TBR CH79.2

“I was almost scared by you several times—” Tar said in a small voice, still secretly raising his eyes to observe Edwin from time to time, with a hint of whining. The demon at this time was indeed very young. He had not yet experienced what happened later. When he let down his guard, Edwin could see all the emotions in his eyes very clearly.

He was different from the future god. He was wary of everything around him, wandering among mountains, rivers, and lakes, more like an uncatchable wind than ever before, with the faint sweetness of honey mead. He had many scars on his body from being attacked. His fingers were long and beautiful, with thick calluses on them, a proud proof of a wanderer.

“Sorry,” Edwin apologized again without hesitation, following his words. “But, actually I’m a little confused. What suddenly made you want to run away?”

“At first it was because you were a stranger who looked very unapproachable. It’s not that I don’t like your type, it’s just…” Tar blinked, a little embarrassed. “Do you know how out of place you were with the atmosphere of the tavern? I felt like you walked in to kill someone. The scary thing is you found me in the crowd at a glance.”

Edwin paused, a hint of a smile spreading in his light gray eyes. “That’s because you haven’t seen me the first time I went into a tavern. It was with the future you. Before that, I had never been to that kind of place. At that time, I was really stiff, and didn’t even know where to walk. Fortunately, you looked like you had everything under control. You like honey mead, don’t you? That was my first time trying that kind of thing.”

“Wow,” the demon’s eyes shone brightly under the light. He looked at the hot tea in his hand with some regret. “I do like it very much, but I only drink when I’m sure I’m safe.”

“For example…” Edwin said, “now?”

It was almost like magic. A glass of yellowish liquid suddenly appeared in the Bishop’s hand, emitting the sweet fragrance of wild honey. The glass was cold, and water droplets hung on the glass, sparkling. Tar sat up straight, looking at Edwin’s hand in surprise. “Is this spatial magic?”

“Because you like it, I’ve always been prepared.” Edwin nodded and handed the glass to him. Tar didn’t rush to drink, but raised the glass to eye level and examined it carefully. Through the amber liquid, his pupils were like water-washed gems. After taking a careful sip, the demon, as an experienced scholar, published his research summary: “I like it,” he said. “It’s simply one of the best honey meads I’ve ever had. But I’ve never had this flavor. I wonder which tavern it’s from?”

“A tavern in the human capital. Its name is ‘The Azure Word’.”

“I haven’t been to the capital yet.” Tar lowered his eyes in understanding. “Although I think I will go there. Since you’re with me in the future, well, this is something that will definitely happen.”

The demon mentioned the capital frankly. At this time, the capital was the center of the Church of Light. The Saintess might have already thought of the most crucial trick to capture the demon. Feya’s bones were made into a bottle, waiting for the gears of fate to turn. As long as he stepped on that land, the worst thing would happen to him, a thousand years in the mortal world, countless time in the bottle.

The young demon was still unaware.

Edwin didn’t tell Tar everything, not because he was intentionally hiding it, but simply because after the demon had heard some of it, he had rested his chin on his hand and smiled at him, asking him like a scholar who had deduced the result of an equation: “I will forget everything, right? You also said, you were swept into a time-space rift to come here, and the future me clearly has no memory of these things. If I have to accept the future under these conditions, wouldn’t it be a bit too cruel for me?”

He dragged out his tone, saying it as if nonchalantly, but the demon was indeed very smart. When Edwin had first turned a corner on his way from work and had suddenly traveled to the world of a thousand years ago, Adelaide had already rushed to find him once. So he knew the current situation clearly. The black dragon would visit again before midnight. He had originally hesitated whether to let Tar know all this so early.

But that was not the reason.

At least not the most important reason.

“Yah,” Tar raised his eyes and looked at him with some surprise, then laughed like a child who had been guessed which hand the candy was in. “You guessed it. Actually, even if I could remember everything, I wouldn’t want to know the future so early. Doesn’t that sound like a predetermined fate that I can only follow? But I like this world very much, especially the unknown. If you want to tell me something, tell me something related to you, because the world has already sent you to me.”

They were clearly very positive and bright words, but Edwin was at a loss for words for a moment.

He couldn’t help but think, when Tar was locked in the bottle back then, did he still hold such a brilliant love for this world? The demon said he didn’t believe in fate, until time was imposed on him, forming scars, completely destroying all his hopes and visions. If only he could have found him earlier, broken the bottle earlier, met him earlier.

The god’s eyes had once held only desolation and indifference.

Tar waved his hand in front of him, looking at him with some worry. “Edwin, why do you look so… so sad? Is it because of the capital, or because of me?”

“Don’t go to the capital.” Edwin realized this sentence was purely out of impulse, but it was too late to swallow it back. He had to show a comforting smile and say to Tar in a barely normal tone, “No, it’s nothing. I was just thinking about some bad things.”

Since Tar didn’t want to be judged by the future so early, he should pretend that nothing bad had happened in the future. Since the past could absolutely not be changed, Edwin thought so, and his light gray eyes suddenly hardened. A warm touch spread on his cheeks. The little demon winked at him with practiced ease, his hand covering his face. “You smiled very unnaturally just now.”

