The Return of Lilietta - Chapter 63

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 63

“Yeah.”

“You won’t disappear when I open my eyes, right?”

“I won’t disappear. You know that.”

“You must still have a lot of questions.”

“Yeah, I do, but let’s talk after we sleep. You need to rest a bit now.”

“You’ll stay right here, won’t you? There’s still a lot left for me to hear from you.”

“I won’t go anywhere even without that, so don’t worry.”

“I have a lot I want to ask you too.”

“I’ll answer everything when you wake up later. What would I hide from you?”

“If you’re not here when I wake up, I’ll really lose my mind, Rita. You can’t disappear.”

“I won’t disappear. I told you I’ll stay right here.”

“You really won’t go anywhere, right?”

“I won’t go anywhere, so stop asking and just go to sleep already, Gid Pascal.”

When she answered through gritted teeth, he lay there and chuckled low in his throat.

Rita looked down at him. She could see his golden eyes through the gaps between her fingers. He was looking up at her.

Their gazes met, then he slowly closed his eyes. He remained still and slowed his breathing.

Time passed—whether short or long was impossible to tell—and soon his breathing settled into an even rhythm. When she opened her eyes, she could see his closed eyelids through her fingers.

‘Finally asleep.’

Even after confirming he was asleep, Rita didn’t remove the hand covering his eyes. She’d experienced more than once how he would wake up like a ghost the moment she thought he was finally sleeping and took her hand away.

‘At times like this, he’s just like a child.’

She swallowed the words she couldn’t say in front of him since he’d obviously sulk, and smiled quietly.

She kept her hand in place while leaning against the headboard to adjust her position more comfortably, and murmured softly.

“I’m glad we met again.”

I missed you.

With lingering fatigue, a full stomach, and the sound of her sleeping friend’s steady breathing, she too felt drowsy.

The irrational anxiety and strange stuffiness that had been rising within her seemed to have been quenched, leaving her feeling relieved and strangely peaceful.

‘I heard this place might be destroyed like the Ashen World, but why do I feel… more at ease instead?’

Perhaps it was because the crisis and goal had become clear. Because the vague anxiety finally had a name.

Or maybe it was thanks to having an intense battle that made her nearly faint after so long.

‘I guess I’m more used to this kind of thing than peaceful times.’

The person beside her at this moment was as familiar and comfortable as his breathing. His sleeping breath and nearby body warmth were soothing.

The relief she felt upon learning that all her other comrades were also in this world was immense. It felt like the pitch-black hole she’d been deliberately ignoring was being filled.

‘I can meet everyone again.’

She no longer needed to desperately search for a way back. What she had loved wasn’t that world, but the people who had been there.

Now she could continue living in this beautiful world with the family she’d regained, with the comrades she’d reunited with, with everyone she loved.

The fact that she’d have to fight wars to achieve this wasn’t particularly problematic for her. Even if she had to roll in the mud, fight until she was battered and broken, and risk her life once again, it was fine. She’d always done that anyway.

It finally felt like she’d returned to where she belonged. For the first time in a while, she felt like she could sleep soundly without nightmares or hallucinations.

Rita leaned against the bed, yawned softly, and closed her eyes.

* * *

When she opened her eyes, she saw an unfamiliar ceiling. She reflexively sat up abruptly and looked around, but the room’s scenery wasn’t unfamiliar.

Black and gold. This was a bedroom in Onyx Palace.

Dusky light that could have been either twilight or dawn was seeping through the glass window to the edge of the bed. What time was it now? As Rita was thinking this in a daze, she heard the sound of a book or documents being closed.

“Rita, are you awake?”

Gid approached and sat on the edge of the bed. He naturally reached out and played with her hair.

“In the old days, when you woke up, your hair would be all messy like a bird’s nest.”

“Now it doesn’t tangle, so it’s convenient. Want to see?”

Rita combed through her hair with her hand to show him. She roughly ran her fingers through the hair that flowed down smoothly without a single snag, then habitually gathered it into one bundle.

Golden strands of hair flowed down over her pure white arms, revealing her slender neck.

Holding up the hair she’d gathered with one hand, she searched around her waist area, then belatedly realized she had no pockets and wasn’t wearing combat gear, and looked back at him.

“Do you have something like a string?”

“…”

“Give me something to tie it with.”

“…”

“Gid?”

“Ah.”

He had been staring at her blankly and reacted slowly. He buried his face in his hands and let out a hollow laugh.

