Chapter 454: A Result Long Since Decided
"So… to be honest, I wasn't really curious at first," Alina said. "Talulah told me to trust her completely, and I did. I didn't ask anything extra. But now that you've deliberately come back…" She glanced at Steven. "It's probably because of her, isn't it? Would you mind telling me what's going on?"
She led Steven and Talulah to sit down. After pouring each of them a cup of hot water, she finally asked in her soft, gentle voice about the reason for Steven's return.
The habit of drinking hot water had been something Steven had taught her in the first place. But the issue now was that for someone like Steven—who was supposed to be out traveling—to turn back intentionally, there had to be an important reason.
And that reason was most likely related to whatever Talulah had been keeping from her.
"Are you going to confess yourself, or should I do it for you?" Steven asked after taking a sip of hot water, turning his gaze toward Talulah. "Either way, I think she has the right to know. This isn't something you can just brush off with 'it's for her own good' and keep her in the dark."
"And since you've already made this decision," he added calmly, "maybe you should hear her opinion too. Your little political officer here understands you—and this frozen wasteland—better than I ever could."
"I know," Talulah replied, shooting Steven a glare before letting out a soft snort. "But can't you at least let me organize my thoughts first?"
Now that Steven had stirred things up like this, she knew there was no way she could keep the truth hidden anymore. And rather than letting him embellish the story and make her sound worse than she already was, it was better to come clean herself.
The two girls leaned close together, whispering quietly for quite some time. Steven could only sit there, bored, drinking his hot water while openly observing his two girlfriends.
Compared to the first time he'd met them, Talulah hadn't changed much at all—still the same little fire dragon who always held her head high with pride. The only difference was that when her gaze occasionally drifted toward him, there was now a hint of a young girl's charm mixed into it.
Alina, on the other hand, was in far better shape than when he'd first met her. Her personality was still as soft and gentle as ever, but for one, her Oripathy had been resolved, and for another, she no longer had to survive on cheap black bread now that she was with him.
Naturally, her complexion and overall presence were much healthier. There was even a faint, almost unnoticeable touch of baby fat on her face now, giving her an innocence and sweetness that suited a girl her age.
Not long after, Talulah and Alina finally finished their private conversation.
Just as expected—even someone as eternally gentle as Alina couldn't help but knit her brows after hearing Talulah's plan. Still, she didn't rush to give advice. Instead, she turned her gaze toward her boyfriend, who was drinking hot water like a retired old man.
"You support her choice?"
"Yeah." Steven replied calmly. "The preparations she's made are far more thorough than I expected. That alone tells me she's serious about this choice."
Whatever path Talulah chose in the end was her own to walk. As long as she could face herself without regret, he had no reason not to support her.
"But you also know…" Alina said softly, "those people… aren't worthy of trust."
She spoke aloud the very thing Steven had deliberately avoided mentioning.
Despite her usually gentle, easygoing demeanor, Alina was in many ways more mature than Talulah when it came to matters like this.
As a native of the snowfields—lands so harsh they could be called extreme even by the standards of this cruel world—Alina was far from ignorant of humanity's ugliness. She simply chose to see the goodness hidden beneath it.
From her perspective, Talulah's decision was unbearably naïve. And the result awaiting her would likely be a blow powerful enough to shatter her ideals completely.
"You're really saying that right in front of her?" Steven glanced at Talulah, who looked like she'd just been wronged, and sighed. "Well… it's true. And honestly, she's known it for a long time herself."
"But—ah, forget it. Let her speak for herself."
Steven waved his hand helplessly, signaling that Talulah should explain things personally.
"I—I want to see it with my own eyes," Talulah said after a brief pause. She reached out her hand to hold Steven's, her voice firm and unwavering.
"If this world truly is like that… if my ideals really are destined to be destroyed because of it, then let them be destroyed. Nothing can be rebuilt unless it's first broken. That day was always going to come—so why can't it be now?"
"At least right now," she continued, "I still have you. I still have a chance to pull everything back."
Just as she said: Nothing can be rebuilt unless it's first broken. Since she already knew her ideals were too naïve, she would rather shatter them herself with reality. Even if the process was cruel, the deeper the pain, the more clearly she would remember it.
"Then… what else can I say?" Alina let out a long sigh. "I respect your choice."
She finally understood why Talulah hadn't told her any of this, and why she'd deliberately sent her away.
This choice was practically the same as stabbing the idealized version of herself through the heart—killing the overly naïve, idealistic Talulah of the past. Naturally, she hadn't wanted Alina to be involved in something like that.
And on top of everything else, there were dangers lurking that no one could fully predict.
Alina had originally wanted to remind Talulah to be careful—but when her eyes drifted to Steven, she felt there was no need.
With him around, there really was nothing to worry about.
That had long since become an unquestioned truth in Alina's heart. And she trusted that her boyfriend would never let her down when it mattered most.
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Note: Character Illustration is in this Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iuyfwNVFHzIi9H4rWNT_lAm7jTSiah_M
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