() Kirito followed the address written by the mailer of the letter, Reni Lenz, and came to his villa on the plateau. Although this place is a good place to escape the heat in midsummer, due to the current season of howling cold wind,

The small town, which was already in a cold place, fell completely into a deserted silence. A small road with only slightly flattened land was like filling the gaps in the deciduous forest, leading to Lenz's home on the high ground.

"It seems... a little lonely." Unable to feel the sullen figure next to him, Kirito's eyes dimmed and he mumbled as if his lips were moving.

"Click... click..." As if to create an atmosphere, the metal chains at the top of the four pieces of Kirito's clothes swayed, making a sweet sound like silver bells. However, the usually cheerful bells sounded this time.

Seemed extremely weak.

"I see. Do you... feel lonely too?"

"Click... click..." The intermittent ringing finally fell silent, as if acquiescing to the fact that Kirito said.

The snowflakes falling from the sky slightly blocked Kirito's sight, and at the same time brought his memory back to the time when the Holy Grail War was going on, when his masters, Emiya Kiritsugu and Illya, were in the snowy woods.

The joyful scene of searching for walnuts brought a little warmth to his heart, which was lonely because of the absence of one person.

While thinking about his encounter with Emiya Kiritsugu and Illya, Kirito slowly released his foot from the accelerator. A villa appeared in front of the car that slowed down.

It was a magnificent villa with a vast courtyard. There were several stables and storage rooms in the front courtyard. There was a thin layer of snow on the roof, and white smoke was rising from the outstretched chimney.

"It seems like this is it. There should be people inside." Kirito said thoughtfully, looking at the remaining footprints on the snow.

The door to the courtyard was open, and Kirito parked the car in front of the door. He was about to go to the door of the house, but stopped on the way because he saw a woman in the corner of the courtyard.

It was a beautiful woman with a neat and even unnatural appearance. Her long chestnut hair was tied up and draped behind her back. Wrapping her slender figure was a dress that was too gorgeous for home wear. She

Squatting in front of the well, she was cleaning the tools used to tidy up the garden - it was a machete used to trim tree branches. Although the weather was so cold that the bucket containing the well water was emitting bursts of white steam, she was not there at all.

She kept cleaning the machete carelessly, her expression was so happy, as if she couldn't feel the cold at all.

"Hello." Kirito couldn't help but walked over and greeted her.

This woman with long chestnut hair stopped cleaning the machete and turned around slowly. Her upright beauty showed an expression that seemed to be scared and alert. In order to reassure her, Kirito

He showed a kind and gentle smile.

"Are you... Kazuto Kiritani?" The woman's uncertain words made Kirito stunned for a moment. Logically speaking, this woman in front of him should have seen him for the first time, but she said it in one word.

name.

"Haha, I believe it is impossible for any woman living in the Royal Capital not to know you." The woman's second sentence made Kirito relieved. After all, his past identity had made most of the women in the Royal Capital fall in love with him.

.

"Since you know me, you don't need to beat around the bush. Just call me Kirito." He bent down and performed aristocratic etiquette. Kirito smiled and looked at the woman in front of him and said, "Actually, my good friend who passed away not long ago

Wesley Disward and Mr. Lenz are good friends, and Wes and I have a pretty good relationship, so this time I came here to greet Mr. Lenz on his behalf."

Kirito explained the situation eloquently as if reciting pre-prepared lines. Because he did not know who this woman was, he did not mention the letter sent by Lenci.

The woman may still seem dubious about Kirito's explanation, and her smile that was originally happy to see Kirito instantly turned into alarm. "Really...but, how did you know that Reni was here?"

She asked in a somewhat surprised voice. From her tone, it seemed that she was very sure that Kirito or anyone else could never know about Lenci's stay in this villa.

"Well...actually, there have been some bad rumors recently." At this time, Kirito Shinse deliberately pretended to have a serious expression.

"Rumors?" There were some changes in the woman's expression, and Kirito nodded as if he hadn't seen it. "There are rumors that Mr. Lenci was involved in a certain incident and died... However, I am relieved now. Look,

He is still alive." Kirito looked at a room in the villa and smiled. It was a well-lit room that looked like a study. Through the lace curtains, a man could be seen sitting at the table.

