309. Observation
Solibun Jaesang was in quite a frustrated state.
There could be several reasons for it.
Firstly, the environment of the Matap, a place that he couldn’t seem to find even when rubbing his eyes, was indeed an environment that was unfamiliar to him. Secondly, as someone who was referred to as the representative of the empire, he spent most of his time without any purpose.
Wherever he went, he had never been treated as much of an outsider as he was in the empire. It was inevitable for him to be frustrated.
But the biggest source of dissatisfaction was probably this.
“…Why doesn’t that man ask me for anything?”
With his cheeks puffed up, Solibun Jaesang clenched his crossed arms, displaying a displeased expression.
As always, he seemed to attract trouble wherever he went, with this time being no exception. In the Matap, something seemed to be happening again, centered around that man.
The difference, however, was that she was completely outside the flow of these events.
“…I don’t even know where that man is and what he’s doing.”
Tristan, who should have been joining her in this idleness, was instead responding to the call of Professor Astrid and hadn’t come out for several days.
Ultimately, this meant that she was left alone in her lodgings, spending her time frustratingly.
“Jaesang-nim!”
That’s right.
If Dowd hadn’t suddenly burst open her door and come in, she would have truly become depressed.
As her eyes widened, Dowd approached her hurriedly and firmly grasped her shoulders.
“…Huh?”
Solibun let out a bewildered voice.
Dowd’s pupils were burning brightly. It was a sight he often showed when he was implementing his plans.
“Let’s merge!”
“…”
But she had no idea what he was talking about.
Solibun Jaesang blinked her eyes with a half-dazed expression.
“Yes, yes-?!”
And as she barely grasped the meaning of his words, her face instantly turned red.
Usually, this kind of phrase had a clear meaning of intimate contact between a man and a woman—
“…No. Snap out of it, Solibun.”
Seol-li, who barely suppressed the wild imaginations racing through her mind, closed her eyes and pressed down on her stomach to calm herself. And the one speaking was none other than Dowd. Wallchang-ho, who had no right to make such demands of a woman, especially since he himself had no intentions of taking the initiative.
“What does that exactly mean–“
“Quite literally, it means the two of us becoming one!”
…
Seol-li took a deep breath.
Thanks to the accumulated data over the years, she could throw another question full of disbelief.
“Could you explain it in more detail?”
“…Was my explanation lacking?”
…
Then how should one interpret that as sufficient explanation.
As she contemplated such thoughts, Dowd displayed a frustrated gesture and opened his mouth.
Including an infuriating attitude that asked if it was even necessary to explain all this.
“No, you’ve returned from the future, Lord Jaesang.”
…
Of course.
With that kind of attitude.
Compared to suddenly bringing up a topic that should take a considerable amount of time for both parties to understand and accept, he wasn’t particularly angered.
…
Seol-li silently stared at Dowd with bewildered eyes.
However, luckily, it seemed this man also knew that it was inappropriate to bring up such a topic without any explanation being offered.
“I roughly knew where and how I would be in danger, and above all else.”
After saying that, Dowd wordlessly pulled Seol-li into his arms.
…!
It happened before she could even comprehend what was happening, so there was no showing of a flushed face or embarrassed reaction full of sensibilities.
In truth, even if he had the leisure to do so, it would have been difficult for him to feel any romantic sentiment.
Because the ‘something’ that had been dormant within her was reacting to the mark etched onto Dowd’s chest.
…Look at that.
In this tightly embraced state, Dowd spoke with a voice mixed with a bitter smile.
“You’re still here. It has weakened considerably though.”
I feel the ‘fragment of the devil’ that has forever lost its power rising ‘against time’.
From Noble mtl dot com
A ‘yellow devil’.
A devil that would not originally be observed.
Through some ‘incident’, such devils have disappeared forever in the future.
“-Daud.”
Sulibeon spoke with a trembling voice.
A thump resounds in the back of her head.
