An hour later, having finished his interrogation by Mirea in the library, Ard finally left the library to head back to the n’s dorm.
"Grr... that blasted princess. She dragged that out, and now I didn’t get to show Exgrandal to Mirea," Ard grumbled to myself, sulking.
"No... please don’t involve my father,"
A shout ca from the garden. Ard turned and saw Milia screaming and being cornered by two young n who seed to be seniors from Class A.
"Huh... Milia?" Ard questioned to myself.
He saw two young n cornering Milia against one of the academy building’s pillars in the garden. He recognized one of the two young n imdiately: short red hair and handso.
"Huh... Big Brother Abel? What’s the second prince of Fredonia doing with Milia... and the other one’s Julius? The second prince of Durnhill, the fat one? Hey, what’s going on?" Ard wondered to myself.
Without thinking twice, Ard imdiately entered the garden and approached Milia. He overheard Julius, the second prince of the Durnhill Kingdom, demanding Milia beco his fiancée and threatening to destroy the family of Baron Orlaf, a poor noble in a village located in the Durnhill Kingdom’s territory. "Tap," Ard, standing behind Abel and Julius, imdiately placed his hands on both of their shoulders. Naturally, Abel and Julius turned to see Ard smiling.
"Ah, Milia, I’ve been looking all over for you. Co with , Alicia is looking for you," Ard said, stepping between the two of them.
"Hey... what are you doing, commoner?" Julius yelled.
"Don’t interfere in our business," Abel added.
Ard imdiately turned to look at Abel and stared intensely at him. Abel was surprised and flinched back.
"H-hey... you... Arden?" Abel asked.
"Hah... who? I’m nobody. (Turning to look at Milia and pulling Milia’s hand) Co on, Milia," Ard replied.
Ard imdiately pulled Milia’s hand, walking away from Abel and Julius, who stood frozen, watching Ard and Milia walk hand-in-hand and grow farther away. After they had gone far enough down the corridor, Ard let go of Milia’s hand.
"Thank you, Ard. Prince Julius is forcing to be his fiancée... otherwise, he’ll destroy my father’s domain... what should I do?" Milia asked, confused.
"Hmm... just refuse if you don’t want to," Ard said. "Because the result was the sa in my third life. Your family will be branded as rebels and then executed because your father refused the prince who wanted to marry you, right? All of that happened a year later," Ard muttered to myself.
"But what if he forces and actually destroys my family?" Milia asked.
Ard imdiately turned back and grabbed Milia’s shoulders, which surprised her. Then he smiled.
"You don’t need to be scared. Your refusal aligns with your father’s wishes; he doesn’t agree to you being that fat prince’s fiancée either. Don’t worry, I will definitely help you. We’re in the sa class, after all. Besides, in terms of strength, you’re much stronger than him. Don’t worry... you have ," Ard said. "What am I even saying? I’m rembering my third life again. This is ssed up," Ard muttered to myself.
Milia looked up at Ard, then she hugged Ard tightly, which startled Ard this ti.
"Thank you, Ard," Milia said, smiling.
"O-okay... l-let go of . It could be bad if soone saw us," Ard said.
"Oh, right... sorry," Milia said, releasing Ard.
"Let’s head back to the dorm," Ard replied, walking away imdiately.
"Alright," Milia replied.
They walked together toward their dorms. Ard glanced at Milia, who was now walking a little close to him.
"Um... she didn’t get the wrong idea, right? I hope not... I just want to live a quiet, peaceful, and happy life until I’m old, so please, no more complications," Ard muttered to myself.
After reaching the dorms, Ard waved his hand and walked toward the n’s dorm next to the won’s dorm. Milia entered, then headed to her room. "Click," she opened her door and stepped inside.
"You’re back, Milia?" asked Alicia, who was sitting on the side of her bed cleaning her sword.
"Yeah. (Sitting next to Alicia) Alicia, can I ask you sothing?" Milia asked.
