By Zephyria 
“How is it, Noah! I looked everywhere, and this guy is the best!! As my brother’s escort, only the best will do!”
I couldn’t help but resent Frederick, who had no sense whatsoever and didn’t realize the past between Kyle and me that everyone in the mansion knew.
“Ahaha…, haha, ha….”
What is this, you crazy bastard…? Nicole, who was standing behind me, was also surprised and grabbed my collar, shaking me. This, really…, what is this situation…?
“What do we do, Master? I knew Frederick was stupid, but it seems his brain is really full of muscle… How, how can that man be Master’s escort knight…?”
Nicole, who was close behind me, quickly muttered. I nodded vigorously in agreement.
Allen appeared quickly, and Frederick even returned earlier than expected. And now, Kyle has returned to the capital?
No, okay. I’ll concede a hundred times… It’s almost like the game’s starting point has been sped up, so Kyle could return early. That’s fine. But, but… Kyle Gray is my escort knight, of all positions!
“Haha! You don’t have to thank me so much, Noah! Well, this brother has to go to the Imperial Palace now, so I’ll be off!”
That’s not the same thing, you idiot!
Frederick, oblivious to my desire to scream, waved his hand and quickly disappeared into the distance.
“Master.”
Ugh! A chill ran down my spine. As soon as Frederick disappeared and I was left alone with Kyle (or rather, the three of us including Nicole), Kyle took a step closer to me. I stepped back exactly as much as he had approached.
‘Aaaah! Why are you doing this, Sir Kyle!’
‘M, Master! What’s wrong!’
‘Drag that guy out of here!’
‘You can’t do this, Noah…! How can you be so cruel…!’
Our last meeting hadn’t been very pleasant, so I was sweating profusely. Was this bastard suddenly going to draw a sword to avenge that? Well. His sexual preference is cheating, which is ethically a bit outside the norm, but he’s still a knight. He wouldn’t just draw a sword…
My mind, overwhelmed with panic, was busy with all sorts of thoughts. Unfazed by the distance that had reopened, Kyle took another step closer and knelt down in front of me. Then, he held out his hand in front of me. As if asking for permission to pay his respects.
“I’ve….”
“…”
“I’ve missed you so much.”
I was dumbfounded. No, we never even reached the stage of officially dating, so why is he filming a melodramatic movie by himself? Anyone would think we were lovers who had promised eternity and then broken up. When we did promise eternity, he was always the one cheating on me and dumping me.
I was about to tell him to stop talking nonsense and get lost, that he would never be my escort knight, and then leave immediately. If I hadn’t caught a glimpse of Allen’s head through the window of my room, busily moving with a mountain of laundry, I would have definitely done that.
‘Now I understand. I never loved him. From the moment I first met you, I was already….’
A long-standing memory that no longer even felt like a scar flashed sharply through my mind.
Then, my heart, which had been racing erratically due to the unexpected situation, calmed down very calmly. Right. Wasn’t this guy also one of the targets I was going to seize, to take away from Allen? Hadn’t I resolved to return the outrageous statement that he had never loved the foolish person who trusted only him?
I smiled and offered my trembling knight’s palm. I decided to allow him to kiss the back of my hand.
“Welcome back, Sir Kyle. It’s nice to see you after so long.”
“Master…”
“Nothing has happened between us so far. Understand?”
“…….”
“If you don’t accept that, I can’t have you as my escort either.”
“…Yes. I understand.”
“Good. I look forward to working with you.”
The knight’s lips, trembling even more terribly than his trembling hand, were pressed firmly onto the back of my hand, as if branding it. The warmth was not hot, but only awkwardly lukewarm.
I was about to quickly pull my hand away, which was as good as being caught between Kyle’s grip and lips.
The lazy cloud that had been moving slowly outside the window suddenly stopped. A few butterflies that were spreading their wings, oblivious to the season, also stopped fluttering. But those butterflies didn’t plummet to the ground. Neither did Kyle’s breath, which felt unpleasant on the back of my hand. As if time had stopped.
“No…. It’s not like time has stopped…, it really has stopped.”
Anticipation, or, fear?
My heart pounded relentlessly in a tidal wave of emotions that were difficult to define with certainty. I already knew what would happen next. This kind of abnormal time stop, which happened not long after Allen appeared before me. It was the starting line of the original story that I had been waiting for so long, or that I had hoped would never come.
Bam ba ra bam, ba ra bam.
Bam ba ra bam, ba ra bam.
In the corner of my vision, where a message saying that the communication protocol was blocked had been floating around until just now, a childish melody came to mind. At the same time, an orchestral orchestra, which was too grand and even comical in this world where time had stopped, resounded loudly to match the melody’s phrases. The unseen maestro’s performance was excellent, and the audience was only me.
You, a pitiful being who dreams of being loved by everyone.
A single world prepared just for you.
It was the opening phrase of the game that I was all too familiar with. That was the case when I saw it on the game screen, and it was also the case when I experienced it myself. The only difference from the previous playthroughs was that the time stop wasn’t happening in the banquet hall where my nineteenth birthday party was in full swing.
Just two short opening phrases that were merely typed by an employee of the game company.
That concise text always plunged me into a twilight gloom. In the first playthrough, when I couldn’t even imagine that this terrible life that I couldn’t even end myself would be repeated so recklessly, the terrible realization and emptiness that this world was really in a game gradually transformed into despair and depression, in a very calm nuance, and at a very slow pace. It definitely mocked me.
You, who dream of being loved. A single world prepared just for you.
The clear conviction that the ‘you’ that this dazzling ceremony, which only I can see, is pointing to can never be me. What could be a more obvious mockery than that?
But, but this time it’s different.
This time…, I’m going to end it no matter what.
Instead of wallowing in familiar self-deprecation, I clenched my fists even tighter.
As the majestic performance gradually subsided, my entire vision turned white, and then the title logo, floating fantastically in the air, flashed wildly.
The Nobleman of the Rose Mansion
~For the beloved one~
Boom! Fwoosh!
Fireworks, so dazzling that it was a pity that only I could see them, adorned the stopped world in splendor. And that was the last turn.
“…Master?”
“That’s enough greetings. Step back. I think I’ll just stay in my room today.”
The secret and boisterous ceremony that signaled the beginning of the predetermined cycle ended, and time returned to normal as if nothing had happened.
I hurriedly sent Kyle, who looked somehow bewildered, as well as Nicole, out of the room. It was worth taking the risk with the courage I had scraped together. I’m glad I didn’t despair. I’m glad I didn’t feel sad.
If I had wasted time wallowing in those familiar emotions, that would have been what made me regret it.
To my beloved.
Because, very happily, an unexpected reunion prepared for me today still had one more thing left.
System smiles that it has never left you alone at any time.
System gazes at you with deep affection.
The guidance window of the System, which had become somewhat awkward after being apart for only a little over a year, threw me into a vortex of complex emotions. If I were to find the root of that vortex, it would be… Just endless joy and a sadness that made one side of my heart ache for some reason. A concentration so thick that it could be called longing.
System nevertheless confesses the fact that it has missed you so much. :(˘•̥ㅁ•̥˘ ): “Me too, I missed you so much too….”
My voice, full of tears, was unstable and wavering even to my own ears, but it didn’t matter. Because the vortex of joy, sadness, and longing, all mixed up in a mess, eventually led me to a valley of endless joy.