## Chapter 91 – Rowe. Secret # 7
“You wanted to be my family?”
Number 25’s fingertips trembled. His gaze, equally shaky, fixed on Rowe as he struggled to speak.
“You think I’ll believe you now that you’re saying that?”
He didn’t even think of moving away from Rowe as she rose from her seat and approached him.
“I’m not asking you to believe me. I just wanted to convey my sincerity, even belatedly. Accepting it is entirely up to you. Whatever choice you make, I’m ready to accept it.”
Leaving the tower, he faced her eyes for the first time. The amethyst eyes, like jewels, held the life of someone who had walked steadfastly on the path of loneliness.
She had never lied, not even for a moment. He didn’t want to admit that fact, so he put up his own thorns and refused to even converse with her.
Rowe’s hand cautiously reached out to Number 25, and he accepted her touch without thinking of avoiding it as before.
Rowe, wearing a relieved expression, gently stroked Number 25’s hair and quietly opened her mouth.
“You’ve grown up wonderfully, Ryu. Yes, I always wanted to say that…”
‘You’ve grown up wonderfully’—why did that one phrase pierce his heart so painfully?
It felt as if he were facing his real parents.
With a pain different from the emotions that had been constantly stabbing at his heart, Number 25 had already let go of all the negative feelings that had been tormenting him.
Familiar touch, familiar voice, familiar warmth.
No, longed-for touch, longed-for voice, longed-for warmth.
What Number 25 had wanted his whole life was, sadly, right in front of him. It was the only truth he had subconsciously turned away from and ignored for two years.
He clenched his fist tightly, but it soon trembled and lost its strength.
Number 25, his body drained of strength, took a long breath.
Rowe, sensing the change in his heart, slightly opened her arms and said in a cautious tone.
“Come here.”
A voice he couldn’t refuse.
Number 25 went into her arms as if possessed by something. The clothes that had been soaked in the warmth of the warm bonfire were all dry, and her skin was softer than usual.
Rowe embraced Number 25 as if she had been waiting for him to come, and she put strength into her arms.
Number 25 completely entrusted himself to her, to the strength that wrapped around his body just right, and quietly closed his eyes.
Occasionally stroking his back or caressing his head.
Perhaps because she was constantly making gestures that parents would make to their children, Number 25’s back, embraced in Rowe’s arms, began to tremble slightly, and soon tears streamed from his eyes and fell to the floor.
Rowe wiped away the tears from Number 25’s face, which was slightly away from her embrace, and hugged him tightly again.
As she hugged him even tighter than before, Number 25’s face was buried in her soft and affectionate chest.
“I’m sorry, I made you suffer because of my selfishness. I probably won’t be able to atone for it even if I do it for the rest of my life.”
Number 25 quietly wrapped his arms around her waist and pressed their bodies together.
His heart gradually became comfortable with the warmth of her body, which was pressed tightly against his.
The feelings of resentment he had for Rowe had long since flowed away, carried by the rain and tears.
Rowe finally brushed back his rain-soaked hair and asked.
“Still, can you forgive someone like me…? It might really sound selfish, but can you forgive me, who has only told you lies until now?”
The trembling of Rowe’s hand, seeking forgiveness, was transmitted to Number 25’s back. For her, who had never properly apologized to anyone because of her unassailable power and high position that everyone had to look up to, it was probably her first atonement.
The one who could have everything in her hands bowed her head to the one who had nothing. The meaning was on a different level from the usual apologies, and Number 25 was vaguely aware of that meaning.
There was no reason to insist anymore. Number 25, still burying his face in Rowe’s chest, answered in a small, murmuring voice.
“…Let’s go back.”
Finally, a pure and bright smile, with no trace of worry, appeared on Rowe’s face.
She put strength into her arms, which were embracing Number 25, and repeated the words Number 25 had said.
“Yes, let’s go back.”
Before they knew it, the torrential rain that had covered the sky had hidden its traces, and a small but bright ray of sunlight was shyly revealing itself through the ink-colored clouds.
●
After a quick shower and changing into comfortable pajamas, Rowe plopped down on the bed and immediately started talking.
She had promised Number 25 to tell him all the truths she had hidden from him, even those she had not written in her diary.
