Since Ancient Times, Love Debts Have Been Hard to Repay [Please Give Flowers! Please Vote!] / Are You Willing to Trust Me? [Please Vote! Please Give Flowers!]

"I'm sorry. I let you down."

"Lord Moran..."

The weeping Medea was pulled into Moran's embrace.

As though trying to make up for the regrets he had failed to mend in the past, the man laid everything he had before the girl.

He knew what had happened could not be changed.

So, he chose to focus all his attention on the present.

"I know it was unforgivable, but I want to make amends, and all I can offer is the present. I have no way to change the past. If you're still willing to accept me, I want to spend the rest of my life repaying you. Medea, I hope you can find happiness..."

Moran spoke with incomparable sincerity and affection.

You knew that words like these, coming from someone who had abandoned another, held no power to persuade.

This was all you could do.

Perhaps only offering up your life could repay such a debt.

But that was the one thing you could not do.

The Gorgon Sisters still needed you to lead The Invisible Island, and the people needed his guidance to move forward.

"How despicable... You know I can't refuse..."

"Yes... I'm that kind of shameless, despicable man. Even so, I still want to do everything I can..."

"Hmph... Who told me to fall for Lord Moran when he was like this? I've never regretted falling in love with you... I'm an idiot, aren't I?"

The two gradually embraced.

Medea did not know how her own story had ended in the dream world, but she remembered the final feelings vividly.

There was no anger, nor was there hatred.

What remained in the end was longing for the one she loved.

Since Ancient Times, Debts of Love Have Been Hard to Repay. Please Send Flowers! Please Vote!

"Lord Moran, Medea's happiness is being with you. This time, you'll stay with me until the end, right?"

"Yes, I will."

"Just as I thought... I still love Lord Moran the most! From now on, I'll make up for every last regret! No matter what happens, I won't leave you, and you aren't allowed to leave me like that again!"

"I promise you."

With an attitude even more earnest than before, Moran—

—made a vow with Medea.

It was not as though she did not feel angry with Moran.

It was simply that her love was far stronger than her grief and hatred, powerful enough to drown them both.

There had been no interference or influence from any gods.

She was certain that she deeply loved Moran.

"Lord Moran, tonight isn't over yet. I... missed you so much... I want to..."

Medea had long been unable to restrain her love.

The joy of finally seeing her beloved again after enduring so much bitterness also stirred the desire within her heart.

Her slender fingers clutched his wrist, and her pleading gaze—

—both silently hinted at what she wanted from Moran.

"Hehe, you're so impatient. Medea, this time, I won't let you feel even the slightest loneliness..."

Moran did not hide his feelings either.

They both laid them bare.

As they formed a contract with their words, closer contact between their bodies branded it with a seal.

Medea chose to remain on The Invisible Island.

The King of Colchis did not know how you had whisked Medea away, but he absolutely refused to let his daughter marry into a barbarian land.

However, after Medea spoke of her true feelings, and with persuasion from her younger brother Aeëtes—

—the King of Colchis ultimately gave up on starting a war.

Aetes still disapproved of Medea being with you. He declared that Medea was no longer a princess of Colchis, and that from then on, she would have no connection to Colchis whatsoever.

Medea did not care about her title.

She chose to be with you because of true love.

The two of you planned to hold the grand wedding that should have taken place long ago on The Invisible Island in the near future.

"So now I'm not a princess anymore. Father was very angry. If it hadn't been for Aeëtes, he might really have started a war."

"What, do you regret it?"

"Of course not. I'm very happy now, though I do feel sorry for Father. I really hope he can bless us..."

Medea showed a sorrowful expression.

Severing ties with her family did not leave her unaffected.

Still, she wanted to pursue happiness.

Thus, happiness and reality had become almost mutually exclusive choices. Medea had merely chosen the former and lost the latter.

"Hehe, that day will come. Also, the name of our city-state has been decided. It will be called Pellasgi. Though you're no longer a princess of Colchis, you can become my consort instead. I just wonder whether Her Highness would be willing."

