Reset Life – Chapter 237

Chapter 237: Living Like This (2)

“No, it’s not just anyone else, but you! You were the one who said it’s an outdated trend for military commanders to become rulers, yet why did you acquiesce to me becoming Emperor?! You called it an old custom! It’s not like retro is in fashion now!”

“Is that how you’re writing it?”

“Of course not!”

I can hear Levidian sigh softly. At the same time, the sound of various tools clanging against each other comes from the backpack she’s carrying.

Why is she dressed like that?

Good question! I’ll answer it!

From now on, she and I are going on a journey!

Just wait and see if I can become as absurd as this absurd situation. You’d think I’m not the type to run away from my responsibilities, right? But if it comes to this, I’m the type to run away!

I’m going to run away! I’m going to run away and come back in about 10 years! Let’s see if they can leave the Emperor’s throne vacant for 10 years!

Although the citizens of the Empire, people from other countries, the ministers, and everyone else will be dumbfounded, ah, I don’t know.

It’s none of my business!

I’m going to wander around, settle down somewhere, settle down in a faraway foreign country, and farm. I’m going to have children with Levidian and live a peaceful life.

Don’t stop me! If you stop me, I’ll hate you more than Artshever!

“If you try to find me, serious difficulties will bloom, and it will be a waste of manpower, time, and money, so hurry up and have either Hyung-nim or Father flip a coin or draw a card to take the Emperor’s throne! Hurry up! Before someone else takes it!”

“Although the language is refined, the gist is that, right?”

“Of course! You’re brilliant! Written by Arisein Herduke! Pireum omitted due to circumstances! P.S! Hyung-nim, congratulations on your daughter! P.S! Father, you’re still better suited for work! Over and out!”

Habits ingrained in my body made me fold the letter neatly, even in a hurried and agitated state, put it in an envelope, melt the wax, and even stamp it with a seal.

After scribbling ‘To Father’ on the envelope, I placed it in a conspicuous spot.

“Phew, that’s it. Now, Levidian, let’s go.”

“I’m fine with it, but…… are you really okay with running away like this? I guess I won our bet from about a year ago.”

The bet I made with her was around this time last year. It started with the question of what we would be doing around this time next year.

I said wouldn’t I be ruling Grenoian, and she said wouldn’t she be on a trip. The prize for the bet was the quite famous and childish ‘Do whatever the other person says’, I’m afraid it will be known to posterity.

I cheerfully picked up the packed backpack.

Father’s misstep is this.

The Imperial Palace is unfinished, so he’s using the old Herduke family manor as a temporary palace, and he thinks he knows all the secret passages here.

But, Father. You don’t think I told you ‘everything’ about something so important, do you? Just in case I had to sneak out again without Father knowing, there’s no way I would have told you everything.

Above all, Father, that passage is a newly built secret passage leading outside the Imperial Capital.

It hasn’t even been half a year since it was made! Mwahahaha!

According to the Imperial calendar, this year is 379. After we occupied the Imperial Capital and were dealing with the aftermath, I was already constructing this secret passage.

She was quite amused by the secret passage leading from the bathroom. She entered the passage and said with a grin.

“This is the first time I’ve left so secretly.”

“Indeed. In the past, it was definitely Levidian who would just whisk away without a word……”

“That was because I was kidnapped!”

“Yes. Let’s just say that. Anyway, I always went with friends or at least told someone where I was going. Even when I was the Imperial Irregular Secret Inspector, I didn’t leave like this.”

She glared at me with a slightly dissatisfied look, then her eyes became distant. Whenever she speaks like that, she’s always thinking of our precious friend and future daughter who left two months ago.

“I’m glad Aila…… showed us what she looked like when she left.”

“Because we won’t be able to see her again. At least, she won’t appear in the form we remember. Just like she said.”

One day, she suddenly said this.

***

“I want to go home now.”

Aila said out of the blue during our usual teatime.

At that time, I was drinking tea, and Levidian was marveling at the softness of the scones. Our modest teatime gatherings, with the three of us, had become a regular, albeit irregular, event since we settled in the Imperial Capital.

