The trial was over. Lu Mo was found innocent. As for Gellenson, who initiated the trial, he was almost completely discredited.
He scrambled out of the courtroom. After that, he disappeared from everyone’s sight.
For a long time afterward, the Liat Family and the Priscian Family made no further moves. It seemed they no longer dared to target Lu Mo and Cecilia.
The two gradually returned to a peaceful life. And just as Cecilia had said, they had too many things left unfinished.
Unfinished stories, unperformed scripts, distant places never visited, unfulfilled promises.
Lu Mo promised Cecilia that she would do them one by one.
Therefore, she continued telling the story of Otto and Kallen. She told of how that weak boy grew up little by little, constantly moving forward to become the “great inventor” the girl had spoken of, no matter what price he would ultimately pay. She told of how that brave girl fought for the beauty of the world, like the sun, radiating light and heat in that collapsed world, even when standing against Schicksal.
Cecilia listened intently. When it came to the part where Kallen resisted Schicksal for her beliefs and was sentenced to death by Schicksal, Cecilia’s heart was in her throat.
“What happened next? What happened next?”
She looked at Lu Mo eagerly, urging her to continue, not wanting the story to end there.
“Miss Kallen will survive, right?”
“Miss Lu Mo, please continue!”
“Mr. Otto will rescue her, and the two of them will escape Schicksal’s pursuit and finally live happily ever after…”
Cecilia guessed the subsequent plot, looking serious and full of expectation.
And seeing Cecilia so serious, Lu Mo gave a troubled smile.
‘What should I do? Should I tell Cecilia the ending of this chapter? Then continue telling that long story? Or just follow Cecilia’s idea and finish it quickly? Even though the story would become ordinary, at least at that moment, those two were happy.’
“We still have a lot to do. I’ll continue this story another time.” Lu Mo planned to pause the story here.
“No, I want to hear it now!”
But Cecilia clearly disagreed. She pouted and stared at Lu Mo, as if she wouldn’t let her go until she finished.
“Look, a sacred dragon flew by!”
“Where? … Ugh, Miss Lu Mo tricked me again!”
“Don’t run away! I want to hear the ending of this story now!”
They continued acting out the unfinished scripts.
The two treated the air in front of them as a vicious Demon King. Cecilia pretended to be captured by the Demon King, showing a pained expression and shouting, “Miss Lu Mo, save me!”
“I’m just a passing Kamen Rider. Remember that.” At that moment, Lu Mo slowly walked over, speaking coldly to the air. Then she transformed and swung her sword at the nonexistent Demon King. Then they looked at each other and smiled.
When they got tired, they hid under the shade of a tree and watched the green leaves and blue sky. The script was fake; the Demon King was really dead, killed by the knight.
They often left on a whim and visited many places: the bustling royal capital, the magical forest, the high mountains near the sky. The farthest place they had been was a seaside.
The summer was hot. A sea breeze blew from the distant other side, salty yet bringing a comfortable coolness. It was Cecilia’s first time at the seaside, and also her first time seeing the sea.
The two picked up seashells on the beach and built sandcastles. Sometimes they ran into the sea and had a water fight. They hadn’t prepared swimsuits, so their summer clothes got wet and clung to their bodies, outlining their beautiful figures. In the middle of it, Cecilia secretly tasted the seawater, then quickly crouched down with a pained expression, making spitting sounds.
‘As expected of the idiot Cecilia… only you could do that…’ Lu Mo watched from the side and could only shake her head in exasperation.
The sky gradually darkened, and soon it was dusk. The sun grew larger and sank little by little. The two walked along the shallow shore.
The clouds in the sky seemed to catch fire at that moment. Half the sky, dyed by the clouds, turned a soft, dreamy pink.
The sand left behind their footprints, some deep, some shallow. The waves crashed in, ebbing and flowing, gradually erasing their tracks.
They sat by the sea with wet hair, letting the waves wash over their ankles. They gazed at the sky and the sea without speaking, but they smiled. There was only the two of them at the beach, and at that moment, they were both watching the same sky and the same sea—the slowly setting sun, the pale pink sky, the endless sea… Just like that, watching the world that belonged to each other.
Scenes like this always stirred up endless thoughts. At this moment, Cecilia couldn’t help but speak softly.
