Chapter 320: As You Please (1) (1/2)
NSFW Warning: This is not an R-18 novel so don’t get your hopes too high, but I’m putting this here just in case you’re in public.
The tomb of Solari’s champion, Gallus, was not far from the Shadow Forest.
If one headed northwest along the outskirts of the Shadow Forest, one could find a basin called the ‘Tomb of the Star’, which as its name implied, was created by the fall of a large meteorite a long time ago.
It was between the Zainan Gorge and the Shadow Forest.
Jude flew while riding the Phantom Steed, and suddenly looked up the night sky.
A night with a white moon.
It was a half moon and not a full moon, but there were so many stars in the sky.
‘A sea of stars.’
Alexei was both a chess master and a book lover.
He liked to give explanations of things that no one asked about from time to time, and among those that he spoke often were stories about the stars.
‘Obviously, the constellations here are different.’
Come to think of it, what about the constellations in Pleiades?
Jude himself was not very interested in the stars before he remembered the memories of his previous life. It was not an exaggeration to say that he was a symbol of weakness back then as the cold night air was like a poison to his previous self.
Still, there were a few things he knew.
Like the stories of constellations that Maja read by his bedside when he was young.
The positions of the stars that he learned from looking at the night sky through the window.
“What are you thinking about?”
At the sweet voice coming from behind, Jude suddenly had a mischievous smile and said.
“I thought of Maja.”
She did not see his eyes, but she knew.
Cordelia pouted and glowered at him.
Jude thought that he would see her cute side if he teased her for being jealous, but he held back from doing that. Instead, he gently moved his hand that was on Cordelia’s waist towards her back, and brought up something else.
“Have you ever seen a star?”
“I’m seeing it right now.”
“No, not with your eyes. Something like an astronomical telescope.”
“Are you talking about…our past lives?”
“Yes… so have you seen it?”
“No. I’ve never actually seen a telescope. What about you, Jude?”
“I have.”
When he was with Alexei, he had viewed the stars through a telescope for reconnaissance.
After his retirement, he bought an expensive astronomical telescope and put it in his room.
“I couldn’t see the stars very well in Seoul.”
“I lived in Seoul.”
“You did?”
“Yes, I lived in Seoul.”
The two rarely talked about their past lives.
As the memories of their present lives grew stronger as time passed, the memories of their past lives lessened, but it was because of the memories that were painful to recall or think about.
‘Like our parents.’
Jude himself was fine with that.
He was actually an orphan and Alexei who was like a father to him in his past life had already passed away.
But not for Cordelia.
She had parents.
Friends.
Perhaps a brother or sister.
What happened to them all?
They had checked the rankings together in the chatroom, chatted a bit, and logged out.
It ended there.
The memories of their past lives were cut off there.
What followed was their present lives after being reborn in Pleiades that continued until now.
Why were their memories cut off?
Did Kang Jin-ho and Hong Yoo Hee die then?
And if they died, how did they die?
There were several possibilities.
For example, perhaps the world was destroyed, so it was not only Kang Jin-ho and Hong Yoo Hee who died.
Or that their lives continued after that, but they could only remember up to a certain point of their memories.
He had a lot of hypotheses, but did not spoke of it.
He did not want to give Cordelia a hard time.
“By the way, Jude.”
“Yes, Cordelia.”
Cordelia wiggled her fingers and leaned a little more. Today, for some reason, she continued to talk about things they normally did not talk about.
“Where were you in Seoul?”
“Are you talking about the neighborhood?”
“Yes, I used to live in Sang-am. The Sang-am Neighborhood of the Mapo District. Do you where that is?”
“I know. It’s impossible to not know. There are a lot of broadcasting stations there, right?”
“You know? Have you been there?”
“Yes. I did…”
“You did?”
“Because I lived there.”
“Huh?”
“I lived there. In Sang-am.”
At Jude’s words, Cordelia’s eyes widened and then blinked.
“Really?”
“Yes, really.”
“Wow, seriously? We lived in the same neighborhood?”
