Ren’s upright and resolute gaze held not a single trace of falsehood.

Sharti, once again, bit her lip at the twitching tip of her nose. Who wouldn’t be shaken by someone saying they prioritize her over themselves?

‘But…’

Sharti couldn’t fully rejoice. Human hearts were like that. Saying goodbye leaves an emptiness, and, strangely, she felt a sense of deprivation at becoming lonely again. However, when she realized the grace period had lengthened, she suddenly became frightened.

‘Might my futile expectations turn into greed?’

So, in the end, she was afraid to catch Ren. Afraid of troubling him with unreasonable desires. Afraid of becoming such a presence.

“I didn’t say it as a burden.”

After a while, when Sharti remained silent, Ren added with a nonchalant face.

Sharti tensed her eyes, strengthening her nose.

‘Not Ren, but me. Afraid I might be a burden to you.’

My secrets, my existence, even my future feelings.

Sharti took a deep breath, calmly controlling her emotions. The answer was already decided.

‘Anyway, parting ways now might be better for the one leaving.’

Sharti pursed her lips. But when she applied pressure to her throat, she involuntarily coughed violently.

“Ke, Keh, Kek…!”

Due to the continuous strain on her dry throat, sudden pain surged, and tears welled up in the corners of her eyes.

Ren quickly fetched water as Sharti coughed, making sure she drank it slowly.

‘It seems like my throat, which I haven’t used in a while, is strained.’

The voice was not much different from the horror she felt, so she didn’t notice the signals her throat was sending.

‘Even if I hear Ren’s voice, there’s no reaction, so I don’t realize my voice is coming out.’

It was a problem that words popped out without going through the process of thought.

Sharti cleared her throat.

While the pain in her throat was familiar, this kind of worry was somewhat unfamiliar.

“Are you okay?”

Only then did Sharti notice Ren sitting on the floor, avoiding her gaze. Sharti nodded her head while avoiding eye contact. Ren, who had been silently looking at her, vaguely sensed her response.

It wasn’t an unexpected development. It was a situation he was used to. He knew how complicated and serious the small mind was.

And Ren was familiar with her rejections. His response was already determined.

“There you go, your body is rejecting it.”

“…?”

Ren chuckled. As it was the last chance, he became shameless.

He stood up, grabbed the armrest of the sofa, and Sharti, trapped between his two arms, found herself in a helpless situation.

Ren’s imposing actions made Sharti bury her back into the sofa, crouching down. In the meantime, with nowhere to place her eyes, Sharti closed them tightly in front of Ren’s chest, which filled her field of vision.
He rose from the sofa and grabbed the armrest.

‘…What?’

She found herself trapped in his arms, unable to escape.

In response to Ren’s imposing behavior, Sharti buried her back into the sofa and hunched down.

Amidst this, with no place to rest her eyes that were now filled with Ren’s chest, Sharti closed them tightly.

Her eyelids trembled in sync with the thudding heartbeat.

“Maybe your body prevents you from speaking lies because you can’t be honest?”

It was mind-boggling for Sharti.

The one blocking her was not Ren but her.

Ren, with his large body, was like iron bars, preventing her from escaping.

“I accepted that proposal, and I decided to stay. Of course, Sharti, if you tell me to leave, I have nothing to say. But, to be precise, before that proposal, Sharti, you had your own promise.”

Sharti recalled the promise she made to Ren in the cave.

There was a written agreement to take care of him for a while, given that their mutual interests aligned.

Even in Ren’s words, which touched on the facts, there was some validity.

‘It is for a while.’

Sharti injected the rebuttal that crossed her mind for a moment into her sore throat.

It seemed like catching at straws from any angle. Instead, Sharti, touching her slightly irritated throat, opened her mouth.

“Do you have any memories of the time we spent together? Any memories coming back to you?”

The murmured voice, restricted within the limits of her strained throat, sounded eerie, like a ghost.

With the hood covering her, it even sounded like the voice of a spirit.

Of course, Ren was concerned about her throat, but he didn’t pay much attention to the voice.

“To think the lost memories due to shock might come back, I seem to have lived too comfortably all this time.”

“In other words, as long as you stay here, Ren’s memories may never return.”

“…….?”

Ren hadn’t considered an unexplored assumption.

Feeling frustrated and pessimistically depressed because there was no sign of the tattered memories returning, Ren initially thought Viletta’s proposal was advantageous.

“Do we really have to find those memories?”

“……Ren?”

Ren slowly leaned back.

When Sharti glanced up, his once smiling face now showed a blank expression.

“If my subconscious is resisting finding memories, can I really find them?”

“……!”