As I finished the croissant, I dismissed the bird, starting to feel the strain of keeping it alive for so long on my body.
Picking up a mug of mint tea that was left on my bedside, I enjoyed the sweet and minty taste while staring out the window.
The garden of the royal Elven palace was the only place in this entire world to have cherry blossom trees.
Watching the pink leaves sway in the soft breeze that rolled in every once in a while, and the lush green grass below them all brought a sense of serenity.
This was the good life...
At the sa ti, a sense of disappointnt and sadness washed over .
If I wanted to, I could be living this life every day.
Waking up in a mansion on the city's outskirts with amazing food and beautiful scenery everywhere...
Sipping a hot beverage while resting on the balcony of my mansion's bedroom and bathing in the sun's rays while simply enjoying the beauty of nature.
Yet, instead of doing all of that, I decided to take the path of hardship and adversity to ensure this world's safety.
That was why these beautiful and amazing monts were bittersweet for .
It just reminded what I was missing out on.
I wasn't immortal or anything.
Every mont was valuable... but here I was, risking my life to save the world and carrying the burden alone instead of enjoying life.
However, despite all that, a smile was resting on my face as I gazed out the window and saw the blooming of the cherry blossoms outside.
Because, deep down, I knew it was the decision I wanted to make.
No one made it for . It was what I wanted to do.
That was why I had to enjoy these small, fleeting monts where I could relax to the fullest... as I didn't know how many of them I had left.
Death could co at any mont; that was true.
But that didn't an you had to spend every single waking mont of your life worrying about it; instead, make the best of your life before it's gone.
Don't have a single regret.
*KNOCK*
Snapping out of my thoughts, I heard a soft and gentle knock on my door, prompting to respond.
"I'm awake."
I didn't just teleport to the Elven royal palace after blacking out in the fairy-tale-like space; soone would have had to bring here.
As the door opened, revealing the figure of Liana, I put down my mug of tea and waited for her to co in.
However... she just stood there.
After a mont of awkwardness, she stepped into the room and sat on one of the nearby desks.
Finally breaking the silence, she turned to face and asked.
"You seem to have healed."
"Yeah, I needed the rest."
"Not just physically... emotionally too."
Gazing out the window and at the beautiful, swaying cherry blossom trees, I curiously asked.
"Aren't you at all curious?"
After all, I had just randomly intervened in her ritual and stolen her portal entrance. Then I had just shown up with a bunch of bloody wounds on my body and magically saved the World Tree.
Shaking her head at my question, Liana replied.
"We can talk about those things later; you've just recovered."
As more mories of my journey to save the World Tree resurfaced, I let out a sigh while staring at the rabbits hopping around in the garden.
"What is it?"
I hadn't planned to tell anyone in the world about my possessing knowledge of the future, so sitting in front of soone who knew that truth made worried.
It was uncontrollable; no matter how much I tried to convince myself that she was a good person and would never tell anyone, the doubts and worry still entered my thoughts.
My second-biggest secret was now at risk of being exposed... even if the chance was probably less than 0.0001%
Turning around to face Liana, ready with an excuse, I realized that I actually didn't have to co with any.
In her hand, Liana was holding the mask that had fallen off my head at so point during my blackout with an awkward expression.
"...yeah that mask..."
Putting the corrupted mask on the desk, Liana imdiately started reaffirming to repeatedly that she was very grateful and that she would never expose my identity unless I gave permission.
Simply nodding my head over and over again, Liana finally took the hint and changed the topic by asking.
"So, Celestial Academy, you go there as well?"
Seeing no reason to lie to soone who already knew one of my biggest secrets, I nodded my head and replied.
"Yeah, I'm a first-year."
Almost imdiately, Liana's expression lit up as she enthusiastically replied.
"Oh, a first year!? My daughter is one, too."
"Yeah, it's hard not to know that... Alya is one of the most well-known students."
Ignoring my response, Liana silently began to scan my face and body for a second before standing up.
"mhm, yep, perfect. It's settled."
"...what's perfect? What's settled...?"
"Oh, don't worry about that; it's ti I gave you so more ti to rest. We can go over the important details once you've recovered."
As Liana left the room, I checked my phone, seeing a barrage of ssages from Han and Jin alongside a school email.
[Jin: Ey bro, this is your final strike. Did you really sneak out without us?]
[Han: You've been acting really suspicious lately, Ren.]
[Jin: Seriously, if you knew a good spot, you could have brought us along with you.]
Seeing tensions rising, I attached an image I had taken earlier in preparation for this exact situation: a picture of pretending to work after being punished.
[Ren: (Image) Does this really look like fun to you guys?]
[Jin: ...]
[Ren: Jin, you still down to co?]
[Jin: uhhh, I would.... but I'm actually busy..]
[Han: Getting caught is a rookie move, Ren.]
On the other hand, the school email was simply telling us we would leave the Elven realm in two days, so I returned my gaze to the beautiful scenery outside.
Then, rembering sothing very important, I imdiately picked back up my smartwatch and went to the ssages app.
[Ren: Long ti no see... or I guess, depends on what we say "see" ans]
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