“Miss Lu Mo.”
“Hmm.”
“What do you think is on the other side of the sea?” Cecilia asked.
“Enemies.” Lu Mo answered without thinking.
“Eh?”
“Ahem… I misspoke. What I meant is, on the other side of the sea, there is freedom.”
‘I should have known better than to randomly engrave things into my DNA.’ Lu Mo complained inwardly, but was also thinking how to cover it up.
“Well, there are many things on the other side of the sea. There are lands we’ve never visited, countries we’ve never entered, people we’ve never met.” Looking at the sky and sea before her, Lu Mo suddenly thought of a poem. “There is freedom, there is the future, there is poetry and distance… Facing the sea, spring blossoms.”
So Cecilia was taken aback.
“Facing the sea, spring blossoms?” She repeated Lu Mo’s words, imagining the sea in front of her blooming with flowers when spring came, suddenly feeling that this scene was incredibly beautiful. If she could look at this beautiful scene with Miss Lu Mo, it would definitely be a very happy thing, she thought.
But she also knew that this scene might only exist in dreams. Could such a beautiful sea of flowers really bloom by the sea? At that moment, she felt that the poem seemed to imply something else. But at that time, she didn’t quite understand.
She just thought the poem was beautiful. And whether the seaside bloomed with flowers or not wasn’t that important to her. As long as Miss Lu Mo was by her side, that was enough.
Thinking this, she laughed, leaned closer to Lu Mo, and lay down in her arms.
“Facing the sea, spring blossoms… so beautiful…” she said softly.
“Did you think of that yourself, Miss Lu Mo?”
“No.” Lu Mo shook her head. “It’s also a distant poem, just like that ‘Scarborough Fair.'” ‘But I need to remember the whole poem first,’ she thought. ‘I’ve forgotten most of the things I memorized in school.’
“Great. Can you teach me this poem too?”
“Sure.”
After that, the two didn’t speak. Cecilia lay in Lu Mo’s arms, and they watched the sun finally disappear beyond the sea. It was getting late, and they should leave.
“Next spring, shall we come to the seaside again?” Cecilia said to Lu Mo before leaving. No need for spring blossoms. As long as Miss Lu Mo was there, it was enough.
“Sure.” Lu Mo nodded.
So the two stood up from the seaside and left hand in hand. Their figures gradually faded away. But the sea still ebbed and flowed, gradually washing away all traces of where they had sat together.
That midsummer seemed as if it would never end. They really did many things, making up for many regrets from their youth. But unlike before, Cecilia was now much bolder. In the past, Cecilia always timidly followed behind Lu Mo. But from some point on, the girl became more and more proactive, growing closer and closer to Lu Mo.
“Don’t move, let me measure your waist~”
“Miss Lu Mo, let me hug you.”
She would hug Lu Mo from behind, pressing tightly against her.
“It’s so late, let me sleep in your room?” When it got very late, Cecilia yawned. In the end, the two slept in the same bed.
In the middle of the night, Lu Mo woke from a restless dream and found that she had somehow been turned into a body pillow by the sleeping Cecilia. And Cecilia seemed to want to press her down. Although after pushing Cecilia awake, Cecilia blushed and kept apologizing to her, Lu Mo felt that Cecilia seemed a little happy about it.
Unlike Elia’s cautious affection and the “I love you” that never had time to be spoken, Cecilia always liked to enter Lu Mo’s daily life little by little, expressing her affection in her own way. She had kissed Lu Mo on the Demon King’s throne. But after that, she said nothing. Yet now, she was gradually and increasingly entering Lu Mo’s daily life, showing more and more of the overflowing affection in her heart.
Perhaps this affection was too quiet. Perhaps during this time, Lu Mo’s mind was more focused on Fusion Sublimation Power. She didn’t notice the change in feelings between them. Even if she did notice, she would soon get used to it and ignore it. She would call Cecilia an “idiot” for her intimate but childish actions. But Cecilia liked being called an idiot by Lu Mo. And so the gap between them grew smaller and smaller. The two hearts drew closer and closer.
The two hearts drew closer and closer.
The days passed one after another. And so that long summer, amidst these joyful days, gradually came to an end.