CH 35

“Rain?”

“Yes. It’s said that it has been the second day since the heavy rain fell locally.”

“If it was only that, it wouldn’t even have reached my ears.”

“Yes. That’s…”

A report about the strange rain that followed.

“Taking all of this together, there’s a request to send an investigation team while it’s still in its early stages because we do not know what the consequences of this will be.”

After Iris finished speaking, Richard buried his back in the chair.

The scale inside of him creaked.

‘Should I move? Should I just leave it alone?’

‘I don’t know when or how I would regress.’

That was why it was taking him a long time to decide, since no matter what happened, it wouldn’t affect him.

Nevertheless, Richard did not turn a blind eye to the report, with the assumption that the people of the empire might be in danger.

No, he couldn’t turn away.

He who carried the crown must bear the weight.

Richard was the crown prince of the empire.

As the next emperor, he stood above everyone else and must support everyone.

Maybe it was because of the sense of responsibility of the person who carried the crown with only the shell left.

“I will do what I can.”

Maybe it was because of her voice that was clear in his ears even if he was not actually hearing it…

The weight of the scale tipped in the direction of ‘moving’.

Maybe this was just a whim.

But he felt that way.

Since his heart was moved, wouldn’t that be a sufficient reason to act?

Richard’s lips parted, and he said,

“Mark the map, which area is it?”

.

While Richard was speaking after receiving a general report on the unusual heavy rain…

—Kwarreureung!

“Ah!”

A person preparing to bake scones in an ordinary brick house that could be found anywhere in the empire dropped the dough in fright.

—Kwareung, Urreung!

The thunderbolts that startled him didn’t stop, and one after another, they reverberated as if they would rip the sky, bringing black dark clouds.

When he opened the window, patting his throbbing chest in surprise, rainwater poured in as if it had been waiting.

He did not look down at the ground, which became a sea of water, but looked up at the blackened sky.

“What is this…”

After examining the outside for a while, though sort of blinded by the heavy rain, he put on a large suit that was nearby and went out the door.

And a gasp escaped from his gaping mouth.

Before long, the familiar voice of a neighbor could be heard over the sound of the large droplets hitting the ground.

“Hey! Are you okay there!”

“It’s… It’s okay, I’m okay…”

“Is there a hole in the sky?”

“I think so. I guess it’s only happening here.”

Blocked by the rain, the two, unable to see each other’s expressions, stood with the same strange expressions on their faces.

—Kwarreureung!

Although they were living in two neighboring houses, it was raining heavily over one house, while the next house was basked in sunshine without a drop of rain.

“What is this?”

“Hmm. There isn’t an invisible wall.”

“Ughhh! What are you doing!”

“Oh! It hurts! What are you doing!”

When the hand of the man next door appeared out of nowhere through the raindrops, the man who reflexively swiped the hand away was suddenly hit by the rain.

“Ahh!”

“What? Are you okay? Hey!”

“Ah, I shouted because it’s cold. This is completely icy water. But it’s just rain… it’s odd.”

“Then it’s just rain. What did you think this is?”

“No, I was thinking if there were all these strange rains, it might be something weird.”

“Falling down after saying something strange. Go back in. Don’t make noise about dying from a cold.”

“Oh, you, really…”

“Sir.”

Someone stepped in between the two.

Appearing from the side where there was no rain, he lowered his head lightly with a straight face and looked up at the sky.

“Oh, here comes a clever guy. You said you’re James, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What is this?”

The man pointed to the rain only falling over his head, but James shook his head.

“Sorry. I’ve never seen this before either.”

“Ah, why are you grabbing him and asking that! This guy is just on his way back!”

“Sorry, sorry. Please go ahead. It will take quite a while to get to that village.”

“Yes. I’ll see you then.”

“Right, goodbye.”

As the two shook hands, the young man began walking towards a remote village far away from the neighbors.

Looking at his neat back, the one who was in the rain opened his mouth.

“Looks fine for a villager.”

“Ah, stop talking like that. It’s best not to have anything to do with that village.”

“Oh, who doesn’t know that? I was just wondering because that young man hasn’t been here long.”

“Does it matter how long? Everyone blindly trusts a guy who’s crazy anyway, it doesn’t even matter!”

“Why are you… I’m sorry. You said your nephew went to that village.”

