Don’t Concern Yourself With That Book - Side Story 5-3

Side Story 5-3

Translator: yun

“Will I get to see Rosé if we continue walking this way?”

Amor was in a bad mood.

“Answer me.”

And his mood was clearly evident in the way he frowned. His eyes, that were so deep green they were reminiscent of fresh shrubbery, shifted. The girl walking by his side raised her head.

“I am certain. How many times do you have to ask?”

The girl, with faded blonde hair the colour of wheat, purple eyes and looks that made her seem no more than 10 years old was the diary.

“I can teleport to Ashley right away if I wanted to. But should I tell you why I’m not doing that?”

“Is it because of me?”

“Yes. It is because you are here that I cannot. Because if I leave you, you will continue drifting through time.”

Amor smiled coldly under the diary’s intense gaze.

“That’s what’s so strange. I never thought you cared that much about me.”

The diary was only blindly subservient to Ashley. This was an ‘artefact’ to which Ashley always came first.

“Also, you said that I will drift through time but can’t I just return to our original time if you leave me?”

“Yes. If you leave this place, you shall return to our original time. Because you do not not belong in this time.”

“Of course I don’t.”

“But that doesn’t mean you can leave on your own. Ashley is going to do whatever it takes to find you here.”

Amor stopped. The diary quickly continued.

“Didn’t you expect it? I’m only accompanying you because I don’t want Ashley to be sad for even a moment.”

Amor had a strange expression plastered on his face as he stared at the girl but the diary had stopped talking.

“… I appreciate the sentiment but did you have to say it so coldly?”

“When have I ever spoken coldly to you? I would devour anyone I didn’t like the sight of. Since I take after the original soul’s personality more.”

“The original soul? Do you mean Rosé?”

“No.”

Then who could she be referring to? Amor raised his brow. But the diary did not reply. Neither of them were particularly outgoing. The diary was not even an actual person but she tended to be more stand-offish. That was how the two walked together for a little while longer before Amor sighed.

Turning back around, he lifted the diary who had been lagging behind.

“W-what do you think you are doing?”

“Your look of surprise looks exactly like Rosé’s.”

Not caring what Amor felt, the diary glared at him.

“Put me down!”

The diary did not like Amor. And it was because Ashley had cried for days on end after finding out that Amor had become trapped in that crystal.

On the other hand, Amor, too, did not like the diary as he had heard from Ashley that the diary was the cause of her misfortunes. To be more exact, he hated the diary’s main body. He could not have liked the cause of his partner’s suffering for most of her life.

“What else can I do when you’re walking so slowly? So could you just stay still? I’m not enjoying this either.”

However, carrying a small child like this, a strange feeling crept into Amor.

“This makes you look like my daughter.”

“Nonsense.”

In spite of the diary’s outlash, Amor remained calm.

“Also, it’s because you look like Rosé. I want to have a daughter who looks like her but hopefully she doesn’t have your personality.”

His cool gaze remained unwavering as the diary grimaced.

“What? You don’t even know why Ashley has no thoughts on having a child…”

“What?”

Amor paused which made diary realise her slip of tongue as she hurriedly turned her head away. Ignoring how he was staring at her, the girl pulled on Amor’s hair.

“At least I know where Ashley is. She’s over there.”

“Didn’t you just…”

“Hurry and go. Because you’re in a different time, you won’t be able to use your divinity here properly, you know?”

And she was right. Less than half of the usual number of plants he would receive information from were silent. But instead of responding to her, Amor kept quiet. He had something he was curious about but he knew that she would not answer him.

“Even if you’re feeling frustrated, endure it. Because you are not of this time. The only beings free from the constraints of time are the Templars of the Lord.”

“What about you?”

“Of course. I am Ashley’s artefact, aren’t I?”

Just as Amor was about to get another word in as she shrugged her shoulders.

“Who goes there?”

Cutting through the grass, a woman appeared. Though her back was lit by light, Amor could still see the surprised look on her face as though she did not expect to meet strangers.

Without realising it, Amor was staring at the diary. The diary had also stiffened as though she had not predicted this to happen.

“Not many people come by here… Who are you people?”

When the woman finally revealed herself, her hair that looked to be a mix of silver and purple appeared. Seeing who the woman was, Amor’s eyes widened slightly. To his surprise, it was Auresia.

“Au…”

“Au?”

Hurriedly covering his mouth, Amor shook his head.

“It is nothing.”

Auresia? How could someone who had died be here? The strangest thing was that she looked even younger than Amor had remembered her to be.

‘Have I really travelled back in time?’

It was the diary that told Amor that they might have been teleported into the past. And when he turned to face the diary, she nodded as though he was right.

“Perhaps, might you be an aristocrat?”

“Yes… let’s just say that I am.”

He was more a prince than an aristocrat but Amor still nodded. In any case, it seemed as though he needed to take it on. Fortunately, Amor had appeared before Auresia as an adult so she did not recognise him.

“I was planning on showing my daughter around the palace but we got lost after getting too excited while playing catch. We didn’t even hear the bell.”

“Ah.”

Perhaps he managed to convince her because Auresia’s hardened expression seemed to soften just a little.

“That child is…”

Her purple eyes turned to the girl in his arms.

“Is she your daughter?”

“Huh? Uhm.”

“Dad!”

Amor was rendered speechless. The girl smiling ear to ear hugged Amor’s neck. Amor slightly furrowed his brow upon feeling the inhumane strength behind her grip.

“Dad, you said that you were going to hug me. Hm?”

It was at this moment that Amor realised that this might have been her petty revenge for saying that he would never want a daughter like her moments earlier.

‘It’s in instances like these she resembles Rosé the most.’

