A gentle breeze blew through the entrance and caressed Valerin, playing with her hair. Though she attempted to conceal her flushed look, her shy expression seeped out for Primach to see.

He seized her hand, which moved to adjust her hair. Her coy eyes melted his gaze. He took a step forwards and stared at her dainty body, snowy skin and smooth curvature. Under her priestess cloak, her heart pulsated and shook her chest, tickling her sensitive skin.

"Primach, the others are around," she said, her voice trembling. The blood rushed beneath her face and filled her expression with pinkish embarrassment. She pulled her hand back and played with her silky hair, fiddling with it as she turned away from him.

"I—sorry. I'm just so happy that I lose my control. I'm pathetic, aren't I?"

"If you are, then what must I be? I've never dared to seek you. I even suspect that you must have forgotten about me. After all, our gazes only met once."

"You have your responsibility, Valerin. Whenever I feel down, I would gaze into the moon. There, I know, somewhere, you're watching it as well. Somehow, the thought calmed me. I'm convinced that Fate has endowed our destiny."

Valerin paused and raised her head to stare at Primach. Her expression faintly distorted as paleness replaced her bashfulness. Though she covered her panic in an instant, Primach, whose instinct and observation surpassed her, spotted it.

"Dear, what's wrong?" he said.

"Primach, please answer truthfully. Why do you think that Lady Fate is helping you?"

Primach pretended to contemplate about the question for a moment. Though he knew that her concern and sudden coldness stemmed from the involvement of Lady Fate, he didn't wish to deceive her. Upon such thought, the pain in his chest intensified.

He untied the bag on his back and opened it, revealing his accessories as well as a few sketchbooks and a small box. He took out the box and knelt in front of Valerin. His hands opened the lid, revealing a pair of fine rings which blended well with Valerin's crystal-like pupils.

"During my journey, I've encountered many deadly situations, but luck has always been by my side. I got a beautiful ore at the Rocky Mountain Range made into this pair of rings. There, I also found a magical spring, which saved my life," he said and placed the box on his beloved's hand. "My dear Valerin, will you accept my love? I'm prepared to be by your side."

Silence permeated the atmosphere as the chirping of the birds echoed throughout the garden. Valerin smiled. Profound emotions overflowed from her eyes. She shivered as the expectation of the future filled her rigid life with excitement, which she had only felt it once when she first laid her eyes on him.

"Oh my, Primach, do you know how joyful I feel?" she muttered to herself as she stooped down and placed her hand on the lid. Though her mind told her to reject the temptation of love, her soul yearned for the excitement, despite the grave consequence it would incur.

"Please give me the opportunity to help you." Primach gently held her palm and slid the ring into her long, delicate finger. His subtle gesture caressed her skin, turning it pinkish with passion.

She hurriedly drew her hand back and turned around, holding it near her chest and stroking it against her cheek. Her body shivered as an intense, intoxicating affection rushed through her bloodstream. Her pure maiden's heart couldn't process the wonderful feeling of love. She wished for the moment to last for eternities, yet the sensation died down as the looming implication set in.

She reached to her back and pulled the hood of her uniform up, hiding her face, where tears gushed out from her pupils, condensing into sorrowful lines of emotions. They tainted her pure white dress.

Painfully, like gouging out her heart, she slowly removed the ring Primach gave her. For one last time, she kissed it with her sweet, cherry-like lips and gripped it in her hand. The only thing she could hope was for him to understand her magically and stop pursuing her. Her heart cracked as the thought of his disappointed face drowned her.

"Primach, you're too late. I've devoted my body and soul to the Churches. There is no place for you in my heart. Please take the ring back and leave. We are not fated to be," she said with her voice cracked and gave back the ring.

Primach froze and let the ring slip through his hand. It fell on the ground and shattered into two. The glass-shattering noise stabbed Valerin in her heart, screaming at her to immediately stoop down and find the ring, to apologize to him and accept his love, to abandon her Cardinal rank and flee to the end of the world with him.

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Her body seared in pain as if she was sinking under a sea of flame. She stiffly turned away and started walking into the residence. As she approached the arch gate, which separated the outer world and the inner world, her steps became heavy.

Her body language didn't go unnoticed by Primach, but the pain in his chest remained unbearable. He slowly crouched and picked up the broken ring and put it inside the box. His tears fell on the ground and glittered under the sun.

"Valerin, I mean, Madam, could you please tell me the reason?" he said while his eyes stared at her, unblinking and pitiful.

Valerin stood in silence, suppressing herself from rushing back to his side and accepting his feeling. Her legs grew weak and weary, but she continued to endure the frustration. Her footstep sent the vibrations throughout her body and shocked her heart, cracking it little by little.

