This was not his Cyrene.
Caelus spooned some wheat porridge into his mouth, then glanced at Cyrene, who was sitting across from him and eating as well.
After using the power of Existence to take Khaslana's memories and the destiny he had carried, Caelus used the power of Finality to alter time and causality, disrupting the original timeline and bringing himself directly to a point before the cycles had begun.
And the Cyrene sitting across from him now was the Cyrene who originally belonged to this destiny.
Or perhaps she should be called Elysia.
The name meant Daughter of Aedes Elysiae.
Cyrene had grown up being cared for by everyone in the small village of Aedes Elysiae.
She had been an abandoned child, found as an infant by the villagers and brought back to be raised by the community.
As for Caelus, who had inserted himself into the past, his identity had been arranged as the child of a village couple who had died young.
Like Cyrene, he had also been raised by everyone in the village.
Caelus kept watching Cyrene until she finally noticed.
She raised her head and looked at him, puzzled by the fact that he was no longer eating and was simply staring at her.
"Caelus, why do you keep looking at me?"
Beside them, Phainon suddenly lifted his head from his bowl like someone who had just caught the scent of gossip.
He looked at Caelus with open curiosity and asked,
"Oh? Don't tell me you like Cyrene?!"
The three of them were already around fourteen or fifteen years old, right in the middle of adolescence.
Naturally, they had begun developing some awareness of romance and were curious about it.
Phainon himself did not feel particularly strongly about such things.
He preferred watching other people fall in love.
His dream was to become a swordsman, leave Aedes Elysiae one day, and wander the world as a roaming hero who punished evil and helped those in need.
He would also have been perfectly content with an ordinary life.
He could inherit his parents' fields, farm them, and learn combat skills from the adults in the village.
And of course, the reason he wanted to learn how to fight was so he could protect everyone in the village and step forward to save others whenever strength was needed.
Cyrene and Caelus were his best friends.
If his two closest friends ended up together, Phainon thought he would be extremely happy.
Maybe after they had children, he could even become like the adults in the village and teach their children swordsmanship.
He might even get to become someone's master.
But what if they had a daughter?
Would a girl even like swords and fighting?
Caelus glanced at Phainon, who had already fallen into some distant fantasy about the future, and temporarily ignored his good friend.
Then he turned back toward Cyrene, whose cheeks had turned slightly red.
"Cyrene, if another version of you existed, how would you feel about her?"
Hearing such a philosophical question, the blush on Cyrene's face gradually faded.
For some reason, she also felt strangely relieved.
She had genuinely been afraid that Caelus might use the opportunity to confess to her.
If he had, she would not have known how to respond.
"I think I'd be curious."
"I'd want to know what kind of person the other me was and what kind of story she had."
"If another me really existed, I'd definitely want to talk to her."
"...Can we talk alone after we finish eating?"
"Caelus, you're acting really strange today."
"I just remembered there's something I need to help with at home. I completely forgot about it earlier. I'll get going first."
Phainon suddenly stood up.
He decided that he really should not keep interrupting.
If his two best friends had something private to discuss, then he did not need to pry.
He was certainly curious about what it was, but if it was their secret, then he had no business staying.
After Phainon hurried away, only the two of them remained.
In the end, they finished lunch in silence.
Then they went upstairs and stood on the balcony, looking out over the golden wheat swaying across the fields in the distance.
"Cyrene, I owe you an apology."
Caelus spoke.
"What happened?"
Cyrene blinked.
"Did you steal that slice of cheesecake yesterday?"
"No. Phainon did that."
"Then if it isn't about that, is it something from even earlier?"
"I'm not apologizing for the past."
"I'm apologizing for the future."
"More precisely, I'm going to take away the life you were supposed to have."
Cyrene froze.
Then her cheeks turned red again as she asked shyly,
"Is this a confession?"
"No."
"I mean it literally."
"I'm going to take away your life and your future."
"Another Cyrene will take everything that should have belonged to you."
"Partner, let me explain."
Mem flew out from Caelus.
"After all, this was my decision from the beginning."
Although Caelus had returned to the past, Mem was fundamentally one with him in every meaningful sense, so naturally she had returned as well.
Mem drew a portion of power from Caelus and maintained herself in the form of a young girl.
She now had the exact same appearance, build, and clothing as the Cyrene standing before her.
Cyrene's eyes widened in shock when another girl who looked exactly like her appeared.
Then she suddenly understood why Caelus had asked her that question earlier.
"Hello, I'm..."
"Hello!"
Cyrene's face immediately lit up with curiosity.
"So another me really does exist?!"
Elysia showed no fear at all despite what she had just heard.
"Why?"
Cyrene looked at the version of herself who rightfully belonged to this original timeline.
She bit her lip before speaking.
"I'm sorry."
"I'm the one who wants to take everything from you."
"Part of the reason is that if Partner's power is going to continue growing, then I, the one he placed on the manifested side of his existence, need to become complete."
"I need to become stronger."
"And the fastest way is for me, someone who originally did not exist in the future, to overwrite the version of myself who belonged to the original timeline."
"Put simply, I want to become stronger and more complete, so I need to take the destiny and future that originally belonged to you."
"And there's another reason."
"In your original future and timeline, you might develop a very deep relationship with the Partner from that world."
"You might even become lovers."
"But I can't accept another version of myself becoming someone else's wife or partner."
"Partner himself doesn't really think that way, but to me, it feels like a kind of betrayal."
"Like a betrayal of the fact that Partner should have all of me."
Perhaps it was an intense form of emotional possessiveness.
Not only toward one's partner, but also toward oneself.
Elysia looked at the other version of herself, whose face was filled with guilt.
Yet she showed no anger, resentment, fear, or disgust.
She simply kept smiling as she asked,
"If you can know both a destiny that never existed and the original destiny, then what kind of life was I supposed to have in the future?"
Cyrene fell silent for a moment.
Then she told her everything she had learned so far about the cycles.
"So, according to what you're saying, Amphoreus is essentially an experimental ground created by someone behind the scenes to achieve their own goal."
"And in the end, to prevent everyone in Amphoreus from being completely destroyed, Phainon and I repeatedly forced Amphoreus's Recreation to begin again."
"And by the time you arrived in this world, it had already happened more than twenty million times?"
Elysia lowered her gaze slightly.
"That doesn't sound like a very happy future."
"No."
"But after an even longer series of cycles, a hero would inevitably arrive."
"They would save your world and bring it happiness, love, and hope."
"You might even have a wonderful story with that hero."
"You could develop very deep feelings for each other."
"But if I take your place, then none of that will ever happen..."
"That's not right."
Elysia interrupted her.
"By your own explanation, we're the same person."
"So there is no possession."
"There is no taking."
"You're only taking responsibility for what you were always meant to do."
"...I'm only taking responsibility for what I was always meant to do?"
Cyrene stared at her in surprise.
She had never expected to hear such an answer.
She had been born from the desire to remain with her Partner forever.
She had chosen an eternally frozen future because she wanted to escape the responsibility she had originally carried to save the world.
And now, she was simply choosing not to run anymore.
She was choosing to save this world once again together with her Partner.
To do what she was supposed to do.
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)