CH 85

Richard very slowly leaned towards Ophelia.

A distance close enough that their breaths could touch.

In the golden field that deepened without knowing the end, small blue flowers sprouted and bloomed, and soon covered the whole area with their own color.

The moment when their eyes contained only each other.

Richard wasn’t the only one who wanted that moment to last forever.

And he was acutely aware of it.

Because she was focusing entirely on him.

More than ever, he had never looked at just one person so desperately as he regressed infinitely.

His breathing got a little rough.

Maybe, maybe not.

He couldn’t help but hope, despite knowing that expectation would poison him, eat him up, and eventually strangle him.

“Ophe…”

“Don’t tell me!”

Ophelia covered his mouth.

She didn’t know why, but she had to.

‘Every time he calls me.’

‘Every time his voice travels through my ears and knocks on my chest…’

Confused, Ophelia reached out her hand toward him.

She pressed against his chest, she exerted so much strength that the back of her hand turned white.

But she didn’t know whether to pull or push, she froze as it was.

She had a deep furrow between her brows, like his badly crumpled shirt.

Richard’s mouth parted as he alternated his gaze at Ophelia’s hand holding his shirt as if she was about to rip it off and the middle of her eyebrows.

“Why… are you angry?”

Still, no answer came back.

“Ophelia.”

Beneath the layer of his voice calling her, emotions were simmering, that would sweep and consume her in one breath if it exploded. 

And Ophelia, who faced him like that, was at a loss for what to do with an overly unfamiliar feeling that could not be vaguely understood.

The air that grazed her cheeks and swept through her neck felt so acute that her eyelashes fluttered as fast as the flapping wings of a butterfly caught up in a storm.

The moment her quickening breath pounded in her ears like thunder and her heartbeat thumped as if it would transfer to the palm of her hand.

‘All right. Let’s stop thinking.’

Ophelia closed her mind like that.

Perhaps it was the natural course of action.

After falling into the loop of infinite regression, she left unanswered questions as it was.

She didn’t have to think about it impatiently because it was something that would come to light with time anyway.

It was a kind of escape from reality, but due to the nature of infinite regression, even if she escaped, she eventually went back to the starting point, faced it, and somehow solved it.

Even as she thought of that, she felt her slightly agitated heart, and from below, it was not a small seed or a sprout, but a much… 

…Ophelia couldn’t pretend she didn’t know her feelings for Richard, which had grown so much bigger than before.

She still didn’t know exactly what it was, but she was sure it was there.

It was a very slow start, but it was also a much faster start than Richard expected.

Ophelia shook her head vigorously and then took a deep breath.

And seeing her like that, Richard stepped back easily.

As if the distance that was close enough for the tip of their noses to touch was a lie, now she couldn’t reach him if she stretched out her hand.

This act was nothing more than an expression of his intention that she should no longer think about the matter.

It could not have not been conveyed, for they had spent a long time together. 

Sitting on the windowsill with his back to the sunlight, Richard asked,

“Is that the end of the report?”

“…Yes. It’s over…”

A reply barely came out of Ophelia’s dry, scratchy throat.

Actually, the reason she came for the interim report which she didn’t really need to have was to talk about the regression and Raisa.

But she didn’t even have the time to bring it up. The saint, the crown princess, and even her feelings of unknown origin got mixed up.

A frown appeared and deepened on Richard’s face as he stared at Ophelia, who was carefully packing papers in the vaguely uncomfortable silence.

There was something on her finger that he hadn’t seen before.

“Ophelia.”

“Yes?”

“What is that ring?”

“Oh, this? Isn’t it cute? It’s not expensive.”

Ophelia laughed softly, her cheeks blushing as if she was embarrassed.

The confused emotions and uncomfortable silences were gone with the soft laugh.

Richard couldn’t take his eyes off her nor hide his distorted face.

However, Ophelia was focused on the ring. 

“It’s a matching ring with Riri and Cathy.”

A happy voice and a bright smile.

Even today, Richard went back and forth between hope and resignation, heaven and hell at Ophelia’s one glance, every touch, and even the trivial emotions in her voice.

Matching rings.

Riri and Cathy.

Together… together.

