Location:- Yuuta Apartment
Place:- Living Room
Yuuta sat silently on the old sofa, his back resting against the cushions while the apartment remained wrapped in complete silence.
Beside him, Elena had already fallen asleep.
Her tiny body leaned against his side, her silver hair spilling across his arm while her small hands still clutched the edge of his shirt, as though even in her dreams she feared he might disappear again.
After everything she had endured today, exhaustion had finally claimed the little dragon.
The meal Yuuta had cooked for her had filled her empty stomach, and for the first time since the nightmare began, her breathing became calm and peaceful.
Yuuta gently brushed a loose strand of silver hair away from her face before quietly covering her with a blanket. A faint smile appeared on his lips for only a brief moment.
Seeing Elena sleeping peacefully should have brought him comfort, yet his own heart refused to settle.
The moment he closed his eyes, countless questions returned one after another, refusing to leave him alone.
His gaze slowly drifted toward the ceiling while his thoughts sank deeper into confusion.
Until today, he had always believed those horrifying dreams were nothing more than stress, trauma, or some psychological illness.
Every nightmare, every terrifying vision, every sleepless night had been explained away as a damaged mind struggling to heal itself.
He had accepted that explanation because there had never been another answer.
Now...
Everything had changed.
Those nightmares had never been ordinary dreams.
They were real.
The realization alone was enough to send another chill crawling through his spine.
Yuuta slowly closed his eyes, trying to organize every fragmented memory scattered throughout his mind.
The strange visions he had experienced from soul realme resurfaced one after another.
The ancient elf chanting an incomprehensible ritual.
The mysterious song echoing through endless darkness.
The gigantic shadow standing beyond his reach.
The endless deaths inside the Nightmare Trial.
Every memory that once seemed random now felt connected by an invisible thread, yet no matter how desperately he searched for the answer, none of it made any sense.
His breathing gradually became heavier.
"...Why...?"
The question escaped his lips almost unconsciously.
"What exactly am I...?"
Silence answered him.
His mind refused to stop.
Erza knew.
Grandpa knew.
Fiona knew.
Even Elena had known enough to save him.
Yet he...
The person suffering through every nightmare...
...had been the only one left in complete darkness.
Yuuta lowered his head, resting both elbows against his knees while his fingers intertwined tightly. His thoughts became increasingly chaotic as another possibility surfaced.
Why?
Why would they hide something this important from me?
Were they protecting me...
...or protecting something else?
The thought alone made his chest tighten painfully.
Then another memory surfaced.
The Nightmare Trial.... The crown of wrath.
His breathing immediately faltered.
He remembered every single death.
The axe cleaving his body apart.
His head rolling across the blood-soaked floor.
His organs spilling from his stomach.
His bones shattering.
The endless loop of dying... reviving... and dying again.
His entire body instinctively trembled.
Even though he had escaped that place...
His mind hadn’t.
The terror still remained buried inside him, refusing to disappear.
Yuuta slowly raised his trembling hands before staring at them in silence. They looked perfectly normal, yet only he knew how many times they had been severed inside that nightmare. Every death still felt painfully vivid, as though his soul had truly experienced each one.
"...I need answers."
His voice was quiet.
Firm.
"If I don’t understand what’s happening to me..."
"...this nightmare will never end."
His crimson eyes slowly narrowed.
"What is the Soul Realm?"
"What is the Nightmare Trial?"
"...and why..."
"...why am I the one suffering through all of this?....Is this even common.?"
The questions echoed endlessly inside the quiet apartment while Yuuta remained completely lost in thought, his breathing growing heavier with every passing second.
He never noticed the passage of time.
Nor did he realize...
That someone had already returned.
____________________
Meanwhile...
Apartment Ground Floor
The entrance apartment gate quietly opened.
Erza stepped inside.
Having rushed all the way from the Libeus Agency without stopping even once, she had finally reached the apartment building.
Her silver hair moved gently with the evening wind while her violet eyes immediately searched the surroundings with unusual urgency.
For someone who normally walked with calm dignity, her hurried breathing and tense expression revealed just how disturbed she truly was.
The uneasy feeling inside her soul still hadn’t disappeared.
If anything...
It had only grown stronger.
Erza walked straight toward the staircase without wasting a single second. The uneasy feeling inside her chest refused to disappear.
Instead, with every step she took, it only grew heavier, as though her very soul was warning her that something had happened while she was away.
She had never felt this kind of fear before, and that unfamiliar emotion made her quicken her pace even further.
Just as she reached the first flight of stairs, something caught her attention. Several shattered Aesthor Stones lay scattered across the floor.
