Chapter 323: The Guardian (1) (1/2)

Time flowed.

It moved forward.

No one could resist the strong flow, and even those who were called gods were not free in front of time.

The witch of the west forest raised her head.

Asmodeus, the overlord of lust, was knocking on the door.

She was being ordered to come out.

“Not yet.”

No.

If the truth becomes known, then…

The witch of the west forest hugged her shoulders.

She was silent as she felt the heartless flow of time just flowing forward.

She anxiously waited for the time that was about to come.

***

It was still a half moon, but it was brighter than yesterday.

The moonlight that was broken and scattered along the starlight gradually fell on the white flowers, and the Tomb of the Star became a land of fallen stars as its name suggested.

“Beautiful.”

Jude turned his head at the voice he heard next to him.

Cordelia looked around as she lightly swung her hand that held his.

As her angel rank increased, her hair gradually turned pinker, but her skin was still white. And her blue eyes sparkled with curiosity.

“You’re right. It’s really beautiful.”

“It is, right?”

Happy at Jude’s response, Cordelia turned to him and widely smiled.

And Jude caressed Cordelia’s cheek with his hand. He so naturally kissed her forehead and spoke in a whisper.

“The most beautiful in the world. Nothing else can be more beautiful.”

Huh?

What?

Wait a second. Wait, wait.

In fact, she did not even need a second. Because she could tell by just looking at Jude’s eyes.

What he meant by beautiful and what he was referring to as the most beautiful in the world.

“How childish.”

It also feels cheesy.

But her face somehow turned red. For some strange reason, a smile kept appearing in her face.

[Oh…please. Not again, please…]

[My successor, we are here. We are here.]

It was not just the two of them.

There were others too.

Melissa and Valencia could no longer stand it and raised their voices, so Cordelia became even more embarrassed, but not for Jude.

After all, Jude was the one who acted shamelessly in the first place.

He touched her cheeks.

He stole her lips and hugged her waist.

“J-Jude?”

She was scared yet excited, hated it yet liked it, and was embarrassed yet delighted.

Cordelia’s expression and voice were filled with conflicting emotions, and Jude felt himself heating up.

Frankly, even Jude himself sensed that he was in a strange state now.

His tension eased as his mind relaxed.

Or rather, as a result of releasing his limiters, he felt that the emotions and desires he had been suppressing and repressing were exploding now.

Just being together with her was not enough.

He wanted to keep touching her, kissing her, and becoming one.

He wanted to enjoy the happiness he finally got after a series of tragedies.

“Jude, later, okay? Later. We have a lot of things to do today.”

At her kind voice that seemed to be persuading him, Jude was startled. He woke up from his old memories and emotions, and saw reality again.

Cordelia pushed Jude’s hand away.

No, she did not just push it away as she wrapped it with her own hand and guided him elsewhere.

She was a mature woman who tightly hugged and comforted her sad and crying fiancé.

“Jude?”

“Uh, no. Uh, yes. Okay. Because today is not the only day. No, there’s still a lot left today. There is tonight, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow…”

As he continued to talk gibberish, his reason gradually returned.

Therefore, he was able to say sly words like usual.

“Yes, later. I promise to do it later. Please look forward to it. Yes, look forward. It will be amazing.”

In the end, he cunningly spoke and grinned – no, he laughed out loud like a wolf so Cordelia flinched and trembled.

“S-spare me, okay?”

Jude kissed her forehead again instead of answering.

He wanted to kiss her lips again, but felt like he would not be able to suppress himself if he did.

‘He seems to have gone really crazy.’

But it could not be helped.

Even Jude himself could not control it.

“Anyway, let’s go now, okay?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

Cordelia clasped Jude’s hand again and moved forward.

Jude was much taller than Cordelia, but it seemed to be the opposite when she led the way.

[Haa… Is it seriously over now?]

At Valencia’s sighing, Jude cleared his throat for no reason.

Since he became one with Sword Origin, he had prepared himself to not embarrass Valencia, but he had failed this time.

‘Let’s just thank her mentally.’

She had kept her mouth shut for the past two days.

Though it was embarrassing to say thank you to her for just silently watching.

The two walked for some time.

Suddenly, Cordelia’s fingers wiggled.

Rather than saying that her body heated up like Jude, though something like that did happen, but more than that, there was something that came to her mind.

“By the way, Jude.”

“Yes, Cordelia.”

“Do you… remember what you said earlier?”

“What I said? The one about Cordelia being the prettiest, cutest, most loveable, most bewitching, most innocent, and even the kindest person in the world?”

Cordelia wanted to give up talking to him at his shameless words, but she persevered.

With a blushing face, she spoke of something else.

“No, before that one, I mean… Ha, the words you said just before that.”

The words he whispered before going wild like a beast.

“Do you know how much I’ve endured?”

When he reflexively replied, Cordelia quickly nodded her head.

And with a red face, she said with an expression like that of a mischievous child.

“How long have you endured?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, since when have you held it in?”

At Cordelia’s attack, Jude hastily avoided her gaze. But it was already too late. Cordelia had roughly known his answer from her first question.

“I see. You’ve been holding it in since the wild lands. You’ve loved me since then. You wanted to do this and that, but you held it in.”

Even the shameless Jude had no choice but to blush at her words that she said jokingly while snickering.

Because it felt like his true feelings had been seen.

“Hohoho, hohoho, Jude has liked me ever since. No, was it even earlier than that?”

As she spoke with a bewitching yet wicked smile like that of a devil, Jude flinched again.

However, Cordelia who asked the question was the one who was surprised.

“Wait, is it true? You’ve liked me before that?”

Jude did not reply, but his silence was the answer.

From the time when they traveled to the north.

From the time when he left a letter full of love and worked hard to make it a known fact.

He obviously did not like her as much as he did now.

His love for her only grew stronger as time went by.

“Ahem, ahem. Ahem.”

Cordelia had began by asking him in a teasing manner, but Jude was embarrassed so she stopped making fun of him.

But instead of hiding her delight, she puffed out her chest.

“I won. I won.”