Richard had to work hard to suppress the jealousy that was boiling like lava.

Again.

Not just Lawrence Sheffield, there were others by her side.

They even called each other by nicknames.

“How nice they are to tell me that we can get another when it wears out. In fact, I just thought it would be nice to know that I’m not the only one who knows about the existence of the ring.”

“You’re not alone.”

“Yes?”

“No matter which point you go back to, you and I know about the ring.”

“Ah… that’s right.”

“Only the two of us will know.”

Ophelia opened her mouth, then closed it.

He was simply telling the truth.

Even if they went back to before buying the ring, Ophelia and Richard would remember the ring.

They used to say such things.

Sometimes lightly in a joking tone. Sometimes, while supporting each other’s spirit that was close to collapsing.

But why were the words ‘you and I’ sticking in her mind and not coming off?

Naturally, Richard, who deliberately emphasized ‘you and I’, barely suppressed his desire to do something about the ring on her finger.

‘There is time.’ Although they might not regress as haphazardly as before, there would be time, as they were still trapped together in the bondage of infinite regression.

However, his patience was wearing out much faster than expected, to the point of being very serious.

Would it be better if she wasn’t in front of his eyes… No, since he couldn’t bear not seeing Ophelia, it must have been a meaningless assumption.

Plus, he couldn’t cover her eyes and ears.

But he had no intention of doing the crazy thing of cutting off her ankles and locking her in a big cage so she couldn’t go anywhere.

Not to mention, he couldn’t touch those who received her smile and laugh.

Since she would be sad.

‘I’d rather not care about her like that, but if I swung her around according to my wild desires…’

Richard laughed at himself.

He knew very well that he could never be satisfied with only her outer shell.

Ophelia smiled brilliantly as she touched the ring.

…Richard really didn’t know how much longer he could press on without telling her his true feelings.

If Richard hadn’t liked Ophelia, he would have thought of ‘Riri’ and ‘Cathy’ as simply nicknames.

Riri from Iris, Cathy from Catherine.

If so, then of course he would have viewed the ring the three of them shared as one of friendship.

Then again, if he hadn’t liked Ophelia, he wouldn’t have paid attention to what ring she was wearing in the first place.

He couldn’t close his eyes, let her go, or get rid of her ring.

All he could do was endure the guilty pain in his heart while watching her endlessly dazzling smile.

However, at her following words, Richard’s string of patience became very thin, like it would break with a light breeze.

“Oh, by the way, I’m going to be out of the aide’s office for a while in the afternoon. All the urgent papers I had to do are here.”

Ophelia paused, patting the papers she had brought with her before continuing.

“Will you allow me to go to the core of my secret funds!”

Richard asked Ophelia, who exaggeratedly asked for permission.

“Where?”

“The Marquisate of Sheffield. I must hurry up if I want to invest.”

It was an answer that seemed insignificant, and to Ophelia, it was as insignificant as it really was.

Yes, it was a big deal.

With the knowledge that the world was collapsing and twisting and the signs of destruction were pouring in, it would be very strange to be enthusiastic about the secret funds.

Nevertheless, Ophelia still invested in several places and did not neglect her research.

Because she wanted to believe.

No, because she believed.

There would be a tomorrow where this freaking infinite regression ended and the world never perished.

She didn’t think that everything she did for the future was useless.

“Finding a safe place to invest is like picking stars from the sky, so I’m going to do it early.”

“It’s because of the investment.”

“Yes. Although the locust swarm caused damage, they are recovering quickly because good people are working there. It’s not just empty words, they are really good people.”

She nodded, recalling the warm smiles and unreserved friendliness of the people who worked at Lawrence’s brewery.

“Are they good people?”

“Yes. Like Lord Sheffield…”

Richard cut it off just as that name flowed out of Ophelia’s mouth.

“Ophelia.”

“What?”

“I’ll go too.”

Ame: That’s what I get for praying to a fake saint  ╮(￣～￣)╭  The author is very good at weaving different plot points together, I’m curious yet scared of what other trouble is going to befall onto that brewery…

Dea: sigh….i’ll patiently wait for a confession, but i’m prepared to only receive more misunderstandings T^T