I stayed in Ruvlian’s embrace for quite a while. Wanting to feel a bit more that he was alive, I buried my face deeper and inhaled, and the sound of clothes crinkling came out. Followed by even the sound of his breath stopping with a gasp.
My body froze at the sound of stopped breathing. The scene of Ruvlian dying flashed through my mind. I closed my eyes tightly and kept repeating to myself that Ruvlian was alive. I slowly counted from 1 to 10 and raised my head. When I opened my eyes again, I could see Ruvlian with all his exposed skin from forehead to neck dyed completely red.
“Ruvlian?”
“J-just a moment, Sihyeon. Right now is a bit difficult…”
One of the arms that had been firmly supporting my waist released. Ruvlian covered his lower body and twisted his head slightly. The gaze that had been directed straight at me went askew.
That bothered me. Normally it would have been fine, but it seemed to be because I’d seen him dying. Though I didn’t know the reason he showed kindness, the god sending me to a slightly earlier past than the original time period was the god’s, a miracle’s… anyway, a clever move. Because I didn’t see Ruvlian’s corpse that had grown cold.
With my mental state shaken more than expected, I couldn’t get a sense of what my condition would have been like if I’d seen the corpse too. Though I was gradually stabilizing, if I’d seen the corpse, my condition would have improved much more slowly than this. Then the sealing would have progressed much later, and various disruptions might have occurred, so it was truly fortunate.
“Why are you embarrassed?”
Even after finishing my thoughts, there was no sign of Ruvlian’s face regaining its original color. It was still full of redness. If it had been normal, he would have already regained his original pace and acted cute while drawing out his words.
“Well…”
Ruvlian, who had opened his mouth as if choked up, stroked down his face and chewed on his red lips. Just as my gaze was drawn to his lips, a small voice flowed into my ears.
“You’re clinging to me. When you’ve never burrowed into my arms like this even once…”
Affection rippled in eyes like they’d transplanted the vast sky as is. My breath caught for a moment. It felt like I was completely submerged in undrying affection.
Ruvlian, who had been cooling his cheek and chin with the back of his hand, looked at me and blinked slowly. His golden eyelashes that particularly caught one’s gaze fluttered softly. Soon his eyes curved gently, and he opened his mouth while the redness still hadn’t faded.
“Sihyeon.”
“…”
“Sihyeo-on.”
Ruvlian called me again when I didn’t answer. While drawing out his words, he scrunched his nose. Beyond cute, he was endlessly bewitching.
I, who had been briefly shaken by his honey trap, let out an empty breath and tilted my head asking why he called. But as if that action wasn’t satisfactory, Ruvlian once again held my name in his mouth.
“Sihyeon. Answer me. Okay?”
“Why are you calling me?”
“I like you.”
A confession struck right in. When I involuntarily widened my eyes, Ruvlian spoke again.
“I like you, Sihyeon.”
“Suddenly what…”
“If you tell me what you want, I’ll grant you anything. I like you.”
Ruvlian brought his lips to my earlobe. My fingertips twitched at the slightly moist sensation and the feeling of being lightly chewed. Could the guy who had been shuddering with a flushed face until just moments ago suddenly change like this? It was when I was about to examine him thinking side effects might have occurred as the magic he was casting was canceled.
“I really like you so much.”
A sweet voice was heard again. Ruvlian confessed he liked me over and over. When it reached about the twenty-seventh time, I finally realized.
This was Ruvlian’s own way. Of reminding me that he was alive.
Come to think of it, there was no way that fox-like bastard wouldn’t have noticed that I came back after finding out the sealing method. I let out a sigh once, and spoke during the interval when Ruvlian was breathing between the endlessly continuing sweet confessions.
“…When did you know?”
Though it was a considerably simplified sentence, Ruvlian understood. That bewitching smile proved it.
“You were so anxious, Sihyeon. Especially when I briefly stopped breathing at your action.”
“…”
“And there’s no way I wouldn’t notice your abnormality. You know best that my gaze is always directed at you, don’t you?”
His blue eyes sparkled even more from the affection dwelling within them. Enough to belatedly recognize they were half-hidden by his plump aegyo-sal and eyelids.
“I can’t help it.”
“What?”
“I’ll whisper to you from beside you for the rest of your life.”
It was mischief again. There was no way to know on what grounds such a conclusion was drawn. I absolutely couldn’t understand Ruvlian’s thinking. Though I wondered if there could be anyone who could.
I didn’t stop Ruvlian who was smiling with his eyes while pressing his forehead against mine and rubbing gently, and asked.
