Alma 120 Rhapsody In Spring

A couple of weeks later, they finally departed back home. Mardeimus had been a refreshing change of pace for them, but the time had come to leave. In truth, their circumstances had changed and as a result, they'd been forced to leave earlier than what they'd originally planned for.

To be put it bluntly, the South had discovered what had happened on the Verdant Tear. Reed and Lu'um naturally expected that the South would eventually discover what'd happened on their little secret island, but they had not anticipated that the South's reaction…

Lu'um had kicked a hornet's nest and ruined their getaway vacation, much to her disappointment.

In less than a week's time, the city of Mardeimus had been flooded with plainclothes contenders and conquerors, all searching for the mysterious assailant who'd destroyed the Ancient Mulian research station…

Even though the South had long since recovered everything of value from the abandoned research station centuries ago, it had still been considered an important place of interest for a variety of other reasons.

It'd been an extremely useful training ground for their trainees, for example. The island had also been of significant value to archaeologists who specialized in Ancient Mulian history, the scholars who'd dedicated themselves to the study of the extinct race that had once ruled the continent and much, much more…

There was nothing to be gained from destroying an Ancient Mulian relic site, for they were all treasure troves of knowledge and artefacts. Each and every one of them represented a priceless vault of wealth to the empire that discovered it.

Every Chosen, no matter which empire they belonged to, knew this to be an incontestable fact; yet someone had gone and destroyed the Verdant Tear's relic site without a second thought.

They couldn't stay in Mardeimus any longer after that. Doing so, they'd run the risk, however infinitesimally minute, of being discovered and having their cover blown… and that was something they couldn't afford.

The dead can't come back to life. They have to stay dead; those are buried in the ground must remain there… for the sake of the living.

As such, they'd left Mardeimus as soon as they humanely could. After half a month of snooping around, the contenders and conquerors finally gave up and left Mardeimus alone, to Reed and Lu'um's immense relief.

Even though their former identities were not known as well in the South compared to say, the North and the East, neither wanted to accidentally mess up and ruin the new life that they'd built up in the South.

The only human prince of the East had died. So, too, had his beloved fiancee during the Twilight War. Both had laid down their lives on the battlefield for the sake of the continent's peace.

In the end, that bastard really didn't pull any of his punches considering how he 'wrote' us off…

Even to this day, it still greatly embarrassed Reed whenever he thought about the eulogy that Haydn had written for him and Lu'um.

The Crown Prince's eulogy made them sound like a pair of heroically star-crossed lovers, still bound to one another past death through their everlasting love…

So beautifully tragic and romantic was their tale that it had even been adapted into a holo-film, no more than after their deaths, by one of the largest film production companies in the North, Multiversal Pictures[1].

The film, Death and Love in Paradiso, starring Leopardo Cambio and Tate Sinnet had completely rocked the box office, garnering over three billion credits in ticket sales by the end of its first week on the big screen.

It'd been an absolute blockbuster hit and had taken the continent by storm. And as great as that might've been for the actors, the film studio and the production company, it'd been a different story for Reed.

Naturally, Lu'um had loved the film to death but that was beside the point.

Reed had learned first-hand a kind of horror known only to the dead.

There was such a thing as a hell on earth; Reed had seen it in its full measure the day he and Lu'um had gone out on movie date to see the film. It'd been a little bit after they'd first started dating, too.

AAAAAHHHH! Stop, stop! Don't think about it! Don't! Think! About! It!

A hovercraft suddenly swerved over the colorful grasslands, adjacent to Cem-Elle's, yet some distance away… Thankfully, no one was around, otherwise, an accident might have occurred, heaven forbid.

Reed wanted to actually die after he saw the movie. Never before had he seen such a... gross misrepresentation of the truth.

Why had they made his actor so goddamned handsome? Where had they gotten that scene where they'd held each other on the bow of the battleship? And the part where they'd died holding each other's hands?

A pox upon you and your damned film, Bates Kamaron! May you never make another successful film ever again! The same to you as well, Haydn Kingscrown!!

