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Chapter 144: Let’s Go to the Beach (3)

The beach, cloaked in darkness.

The sound of crashing waves and the refreshing sea breeze gently brushing the shore.

Under the moonlight, the sight of a silver-haired woman standing quietly was so unrealistically beautiful.

"......"

I lost my words and simply stared at Yurina with a dazed expression.

"...Dale?"

Maybe it was because I stood frozen in silence.

Yurina, who was shyly turning away and covering her chest with her arms due to embarrassment in her swimsuit, glanced back at me.

"What\'s wrong?"

Squelch, squelch.

Yurina walked toward me, her feet wet with seawater, sinking into the sand.

Her silver eyes stared directly at me.

"…It’s nothing."

How could I tell her I was momentarily speechless because she was too beautiful?

I swallowed hard and averted my gaze, trying not to meet her eyes.

"Dale."

Yurina narrowed her eyes and stepped closer to me.

She grabbed my cheeks with both hands, turning my head so I was looking directly at her.

"Why are you avoiding my eyes?"

"Uh… well…."

"Ah, you, you! Were you thinking, \'She\'s not as good as Professor Elisha,\' or something like that?!"

Yurina shot me a fierce glare, her eyes wide with suspicion.

The unexpected accusation made me chuckle involuntarily.

"I didn’t think anything like that."

"…Really?"

Yurina glanced down at her swimsuit, looking somewhat anxious.

Ugh.

She puffed out her cheeks as she looked down at her own body.

"I thought I could hold my own, but... that\'s cheating."

Recalling Professor Elisha made her confidence quickly plummet.

Although her body was just as flawless, with no excess fat, her chest size, waist, and hips all perfectly proportioned…

\'The difference in leg length!\'

There was an insurmountable gap between her, who was of average height for a woman, and Professor Elisha, who was taller than most men.

Yes, what people commonly refer to as \'great legs.\'

There was an undeniable physical difference between them.

‘Plus, Professor Elisha has this... almost provocative allure, even from a woman\'s perspective.’

A kind of mysterious sexiness that only a mature woman could possess.

It was an unexplainable, tantalizing quality that seemed to seep naturally into everything she did.

Yurina, on the other hand, felt like a naive girl trying hard to appear grown-up.

\'That’s why I hesitated until the end about whether I should show Dale….\'

But not wearing the swimsuit she had secretly bought, avoiding the eyes of her colleagues during this brief vacation, would have been a waste.

‘…I was curious about Dale\'s reaction, too.’

She glanced at Dale\'s expression out of the corner of her eye.

"Well… I…."

Mmm.

Searching for words, Dale pressed his lips together before speaking hesitantly.

“…I was just stunned.”

“Huh? What?”

“I was dazed because you were so beautiful.”

“…!”

Yurina\'s eyes widened at his answer, far exceeding her expectations.

Some might think the cheesy comment wasn’t much to get excited about, but…

“Ugh… ughhh!”

She was thrilled.

It was overwhelming to know that the man she gave her heart to was so captivated by her beauty that he lost his composure.

The fact that she wasn’t ‘Yuren’ to him but truly ‘Yurina’ filled her with joy and happiness.

She was so delighted she found herself stomping her feet and letting out soft moans of glee.

“Hehe. Dale, where did you learn to say such cringe-worthy lines?”

Yurina smiled broadly, twisting her body shyly.

“Well… it was kind of cringy, wasn’t it?”

Even I found my own words embarrassing after saying them.

I let out a bitter smile and shook my head.

“I won’t say that again….”

“No! I want you to keep being that cringe-worthy Dale!”

“Huh?”

“Being a little cringy is what makes you you, Dale!”

“Wait.”

Is that something you should say to someone’s face?

"Standing here like this feels awkward… Shall we sit?"

"Sure."

Yurina and I walked to a rock a little away from the beach and sat down.

The sound of the waves gently crashing on the shore filled the air.

Yurina and I sat in silence, gazing up at the moonlit sky.

"By the way, aren’t you uncomfortable?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

“Living as ‘Yuren’ all the time.”

Even though she had spent half her life doing so, it wasn’t something she had chosen herself.

The fact that she had shown me her swimsuit in secret made me think she might want to live as ‘Yurina’ instead of ‘Yuren.’