Erza stopped instantly.
Her violet eyes narrowed.
"...What are these doing here?" She slowly crouched down and picked up one of the blackened crystals. The moment her fingers touched it, she immediately recognized the aura sealed inside Yuuta’s.
Her heart skipped a beat.
It was the same stone Fiona had brought, but what was it doing here? Who had brought it? Her eye landed on the ground and saw sixty-four more lying around with a bag that Fiona had brought.
Erza’s expression changed.
"...No." A cold feeling spread through her entire body.
"Something happened."
Without another thought, she threw the broken crystal aside and dashed toward the upper floors.
Every step echoed violently throughout the apartment building as she climbed the stairs at a speed no ordinary human eye could follow.
Her heart pounded harder and harder with each passing second, and countless terrifying possibilities flashed through her mind.
Please...
please be safe...
Yuuta...
She reached the third floor in only a few breaths.
Room 305.
Without even knocking, Erza immediately pushed the door open.
"Yuuta!"
Her voice carried an urgency that she herself had never heard before.
Inside the living room, Yuuta instantly snapped out of his thoughts.
His head turned toward the entrance.
The moment their eyes met, time seemed to stop.
Yuuta simply stared at her.
For several long seconds, he couldn’t move.
His vision slowly became blurry.
Without realizing it, tears quietly rolled down his cheeks.
Although only a few hours had passed in the real world, inside the Nightmare Trial it had felt like an eternity. He had died again and again, trapped inside endless darkness, never knowing whether days, weeks, or even months had passed. Every time death claimed him, the one person he had unconsciously wished would appear... never came.
Now she was standing right in front of him. Alive. Real.
His lips trembled.
"...Er..." His voice cracked before the word could even leave his mouth.
"...Erza..." It was barely a whisper, yet it carried every ounce of fear, loneliness, and relief he had buried inside himself throughout that endless nightmare.
Erza remained standing near the doorway, her breathing still uneven from running across the city.
The moment she saw Yuuta sitting safely inside the apartment, the suffocating pressure that had gripped her heart finally disappeared.
He’s safe...
A quiet sigh escaped her lips.
For the first time since leaving the Libeus Agency, she allowed herself to relax.
She had truly believed something terrible had happened, but now she could finally see him with her own eyes.
Everything was fine.
Or so she thought.
Before she could even take another breath, Yuuta suddenly stood. In the next instant, he crossed the distance between them and wrapped both arms tightly around her.
Erza’s entire body froze.
The unexpected warmth surrounding her made her eyes widen in surprise. Her face instantly flushed red. She could feel Yuuta trembling not from cold, but from fear.
His arms held her so tightly that she could almost feel the desperation hidden behind the embrace. It wasn’t the hug of a husband seeking affection.
It was the embrace of someone who had finally found the person he believed he had lost.
For several long moments, Yuuta said nothing.
He simply buried his face against her shoulder while his body continued trembling ever so slightly.
Erza stood completely motionless.
Her heartbeat gradually accelerated.
She could clearly feel his warmth, his uneven breathing, the faint trembling that refused to stop.
Slowly, very slowly, understanding appeared inside her violet eyes.
Something happened... something far worse than I imagined.
Erza remained completely still, yet her heartbeat gradually became louder inside her own ears. She could feel every tiny tremble running through Yuuta’s body, every uneven breath escaping his lips, every desperate second he refused to let go. At first, she had mistaken it for exhaustion, but the longer she held him, the clearer it became.
This wasn’t ordinary fear.
It wasn’t the fear of an injured man.
It wasn’t even the fear of someone who had narrowly escaped death.
It was far deeper than that.
Erza had witnessed this kind of trembling countless times throughout her life. She had seen battle-hardened soldiers collapse onto the ground after surviving battlefields drenched in blood.
She had watched proud generals lose the strength to stand after coming face-to-face with death itself. She remembered young recruits shaking uncontrollably after witnessing entire armies vanish beneath her blade, their eyes empty, their souls already broken long before their bodies fell.
That...
Was the same trembling she felt now.
Only this time...
The person trembling wasn’t an enemy.
It was her husband.
A sharp pain pierced Erza’s heart.
What happened...?
What could possibly frighten Yuuta to this extent?
Her arms slowly moved around him, gently returning the embrace.
The warmth that had embarrassed her only moments ago disappeared completely, replaced by nothing but worry.
She carefully rested one hand against his back, softly comforting him while trying not to make him feel cornered.
"Yuuta..."
Her voice became unusually gentle.
"Are you alright?"
She hesitated for a brief moment before asking the question weighing on her heart.
