Let’s Make Saving a Habit - Chapter 132
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 132
Until now, I had always been the one to initiate our kisses, or we had kissed only after some unspoken agreement between us.
So Elysion’s sudden action left me utterly flustered.
He gazed at my flushed face with evident amusement, his eyes crinkling at the corners.
“Sweet.”
It was absolutely infuriating.
Where had that person gone—the one who used to blush at a single cheek kiss?
How many times had we kissed now? He was already shamelessly spouting saccharine remarks.
“Honestly.”
While I was voicing my exasperation, he licked his lips without a trace of embarrassment.
“This is troublesome. So who won the bet?”
“Me. I never asked for your help. You just took it upon yourself.”
“Hmm, but I’m the one who ate all the candy.”
My eyebrows twitched with displeasure, beyond my control.
“Then give it back.”
“What? How am I supposed to—”
I pounced on him and grabbed both his cheeks.
“Tania, unfortunately I’ve already swallowed the candy.”
“I know. Give it back anyway!”
As I clung to him with the determination to extract the candy from his stomach, he laughed heartily and stumbled backward.
“Hahaha! What are you trying to do? If you cling to me like this, I’m the only one who benefits.”
We continued wrestling like that until, eventually.
Elysion, stepping backward, tripped over grass growing beneath his feet and fell.
“Ah—!”
Since I was clinging to him, I fell along with him.
Thump.
Somehow, I ended up pinning him to the ground.
“Sion, are you okay?”
Fortunately, the grass had cushioned our fall, so neither of us seemed injured.
I quickly checked if Elysion was hurt anywhere, then belatedly looked at his face.
Why were his earlobes flushed crimson?
I was pressed against him, yes, but surely this level of contact was familiar to him by now?
I tilted my head slowly to one side.
“Sion, your earlobes are turning red.”
“Are you asking because you don’t know, or are you genuinely unaware?”
“Huh?”
Elysion’s lips curved into an enigmatic smile. He seemed to have much to say.
“I don’t know if you’re aware, but I’m a man too.”
“Well, I know that…?”
What puzzled me was why he would react so strongly to merely this level of physical contact.
“Is that so? Then should I take this as permission?”
“Permission? What exactly are you talking about….”
Ah.
I belatedly realized that the part I was sitting on was his lower abdomen, and something was hardening beneath me.
The moment I understood that fact, I jolted up in alarm.
Unable to bring myself to face Elysion, I turned my head away.
Then a low voice reached my ears.
“I was hoping you’d pin me down first.”
“When did I ever!”
My lips were twisted, but I spoke plainly—if Elysion hadn’t fallen, I would never have ended up sitting on him in the first place.
Reflexively turning my head, he was already propped up on his elbows, grinning at me.
His expression brimmed with delight.
The moment I took in that sight, laughter burst forth.
This was the peaceful, serene everyday life.
The one I had longed for so desperately.
During my second life, whether joyful or sorrowful, I always felt pursued by something.
Yet in moments like this, the faces of the Papiope Family I had left behind surfaced in my mind.
I quickly shook my head and banished the thought.
I didn’t want to disturb the tranquil atmosphere now.
Noticing how abruptly I’d shaken my head, Elysion asked with a puzzled tone.
“What’s wrong?”
“I saw a flying insect.”
With that excuse, I plopped down beside Elysion.
“Should we call the bet a draw?”
“I ate it, but I’ll let it slide this time.”
“You’re the one who stole the candy. Who’s letting whom off the hook?”
“If you want a fair rematch, I could even pull out a new candy.”
“…I’m sorry.”
Seeing him about to open a subspace to retrieve another candy, I quickly backed down.
I couldn’t bring myself to eat that sour candy again.
“So I won, then?”
Elysion chuckled and casually laid his head on my lap.
Caught off guard by the sudden loss of my lap, I froze briefly, but at the sight of him like a puppy, I couldn’t help but laugh.
“You’re adorable.”
As I brushed back Elysion’s hair, silver threads slipped softly between my fingers.
A pleasant breeze drifted gently.
Clouds spread like cotton candy across the blue sky.
This moment spent with the person I love was utterly blissful.
Yet before I could fully savor the happiness, the faces of those I had left behind flashed through my mind once more.
Then, a voice broke through my reverie.
“Tania, what are you thinking about?”
He gazed at me with tenderness.
Even if the entire world became my enemy, it felt as though Elysion alone would always stand by my side.
That was why I found myself pouring out my innermost thoughts as if under some enchantment.
“Sion, what should I do? I keep thinking about the people from Papiope that I left behind.”
Elysion simply gazed at me.
“Every time I laugh and talk with you like this, every time I feel happy… without fail…”
“Tania.”
Elysion, who had been resting his head on my lap, reached up and gently caressed my cheek.
“I only know fragmented information from what you’ve told me, so I cannot fully understand what you’re feeling.”
“…”
“But I know your situation better than anyone else, and having watched over you for so long, I believe…”
He paused, as if deliberating whether to speak.
Yet ultimately, his lips moved and he voiced his thoughts.
“It seems Aiden and your biological mother did their best to keep you alive.”
“What good does doing their best do…?”
When the result is like this.
“I’m not asking you to forgive them. Whether they did their best or not, the fact remains that you suffered because of their choices.”
At Elysion’s immediate follow-up, I was able to suppress my surging emotions.
“But after realizing their choice was wrong, Aiden made efforts to correct it, didn’t he?”
That was true.
Aiden had always prioritized me above all else.
Suddenly, the reason for his death at this point in time came to mind.
The members of the Golden Silver Mercenary Company said Aiden died while on a mission…
But it must have been at the hands of the Tempus Duchy.
Yet in truth, there was no reason for Aiden to become a target of the Tempus Duchy.
Their objective would have been me.
They must have approached Aiden to obtain information about me, so assassination likely wasn’t their initial purpose.
But the fact that Aiden died at this point while I remain alive and unharmed means…
In the end, Aiden sacrificed his own life to protect me.
“Ah…”
Why did I only realize this now?
I was too shocked by the fact that he deceived me, and consumed by deep resentment, I never thought it through calmly.
“Tania, what kind of person was Aiden, who stood by your side?”
He…
Valued me more than himself, and loved me as if I were his own daughter, without reservation.
Seeing my wavering expression, Elysion smiled faintly and continued.
“He always did his best for you.”
“…But he deceived me.”
Tears that had gathered at the corners of my eyes spilled down my cheeks.
“My wish was to call Aiden Father. Why did he hide the fact that I was his daughter until the very end? Did it truly have to be that way?”
“That was his way of loving you. He wanted to protect you because he loved you.”
Elysion carefully wiped away my tears with his thumb.
“Just as you wished to call Aiden Father, he must have desperately wanted to call you his daughter.”
Desperately.
Only after hearing Elysion’s words did I begin to faintly understand what Aiden must have felt.
How utterly despairing it must have been for him to scold his daughter for not calling him Father.
Tears flowed endlessly, eventually falling onto Elysion’s face as well.
“Sion, did my Biological Mother suffer when she entrusted me as an infant to Aiden?”
Elysion blinked slowly.
“I don’t know. Not all parents in this world are good, so perhaps your Biological Mother felt the same way. But there’s a saying, you know.”
“What is it…?”
“A wife who loses her husband is called a widow, a husband who loses his wife is called a widower. A child who loses their parents is called an orphan, but there is no special term for a parent who loses their child….”
Because there exists no word capable of containing such devastating sorrow.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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