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This light novel is inspired by the beautiful landscapes and cultures of Bolivia and South Korea. However, the characters, events, and situations portrayed are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to real persons, places, or events is purely coincidental. This content does not intend to represent or reflect the historical, social, or cultural reality of either country. The author disclaims any legal liability arising from the interpretation of these elements.
Chapter 78 — A Conversation I Didn't Expect
78.1 In-Laws.
Santa Cruz had been hotter than usual.
Ryu sat alone in the inner courtyard.
He wasn't disturbed, but his mind wouldn't settle.
He rested his forearms on his knees and interlaced his fingers,
a gesture he only repeated when something had no immediate solution.
The words about the wedding kept echoing,
and that shadow of sadness in her when she spoke about not getting married in the church.
She hadn't said it explicitly, but he felt that she was hurt.
***
He heard soft footsteps approaching.
"Am I disturbing you?"
Asked a male voice with a clear but gentle German accent.
Ryu looked up.
It was Hans, Camila's husband.
They had never really spoken, but seeing him so often with the family,
Ryu sensed that from a similar experience Hans might help him see things differently.
"No."
Ryu replied, gesturing for him to take a seat.
Hans slightly lifted a bottle wrapped in a brown bag.
"I brought a German beer, reserved for important occasions."
Ryu nodded as he took the bottle.
Hans placed his own on the table carefully,
then leaned forward slightly in a gesture of confidence.
***
Both drank calmly, watching the gardens,
as if language weren't strictly necessary.
"I've seen how you look at Zayra."
Hans said bluntly.
"Camila told me about the religious ceremony.
It reminded me of our own experience."
Ryu inhaled slowly through his nose.
He didn't look away, but his shoulders tensed just a fraction.
"I was a foreigner too."
Hans continued.
"For Camila, the church was important.
It represented her family and her past."
"And for you?"
Ryu asked without looking up.
"For me, it was just paperwork."
Hans replied with a half-smile.
***
He paused, looking Ryu in the eye.
Then he looked back at the garden and commented.
"That's why, at the beginning, we only had a civil wedding.
But over time, I understood that respecting her faith was respecting her."
Ryu nodded once, slowly,
as if that sentence had clicked into place where there had been friction before.
Then he asked.
"Did she ask you to change?"
"No."
Hans replied calmly.
"Years after we married, we agreed to raise our children in her faith.
But they will be able to choose when they grow up.
I didn't change my beliefs. I just looked for a balance."
"Balance is not renunciation… It is holding up without crushing."
Ryu reflected in silence.
A humid breeze passed, and Hans continued.
"The most important thing..."
He added.
"Is that you both talk and make those decisions together,
without external pressure."
They looked out into the vastness of the forest, and then Hans stood up gently.
Before leaving, he remarked.
"I didn't come to give you a lesson,
just to tell you that sometimes you don't have to understand, you just have to respect."
He gave Ryu a soft pat on the shoulder and walked away.
Ryu remained still, looking at the bottle in his hand.
The sky was now completely dark, but inside him, a small light had begun to glow.
For the first time, he wondered if loving also meant learning how to give in without losing oneself.
78.2 It's Not Because of You, It's Because of Me and My Story
Night had fallen softly over the cabin.
The sound of crickets and the gentle swaying of the wind through the leaves accompanied the silence between them.
Zayra had returned from church an hour ago, more serene, but with red eyes.
She sat next to him on the terrace, where only a cup of tea stood between them.
She took a slow breath, squeezed the warm ceramic between her hands, and finally spoke.
"Ryu..."
Her voice was soft but full of determination.
"I'll be honest. I don't know if I explained it well, but I know you noticed I was sad."
He looked up at her, waiting for her to continue.
She took a deep breath and said.
"I don't want you to think, I'm making a sacrifice."
He lowered his gaze slightly and pressed his tongue against the roof of his mouth,
holding back a response he didn't want to turn into a wound.
His jaw tensed slightly a subtle gesture that betrayed his effort to remain calm.
He remained silent, wondering.
"Really?"
It wasn't an accusation.
It was the fear of being unintentionally unfair.
Although he struggled to understand these things, he told himself.
"I cannot judge her pain by my own rules."
He swallowed hard, listening to what she had to say.
Zayra, for her part, looked toward the Toborochi tree.
She sighed as if she were about to say something delicate and continued.