“This is driving me crazy. Why is it so different?”

“My face? I couldn’t get used to it at first either. I felt like a different person.”

“No, that’s not what I mean.”

“Then what?”

“Now that I know it’s you, you look so different from when I first saw you.”

“Ah, I get it.”

Rita gave him a mischievous smile.

“When you first saw me, you thought I was a tremendous beauty, but now that you know it’s me, I somehow seem annoying, right?”

“…”

Gid looked at her with an expression of disbelief, then suddenly rubbed the corner of his mouth and frowned.

“Rita Pascal.”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t tell me you looked at my face and thought I was annoying because I was handsome?”

“…How shamelessly does the statement that you’re handsome just come out?”

“It’s the truth. It would be hard to find a man as handsome as me.”

“Wow, you’re really annoying.”

Rita wrinkled her brow and lifted her bare foot to firmly push against the back of him sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Instead of saying mood-killing things first thing in the morning, bring me something to tie my hair with.”

“It’s not morning. It’s evening.”

“What? Did I sleep all day?”

“About half a day. Here, use this for now.”

He hooked his finger around the cravat he was wearing neatly over his shirt and pulled it off with a swift motion. The silk with lace at the end flowed from his hand to hers.

“Is this all you have?”

“There’s no way I’d have anything suitable for tying up such long hair in my room. Should I untie a curtain cord for you instead?”

“Never mind.”

She let out a small sigh and began tying her hair with the cravat.

Gid couldn’t take his eyes off the slender fingers threading through the thin blonde hair and the movement of the pure white silk he’d been wearing just moments before, then asked in a deliberately light voice.

“You’ve been wearing your hair down, so why are you suddenly looking for something to tie it up?”

“I wasn’t wearing it down by choice—I was enduring it to look like a proper noble lady.”

“You don’t have to endure it in front of me?”

“Should I endure it then, Your Highness the Crown Prince?”

“No, please do as you’re comfortable, Noblewoman.”

“Yeah, this way is uncomfortable. It gets in the way when I move.”

“That’s right, you always used to tie your hair up.”

“It’s easier to manage if you grow it out and tie it up rather than cutting it to an awkward length.”

Rita shook her head slightly to check that her tied hair was secure. The smooth silk slid down along her hair.

“Ah.”

“Wait.”

Gid caught the falling silk and grasped her hair that it had been wrapped around.

“Let me do it for you.”

“Yeah.”

She obediently let him handle her hair.

Gideon carefully took hold of Lillieta’s blonde hair and began tying it with his cravat. Somehow he couldn’t breathe, so he held his breath.

Lillieta became aware of her hair being gently pulled and his hands brushing against her, making the back of her neck strangely ticklish. Was it because her skin had become more sensitive than before? She absentmindedly rubbed around her neck with her hand and spoke.

“How much did you sleep?”

“….”

“Gid?”

“…Hm?”

“I asked how much you slept?”

“Ah. I slept well. For the first time in a while.”

“So how many hours did you sleep?”

“About three hours?”

“That’s nowhere near enough. Sleep more later.”

“Will you put me to sleep again?”

“Go to sleep on your own. I need to go home.”

Gid’s hands, which had been adjusting the lace sitting like foam bubbles on her blonde hair, paused.

“Where are you going?”

“My house. To Creme Dome.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean why?”

Rita looked back with an incredulous expression, then felt the hair he had tied with her hand.

“Ah, you tied it well. Thanks.”

“You said you wouldn’t go anywhere anymore, Rita. Was all that a lie?”

“Of course I meant I wouldn’t go anywhere until you woke up. I can’t stay here forever.”

“….”

Gid stiffened and fell silent, then slowly lowered his arms. He skillfully hid his trembling hands by putting them in his pockets.

“So you’re going back already?”

When he deliberately made a sad face and asked, she sighed and pressed her temple.

“You said yourself that bringing me here was practically kidnapping. I need to go back and clear up the misunderstanding before my family hangs you by the neck. There’s probably quite an uproar.”

“I did give a justification of sorts.”

“What justification?”

“You used a strange ability. The Royal Family said they would examine it.”

“You used that ‘strange ability’ too!”

“That’s why I said I would examine it personally. I said interrogation was necessary to find out how the noblewoman used a power that was being secretly researched at the Crown Prince’s Palace.”

“Interrogation? What kind of… ha… My family must be extremely worried. What’s today’s date?”

“April 27th.”

“Three whole days have passed since we fought the Kraken?”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————