Twin Reincarnation: Epics Of The Worldline-Chapter 374 Concerns of a loved one

[Cathy’s POV: ]

"Morax..."

"I will be fine. Don’t worry."

He says that, but there’s no way he would be fine with such burden on his shoulders.

"The battle starts soon..."

His battle with the emperor was going to start the day after tomorrow and he was departing to the battlefield in a few hours.

"Yes..."

It was evening time.

Perhaps the last one we will ever have.

"Then... then why... why aren’t you worried?"

Tears...

I couldn’t help them.

I couldn’t stop them.

They just started flowing out the moment I saw him, the moment I stepped foot in this familiar area of the garden, the familiar area where he... where he proposed to me.

"Cathy..."

When I came, was standing there, before the cloth covered ground, looking at me with the same loving eyes that he had been showing me ever since he confessed his feelings...

But seeing the tears flowing down my eyes, he couldn’t help himself.

"It’s alright."

He came closer, and without my comment, my body hugged his...

"M... Morax..."

He was going.

He was really going to that battlefield.

"Please..."

He knew he might die. He knew that his own birth father would kill him without hesitation if he really went there... he knew he could die!

"Don’t... please don’t-."

"I’m afraid that won’t be possible, dear."

He hugged me back, gently.

I could feel him, I wanted to keep feeling him... for a little more... for ever.

"I’ll have to go."

"No..."

He didn’t have to go.

They... those thieves were strong people.

They knew how to use magic and had large forces.

Not only were they strong individuals, they even possessed an epic and forces of the ancient times.

With all that they had, it wasn’t impossible to make a fake double of him and use it as a puppet.

It... wasn’t, it shouldn’t have been anything difficult to them.

And yet... and yet...

"Calm down, dear."

He released me, looked me in the eye and, and I looked back even though the tears covering my eyes made everything hazy.

"There’s nothing to worry about."

Then, he wiped the tears off my eyes, wiped the tears on my cheeks... wiped the moist lips, with his gentle touch.

"I will come back."

He was reassuring me with his confident, gentle voice.

"I will be back, soon."

He hugged me back, right after he kissed my cheeks.

"You know as well, right?"

"Yes!"

I knew he would come back... I knew it, and still.

"The thought... the thought of losing you... that you will... by that emperor..."

I couldn’t help it.

I knew he would come back. He promised me he will.

But my heart didn’t want to let him go. It ached— like a struggling wounded animal’s pain, it ached.

I was ready to let him go when I came here.

I was ready to say my goodbyes and prayers.

He was strong, he was smart, he was the most amazing person I’ve ever known.

There was no one like him in this world. No one.

And now, he was more than just a friend of mine. He was more than someone like the other ’friends’ that I had.

"Hahaha. If someone hears you right now, Cathy, they would think we had been married for a decade."

"W-w-what? Ma-ma-ma-married?!"

What did he mean ’married for decades’?! What the hell did he mean-?!

"Don’t act surprised now. You know we will be getting married when all this is done, right?"

"Wait, what?! I never agreed to that!"

Liking one another and dating was one thing but getting married was a completely different thing!

Among us Elves, a marriage was much more important than how the humans treated the marriages.

’He would have to first talk with my parents, my grandmother, the people of our country, ask for the permission from Mother Nature, pass the trial of nature, pass the trail of grandmother, and after all that, if he would even have to prove his ’love’ for me.’

It was a long process that itself took three years in human age! It wasn’t something that we could just do by going to some temple!

"You don’t even know what kind of things they make them do in those trails! What if they ask you something absurd?!

And in the first place, they won’t just agree for this marriage and send me off to some other country!"

He knew how difficult ’marriages’ were among the elves! And I was the sole princess of my country as well! It was much much more difficult for me!

"Oh dear... you worry about useless things a lot."

He led me back, and we sat down on the place he had prepared for us.

"Tell me one thing."