March 4th, 379 of the Imperial Calendar.

Until Father arrived, I was in charge of the remaining parts of the Empire and the repair and maintenance of the Herduke family manor.

The plan was to salvage anything useful from the ruins of the Imperial Palace, and then have the mages obliterate it all at once. Thanks to that, our manor was going to be the lodging for Father and other important figures.

The war was over, and I was starting to get tired of leisurely enjoying my daily life with nothing to do. That’s why Aila’s words were so sudden.

I tilted my head.

“Huh? What did you just say?”

“I said I need to go home. The war is over, I’ve said hello to Father, and I’ve handed over all the organizations I had, so I have no regrets. All that’s left is to go home. So, I should go home.”

Well, of course, that’s a perfectly valid reason, but so suddenly?

Levidian said with a bewildered expression.

“That’s too sudden, isn’t it?”

“It’s not that sudden. I’ve been singing ‘I’m going home~. I want to go back~.’ ever since the war ended. Now that there’s not much to help with and everything is done, I should go home. I’ve been away for too long. I miss my mom and dad. I’m sure things are back to normal now. Sob.”

She acted like a lonely maiden suffering from homesickness, dabbing at her eyes. For a moment, I felt a bitterness in the tea I had just taken a sip of, and I almost gagged.

I grabbed a scone and ate it to suppress the nausea, then said to her.

“Then go see people. If you use your information gathering skills, you should be able to find out where everyone is. To be precise, you just need to find Lucy, right?”

“Ah, I already finished that. I made them dream of me. Hehe. Everyone must have had a peaceful night.”

“Indeed, I hope they didn’t have any nightmares. It must have felt like sleep paralysis.”

“Yeah. I did something I couldn’t do to Joey.”

Now she’s even doing dream manifestation? As expected, superpowers are amazing.

Levidian looked quite flustered.

“Then when are you going?”

“Huh? Ah, tonight.”

“What?!”

This time, I was surprised.

Hey, why are you so drastic? Huh? Will lightning strike from the sky if you’re not drastic? You didn’t even look injured except for the final battle at the Imperial Palace!

“T-tonight? Isn’t that too soon? Risel and I need to prepare ourselves mentally.”

“Do it now. Ah, I’m going to eat dinner before I go. I’m going to eat a hearty meal and leave. Jumping between parallel dimensions is such a tough job, so I need to eat well.”

“But can you go back properly?”

“Yes! I’ve already calculated how to get back when I came here. And I have permission. I asked Lynin through Namia, and they said they wouldn’t stop me from leaving. Ah, if only the gods would pay a little attention to someone like me.”

She shook her head regretfully, but my heart felt heavy.

I knew this would happen, but now that the day has come, my heart feels heavy. She spoke as if she was just visiting a friend’s house and going back, but she won’t change her mind.

I know her.

“Whew, thinking about it, I’ve really been through a lot. It was easier when I first met Risel. Strangely, things kept piling up after that, and by the time the kingdom was founded, I was so swamped with work that I thought I was going to die. Later, I was doing both mental and physical labor. Even though I’m competent, this is the first time I’ve been so blatantly overworked. If it wasn’t for Risel, I would have already been blown away to the other side of the Sair River.”

“That’s right. Yes…… I’m grateful for that. I wouldn’t have been able to come this far without you. Thinking about it, it’s because of you that I am where I am today. Although it’s Levidian’s place, if you weren’t born as my daughter, I would have proposed to you.”

“Well, that could have happened. I really didn’t understand your relationship. I thought of you as a rival. But later, I understood. A daughter…… It’s still hard to believe.”

Levidian shrugged. From the first time I saw her, I knew instinctively that Aila could be nothing more or less than a friend. Objectively speaking, she’s a really good woman, a woman it wouldn’t be strange to propose to.

It has been proven that my instincts are quite useful at times like this. A daughter, I still can’t believe it.

Aila laughed merrily, as if she found it amusing.

