" So… you want to marry me?"
A bit embarrassed, I answered that yes, I wanted to marry her. Laughing, she replied:
"Hold on, we haven't gone through the second step yet."
Curious, I asked her what step she meant. But deep down, I could already tell she was going to say it was a secret, like always. Still, it didn't bother me—I would find out sooner or later anyway. After that, we changed the subject and talked about our future plans. As for me, I'd be going back to my parents. But I assumed Aruna would train to improve her spells.
Afterward, we each went home for the night. As for me, I packed everything to return home—even the mana television and the console. While preparing, I found an earring engraved with an eclipse. I decided to bring it with me and hide it in my bag to show my father later. Finally, I practiced the Wind Spell so I could use it for travel tomorrow, because this time I wasn't going to take a carriage. Honestly, it wasn't about speed—I just didn't want to pay for one.
The next morning, I woke up early to change my clothes and make sure the mansion was empty. Of course, I left the decorations in place and cleaned all the dishes. I had to leave the mansion spotless, in case my parents came to live here—or maybe if I returned after getting married. Let's not think about that. Just saying "marriage" makes me nervous. At noon, after lunch, I stretched before leaving. It looked like running, but in truth, using wind magic to travel was both a physical and mana-consuming exercise. One mistake, and it could be fatal.
During the journey, no danger appeared. Strange. It was as if the monsters were preparing for something, waiting to attack the kingdoms. After forty-nine minutes, I arrived. My parents welcomed me warmly. I had missed our house so much. It was still majestic to me, even though compared to my mansion it was ten times smaller. To me, it would always be the best. Not because of its grandeur, but because of all the memories I had built there during my childhood.
After settling into my old room, I prepared to go out with my parents. A week passed, and then we had a visitor. It was Aruna. She claimed she came to check up on us, but I knew she wanted to talk to me. Still, her visit made me happy, and it pleased my parents too. The next day, she came again. We greeted her and served her some tea—she loves tea. A few minutes later, she told me she would be studying for a year in Okto and asked if I wanted to join her. Of course, I wanted to, but the problem was that I was already planning to study at the Demon Continent Academy for three years, and then do the same with the other two clans. That would normally take nine years—but instead, I planned to study it all in just one day. There are books that contain everything taught over those nine years, and I intended to stay inside a loop to study them. That way, I wouldn't waste nine years of my life before even getting married. And I definitely wasn't going to use the second type of time loop. Yes, there are two kinds. Type 1 lets you keep your memories without harming your body or mind—that's the one I could use. Type 2, however, damages both your body and mind. So maybe, yes, I would eventually join her.
After that, she asked to speak with me alone. So, I brought her to my room. Then she said:
"Do you remember the time I told you there was one step missing before marriage? The so-called second step?"
I told her yes, but that I still didn't know what it was. Smiling, she said:
"We're not just friends anymore!"
"What do you mean we're not friends anymore? Does that mean we won't see each other again?" I asked.
In truth, I already understood what she meant by this "second step." I'm smarter than her when it comes to psychology, and even politics—maybe I could even outsmart the king himself. But I pretended not to understand, just for the fun of it. Yes… sometimes I can be cruel.
"You're hopeless! What I mean is…"