Margarita Laux-Antille.

—

Rubbing her temple after dealing with Tissaia de Vries, who had logically argued with her about relinquishing the position of rectoress of Aretuza due to her personal connection to Yoriichi's controversial methods of judgment, Margarita closed the door and slumped to the floor. Tears flowed down her face, dampening her solitude as she was left alone with no one else around.

After a few minutes of crying in silence, she shook her head to clear the distracting thoughts—thoughts that tempted her to sever all ties with Yoriichi because she is now the de facto leader of the Herald in the Physical Realm, with heavy responsibilities. Especially troubling were Tissaia's words echoing in her mind, suggesting that sooner or later, Yoriichi would leave her once he had used her to build his organization.

Tissaia's voice implied that unemotional, cold, and calculating people like Yoriichi would value benefits above all else. Once he had received the benefit he sought, he would find someone else more useful who was at his level. Like used tissue paper, she too would become disposable. With her mind filled with sorrow as she considered the possibilities, she then heard her daughter's voice from across the door.

"Lady Rita? Are you crying again in there?"

Instantly clearing the mess with a wave of her spell, Margarita stood up, wearing a perfectly symmetric smile, and opened the door. Looking at Ember, who was holding holographic papers on her chest with her missing hands, Rita, instead of replying, asked while raising her eyebrows, "Why do you always think that, my love? I'm sure there's no noise coming from this room."

"It's because Soot told me."

Hearing the name Ember came up with for the two Huginn and Muninn, Rita shook her head and sighed, "I don't have any privacy in front of you at all, do I?"

Giggling, Ember replied, "Why does Lady Rita need privacy from me when we basically live together?"

"Alright, alright, child. Whatever you want."

"It's okay, Mom. I'm sure Dad will not abandon us. Soot, Desna, and Gozreh maybe, but Dad would never abandon me and Mom."

"W-what did you say?"

"So, it's okay, Lady Rita. You don't need to worry. Being thrown into this world without consent can make anyone lose their sense of purpose. I'm sure Sir Yoriichi is just confused."

Wanting to steer the conversation back to the earlier topic, she suddenly stopped when she saw the person in question walking closer from the other side of the auditorium. Noting that he was not accompanied by Ciri and Moiraine, Margarita's heart began to beat loudly for no apparent reason. Confused, she then asked, "Why did you come back early? Is there someone like Ember in Toussaint who needs attention? I thought everything was cleared up about nine hours ago according to the news from the Chapter?"

Walking closer to caress her smooth, flushed skin, Yoriichi's eyes were drawn to her pink fuchsia lips. After kissing them for five minutes, leaving both of them out of breath, he inhaled her intoxicating scent deeply into his lungs. Opening his eyes to see Rita's tears overflowing down to her chin, he then asked, "Rita, my melody." 

"Y-yes?"

"Do you want to become my companion on this journey from now until boundless infinity?"

Taking her weak, slumped-down hands and clumsily placing them on his cheek, Rita kissed him back with much vigor this time. After another five minutes of being out of breath from the intoxicating warmth, Rita, with tears overflowing nonstop, answered, "I-I do, my symphony."

Nodding his head, Yoriichi then picked her up in a princess carry, which made her yelp with giddiness. Closing the door with his foot, he carried her into the bedroom office. Gently placing her on the royal bed, he kissed his symphony from top to bottom.

By the time he realized it, he was already connected to her with the slow rhythm of love. Every wave of harmonics and every frequency of euphony, he joined together with her night after night. Weeks went by with the final notes of the philharmonic orchestra, and his mind finally returned to the reality of the physical world.

"I think we might have overdone it."

Giggling like a teenage girl, she drew closer to his chest, "It's okay. I like it."

"Hmm… Me too."

After a minute of silent cacophony, feeling their hearts pulsing in the same rhythm, she then asked in concern, remembering that every time she climaxed, she always cried in agony and anguish afterward, as if glimpsing different periods of time where only Yoriichi was moving. 

"My symphony, did something happen? Why do I always cry when we finish the notes? It's like we were once separated by a very big chasm. And on the edge of that chasm, I-I can only s-shout but never reach you."

"I messed up. Remember when you became a Mythic Path holder?"

"Yes. It's a surreal feeling."

"I did that over and over for about 50,000 times. Because of that, I'm trapped in a different timescale."

"W-wait. W-what d-do y-you m-mean?"

Sighing, he began to explain what had happened to him, having spent 7,642 eons in agonizing silence. Rita cried over and over again, but this time it was only sadness, not pleasure. After about two hours, he finally heard her incoherent voice.

"W-what d-did y-you d-do t-to s-spend t-the l-loneliness?"

Sighing again, he explained that he had only slumped down to the ground, overwhelmed by despair and anguish as he tried to find a solution. The answers he came up with were bleak, with no hope of returning, as he had nothing else he could do and still wanted to live in the same timescale as his melody. After another two hours, plus an extra thirty minutes to help Rita calm down and speak coherently, he finally heard her next question.

"T-then why don't you bring me with you? W-we could live together. I-if there's no one else beside us, we could just repopulate that new world. S-since I have already achieved level 2 or become a Mythic Path holder, my ovary system has already regenerated."

"Then I'd just be like a demon or devil, Rita. I don't want to drag you into a lonely place, like Adam and Eve brought to a different planet. Living alone with just the two of us would be very depressing. And trust me, when you see our kids later start to kill each other, it will only drag our psyche further down into hell."

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