Capítulo 277: [Chapter 277] I’m All Yours
Time passed.
Neris found out that "Nona" was Rianon, and Rianon was taken aback. If Rianon had admitted it and apologized at this point, things wouldn't have gotten worse. But instead, Rianon chose to create a favorable public opinion beforehand.
Guys, Tryud is bullying me by picking on me for no reason! Yeah, that "weird" girl! I'm innocent! Who do you believe? Me, your friend? Or Tryud, who's being ostracized?
Rianon probably wasn't very happy while she was blabbing like that to her friends. She was the one who had been secretly tormenting Neris, and the fact that she reacted so oversensitively when Neris found out meant that she knew she wasn't innocent. But instead of reflecting on her own meanness, she easily chose to make Neris a liar.
And when Neris started getting beaten up by the kids in the backyard because of her cowardice, Cledwin was shocked. The ball of light spun around like a bee, furious, and Cledwin almost drew his sword.
He would have done it if his body hadn't been moving on its own.
Cledwin was used to his body moving on its own to get away from Neris whenever he was in a situation where he might be seen by her. But this time, something was different.
His body didn't move away from Neris's sight, but started walking leisurely. And he stopped a little distance away from her, who was being subjected to terrible violence, and shouted.
"Over here! This way, Sir Voltaire!"
At the name of the grumpy upperclassman teacher, the vicious little kids ran away immediately. Cledwin's body approached Neris, who was collapsed and broken.
His heart pounded. The boy's arm reached out to support the girl's frail body. The girl huddled up, covering her head with her arms, and sobbed. Her mournful sobs flowed into his body, filling his breath with needles.
The sharp, stinging breaths were too much to bear. Cledwin stared blankly at the child's helpless form. Even so, his body didn't hesitate to pick her up. Neris, as if she didn't have the courage to face the world, kept her eyes tightly shut, covering her face and trembling.
By the time they reached the infirmary, Neris was half-conscious. Cledwin's body laid her down on the bed and gruffly instructed the doctor.
"Don't tell anyone I brought her. I hate it when things get complicated."
Who would dare refuse his order? The doctor bowed his head and agreed to do as he said. Cledwin kept shouting at his body. Don't leave, he said. You have to see her wake up safely. You have to hold her.
But his body, cruelly, left that place as it was. As if it were the most natural thing in the world.
***
"Something like this happened to her?"
Cledwin said, wiping his face with a dry cloth. He was dissatisfied with his body, which had become free as soon as he left the building, leaving Neris in the infirmary. The ball of light spoke in a cautious voice.
<Yes, it seems like this actually happened… Mom wasn't asleep. It seems like it's a memory that's in Mom's subconscious.>
"So, my wife's past self saw a child almost beaten to death by her peers, but she just left her in the infirmary and walked away. Even my savior."
<Don't say it like that, Dad… You didn't know. You just saved someone in trouble.>
In a way, he was right. Cledwin knew very well that he was a heartless person in some ways. If he had seen someone else go through what Neris had just gone through, he probably wouldn't have even felt a trace of remorse like this. Considering the academy's complicated political relationships, it was a miracle that he had even stepped in to help.
But his heart ached. It ached so much that his legs felt weak. Perhaps for the first time in his life.
Only then did he realize how incredibly, incredibly painful it would be to enter his wife's memory and watch over her so helplessly.
He didn't want to let Rianon Berta go. He didn't want to let her classmates go either, who were so caught up in the fun of asserting their twisted sense of justice and superiority that they drove someone like that into a corner. He wanted to kill their parents who had taught them that way.
But no matter what he did, young Neris Tryud would continue to suffer terrible things. And eventually, she would be murdered.
The confident declaration he had made when he first came here had faded miserably. A sense of powerlessness made his lips tremble.
"…How do I change it?"
<I told you, Dad. This is Mom's time… No matter what Dad does when Mom doesn't know, Mom can only experience what she remembers. That's how the logic of this world works. Like the sun rising in the morning and a stone sinking when thrown into water, that's the law of this world.>
"I don't care if the sun doesn't rise tomorrow morning."
Cledwin leaned against the cold wall and slid down, collapsing.
"I don't care if all the rocks that have sunk into the sea fall on my head. I don't care if the world crumbles. I just don't want her to go through that."
The boy's handsome grey eyes drooped sadly.
"I don't need a world where her love isn't reciprocated. I don't need a world where she's unjustly blamed. I don't want a world that makes her miserable and eventually kills her."
<…I'm sorry, Dad… I wish I could change it too. But I can't change what's already happened. If you could change something here, it wouldn't be changing what actually happened, but changing Mom's memory…>
"Yes…."
Cledwin laughed hollowly. What good would it do to change Neris's memory when the guilty parties were still walking around, free and clear, in his and her time?
His eyes soon took on a chilling light.
"If I can't change the time my wife experiences, I'll remember it all. So that when she wakes up, she can be fully compensated for all the hardship she's endured. I'll make sure I know who the ones who have to pay the price are, and how much they have to pay."
<Yes! That's it, Dad!>
The ball of light, which had been dejected, trembled excitedly, as if cheering him on. Cledwin chuckled at the ball of light.
"…Shall we go? Even if it's different from my wife's memory, I can do whatever I want with the rest, right?"
