The days before Marinette performed the memory magic,

Again, Marinette hasn’t yet done the knight ritual with Flynn yet. Time passed and it never bothered him anymore.

As always, the place under the cherry blossom tree, he was always curious as to why the woman in front of him always looked composed.

Morning to evening, she would only drink that bitter tea of her and read the magic spell book even though she already mastered her magic.

“You’re annoying.” Marinette muttered to Flynn while she flipped the page.

“I’m just breathing.” Flynn replied in disbelief looking at her cold eyes staring at him.

“Yeah, don’t breathe. It’s annoying.”

“Well too bad, I’m a human. I’ll die if I don’t breathe.”

“You’re a human???”

“Seriously??!!” it was always that usual conversation they had together sitting under the tree in front of the lake.

“Hey…Flynn, do you have someone you love?”

“It’s none of your business.”

“I know. I know.”

“You know what??” she giggled looking at the flustered man beside her.

“You must always train so you never experience such thing as love.”

He was mad at her again, he replied shakingly, “I have…someone.”

“Ah, really? That’s good then.” somehow when turning his head to look at her again, it was strange when seeing her being relieved over him having someone he loved even though he lied.

“How about you??” he decided to ask her back wanting to tease her.

“Who knows…I never experienced such thing as love in this life.” the wind blew her hair on Flynn’s face as she finished her words. Her hair was soft and had a nice fragrance, she grabbed back her hair to not hurt Flynn’s face.

What she didn’t expect was Flynn’s face was blushing red.

It was such a nostalgic sight for her from his red ears to his red cheeks, he was always blushing when he was shy.

“Take care of me from now on…Flynn.” she suddenly got up and pulled out a dagger then did the knight ritual put it on Flynn’s shoulder as he was sitting on the ground looking at her shocking.

“You…”

“You’re my knight now. Swear for me.”

He kneeled down on one knee for her as he swore the knight oath he recited since many days ago, “I, Flynn will protect the lady in front of me for the rest of my life–“

“Not that one.” he raised his head confused hearing her say that even though he said it right.

She leaned down her face toward him giving him a warm smile, “Swear that you will be with me for the rest of my life, none of us will die before each other.”

That was ridiculous. He was only a stranger to him, who gave her the idea to think like that? No matter when will he die, it never concerned her.

But nonetheless Flynn still…

“I swear I will be with you as your knight for the rest of your life.”

Who knows the next day when he rushed to their spot at the lake again…Marinette drowning in the lake was all he saw.

“My lady!!!” he jumped into the lake trying to save her, but there were many magic circles and the world seemed to turn into a void from his perspective when he was in the lake with her.

Under the lake, there was no sound. And out of a sudden, the sound of something strange he never heard before came to his ear.

Flynn who could control sound using his magic couldn’t stop that painful voice from reaching his ear, he endured listening to it all while he was trying his best to reach to his lady, to that arrogant woman, and to the woman he swear to be with her for the rest of her life…

<That novel of yours, I will burn it if you are lazy like this.>

<Just a little more time, I will earn enough money to escape from this cage.> he had no idea who said that under the lake but his heart was breaking bit by bit hearing those miserable voices in his mind.

<Sun-hee, will you go to my birthday tonight?>

Who was the woman, Sun-hee?? He wanted to know. Somehow she gave off the same vibe as his lady.

<The author didn’t give the villain and the villainess the proper ending. Tsk, even though I shipped them.>

<I like the villainess but not because of her character, it’s just I felt some connection between us.>

That girl, Sun-hee, her voice was so beautiful in his ear in the midst of all the annoying sound, just like Marinette who appeared in his darkness.

<…it was fun being with you. Goodbye, Ji-hoon.>

That hit him hard stabbing the dagger right in his chest when hearing the last voice, he also managed to catch Marinette’s hand at the same time and brought her back to land.

Flynn hadn’t yet realized all of those voices he heard were Sun-hee’s memories being transferred into Marinette’s mind. While he was swimming to the surface, the pieces of memories started turning into magic sucked into Marinette’s head.

Cough cough

“You!!! You said you want me to protect you for the rest of your life!!!! Why did you do that???!!! Why did you kill yourself??!!!” he was pissed at her, he didn’t understand himself anymore. If the woman died, his mission would already end if he let her die, and yet he…

“You have to live!!!” he put his lip on her lip performing CPR on Marinette whose body filled with water.  Her lip was warm despite being in that lake, the lip which never kissed anyone in the second life, Marinette’s first kiss was taken away by Flynn.

Cough cough

She finally coughed the water out making Flynn happy, but she soon fell asleep on the grass. Seeing her breathing and well already made Fylnn glad as he laid down to rest beside her.

“You stupid woman!!! I won’t let you die.” he still hadn’t realized he kissed a woman for the first time either. It was his first kiss.

Marinette was carried by Flynn back to the duchy and she didn’t wake up for three days, Flynn was anxious and could only stand in front of her door just like the first time he was sent to the duchy waiting for the woman to come out of that door.

He waited and waited until…

His eyes became teary when seeing that woman was finally sitting before him, their distance was so close, he wanted to run to her, to  hug her and scold her…but…

That day when Flynn stared at Marinette from afar from his standing at the part, looking at Marinette who was sitting on the table with food over it. Her eyes were filled with sadness.

