“Yes, a guest. He’s clearly my brother, a person you know well too.”
“……?”
A person he knows well? Brother? He tilted his head, unable to get a sense of who he was talking about.
“Cairens.”
Seianes spoke that name with an indifferent expression.
Abrisius’s complexion stiffened as he heard the name he had forgotten.
“Cairens……”
That name he had forgotten because he had been too happy. A friend from long ago, and a benefactor who had saved his life. At the same time, the only person he had tried to save. But why didn’t that name feel welcome at all?
‘Soon the main storyline of the original work will begin.’
The original work.
The unstoppable flow of fate that young Abrisius had fled from to escape Seianes.
In the original work, Cairens visits Seianes’s temple to resolve the labors to become a hero.
Spending time with Seianes, feelings for each other begin to sprout. It creates the trigger for Abrisius to violate Seianes, blinded by jealousy.
‘No, no! Why is he coming here of all times?’
Tension preceded joy.
His unannounced appearance was a major obstacle for Abrisius.
“I’m not particularly keen on it. But he was your friend. Treat him well, Abrisius.”
Cairens’s appearance was naturally unwelcome to Seianes as well. However, since Henelion had already decided, he wasn’t in a position to say much.
Moreover, he felt even more self-conscious because of the incident when he had turned the surface into a wasteland while searching for Abrisius.
Even now, it greatly bothered him that Abrisius had protected Cairens. Cairens, who had hidden cowardly behind Abrisius. If it were up to him, he wouldn’t even let him set foot in his temple.
He glanced down at Abrisius nestled in his arms. At the news of Cairens, the smile had disappeared from the child’s expression, leaving only ambiguity.
“You don’t look very happy, Abrisius. Do you perhaps dislike it?”
“Huh? No…… It’s just awkward since it’s been a while.”
He had expected him to be happy, so it was a bit unexpected.
At Abrisius’s words that it was awkward, Seianes nodded as if trying to act nonchalant. But Seianes’s eyes, holding Abrisius in his arms and looking into space, held a cold light.
‘Let’s keep him by my side and monitor him as much as possible so Abrisius can’t be with him.’
So he can never approach Abrisius.
* * *
Past the land where traces of Atlante, now relegated to the past, once were, there’s a riverside where reeds grow. Following the waterway that continues above it, there’s a massive forest.
A forest overgrown with trees and nameless weeds.
Even during the day when the sun was up, being inside it was pitch dark like a dark night.
Passing through the forest shrouded in such endless darkness, you see a lawn so wide it opens up your chest.
Crossing two high hills beyond it, there was Seianes’s temple.
Having passed through roads soaked with longing and sorrow and a dark forest where you couldn’t see even an inch ahead, Cairens finally discovered Seianes’s temple beyond the two hills.
Receiving the sunlight, the marble building shining pure white looked sacred by its very existence.
“Disgusting.”
Feeling an inexplicable disgust, Cairens headed toward the temple.
Even while climbing the grand stairs, that feeling still didn’t fade.
Looking at the massive pillars that felt weighty, Cairens lingered in front of the door leading to the temple.
Should he knock on the door or not……?
And right at that moment.
“What are you doing without going in?”
A familiar and missed but changed voice pierced Cairens’s ear.
Cairens turned his body toward the direction of the voice without hesitation.
‘Ah……’
The moment he finally made eye contact with someone standing behind him, Cairens’s heart beat uncontrollably. A boy, no, a fully grown Abrisius who could now only be called a complete young man stood before his eyes.
Black eyes. Jet-black hair. Time had passed, and though there wasn’t a trace of youthfulness to be found, Cairens recognized who he was at a glance.
“Abrisius?”
Cairens called him, filled with longing and the joy of reunion.
“Yes, that’s right, it’s me. It’s been a while. Nice to see you, Cairens.”
In contrast, Abrisius greeted him with a somewhat cold attitude.
Unlike the happy Cairens, Abrisius’s feelings were a bit complicated.
‘He really grew up handsomely.’
Whatever had happened, the pure appearance of his childhood had disappeared somewhere, and only sharpness was deeply ingrained. Cairens had grown more manly than Abrisius thought, and handsome enough to be called a hero without any inadequacy.
‘How unlucky.’
With those words, he could explain his impression of the reunited Cairens.
“How have you been?”
Cairens approached first out of joy, but Abrisius showed no sign of it.
He didn’t feel like smiling and exchanging friendly greetings. Because his appearance was unwelcome. Without a word, he passed him and opened the entrance to the temple that was closed in front of him.
“Seianes is waiting. I’ll show you in.”
“……”
The awkward Cairens briefly withdrew the joy he had been showing toward Abrisius.
He too had thought Abrisius would be happy to see him, but whether they had become awkward after time passed, Abrisius had changed much more than he expected.
“……Yes.”
In the end, obediently following Abrisius, Cairens headed inside the temple. The interior, majestically lined with cold, pure white marble pillars, gave a strict and restrained feeling.
Cairens, who had been admiring the interior, briefly glanced at Abrisius walking ahead of him.
How had he been? Seeing him become rigid like this temple, he cautiously thought that perhaps Seianes had controlled and oppressed him, giving him such a personality.
“Hey, you know……”
The moment Cairens was about to say something to Abrisius.
“Seianes!”
A brilliant smile incomparable to what he had shown Cairens spread across Abrisius’s lips.
The rigid appearance immediately softened, and just like the innocent and mischievous deer of his youth, Abrisius ran vigorously toward Seianes.
“Abrisius, come here.”
A smile also bloomed fully on Seianes’s face.
Though he had grown up, he familiarly received Abrisius who jumped into his arms like a young child and smiled gently.
“How long will you act like a child? Come to think of it, the guest……”
Seianes, who had been stroking the head of the child in his arms, turned his head and looked at Cairens. Cairens’s awkward gaze, watching this scene from a distance away from them, reached Seianes.
Was it just his imagination that he looked somewhat shocked?
“Welcome. We’ve met before, haven’t we?”
Soon shaking off his puzzlement, Seianes tilted his head and greeted Cairens.
