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Side Story: To You Far, Far Away 2
Sebastian was admiring the guests filling the seats at the engagement ceremony. More precisely, he was admiring his lover. Armin was smiling and interacting with people while swiftly dealing with the enemies he had invited. Earlier, he had grabbed the wrist of a man trying to stab his side and dragged him deep into the garden. Just now, he had knocked out another man in the backyard after a brief scuffle.
“What did I tell you?” Kouri said in a somewhat boastful tone.
“Armin Schnieke isn’t fazed by this at all. Rather, it’s better to use this opportunity to clean up the dangerous ones. Now that he’s Mr. Riegel’s fiancé, Mr. Schnieke will inevitably be exposed to the public. After exposure, we’ll be in the light while the opponents are in the dark, making it trickier to confront them. We need to deal with them to some extent now.”
Kouri, who had planned all this, was handing over the men Armin had taken down to the Security Bureau. There seemed to be many Security Bureau staff among the engagement guests, so those who attempted murder at a Security Bureau employee’s engagement were immediately sent to the Bureau without mercy.
“Armin Schnieke doesn’t die. He’s immortal,” Kouri said.
Sebastian briefly closed and opened his eyes at Kouri’s words.
In that brief moment of closing his eyes, Lee Shin-yeon’s death vividly came to mind. Lee Shin-yeon died early. Sebastian, or rather Wu Gi-ryeon, remembered Lee Shin-yeon’s death. Through Lee Shin-yeon’s death, he thoroughly understood what death meant. It was an irreversible farewell. A perfect end with no chance or hope. The dreams never showed life after Lee Shin-yeon’s funeral. Perhaps he couldn’t remember. He probably wasn’t in his right mind.
“People, everyone dies,” Sebastian said firmly.
Kouri started to say, “That’s true, but…” then closed his mouth before speaking again.
“He won’t die to guys like that.”
“Yes, I know that too.”
Lee Shin-yeon was so strong that getting stabbed in the Colosseum was unexpected. In his previous life, he had been stronger, but now Lee Shin-yeon, or rather Armin, was clearly stronger. And even in the previous life, Lee Shin-yeon was mentally stronger. Lee Shin-yeon could live without Wu Gi-ryeon. Didn’t Lee Shin-yeon set out into the wider world, saying he would live without Wu Gi-ryeon? Wu Gi-ryeon couldn’t do that. Just letting Lee Shin-yeon go felt like severing a limb, and life after letting him go was too painful. Since meeting Lee Shin-yeon, Wu Gi-ryeon had never thought about or planned for a life without him. He was weak and dependent when it came to Lee Shin-yeon.
It was the same in this life. He was clinging to his past life, while Lee Shin-yeon was looking forward again. And Lee Shin-yeon, or rather Armin Schnieke who had turned his back on everything as Lee Shin-yeon, had chosen him again. He fell in love again without remembering anything about being Lee Shin-yeon. Willingly giving himself to Sebastian.
“It’s because the spring blossom tree is beautiful.”
Even though you’re no longer Lee Shin-yeon, you comfort me by saying you haven’t forgotten that time. Without even knowing what it means.
“If you become king, I’ll become your subject.”
Only you, who knows nothing.
“I’ll be your hunting dog and kill everything for you.”
You understand everything about me, grant my wishes, and just like in the previous life, you are simply my perfect lover.
“King? That’s not even funny,” Sebastian muttered.
Kouri turned to look at him, but Sebastian shook his head.
“I should go greet the guests. Look, the family is coming.”
At his words, they could see Michael Riegel and other members of the Riegel family entering the venue through the window. Kouri nodded and briefly left to summon the close protection team. Meanwhile, Sebastian smirked.
King? I’ll never do that again.
He had wanted to die when Lee Shin-yeon died. But he couldn’t. Because Wu Gi-ryeon was the emperor. He was the master of the Hwa Empire and responsible for the empire’s people. Due to not having children, his successor was unclear. How could he die in such a situation? For someone born and raised as royalty, such irresponsible behavior was unacceptable.
He never thought of being tied to such things again.
If he hadn’t been royalty, there would have been no reason for Shin-yeon to be so heartbroken from the start. He could have cherished him and whispered a thousand times that he was everything to him. The reason he couldn’t do so was all because of that cursed dragon throne. So what had that throne given him? It had only been shackles every time he had to lose Lee Shin-yeon. Trapped in a cage called the imperial palace, he couldn’t follow. Neither when Lee Shin-yeon tried to break away from him, nor when heaven snatched Lee Shin-yeon away from him.
Rather, he wanted to belong to Lee Shin-yeon. He wished to be someone with the ability and freedom to follow Lee Shin-yeon whatever he did.
As he walked out to the ceremony venue, spring that had been forcibly brought bloomed in full.
Shin-yeon liked spring, and it seemed that preference had carried over to Armin. Armin had expressed admiration for its beauty multiple times.