<Yes!>
The ball of light clung to Cledwin's shoulder. It was now a permanent fixture, no longer a source of special warmth, but a part of his everyday life.
***
The seasons changed.
During the break, Cledwin conquered Meindlandt. He needed a little more time to completely dominate every corner of his vast territory, but he had managed to eliminate most of the potential threats to his future.
The reason why he had eliminated "most" and not "all" was because the old, cunning elders just wouldn't die.
"Isn't this fate?"
Ren, who had been serving as his personal healer since he was forcibly cured of his Pezalcho addiction after being imprisoned by Cledwin, grumbled jokingly. Cledwin, who had just received news that those who had been on the verge of death had miraculously escaped death, smiled knowingly.
"You could call it that."
"What a rotten kid. You're not interested in anything except 'that girl,' are you? I can't stand to see you not even flinch."
"I had a pretty good idea. They're going to die in a few years."
When he graduated and became the Duke. If their deaths were predetermined in Neris's memory, then blood would probably stain his blade when that time came, even if he didn't do anything.
"You're so relaxed."
Ren, who was grinding his teeth at the current Pope, Omnitus, didn't understand Cledwin's calm demeanor. But Cledwin didn't need to convince him, so he focused on what he was doing.
"What are you doing?"
Ren showed interest. Cledwin shrugged.
"I'm checking if the necklace is well-made."
"No, I know that. I'm asking why you're looking at it so preciously."
"I'm going to give it to her as a gift when school starts."
"To that girl you always go to see? You're not going to go there without talking to her again, are you?"
That's right. Cledwin didn't care about Ren's teasing and carefully put away the necklace. He probably wouldn't be able to give her that necklace, made of dried flowers encased in glass, in this life.
What did it matter? Even if something was hidden in that place, which she would eventually find and be comforted by, something that was actually made just for her.
***
Valentin Elandria was among the new freshmen. Cledwin watched the silver-haired, nasty little kid, who approached his cousin with a show of force from the first day of school, with sunken eyes.
The little boy seemed to think Neris was some kind of toy. He acted as if she owed him amusement because his family had lent her tuition. Such a vile mindset was common among spoiled noble children, but Valentin's behavior was different, perhaps because of Delma.
After securing a cabin by the lake and locking Neris in an empty warehouse, the arrogant little boy left happily. The ball of light trembled at the sight.
<That's mean! That's bad! You shouldn't do that to your friend!>
Cledwin wanted to say, "They're not friends," but he wasn't sure if it was appropriate to say that to a child who was reading fairy tales, so he kept his mouth shut. He quietly looked at the warehouse where Neris was locked up.
He knew very well that he wasn't allowed to make a sound or open the door. If he thought about it, his body would immediately move on its own to get away from here. So Cledwin sat with his back against a nearby tree, chewing on his bitter feelings.
'Valentin Elandria.'
The Valentin he knew was too insignificant to even bother with. He was a man who, in cahoots with his nanny, tried to get rid of Neris, but he was so stupid that he ended up hurting himself.
But Neris in the past was too kind to be treated like that by Valentin. Or, to be more precise, she didn't easily think that someone would have ill intentions towards her. Because she was the kind of person who didn't harbor ill intentions towards others, she believed that others would treat her fairly.
The problem was that it seemed like she was starting to believe that she was "the kind of person who deserves to be treated this way."
'When I go back, I won't let him get away with it.'
Cledwin didn't think Neris in the past was foolish. It was right to cherish the ability to trust others. The people who destroy trust between people are the foolish and selfish ones.
So, if he could protect her in this time, he would have done so without hesitation.
Damn it, he was in a situation where he couldn't even properly warn Valentin. Cledwin Meindlandt's stern reprimand would be taken seriously by Valentin Elandria, but no matter what, Neris in this time would have to go through the pain she experienced all over again.
The sound of Neris crying and shouting from beyond the warehouse door fell silent. The moon rose in the sky, and the stars flowed. Cledwin wondered how long she would be trapped here.
<Dad, should I go check on Mom?>
"Yes."
The ball of light fluttered, flew through the warehouse door, and entered. After a while, it returned to Cledwin.
<Mom's sleeping.>
"It's about time she did."
It was already late at night, and Neris was still a thirteen-year-old girl. Cledwin's blood boiled as he imagined her huddled up, miserably, in the dirty, uncomfortable warehouse. He stood up and approached the warehouse.
<What should we do, Dad?>
"It's okay to be next to her while she's sleeping."
Cledwin opened the latch on the warehouse door. A ray of moonlight entered the dark warehouse, illuminating Neris's frail body. With a throbbing heart, he picked up his young wife.
<Mom must have cried. She must have been scared.>
The ball of light, flying near Neris's cheek, where tear stains remained, chirped in a choked voice. Cledwin quietly agreed.
"Yes, she probably was."
His wife was particularly afraid of the dark. She said she was afraid of her own powerlessness.
Cledwin thought he understood those feelings now. He was the most powerless he had ever been. He had faced death several times when he was truly young, but at least then, he wasn't in a state where he had to watch from the sidelines, unable to prevent even a single wound inflicted on the most important person in the world.
His chest felt tight. He sat by the lake, holding Neris so she wouldn't be uncomfortable. He took off his clothes and covered her with them, then kissed her forehead.
"…Look at me. I'm all yours."
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