Litania went up to the 5th floor, guided by butler Simons. Where Orbis’s room was. In fact, it was her first time visiting.

When she was at the Dragon Castle, Orbis always came to find Litania.

As she climbed the stairs covered with a red carpet, a large door decorated with blue velvet appeared.

The double doors had no handles.

‘How do I open it?’

When Litania looked up at Simons, the butler took a step back and bowed politely to Litania.

“Please wait a moment.”

Simons then spoke towards the door.

“Master. Madam… Lady Litania has come to visit.”

The door opened silently, sliding open.

The huge door, big enough for an elephant to pass through, was only open enough for one person to enter.

Simons silently bowed his head to Litania. It meant for her to enter.

“Excuse me, Orbis.”

There was no answer, but opening the door must have meant permission. Litania stepped inside.

Thud.

The heavy door closed.

“……”

Her vision went dark for a moment, then dimly brightened.

Thinking that the visitor might have difficulty discerning objects in the darkness, glass beads came down from the ceiling with a rustling sound, emitting a blue light.

The transparent beads emitting a mysterious light were as beautiful as jewels, but there was no time to admire them.

“Orbis.”

Litania took a step forward, calling Orbis’s name, who would be somewhere in the room.

There was no answer.

“Orb……”

Litania was about to call his name again, but stopped as she felt something strange about her surroundings.

The walls were full of paintings.

Orbis’s room was a large room with a ceiling that seemed to be over five times her height.

The walls of that room were packed with numerous framed paintings from floor to ceiling.

There seemed to be well over a thousand pieces.

If she hadn’t seen the paintings, she would have thought it was just a room full of numerous art pieces.

However, the paintings on the wall.

‘…It’s me, isn’t it?’

They were all paintings depicting her.

‘This one too, and that one…’

Everywhere she looked, it was only her face. It felt like she had entered a room full of countless mirrors.

Litania smiling and looking back while holding flowers in the garden.

Litania lost in thought, holding a steaming cup of tea.

Litania with her eyes closed, gathering her hair blown by the wind.

It wasn’t difficult to figure out who had painted them.

She had already seen the same painting twice before.

‘All the moments Orbis remembers are contained here.’

As she moved past the paintings depicting the year at the Dragon Castle, this time she saw paintings of herself, not just herself.

Litania working as a princess wearing a crown.

Litania commanding knights while riding a horse.

Taking another step, a slightly unsightly sight followed.

Litania suffering from burns.

Litania in an awkward posture with her toes cut off from frostbite.

Litania holding things in her arms because she couldn’t grip them due to imperfect fingers burnt by fire…

Traces of failed pasts that Orbis had repeated countless times were branded like stigmas inside the flat paper.

Just looking at them seemed to revive the pain of the past, so Litania turned her eyes away from the paintings and walked forward.

The place where the blue light-emitting glass beads were floating last.

Orbis was standing with his back turned in front of a painting of her smiling brightly.

“You said you’d live remembering me, but you’ve been living trapped in these paintings?”

“……”

“Do you think this is how you keep our memories?”

“……”

“You’re foolish.”

At Litania’s scathing words, Orbis slowly turned to face her.

“I am a fool. One who knows only you.”

“You don’t even know me well.”

“You didn’t teach me.”

“Orbis didn’t tell me either. What kind of person you are.”

“That’s right. We always lacked communication.”

There are people you can become close to without knowing each other. You can feel comfortable with each other without knowing anything. You can love.

Litania thought such relationships were good too. Not all couples and lovers in the world can be the same.

She didn’t know much about Orbis, and he didn’t know much about her either, but she thought it was fine if they loved each other.

Until the tragedy happened.

“After I left, did you just keep painting?”

“Just because I’m a dragon doesn’t mean I don’t forget. If I don’t leave it in a form that remains, memories might become blurred someday.”

“Were you afraid of memories fading?”

“I swore to live with memories.”

She thought he was living a new life bearing the wounds of separation, but he was completely trapped in the past.

No, can this be called living?

Litania took another step closer to Orbis.

He still looked beautiful, but somehow emaciated.

What was contained in his blue eyes, shadowed deeply, was not longing but pain.

This ridiculous man, it seems, didn’t even know how to overcome the sorrow of separation.

“Why did you come back?”

“I have something to tell you.”

“With what heart I sent you away.”

Orbis had his hands behind his back.

As if controlling his body that seemed about to embrace her at any moment.

In a stiff posture unlike his usual relaxed and elegant self.

“What did you think I would do to you, coming alone, without fear.”

Words broken at every syllable fell like raindrops.

His long blonde hair swayed like a flickering candle flame, though there was no wind.

The dry air in the room grew heavy. As if they had entered deep water.

“My only pride was that I showed you a mature appearance at the end.”

“Orbis.”

“Are you only satisfied after confirming my ugly bottom……”

His voice trembled slightly. The blue light spread messily like ink dissolved in water.

Orbis was crying.

“……”

Dragons do not feel anger. Because they can just crush and kill anything that bothers them.

Dragons do not feel loneliness. Because supreme beings are inherently alone.

Dragons do not feel fear. Because it’s impossible for any creature in the world to threaten them.

Then do dragons.

Feel sadness?

“Orbis. You said it, didn’t you? That we seem to have different standards of beauty.”

Orbis must have wanted to cherish their memories beautifully.

So he bid farewell in what he thought was the most perfect form.

He must have thought that sending her away with a calm face was the most beautiful farewell.

“I thought you would be okay.”

Because dragons are strong beings. Because he also realized that repeating regression was meaningless. She believed that as befitting a supreme dragon god, he would now go on to make the world he lived in with her even more beautiful.

“It’s certainly the right thing to do……”

Rather than him living maturely and gracefully holding memories, living like this, pathetically trapped only in memories, as if confined in a grave.

“I prefer this way.”

“Such an unsightly appearance……”

“That’s right. It might be unsightly. But I don’t dislike that side of you.”

If he had shown her his weak side from the beginning, perhaps their relationship would have been different.

“It’s probably meaningless to say this now.”

Litania reached out and stroked Orbis’s cheek. Because he was so tall, it was more like just touching with her fingertips rather than stroking.

“You asked why I came back?”

The blue eyes blinked, letting water flow, then turned towards her.

“I didn’t come to be with you again.”

“Then why.”

“I wanted to properly conclude our love.”

Their love had no beginning. At least for her.

The forced effort to maintain life became restraint and obsession, and became a curse. Repeating eternal regression, it became impossible to grasp when the beginning of love was.

Orbis said he fell in love with Litania at first sight, but that probably wasn’t true. Rather, it might have been Litania who fell for him at first sight.

Their beginning was a mess.

And the end too.

“Orbis said so. That he would keep his promise. But you broke your promise, so I came to point that out.”

“I……”

“Do you remember what you said when the late Emperor decided on our marriage?”

Litania lightly flicked away Orbis’s tears wetting her fingertips.

“You told me I could travel wherever I wanted.”

“……”

“But I never traveled once since I entered the Dragon Castle. We didn’t even go on a honeymoon.”

“……”

“So I want you to keep your promise.”

When Litania held out her hand, Orbis, who had been keeping his hands behind his back all along, finally unfolded his arms.

His hands were large enough to hold both of hers at once, but he couldn’t reach out to her, as if afraid to even touch her.

After looking at him for a moment, Litania grabbed Orbis’s hand first.

The man who seemed like he wouldn’t budge even in a typhoon visibly startled and flinched just from her grabbing his hand.

“Orbis.”

If she had seen this side of him a little earlier, she might not have feared him.

“Let’s go on a farewell trip together.”