“That’s enough. Don’t talk about it.”

With pitying eyes, the man looked at his neighbor waving his hand and leaving, and he soon returned home, shivering slightly from the cold rain hitting his shoulder.

This strange heavy rain was falling not just here, but all over the count’s territory to which they belonged.

Sometimes one or two houses would be caught in heavy rain, while the surrounding area would be exceptionally sunny.

Strange phenomena that had never been heard of occurred everywhere, and at least one person would shout, “It’s divine punishment!”

However… Although not everyone in the current empire was able to eat and live to their fullest, there wasn’t a great famine where everyone was hungry.

Even if there were minor local conflicts over the entire continent, there was no disturbance because it was peaceful without a huge threat of war.

Besides, it wasn’t hail or fish falling from the sky, it was just rain, so most people just tilted their heads and said it was amazing.

Of course, one or two of them brought up this story.

“It’s ominous. Something big is about to happen.”

“What’s the big deal?”

But even such people shrugged their shoulders and replied insincerely, as if they were lightly joking.

“I don’t know.”

“It’s boring.”

This kind of heavy rain was falling all over the place, not in a specific territory.

However, no one knew that the anomaly was gradually gaining power and at the same time, the amount of rain was also increasing.

It was still a long time before one would realize that the heavy rain was the second omen that would soon turn into a flood and shake the world.

.

Five days since the occurrence of simultaneous abnormal heavy rain.

Richard put down the papers he had skimmed through and put a red dot on the map.

The red dots were sporadically distributed rather than concentrated in one place, but one thing was for sure.

“It’s getting wider and wider.”

“What… Ah, that strange rain.”

Ophelia, who was pressed against the couch with a completely exhausted face, uttered in a hoarse voice.

“It can rain unusually.”

“Well.”

Ophelia squirmed to her feet at Richard’s ambiguous answer.

She rubbed her tired face roughly with her hand, blinked, and then took a deep breath.

“Tell me what’s bothering you.”

“This.”

Stretching her neck, Ophelia looked at the map Richard pointed to.

‘Is it just me? It looks like they are gradually heading towards the Imperial Palace from the starting point.’

A couple more rains would make it clear, but… 

Narrowing her eyes, Ophelia’s head shook as she said,

“It’s all this heavy rain. Has anything else happened besides the rain being a bit strange?”

“If this was all that was going on, I wouldn’t have cared either.”

Ophelia, who nodded her head for a moment at Richard’s words, widened her eyes.

“Are you linking the recent earthquake with this heavy rain?”

“Isn’t it reasonable enough to be suspicious if things that have never happened in history appear one after another in this short period of time?”

Certainly so, after hearing what he said. 

Back then, he said he never experienced an earthquake in this world.

In other words, even he, who lived a long time because of the infinite regressions, encountered his first earthquake then.

And this strange rain that followed…

‘I might be overthinking.’

“Is it a leap?”

“No.”

Ophelia swallowed dry saliva.

“And it doesn’t matter if it’s a leap. Your Highness has to assume the worst.”

The first thing to do is to prevent an accident before it happens, and if that doesn’t work, the next best thing is to prepare to minimize the damage somehow after it happens.

Either way, in the end, they had to squeeze time, budget, and effort in advance.

A faint smile spread across Richard’s lips before disappearing.

‘It’s new.’ It had been a long time since he had been with someone who talked to him like they were on equal footing.

He was the crown prince, but just because he was the next emperor didn’t mean everyone had to bow their heads in front of him and keep their mouths shut.

In the past, which had now disappeared beyond memory, there must have been people who talked to him while facing him at eye level.

Unfortunately, there was not a single person like that left around the current Richard.

Until Ophelia popped up in front of him.

She seemed to be willing to have any conversation with him for as long as possible.

Whether the topic was work, hobbies, joy, or… despair.

No.

Ame: the novel world seems to be falling apart, no? generally, space and time are the building blocks of the world. all these never-seen-before natural disasters happening suggests space breaking, and the ‘time’ of various people are affected (first richard, then raisa, then ophelia)…

Dea: I wonder if they all will have to work together to fix this mess? like they keep regressing, but it’s not infinite, if their world ends then their existence ends with it as well, no more regressions? Idk… but i’m enjoying the mystery of it all