"Ask what?" Alicia questioned.
"Um... is Ard really the third prince of Fredonia, the one they call the ’trash prince’?" Milia asked.
"Yes, he’s my fiancé, but please keep this a secret. Since you’re my roommate and you caught us that one ti, I’m telling you... don’t tell Ard I told you, okay?" Alicia said.
"Okay, I understand. (Turning and taking both of Alicia’s hands, startling Alicia) I won’t lose to you, so let’s both fight as rivals and friends," Milia said, smiling.
"Huh... what do you an?" Alicia asked, confused.
***
Later that night, "ugh," Ard looked restless in his sleep. His body twitched and sweated; his face looked strained even though his eyes were closed. Both his hands were tightly gripping the blanket covering his body. Ard saw sothing inside his head, like a separate consciousness watching a movie.
"Esralda,"
"Co and get , Ashton," a girl said.
Ard watched and felt himself running after a girl dressed all in white, with silver hair and blue eyes, who looked about 15 years old, in a vast field of flowers. Ard felt he was inside the body of the man the girl called Ashton.
"Ha ha ha, I’m definitely going to catch you, Esralda," Ashton replied.
["Huh? Ashton? Esralda? Where am I? Why does the girl called Esralda look so much like Julia? Am I... Ashton?" Ard’s consciousness questioned.]
Finally, Ashton managed to catch Esralda and hugged her. They both laughed, then sat in the middle of the beautiful flower field. Esralda leaned against Ashton. Then she turned to look at Ashton’s face and smiled, her hand touching Ashton’s cheek.
"I didn’t think we’d et again here, Ace," Esralda said.
"That’s right, after our death, we’re here, Edith," Ashton mumbled, putting his arm around Esralda.
"But my na is Esralda now. Don’t call Edith anymore, okay? I don’t want to rember my life on Earth," Esralda said, resting her head.
"Yeah, you shouldn’t call Ace either. There are no countries here, and we’re no longer enemies. We’ll live peacefully and happily together," Ashton said.
"Yes, I love you, Ashton," Esralda said.
"I love you too, Esralda," Ashton replied.
They imdiately kissed and hugged each other tightly. After that, they stood up and looked at the wide flower field in front of them.
"Let’s go ho to the village, Esralda, it’s getting late," Ashton said.
"Yes, let’s go. I’m hungry, too," Esralda replied, smiling.
They both walked back the way they had co. Ard, who was only a consciousness or a ghost, followed them from behind. Suddenly, thick black smoke was seen billowing into the sky. Ashton and Esralda looked at each other, their faces suddenly panicking. Then they ran toward the smoke. Ard kept following them from behind.
"Kyaaaa... help... demons,"
A heartbreaking scream was heard from ahead of them, along with the sound of sothing burning. When they ca out of the forest, Ashton and Esralda were stunned to see a village completely engulfed in flas, with many demon soldiers—who had horns, black armor, and red eyes—killing the residents and burning the village. Ashton and Esralda gasped, their faces turning utterly furious.
Their tears stread down as they watched the villagers being massacred by the demon forces. Their hearts ached and filled with vengeance, a feeling also shared by Ard’s consciousness hovering behind them.
"You bastards... co on, Esralda," Ashton said.
"Yes, let’s go, Ashton," Esralda replied.
They both imdiately ran toward the village. They grabbed whatever weapons were nearby and imdiately fought against the demon forces. Ard, who was only a consciousness or a ghost, just stared at everything, and without realizing it, his tears fell.
["W-what is this? So this is... the beginning of everything... huh... I’m crying? I’m... Ashton? Esralda... yes, that’s right... Edith... Esralda... my lover," Ard’s consciousness mumbled.]
Suddenly, "crack," the world seed to fracture. Ard beca very confused, and "crash," the world shattered. "Whoa," Ard fell into darkness, toward a growing white light until he finally passed through the point.
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