"I've been processing the frustration of not marrying you according to my expectations."
She paused, casting her eyes down.
"Even though I know it's no one's fault, it affected me more than I expected."
He didn't know what to say to her vulnerability,
something unusual for him, so he decided to remain silent until she finished.
The pause stretched out, comfortable and tense at the same time.
She clasped her hands and went on.
"Catholicism is part of who I am.
Marrying in the Church is honoring my history and those who came before me."
Ryu gently gripped the rim of his cup,
as if he wanted to hold onto that truth that couldn't be put into words.
Zayra wiped a tear with her hand and added.
"It's also honoring my grandmother.
She taught me to love with respect and to live faith with consistency,
even if I'm not devout in the traditional sense."
He remained silent,
listening to every word with that deep gaze that made her feel completely exposed,
but not vulnerable.
"When I decided to marry you, I knew this could happen.
I had expectations that won't be met, and that's what hurts me, not you."
She looked him straight in the eyes.
"You aren't hurting me, Ryu. I chose to be with you.
I would never ask you to change your religion just to stay with me."
The weight of that choice settled in his chest with a mix of relief and responsibility.
It wasn't just love; it was commitment.
His fingers interlaced firmly, trying to anchor his mind in that moment, with that woman.
She continued to fiddle with her cup.
"I can't ask you to promise something we don't yet know how to live.
My faith is not imposed, Ryu. Especially not in a marriage that is just beginning."
Ryu looked up and met her eyes.
"She could have used the church as pressure… but she didn't."
That reassured him and confirmed exactly who she was.
He took a deep breath and said.
"Thank you for not demanding anything of me.
I don't know what will happen tomorrow, but today, I want to walk with you."
His voice sounded softer than usual, almost like a private confession.
Zayra shrugged with a sad smile.
"It's not your fault, Ryu. This decision is mine.
I choose you, and I want us to move forward without rushing."
Ryu looked down, a gesture Zayra already knew how to read.
It was his way of processing what he didn't yet have the words to express.
She moved a little closer, reaching for his hand and holding it firmly.
"Ryu, I'm an adult. If I cry for what wasn't, I smile for what we are."
Ryu's fingers squeezed Zayra's hand firmly,
a silent promise beyond words.
78.3 Thoughts Under the Moon
The room was silent. Zayra slept beside him, bathed in the soft light of the dim lamp.
She breathed calmly, but her face still held a hint of melancholy.
Ryu couldn't sleep.
He propped his arm under his head and stared at the ceiling.
His chest felt heavy.
He had heard every word.
She didn't blame him, didn't pressure him, or manipulate him.
She only showed him her open, vulnerable soul.
"It's not that I'm making a sacrifice for you.
It's that it hurts me not to be able to fulfill something that is important to me."
That hit him harder than any argument.
Ryu thought about his own family.
His mother, always elegant, always firm.
His sister, practical.
Himself, raised under logic, restraint, and responsibility.
He had learned that love is shown through actions, not laments.
That emotions should be kept inside so as not to cause discomfort.
But what Zayra did that night… it wasn't just any emotion.
It was faith, history and roots.
And he felt a profound respect,
not just for her culture, but for her strength.
In that silence, he analyzed.
"Perhaps loving isn't filling gaps, but respecting the spaces each person has."
Zayra was not a weak woman.
She could have demanded or cried more.
But she chose to accept.
She chose to love unconditionally.
And that… that truly moved him.
Ryu turned to look at her.
Her hair scattered over the pillow, her face relaxed, as if she had finally found a bit of peace.
"How unfair is it to love someone and not be able to give them everything they expect?"
He thought.
But then he corrected the idea.
"Or maybe… is that precisely what love is?
Knowing we can't give everything, but kept trying to be there."
He didn't yet know if one day he could adopt her faith, or raise his children under a religion that wasn't his own.
He didn't know if he would change one day.
But what he did know, with total certainty, was that he no longer wanted to imagine a life without her.
He wasn't like those men who kneel under a shower of roses.
He was more like a tree: slow, silent, but firm.
And that night, under the same roof,
without saying it out loud, he made a decision.
"I am going to be by her side. And if one day I can give her more,
I will. In my own way, but with all my heart."
He didn't know what the future would hold,
but that night he decided he would be present, fully in every step by her side.
And with that decision,
he finally closed his eyes.