I Picked Up a Witch With Amnesia - I Picked Up a Witch With Amnesia chapter 197

Epilogue. End of Happiness – 03

It was a story about one night when the moon was beautiful.

Ariel and I had spread out a small seat on the floor and sat down on it, looking up at the moon. Even though it was a season close to midsummer, the temperature was a bit cool, so it was really good weather to watch the moon outside.

Yes, just like that day when everyone gathered together and went to see the moon.

“It seems like it’s been a really long time since we spent time alone. Isn’t that right, Cain?”

In response to Ariel’s words in a relaxed tone while lying on the bed, I also nodded softly and expressed my affirmation.

“…exactly. It’s been a long time since I’ve been alone with you like this. If my memory is correct, it must have been at least a few months.”

“It is not a few months. To be precise, it’s the first time since I spent a full day in bed with you that day, so it’s been two months and twelve days. I didn’t expect any special treatment from you, but even so, I never imagined that you would leave your one and only wife unattended in the early days of your marriage. Oh, by any chance, there is not one wife by your side, so your love for me has also decreased by that much? If so, I think it makes logical sense.”

“…..”

“It’s a joke, a joke. So, clear your face. If someone sees this, won’t they be mistaken for the two of us fighting?”

Judging by Ariel’s giggly smile, it doesn’t look like she’s throwing such a word at me as a joke. Well, in fact, I couldn’t say that her words were completely wrong. Because during the past two months, it is an unfiltered fact that I haven’t been able to make time to be alone with her.

…But, as Ariel had just said, it wasn’t true that he neglected her while pouring his attention and affection to another woman. This is because after the ‘incident’ that happened that day, I had to spend busy days for the past two months to deal with the post-processing.

Due to the aftermath of the fight that day, 30% of the entire area of the Great Forest was evaporated as it was, and due to the recoil of Arya’s magic, a huge crater was created in the center of the Great Forest. Also, the root of the World Tree was severely damaged, probably because of the clash right in front of the World Tree during the fight, and it ended up happening.

Of course, I wasn’t without excuses either. In order to prevent the destruction of the world, in order to protect the future, there were so many things to say, but I didn’t have the courage to say those things in front of other people, so I had no choice but to bow my head and calmly deal with the aftermath.

The elves who lost their residence suddenly had to stay temporarily in the Duke of Estelle under the leadership of Kyrie, and with the help of Iris and the imperial family, they were in the process of restoring the landscape around the Great Forest to its original state as much as possible. And I was the one in charge of all of that.

It was only after running around for two months that I managed to regain some stability around me, and as a result, I was able to afford to go out to see the moon alone with Ariel.

“I have been very busy myself. I just want to make it clear that I haven’t intentionally neglected you until now to neglect you. As proof, you are the first person to spend time alone with someone else since that day.”

As I grumbled and said such things, Ariel stared at me intently.

“I do not know. I’d like to believe that you’re taking this time because you care and love me the most, but unfortunately that doesn’t seem to be the case. Cain, aren’t you here because you have something to say to me?”

At Ariel’s flowing reasoning, I looked at her in amazement. Fortunately, Ariel didn’t seem very upset with me.

“…Did you know? That I was taking time with you because I had something to say?”

“Actually, I didn’t want to know, but when you glance at me like that and give off a restless look, you know it automatically even if you don’t want to know.”

In the end, I let out a small sigh at Ariel’s gentle answer. Certainly, it was as she said. I had something to ask her, and in the process, I didn’t want others to overhear our conversation, so I forced myself to spend time with her.

“As you guessed. One thing, I have to ask you.”

“like. What are you curious about, Cain?”

“That day, why did you take my side at the last minute?”

That day, I didn’t even have to explain which moment this was referring to. I just wanted to ask what was the purpose of protecting me by using ‘Guardian of Luminous Light’ against the Thunder God’s mace she used during the fight between Arya and I.

…Ariel wasn’t the type to like Arya that much. No, when he first met Arya, he didn’t like her to the point of suggesting that he would kill her.

And I knew all too well why Ariel hated Arya. It was because in the two pasts that Ariel had to go through, it was the ‘Witch of Winter’ who took the lives of me and our daughter, Tia.

I could understand her. The fact that she helped Kirie to subdue Arya, and the way she prayed for her death towards the goddess Arya, he could understand everything. It was because I could sympathize with the sorrow of a woman who was left alone after losing the man she loved, and the pain of a parent who lost a child.

…But at the last moment, she sided with me. It became my strength to move to save Arya, not to kill her. If she hadn’t been there, it would have been such a great help that the future where everyone is laughing together wouldn’t have existed.

That’s why, even at this moment, she couldn’t understand her intentions at all. If I truly hated Arya and wanted her dead, it would have been enough just to watch the two of us fight from afar. If that was the case, Ariel could have easily achieved her goal. why the hell

“…I did something. You’re asking a pretty silly question. It’s not manly behavior at all to talk about the past.”

Ariel, who smiled once as she said that, looked up at the moon floating in the distance.