Grimacing, Amor patted the diary’s head awkwardly.

“Yes. I did.”

“Dad, it hurts if you pat me that hard. Hm?”

“… My bad.”

Watching them, Auresia kindly offered to lead them to the courtyard. She must have let her guard down a little since they were father and daughter and not just two strangers.

It could have also been because her lover had been chattering nonstop about wanting to have a daughter.

‘Moreover, that child…’

Staring at the diary, Auresia tilted her head. Perhaps it was because her hair was covering her chubby cheeks but, strangely enough, the more she looked at her, the more she resembled someone she knew.

After awakening and maturing, Ashley began to look more like Auresia but back when she was a child, she resembled Acheron more. But when she was just an infant, she did not look that much like him so it was hard to know if they were related. And that was why Auresia had tilted her head.

“If you continue walking straight this way, you will reach the central hallway. I shall accompany till we arrive there.”

“Thank you. Au…”

“Why have you been saying ‘Au’ since a while ago?”

“…..”

Keeping quiet, Amor shook his head as though to say that it was merely a habit of his. It seemed like he should be acting more carefully as he had almost unconsciously addressed her by name. Auresia curled her eyes and spoke.

“Ah, we might meet a friend on the way there. Could she join us in the case we do?”

“Alright.”

Speaking of the devil, a woman appeared to his right. She was tall for a woman and had her red hair tied up in a ponytail as she wore loose-fitting clothes. It was the young Marissa.

“Ah, Sia!”

“I told you to stop calling me that.”

Auresia replied with a frown. The young Marissa shrugged her shoulders.

“Because your name is so needlessly long. Who are they anyway? Oh my god, is that a man? And he’s handsome? Are you cheating…”

“He has a daughter.”

“–Not. Hello?”

Marissa lowered her head and Amor followed suit. Once again, Amor had only met Marissa after he became an adult. Fortunately, she did not remember him.

“Ah, you got lost? For you to act as a good samaritan, what’s gotten into you?”

After learning about the situation from Auresia, Marissa accompanied them for her amusement.

“Oh my, little one, who do you resemble for you to be this lovely?”

“My mom!”

From some point, the diary who was now being carried by Marissa was smiling like an actual child. She looked no different from the young Ashley.

“My mom is the prettiest person in the world.”

“Really? I think that stiff friend of mine is the prettiest. But I can see that you will be a beauty when you grow older too. Oh lord, she is so pretty.”

“It’s because I look like my mom.”

“Is that so? You speak so well!”

Marissa found the diary so adorable that when the diary held her hands out, she grabbed them and shook them with a broad smile on her face.

‘Does she dislike me that much or is it because she likes Marissa?’

As he stared at Marissa and the diary, Amor shook his head.

‘I’m sure it’s both.’

The pair looked as though they had known each other for quite some time. But they did not seem to have a relationship so different from the time they were from.

“You’ve gotten hurt.”

Amor turned his head to find Auresia, who was staring at him, pointing at his arm.

“Ah. I see.”

When he raised his arm, he noticed a scar he had never seen before. Perhaps he had gotten hurt after falling into this time.

It seemed as though his recovery rate had slowed since he arrived here. Normally, there would not be a trace of the wound by now. Looking at his bloodstained sleeve, Amor shook his head as if to say that he was alright. But Auresia grabbed onto him.

“Pardon me for a moment.”

Before he could be startled, something familiar covered his arm. It was divinity. When Auresia lifted her hand, he noticed that the scar on his arm had disappeared.

“Templars of Death use their divinity to heal wounds by boosting the body’s recovery speed. You could say we can provide shortcuts in recovery. You seemed to be curious as to how you got better so quickly.”

“… You have my thanks.”

“You have no need to thank me. It’s not something too difficult for me to do. You’re a templar too, aren’t you?”

Amor nodded.

“Yes. I knew that was the case but did you know that Templars of Death can transfer their divinity into other templars as well?”

With special exceptions, It was almost impossible or extremely difficult for templars under different gods to exchange divinity as their divinities were different. The gods’ powers would end up in conflict. The transfer was also inefficient–even if you were to exert 100% of your powers, only 10% would be accepted by the other templar.

“Yes. And that is only possible for Templars of Death.”

Auresia gave a light nod before stepping back and saying.

“I’m not usually this nosy a person but it’s because of her. It seemed as though you had gotten hurt from chasing your daughter around.”

Upon her words, Amor looked over Auresia’s shoulders.

Staring at the girl smiling radiantly in Marissa’s arms, Amor found himself briefly overwhelmed by emotion.

‘If we had a daughter, would she look like her?’

If he and Ashley were to have children…

‘I really wish they would look like her.’

He was still not good at expressing love yet. If he were to have a child, he would rather the child resemble Ashley more than him. Only then would he feel as though he would be willing to give.

Flutter. Amor smiled gently as he stared at the flowers falling from the tree. Auresia was taken aback as she looked at the man smiling like a bird’s nest. He gave off a different feeling when he smiled.

Slowly, Amor turned his head to face Auresia. He spoke, softer than he did the first time.

“So, you were sweet.”

Auresia’s mouth was left slightly agape.

“You mean me? That’s the first time I have ever heard someone other than my lover tell me that.”

“Really?”’

She nodded her head.

“If I had been kind to you, it wasn’t because of you but your child.”

Though her eyes were of the same colour as Ashley’s, her colder eyes lowered momentarily.

“You probably are a sweet person. Call it a templar’s instinct.”

Knowing the life Auresia had led, Amor said that as consolation. Those were words he would not usually say. But she was Ashley’s family and this might even be the last words he would ever utter to her.