The World After the Bad Ending - Chapter 135



The Real Hubby

After being teased by Grantoni and Musica, who’d witnessed Seron and my back-and-forth in the Special Studies Department hallway.

I soothed Seron well, and sent him on his way.

“So you’ll appease the girl, then go meet another, is it?”

Seron glared with a venomous gaze, but to me, it was an absurd thing to say.

So, I gave him a piece of my mind.

“That’s right, going to meet my fiancé.”

I heard Seron shouting after my answer, but I promptly fled.

And so, I came to Sharin last.

Sharin was in the Arcanology Lab, sketching magical blueprints.

But right now, she was burying her head in my chest, turning it this way and that, pressing hard.

“Why am I the last one? The very last?”

Perhaps because I’d brought Sharin on as the last team member, she was in quite the huff.

“Because you’re the most important asset, so I scouted with care.”

“Hanon, your lies are getting bigger. I can see right through them.”

It seemed Mirinae was now able to discern even my lies.

Truth be told, the reason I came to Sharin last was simply the route I took.

The first-year Martial Arts Department was closer, and the second-year Special Studies Department was closer.

I lightly lifted Sharin, who was still burying her head in my chest.

I didn’t know what the girl ate to be so light.

I lifted Sharin and sat her on Professor Veganon’s chair.

Sharin sat quietly, then puffed out her cheeks slightly.

Cute, where did she learn to be so coy?

“But, why the chair?”

“There are deep reasons here.”

Sharin seemed to accept it with an “ah, okay,” and leaned back against the chair’s backrest.

“So, what kind of trouble has erupted this time?”

“You make it sound like I’m constantly stirring up incidents.”

“Isn’t it?”

Sharin tilted her head, unconvinced.

For my part, I felt utterly wronged.

“This time, I’m going to focus solely on conquering the Demon Palace.”

The goal: the sixth floor.

There, I seek an item crucial for progressing smoothly through the next scenario.

I intend to advance desperately to obtain it.

Hearing my spirited answer, Sharin gazed at me silently.

“When are we going to hold our ceremony?”

And then, out of the blue, she asked.

For a moment, I stared at Sharin, dumbfounded.

As always, Sharin wore a languid expression, unreadable.

“Are you genuinely trying to marry me?”

“Marrying my husband sounds fun.”

Sharin stubbornly continued to call me ‘husband’.

Apparently, she found it amusing to see me recoil at the title.

“But my husband keeps flirting with other women.”

“You know what happened with Vinessa.”

“That’s not what I’m talking about.”

Sharin drew her knees up slightly, hugging them, and wrinkled her nose.

“I could smell Cerone’s cologne all over you.”

From noble mtl dot com

Cerone had embraced me with fervent enthusiasm before I came to Sharin.

As a result, my clothes seemed to have absorbed Cerone’s fragrance.

‘Could it be…’

Just now, was she rubbing her head against my chest to erase that scent?

It was a leap, but lately, seeing Sharin, various thoughts occurred to me as well.

And that feeling seemed to intensify after my betrothal was confirmed.

“Husband, husband.”

While I wore a troubled expression, Sharin spread her hands wide, displaying them to me.

“When are you giving me my accessories?”

“I was thinking of picking it up next time I went out with Seron.”

Sharin flew in and buried her head against my chest.

I had no choice but to roll onto the floor.

Straddling me, Sharin began tearing at my cheeks haphazardly.

It felt like my face was being dismantled.

“Is that right? Is it really?”

“That’s the only time I have to go out.”

“Then, you should go with me.”

“I already promised Seron.”

Sharin grabbed my cheek, squeezing it tightly.

“I’m your betrothed.”

“That’s true.”

“Seron is a friend.”

“That’s also true.”

“Who is more important?”

Sharin told me as if it were the easiest question in the world.

I stared at her for a moment, then slowly began to rise.

As I did, Sharin slid down, until she was perched on my knee.

My mouth opened and closed a few times.

But I felt that ignoring this matter any longer would be discourteous.

The conclusion settled in my heart.

“Sharin, can I ask you just one thing?”

Sharin stared up at me, her eyes wide.

“Do you…do you like me?”

I never imagined I would be asking something like this in my life.

For someone like me, who had never had any luck with women, it was an incredibly presumptuous question.

Because, more than anything, the thought that came to mind was, ‘Why me, of all people?’

My long-shattered romantic self-esteem was this insignificant.

Above all, I couldn’t even begin to guess a reason why Sharin would like me.

In Seron’s case, there was at least the past incident with Bikaman to consider.

Thus, her love was understandable.

In Vinessa’s case, it was trouble born of affection deficit.

Though brief, her love too, was understandable.

Isabel, a love-hate relationship; for Iris, a comfort doll.

All of this, I understood, and could comprehend.

But Sharin – her, I couldn’t fathom, not in the least.

The affection she showed me clearly crossed the boundaries of friendship.

Unbeknownst to Sharin, she’d wear a languid smile whenever our eyes met.

It was a stark difference from the indifference she seemed to show others.

Even Isabel and Lina, her friends, often eyed it with a peculiar gaze, though she never noticed.

