04 - Time

Eriu went ahead and led the way, while Eros remained silent and followed Eriu. As for the secret place I'm talking about, it's a strange big tree that's supposed to have a beautiful house if we walk along the river. Of course, I learned about it in the game.

As I was reading the book, I suddenly remembered that day.

With an excited face, as if she had hit the jackpot, she ran towards me, pointing to the Eros dialog with one of the best candidates in the game, according to the players. It was the incarnation of Belphegor! Even I could get a happy ending in his path!

'Look, look, look!' I, who had just arrived at the library, was surprised by her suddenly running while shaking my shoulder.

'Our Eros has a secret place!' Enthusiastically, she immediately opened the game screen. As a player who sees everything from the protagonist's point of view, we don't know what he's thinking. Therefore, in this game, we have to figure out the true color of the protagonist from his every dialogue.

This dialog is one of them. When I read the dialog between the two of them, I wondered if the protagonist was a bit 'crazy'.

He (incarnation of Belphegor) and protagonist were walking in the flower maze, but protagonist suddenly said out of nowhere that he wanted to bury the body of 'Eriu Grith' in his secret place.

(If only they hadn't corrupted his soul, I could have buried him there.)

The protagonist kindly told him where the place was. But after four days, Belphegor's incarnation disappeared. Of course, I was very curious. Because the secret place the protagonist was referring to was his hometown and 'Eriu Grith'.

At that time, all I could think about was what kind of place he was going to use as 'Eriu Grith's' grave.

And, jeng-jeng!

I found a place that looked fantastic. It was really beautiful! But unfortunately, I was too scared to follow the flow of the river, the atmosphere was a bit spooky.

"We'll be there soon!" Eriu looked at the tracks he left on the trees surrounding the forest, confident that they had arrived.

The reason I brought him here was also because I wanted to see his reaction.

"The secret place?" Eros asked. "Yup!" Eriu looked behind where Eros was, seriously scrutinizing every move Eros made. Eros, feeling the scrutiny, just smiled with suddenly reddened earlobes.

With a nervous voice, Eros asked, "Is there something in my on my face?"

"No, no!" Eriu gasped at the sight of Eros' embarrassed expression, shaking his head quickly. Diverting the conversation, Eriu pointed at the large leaves covering the road, "Let's walk first..."

Eriu, who took his eyes off Eros, did not see Eros' expression, which was smiling a little different than usual, like a triumphant smile.

"All right."

Eriu pushed aside the leaves blocking the way and gave way to Eros who was behind him, "You go first."

"...It's beautiful!" Eros walked past Eriu, looking around himself with a face full of amazement. Hearing Eros say that was certainly very disturbing to him, from his expression to his tone of voice, it was as if this person had never been here before.

"Where did you find this place?" Eros approached Eriu and asked enthusiastically. "I found it randomly..."

Eriu turned his gaze to the big old tree in the middle of the lake. For who knows how long, doves had been flying over this village. Because of the sudden arrival of doves and Eros, who was always surrounded by doves whenever he left the house, a strange rumor began to circulate.

It was during this time that an incident occurred that made it late to find out that Eros had suddenly become the favorite son, and strange rumors began to circulate.

The rumor was that Eros was the favorite son of one of the 14 Deus, and worse, because of the strange rumor, Eros was always the target of merchants and there were always people who wanted to kidnap him.

Ariadne, who was worried about Eros, finally asked this weakling of mine to be his walking bodyguard.

The sunlight illuminating only the center with the birds comfortably soaking in the lake, the wild poppies growing around the forest creating a sea of red flowers with greenery and the lake in the middle.

For a former city boy, he was in awe of this sight.

"We should follow the flow of the lake and then we will reach our destination." Eriu returned to his original plan, making sure that this Eros did not intend to kill 'Eriu Grith'.

Chrip! Chrip!

The doves that had been comfortably soaking in the water flew away, creating small plumes of water that followed the birds.

Maybe because he and Eros were always together and holding hands, he unconsciously grabbed Eros' hand and wanted to walk along the lake.

Before Eriu could walk along the river, Eros stopped him.

"Eri, I don't think we should continue."

"Why?" Eriu asked, curious about his sudden refusal.

Eros pointed to the wild poppies blooming everywhere, "Eri, do you know the meaning of this flower?"

"?" Eros' face smiled sweetly, but his words were not as sweet as his face, "Death."

"Ah..."

"If we keep going, there might be a cemetery over there." Eriu caught a glimpse of Eros' new expression. Although a smile graced his face, his eyes said something else.

Annoyance.

"Let's go back, mama might already be looking for us if we decide to stay here any longer." Then Eros walked away, holding Eriu's hand tighter. There was no emotion in his face.

Ah, I really hate this place.

I became more and more hopeful.

(Ah, Priest, you're here!) The young man with the long black hair tied up walked over to someone he recognized. The person, who was called 'priest' without turning his head to face the young man, was silent as he stroked the black cat on his lap. The 'priest' had a very beautiful face, long eyelashes casting shadows on his face, and cherry red lips adding to his beauty.

{Cat? Don't you hate cats?} The young man knew it was useless to ask this person. After getting to know him, the young man realized one of the most unique characteristics of this 'priest': He was reluctant to speak or do anything that required him to speak, because if he was forced to speak, tomorrow the house of the person who interrupted him would be filled with bird droppings.

One of the victims was, of course, the young man.

Without caring whether the 'priest' was offended or not, the young man immediately sat down next to him and began to stroke the black cat.

(I'm sure you can't resist the cuteness of cats! Even I want to worship cats like the land next door!) This young man laughed after saying this sentence.

Indifferently, the 'priest' turned his head toward the young man. The young man, surprised that 'priest' was suddenly looking at him, fell silent, not daring to make the slightest movement. Even the young man hoped that the sound of his heartbeat would not be heard by the person.

(Are you really going to move to worship that four-legged creature? Really?) The kunzite's diamond-like eyes looked at the young man earnestly. The young man who was being stared at was silent, his cheeks flushed, and it felt like his head was heating up, but he didn't want to look away.

{... if I can't marry the person I like, I'll switch to worshipping those cute cats and make them my master}. Hearing this, the 'priest' pursed his lips in displeasure.

{Traitor.}

The black cat that had been sitting quietly on the 'priest's' lap walked over to the young man, startling him who was in a world of his own. When he saw the cat casually walking away after startling him, he just groaned in his heart.

Thinking that the 'priest' was also watching the cat leave, the young man looked back at the 'priest' who was still staring at him. The 'priest's' expression was so unhappy that it looked like... annoyed.

{Priest, don't tell me you're jealous?} The young man dared to ask this absurd question, betting on his home.

{Hmph.)

(Ahh, our beloved priest is jealous.) The young man laughed out loud, with tears in his eyes, the young man looked at the 'priest' as if with meaning.

Of course, the 'priest' realized that the person this young man liked was himself.

For in the blood-red eyes of the young man there was only his reflection.

Time is still time, no one can control it except by sacrificing something to time.

After the war was over, the young man returned safely, but unfortunately, the young man decided to hang himself.

He learned of the young man's death only after he visited his house. If he hadn't gone to that meeting, he might have been able to save that lonely young man.

The day after the young man's body was found, he immediately made a resting place for the young man.

Once again,

I lost 'him'.