Tower of Karma

William and the others returned to Arkas after a long journey. Unspeakable experience and loss, transform them into blood, flesh, 'light' illuminating new paths. But that never falls in the right direction.

Huge 'lights' produce equally intense 'darkness'. Conflicting things cannot coexist. Get something, lose something. To get something, throw something away. It's what I knew. Even though I knew it, the man kept turning away.

"… the first thing to do, or"

Things that cannot coexist need to be truncated more than we have decided to step out toward the gleaming 'light'. There is only one who walks in the lead, who leads a man, and every man must be pulled on his back without exception.

In other words, to say that loneliness and love cannot coexist.

○

A little back in time, after I left her grave...

"Do you like people in the country?

Sister, who collapsed wearing clothes that should not have collapsed the same phase, puffed the smoke and walked in front of William slightly with a large strand. Secondly, I threw up a strange question about what I thought, but my intentions were unclear. William also opens his mouth when there is no need to lie in the back streets where no one is.

"... I have a fiancée. I'm not as good as I can show you."

"Ho. Crazy?"

"You look better. If you don't open your mouth, you'll be beautiful."

"Where's my sweetheart?

"It's like surviving just that. That's the only way to handle it. I mean, stupid."

"... hmm. I see."

Sister laughs bitterly with her hands on her forehead just because this is happening.

"How about a fashion psychological test in Gallias? Don't be too busy."

"All of a sudden. Well, while you're out on the street."

"Think of the woman you prefer. In this case, personality."

"... Hmm"

William thinks fluffy. At first it was the remnants of an obscure sister, but gradually there was a woman who changed shape and sewed next to herself to read.

(Oh, it's certainly the best distance from her -)

Dawn, with his landscape blown away, Nico and his smiling phantom...

(... is that a nightmare?

Giggles, Nico, a tight face that grows slowly.

"Next time, then. Same question, now look. Well, what comes to mind?

William recapitulates and imagines. This question is easy. Sister, I just wanted to say, if you look at it just on the outside, the answer is one, and I think of the Princess of the Sun, and if you're the person to shoulder with her, my sister comes in as a candidate, but if you ask about William's personal preferences, it's still my sister's -

Dodon. A smiling flower that also begins to grow. Such a dumb surface that the noble lady wants to scream out, don't show her teeth and laugh. William is outraged that he should be educated.

"Were they both the same person?

"Huh!?

Bitter William. Bite the horrors of the Garias-style psychological test. I didn't know you could read what they were thinking just by asking questions - what a terrible technology.

"You know, you don't really say bad things about people, do you?

"... I have a lot to think about. It's just the difference between putting it in your mouth or not."

"Those two things make a lot bigger difference than you think. By the way, I can't believe the psychological tests are popular in Garias. It's demeaning. It was popular when I was a virgin... Ah? How many decades ago? I only remember drinking and pipe..."

"... after all, what are you trying to say?

"Me too. If both of them come up with the same person in that question, well, tell them they're pretty crazy. Take care of yourself, 'cause he's gonna be really important and special to you, not to be missing."

William stopped. I had a self who wanted to laugh her story off. I'm just impressed by the noise, and even though I open my mouth to make excuses for not really being, I can't pronounce it well in a cavity that was dry at some point.

"What a stop, weird, face--"

Sister Anne has dropped a puffy pipe. The look on the face of the man in front of you. Because that was so painful and awesome.

"Never mind. No problem."

The look on the face of the man who said it wasn't a problem was still the same.

"... any human being has the right to be happy. No slaves, no kings, no change. Don't get me wrong. How thorough you are, there will always be exceptions and compromises. That's human. Otherwise you're not human. Look, you've had enough..."

"Thank you, Sister. I'll be fine. I'll be happy."

Blocking her words, William said thank you. As if to cut him off, he is straining an iron smile. I can't get any words. I can't get any enthusiasm. Absolute zero degree mask that stops even the light from walking.

The eye speaks. Then let's stop being human.

Such a little, other lovingless memory. That one page.

○

Once William lets Julian keep the children, he turns to his home. My home I was away for nearly a month if I included the number of days traveled. He had taka that Bernbach's family must be vandalizing all they wanted anyway.

"We're home."