"Do you still need to ask? Hmph, there is only one answer. Wherever Lord Moran goes, I'll go with you!"

Medea knew life could not be perfect in every way.

Every choice brought loss.

Now, she had found the most important thing in the world.

She wanted to hold onto it tightly.

"By the way, Lord Moran, have you thought about how you'll face Atalanta? I know you're charming, and quite the womanizer. Wherever you go, women fall for you..."

"Uh... Are you jealous?"

"Hehehe, I'm not jealous."

Medea's beautiful smile was exceptionally captivating.

The arms wrapped around Moran tightened slightly as well.

Anyone could tell that she was jealous.

"Atalanta... Whenever she sees me now, she glares at me. No one even dares to come close when we meet. It wouldn't be surprising if she said she wanted to shoot me with an arrow, but this really is my fault..."

"Yes, Lord Moran was the first to break his promise."

Medea's dark side came into play.

She struck a point Moran had absolutely no way to refute.

She too had waited painfully for Moran for a very long time, so she was clearly taking Atalanta's side.

"...I'll handle it."

Moran did not say much more.

The debt left behind from the previous simulation would be repaid in this one.

You and Medea returned to The Invisible Island.

On the way back to the city, you happened to run into Atalanta.

The moment Atalanta saw you, she frowned. Then, without saying much, she took another path and left.

"This can't go on."

With that thought in mind, you chased after Atalanta.

Just as expected, the two of you immediately began a battle between warriors in the wilderness, and thunderous roars echoed across the island.

No one dared interfere in this battle.

Arrows fell in an unbroken barrage, like a torrential downpour.

The ground was pitted with exposed craters as though gnawed apart by locusts, while the overflowing aftershocks of magical power could easily blast a person to death on the spot.

This was not a place ordinary people could enter.

Yet one figure moved through it with ease.

"Ha! Atalanta!"

Moran shouted as magical power erupted from him.

He charged straight into the storm of arrows, meeting it head-on as he rushed toward her.

You arrived before Atalanta.

You knew it was not because you were particularly agile.

As a hunter renowned across Greece, and likewise a hero, how could Atalanta possibly fail to hit you with every arrow she fired?

You guessed the most likely reason.

Perhaps she had never intended to hit you with her arrows in the first place.

"Why... why... did you still chase after me like this... In the end... I couldn't do anything... Nothing at all...!"

Atalanta fell to the ground and cried out.

Unwillingness, regret, guilt, and countless other emotions surged up all at once.

It was different from Medea's situation back then.

In the first simulation, you had promised to go to Arcadia to find her, but that promise had clearly never been fulfilled.

At that time, Atalanta had just returned to Arcadia.

She found the Moon Goddess she worshipped. When she asked the goddess for forgiveness, what she received instead was the news that the man she loved had already died in his homeland.

The goddess had no reason to deceive her.

Atalanta's first reaction was not resentment, much less anger toward you. What first overflowed in her heart was guilt, along with the helplessness of being unable to help the one she loved.

As a hero, she would not complain.

You knew Atalanta was not a weak woman. Although she treated others coldly, that was built upon her own formidable strength.

Because of this, she regretted and blamed herself.

If she had expressed her feelings more honestly, if she had been more straightforward and decisive—

—would the outcome have been different?

Would things have changed if I had stayed by his side and faced the problem with him—

—instead of going our separate ways?

If I had stayed with him at that critical moment, then at least I would not have ended up unable to even tell him how I truly felt.

Rather than hating you for breaking your promise—

—Atalanta hated her own lack of honesty even more, condemning herself for being a hero who had accomplished nothing.

What she regretted most was failing to reveal those feelings.

Just when she had finally resolved herself and prepared to do so, she learned that her beloved had died in his homeland. No matter when it was, she was always one step too late.

The huntress knelt in the temple and wept in anguish.