Chapter 354: A Confession from Edelweiss?
"First… he should be a swordsman after all."
After stating the first point, Edelweiss felt a little embarrassed.
Because…
"Other than swordsmanship, I don't really know anything else… If two people are going to get along, they should at least have some topics in common."
"As for age, I don't have any special requirements. If I had to say, then younger would be better?"
"Then comes strength."
"Stronger than me… probably isn't very realistic, but at the very least, he can't be weak."
When Edelweiss spoke of strength, she sighed slightly.
If she truly wanted to find someone with excellent strength and a suitable age, that would probably be quite difficult.
Forget reaching her level.
Even barely stepping into the Desperado realm at that age would likely be impossible to find anywhere in the world.
And those people who had just entered the Desperado realm were still as different from Edelweiss as heaven and earth.
They could not even injure her.
"If possible, I would hope he is at least someone capable of wounding me."
Edelweiss sighed again, and even she herself felt it was not very likely.
How easy could it be to wound her?
One had to know that even the three great Desperados had failed to injure her.
Although none of them had used their full strength back then, and they had even been restraining one another to some extent, they were still the current peak of this world.
Wanting to seek something even higher than that was no different from fantasy.
"Lastly… if he likes sweets, then that would be perfect…?"
As she spoke, Edelweiss suddenly sensed that something was not quite right.
Her entire person returned from her own imagination.
And the instant she came back to her senses, she saw Luke opposite her.
Luke held a piece of apple pie with one bite taken out of it, his movements somewhat stiff as he stopped there.
He looked at Edelweiss with a strange gaze.
It was mixed with shock, surprise, confusion, disbelief, and even a faint trace of… not knowing what to do?
What was going on?
Edelweiss was baffled by Luke's gaze.
However, although she did not know why Luke was looking at her like that, it was probably because there had been something wrong with what she had just said.
With some confusion, she briefly recalled the words she had just spoken.
Then Edelweiss also froze.
Redness rose from below her neck at a speed visible to the naked eye.
In an instant, Edelweiss's face turned as red as an apple.
Between the two silent people, an inexplicable atmosphere gradually began to spread.
And at this moment, Luke was also extremely confused.
Originally, he had been eating apple pie while listening to Edelweiss speak.
But from the moment Edelweiss mentioned the second point, Luke had felt something subtle.
'Why does it feel like… she's talking about me?!?!'
Taking a bite of the apple pie in his hand, Luke silently shook his head in his heart.
"She likes me" was one of life's three great illusions.
Moreover, Luke did not think that after only two meetings, both of which had been fierce battles, Edelweiss would fall in love with him.
Thinking normally, that was impossible.
Then he heard Edelweiss say, "at least someone capable of wounding me."
His thoughts stopped for an instant.
His breathing and heartbeat also grew slightly faster.
Even Luke had no way to stop himself from letting his imagination run wild at this moment.
Because what she said…
Was completely him, wasn't it?
A swordsman.
Young.
Not weak.
Someone who had wounded Edelweiss.
Finally, the instant he heard the part about liking sweets, Luke's motion of sending apple pie into his mouth suddenly stopped.
At this moment, only one thought remained in his heart.
That was—
'Did Edelweiss just confess to me???'
Luke looked at Edelweiss, not knowing what he should say for a moment.
Thinking back carefully, this was his first time experiencing someone confessing to him.
Even Claudia, who had once been the most enthusiastic toward him in Asterisk City, had only stayed at the level of "teasing."
It seemed no one had ever truly said "I like you" to him from the perspective of a man and a woman.
This fact struck Luke's brain, making him freeze on the spot.
However, compared to Luke, Edelweiss was actually even more flustered right now.
Because she herself had only just reacted.
When she had been thinking earlier, Edelweiss had not thought too deeply.
She had truly only spoken the conditions she hoped for from the bottom of her heart.
However, that was no longer important.
Because even she herself, after recalling what she had just said, felt that she had been talking about Luke.
Without a doubt, if there had been a third person present watching from the side, anyone would have concluded that Edelweiss was confessing.
She no longer knew how she should explain it.
Panic, shyness, anxiety, conflict, embarrassment—all kinds of emotions intertwined and drowned Edelweiss.
Somewhat unexpectedly, there did not seem to be any feeling of resistance among them.
After realizing this, Edelweiss grew even more flustered.
She suddenly became clearly aware of Luke's "specialness" in her heart.
That was right.
Special.
To Edelweiss, Luke Ashburn, a young man she had only met three times, was an extremely special existence.
Overflowing with talent, Edelweiss saw her past self in him.
No, perhaps he was even more outstanding than her past self.
As a fellow swordsman, Luke, who had defeated her twice, had now risen to an extremely important position in Edelweiss's heart.
Furthermore, according to the standards she had just described, Luke perfectly matched them without exception.
In fact, he was even more outstanding than what she had just said.
Swordsmanship talent surpassing her own.
Standing among the world's strong at the age of a young man.
Forget merely wounding her, Luke had already defeated her twice in a row.
Of course, there was an even more important point.
That was Desperado.
The first moment Edelweiss saw Luke today, she had discovered it.
Extremely faint.
So indistinct it seemed like it might vanish at any moment.
However, without a doubt, that was the aura of a Desperado.
Luke had already seen that door.
The instant she understood this fact, his position in Edelweiss's heart underwent a world-shaking change.
Indeed, Luke had defeated Edelweiss.
But in the end, that had only been a contest of swordsmanship.
It had been a battle with conditions and restrictions agreed upon by the two of them beforehand.
If it were a battle to the death, Edelweiss, who would not accept Luke's challenge as a swordsman, could kill him instantly.
Even if Edelweiss was certain that Luke would sooner or later step into the Desperado realm, as long as he had not seen that door, the position between the two of them could never be completely equal.
But now, things were different.
Once he saw that door, it meant Luke only needed an opportunity to step through.
Anytime, anywhere, at any moment, it could happen.
In swordsmanship, Luke had originally been inferior to Edelweiss at the beginning.
But after only two battles, he had caught up to her.
He had even surpassed her.
Now, after touching the threshold of Desperado, would it be the same?
The current Luke was the one who truly possessed the qualification to make Desperado Edelweiss look at him directly.
And because she looked at him directly, Edelweiss could finally see Luke's excellence from an equal position.
…
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