"I'm glad that you're doing this for me, but there exists no future where we can be together. I'm an Elf, and you're a human. Not just our lifespan, but also our ideology is different," she said before tossing a piece of handkerchief at Primach. "For your trouble, I'll gift you this handkerchief. You can use it to gain money, but please, forget about me."

A gust of wind blew across Valerin's face, pulling her hood down. Her silky hair flew despite her attempt at concealing them. She quickly glanced at Primach for one last time before rushing into the residence, afraid of her steaming passion going out of her control.

Primach caught the handkerchief and held it on his chest. The wind prompted him to raise his head and met Valerin's gaze. Her eyes glittered like the pale moon in the night sky, reflecting soft sunlight as her tears dispersed along with the wind. They highlighted her grief, revealing her crestfallen expression.

After Valerin disappeared into the residence, Primach remained alone, holding the tear-stained handkerchief in his hand. Though her dissipating scent was soothing, it instead filled him with grief. Lost for words, he gazed into the sky, but the moon wasn't there.

"The past should just remain as the past. How foolish of me."

That day, the night sky was dark, for it was the moonless sky.

...

The Countryside Man and the Elven Maiden ended abruptly, with no prospect or fulfilment for the protagonist and his beloved. It was a strange tale, which echoed the indifferent nature of the world. Even if one tried their hardest, they might fail, and everything they did might amount to nothing in the end.

"Be prepared to take the risk and fail, be prepared for the consequence of your action, and be prepared to gain nothing and lose everything, these are the cautionary omens which the tale tells," Medoria said as her body floated through the void along with Princess.

"I know all about the tale, its origin, and its legitimacy. What is it that you wish to show me?" Princess said. Her eyes slowly turned muddy. "My consciousness is slowly fading, so you might want to hurry up. After this, I'm afraid there won't be another chance."

"Mistress, please follow me. It is the last thing I could do for you."

"You intend to ignite yourself in hope to wake my sense of self? You know full well you would die, but you still did it nonetheless."

"Illogical and sentimental, isn't it? Mistress, that is what you used to do, and now, it's my time to help you. Such is what the unreasonable me learnt from the unreasonable you."

Medoria closed her eyes and condensed the Divinity at her core. Her body slowly expanded and scattered into the void, forming a river which flowed in the temporal axis. She gently guided Princess into it, standing up front to block the current for her Mistress.

As the current brushed past her body, it crumbled and turned to dust. Though the Divinity steadily forged more incorporeal vessel around Medoria, the flow of time was ceaseless and overwhelming.

"Your power has yet to reach its potential. The current you cannot go against the flow of time. Why must you risk your life in the fruitless endeavour?" Princess said. Despite her cold words, a hint of warmth and electrocuting pain flashed inside her consciousness.

"Mistress, this life is for you. You are my everything, and giving my life for you is more than I could imagine." Medoria held Princess's hand and stepped forwards.

"How could a foolish one like you become an Authority?" Princess said with her voice faintly trembling. Against her words, she reached out to Medoria and embraced her from behind, filling her fading core with a hint of the essence.

The pressure from the current of time ceased as a layer of Divinity enveloped Medoria. Princess contemplated her unknowable feeling and moved to stand in front of Medoria, leading her to where Medoria would lead her.

"Mistress, you've saved me again . . . . Thank you."

"You are special to me, Medoria. I wish to see this to the end." Princess touched her busts and felt her invisible heart throbbing. "This feeling, it's something new. It's fascinating . . . and painful. When I look at you, something inside me hurts."

Looking at Princess's confused expression, Medoria felt a swirl of emotions forming inside her. The joy of receiving her Mistress's affection intoxicated her, but the sorrow of losing her Mistress stabbed her with a thousand needles. The bittersweet taste of love filled her with both hope and despair. If only the river of time extended forever, she and her Mistress would walk together hand in hand, for all eternities.

Medoria gazed sideways into the void, where countless bubbles aimlessly drifted, filling the black emptiness with vivid light and sparks. Though they appeared small and blurry, their overwhelming presences reminded Medoria that all of them were just like the world she lived in, colourful and magnificent.

"Maybe, there exists a place where you and I live happily together," she said.

"Medoria, there exists no other version of you, even if they look and sound like you. Once they deviate from your path, they cease to be you whom you know."

"Does this mean it is our Fate to be apart forever?"

"You can try to go against Fate. You might not be the first, but I have a feeling that you might succeed."

"Is this your blessing, Mistress?"

Princess smiled and took another step forwards. She brought Medoria through time and space, descending into the bubble of reality at the beginning of her journey.

Floating without body, Medoria held Princess's hand while watching a little girl standing alone at the sidewalk. She stared at the bakery at the opposite end as she shook her head and went back into the orphanage, taking with her a couple of coins which she had saved up for a week.