“Why does the story go that way?”
“Obviously I contributed to devising this plan, and I don’t want to make you anxious?”
When he made me witness death right before my eyes, when he made me unable to forget that scene, he had a lot to say. When I let out an incredulous laugh, Ruvlian laughed generously. Then after the forehead, noses gently touched.
“Let me stay by your side for life. You will, right?”
He said words resembling a plea and asked for permission. When he’d already shaken me this way and that trying to bury my feelings somehow, asking for permission now seemed audacious. I let out a low sigh and twisted my head. Then when I pulled my face slightly forward, our lips lightly touched and separated.
Since the nose came after the forehead, what came next was obvious. When I predicted what was next and took the initiative first, Ruvlian broke down. With a dazed face, he only let out a bewildered sigh like “Huh?” from his mouth.
“Sihyeon.”
But that too was only for a moment. As before, Ruvlian quickly caught his wits.
“As expected, you did this as a sign of permission, right?”
And then he interpreted it his own way as usual. It was an unchanging pattern.
Normally I would have forbidden it—no feeding—or told him not to play around. But now there was a possibility of drawing a future ‘together.’ Meaning there was no reason to answer ambiguously or push him away.
When an answer didn’t come right away, Ruvlian examined me. Above lips that were full of nonsense but whose appearance wouldn’t be lacking even if displayed in the Louvre Museum, I saw a nose bridge extending refreshingly. If I placed my gaze a bit higher, I could see eyes holding my favorite color moving worriedly.
Though it was a face familiar enough to draw even with my eyes closed, whenever I faced Ruvlian, my heart always beat just a little faster than usual. Enough that I thought he might know my heart rate was originally like this.
That’s when it happened. I felt a warm and soft touch on one cheek. Ruvlian’s white hand had cupped my cheek.
“Will you live with me for life?”
It seemed he finally realized I wasn’t sick anywhere. Perhaps he was nervous, as a shallow trembling could be felt in his usually brazen voice. It seemed he’d even read my resolve not to gloss over things anymore.
“Yeah.”
Hearing my brief answer, Ruvlian seemed to emit light on his own even without sunlight. He also created an optical illusion of a world that had reached destruction being filled with verdant colors. That much, Ruvlian smiled radiantly enough that it wouldn’t be strange if flower buds bloomed around him.
“Promise me.”
“…That we’ll live together for life?”
Without hesitation, Ruvlian’s head went down and came back up. Should I make an oath staking my life? Without even thinking of linking pinkies, I was recalling a promise that was hard to see as very normal when Ruvlian lowered his face slightly. His golden hair almost touched my head.
“I know what you’re thinking, Sihyeon, but not that.”
“Then what?”
Soon our heads touched and rustled. Ruvlian smiled with his eyes and pushed out his lips. His lips gathered in a circle were at a close distance.
From the context it seemed like he wanted me to kiss him, but how was that a promise? When I looked straight at Ruvlian with the feeling that I couldn’t understand, he made a sound while keeping his lips pushed out.
“Right, it’s what you’re thinking, Sihyeon.”
Because of that, his pronunciation was a mess. The sound leaked and got crushed. But Ruvlian, who originally drew out his words anyway, didn’t mind. Rather, he smiled more prettily and brought his face even closer. It was a distance where our lips would touch with just a little movement.
“What efficacy does this have?”
No matter how much I kept thinking about it, a lip seal had no efficacy. It was just, pressing lips together.
I wondered if he was aiming for it because he wanted to kiss, but then I thought if that were the case, he would have kissed first. I absolutely couldn’t grasp his intention.
“There’s no efficacy or anything, but still, I don’t want to make you do such a dangerous oath to me, Sihyeon. And…”
As if the latter part was most important, Ruvlian drew it out. It was around the time I thought even a reveal 60 seconds later wouldn’t be drawn out this long. A voice that was clearly fabricated to sound shy tickled my eardrums.
“It feels just like getting married.”
A kiss after promising to be together for life.
Ruvlian had the talent of turning this gloomy place into a splendid wedding hall with just one statement. In the first place, as long as he was here, even this kind of world, even a world where the end had come, would be comfortable and couldn’t be better for me alone.
To Ruvlian who was still smiling freshly and waiting for a kiss, I stretched my neck and lightly kissed him. The plush sensation was felt briefly. Since I had my eyes open, I could see him being satisfied in full.
To Ruvlian who had occupied even the small corners of my mind without gaps, things about the sealing were forgotten for a moment when my head suddenly rang.
[Did you two finish talking?]
It was a voice that had been waiting for this moment.
