Turning Chapter 983

Chapter 983

A ceramic teapot floated in the air without a single touch, steaming as it poured warm milk. Two cups, enveloped by an invisible force, flew following Kishiar's gaze and settled into each of their arms.

Yuder looked down at the white cup in his hand.

Previously, when he first confessed about the 'previous game,' they had faced each other and played a strategy game in the Commander's office. Later, when he talked about the day he killed Kishiar, they had also faced each other with a similar feeling.

But now, they were sitting side by side on the bed, leaning their backs against it, each wearing only a thin piece of clothing. Through the drawn bed curtains, the winter sky of the south could be seen in the distance outside the window, and their stretched out bare feet touching each other looked too peaceful yet slightly obscene.

Having a completely opposite conversation in this atmosphere felt a bit strange, but not bad. The warmth spread as he swallowed a sip of milk down his esophagus. As Yuder exhaled softly, Kishiar, who had been waiting without urging, moved his foot and playfully rubbed Yuder's toes on the top of his foot.

"..."

Yuder looked into his eyes, faintly lifting the corners of his lips, and finally opened his mouth.

"The memory of the first connection is not very clear to me either. It wasn't as beautiful as... what exists between us now. At that time, I was intoxicated and serving as the Deputy Commander, reporting in the Commander's office. And then... an unexpected event occurred."

Yuder paused for a moment to moisten his lips with another sip before continuing without any hesitation.

"That's when I suddenly had my second gender manifestation. You must have seen how I experienced the manifestation during the Imperial Palace's Harvest Festival, so I think you can imagine what it was like."

If the scent had been faint like Pruelle's recent manifestation and only other omega Awakeners or non-manifested second genders were around, there might have been no problem. If someone like Nathan Zuckerman, a non-Awakener and a swordmaster who was not affected by the scent at all and had strong power, had been there, the accident might have been prevented early on.

However, Yuder's manifestation occurred in the form of an explosively strong scent flowing out, and even coincided with a heat cycle. In the blink of an eye, the heat that soared to the top of his head swallowed everything, and only Kishiar, whose vessel was already broken, and Yuder, who couldn't even recognize what was happening to him, were left in the Commander's office. And then... it was the end.

"Commander, you were swept away by my manifestation. It took about a week for the manifestation to be completely finished and the heat to end, and after that, I began to feel the 'connection.'"

Yuder chose words to describe the connection he felt at that time in the silence.

"It was... never as beautiful and soft as the thread we are looking at now."

As Yuder twitched his toes, the shimmering golden threads seemed to flutter and fly as if they had a form of their own.

"I think it was closer to a sensation based on the memories I have left. After that day, sensations and emotions that were not mine kept coming uninvited without any rules. It might be similar to say that it was like the things that had made up me until then were shattered and then stitched back together like a patchwork with something else mixed in. Anyway, whenever I felt it, of course... I wasn't very happy."

Saying he wasn't happy was actually an understatement. It was a feeling as if all the surprises and negativity one could feel in life were gathered and lumped together.

"It seems quite different from the emotions we convey to each other now."

The man resting his head on Yuder's shoulder muttered quietly.

"Honestly... yes. It was."

In fact, the pain Yuder experienced after the manifestation was not only the sensations transmitted from the connection with Kishiar. Whether it was the aftermath of lying around in a daze for days after the second gender manifestation, or the aftershock of the connection, there was a throbbing pain that lasted for a very long time, as if an invisible but definitely existing wound was healing.

Many Awakeners are often greatly shocked when they realize they have awakened and are no longer ordinary humans. But Yuder Aile had never been very shocked when he became an Awakener.

However, the second gender manifestation was different. The moment the second gender manifested and opened its eyes, the world in which Yuder Aile had lived was turned upside down much more than when he went from a non-Awakener to an Awakener. Yuder thought that perhaps the shock of awakening that other Awakeners had felt came to him during the second gender manifestation.

But the pain transmitted from Kishiar every time they faced each other was incomparably greater than the invisible pain he felt as a result.

'Now that I think about it, I might have felt it more strongly because I had never experienced that level of pain in my life until then.'

Yuder himself was already gripped by tremendous confusion and horror, but what came from the other side was no less, if not more, than that. Even though he thought it was mostly his fault for manifesting there, whenever Yuder felt that pain that made his whole body feel like it was being torn apart, he gritted his teeth and swallowed all sorts of thoughts.

What was so terrible about being unfortunately tied to a commoner that he was in so much pain every time he saw him that he was about to die?

If he wanted, he could just forget it as a one-night fling and move on quickly, so what was bothering him so much that he was making such a fuss?

Of course, he was able to think that way because he knew nothing about Kishiar at the time. He didn't know what kind of person he was, what his situation was like, or even the fact that he was already heading towards the day of his death in the midst of terrible pain.

In fact, even if he had known to some extent, he wasn't sure if he would have thought differently.

Yuder spoke all those things slowly, but without omitting anything.

"...Even without any guidance, I could somehow instinctively know that these sensations weren't mine but being transmitted from someone. Commander, you were the same. That was the 'first' connection I recognized."

After saying that, Yuder looked straight into Kishiar's eyes. The first connection was no longer such a painful memory for Yuder. What mattered was what came next.

"At that time, I... received a promise. Commander, you told me that you would definitely find out the nature of that strange phenomenon. But until I went to Peletta, it didn't seem like you were doing anything to solve the problem."

As he spoke, memories that had been buried for a long time seemed to spring up from here and there.

'Yes, I...'

Yuder thought Kishiar would have forgotten about that promise. After all, as Kishiar quit being the Commander of the Cavalry and headed to Peletta, he hardly had to feel the pain he used to feel whenever he met Yuder. Even that faded away when Yuder attempted to talk to him about the rumors of rebellion, and the sense of 'connection' became infinitely faint.

Faded things are quickly erased from memory as well. Yuder also tried to forget all the conversations and promises as Kishiar did. The 'connection' that no one would understand even if explained was not important at all.

Because he tried to believe so.

"But it seems it wasn't the case after all."