“Well… I don’t know.”

Yurina kicked the sand with her toes and shrugged.

“To say it\'s not uncomfortable at all would be a lie.”

Even though she was used to living as Yuren because she had done it for so long, familiarity didn’t necessarily equate to comfort.

“It\'s uncomfortable when I need to go to the bathroom in public, or when I see a pretty dress I want to wear but have to pass it by. Shopping for underwear is awkward too, and… oh, I also feel guilty towards the female candidates.”

“Why the female candidates?”

“Well… because, um, I’ve gotten a lot of confessions from them.”

Yurina awkwardly scratched her head with an embarrassed smile.

“Oh, right. You were the most popular guy at our school.”

“Ugh… even you, Dale? Haah. Really… rejecting them every time is exhausting, you know?”

Pouting, Yurina jabbed my side with her elbow.

“And controlling my mana to make my aura appear golden is tiring too… There are all sorts of frustrations.”

Yurina\'s expression darkened slightly.

“But more than anything, having to constantly lie to the people I care about is the hardest part.”

Before she met Dale, she didn’t have anyone she could truly call "precious."

But after meeting him, one by one, new connections began to fill her life.

“Iris, Berald, Camilla… and even people like Professor Elisha and Juliet—aren’t they all wonderful people?”

Her party members, who explored ruins with her and helped her train.

And Professor Elisha, who offered heartfelt advice to guide her as a mentor, and Juliet, who helped her in a tough situation without expecting anything in return.

It had only been half a year since she met Dale.

In a life that had been empty before, so many new bonds had formed.

“If it were the past, I wouldn’t have even imagined having such connections.”

Looking back to her days as ‘Yuren’ from half a year ago, her current self felt like a miracle bestowed by the Seven Gods.

“…Yurina.”

I hardened my expression as I gazed at Yurina’s face, illuminated by the moonlight.

For someone as sincere and honest as her, having to keep lying to the people around her must have been a heavy burden.

“You don’t have to make that face, Dale.”

She gave me a faint smile and leaned her head lightly on my shoulder.

“Because at least I don’t have to lie to the person most precious to me.”

“……”

As she spoke without hesitation, calling me her most precious person, my chest ached.

Sigh.

I let out a short sigh and opened my mouth.

“…How about telling them?”

“Huh?”

“Iris, Berald, Camilla… I mean, it wouldn’t be a problem to tell your trusted comrades, would it?”

The reason she was still pretending to be ‘Yuren’ was only because of school.

If it were revealed that ‘Yuren Helios’ was actually ‘Yurina Helios,’ who had been disguising herself as her older brother to attend the hero academy, a lot of troublesome situations would arise.

“Hmm… That might be true.”

Yurina pondered my suggestion for a moment, then gently shook her head.

“But for now, I think this is fine as it is. It’s kind of like… our little secret, you know?”

Hehe.

She hugged my arm, a bashful smile spreading across her face.

Her face, bathed in moonlight, was so breathtakingly beautiful that I found myself at a loss for words, staring at her blankly once again.

“…What? Are you dazed again because I’m too pretty?”

Yurina teased me with a playful look in her eyes.

She turned her head to gaze up at the moon in the night sky and continued speaking.

“Being here like this, doesn’t it remind you of that time?”

“…What time?”

“You know, the first time I revealed myself like this in front of you.”

“Oh.”

Now that she mentioned it, that day had also been a night bathed in moonlight.

“If you hadn’t seen through my lie that day… by now, I’d probably be the ‘Sun.’”

A distorted sun that casts false light upon the sky.

“Thank you, Dale. For letting me remain the moon.”

Yurina’s silver eyes turned toward me.

Our gazes met.

My heart pounded wildly, as if it had broken.

“……”

“……”

There are emotions in this world that don’t need words to be conveyed.

As Yurina and I silently gazed at each other, we slowly tilted our heads.

Just as our lips were close enough to feel each other’s breath—

“Oh my, Dale.”

Low and chilling voice sliced through the warm atmosphere like cold water over summer’s sea.

“And just who is that woman?”

The cold blue moonlight shone down.

The saintess was smiling sweetly as she stared in our direction.