Edwin thought he had long been used to putting on a smiling mask at all times. In his past life, he could hide his emotions well and not let anyone find out—except for Tar. This was not a unique ability of the god, because even when the young demon looked at him, the Bishop had such a clear feeling of being seen through.

Maintaining a frozen posture, Edwin cautiously reached out to touch Tar’s hand. The demon suddenly showed a cunning expression. His fingers gently lifted upwards. The Bishop felt the skin around the corners of his mouth being pulled by a mischievous technique. Tar made him show a smiling face.

“At least you should curl the corners of your mouth to here,” Tar tilted his head. “It’s still very awkward. But it looks much better than before.”

He let go of his hand. Edwin didn’t know whether to maintain this expression or not for a moment, and the demon, seeing his hesitant expression, couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s not what I mean, Edwin. I think you look much better when you genuinely smile at me than any of these expressions. Although I don’t know what you’re worried about, it’s probably my future. I—will undoubtedly go to the capital. Even if I know everything very thoroughly now, for you, everything is already in the past tense. It’s okay. I don’t think the future will be so bad.”

“…Why?”

It would always be like this. It was as if the atmosphere between the two had suddenly reversed. Edwin realized he was never strong enough in front of Tar. The demon’s influence on him was so great, and even if he desperately wanted to do something more for Tar, he couldn’t really rewrite the past and save him from that dark past.

“Because you are in my future.” Tar said this very matter-of-factly, then his voice softened, as if with a small hook that tickled one’s heart. “And you are so good to me.”

The warmth of the demon’s fingers still lingered on his face. Edwin looked at the Tar before him in a daze, knowing that even though he had returned to the past, he was still being comforted by the demon who had not yet become a god. He chuckled drily and shook his head. “I didn’t do enough. I met you too late—”

“Edwin,” Tar interrupted him, but suddenly asked a strange question. “Was it love at first sight for you?”

This question, appearing here at this time, seemed a bit abrupt, but the Bishop’s thoughts were really interrupted by this question. Edwin subconsciously shook his head, then suddenly felt he was ruining the atmosphere. His light gray eyes flowed with hesitation and undisguised love. Tar continued to ask him, “Then what about me? Was it love at first sight for me? I don’t know if the future me has told you, but you look like the type I would like, and your personality too.”

This, Edwin had never heard before.

“Really,” Tar raised his eyes. “But even so, when the current me met you, my first thought was just to run away. I don’t believe I would fall in love with anyone, just because I don’t have the courage to love yet. If you had met me earlier, something bad might have happened. You have to believe this: we met at just the right time.”

“This is an unplanned encounter,” the Bishop couldn’t help but say so.

“You like the future me—” Tar was always so sharp. He swirled the half-drunk honey mead in his hand and smiled at him. “Or rather, all of me, the person I will eventually become even after experiencing many bad things. But you’re also right. I quite like you now. Excluding this situation, time travel doesn’t happen every moment.”

He was comforted by the demon who knew nothing. Edwin lowered his eyes, feeling a complex emotion spread in his heart. There was some bitterness, but also a sweetness like honey mead.

“So I haven’t finished answering your question yet,” the demon with pomegranate-red eyes raised his head to look at the clock hanging on the wall, then slightly moved his eyes to look at all the furnishings around him. There was only one bed. He said to him with a hint of intimate condemnation, “Weren’t you asking me why I ran away? Edwin, don’t you think there’s something wrong with this room?”

Edwin was stunned for a moment, looked at Tar, and hesitated, not knowing how to open his mouth. When he had booked the room, he had known clearly that he couldn’t possibly spend the night here. It would be more accurate to say that as long as the time-space rift recovered, everything experienced here would become a dream that Tar was about to forget.

“I see.” Tar keenly noticed Edwin’s hesitation and quickly guessed the reason. He took another big sip of honey mead. There was not much liquor left in the glass. It produced countless fine bubbles as he swirled it. “It’s because you didn’t expect to spend the night here. I was even scared by this. Are you leaving now?”

This was just an answer to his question. Edwin’s voice didn’t have time to carry any emotion. “There’s about a quarter of an hour left.”

Adelaide would probably knock on the door soon. Had the black dragon already dealt with things on Tar’s side? He wondered how Tar and his past self were getting along. The time-space disorder only made one feel that everything was irreversibly heading towards the next node when it was about to end. The Bishop suddenly realized he had so many unwilling things he hadn’t finished.

If only I could have protected him on the day of the execution at the Holy See.

If only I could have shattered the Holy See’s silver bottle earlier.

However, the disorder of time and space could not be directed. The day he had arrived was also not special. Edwin had protected Tar from the siege of the Holy Knights and the Demon King’s subordinates, but when the timeline returned to stability, he would surely be able to handle the bad situation well on his own. In fact, if not for himself, Tar might have quietly slipped away from the tavern at the first sign of trouble.

“I thought it wouldn’t be so soon.” Tar lowered his eyes. A rare hint of loss appeared in the demon’s voice. It was something he had known from the beginning that time was limited. Now he was starting to regret having avoided Edwin when they had just met. The person with light gray eyes, the dangerous person, the person who had already left a unique impression and a unique status in his heart at this moment.