And lately, that tendency was growing stronger.

Ever since the engagement, Sharin had been explicitly showing jealousy.

A palpable jealousy, not wanting to lose me to another.

I couldn’t understand it.

Perhaps it was because I had lost the ability to love.

Sharin blinked her large eyes.

Her pupils, brimming with galaxies, quietly gazed at me.

“That’s right…”

Sharin took my cheeks in her hands, squeezing them and lifting my face.

Then she poked and prodded, as if I were a steamed bun.

It was as if she were slowly savoring memories of the past.

Soon, having mulled over every recollection, Sharin grinned.

The sunset, streaming through the classroom window, bathed her in its glow.

Her indigo hair, holding starlight, glimmered along with the twilight.

And within that hair, the smile she wore was enchantingly beautiful, the kind that would leave anyone breathless.

The Milky Way shimmered, laying out its stars.

In her eyes, there was a bright smile, as if she’d finally realized a problem she’d been agonizing over.

“I think I like my husband.”

And even that languid utterance felt so very Sharin.

I stared up at Sharin, dumbfounded.

“…Since when?”

“Don’t know.”

Sharin’s hand, before I knew it, was softly caressing my cheek.

“That’s the problem, not knowing.”

A love Sharin herself hadn’t realized.

That love had long ago taken root within her heart and blossomed.

The flower wafts a sweet fragrance.

Every emotion I glimpsed in Sharin originated from the scent that flower carried.

“That’s why I didn’t realize it even more.”

Sharin drew my face closer.

And in an instant, Sharin’s face and mine were near touching.

“That my possessiveness is…immense.”

Sharin had never favored another, not once.

And so, until now, she hadn’t even perceived her own possessiveness.

Jealousy, by nature, arises from possessiveness.

It begins with the desire not to have what is one’s own taken by another.

“So, husband.”

Sharin’s eyes, holding a galaxy within, flashed with the light of the Milky Way.

“Me, I won’t let my husband be taken away.”

Sharin’s ring finger, before I knew it, had curled around mine.

“So, if you keep making me angry, I’ll lock you up.”

She uttered those chilling words as if they were nothing.

…Surely she doesn’t mean it?

*

First Seron, and now Sharin, both claim to fancy me.

Perhaps it’s the peak of my life’s popularity, but I find myself utterly bewildered.

‘At this point, perhaps Hanon’s face is fraudulent.’

I made a V-shape at my chin, gazing into the dormitory bathroom mirror.

Hanon, too, possessed a handsome visage.

Seeing it like this, the plausibility of the attraction is somewhat convincing.

“Wangnon, my stomach aches.”

“Card, do I look…more appealing lately?”

Card scratched his stomach vigorously, looking at me.

“You’ve got the kind of face women with a younger-man preference would go for, I guess.”

Though, truthfully, *I’m* the younger one, for both of them.

“It’s because of Sharin, isn’t it.”

I turned to face Card.

Just how far do this guy’s ears reach?

Card, wearing a nonchalant expression, plopped down in front of the toilet.

“Wangnon, you know, how many girls do you think I’ve made cry so far?”

“You really have no problem casually spouting off garbage like that, huh.”

“Thanks. So, what I’m saying is, I don’t need to ‘hear’ anything to know Sharin likes you; I can just tell.”

Card’s got an uncanny knack for seeing into a woman’s heart.

Which is why he’d already seen right through Sharin’s, no doubt.

“They might be unsure themselves, but it’s obvious to someone who knows. At least, there’s never been a guy who’s treated her like you do around Sharin.”

Card reacted like it was something inevitable, finally coming to pass.

“From the start, do you really think any woman, even if she’s technically engaged, would follow a guy around and call him ‘husband’?”

“It’s Sharin.”

“Sharin’s still a woman.”

Card clicked his tongue, saying I was slow to catch on.

“Anyway, judging from the look of things, it seems like Sharin’s finally realized her own feelings.”

Looks like it.

“In that case, Wangnon, let me tell you something important.”

Card announced it as a valuable clue.

“Sharin can barely recognize people’s faces.”

“Huh?”

“Well, she doesn’t, really. Mireinae can make you see only the essence of mana a person holds within.

Sharin lives like that almost all the time. I guess she doesn’t find it particularly inconvenient.”

That was something I hadn’t known.

It was never mentioned in the game, after all.

Moreover, I understood now why Sharin had peered through the constellation’s veil, piercing the bandage of the curtain.

Glimpsing the essence of Mana, she must have sensed something superimposed upon it.

“Of course, if she wished to see a face, nothing would stop her, but it’s bothersome, so she probably wouldn’t bother.”

I caught the meaning behind Kard’s words.

“So, Sharin…”

“Means appearances are, from the very beginning, utterly worthless.”

My semblance of a face crumbled utterly.

“Anyway, enough with the mirror-gazing, would you leave now? I’m at my limit.”

Kard’s words, the most earnest of the day, prompted me to exit.

My eyes, harboring a tangled web of emotions, gazed out the window.

Currently, Seron and Sharin were both on my team.

The Autumn Magic Palace battle looming today.

Would this truly be alright?

A multitude of worries began to take root.