Three hours and fifteen minutes of embarrassing dread.

Three hours and fifteen minutes of pure bliss.

Where one had seen a nightmare on film, the other had seen a beautiful, romantic piece of art. In fact, Lu'um had loved the film so much that she had bought another pair of tickets the following day, much to Reed's horror at the time…

Reed couldn't help but laugh when he thought about how pure and innocent they'd been back when they first started dating. Everything about how they started dating seemed silly now upon reflection, but back then it'd been a herculean ordeal for him.

After all, he'd never dated anyone before, let alone fallen in love with someone.

To him, dating had been more of a struggle than manipulating Anima in comparison. Reed had quickly learned that being able to reshape reality and the laws of the universe meant little when it came to the matters of the heart.

Some almighty God he'd been, given how he had acted when he confessed to her. Sputtering out words like a broken record; palms sweatier than a man lost in the desert; not even properly looking at her the whole time…

AAAAHHHH! Stop, stop!!! Mercy, O brain of mine! Be silent for a moment!

The hovercraft swerved over the vibrant grasslands again, this time even more precariously than the last as if it had been possessed by some nefarious demon or spirit.

Fortunately, few people ever ventured out into the remote countryside where Cem-Elle was located, so air traffic was virtually nonexistent — a great boon for the dangerous driver heading toward the little town…

"What's the matter with you?!" said Lu'um, clearly annoyed by Reed and his sudden emotional outbursts. "Have you forgotten how to drive or are you actually trying to kill us both?!"

She hadn't been the brightest of moods, especially after they'd left Mardeimus earlier than anticipated. Reed had been a little glum about it too, but not nearly as much as his beloved.

"M-My bad," Reed said, "Listen, we'll go back some other time so don't be like that, okay? It's not as if the city's going anywhere, right?"

It wasn't as if Lu'um was actually angry at Reed; If anything, she was simply frustrated with herself. Had she taken care of the hidden base on the Verdant Tear at the end of their vacation, they would have never had to cut their trip short in the first place.

Why didn't I think about this before?!! How could I have missed something like that?!! Things were getting really good, too!

AAAHHH, FUCK!

The girl cursed herself in her mind, for she could not vocalize the vulgarities in the open. That was how deep her noblewoman education had been inscribed upon her.

For the longest, she had not even known what curse words were until a certain boy had unwittingly taught them to her and influenced her on the inside…

Princess on the outside; Wild child on the inside.

That was how she'd grown up, and only those who were closest to her knew what she was really like. They were the only ones who were allowed glimpses past the 'princess mask' she always wore for the public…

Reed smiled when he saw her brooding frown and said, "…You wanna know what I was thinking about when I, well, lost control of the car?"

"...What was it," said Lu'um, staring out into the dancing, swaying grassland in the wind.

"Death and Love in Paradiso. When we went out to see it at the old Williams' Theater. I remembered that... stupid scene when 'I' held 'you' up on the bow of the battleship," said Reed.

The effects were almost immediate when Reed spilled out his embarrassing guts to her. When a small, amused smile broke out on her lips, Reed knew that he had gotten her. That he'd hit a proverbial home run, so to speak…

"It's been a while since we've seen it, right? Why don't we have ourselves a little movie date and re-watch it once we get home? …I'll try not to fall asleep this time, too."

"...Promise?"

Reed grinned and said, "For you? Anything."

Nowadays, he was getting better at the whole boyfriend thing. He had grown up and then some. A thing of past were the days when he had wielded the sword.

He was more of an explorer now; Out on much a larger journey than he could have ever envisioned before he had taken the mysterious shadow's deal that night. Greater than the stories of dragons, swords, and beautiful maidens he'd idolized in his childhood.

The little boy from the slums had finally stepped out his shell, and taken a step forward in his life… 

But if Reed had to explain what had happened to him, he'd say that…

He had, to put it simply as possible, gone to see about a girl.

[1] Check the comments section for a little treat about this and find my post, haha...

Chapter end