That woman could also look like that, he glanced in the direction he was staring at. There was a family of three enjoying breakfast while she…was eating alone out there.

He finally knew why all the time, she never once had breakfast with her family and why she always ran to the backyard instead of staying inside the luxurious manor.

It was because she…

The prettiest smile hid the biggest pain…

“His royal highness request for your attendant, here’s the invitation.” he finally gathered all his courage to walk to her again first, to talk with her for the first time after lonely three days he spent by himself waiting for her.

Her cold eyes were still the same. Her polite smile when she accepted the letter was the same. And the lip…he…kissed…, he won’t let her know that he kissed her at that time, it was the secret he had to take with him to his grave.

He was embarrassed and walked away from her immediately.

+++

Back to the present,

In Asher’s duchy,

“What in the world…” Flynn was trembling inside the basement he stumbled upon seeing the portal in front of his eyes.

The basement was filled with objects he had never seen before in his life nor his world, under the order of Richard, the portal in front of him will give him information, he gulped and stepped inside the blue and green portal.

He closed his eyes when he stepped in, and when he opened his eyes again, it felt like he was in a whole different world.

He gasped in disbelief seeing many tall buildings and the way people dressed there.

The sound was so annoying and loud from the sound of the car honking and the baby crying at the bus stop.

He had no idea…where he was and there was a mark on his hands saying Anastasia. He stared at the mark and then turned back to the portal, it disappeared.

He had never felt nervous like that, it was even scarier than fighting against all the monsters when people holding their phones taking pictures of him.

“Mama, it’s a knight!!”

“Man!! Good cosplay!!!” they all cheered for him when he tried to cover his eyes from all the flashy light coming from their phone.

He ran and ran from all of those people, had no idea what happened, if that was the reality or the dream. What scared him the most was the fact he might never see Marinette again.

Honk honk

“Get out of the way, man!!!” the car driving on the road was in chaos, he was the reason for creating the traffic jam standing in the middle of the roads.

They yelled at him, it was irritating, he hated it, he wanted to go back to his lady’s side which everything was calm.

He snapped!!

Lost Magic: Kill–

Suddenly, he wasn’t even able to use his magic. He turned around to the world in front of him, there wasn’t a single drop of magic energy floating in the air.

And to his surprise, the demon seed inside of him also vanished. His terrible pain was also gone, he was relieved when he finally got to live without risking his life.

But…that wasn’t what he wanted. He wanted to take revenge.

He was stuck between two choices, one of them was unclear, the revenge path was unclear, he could lose his life going against the man he hated the most, and the other one was to live happily staying with Marinette. He finally found the solution, if he stayed in the strange world, he won’t have to die…

He had no idea anymore…he wanted to live…with her…hearing her voice but at the same time, he couldn’t carry the guilt and burden on his shoulder any longer, he wanted to take revenge.

‘Flynn…live…don’t die.’ suddenly the voice which rang in his mind woke him up from that terrible state, he ran and ran anxiously not knowing any direction toward the voice.

It was Marinette’s voice, the voice which was calming to him.

“Where are you, my lady??!!!”

‘Flynn…don’t die…the knight oath, you have to keep it…’

“Show yourself, don’t hide!!! I miss you!!!” he ran and ran on the street shouting for her, he wanted to meet her.

And finally, he arrived at the hospital which the sign on it was written, <Seoul hospital 199X.>

“Are you in that place…?” Flynn muttered to himself and walked inside the hospital.

+++

Seoul hospital,

“Sun-hee…please…wake up…don’t leave me alone…I…love you.” a black-haired man held Sun-hee’s hands sobbing in the small dark room with the curtain closed.

She was skinny, he couldn’t do anything to make her wake up. He loved her so much and yet when he was able to meet her again, she left him again.

“Sun-hee…” that man Ji-hoon begged her desperately calling her name but her soul was already locked up anywhere outside her body, no matter how much he tried to call for her, she won’t wake up.

A man stood crossing his arm outside the room couldn’t step in even though he brought the new fresh flower with him.

He heard all of Ji-hoon’s voices and decided to leave instead.

Ring ring

“Ye-Joon, when are you going to write the third volume??? Everyone is dying with the cliffhanger of yours.”

He giggled while walking outside the hospital, “I’m getting writer block at the moment, so…” he was nervous.

“So will Marinette survive??? Can you please tell me your editor?? I want to know if Marinette survives falling off the cliff??”

“Ah…I’m not sure yet but…” he stopped in the middle of the sentence when seeing the man with strange color hair walking inside the hospital.

“But what??”

“Ah, sorry. I just saw a man dying his hair red.”

“You’re distracted as always, Ye-Joon. The readers really loved Marinette, I hope you give her the happy ending this time.”

“…yeah…”

“By the way, who is the male lead??!! Will it be that red-haired guy Flynn??? Their interaction was so cute.”

“I won’t give you a spoiler. I’m gonna hang up now.” he hung up and walked outside riding his car back to his apartment.

‘Flynn, a male lead, huh???’

To be continued….!