Strike the door knocker three times lightly. The second the third time it rang, it was the woman who blinked her eyes when the door opened and she could see out of that gap. William turned away immediately.

"Welcome back, William"

Hanging out will be fascinating to the eyes of 10,000 people.

Victoria von Bernbach showed up with her backhand. William briefly leaks the word "I'm home". Victoria can't even react cold. Look at William without shaking Nico and his smile.

"Victoria, we have handmade rice. You can do it."

Victoria said while removing the cape and the like handily. For some reason, Victoria's hands were wrapped with gloves, but William doesn't particularly care.

"... food can't be wasted."

Victoria reacted and took to eating it and hurried to the support. William only waits slowly in the living room. There's no way there's more rice to be made than if William hadn't been informed to come home. I mean, I guess I'll start making it fast now.

William decided to hang out with this farce because there's nothing in particular to rush. Well, Victoria wants to show off her cooking, and William wants to read a book in her spare time. Thoughts agree once and for all.

Besides, I need to talk to you a little bit. It will be a bit of a story. In some cases it will also be possible to be run away from home. If that's the case, I'd still appreciate it.

"Do you want to read a book for now? Garias didn't get much time to read either."

Let him carry a pile of books which he bought in Garias, and take them and bury them in the world of books.

It was a time of bliss.

○

It was not until about thirty minutes after the food had been brought. Victoria was sweating on her forehead, still behaving like she was catering for what she had made earlier. As for William, he's a child.

"... you don't even take it off when you eat, it"

William praises Victoria for the gloves she wears. Victoria was going to get through it with a stiff "because it's fashionable".

To be honest, William was solving the situation at the time he entered this room. Something that can't be in this room is falling everywhere. A bottle or two would have been about spilled out of clothes, but in this number it is a little painful to be coincidental. Above all, Victoria is not in the nature of being out of touch with her daily chores. He's unexpectedly serious.

(Yarn scraps left after cleaning. The cloth is pinching and popping out of the storage space of the coat that you don't need to open without me. I suppose that means I screwed up. and unnatural gloves)

Use your futile reasoning to see the situation. Above all, an unnatural grin quickly tells us. William can't hide his surprise at that. The minute I met him, I saw his face and I knew he had something to hide. That's...

"Victoria"

When William speaks, Victoria looks up as a scarecrow. I don't care if you think you're going to get poked around about gloves, or if it's usually a conditional reflex to it because a light hatred flies in. Usually a positive response from hatred from here, and Victoria's bitter smile. I understand. That's obvious.

"That's good, this"

Collapse. Victoria widened her eyes wide. William goes on eating faceless.

"Uh... well, is that right? Hey, I was just a little confident, eh?"

The grin about what was praised is really bright at the bottom and my eyes are burned by its brightness. My mind is eroded. To the light.

With Victoria on her ass, who is nicotine all the time during the meal, William finished the meal by flattening it all out firmly. William sees Victoria trying to clean up.

"We need to talk. It's important. Do you have time?

Victoria's smile froze on the words. What did the shady expression perceive? You can't read anything from your back.

"Eh heh, you know I'm free... okay, I've got plenty of time"

"Thank you, Victoria"

We never know each other's faces. Two across the street. Without turning around, Victoria went to clean up. William spreads the book. That face...

○

William and Victoria were across the street. I live together, but situations like this are rare. William closes the book. Victoria held her shoulder in fright. It's like being convicted of something.

"Don't feel that way. I just need to ask you something."

Victoria gazes at William. roughly.

"I believe that all of this world has a reason. If you solve it and follow the theory, you're bound to get to the answer, that's how I think, that's how I live."

William's stirring atmosphere was even more quiet than usual. Opposite the pole Victoria is frightening, completely different, and in a way equal.

"You're the one who suffers the most from understanding, Victoria."

To the words, Victoria turns to surprise. Shoulder stiffness disappears.

"Why me? Why are you doing this? I'm not giving you anything. Did you save your life in that venue? You know you don't mean that. You are not that stupid. Understandable if for Bernbach. If that's the case, I'm confident I can love you. Yes, what I want to hear is your reasoning. I can understand that."

William gets ahead of excuses. Quite a few months have passed since this cohabitation began. Even though we tended to be away, this is the first time that individuals have stepped in this relationship with each other. The Taylor family had a distinction. This woman doesn't have it. That's why William steps in, too.

