CH 94

—Kwajik.

As he kicked the floor, the floor of the hall caved in and cracked like a spider’s web.

Richard, who approached Ophelia at once—literally in the blink of an eye—did not hesitate.

Before Lawrence was even surprised by his sudden appearance that was as if he had fallen from the sky, Richard reached out toward Ophelia.

“Richa…”

Widening her eyes like a rabbit, Ophelia’s vision suddenly jumped up.

Instinctively, she put her arms around Richard’s neck, and the two of them disappeared in an instant, just like when he appeared.

Lawrence blinked, his eyes almost popping out, and then closed his mouth.

He couldn’t tell if this was a dream or reality, or what the hell was going on.

But his perplexity did not last long.

That bewilderment soon turned to astonishment.

“That… what?”

His vision was stained red.

To be precise, the entire sky beyond the huge window was dyed red like a bright fire.

Soon after, the people who were confused also stopped at the same time as if someone pressed pause.

—Thud!

—Kuggeung!

It was because the eardrums were torn, and a roar so loud that the body vibrated came from all directions.

Thunder?

At that moment, what most people thought of was thunder and lightning.

But the area didn’t shine.

It was only stained red.

One by one, people lifted their hardened necks and looked at the sky beyond the window.

All of them, including Lawrence, saw the same sight.

“I… what is that?”

“Oh my god.”

“G… God!”

“Ahhhhhhh.”

Their eyes were filled with a mixture of meaningless moans and sighs, filled with the night sky burning red.

Among those stunned, Raisa was no exception.

She made an indescribable expression as she watched the sky pouring red fireballs.

She felt a sense of déjà vu.

Like this… It must be an unavoidable disaster.

There was an unimaginable, catastrophic event that shook and caused the entire empire to collapse.

There was also the rumination in which the empire was submerged by an unexpected flood.

But all of that was just a vanished future.

‘That’s why I didn’t really care until now…’

This reminded her of the locust swarm, a disaster that left severe damage to the entire empire and disappeared, not the future that had suddenly returned and disappeared.

Three disasters and now.

“Accident?”

Could it be a coincidence?

It was already the fourth disaster, if she added the unimaginable misfortune unfolding right in front of her eyes.

Not just an ordinary disaster, but literally a disaster in which the empire sunk and the continent collapsed..

“Coincidence… it won’t happen…”

Raisa, who could not forget those words to the end, stared blankly at the rising flames across the capital eating the night,

It wasn’t until after seeing the rain of fire from the sky, the fourth sign of the collapse of the world…

That she realized that something was going very, very wrong.

It was not even about her personal matters, nor about her mother or the crown prince…

“The sky is falling!”

Somebody screamed.

‘Yes. The sky is falling.’

The world was crumbling.

Just as the earth had collapsed, this time, the sky was collapsing.

No one said it, but everyone must be thinking the same thing.

The end.

The world was coming to an end.

Raisa, like everyone else who didn’t even know of regression, collapsed on the spot.

Even though she knew she could regress, she couldn’t overcome the feeling of helplessness that surged like a tidal wave at the sight of the whole sky burning.

At that moment, for the first time since the regressions, her gray eyes were seeing reality.

.

While the whole sky was dyed crimson and rain of fire fell, Richard’s steps across the corridors of the Imperial Palace were too fast.

Ophelia, who closed her eyes in his arms, could hear the sound of the air ripping and a roar mixed in between.

How long did this continue?

The place where Richard stopped was neither a garden covered with roses that made you wonder just by looking at it, nor a special room glittering with jewels so bright that you couldn’t open your eyes.

A dark hallway in one corner of the Imperial Palace.

The only thing that illuminated Ophelia and Richard was the red light that colored the entire sky.

With utmost care, Richard placed Ophelia down, as if handling a fragile glass doll.

After sitting her on the window sill, he stretched out his hand toward her, but soon took it back.

Ophelia tightly squeezed her eyes shut and opened them, her neck shrinking at the sound of the rumbling in her ears.