“Your mother was my friend. A longtime friend and probably the first friend in my life.”
Number 25, who was next to her, immediately asked the next question.
“What was she like?”
Rowe looked up at the ceiling at Number 25’s question, as if recalling the memories of that time.
Her profile, still wet with moisture that had not yet dried, contained a melancholy that could not be expressed in words.
Eventually, Rowe’s lips slowly opened like flower petals.
“She, the last remaining dragon, was so beautiful that you couldn’t take your eyes off her, and sometimes so ferocious that she shook the heavens and the earth, but she was more noble than anyone else. She was such an attractive woman that anyone who saw her in person would be captivated.”
She took a breath and mentioned Number 25’s father as well.
“And I liked your father. Even though I knew he was my friend’s man.”
The fact that Rowe liked Number 25’s father was also mentioned in the diary.
That was not what Number 25 wanted to know.
Number 25 bit his lip in impatience when he didn’t get the answer he wanted, and Rowe smiled at Number 25.
She already knew what question Number 25 wanted to ask, and she answered his question.
“This time, you’re curious about your father, right?”
Thinking that his inner thoughts had been exposed, Number 25 quickly blushed and nodded his head twice.
“Let’s see… He was an ordinary person with no abilities, but he was a good person. He knew that your mother was a dragon, but he didn’t tell anyone around him, and he always treated her with the same attitude. It was a distinctly different attitude from other people who always looked up to dragons. He fought when there were minor problems, shared love when they shared love, and shared joy when they shared joy. He was properly facing her as a person, not as a race. Maybe that’s what she fell in love with?”
“How did you two meet?”
Rowe put her hand on her chin.
A sigh came from her lips.
As Number 25 held his breath and swallowed, Rowe started the next story as if she had been waiting for it.
“It started when she saved your father from a monster attack in the mountains, when he was in danger of dying. Treating an injured person is a simple task, so it wasn’t that difficult. Not long after he came to his senses, he wasn’t afraid of us, and after giving us a bright smile and thanking us, he quickly went down the mountain. At that time, I thought it was the end, and neither of us cared much. Saving injured people was a common occurrence.”
Rowe paused for a moment in the long story and picked up a teacup on the table next to the bed.
“But the next day, the man came back to us. He had all sorts of gifts in his hands that we didn’t really need, and he still had his signature smile on his face, and he kept thanking us for a long time. After he finished thanking us, he had a short conversation with your mother and went down the mountain again. This time it’s really over. There are humans who know how to properly express their gratitude, humans who are properly conceptualized. I thought so at the moment when his back was disappearing.”
For a very brief moment, a delusion of sadness lingered in Rowe’s eyes as she tilted the teacup.
“But the man came to see us, or rather, my friend, more and more often. Sometimes he would bring flowers, sometimes human food, sometimes human clothes, and he would talk for a long time before disappearing before sunset.”
Number 25 listened to her words. The truth he had wanted to hear so much, he couldn’t miss a single word.
Rowe responded to Number 25’s gaze, which was staring at her, with a faint smile and continued the next words.
“With the continued meetings, we both became fond of him. But his gaze wasn’t directed at me. It’s not that he didn’t like me… Just a close friend. Yes, that’s how it felt. But I was satisfied with that. Her happiness was my happiness, and it was good just to see him.”
Rowe sighed deeply.
“One day, she told me. She was pregnant… At first, I was shocked, but the birth of life should always be celebrated, so I sincerely congratulated her. And not long after, she gave birth to a small egg. They decided to name it ‘Ryu’ if it was a boy, and ‘Yeon’ if it was a girl.”
“Ryu…”
Number 25 repeated his name, which he had lost and lived without.
It wasn’t quite right in his mouth yet, but every time he whispered the name, one corner of his heart felt strangely ticklish.
“As the egg grew bigger, their love also matured. Forgetting that I was in front of them, they would whisper love sweetly, or secretly disappear into the forest and then appear with disheveled clothes and sweat. Every time, I would pretend to be nonchalant by throwing boring jokes, but even at that moment, my insides were burning every moment.”
Rowe was smiling with a bitter expression.