Of course, she has never thought that the other party would completely be unaware of her ‘identity’.
“Lord Jaesang.”
However.
In this way.
“…In the ‘future’ where you traveled from, what kind of relationship did we have, Lord Jaesang?”
“…”
“I think we probably made a promise to see each other through to the end.”
Casually.
I wonder if it would slightly disturb the essence of the emotions she holds for him.
“…”
After a moment of silence, Sulibeon pushed Daud away from herself as if to fend him off.
“…How-“
Sulibeon, who was about to continue speaking, bit her lips and stopped the sentence with great effort.
Her mind was becoming jumbled with all sorts of memories.
“Do you know about the theory of parallel universes?”
Those words fell abruptly to Sulibeon, who was lowering her face.
“Well, depending on the choices made at different times, there could exist countless universes – something like that. I don’t know much about it, but I remember it being a theory with that kind of feeling.”
Of course, it means that there is such a theory, but the existence of different parallel universes crossing over and exerting influence in different universes is a strange story even within a world where all sorts of miracles and wonders wander.
The problem is.
It’s not impossible for beings with a power strange enough to make that possible to exist.
The strongest beings who exist outside of the timeline and the world.
Referred to as demons.
“In the ‘future’ where Lord Jaesang was, it seems like we were in such a relationship, Lord Jaesang.”
“How many days has it been, professor?”
“Three days.”
“…Without eating or sleeping, in that state for three days.”
Upon Alpha’s words, the steel giant representing Astrid sighed and crossed his arms.
Beyond their gaze, Eleanor sitting quietly in the room caught their attention.
In the center of the room, full of strange devices that appeared to have no discernible purpose, Eleanor sat silently.
With closed eyes, she seemed to be concentrating deeply on something.
“…Has it had any effect?”
“I hope so.”
Eleanor was making some kind of request to them.
To observe something that they could not see.
This room was a device created by Eleanor, a member of the Matap who only the elites among the world’s scholars could enter.
Its purpose was a kind of “observation” apparatus.
It allowed one to glimpse the possibilities of the “unselected”, which could not be seen at the present.
“You know about the theory of parallel universes, Alpha?”
“Haven’t you mentioned it countless times? That the world branches into countless possibilities.”
“Yes. Originally, it was created to observe that… but now it’s been modified a bit.”
It was now a conceptual machine that could observe any “information” connected to any subject, not just parallel universes.
Astrid looked silently at Eleanor, who was quietly seated once again.
She was the only one who had shared the somewhat peculiar fact she had observed through this device.
“My son, you know. There’s something strange about him.”
Of course, Daoud Campbell was already a strange person even in the eyes of his parents, but what Astrid implied was a more serious issue than that.
The “strange aspect” of Daoud Campbell that she discovered while peering into countless possibilities was not such a simple problem.
“…He seems to be hiding something very deeply. As if he was someone else before he was born as my son.”
“Is that a problem?”
“No. Even if he was born like that, he’s still my son. That won’t change no matter what happens.”
Astrid answered Alpha’s question decisively.
“…But it hurts. To struggle alone and not say anything. As parents, we can’t help.”
Astrid let out a bitter smile and continued.
“…Besides, I haven’t been with him for that long anyway. The emotional distance isn’t that close.”
That’s why I asked Elanor to “observe” those things.
Observing the “essence” of a subject is easier when it comes to close and familiar individuals.
The woman over there is closer to Dowd than her biological mother, but Astrid sadly couldn’t deny that fact.
So.
“If it’s him, maybe I can see.”
What she is drifting through with that device is someone else’s “memory.”
The memory of a man called Dowd Campbell, loved by all demons. The experiences accumulated by Armin Campbell and Astrid’s son.
“…But that’s not all.”
Perhaps.
Beyond that.
Someone might be walking through a past that they never want to talk about.
The past of someone who is walking through a different world before Dowd Campbell.
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