Adam and Eve (2)

She finally admitted it.

In the end, that’s what she did.

And as a result, the emotions that burst forth were uncontrollable.

“How could you do this?!”

Eve immediately raised her voice.

The mysterious woman persona she had been carefully performing was long abandoned.

She meticulously listed all the things that had disappointed her while listening to Lost’s words.

“This is cheating!”

“…Saintess. It’s hard to call it cheating when our relationship wasn’t particularly romantic, isn’t it?”

“How can you say that?!”

“No, I’m actually wondering how you came to think that way.”

Eve was shocked as if the sky had fallen, and Lost was bewildered by her expression.

Could it really have been like that?

Were such things included in the memories he had forgotten?

Until his regression, Lost had only thought of Eve as someone he idolized.

‘A person for whom I would gladly give my life.’

That kind of loyalty.

He only realized his romantic feelings after his regression, after going through various events and reflecting on himself.

It took quite a long time to notice what he had been hiding even from himself. Surprisingly, it was when he fell in love with someone else, but…

“You agreed to be ‘my Cielo’!”

“……”

“Every time I called you that, you said ‘yes’!”

“……”

Eve thought that was her confession. That’s why, with Lost’s seemingly matter-of-fact response, she believed they were practically a couple.

She thought they had a relationship where hearts connected without words.

It was unfortunate.

Even Línea understood a little about love through books, but in the era where Eve grew up, there were no elements to help her understand it.

She had escaped Phoenix’s flames to emerge into the world, lived as the Saintess, and roamed battlefields.

She couldn’t even read a simple romance novel that girls her age would read, nor did she have friends to discuss such things with.

But she was certain of three things:

That she loved Lost.

“Ah, um… thank you.”

And a vague confidence that Lost would love her too.

“Yes, I love you.”

And that she and Lost were practicing platonic love!

“But that’s not the case.”

“It can’t be…”

Eve finally hung her head.

It had been her own delusion. Thinking that made her want to die from shame.

In a situation practically equivalent to being dead already, was there any need to continue living?

“N-no, that’s right! If Cielo likes me too, then from now on…”

“That’s also a bit difficult.”

“Why!”

“Well… because there’s someone else I like.”

“What nonsense are you spouting, my Cielo?”

Eve was beyond bewilderment—she was dumbfounded. She couldn’t understand what Lost was saying. No, she truly couldn’t comprehend it.

“You said you like me.”

“That’s correct.”

“But you also like this… Línea?”

“That appears to be the case.”

“……”

“……”

It took some time for Eve to grasp the meaning of Lost’s jumbled statement.

“How…”

Eve opened her eyes wide as if she had seen something unbelievable.

From her perspective, it felt like someone who had acted as if he would maintain his fidelity for life in front of her had been cheating behind her back.

It was unavoidable.

Even though it was a misunderstanding, she thought she had been in a relationship with Lost for at least five years.

“Ha… haha. Cielo. I hope your future will be happy.”

“Are you giving up on me?”

“How did your self-awareness become so inflated?”

Though he didn’t say it, Lost already had another person besides Eve and Línea who was passionately in love with him.

“…alright. I’ll give up. If that makes Cielo happy, I…”

Eventually, she had to accept it.

Because she knew from the beginning that it was greed.

In this situation, it was impossible for her to blame Lost.

“For me to be happy, Saintess would need to come with me. I’ve been looking for you all this time, harboring lingering attachment.”

“Setting aside that I want to kill you for saying that, it’s impossible.”

“Why is that?”

“Because I don’t have a physical body.”

“Is there no way to resolve that issue? I’d like to introduce Saintess to my companions.”

The journey until now. The meaning behind his steps.

He wanted to show it to Eve as well, who had made his current self possible.

“Isn’t one of those companions the person you say you love?”

“That appears to be the case.”

“Is this guy completely insane?”

Even an arsonist would be better than this jerk.

Eve’s head was spinning from Lost’s way of speaking, which kept inciting her anger when she was already becoming depressed.

“Sigh… It probably won’t work. I offered my existence as payment for wishing to reverse time. Therefore, I cannot exist in the world where Cielo is now.”

She gave up on Lost.

She didn’t want to, but in the end, she was a being who didn’t belong to this world.

The boundary between life and death, the only path connecting heaven and earth.

She was merely an illusion whose existence was only permitted here.

She should have died from the beginning.

Through the mercy of the gods, she was allowed to watch the end of this journey.

And even the power that was the source of that mercy had become impossible after she passed it to Lost.

Despite that, she remained here and continued to pray for Lost.

“Well, until we try…”

“Could you shut up for a moment so I can talk seriously?”

“I will.”

Eve glanced at Lost, who kept interrupting her, then sighed.

At least he still listens well when commanded.

“Cielo. You came here to find your original self, right?”

“If Saintess doesn’t want that, I’ll give up.”

“It’s funny that I can’t trust you when you trust me so much. A husband trusts his wife, but a wife can’t trust her husband.”

It was time to make a decision.

She had turned back time because she trusted Lost from the beginning. Then she should trust him until the end.

To this, Lost, Vicarious Saint Cielo, responded with a bitter face.

“Eve. It’s troublesome when you subtly express your desires like that.”

“At times like this, you should just shut up and nod. My Cielo.”

Eve sighed at Lost, who was still perfectly maintaining middle ground even at this moment.

But soon, she couldn’t help but smile. She didn’t dislike it.

She knew.

That the Son of Man must have been in constant pain. Of course, why wouldn’t he be?

