Chapter 140

The texture of the fabric was cool and lacked warmth. In his sleep, his hand fumbled for the spot next to him and then stopped.

“…!”

He was instantly wide awake. Ramande shot up and looked at the space next to him.

His wife was gone.

He immediately scrambled out of bed and looked around the room, but besides himself, there was no one else to be seen.

Ramande, with trembling hands, put on his outer garment.

‘Where did she go, no…’

He shook his head.

More than his wife leaving, he was terrified that everything he had experienced until now was just an illusion.

That’s when it happened.

“Ramande?”

Someone was pulling back the curtains on the balcony and stepping inside.

“What’s wrong, honey?”

At her words, the tension left him. Ramande, who had been standing rooted to the floor, ran to her and hugged her tightly as if he hadn’t just been frozen in place.

“Haah.”

Only when the warmth of her body filled his arms could he finally breathe.

She, who had been suddenly embraced, was bewildered but patted Ramande’s back and asked,

“Did you have a nightmare?”

“…Just. You weren’t there…”

“So you were surprised? Afraid I’d go somewhere without you?”

Ramande simply shook his head, burying his face in her soft, pale pink hair.

Even after taking off his priestly robes and having a wedding, the anxiety that this might be a dream still lingered.

He still couldn’t completely believe it.

That he had traveled back in time.

* * *

Right after Minuelle and Esadien’s wedding.

Despite Minuelle’s insistence that he could stay, Ramande headed for Sermender.

He thought he could endure it, and he had promised himself he would, but emotions do not always follow their owner’s will, do they?

“My body, even my divine power, follows my will… so why does my heart not?”

Ramande cried a lot.

It was a secret he was too ashamed to tell anyone. Minuelle never knew, but Plendena did.

– You saved my child only to torment him again, you drifter who twisted the world’s direction.

Sometimes children born under the protection of a god are called children of the gods. The apostle and Ramande were two of them.

Plendena is a god who doesn’t like to meddle in the mortal world. He believes that letting things flow as they are is beauty itself.

The reason he bothered to possess an apostle and give a hint to the drifter was to repay her for saving Ramande, who was destined for a hollow death.

But even so, there is no parent who would ignore their child’s suffering.

– …This much interference should be okay.

Plendena’s will infiltrated the tangled threads of fate.

And a little while later.

Ramande was summoned by the High Priest.

“I heard you were looking for me, High Priest.”

Looking at the haggard Ramande, the High Priest’s face showed pity.

‘I’ve heard the stories.’

His face looked emptier than the High Priest, who was nearing his rest. Since he had known the boy since childhood, he couldn’t just stand by.

“You look troubled, Ramande.”

Ramande’s shoulders twitched slightly, feeling a pang of guilt.

After returning to Sermender, he had been living without any will of his own, simply swept away by the routines.

“…I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing?”

“…”

“Did Plendena say that all love is beautiful and joyful? Love that is painful and sorrowful is also love.”

However, there was no sign of life in Ramande’s eyes. It was a problem that could only be solved when time passed and he could get up on his own.

The High Priest decided to give him a little more strength to get up.

“Ramande.”

“Yes, High Priest.”

“Hold out your hand.”

Not knowing why, Ramande obediently followed the High Priest’s words.

Clink.

A single gold coin fell onto his outstretched palm.

“…Are you giving me pocket money to buy a snack or something?”

“You rascal! If you have eyes, look before you speak! That’s not a common currency.”

He was right. In the center, there was Plendena’s emblem, not the face of the founding emperor, and along the edge, intricate, unknown characters were engraved.

“It’s an artifact that grants wishes.”

“…Huh?”

Ramande doubted his ears. The High Priest was not someone who liked to say nonsensical things.

“Isn’t it a bit much to make a face that so obviously says, ‘Has he gone senile’?”

“No, that’s not it.”

“What do you mean, ‘that’s not it’? To be treated with such disdain just because I’m old… I should die soon, what’s the point of living longer.”

He was over ninety, but he was saying such things with a face that had not a single wrinkle, as befitting a High Priest.

But it was true that he was nearing his rest, so Ramande could only squirm.

“Why would you say such things? I was wrong.”

“Hmm. So will you believe me?”

“…Yes.”

Ramande’s face still held a hint of doubt, but the High Priest decided to let it slide.

“It’s an artifact that grants one single wish that you desire so earnestly that you would dedicate your life to it.”

An earnestly desired wish.

Ramande looked down at the gold coin again. He had thought to himself when he saw Minuelle only thinking of the prince, even when she was right in front of him.

‘Just once more, if I had a chance.’

The High Priest cupped his hand and spoke with conviction.

“I also had a wish granted because of this.”

“How do you know it was because of this?”

Instead of answering, the High Priest pulled down his collar and showed him a scar. It was exactly the size of a gold coin.

“I was wearing it around my neck. The moment my wish was granted, it heated up and left this mark.”

