"I missed you."
Wizet and Luna spoke at the same time, their voices softly overlapping in the morning light.
As though they had crossed a long river of time at last, their words finally reached each other's ears.
At that moment, the surrounding clamor and cheers receded, leaving only the lingering echoes of their voices by their ears.
They both froze for a moment, then broke into similar smiles.
Only when he saw Luna's smile did Wizet truly relax.
Strictly speaking, this crisis had not been as difficult to handle as last year's "Paris Region Incident."
Ever since the "Paris Region Incident," he had begun preparing enough contingency plans for My Lord's arrival, even devising corresponding adjustments for possible deviations in the river of time.
Even so, in his view, this incident had still reached the worst possible outcome: he had returned too late.
He had originally thought he could return to the present the very second after vanishing from the Time Chamber, but he had still been delayed by several days.
Suppressing the regret in his heart, Wizet looked Luna over.
Luna's eyes were still bright, like gems sparkling beneath the morning sun.
Yet the exhaustion she could not hide at the bottom of her eyes was plainly visible to him, making his chest tighten.
Compared to all those truly difficult moments before, this scene before him left him even more unsure of how to respond.
His Adam's apple bobbed slightly, as if he had countless things to say.
But in the end, all that left his lips was one simple word. "Sorry."
Now that everything was finally over, he could at last set everything else aside for the moment and look only at the person before him.
"I originally thought I could avoid the worst possible outcome as