"Yes, of course." The chestnut-haired woman nodded expressionlessly. Her heart seemed to be covered with a thick layer of ice, making it completely unpredictable. But in an instant, from there,

Something terrifying erupted from the invisible crack, but Kirito turned a blind eye to it.

"Can you please let me meet Mr. Lenz so that I can eliminate the doubts in my heart?"

"Unfortunately, Reni is currently writing a new work." As soon as Kirito finished speaking, the woman refused without mercy, but it seemed that the motive was because of Kirito's past identity or the identity of a deceased friend who came to see his old friend.

On the top, the woman spoke again: "If you insist on meeting Renee, can you please come back tomorrow? I will let you meet him." She said in a friendly voice, which was different from the coldness just now.

There was a huge gap in the responses, which made people feel enthusiastic, but Kirito nodded without changing his expression.

"Thank you, thank you. Who are you..." The woman glanced at Kirito with a cold look, and then resumed the same plain tone as before: "Paula, my name is Paula... Reni

· Lenz’s wife.”

It was almost evening, and the temperature seemed to have dropped a bit. The snow that continued to fall was getting heavier and heavier, and a thin layer of mist appeared in the air. Kirito got into the car, even though he was only wearing a thin windbreaker and underwear, but

For him, whose physique can no longer be described by common sense, this cold wind is no different from the breeze blowing on his body in summer.

"Forget it, we'll just stay in the car until midnight." He put on the rarely used hood of the Night Robe to avoid being woken up by the falling snowflakes at night, and looked at the scene in front of him that seemed to be in a fairy tale

As the heavy snow fell only in the story, Kirito smiled bitterly and murmured: "If I'm not wrong, Dalian should be having trouble at home. It doesn't matter, just dampen her spirit like this. She is not a girl who has always been so unruly.

It’s very lovable.”

As the snow fell gradually and fiercely, Kirito slowly closed his eyes and entered a not very deep sleep level, because he knew that he still needed to wake up in the middle of the night to deal with some things.

————————————————————————————————————

"Really... that guy, doesn't he just have a bad attitude? Is it so difficult for you to say sorry?" In a country mansion in the countryside half a day's drive from the royal capital, a dark girl walked on

The irritable steps came from the dark basement, and the words coming out of the red lips were full of dissatisfaction.

Well, Dalian also forgot who it was that had been obeying her every day for two days. It had become a habit for her to apologize to him, but she was so arrogant that she hated him for invading her.

fact.

"Eh?" Dalian, who had just entered the living room, suddenly realized something was wrong, because the whole mansion was eerily quiet, as if she was the only one still breathing in the whole house at this moment. A terrifying fact suddenly appeared

It was a fact that she didn't want to accept no matter what.

"Kirito!? Where are you?!"

"..."

"Perverted lolicon, scum of society, maggot man, scum..."

Dalian's repeated shouts only resulted in a deathly hollow silence. "No, he won't..." She felt as if her whole heart was tightening, and her entire petite body seemed to be...

It gradually became limp and limp to the ground like a doll whose strings had fallen off.

"He left... He left without saying anything..." This was a voice that Dalian had never made before. It was hollow, confused... and filled with incredible fear. The sweet and ethereal voice seemed to have lost its response.

It has soul-like and emotionless color inside.

At this moment, Dalian raised her eyes slightly and noticed the heavy package placed on the table in the living room, as well as a piece of paper that looked like a letter on it. Her heart that seemed to have lost its beating suddenly began to tremble violently.

, a voice in his heart was telling him that the letter contained clues to Kirito's departure.

Driven by a belief that she didn't know where to find, Darian stood up unsteadily with her thin and delicate body, and walked to the table where the letters were placed.

"It's time to get up. That woman should have fallen asleep by now." He opened the hood that covered his face, revealing his peerless beauty that would attract both men and women. Kirito slowly stood up and left the car, using a method that ordinary people could not use.
Chapter completed!