My Husband Was the Master of the Magic Tower - Chapter 125

D14.

Dante remembers Ei’s voice, which eventually became weak in front of the unfamiliar scenery.

A faint cry as if it was either there or not, and her voice spoke of her own hometown.

[I missed it here.]

Her side profile looking at the autumn-covered landscape. Ei said that, and she didn’t cry until the end. She just lowered her head as if she was swallowing something, and only after some time had passed did she raise her head. When they made eye contact again, the brief moment of crying had completely disappeared, as if it had been nothing more than an illusion.

However, Dante knew the fact that if she doesn’t cry, that doesn’t mean she’s not sad. Also the fact that he had never Ei cried properly.

Therefore, he couldn’t guess how much emotion Ei must have expressed in her longing.

Before they shifted the dimension together, Ei never mentioned the times when she was just normal, even if it was by mistake. She didn’t really bring up her past in the first place, and Dante never bothered to ask about the memories she kept.

Even on the day when he recognized the purpose to call her one day, Dante was only anxious as he imagined a future where he would never see her again, and he never traced the thoughts Ei would have about her hometown.

She told him that what mattered was always the present, the moment they were together.

So he realized it only after her hometown was no longer just a story of the past.

That Ei’s world, also daily life, had been forcibly taken away from her in an instant. After that, she endured and endured for a long time without being able to blend in or move away from the unfamiliar world.

Even after going through something like that, she came back…

It would be a vain greed of his to expect her to shift dimension after seeing just that one thing.

Every time he caught sight of Ei skillfully handling objects that were infinitely unfamiliar to him, and every time she looked at him as if she was concerned about his inability to adapt to this world, those thoughts grew even bigger.

[I couldn’t figure out what I should teach you first, but I think I understand now.]

The sunlight of a peaceful afternoon, the warmth that drew him into the space where her hands touched every corner.

She may not have known it, but her face looked infinitely comfortable and serene at that time.

[If I think about the things that were and weren’t there when I fell into that dimension for the first time, I guess this is better. You’re so lucky, Dante.]

Where else in the world can you find a teacher who perfectly understands your situation… The remark must have been a joke, but it didn’t make the listener laugh along.

Even if it was an unexpected accident, it still doesn’t change the fact that Ei has finally returned to her own place.

In front of Ei who looked so comfortable and happy, was it right for him to think of the countless times they could have spent together?

He couldn’t force Ei to look solely at him and make a choice. He didn’t want to force her, and even if he did, she wouldn’t follow him.

But nonetheless. Even as he thought and thought about it. Even though he repeated it countless times and made a commitment.

He returned to the terrible, fearful thoughts of never wanting to lose her again.

One day, as they bathed in the dawn light together, he wanted to pray that she would protect the eternity she whispered to him. He knew that things had changed since then, and that what she did wasn’t a promise or anything.

Meanwhile, Ei encountered a rift. After holding his hand and running away until she was out of breath, she said that she was afraid that she would get caught in that hole again, and her nervousness didn’t go away.

At that point, he felt like his own wish was so selfish that he couldn’t bear it.

I don’t like what you don’t like, Ei. What you want, I will also want.

So if you want to stay here, I will be here for you.

It wasn’t difficult to make up his mind. When he came out of the house alone while Ei was asleep and looked around at the places they had gone together, he decided to bury for the rest of his life the anxiety and longing that still simmered in him.

Still, he knew that imagining a future without her was more frustrating than anything else, and that he couldn’t be okay with lying after what she went through once. Life without death isn’t something one can easily choose just because others want it, so there is nothing he can do about it.

Dante had no intention of appealing his feelings to Ei. And he thought he wouldn’t do so.

…However, as time went by, Ei, who couldn’t be more friendly, easily read his thoughts.

That was it.

“I won’t remain here.”

Obviously that was it, but.

Dante was now looking blankly at Ei, who was saying something he never dared to say. For a moment, he flinched, wondering if he was hallucinating, yet the warmth surrounding his face was still warm.

His common sense, which had been blurred to the point where he was hit by the rain instead of avoiding it, and his cognitive ability, which had been so blurred that he believed it was a dream, seemed to be belatedly returning. Landscapes came rushing in through his clear vision, yet in the end, nothing changed. Ei’s calm face and his cold body remained the same.

If so, he didn’t hear it wrong after all. But despite this, Dante deliberately denied his judgment once more.

It was probably something Ei said out of anger.

“…But you missed this dimension, Ei.”

Just as his hands couldn’t bear to hold her, his voice as he spoke also trembled slightly. He reflexively swallowed dry saliva, although it didn’t seem to have much effect.

At this moment, when his face was close, the reflection of him through the light brown eyes was poor. He looked anxious and afraid, seeming to have reached his limit. It was as if he was completely broken down by a word that AEihad said out of nowhere.

He felt a sense of crisis that he might completely lose control and throw his resolve into the air. It wasn’t worth reflecting on it hundreds of times, and as a result, he might end up choosing to completely ignore Ei’s pain.

That can’t happen.

Before Dante knew it, he was trying to persuade her to stay in this dimension, but he was too confused to realize that fact.

“You finally got back to where you were. It doesn’t make sense for you to go back to that dimension.”

“And what about you?”

“I’m not important, Ei.”

At those words, she seemed moved for a moment. But just before she could raise her voice, Dante’s calm words separated them.

“You still haven’t told me what your ‘real’ name is.”

“…”

“As long as I don’t know that name, I have no choice but to think that way. You don’t give me the most important part of you.”

So, he won’t make a choice solely for himself.

He didn’t feel miserable or sad about that fact. She never told him her name, and no matter how much she loved him, he could only understand how she felt, unable to give up her essence to someone from another dimension.

She obviously has things she wants to leave behind here. And as long as they remained there, she couldn’t be happy on another level.

“But how can I… believe you when you say you won’t stay here?”

At least that’s what he thought. If you leave behind regrets, regret will be inevitable.

At that time, Ei, who had been standing silently, let go of his face.

He almost unknowingly lowered his posture even further as her body temperature tried to move away, as he deliberately let out words that would hurt her.

However, it was faster for Ei’s hand to grab Dante’s than for him to bite back later.

After holding onto each other for a long time, their temperature became the same, and her fingers, which felt neither hot nor cold, but only a soft touch, entangled him.

It was only for a moment that he paused at the uncharacteristic attitude of someone who had been hurt.

“Is it enough?”

“What?”

“If I tell you my real name, is it enough?”

The moment Ei’s eyes reappeared after being covered by her eyelids for a moment, an emotion unknown to Dante took root in them.

With Dante in front of her, who couldn’t bear to answer, Ei continued her words as if in a whisper.

“I can tell you if you want, Dante. Because that’s what you, and no one else, want.”

And I have a question, you know. A voice sounded as if it was clouding all the thoughts he had had so far and rendering them useless.

An astonished face, followed by a faint sigh. However, amidst the actions showing such negative emotions, her eyes are still kind.

Ei always brings him feelings that are difficult to handle. Just like he did when he fell in love.

“Don’t you think that I don’t want to leave you alone?”

And at the end of those words, Dante ended up crying a little.

The sound of someone asking why he was crying seemed to be accompanied by a hand grazing the corner of his eyes.