“Merlin was your father?” Burn asked.

  Man nodded as they walked down the elf pace corridether. She answered, “He was my father for the loime.”

  Burn didn’t uand, but he didn’t take the initiative to ask. They walked in silence for quite some time, and slowly Burn decided to inquire about something else.

  “You told me there were three people you kneould be able to defeat me,” Burn said.

  Man chuckled. “But they won’t be able to scratch you now.”

  After Burn had been enlightened and transformed his body by abs the heat of a dying sun, they wouldn’t be able to match him.

  “Who were they?” Burn asked.

  “It’s Romeuf and Urien. The third one is Merlin,” Man answered. “Before you became stronger retly, Romeuf and Urien might have been able to defeat you without w together, but they’d still lose their lives, or they would o sacrifice themselves to defeat you.”

  Burn smiled. “What about now?”

  “Now, even if they worked together, they wouldn’t be able to scratch you. You’d easily make them seem like a joke.”

  Burn ughed, satisfied.

  “What about Merlin?” he asked then.

  Man shook her head. “I don’t know.”

  That was when Burn raised his eyebrows. “You don’t?”

  Silence again as they walked.

  “I’ve never seen Merlin fight seriously. Not even when we faced the Demon Lord,” Man answered slowly.

  Burn frowned. “So he could even afford not to fight seriously against the Demon Lord?”

  Man thought for a moment and then answered, “Now that I recall, Merlin might have hidden his real power.”

  The implication was too grave. It could be that Merlin refrained from helping the heroes save the world with everything he had, or worse, he was never on their side.

  Burn remembered the story of the inal Saint, but the mystery of how she transformed intan Le Fay remaihe inal Saint had been born 17 times in the Elysian Kingdom. But after that, where was she reborn?

  Was Merlin one of her st biological parents who gave birth to her?

  More than any type of betrayal in this world, beirayed by one’s own parents surely stood as one of the worst. Burn, with her hand csped in his, pulled her close and kissed the back of her hand.

  Man didn’t o read his mind to sense how deeply upset Burn was for her.

  “You were just awakened after all that and found out how you lost everything because of me,” Burn said.

  After the accumuted soul energy she had inteo use to purify the world was stolen by her own father, she awoke to find her disciple dead and the world in chaos. Yet, despite it all, she didn’t kill him.

  Burn smiled. “You resented me fairly, and you fought well.”

  Seven loops, with more to e. Burn held ne.

  But Man…

  “It feels like I’ve had horrible luck with people for my whole life,” Man chuckled. “Whether it was a horrible family, or horrible panions, or they’d be like you, who’s her bor white.”

  “If I could choose, I’d be pletely bck. But yed me over to the fence, and I’m sitting on it now,” Burn said.

  Man mocked, “You’re never pletely bck. Even when you killed Yvain, yretted it in your heart, although just a little bit, knowing that you’d kill more i people for the sake of the greater picture.”

  “When I took this path, I was ready to do so,” Burn replied. “But you are always pletely white.”

  Old Burn would’ve gone and demolished Inkia the moment he khey had something to do with his father’s illness. Yet, after everything they had been through together, though he still wao demolish Inkia, he felt less urgenow.

  He used to solve everything with brute force, g it was the easier path. While that was true, it often glossed over many hidden aspects.

  Iher loops, he didn’t know what became of the first elf princess, Shorof. Whether she died or suffered for more years, or if her illness was finally detected, he didn’t know. In any other loop, he also wouldn’t know the truth about his father.

  Of course, he didn’t know the whole picture now, but when a hint finally led to the truth, he would pursue it to the ends of the earth. Wasn’t it the perfect excuse not to resort to brute forymore?

  Did Man from seven loops ago know about this?

  Even if she didn’t know, she still did the right thing.

  “I’ve been meaning to ask,” Burn said.

  Man turo him and raised her eyebrows. “What?”

  “Whely did you fall for me?” he asked.

  Man’s eyebrows rexed, just like how he insisted they floated like clouds at dawn. Her soft smile looked as gentle as dew after a long night of storm.

  “Sihe beginning?” Man half-shrugged, half-sighed.

  “What?” Burn frowned.

  Man didn’t kly when, too, but he was never unpleasant to her.

  “Even though I killed Yvain?” Burn asked. “The resentful you from the past seven loops… they’re still you.”

  “Yes,” Man answered. “But you killing Yvain was also part misuanding. Did you not see that Yvain didn't resent you after we told him the truth?”

  Burn still wore a frown. “Because he thought I was the one who caused your disappearance?”

  Man nodded.

  “But I still killed him each time,” Burn said.

  “Wasn’t it necessary?” Man’s lips slightly curled. “You didn’t want to deal with Veryon, knowing that he was the real problem. The White Dwarf desded to this nd partly because of your dealings with him.”

  Burn didn’t wao absolve him of the bme for Yvain’s death. Yvain’s death was entirely his fault. He had no excuse.

  “You killed him only on the inal timeline. After that, you refused to deal with him directly again in the loop,” Man said.

  Burn killed him in the first timeline because Yvain refused to yield no matter what he did. In the imelines, he killed the boy through other people to avoid the White Dwarf desding too early. He didn’t want to create too much of a butterfly effect, making everything even more uable.

  But no matter the reasoill killed him.

  “Your sce is different from that of normal people,” Man said. “Not like normal good people who bme themselves and break down, forever in shame, you have the sce of a ruler.”

  Burn’s eyes faltered.

  “A ruler who isn’t afraid to dirty his hands for the sake of the rger picture,” Man said. “Because sometimes, being a generous, kind and wise ruler is not enough.”

  If she really fell in love with him from the beginning, was it when he kissed her to revive her from that coffin in the churd looked into his mind?

  But ihe first time Burn id eyes on her in that first timeline, he couldn’t help but see her as a dream.

  If she fell in love from that beginning, Burn might’ve fallen in love with her from an earlier beginning, three years iure.

  “I fell in love with you first,” Burn said, his face emotionless.

  Man burst out ughing. “What? Is this some kind of petition?”

  Even though his eyes looked cold and his face was expressionless, his hands weren’t ho. They began to roam her body with explicit iions.

  “Caliburn…” Man smiled helplessly. “Do you want to do it…?”

  Burn practiced self-restraint. “We o go to the moon first.”

  Man burst out ughing again, this time more urainedly than before. “Of course. Let’s find a sword for you.”