"That's not love. I don't want that love."

I wanted it to be. Understanding breaks. William's inner heart is a breeze.

"Then tell me. Let's look in each other's bellies."

"Will William show you too?

Creepy sensation. Victoria's gaze stings. William snapped "I see" inside. Victoria was thirsty for William's contents again, just as William was thirsty for understandable contents. The thirst takes another step into William's chest.

"Oh, I'll show you. If only you'd shown me."

Victoria laughs bitterly.

"Come on. Always putting it out after. Fine, but I'll definitely show you."

William smiled bitterly again, too. I thought I was deluding them, but they weren't that stupid.

"The first time I met William was at a ball. It's true that I got help and thought there was a really cool human being out there. 'Cause if they show you that, everyone's gonna swing. Because it was about twice as cool as William imagined. After that, the girl who was at the ball turned bright red."

Too shallow an answer. Well, William is convinced that the entrance is something like that.

"But, you know, I was cool then, and at the same time, I had another deep impression."

William's eyebrows peel lightly.

"I don't know, it looked so rusty. I'm laughing, but I'm not laughing, I can't see the face under the mask. It's supposed to be a face, but it's like a mask. I felt something that nobody would give me."

William doesn't utter a word. Just listen carefully.

"A very long time ago, when your mother was gone, everyone in Bernbach lost it. Especially your father was terrible. There was a big cavity in my heart, and I was up to fill it. When I realized it was crazy, and I got my sisters... involved with all sorts of people..."

William was surprised. Tellegia, Wilhelmina and other older sisters didn't have to know and didn't think Victoria knew about it.

"You had that cavity, too. That caught my eye, a very, very big cavity, a lot bigger than your father or us. And you weren't crazy."

William was making fun of himself on the inside. Who the hell is crazy if I'm not crazy? Vlad and I are just too different in scale to compare. I have more pride in being crazy than anyone else. Otherwise you won't be rewarded. The businesses that built up at your feet.

"I wonder if that's what I felt sorry for, eh?"

"Poor thing, you say?

William finally opened his mouth when he came here. No way does this self have a hatred for the fact that the white knight William von Lewis felt sorry for and so on.

"Yeah, 'cause it's hard, isn't it? You can't run away. Crazy and crazy, I don't even know back and forth, and I think that would make it so much easier. Your father did. But you're not. I don't know what happened. But I'm facing the loss head-on, carrying all sorts of things, and still moving on without running away. So much for what it's all about. Somehow, though."

William's tower, a man at its top shook. The king sees at his feet. It's a bunch of unforgettable businesses, a collection of sins you've committed.

"I think you're a kind man. No matter how hard the tease is, you don't want an alternative. I'm sure you won't go crazy until the end. 'Cause I think it's really hard."

The path they point to is our King's Road. Is that a wish? What is my wish in the first place. I lost my sister. That's where I went crazy. desire everything, take everything away, and now there is. I also turned down the bookstore couple who treated me like my real parents, the boy who had dreams from Lucitania, and the girl who followed it to Arcadia.

Where is kindness in you? Can you say it's not crazy?

"You don't know anything about me. How many sins have I ever committed?"

"But you remember all that, don't you?

William mumbles. How could I forget? them at their own feet.

"You are gentle and weak. But I'm trying to be strong. I like it there. I met you, talked to you, lived with you, and liked you better. Your way of life is beautiful, I think so."

The impression I'm making on others should be the opposite. Be ruthless and cruel, thin and profitably sensitive to emotions. I have never shown kindness or affection.

"It's easier to forget, it's easier to drown, it's easier with me, Ernesta, Marianne, live at will, have kids, do whatever you want, and be filled with love... I can't forgive myself for that. If there is no such path, I think you will be cut off. But if you're a normal person, that's normal, right? We're all living in a fold, aren't we? I like you, clumsy and gentle, who can't do that. I want to be your only exception. I want to satisfy your cancer."

Something fills William's chest. An area that must not be invaded, I feel my thirst healing. William's heartbeat rings like an early bell. William will not allow you to enter here. As it is, I will collapse.

"I reject you. You make me weak."

"Yeah, I know. But I won't stop. Rejected, I step in."