“Sang-am Neighborhood is big.”
“It is big. I see, I see.”
Cordelia’s body shook in her excitement, and she asked again as she hugged Jude.
“Hey, where did you live then? Like the name of your apartment.”
“Why are you asking?”
“I’m curious. Maybe we’re neighbors?”
“…XYZ Apartments.”
“Woah.”
“Why?”
“Well, I lived in XYZ Apartments.”
Jude stopped the Phantom Steed. He unconsciously twisted his body to see Cordelia clinging to him.
“Which apartment complex?”
“The third one.”
“Crazy.”
Jude let out a curse – no, an exclamation. He could not help it.
“What? Don’t tell me…”
Jude did not answer Cordelia’s question, but it was obvious at this point.
Cordelia hugged Jude a little tighter to calm her heart that had somehow began to pound.
Her heart pounded more wildly, but that was still fine. She then said in a slightly shaky voice.
“Hey, Jude. Shall we stop at this point?”
“You don’t want to talk about the floor?”
“Y-you want to talk about it?”
Jude felt a strong temptation at her cautious question, but he endured it for now.
Because it seemed like they would fully know each other’s past lives if they talked about the floor number.
‘However…’
Was there a reason for them to not talk about it?
He was afraid that Cordelia would suffer from thinking too strongly about her past life, but other than that…
“I lived in 306. What about you?”
Cordelia spoke again.
At her confession that suddenly came, Jude laughed.
“I.. I think I know who you are.”
“M-me too.”
People who lived in the same building were bound to meet each other several times, whether they liked it or not.
Combining the fragments of the stories of their past lives, it was not difficult to find out who among them was each other.
“Seriously… Our relationship seems to be fated.”
“I agree.”
It seemed like they were not just related in the game.
They had actually been neighbors in their past lives.
It was fate.
The two were fated to meet again.
“I thought that he was a… cool and handsome oppa.”
Cordelia murmured a bit, and Jude slightly narrowed his brows.
“You did?”
“I mean… he was indeed cool and handsome… but I didn’t think that he had a childish personality that would tell people that… they were bad at games.”
“Hey, I thought you were a really nice and pretty girl. That you were quiet?”
“Well, it’s not wrong though? I was a nice and pretty girl. Wasn’t I pretty?”
When Cordelia brazenly asked back, Jude did not know what expression to make.
So he tried to counterattack as soon as he could.
“I didn’t know you liked to say ‘f*ck.’”
“Hey, f*ck is…”
“Yes, it’s an exclamation, right?”
Jude winked and Cordelia briefly inflated her cheeks before hugging him again.
“By the way, Jude.”
“Yes, Cordelia.”
“Because our past lives are in the past, I will not call you oppa.”
They were of the same age now after their reincarnation.
“Yeah, I’d feel strange to hear you call me oppa. I prefer the present.”
“Really? You serious? Hm? Jude-oppa?”
It was an incomparably cute attack.
Therefore, Jude tried to turn away from Cordelia, but the excited Cordelia acted cutely several more times.
“It’s been a long time.”
“What long time?”
“Well, I mean… Just the two of us alone.”
They had exchanged facts about their past lives, that they were neighbors, but it did not feel like it was something new.
They had already been in Pleiades for 18 years, and been together for more than a year since they recalled their past life memories.
Perhaps that was why they recalled the more recent events than the distant past of 18 years.
The first time they ran away together and traveled to the north.
The story of the time they entered the wild lands and wandered all over the place.
“You’re right. We’re always with someone since we came to the empire.”
It had been a long time since the two had been completely alone in a trip.
And after this was over, they probably would not have the time to be alone for a while.
The war was about to seriously start.
“War… in the end, it’s going to happen.”
A civil war between the emperor and chancellor’s factions.
It was not like a small local war.
It was a huge war where the lives of tens of thousands were at stake, and perhaps the entire empire would be affected by the scourge of war.
“Still, it’s a lot better than the original. We’ll make things better for the future.”