Chapter 0.67:Rina’s Choice
The words hung in the air like the last rays of the sun—
*"The choice is yours, Miss Rina."*
Silence.
Rina's breath trembled in her chest. Her golden eyes, still tinged with the red of tears, stared at the boy in front of her.
No—*not* a boy. A storm. A ghost wrapped in flesh. A fire that never learned how to stop burning.
She looked at him—truly looked at him.
His black hair, windswept and wild. His crimson eyes, glowing like distant dying stars.
This was not the same Jin she had imagined when she first heard the name *Rocchi*.
Not the monster from stories whispered in cold corridors.
Not the heir of Naoko—the woman who terrified even the saints.
This was someone else.
Someone wounded. Someone *real*.
And inside her, something cracked.
She could still hear **her mother's voice**, crisp and cold as ice:
*"Marriage is strategy, Rina. You don't have to love him. You only have to endure him."*
She had clenched her fists that day. She remembered the way her mother's golden eyes had narrowed—commanding, calculating, perfect.
And then there was **Naoko rochei**…
Beautiful. Frightening. Powerful.
Her words still echoed in Rina's skull:
*"Weak girls cry. Strong women adapt."*
The venom in her voice, the emptiness in her stare. That woman—who had destroyed gods, crushed kingdoms, and raised a boy in the dark of the moon.
That woman—who stood in judgment of the world itself.
Rina had been afraid.
Afraid of Naoko. Afraid of Jin. Afraid of being caged in a marriage that wasn't hers to choose.
But now…
Now she saw the boy Naoko had *not* broken.
Her hands gripped the edge of the stone bench. Her voice was soft, shaky.
"You think you're a monster, Jin…"
He didn't speak. He just looked at her—waiting, unblinking, unreadable.
She stood.
"But you *buried* your sister. You cried for her. You still do."
"You felt pain… *because you loved*."
She walked toward him, slowly, every step filled with quiet defiance—against her mother, against Naoko, against the fate chosen for her.
"You say you're not kind," she whispered. "But you didn't lie to me."
"You gave me the truth when no one else ever has."
She paused before him now, close enough to feel the faint warmth of his body in the cool dusk.
"And that matters."
Her voice cracked.
"Do you know what my mother would've done if she were in your place?"
"She would've buried her pain beneath a thousand smiles. She would've used it as a lesson—another weapon."
> "And Naoko? She would've erased it. Destroyed every memory that hurt."
She met his eyes—those burning, crimson eyes that still searched for permission to be something more than a weapon.
"But you… you let it shape you. Even if it broke you."
Her hand trembled as it rose—just slightly. She stopped herself before touching his face.
"I was terrified of marrying you, Jin. Because all I ever saw was the shadow Naoko created."
"But now…"
A tear traced silently down her cheek.
"Now I see the boy your sister died to protect."
She drew in a breath.
And spoke with all the courage her heart could gather.
"I don't know if I can love a villain, Jin Rocchi.
""But I *can* choose to stand beside a broken boy who never stopped mourning his sister."
The sky had turned to velvet now. The stars began to blink into existence above them.
And in that soft, eternal moment between dusk and night—
Rina stepped forward…
And whispered the words she never thought she would:
"So yes… if that's who you are—then I will marry you."
Her voice was quiet, but unwavering.
"Not because they told me to.
Not because I'm afraid of what will happen if I refuse.
> But because for the first time—I see *you*."
Jin didn't move. Not for several seconds.
Then—slowly—his eyes softened.
He looked down, almost as if embarrassed by her kindness.
And then, just barely—he smiled.
"You're braver than I thought, Miss Rina.