"It's going to be irrevocable. Step away before then. A woman like you shouldn't have chosen me like this. How about that good Leodegar? He is a good young man. I'm sure it'll make you happy."

"Then you will be unhappy. Pushing down an unfortunate path."

"It's on my own. It's none of your business."

"I do. Because I like you. I don't want to make you unhappy."

"Why me?!? Come on, split up! I'll take you..."

"I don't care why. I don't remember what I liked most about my mother. Do you remember? The reason you would have lost, the reason you liked your loved ones. And pampering."

Victoria softens William's cheek. To the warmth of his fingertips, William saw his sister. It's a golden age of distant fantasies, out of reach, out of reach.

"I don't know. I can't remember. What made me like my sister?

Victoria gives herself away. William did not resist.

The two overlap. Just a moment of encounter, and goodbye.

"I'm sorry. I don't know that. I don't even know if there's a reason or not. But I like you. I like you so much that I can't help it anymore. I can't leave you, because if you do, I'm sure I'll be swallowed up. Because I am not your kindness, your weakness, your willingness to be strong."

William looked into Victoria's eyes. Know the weight of your determination to dwell in those eyes.

"When I fought before, I was just a little away... but that's all I was so bitter about, woohoo, I thought you couldn't do it anymore. I wonder if this is a reason."

Victoria haunts. The strongest spear in the name of the love that dwells there, the grin, completely pierced William. I'm sure, a long time ago, it was stabbed.

"No, fine. Oh, my God. I guess I shouldn't be convinced, but damn, am I too late? I get it, but it's a lot dumb, really."

William finally broke. The iron will to protect the cancer was crushed. Cancer to destroy. Of the breasts to be filled. "William" has never experienced a warmer feeling. The experience had to be traced back to the time when I was a slave before I got my name, before I lost my name. The beast without a name has finally admitted defeat.

"My loss, Victoria von Bernbach. I'm not going to beat you no matter what. No word will make me give you up. You win."

William lifts his hair. And what a complex expression, he looked directly at Victoria with an intertwined look that had no joy, no disgust, no sadness, no despair.

"I like you, apparently."

To William's words, Victoria spills a grin without being able to utter a word. More modest than usual, but that grin was more natural and extraordinarily beautiful than the usual grin of having to do so.

"You're not so stupid that I don't know what it means to love you, are you?

"Yeah, somehow, but I get it"

Now William's hand reaches out. Put your hands on those soft cheeks.

"You are a fool. There's nothing I can do."

Slowly overlap. The flow of slow, warm times.

"This is in my chest. I got you out, you stupid bitch."

Slowly breaking up.

"Glad. Wow, wow, happy"

William looks up to heaven. Now the race has been thrown. Fate has been decided.

"I'm not getting married. It's not time yet. Besides, I won't be able to afford to put it on you now either. We need to figure out how much I can get up in an accelerated world this past year."

Victoria snorts. She wouldn't want so much of a ritual thing called marriage in the first place. Victoria von Bernbach and I are very sensitive. Thus, he discerned the essence of the white beast without learning. And I came to love the beast, not the white knight. Is that happiness or unhappiness?

"I know. Good luck with your work."

"Oh, you suck too, good luck with the sewing."

Victoria covered her hands.

"Hey, how do you know that?

William laughs "come on" when he sees how it goes.

"There's nothing I don't understand. You look so brilliant."

Victoria mumbled, "Mmm-hmm." William laughs even deeper when he sees it. After a laugh, he coughed up and turned back to Victoria.

"We're gonna vacate the house for about a day or two. I need to show my face to the Chamber of Commerce and the Royal Palace. There will be a lot of problems on both sides. I'll take care of your absence until you're done with it."

"I'll take care of it. I'm really good at answering messages."

I don't think I'm good at leaving messages or bad at them, but I'm not going to go in there, William. When you look at the face you're about to crash into, you can also lose your temper to crash.

William working on getting ready to go out. Victoria supporting it. It's not strange to just look like a couple if it's just what you look like. Though the rest of you will never know the contents of it.

Nonetheless, the race was thrown. Fate has been decided. Women poured love, men accepted love. But there is only one person traveling to the hegemony, at the end of a lonely path, and it exists.

The tower rocks. At its peak, the White King was staring at the world with pity.