"What happened while I was gone?"
She could still feel him trembling.
"Did you see something?"
Her violet eyes softened.
"Why are you shaking like this?"
Yuuta suddenly froze.
Only then did he realize what he had done.
Without even thinking...
He had run across the room and hugged Erza as though she were the only thing keeping him anchored to reality.
Slowly, he loosened his arms and stepped back, avoiding her gaze. A nervous smile immediately appeared on his face, the kind he always forced whenever he wanted to hide something.
"O-Oh..."
"It’s nothing."
He scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"Really..."
"It’s nothing."
Erza didn’t respond.
She simply stared at him.
Her eyes slowly narrowed.
She knew fear.
She knew trauma.
She knew exactly how someone looked after experiencing death.
Yuuta might fool everyone else.
He would never fool her.
He’s lying.
Her expression gradually became serious.
"No."
She calmly shook her head.
"Something happened."
Her voice remained composed, but every instinct inside her had already gone on alert. Countless possibilities raced through her mind. Had Isvarn appeared? Had someone from the Demonic Era attacked him? Had another hidden enemy found him while she was away? She didn’t know which answer frightened her the most.
"Tell me."
Her gaze never left his face.
"What happened here?"
Yuuta looked into her eyes before immediately looking away again.
His thoughts raced.
Should I confront her now?
The question lingered only for a second before he silently rejected it.
No...
Not yet.
If Erza truly knew something...
If she had really been hiding the truth...
Then accusing her directly would only make her more guarded.
He needed answers.
Real answers.
And that meant asking carefully.
Strategically.
Yuuta took a slow breath before forcing another smile onto his face.
"Nothing really happened..."
He paused, desperately searching for an excuse convincing enough to end the conversation.
"It just..."
His mind went completely blank.
The first thing that entered his head slipped out before he could stop himself.
"...I missed you."
His voice was quiet.
"I missed you a lot, Erza."
Erza blinked.
For a moment...
Her entire mind stopped.
A faint blush quietly spread across her cheeks as those unexpected words echoed inside her head.
"...What?"
She stared at him in complete surprise. For someone else, perhaps that confession would have ended the conversation right there. But not for Erza. The blush remained on her face, and yet the suspicion inside her heart only grew stronger.
She slowly took another step toward him.
"No."
She quietly shook her head.
"You’re trying to distract me."
Erza’s expression remained serious as she looked straight into his eyes. The warmth from their embrace had disappeared, replaced by the quiet authority of someone who refused to be deceived. She could tell something inside him had changed, and whatever it was, it had left wounds she couldn’t see.
"Something really happened here."
Her voice was calm, yet every word carried weight.
"Tell me the truth, Yuuta."
Yuuta fell silent.
His thoughts became a storm.
If I ask her directly... what will she do?
Will she finally tell me everything...
...or will she erase my memory again?
Elena’s innocent words echoed through his mind once again.
Mama removed Papa’s memory.
Yuuta’s fingers slowly tightened.
If Elena was telling the truth...
Erasing my memories is possible.
His fingers slowly curled into a fist.
No.
I can’t keep fooling myself anymore.
Everything was beginning to connect.
The nightmares. Dr. Jenny. Fiona. Grandpa. The Aesthor Stones. Even Erza herself.
Piece after piece had fallen into place, and the only person left in complete darkness... had been him.
And he was the one paying the price.
The one suffering.
Quietly, Yuuta slipped his hand into his pocket and wrapped his fingers around the pen he always carried with him. It was a simple object, almost meaningless, yet at this moment it became his final safeguard.
No matter what happened today...
He would learn the truth.
Even if Erza hated him afterward.
Even if everything between them changed forever.
He ignored Isvarn’s warning.
He took one slow breath before lifting his head.
His crimson eyes met Erza’s violet ones without wavering.
"Okay..."
His voice was steady.
"I’ll tell you the truth."
Relief quietly appeared inside Erza’s heart.
I knew it.
Something really did happen.
Her fingers unconsciously tightened at her sides.
Whoever had done this...
Whoever had frightened her husband until his body trembled like this...
She silently swore that person would never be allowed to exist again.
I will kill you.
Not just once...
I will erase every possibility of your rebirth.
But before she could speak again, Yuuta slowly continued.
"...Before that..."
"I need to ask you something."
Erza blinked.
"What is it?"
Yuuta looked at her for several long seconds.
His gaze was strangely calm.
Almost too calm.
Then, without looking away, he quietly asked,
"Erza..."
"...do you love me?"
The question struck her harder than any blade.
Her violet eyes widened.
"...Pardon?"
To be Contiuned...
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