The calmness in Dyon's voice made her feel incredibly unfortable. This disposition… It wasn't something youthful Dyon should have. Her Dyon, her real husband from the future, was like this. But, it took him several hundreds of thousands of years of tempering himself repeatedly to reach this level of calm. Just what happened to make Dyon like this? Had she changed too much?
'No, I can do it.' Evangeline said firmly.
Dyon shook his head. 'Forget it. I will be honest with you Evangeline. I don't have the same feelings for you that I do for Madeleine, Ri, Clara and Amphorae. I'm also not sure what it is that my future self owes you. But, I accept that it's me all the same. No matter what, from this day forth, you are my wife. You are under my protection, not the other way around!'
'Little Dyon you…!'
It was too early. The seal she placed on Dyon's mind should have stopped him from deducing her origins no matter how obvious the evidence made it seem. But, somehow, maybe only just recently, Dyon broke whatever barrier was remaining. This only meant one thing: Dyon had stabilized enough that Evangeline's seal recognized that the truth would no longer harm him.
'How much time do you have left…?' Dyon suddenly asked.
Evangeline was panicking. Dyon was too intelligent. The moment the seal disappeared, he deduced too many things at once. It left her, a mighty Higher Existence, pletely flustered.
Biting her lip, Evangeline hesitated. 'I… I have a few more years. I have just enough time to pass on what remains of my legacy to Rose and leave behind a few protective measures for you.
'After that, my time here will e to an end. The more I interfere with this timeline, the shorter my time bees. Before long, my being will fuse with the fabric of reality and help stabilize this mortal plane.'
Rose was the very same little girl that followed Evangeline to Soul Rending Peak and also acted as a maid for Dyon for a small time. Last time Dyon saw her, she was only 12 years old. By now, she had likely grown into a beautiful, elegant young lady.
Dyon listened to these words, not missing a single one as her streaked across the skies of the Water Mist Sect.
'My future self… He's a real bastard, isn't he…' Dyon looked up into the skies.
He didn't know the full story, but he didn't need to. His future self allowed his own wife to travel back to the past to save his own ass. Why? Likely because that version of Dyon failed in his task, so he could only leave such a heavy burden for his wife to carry alone. If that kind of man wasn't a bastard, then what was he?
'No… It isn't like that…' Evangeline bit her lip, she wanted to explain, but she hesitated. She was scared to tell Dyon the truth.
'You don't need to make any excuses for me.' Dyon said. 'This time… I won't fail. Don't worry about what I asked you to do, I have another way. I won't let you suffer any grievances in this life…'
Dyon cut off his connection to Evangeline. The world seemed intent on playing tricks with him, as though some mighty existence from above was pulling the strings of his life.
… It seemed that his bloody precedent hadn't been set strongly enough.
**
In a distant universe, an absolute beauty with flowing golden hair and eyes swirling with greens, blues and purples sat by the bedside of a slumbering woman. To her side, a delicate and petite young lady stood silently.
The golden-haired beauty stroked the soft cheek of the slumbering woman.
'This is the only way I can make up for our mistakes. Some things cannot be forgiven, no matter what reason underlays them. Don't blame yourself, my Little Husband. Had you known I used the Timeless Library for this purpose, you would have definitely stopped me. But, I didn't allow you to… Let me atone for my sins…'
Who was the golden-haired beauty? It was none other than Evangeline. As for the delicate and petite young lady to her side? This was of course Rose.
However, the main character of this event was slumbering young woman… Jade Eostre.
Evangeline Moon wasn't the golden-haired beauty's name at all. Instead, she was a woman Dyon had known for practically his whole life.
"Master…" Rose tried to call out, but her voice was incredibly faint.
"Little Rose, you must be wondering why I told him I have a few years left when it's only a few more minutes, right?" Evangeline… No, Jade smiled lightly. Her eyes shone with a pained glint hidden behind the fog that kept others from seeing the true details of her face.
"… Master…" Rose's voice hiccupped.
"I couldn't distract him." Jade said softly. "To hear him claim me as his wife before I faded from this world is more than I deserve. I had planned to leave in silence, but having one last conversation with him… Can you tell, Little Rose? Can you tell how happy I am?"
The shroud over Jade's face faded. She looked back toward her disciple, a bright smile that could light the darkest night on her lips. Still, the tears that glistened her cheeks made it difficult to take her words for what they meant.
"I'm going to tell you some things, Little Rose. Remember it all, okay? Don't miss even the smallest bit."
"… Yes, Master."
"In my youth, I made a great mistake. In fact, to call it a mistake isn't enough. I mitted a terrible, disgusting deed that deserves to have stained the whole of my life.
"Don't make excuses for this master of yours. Not even the greatest purity can wash away my sin. Even after I fade from this world, my greatest fear is that even that will not be enough to cleanse me of my past.
"Still, I was lucky. Even after I mitted this sin, I had the opportunity to follow a great man as he lived his life. He did me the favor of blocking that memory from my mind, allowing me to follow his legend as it was written."
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