Yurina couldn’t say anything. As if every word he said turned into a spike and hit her in the throat.

Yurina bit her lips and hid her eyes. Raynard lifted her face with a trembling hand to meet her gaze.

“The person you mentioned, whose mother worked in a brothel… you are talking about Karion, right?”

Yurina could neither confirm nor deny what was said. To deny it is a deceit, and if she confirmed it, she would feel that she had committed a great sin.

However, Reynard’s face twisted as if he was about to cry, as if he had found the answer he was looking for in that silence. His hand holding Yurina’s cheek strengthened for a moment, but then he hurriedly removed it as if surprised by his own gesture.

He clenched his fists so hard that the veins stood out on his arm and his knuckles turned white. Then he covered his face with both hands.

“I couldn’t even think… all this time.”

“Ray.”

“I thought everything, I’m someone special for you…”

“Ray, listen to me. I…”

“But you know what’s worse?”

He looked at Yurina through his fingers.

“Now listen to me and don’t say anything. If you told me about everything yourself, it wouldn’t be so bad.”

He chuckled. His initially quiet laughter grew louder and louder.

“Yurina, I wasn’t the one you were looking for. So?”

“Ray, I…”

“You didn’t want me, but that Karion.”

No. It’s not like that. Yurina knew she should deny it, but her tongue didn’t move. After all, everything he said was an indisputable fact.

“No.”

Raynard immediately grabbed Yurina’s arm.

“No? I made a mistake? What?”

“…”

“Please say it. Please…”

Raynard threw away Yurina’s arms and fell helplessly to the ground, as if under Yurina’s continuous silence, a sand castle was collapsing. Both of his hands hung desperately on Yurina’s dress.

“You said you were looking for me. You said you were glad we met. And now…”

Tears streamed down his cheeks and dripped onto his thighs as he knelt before her.

“You said you were waiting for me all this time.”

At the age of 12, when he was hurt by mrs. Lauren, he burst into tears in Yurina’s arms. He was in more pain now than then.

From that day on, he never cried like that, only quietly poured out his emotions in silence. Even if he cried when he was happy, he tried to control his emotions, hide them from others. Now he didn’t even seem to want to stop.

“Why in the world is it that guy and not me, shy the hell…”

Yurina raised her head to the sky and closed her eyes.

The existence of Karion in this world has long been forgotten. At that moment, it wasn’t Karion that hung in front of her eyes, but Reynard’s crying face.

It seemed that she had inflicted an indelible wound on him, before accidentally saying that she was happy to meet them. A wound that can’t be compared to the one left to him by mrs. Lauren.

Until now, she tried to protect him from all sorts of troubles, but it was Yurina who left him the deepest scar.

Holding her breath, Yurina crouched down and took Reynard’s hand, which was still hanging from her dress.

“I’m sorry, Ray. I’m sorry.”

Raynard, who was still crying before then, hugged Yurina tightly. He buried his wet face into Yurina’s neck.

“Yurina, when you met me, you asked me to save you when you were in danger. Is it all because of this? Is that why you were looking for that Karion?”

When Yurina nodded, and he asked in a trembling voice.

“Do you still need that bastard?”

It couldn’t possibly be like that. Yurina tried to get away, but Reynard was unable to catch her reaction.

“I’ve been learning magic all this time like a lunatic. Oh, I graduated from the academy a year earlier. I can do better than him, right? I will be better. If not enough, I will work even harder. So don’t leave. Stay with me, huh?”

Yurina raised her hand and wrapped around his trembling body.

He was big, but his body was now soft and vulnerable, like that of a 12-year-old child.

“I can protect you better than anyone else. I won’t even ask why you wanted to find this Karion. So stay with me. Okay?”

“Ray.”

“I can’t live without you. So Yurina. Please…”

“I’m not going anywhere. What are you talking about?”

Raynard raised his head and looked at Yurina’s expression. Yurina gently rubbed the corners of his reddened eyes, wondering how to rell it to him without harming him in the future.

“It is true that I once looked for Karion. But it doesn’t matter anymore.”