While everyone around him changed, he remained unchanging in this space for eternity.

He was still a boy, someone who had to forcibly adapt to the deaths of others.

It wasn’t that he didn’t know sadness.

Nor did he not grieve for those who left his side.

He remembers everyone. He is someone who engraved all those deaths in his heart.

The completeness of being human. That’s the symbol that represents him.

He didn’t become numb—he had to become accustomed to that pain.

Therefore, Eve couldn’t help but like his current form even more.

She liked seeing Cielo get swept up in emotions, even now scratching his cheek as if embarrassed.

Revealing his suffering as it is, expressing his sadness as it is.

Sometimes enduring, sometimes suppressing.

Those emotions were certainly an indicator that defined Cielo as a person.

‘Though I can’t forgive him for getting swept up in emotions and cheating.’

By losing his memories and power, he had become much more human.

Not perfect, but someone full of mistakes who worried every day.

Not someone accustomed to sadness, but someone who knows how to suffer.

“Before I return these memories, let me ask one more thing. Can you do better than how much I trust you?”

“Of course. I’ll do well.”

Believing that he was a person who could do better tomorrow than today, one who continues to develop.

She decided to convey the final truth she had been hiding all along to Lost.

It was the journey of the one who bore the symbol of a person completed through time.

*     *      *

Originally, Skadi was a phenomenon created by the path left by gods to watch over humans.

Unlike humans, gods are not bound by the shackles of time.

They observed the earthly world through their power to see the past and future from heaven. The path connecting heaven and earth was born from this.

The Son of Man was the being who maintained that path.

Unlike demons who accepted malice instead of faith, he was the only being who could retain power on earth.

While even the god of dreams, Morpheus, was gradually losing his divinity and consciousness according to the laws set by the gods, the Son of Man was the only god who could remain on earth.

He needed to be protected and established as a being worthy of faith.

Of course, only a few knew about him, and his existence itself was usually kept secret.

He was both a beloved being and a sacrificial lamb trapped in a small world.

And cruelly. A trial came to him.

<One Who Burns Eternity> Phoenix.

He hadn’t particularly offended Phoenix. It simply cursed and cursed the concept of ‘eternity.’

A perfectly imperfect being born by chance. That’s Phoenix.

So the moment Phoenix learned about the Son of Man.

He sought him out, burning his own life over and over again.

With such obsession that it broke through even the environment of Skadi, created by the misalignment of time.

-Eve, go through this door.

The Son of Man, who had grown accustomed to almost eternal years, wanted to protect his believer.

Since everyone had decided to sacrifice for him, wasn’t it right for him to sacrifice for someone else?

Returning the love received.

The Son of Man decided to save at least the girl who had uniquely survived Phoenix’s attack.

-And live in the human world, not in a place like this.

There were a total of three exits leading to earth, and one of them had already been destroyed by Phoenix’s flames.

The remaining one was blocked by the natural fortress called Skadi, which a living body couldn’t pass through, and the last one was located beyond the path.

-Cielo. But I…

The path connecting heaven and earth.

Deviating from that path meant the risk of being torn apart as a soul.

It could hardly be called an escape route. Only the Son of Man, who belonged to both human and divine realms, could handle it.

-You’re still young. You should see more of the world. You should feel more pain and more joy. Until you get used to it. Until you become an adult.

You should experience life.

Adam met Eve and remembered the joy he had forgotten.

Because a child’s purity has no pretense.

The Son of Man, who had always been revered, rejoiced in that purity.

-So Eve, my apostle. Don’t worry.

Cielo decided to use all of his divinity to protect the girl.

He embraced her, wrapped Eve with his divinity, and attempted escape.

Since a person becomes complete as they live and age, bestowing his divinity upon the girl meant forgetting the path he had walked, his memories themselves.

-The connection between people never breaks even if they are apart, so we will meet again.

And so the Son of Man.

The completed person who was both human and god lost his divinity and fell that day.

*     *      *

For a moment, I was almost swept away.

I knew that my existence wasn’t human.

Actually, it would be more accurate to say I vaguely understood all of the truth.

But the memories I had forgotten were beyond imagination.

If all the memories I had lived through, including the regression, were a cup, then the memories of living as the Son of Man were like an ocean.

Being swept away by those memories meant losing my current self.

Yes, now I understood.

I finally understood why people had tried so hard to dissuade me.

Just by accepting these memories, just by remembering a little, my existence as “me” was in danger.

Not the Son of Man, but “me”—Vicarious Saint Cielo, Lost.

It wasn’t that those memories disappeared, but I felt like thick paint diluting as it fell into water.

When I was doing my best to hold onto that special moment.

“My Cielo.”

I heard her voice.

I remember that warmth as she embraced and patted me after I collapsed, clutching my head.

I felt that special connection.

“Huh…”

I inhaled. It felt like my distant mind was returning.

I almost diluted. Even the life I had experienced was about to dissolve in time.

All of it was about to turn into a dusty book on an old bookshelf.

But I did it.

I managed to remain as a cup of water floating in the vast ocean.

“Look.”

I embraced her.

I remembered her warmth and recalled my love for her.

With a panting voice, a voice somewhat immersed in fear.

As if to suppress all of that. As if showing off.

I declared with a smile.

“In the end, didn’t I do well?”

“Yes, you did well. My Cielo.”

I am an ordinary person named Lost and Vicarious Saint Cielo, carrying on the wish of the Saintess.

I choose to be “me,” not the noble Son of Man.

For now, that’s enough.