The World Is Mine For The Taking-Chapter 1175 - 179 - A Miraculous Reunion (5)

Myrcella’s POV

After the attack on the village, the castle came to a decision rather quickly. It wasn’t safe anymore, not for the heroes, not after what they had seen, and definitely not after what they had gone through. So the order was given, firm and unquestioned, that they were to return to the castle.

There was no argument. There was no resistance. Everyone knew it was the right call.

Some of the heroes came back carrying visible injuries. There were scratches, bruises, bandages hastily wrapped around arms and legs, even though they were already healed. But those weren’t the ones that worried me the most. What lingered far longer were the things you couldn’t see. The distant looks in their eyes. The way their shoulders stayed tense even when they were finally safe. The way some of them flinched at sudden noises.

They weren’t bleeding anymore, but something inside them had cracked.

I asked Leon if he could talk to them. Not immediately, not aggressively, but just... talk. Give them some kind of psychological support, something to help them process what they experienced. He agreed without hesitation, but we both knew it couldn’t happen right away.

Right now, they needed to breathe. To settle. To rest.

What they experienced wasn’t something you could just brush off and move past. It had shaken them to their core. Forcing them to confront it too soon would only make things worse.

They needed time.

Leon and I were speaking in a secluded part of the castle, far from the busy halls and echoing footsteps. The stone walls here felt colder somehow with the air quieter. It was the kind of place where words didn’t carry far, where secrets felt safer being spoken.

I stole a glance at him while we talked.

He looked... different.

Just like the heroes, he was shaken too. Not in an obvious way—Leon was good at hiding things—but I could tell. I’d known him long enough to notice the subtle changes. The slight stiffness in his posture. The way his eyes lingered just a second too long, as if something was replaying in his mind.

It was the first time I had ever seen him like this.

And there was something else weighing on my thoughts. Something I hadn’t brought up yet.

How he knew Miss Chiaki’s name.

"Do you know them?" I finally asked.

He didn’t answer immediately.

"Well, I do," he said after a moment. "You might not know this, but... this isn’t my first life. I lived in a world called Earth. I lived there for eighteen years. And those people—" his voice lowered slightly, "—they’re people I knew."

I paused, letting his words settle.

I wasn’t sure if he had told me this before. I knew he had shared that truth with many women in his life. Amon knew. Gabrielle. Irene. Rose. And plenty of others. It wasn’t exactly a secret, but it wasn’t something he brought up lightly either.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized—I had heard this already.

"I know," I said, smiling faintly. "You told me before."

His eyes flickered toward me.

"So that’s why you reacted immediately when Miss Chiaki arrived," I continued. "I thought it was strange at first. You don’t usually react like that. But now it makes sense."

I watched him closely.

"Leon," I said gently, "your previous name... it was Tsubasa, wasn’t it?"

He took a deep breath. A slow one. Like he was grounding himself.

Being called that name clearly unsettled him. It wasn’t anger or fear—it was something quieter. Something heavier. Like being pulled backward into a place he had already left behind.

It must have felt strange. Like standing between two worlds at once.

"Are you going to introduce yourself to them?" I asked.

"No," he said firmly. "I don’t think that’s necessary."

I raised an eyebrow slightly, inviting him to continue.

"Even if I knew them in my past life, and they knew me," he said, "they don’t need to know me again. This is a new life. I don’t need to drag the past into it."

"Are you sure?" I asked, just to be certain.

"Yeah," he replied without hesitation. "They don’t need to know who I am. They don’t need to think of me as someone they used to know. It’s better if they see me as nothing more than an acquaintance. That’s enough."

He was right.

There was no need for him to involve himself with them more than necessary. No need to reopen doors that had already been closed.

"Well," I said softly, "if that’s what you want, I’ll keep quiet about it too."

He seemed relieved.

I didn’t push further. Aside from acknowledging that he knew them, I didn’t ask any more questions. I could tell where his boundaries were, and I respected them.

"I hope they’ll be able to go home," I said.

"They will," he answered immediately. "I’ll make sure of it."

There was no hesitation in his voice. No doubt.

They weren’t supposed to be in this world. They didn’t belong here. They were anomalies. They were people pulled into something that wasn’t meant for them.

And because of that...

He would do whatever it took to send them back home. And make sure they would never return to this world again.

***

Kaori’s POV

I woke up in a room.

For a moment, everything felt blurry and distant, like my thoughts were still catching up with my body.

Then recognition settled in.

This room.

I knew it.

This was the room that had been assigned to me.

The realization felt strange. I couldn’t believe I had been here long enough for it to feel familiar. Long enough for it to feel... almost like mine.

"Kaori?" someone asked softly beside me.

I turned my head and saw Ayaka.

She was sitting close, closer than I expected. There were several books stacked near her, some opened, some closed. Judging by the way they were scattered, she had been there for a while.

Knowing her, she might have been reading the entire time I was unconscious.

Had she already gone through most of the castle’s library? Honestly, it wouldn’t have surprised me.

"Thank goodness..." she said, adjusting her glasses. "I thought you weren’t going to wake up."

She stood up quickly and hugged me.

I hugged her back without thinking, my hand moving to rub her back gently.

I had worried her.

I had worried my classmates.

That experience made one thing painfully clear. That death existed here. It wasn’t theoretical. It wasn’t distant. Sometimes, it was unavoidable. No matter how careful you were.

No one was truly safe.

"Come to think of it," I said after a moment, "where’s the man who saved me?"

Ayaka smiled, but it wasn’t a fully happy one. There was something sad behind it.

"He already left," she said. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"Oh," I murmured. I gave a small, sad smile. "I wanted to thank him too. That’s unfortunate."

My memory of that moment was fragmented. Blurred. But there were things I remembered clearly.

Being in his arms.

They were soft. Warm. Steady.

I felt safe there. Completely safe.

There was also this strange feeling—like déjà vu. Like I had seen him before, somewhere, or sometime. But no matter how I tried to place it, nothing came up.

I was sure it was the first time I had ever met him.

Maybe it was just something my mind made up after being saved from something so terrifying.

Whatever it was, it didn’t matter.

What mattered was—

"I’ll thank him when I meet him again," I said.