“Really? Wow, I’ve overcome many dangerous crises. Hehe! Well, anyway, I’m going to end my life here today. This place will now flow peacefully with Risel here, and the place I lived will also flow peacefully, even though there might be some hardships. And I’ll live acting cute between my mom and dad. Ah, it’s going to be such a happy life.”

“But Aila, I’ve always been curious. How old were you when you crossed over?”

“Old enough to be called an aunt rather than a sister or older sister when my younger sibling is born. Anything more is a secret! You two should work hard and try to have me first and then try for a second child. Then you’ll naturally know the time, and besides, if there’s only one daughter, there will be problems with succession, right? It’s just a prediction, but the first child will be a bit mature, so she’ll be a motherly older sister who warmly embraces her younger siblings instead of the mother who’s busy playing with the dad. For the younger brother, she’ll be the ideal woman. Uhuhut.”

“The child’s mental health is a problem.”

“You’re telling me.”

“H-hey, you guys-! Even when I’m giving you a blessing!”

Was that a blessing just now? I’m sorry. I thought it was a curse.

I chuckled and shook my head. Yes. Our relationship is truly an ‘unspeakable’ one. A strange relationship where exchanging heartfelt words while laughing and joking suits us best.

In the life I was reborn into, there were always two people present during the most enjoyable times. Levidian and Aila. And today, I have to let go of one of them.

To a different world that I can never see again.

It’s the path back to the home she longed for for over 20 years, the place she yearned for so much. So let’s bless her. It’s sad, regretful, and there are lingering feelings, but as a friend, it’s my duty to wish her all the best on her journey, right?

It’s something to be happy about, of course.

But I was crying.

“Ah……”

“Oh my, are you crying?”

It’s sad. It’s damn sad.

Just like she said, I only gave her hardship as a friend, there weren’t many happy times, and when she says she’s leaving, I can only let her go.

I should have treated her better. I should have said more to her. Now I can’t say anything! So I should have said more……

“Sob……!”

It’s a shame, because I can’t see her anymore.

It’s sad, because I can’t meet her again.

It’s frustrating, because I can’t talk to her anymore.

Damn it……! We should have talked more. We should have had more fun times.

I should have treated her better, so that it wouldn’t be so sad, so that it wouldn’t be so regretful!

“Risel, don’t cry. It’s not like I’m dying.”

“There’s…… no difference. Damn it! What’s the difference?”

“There is a difference. You definitely won’t be able to see me anymore, and I won’t be able to see you either, but we can be happy in our memories. And another me, who is not me, will be born. Then you’ll be able to receive a lot of joy from that me.”

“I……! I……!”

I can’t speak. My throat is choked up. It’s too sudden! Give me at least a week, no, three days! Let’s have a little more fun. Let’s have a little less regretful time!

“Risel, calm down. The reason I’m saying this is because I know myself well enough to know that if you told me not to go, I really wouldn’t go. I really like you. I like Ibi-unni too. I love you all so much. I’ve spent a lot of time with you, and I consider it a great happiness to have met such good people that I can boast about anywhere. But if I get caught up in that happiness and can’t go where I should be, that would be a sin. Risel, if you tell me not to go, I’ll stay here. If it means everyone can be happy, I’ll do as you say. I can’t refuse that. Even now, I…… regret saying I’d go back.”

I raised my head. Crystal-like tears were falling from her golden eyes. She was also regretful. She was deeply saddened by this parting.

She opened her trembling lips.

“But I have to go home. That’s where I lived, and that’s where I need to go back to be normal. It’s where I have to live. Sob. It’s funny, isn’t it? I want to live here. I want to be between Risel and Ibi-unni, envy them, tease them sometimes, mediate when they fight, and live a truly happy and fun life together. But that’s wrong. Your love and attention should go to another me, not me. I can’t take that away. And if that child is there, I can’t be there. You’ve experienced it too, Risel. At least, that child and I won’t be able to like each other.”

That’s right. I know that terrible sense of alienation. That sense of unity that inevitably makes us recognize each other. The moment of love and hate, struggling with self-loathing and affection.

I can’t put my child, my friend, through that.