Lee Shin-yeon was neat and elegant, but Sebastian preferred Armin. Lee Shin-yeon was always holding something back and enduring. In contrast, Armin had nothing to hold back and would be depressed for a few days after any incident before shaking it off. No matter how significant the event, it was all similar to him. Sebastian liked that aspect. If Lee Shin-yeon hadn’t been born into that great family, wouldn’t he have grown up like Armin?
Although his childhood was somewhat gloomy, Armin had overcome it well. He had grown into a bright and kind person. No one in his mansion disliked Armin Schnieke. It couldn’t be helped. He always greeted people kindly, didn’t hesitate to help others, and didn’t mind others’ sharp reactions much. He was very positive.
“Armin!” Sebastian called out to Armin as he walked out of the garden. Armin came running. Behind him, the blossoms from the spring tree were scattering in the air.
“I’m Nicolette. I’m Zebi’s mother,” Sebastian’s mother, Nicolette, was visibly restless as soon as she saw Sebastian. She had avoided him for quite a long time for various reasons, and after she had come around, she was trying her best to mend their relationship while always swallowing her guilt. Although she still loved her family, Sebastian, who had regained his memories of his past life, didn’t have high expectations of his mother and understood her sufficiently, but it seemed Nicolette’s position was different.
“I’m Armin Schnieke. I’m… sorry to meet you for the first time at an occasion like this. I had intended to visit you first, but…”
“Oh, no, don’t worry about it. You’re not family yet, so don’t feel burdened. Don’t worry about it.”
Nicolette meant well, but Armin was clearly perplexed by what sounded like “Why are you greeting us when you’re not even family yet?” Before Sebastian could intervene, Saskia jumped in.
“There goes our mother again. Mr. Schnieke, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Saskia, the younger sister. What Mom meant was that she didn’t want to burden you. She’s a bit weak with crowds, so she’s just flustered. Please understand.”
Ah, I see!
Armin smiled kindly and said, “Please call me Armin,” looking at everyone at once. After Armin said to call him Armin, not Mr. Schnieke, Saskia quickly attached herself to him and took out her phone.
“Exchange numbers? Is that okay?”
“Of course, I’d be happy to.”
Watching Armin quickly punch in the numbers on Saskia’s phone keypad, Sebastian smiled slightly. He thought Armin wouldn’t even know his own number since Sebastian had bought the phone for him, but surprisingly, he seemed to have memorized it. Well, maybe it’s because he’s used to handling various information as a member of the Security Bureau, despite his appearance.
Sebastian frowned as he saw Saskia save the number as ‘Armin♥’, but at that moment, another phone slipped between Saskia and Armin.
“Me too, please.”
Nicolette said cautiously, making Armin laugh.
As he was entering his number into Nicolette’s phone, she seemed about to fall, so he supported her with one hand. Watching Armin lightly hold her as if supporting a paper doll, Herr Gerhardt whistled.
“Do you work out? What’s your max for the big three?”
“What’s that?”
“Oh, don’t you do weightlifting?”
“Huh? No, I don’t.”
Herr Gerhardt muttered, “I guess not, looking at you like this, it’s not really a bodybuilder’s physique.” Behind him, Lea Parke stuck out her tongue. Armin Schnieke trained rather than exercised. Of course, there might be some equipment training, but excessive muscle building was not recommended in the Security Bureau in the first place. Even Alfred Baral’s muscular build was due to his natural tendency to gain muscle easily, not because he deliberately built it up.
“Then what kind of exercise do you do to be so strong?”
Asking this, Herr Gerhardt naturally handed over his phone, and Armin entered his number into it. Then, as Armin returned the phone to Herr Gerhardt, he received another phone.
Huh?
For a moment, Armin wondered if this was a conveyor belt, but he obediently entered his phone number and returned it. Then, as Herr Gerhardt received the phone from Armin, he held out yet another phone.
Armin looked up at Herr Gerhardt, but when he asked, “Is it not okay?” with lowered eyebrows, Armin replied, “No, it’s not that it’s not okay,” and entered his phone number into the third phone as well. Then Herr Gerhardt, now in possession of three phones, put one in his own pocket and distributed the other two to his father Michael and his younger brother Jin respectively. Sebastian only raised his lips seeing his family’s typical behavior of securing the number first, when Saskia discreetly approached and whispered.
“I’ll make sure they don’t call at random times.”
“It’s okay, I can just change the number if needed.”
In reality, if he changed his number, they would probably find out the new number and contact him anyway, so he’d likely just block them, but Sebastian used the expression “change” out of a shred of conscience. However, Saskia, knowing her brother’s temperament well, vowed again, “I’ll be careful. I mean it.”
Meanwhile, Armin started waving his hand towards the back. When Sebastian raised his head a bit to check, it was the members of Team 9. Once again realizing that his soulmate from his past life to the present was truly a pushover, Sebastian put his arm around Armin’s shoulders.
“Armin’s work colleagues have arrived. I’ll go greet them for a bit.”
Seeing Armin’s grateful face at Sebastian’s words, Lea Parke shook her head. She had heard many times that Armin Schnieke was oblivious, but he really was. Couldn’t he see the sparks flying from his fiancé’s eyes right now?
She silently prayed for the well-being of Team 9 members.