“I hated myself so much for wanting their blessings, but also feeling jealous, so I unilaterally cut off contact with them. I shouldn’t have done that…”
After finishing speaking, Rowe took a few deep breaths as if to calm the sadness of the past before she could continue the next words.
Unlike the beginning, the gradually blurring end of the words showed her feelings.
But the words she uttered next were different from the atmosphere until now. Rowe’s eyebrows were furrowed, and she even made a grim expression that she rarely made.
“Just before you hatched, the ‘Outer Spirit’ attack began.”
Number 25 asked back at the first word he heard.
“Outer Spirit?”
“I’ll tell you about them slowly later, so just listen for now.”
Number 25 quietly nodded at Rowe’s first coercive appearance.
“They tore through the barriers of Area 1, which were stacked with powerful magic, and in an instant, they plunged Area 1 into a crucible of chaos. As Area 1, the center of the Demon World, began to shake, no area could be safe from the seeds of war. Area 1 requested help from other areas, and your mother, who decided to go to the battlefield to protect the people who were dying in vain, and your father, who said he couldn’t send her alone. I should have stuck by their side and stopped them somehow…”
Rowe muttered as if blaming herself.
Number 25 tried to say that it wasn’t your fault, but he swallowed it back.
It was already done, and even if he said that to her now, it wouldn’t be comforting.
Rowe opened her mouth again in a slow tone.
“The war could have been won with your mother’s participation, but the price was not small. Your parents, my only friend, the person I loved for the first time, crossed a river from which they could never return.”
Rowe’s fingertips, telling the fact that his parents had died, were slightly trembling, and her voice was filled with sadness.
“I found out late that the two people who went to the battlefield had died, and I was living a life that was worse than death, trapped in regret. I had even forgotten about your existence. This is definitely my fault… In the meantime, I thought of you and belatedly went to the cave where we had lived together, but it seemed that other people had been there in the meantime, and I couldn’t find any trace of you. To them, it was just a dragon’s egg, and they took it without thinking because they thought it would make money.”
He could tell by instinct that there was no lie in her words.
Number 25 had been living under the hands of slave traders since he was able to think properly, so her words were even more credible.
“After that, it’s no different from what’s written in the diary. I accidentally found you in Area 6, and now I’ve found you again.”
Rowe, who had completely finished the long story, stared at Number 25’s eyes.
Before she knew it, her eyes were red, and tears as beautiful as jewels were shining below them.
“This is the truth I’ve been hiding from you… How is it, are you satisfied now?”
Number 25 nodded.
In the first place, they weren’t such great things to hide.
If she had told him earlier, this would not have happened.
It was true that he missed his family, but he had no intention of chasing after the shadows of those who had already left.
What their last moments were like, what kind of lives they lived, how they laughed, what they mainly said.
It was enough if he could know that fact.
“Even if I know the truth, I won’t run away. So please don’t hide anything from me in the future. And promise me. You… no, Rowe-nim won’t leave me without saying a word.”
Rowe kissed Number 25’s forehead, who was sitting next to her, and showed a small, beautiful smile where sadness and joy coexisted.
“Where can I go, leaving the person I love behind?”
The sound that signaled the end of this long conflict, Number 25 thought he was relieved, but it seemed that Rowe was not.
She stared at Number 25 and opened her mouth in a worried tone.
“But there’s still one thing I haven’t solved.”
“What is it?”
As soon as Number 25’s words were finished, Rowe’s naked body was revealed in the blink of an eye along with the sound of her clothes being taken off.
A sweet scent filled the room, but he didn’t have time to care about that now.
Isn’t this a time to share emotions with each other? After bravely telling all the truths of the past, she suddenly takes off her clothes?
He couldn’t understand what she was up to.
Before Number 25, who saw Rowe suddenly naked, could make a flustered sound, she opened her mouth first with a very serious expression.
“On the day I lost everything, what has been supporting me, who was practically dead, until now is the memories and memories of the past that they left behind. But I can’t live with the past in my hands forever, and now the time has come to let them go… So that I can be me, so that I can live even without their memories, even if I erase them from my mind for a while, so that I don’t feel guilty about them anymore… Give me an unforgettable memory.”
