Chapter 62
"I don't care about what you were doing behind the tree earlier.
There is only one thing I've been waiting for: when will you finally give a sincere answer to my question?"
"You want a serious answer?"
"Fine, but with two conditions."
"...?"
"First, don't make the question convoluted like a math problem.
I don't want to answer a riddle that spawns ten different interpretations.
Second, I will only answer it if you agree to accompany me, wherever I go."
This is the way.
Whether I like it or not, I must take Ilux's place.
Four of their date locations remain, and if I let this flow break here, the Administrator will surely intervene.
This is the only way to prevent the system from detecting anomalies.
The wind, once gentle, now stiffened between them, like a breath held too long.
Under the light filtering through the leaves, Aldraya stared at Theo with emotionless eyes, as if gazing directly into his core without needing to understand the form.
That gaze was neither a threat nor a request, but a kind of decree born from something older than language itself.
When his lips moved, the voice emerged clear yet heavy, resonating like an echo from a distant place—asking one thing, simple on the surface, yet enough to shake Theo's stability to the depths of his mind.
He asked if Theo was ready to answer a question that demanded complete seriousness, as if the world waited for that answer to determine the next course of fate.
Theo froze for a moment.
His body tensed between fear and awareness that he tried to maintain.
He shook his head slightly.
Not in refusal, but more as an effort to recover from the daze that blinded him.
Before Aldraya, his consciousness seemed to drift.
Logic and instinct split between admiration and dread.
He looked down briefly, composed his breath, then returned the gaze with a tension that faintly cultivated courage.
When he finally spoke, his words came hoarse yet firm—that he would answer seriously, but only if the two conditions were met.
First, the question must not branch like a math exam problem that makes a person's head throb in vain.
Second, Aldraya must agree to follow wherever Theo would lead him next.
Silence fell again.
Aldraya did not respond immediately.
She simply stared at Theo, as if weighing something unspoken in the air between them.
The light falling on her silver hair shimmered like shattered moonlight, making her appear not as a human standing before a man, but as an entity present to test the very meaning of courage itself.
In Theo's chest, his heart raced, for he knew what he had just said was not merely a delay tactic.
It was a shield, a way to direct the scenario to continue as intended—so as not to provoke the wrath of something higher, something called the Administrator.
And amidst the imperceptible ticking of time, the decision settled in the air.
Theo knew then that his journey was far from over.
Four places awaited, four chapters of destiny he had to traverse to keep the balance of this world intact on a fragile thread nearly snapping.
"...."
In the silence dominating the space between them, Aldraya stood like a sculpture untouched by time.
No change on her face, no subtle tremor in her silver eyes, no hint that she wrestled with any particular feeling.
She simply gazed at Theo with absolute calm, as if the entire world had been distilled into a single focal point on his body.
The wind passing through the trees lifted strands of her hair, yet even that movement could not impart life to her form.
Aldraya appeared as the ideal embodiment of something created not to feel, but to observe, calculate, and decide.
Behind the silence lay a nearly sacred emptiness, yet it carried a faint, undefinable threat.
Her gaze remained the same—flat, vacant, like looking into a mirror that reflected no shadow.
Would she remain like this? Or was she waiting for me to start the conversation?
Fuuuuuh!
It seemed she indeed needed guidance.
"Something like that, more or less, and I guarantee—"
"No need for further questions. I agree.
Both for your first condition about a straightforward question, and for your second condition that I follow you wherever you go."
Just before Theo could utter the first word, a subtle yet decisive motion cut off all his intentions.
Aldraya raised her right index finger with absolute precision, a motion so swift and measured it passed through no doubt at all.
The finger rose level with her face, standing upright toward the sky above them, like a silent symbol resetting the flow of events before it could unravel.
No change in expression, no glimmer of emotion in her silver eyes, yet the gesture alone was enough to render Theo completely still.
The silence that followed felt like affirmation without words.
In her quiet, Aldraya conveyed an unmistakable consent without uttering a single word.
She accepted Theo's first condition about the question, free from unnecessary branches, and she accepted the second, requiring her to follow Theo wherever the journey led.
From any perspective, that decision came not from hesitation or long deliberation, but from an internal mechanism concluding that, whatever the path, following Theo was part of a destiny structure she had to obey.
Though no sound was made, the atmosphere around them shifted.
Theo sensed the subtle details in the air, the nearly imperceptible change in temperature, as if the world itself acknowledged the decision just made.
That small gesture confirmed something far greater, something that made Theo realize he was no longer in the position of asking, but of receiving the flow determined by the entity before him.
A strange tranquility flowed, a calm suggesting that no matter the risks ahead, Aldraya saw no reason to refuse.
'I thought she might refuse, but thank goodness.
A sense of relief lifts the burden in my chest slowly.'
Hsssshh!
'Then let's start from there.'
Fhhhhhh!
'First, the article room with old pages presented in a modern way—a place where history and technology meet without touching.
Second, the high observatory piercing the clouds, where the sky feels so near it can be touched by a fingertip.
Third, the botanical garden with thousands of flora from around the world—Aldraya will certainly stand in contrast amid the colors of life.
And finally, the old city—architecture rich with detail, aging gracefully.
The perfect place to close today's journey.'
Relief slowly crept into Theo's chest, like warm air finally returning after a corridor of cold that had been too long.
He knew that Aldraya's consent was not merely a simple answer, but permission to maintain the flow that had to continue so the world would not feel the tremors of anomaly.
Yet beneath it all, a part of him felt genuine gratitude, something born not from strategy or caution.
Aldraya did not hinder the steps, did not refuse, did not create complications forcing Theo to find another loophole.
Her decision made things easier, at least for now, allowing him to focus on the journey he had set.
As he took a few steps forward from where they had stood, Theo no longer needed to look back to see if Aldraya was following.
To be continued…