“It’s simple. I had no intention of killing Arya from the start. Because it all makes no sense.”

“… meaningless, meaningless?”

It’s nonsense. The woman I knew, Ariel Thiers, was the woman who cherished and loved Tia more than anyone else in the world. For her to say something that seemed to deny her love for Tia?

“You are somewhat misunderstanding what I am saying. I’m not saying that revenge is meaningless because I don’t value Tia. I am telling you that killing Arya to avenge the daughter I love is meaningless.”

At Ariel’s answer, I raised my eyebrows as I didn’t understand something.

“Are you trying to say that the act of revenge has no final meaning?”

“Please. I’m not that kind and pure person. I’m just telling a story on a more substantive level than that.”

For a moment, I didn’t miss the sight of a faint smile on Ariel’s lips.

“This time, let me ask you a question in reverse. Cain, why didn’t you hold any grudge against Arya? Didn’t you already know that too? About the fact that a woman named Arya was your death in a time that has been repeated over and over again.”

“…that.”

Ariel’s reasonable point made me momentarily forget what to say. It was as she said. In the many rounds of regression, I was robbed of so many things by the Winter Witch who would appear in the future. Due to the Witch of Winter, the dukedom of Estelle collapsed, and members of the dukedom died due to the winter she brought, and sometimes I lost my life in the course of her subjugation.

However, I did not think of taking revenge on Arya, who had a history of taking everything from me. Because, the future I experienced has become the past that has all disappeared at this point. As I went back 10 years, everything I lost was back in my arms, and the terrible nightmares I would experience in the future had not even begun at this point.

Yes. The future I remembered has now turned into a memory that will never come to me. So no one has done anything wrong, and no one needs to seek atonement. It is ridiculous indeed to harbor a grudge against the possibility of a future that has not yet happened.

“…meaningless, because there is none.”

It wasn’t until I unknowingly spit out such words that I realized it. That I just said the same thing as Ariel answered me. And at my answer, Ariel burst into laughter.

“Right. It’s not that I forgave Arya because I’m a person of noble character like a saint. According to your answer, the act of obsessing over the past itself is meaningless, so it is nothing more than letting go of lingering attachments. That is the only conclusion I have come to after much thought.”

Ariel’s eyes twinkled and radiated light.

“In addition, Goddess Arbel gave me a promise. If I can fulfill my duty at the decisive moment, I swear on my name that I will let Tia meet again.”

“…What?”

Arbel made that promise to Ariel? When?

“…Well. So, before I returned, was it the moment just before the world perished at the hands of the Winter Witch? Just when I was laying everything down in my heart, the Goddess showed me a scene from the future that was about to happen. And at that moment, what choice I have to make, everything.”

“…Well, it is said that I saw a scene from the future, but at that time I couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on. Judging from your bewildered look at me, I could have guessed that I did something against your wishes.”

…Is it like that? So right before the world was destroyed at the hands of the Winter Witch, Ariel said something meaningful to me, saying ‘Please believe in yourself to the end’. And at the decisive moment, Ariel’s help to me was also something that was on his extension line.

“The Goddess said this. Even if time has been rewinded backwards once, the bond between Tia and us in the realm remains unbroken. We, who are still connected in the circle of reincarnation, will inevitably be able to meet again.”

“…I would be lying if I said I didn’t hate Arya. However, I don’t think there is any need to decorate the starting point of Tia’s life, which will begin again sooner or later with grudges from the past, as grudges.”

“It is most beautiful to leave the past as the past. For me, for Tia, and for everyone involved in the yoke of time-”

“So I don’t think there is any need to be sad. The three of us were happy days, because we can create as many times as we want in the future.”

There was not a single cloudiness on Ariel’s face as she said that and smiled at me, so I was finally able to feel at ease deep down in my heart.

“But you know what? It’s been almost three months since I mixed with you, and the fact that I don’t feel any signs of prenatal period? To be honest, I had high hopes for getting Iris pregnant just once, but it seems that I didn’t have that kind of luck. Well, even when I had Tia, I had quite a hard time getting pregnant, so I expected it to be a very tough fight.”

Ariel, who had a rather coquettish eye smile, was creeping toward me like a wild animal hunting for food.

“…Uh, Ariel?”

When I involuntarily backed away from her movement, she approached me as far as I had retreated. Before I knew it, I had reached the end of the seat.

“This is outdoors…? I think we should refrain from such things in case someone might see them-“

“You are good at barking nonsense. Is that why you and Iris had so much fun on the terrace?”

“…..”

“Don’t worry. You just need to relax. I’ll take care of everything else. This is all part of an effort to meet Tia again as soon as possible, so as Tia’s father, please don’t do anything pathetic like pulling your back.”

Lastly, Ariel grabbed my face with both hands, then put her lips roughly against mine.

“…Uh, yup. Ari, L…”

“Don’t dare open your mouth. Because it gets in the way of kissing.”

“…..”

…Well, sometimes a female boss might be okay, I quietly left my body in Ariel’s hands under the moonlight.

This was the story of one night, three months before she became pregnant.