He was smiling at me... I couldn’t even look at him after he brought up that marriage thing, so looking at him while covering my blushing face was uncomfortable!

"What... what?"

"You love me, right?"

Hmm?

What kind of question was that!?

"Of course I do-...!"

"Then we will be getting married. There’s nothing more to this."

He grabbed my hand and kissed the back of my palm.

"We don’t have to make this too complicated, ok? There are much more complicated things around us."

I was covering my face with both my hands so that he couldn’t look at it, but he just suddenly took one of my hands away... this unreasonable boy!

"And you are cute. Let me see more of that pretty face."

I still didn’t know what to do when he moved my other hand away from my face as well.

Nothing other than blushing, obviously...

"..."

I just stared back at his smiling face that clearly found my reactions adorable. And... and I didn’t like how he was looking at me.

"Stop it."

It took me a while to gather my thoughts, emotions, snd feelings but as soon as I got over it, I pushed his face away from mine.

He was too close, and he was smiling a little too much as well.

"You’re leaving. Don’t smile like you like going away."

It was upsetting seeing him happy like that in this dire situation.

"I don’t.

I don’t like this, even though I had thought I would want nothing more than this in my entire life."

He was going to the battle with his father, the person that he had despised the most in his entire life.

’His revenge...’

His mother was a special person to not just him but to this entire empire and the rest of the world.

She was one of the most famous adventurers, one of the most famous and strong people.

Someone people from all over the world loved.

And then, she met the emperor, and strangely, she fell in love.

’The story of their relationship... the story of the person that stopped the emperor from having any other brides for as long as they were together, the stories from the time we were even born, were famous all throughout the world.’

He knew them as well.

He loved his mom, and somewhere in his heart, he also liked the father that he had been with in the past.

But then... his mom died.

And the father he knew changed completely.

’Those who knew him saw it as him going back to his original nature.’

The people of empire forgot all about her existence thanks to him, and even the records of that person were restricted to a few places.

"Morax..."

She was a good person as far as I know. But after meeting the emperor, her life was shortened significantly.

"I’m sorry-."

"Don’t say that, Cathy. You, of all people, have nothing to be sorry about."

He patted my head, shook his head, and smiled softly at me.

I can tell he didn’t want to talk about his mom. He never talked about her in all this time we have been together.

’Others don’t talk about her either since... well, not many even know her anymore.’

The emperor did something that made many people forget her.

If it weren’t for grandma telling me about her, telling me about her friend that she knew for a long time, I wouldn’t have known about her either.

It was a little complicated, so even we don’t talk about it generally... but still, it doesn’t matter.

"Just tell me you will not get hurt."

"I don’t know about that."

"You’re a bastard."

"I like it when you curse. You should do that often."

"I should, shouldn’t I?!"

This... this damn person!

"Don’t you think you’re acting up much more ever since we... we..."

"We?"

It was embarrassing to say it.

How does he expect me to say it anyway?

"Ever since we started... this?"

"What do you mean by ’this’?"

He was smirking.

I can tell this bastard was playing with me!

"We haven’t gone on a single date so we can’t say we are dating yet, alright!? And we just confessed! That’s all!

Love can be of many kinds! It’s not necessary that if we say we love each other it’s the love that lovers have!

What ’couple’ have we done aside from sitting here and chatting anyway?!"

He was going now.

He will be gone.

We don’t know if he will even come back or not. I don’t even know what he will do if he has to fight someone strong.

’I’m not doubting his abilities and skills... but, the battle this time isn’t going to be something simple.’

The ones that he will have to face would be strong, perhaps unbelievable opponents.

"Haaaa... Cathy. You’re cute."

He hugged me. Again.

"Bastard..."

He was leaving me and I’m not going to see him for only a few days... hopefully.

’Those thieves, those damned bastards should take care of him with their lives.’

"Morax you dumb bastard."

I don’t know what I’ll do to them if anything happens to him. But I know it won’t be something a saintess should ever do...