The person who had come here from the future to find him.

His existence was about to be erased from this wrong timeline, as naturally as a leaf falling from a tree into the mud.

If there were still fifteen minutes, what should be done?

Fifteen minutes was enough for the tavern owner to make a glass of honey mead from beginning to end, enough for Edwin to kill many, many enemies, enough for them to talk a lot more, about the future and love. Fifteen minutes of leisure was enough for Tar to quietly escape from a tricky enemy, enough for the demon to take a quick nap in an empty cave, to recover his strength for the next journey. Fifteen minutes was said to be the flowering period of a certain flower that only blooms once a year on a moonlit night.

Fifteen minutes was enough for a hug.

“Edwin,” the Bishop’s body had a near-cold smell, just like his person. Tar suddenly began to wonder what method the future him had used to make such a person show such a vulnerable side. Anyway, Edwin bent down and hugged him completely. The other’s breath was rapid but very light against his ear.

It was the first time Tar had been so close to a person, heart to heart, separated only by a thin layer of skin.

He felt his words were both scorching and light, rolling from between his lips and teeth. “Tell me something you definitely want me to remember. Please, tell me how I can know it’s you.”

If nothing will be left…

The bright red was reflected in the light gray eyes. Tar realized that unconsciously, light and bright tears had covered his eyes like a mist. He rested his head on Edwin’s shoulder, suppressing the trembling of his whole body. You’ve been so good until now. You even guided him. You told him not to worry, that the future is the best time to meet. Tar said so, but in his heart he thought over and over again, I wish I had met you now.

He was the best liar. Edwin couldn’t deceive him, but he could deceive the other.

Anyway, Edwin couldn’t see. Tar blinked. A tear slipped from his eyelid, then silently fell on the ground behind the Bishop’s feet. The demon’s raven-black hair spread out in thousands of strands, rubbing against Edwin’s chest and shoulders. The Bishop reached out to stroke his hair. He did not speak, but his action was like a gentle comfort.

The last fifteen minutes should have been melted in a hug that crossed time.

“Just believe in me a little more, Tar,” Edwin said with a sigh. “You don’t have to do anything. I will find you, absolutely.”

The knock on the door finally sounded. Everything around at this moment seemed to have slight cracks. Space and time were frozen. Sparkling silver fragments separated Edwin from everything else, including Tar. It was as if his eyes were also sparkling with silver fragments. It was not until he was forced to lose the person in his arms that the Bishop suddenly realized it was sparkling tears.

Tar was left alone in the past.

Edwin raised his hand to touch him again, but he had turned into a phantom in time and space, shattering and disappearing from his fingertips, as futile as trying to scoop up the moonlight in the water. He suddenly felt dazed, as if all this had purely happened as a dream, with nothing left, no trace preserved. But Tar was so good. He reached out again and again, until he was afraid that the last touch would shatter the remaining reflection.

The moonlight spread brightly on the ground. The snow on the ground shone with a shimmering white light.

Adelaide stood at the entrance of the alley and looked at him cautiously, obviously not daring to approach such an Edwin. The disorder of time and space was not something he could control. All he could participate in was ensuring the safety of the person who had fallen into the time-space rift when time returned to its place. Time, this elusive thing, was cruel and merciless, with no way to hold on—

Edwin was stunned.

He slowly lowered his head and opened his left hand. There, a small piece of cloth appeared wrinkled in his hand. He had grabbed Tar’s sleeve at that time, and Tar had cut it with a small knife in a hurry. He certainly knew that with the recovery of the time disorder, everything would be reset to a state of not having happened. But in the end, he still held a certain kind of luck, and took out a small piece of cloth from the spatial item, clenching it tightly in his palm.

It was now in the Bishop’s hand, with the sweetness of a glass of honey mead from more than a thousand years ago.

Edwin suddenly had an impulse. Right now, he was about to see Tar. He quickened his pace, stepping deep and shallow footprints in the snow. Adelaide, who had escaped a disaster, breathed a sigh of relief and slipped away with discretion—Edwin walked faster and faster. He was not an ordinary person to begin with. In just a blink of an eye, he was standing in front of the familiar wooden door.

He took a deep breath and knocked on the door, even though he could have opened the door himself.

But Tar heard the knock. The footsteps came from far to near, until they reached the other side of the door. In the next second, he released his hand that was pressing on the door. The wooden door was pulled open by the force from inside. His red-eyed lover stood in front of the door, looking up at him, as if he had just cried. Those eyes were as bright and clear as if they had been washed by water.

“You’ve been waiting long,” Edwin realized he couldn’t say anything else. “Tar.”

Almost in that instant, the other took the initiative to extend his arms and hug him. The warm breath melted the snowflakes on his clothes. He was so grateful, and couldn’t wait to press himself tightly against his lover. “We still have time.”

This is great, Edwin thought. We still have a lot of time. Even if we feel there are many missed opportunities, many unwillingnesses, what has happened cannot be redone—

But we met at the rightest time.

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