions.
The fact that he had blurted out “Don’t go” and reached out to grab her hand, he didn’t consciously realize what he was doing when it was happening.
Once it was said aloud, the next step was easy. He tightened his grip on Lili’s hand and pleaded with her further.
“……..Don’t go.”
“Now that you’ve recovered, it should be okay, right?”
“No, it’s not okay. It hurts,” he insisted, his voice catching in his throat.
“It’s okay. You can live well.”
“No, I can’t. I can’t do anything now.”
He felt like he had lost everything. He thought that his emotions had dried up and he couldn’t be happy anymore.
A seedling that had sprouted from a barren wasteland with sunshine and water.
Raeyan realized that he could no longer return to his past self.
But she was cruel. Despite his pleas not to go, she insisted on saying goodbye.
“When I leave, open the drawer in the living room. It will be helpful.”
“But where are you going if you leave? “
‘If I hold onto her, she won’t be able to leave.’
With such a simple, desperate thought, Raeyan embraced Lili.
She sadly smiled and took something out of her pocket, still wrapped in his embrace. And then…
“Lili!”
Her body began to gradually fade away.
For a brief moment, Raeyan saw what Lili had taken out.
It was definitely a sealing stone. Although it was unknown what kind of sin it was.
“Take care, Raeyan. Don’t be in pain.”
“I told you, I am in pain. If you leave, I’ll be in even more pain!” He cried out brokenly.
The excuse of being in pain was no longer effective.
“We’ll meet again, someday.”
Leaving behind those uncertain words, Lili disappeared.
Just as she had suddenly appeared one day, she suddenly disappeared one day.
***
Since that day, Raeyan’s life goal had changed.
According to his mother’s last words, urging him to survive, he had lived because he shouldn’t die. Now, he would live on his own will.
He had to live so that he could find her.
‘It was certainly the Seal Stone of Pride.’
The ability to transcend time and space. Raeyan realized that Lili had traveled through time and space to meet him.
‘From where did she come to meet me?’
He made endless efforts to find traces of her.
But he couldn’t find anything.
All he had left was the huge sum of money she had left him and the house. She hadn’t been kidding when she said she’d bought the house.
Several years had passed.
No matter how much money he spent, he couldn’t find any traces of a person named Lili.
Raeyan speculated that she might not belong to the present era.
He became anxious.
What if he goes on like this and never finds her until the end of his life?
What if the place she came from is in the distant past, or maybe thousands of years in the future……?
Raeyan had nothing to lose.
His family was dead, his lineage had perished, and that precious person had disappeared.
Using his ability to hide in the shadows, he infiltrated the Severes family. His goal was the sealing stone that existed in the Severes family at that time.
The ability of pride is immortality. He paid the price for immortality and was cursed by Irkala.
Another year passed.
Now, he couldn’t tell if his goal in this life was revenge or rebuilding his family.
He blindly searched for the woman who had turned his life upside down and disappeared, Lili.
No one knew her anymore. In the meantime, the Apellites had fallen, leaving only four great families.
The men of Angellus who had destroyed Vietan were dead, and the family name had been passed down.
‘Now, who should I seek revenge against?’
After wandering the world aimlessly, Raeyan returned to Somnia. Now, there was no one who recognized him even if he didn’t conceal his appearance.
During his lifetime, Raeyan used the money left by Lili to establish a mercenary group and gained fame, becoming an emperor’s hound.
He knew that one day he would need his own forces to rebuild his family.
One day, while carrying out missions assigned by the emperor, Raeyan encountered a lady in the streets of Somnia.
Lili.
It was Lili.
Despite wearing a dazzling dress instead of her modest attire from the past, he could recognize her.
“Lili.”
“What?”
When Raeyan blocked her path and called out to her, she looked at him once and walked past without a word.
‘This isn’t the time.’
Since he didn’t know when she had gone back to the past, he couldn’t approach her. Raeyan could only observe and wander around.
Lili, or Elodie Perdia, formerly always smiling, now always wore an anxious expression.
She seemed like a different person. She appeared unhappy.
Raeyan conducted background research on Elodie and received information that she was an illegitimate child of the Perdia family.
But since he couldn’t do anything, he could only wait.
It was when Raeyan briefly left Somnia under the emperor’s orders and returned.
The servant assigned to watch over Elodie reported.
“She’s dead.”
“What?”
“Elodie Perdia is dead.”
Elodie was dead.
***
He had lost his life’s goal.
Raeyan stood in front of Elodie’s grave. Rain poured down mercilessly.
“…….”
Could it have been someone else?
Perhaps it wasn’t Lili.
It was when he stood there endlessly that he felt a slight presence behind him.
A while later, a woman appeared who astonishingly resembled Elodie.
“You must be a descendant of the Vietans.”
As soon as she saw Raeyan, she recognized his identity.
“A long time ago, you met my daughter.”
“You are Lili’s biological mother?”
“I am.”
The woman calmly replied and placed a single flower on Lili’s grave.
“Why did you let her die?”
“It was all for the sake of this world. Even this time, I couldn’t protect anything in the end.”
He couldn’t make out what she was saying, but Raeyan listened.
“This world will soon perish. I am planning to abandon it.”
“…….”
“I will turn back time, and send my child’s soul to another dimension, to escape the eyes of Irkala.”
“…….”
“If this child is to return to this world one day, someone will have to bring her back. May I ask you to play that role?”
“How can I do that?”
“I’ll give you the Seal Stone of Pride.”
She handed Raeyan the Seal Stone of Pride. He had seen it before. It was the one Lili had used to leave him one day.
“Don’t be fooled by the sin. The owner of the Seal Stone can wield the power of sin partially, without any cost.”
The woman left Raeyan with a few words of warning.
“Finding my child won’t be easy. In this vast universe, countless dimensions exist, and among them, my child is living.”
“I understand.”
“Do you think you can do it?”
“Yes.”
He could do it. If Lili could come back to life, he could do anything. Even if he had to crawl like a dog or lick filth, he would willingly do it.
Raeyan clenched the Seal Stone of Pride tightly.
“I will turn back time and arrange a safe place for the child in a new world. That child will be the savior who will save this world.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“I am the Librarian of Ishtar. I can foresee the future.”
She smiled and bid him farewell.
“Be careful on your journey.”
***
Raeyan traveled through time, space, and dimensions.
Everything was a journey to find Elodie.
( T/N: Okay at this point he deserves the girl, sorry 2nd Ml.)
He encountered countless civilizations, wandered through innumerable places, but couldn’t find the person he desired.
It had been a long process.
In one dimension, he witnessed a world where Elodie’s birth mother failed. Elodie died there, without fail.
Raeyan could only watch.
***
Another dimension.
Yet another dimension.
After a long and arduous journey, Raeyan finally arrived.
Seoul, South Korea.
“Yoon Ga-eul! Hurry up!”
“I’m on my way, idiot.”
Where her soul resided.