In time, Richard slowly lifted her chin.

When a light as red as Ophelia’s red hair illuminated her round forehead, then from her brow to the smooth bridge of her nose and down to her pouty lips that parted a little.

He couldn’t stand it any longer.

Richard’s eyes did not see the fire rain falling from the sky.

It was not enough to contain only Ophelia, he wanted to see her even though he was already looking at her.

He couldn’t see anything but her.

And her eyes were full of him.

No, Richard wouldn’t have cared even if he had seen the red rain covering the sky.

The feelings that pierced his heart again and again, grasping and shaking it, and burst out like an explosion.

Richard caressed Ophelia’s lower lip and expressed his heart, which he couldn’t hide anymore because he was so anxious.

“Love.”

The sincerity that echoed in a voice that was lower and deeper than the pit of that abyss.

“I love you. Ophelia. I love you.”

That simple confession without any rhetoric touched Ophelia’s heart more than any splendid praise.

In his golden eyes, she was the only one in the world. 

He couldn’t think of anyone else besides her, and he couldn’t hold anything else in his eyes.

Richard confessed again and again his overflowing emotions, the love like a seed so small that he didn’t even notice it had sprouted and grew into a tree big enough to envelop the whole heart before he knew it.

“I love you. My love for you…”

His breath was hot to the touch, but the palms on Ophelia’s cheeks were cold as ice with tension.

“I love you.”

His confession close to a whisper, fading away.

It was sudden.

To the point where he didn’t know how else to express it.

However, Ophelia’s heart was so turbulent that she couldn’t even feel it.

His words of love were without any analogy or pedantic expression.

So she couldn’t misunderstand or get confused at all.

Her. Richard put her in his heart.

‘He loves me, he said.’

Ophelia didn’t know what to do. Because an unfamiliar heart was striding forward and stirring up her insides.

It was a feeling she knew for sure.

To put a name to it, it would be overwhelming excitement, joy, delight, and the underlying love…

However, since it had been a long time since Ophelia felt it, she was not used to it, so her whole body felt weak.

The strong arms holding her were certainly something she had already become accustomed to, having supported each other dozens or even hundreds of times.

But even the steely arms and the warmth pulling her back made her breathless.

In the area that filled up, she picked up her breath again and again, but her heart was beating wildly, so no matter how much she inhaled, her breath was not enough.

The sound of Ophelia’s rapidly beating heart echoed clearly in Richard’s ears.

Richard whispered in Ophelia’s ear as she exhaled in his arms.

“You told me.”

The low voice ringing in Ophelia’s ears was louder than the roar of the rain of fire that tore the heavens apart.

“Even if you have someone you love, you can’t do anything about it because the other person can forget all that time with just one regression.”

‘That… have I ever…’

Richard remembered Ophelia’s words, which she herself could not remember.

Because he wanted to grab even just a little bit, even just a little piece of the one he loved.

There was urgency in his voice.

“But, as long as the other party doesn’t forget…”

The large hand that slipped off Ophelia’s cheek and covered her hand was colder than an ice field filled with tension.

“…You said you could love.”

Silence passed between the two facing each other.

Time passed so slowly that they could clearly see even the blinking of the other’s eyes and the trembling of the eyelashes.

During that time, their insides were mixed with all sorts of emotions.

Waiting for an answer that never came back, Richard’s heart tightened and he didn’t know what to do.

‘What should I do? What should I do with you, no.’

‘What should I not do to you?’

He feared that his momentary seething desires would harm her.

Fearing to injure Ophelia, Richard released her from his arms.

A cold wind blew in between the two people who were tightly facing each other.

Richard’s mouth opened, but his face slowly contorted, unable to say anything.

Because he couldn’t wait any longer for an answer.

‘The moment the word ‘no’ comes out of her mouth…’

‘I, to Ophelia…’

A cold hand touched Richard’s cheek as he tried to turn away from Ophelia with a miserable look on his face.