Turning-Chapter 921

“We know better than anyone that we are people who can exchange stories that can't be heard in any ordinary way.”

That alone was enough. The moment those words left his mouth, Kishiar softly let out a fragrance. Drawn by it, Yuder felt a scent gently spill out from his own body as well.

The tangled scents wrapped around their bodies and caressed them. Movements carrying a clear intent—as if saying that feeling only this was enough—soothed Yuder's nerves, which had been tightly strung. As the fragrance dug deeper with every breath he inhaled, cooling his feverishly burning mind, Yuder stared at the fingers deeply intertwined between him and Kishiar.

The reason those fingers looked like thin, faintly shining threads must have been because he was thinking of the word “connection.”

Suddenly, a thought flashed through Yuder’s mind.

‘...The three people I met today said their ability to sense fragrance changed over time. But... wasn’t it not just the fragrance that changed as time passed?’

Since Yuder had returned to the past and met Kishiar, many things had changed. Among them, if he had to point out something ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) mysterious and consistently evolving, it would be the "thread."

Something invisible to others, like an illusion—yet something whose existence was undeniable. Always connected between the two of them, revealing itself in moments of desperate need to lend aid. Enabling them to find each other no matter where they were.

At first, there had been only a single, thin thread. But when he last saw it a few days ago, there were so many it was hard to even count.

The sensation of connection he could feel through it—Kishiar la Orr had called it an "imprint."

Imprint. Fragrance. The difference between the past life and the present.

Caught in the swirl of confusing thoughts, Yuder suddenly opened his mouth and spoke.

“If the connection between us... that thing you said resembled an imprint... if it kept increasing, could that be somehow related to the changes in our fragrance perception?”

“Thread and fragrance... You're suggesting that as the threads multiplied, the changes related to our scents also grew stronger?”

“Yes. I have no proof, but since both changes progressed around the same time, I thought maybe there could be a connection.”

Kishiar slowly nodded.

“It’s a plausible idea.”

Of course, to firmly prove this guess, a similar phenomenon would have needed to occur even in the previous game where Yuder had no scent. But present-day Yuder had no way of knowing that.

Kishiar clearly understood that too. After a brief silence, he met Yuder’s gaze directly and asked a careful question.

“...In the previous game, did you ever see something like the thread connecting us?”

“......”

“If it’s difficult to answer, you can skip it. What matters more is investigating the current situation.”

Yuder shook his head.

“No. It’s not something I particularly need to hide. I believe I never saw such a thread in the previous game.”

“You believe so—not that you're certain. That sounds like a significant difference.”

“Yes, exactly. As you said. Right now, I believe that's the case, but there could have been a considerable discrepancy from reality.”

“And why do you think so?”

“Because there have been several times when I realized that my memories differed from what had actually happened.”

Yuder tried to say this in the most neutral tone possible. Delivering facts without showing emotion had never been particularly difficult for him.

“In my current memory, there’s no such thing as the thread. But separately... regarding the phenomena that occurred when we were connected...”

Yuder stared down at Kishiar’s tightly entwined hand as he moved his dry lips.

Was it really right to tell the man in front of him about this?

Wouldn't it be better if the current Kishiar didn’t know?

Even as he continued speaking, such thoughts lingered in his mind.

The memories Yuder had of “connection” from his previous life were something he, as Yudrain Aile, had tried to forget for a very long time. And he had succeeded, to some extent. The current Kishiar was the same yet had already walked too different a path. Was there any meaning in reviving these unpleasant memories?

They were things that were already gone.

Yuder’s hand turned cold again. Not even the fragrance brushing over his body could overcome that ancient chill.

He lowered his gaze and finally finished his words.

“...There are memories where I felt something similar. Though, it’s very different from what I feel now...”

During the week-long accident following the manifestation in his previous life, Yudrain Aile had come to see and feel a completely different world. Everything had been bewildering and unfamiliar, but what tormented Yuder the most was one thing: the constant, piercing pain and overwhelming flood of emotions and sensations that stabbed at him like an awl.

At the time, Yuder instinctively knew where it all came from. All of it—everything he hadn’t wanted—came from Kishiar. Having unwanted emotions and sensations flood in ceaselessly from another person had been a horrifying experience. Especially because most of it wasn’t anything positive.

Yuder had thought it was like two entirely different people being forcibly stitched together into a patchwork quilt.

Back then, Kishiar knew it too. He must have felt something similar from Yuder. It was only natural.

He had promised Yuder, after the accident when Yuder finally came to his senses, that he would find a way to fix it.

But the promise was never fulfilled. That man died at Yuder’s own hands.

And yet, Yuder was freed from the relentless pain and emotions because of that death. In a way, perhaps it wasn’t wrong to say the problem had been solved.

Yuder had long forgotten that fact. Until he began dreaming those old dreams and retrieving those memories again in this life, he had almost completely forgotten the experience.

“Actually, ever since I first saw the thread while trying to find you, I’ve always had one question.”

The low voice that slipped into Yuder’s ear pulled him back from the abyss of old memories. Kishiar, eyes lowered, continued speaking with a humorless face.

“When exactly did that thing begin, and when was it created? Why does it exist only between you and me, and no one else? Something so mysterious... shouldn’t it have had a more dramatic beginning?”

“...Dramatic, you say?”

For a moment, Yuder thought he had misheard.

“Yes, dramatic.”

At last, a faint smile touched the man's lips.

“Not every beginning needs to be flashy or destined. Plenty of things happen without a clear reason. What I’m saying is closer to cause and effect than to meaning. Do you understand?”

Cause and effect, rather than meaning. It was a difficult metaphor, but Yuder somehow got the feeling.

“...I think I understand.”

“There was no cause to the connection tying us together. No guessable cause—only the result existed at some point. After I learned more stories I didn’t know before, I speculated once again.” frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓

“......”

“Perhaps the beginning of that connection... that imprint... wasn’t something created here by what I did now. Maybe it originated in the previous game and somehow continued into this one.”

Facing those crimson eyes as he said that, Yuder felt chills climbing up his arm.

Just how far had he thought about all of this?

Just from the little Yuder had said, how much had this man managed to deduce?

For a fleeting moment, a voice from one of his old dreams echoed in his mind.

‘—Forcefully push away until every connection is severed... and then...’

Yuder still couldn’t be completely sure if that had really been his voice.

Maybe the connection he had thought had vanished when Kishiar died hadn’t actually disappeared.

If he were to tell the current Kishiar about that dream, about the “connection” he had experienced back then... would he be able to figure something out from that too?

...but for once, Yuder’s usually loose lips felt sealed shut.

‘He already knows I killed the Kishiar of my previous life. What’s the big deal about this?’

As Kishiar himself had said, what mattered was the present—not the past.

He knew that. Yet his mind remained cold and dark.

‘Damn it.’

He was about to bite his lips in frustration when—

The hand entwined with his abruptly pulled him forward.

Startled, Yuder’s lips collided with another set of lips.