“Ah…”

Only then did Ramande become a little intrigued. When very strong divine power is manifested, heat sometimes follows as a recoil.

“But why… are you giving this to me and not to Priestess Familla?”

Familla was the priestess who had been chosen to become the next High Priest.

She was the next oldest after the current High Priest, so this item would be more necessary for her than for Ramande himself.

“It’s my will.”

“High Priest.”

“Keep it safe, Ramande.”

Ramande hesitated for a moment but then put the gold coin into his pocket. He could feel the High Priest’s heart, which was worried about him like a grandson.

Then the High Priest smiled and gestured for him to leave.

After bowing to him, a faint murmur escaped Ramande’s lips as he returned to his room.

“…A wish.”

But Ramande tried his best to suppress his heart, which was starting to feel inexplicably excited.

The High Priest’s wish might have been granted, but the effect of the artifact might only be for a single use.

‘Let’s just think of it as the High Priest giving it to me to comfort me.’

But even after the High Priest passed, Ramande could not part with the gold coin. It stayed with him, along with the string bracelet he had received from Minuelle as a child.

After that, the gold coin that was said to grant wishes became a kind of willpower for Ramande, to the point where he slowly began to regain his old self.

Even when High Priest Familla also passed and he became the High Priest.

Even when he consecrated Minuelle and Esadien’s children.

Even when he helped those children grow up…

In every moment, the wish was what allowed Ramande to endure.

“One more time, if I had a chance.”

If only he could go back in time… he wouldn’t just watch.

He wouldn’t act arrogantly to hide his lack of courage, claiming that kind of love also existed.

He wanted to become a man who could express his feelings and confidently hold Minuelle’s hand.

It was a desperate regret.

* * *

He had passed away.

…He was sure of it.

But when Ramande opened his eyes again, Minuelle’s face was right in front of him.

“Actually, I thought we had become distant lately. It must have been because you were so hesitant around me.”

What is this?

Ramande froze in place.

Just seconds ago, his wish was not granted, and he had passed away. The sensation of his last breath was still vivid.

But now Minuelle was in front of him.

And she looked young, as if she had just become an adult!

“I’m sorry, Ramande. Even if we’re close friends, I shouldn’t have treated you like that.”

Even though he couldn’t react, Minuelle continued to apologize seriously.

Ramande instinctively grabbed her hand as it was about to fall from his arm. The soft touch and warmth immediately brought a sense of reality.

‘Was my wish… granted?’

No, even if he was just seeing a hallucination before he died, it didn’t matter. Not if he could reveal the feelings he had held for a lifetime.

Ramande slowly opened his mouth.

“I’ve also been thinking. About why I didn’t kick out that strange creature from your room at the very beginning.”

Minuelle didn’t find anything strange about his natural tone, as if they had just been talking a moment ago.

It was natural. No one would remember that conversation as well as he did.

‘Because I’ve replayed it over and over again.’

After ‘El’ regained his appearance as Esadien and was trapped in the Room of Reflection.

Minuelle’s anger also turned to Gabbie and Ramande. It was because of a sense of betrayal that they knew El’s true form but didn’t tell her beforehand.

But Minuelle, who was kind by nature, couldn’t completely cast Ramande aside. She even apologized first.

‘I should have confessed then.’

He had always thought that that moment was his last chance.

‘Yes… now is the time.’

Not ‘back then’.

Ramande’s eyes changed. When the conversation was briefly cut off, Minuelle tilted her head and asked hesitantly.

“Why…?”

“I didn’t have the courage to be hated by you.”

He had criticized Esadien, but he also sympathized with his recklessness to some extent.

However, the biggest reason he couldn’t force the two of them apart was that Minuelle liked El too much.

It was clear that she had already grown attached. If he hadn’t presented solid proof that El was Esadien, she wouldn’t have listened to him.

“What? Hated?”

“Minuelle. I always do what you want.”

As if she didn’t agree, Minuelle rolled her eyes. It was exactly as he remembered her.

Ramande felt like crying and laughing at the same time, but he held it in and continued to speak.

“Because I wanted to be helpful to you. My role has always been the same, from when we were kids until now. To help you recover.”

Minuelle was about to say something, but Ramande tightened his grip on her hand.

“But now you’re healthy from your contract with the spirit. And I’ve fulfilled my purpose. So…”

“Ramande!”

Finally, Minuelle’s patience ran out.

Noticing the anxiety in her gentle, sky-blue eyes, which were just like his, Ramande felt a sweet joy.

‘Minuelle doesn’t want to lose me.’

And with that, he gained the strength to be a little more assertive.

“Please listen to me. Please.”

When he spoke, matching their eye levels, Minuelle flinched.

“…What is it…? Are you going back to Sermender?”

“No.”

“Then?”

“I don’t want to be your assigned healing priest anymore. I want a different kind of relationship.”

Speaking slowly, he gently intertwined his fingers with the hand he was holding.