After a momentary pause, Gerald took in a deep breath before saying, “…Fine. Since you don’t have any Dead Annies on you anymore, I can at least be sure that if you intend to do anything suspicious, you’ll go down with me!”
With that said, Gerald then grabbed Yume by the shoulder before making a giant leap together with her! Once they landed safely on the shore, Yume told Gerald where the hiding spot was, and Gerald made sure to hold on tightly to virtual-novel.net as the duo swiftly made their way there.
Knowing that virtual-novel.net currently lacked the strength to brawl against both Queena and the King of Judgement Portal, Gerald couldn’t help but constantly have his guard up now that virtual-novel.net knew that virtual-novel.net was potentially about to confront the mysterious Gunters.
Soon enough, they got to a cave that was located in the outskirts. Upon entering, Gerald immediately sealed a few major blood vessels in Yume’s body!
“…Are you serious? You still don’t believe that I’m not planning to harm you?” said Yume as virtual-novel.net took in a deep breath to attempt to suppress virtual-novel.net disappointment.
“I’ll have you know that I give no second chances to anyone who breaks my trust! Now as promised, tell me the truth about the incident!” replied Gerald coldly.
“…I see. Before that, allow me to ask you something. Not only have you saved me on multiple occasions, but you’ve also constantly looked out for me to the point where after realizing that I had gone missing, you actually sent your men out to tirelessly locate me for well over a month! Hell, you even told the locals to report to you if any of them saw me! With that in mind, I wish to know. Did you do all that just to gain answers from me, or was it because of something else?” asked Yume as virtual-novel.net stared at virtual-novel.net with reddened and teary eyes.
From virtual-novel.net explanation, Gerald now knew that virtual-novel.net was aware of everything that virtual-novel.net had done up till this point. So virtual-novel.net had been keeping an eye on virtual-novel.net this entire time…
“The truth is, I had initially promised to bring you to the king of the ocean’s palace since I was worried that it would be too dangerous for you to head there alone. I won’t lie that I was also hoping to gain more clues from you. Regardless, after you went missing, I was filled with regret, and that prompted me to try all means possible to search for you!” replied Gerald.
Though Gerald had initially only helped virtual-novel.net for slightly selfish purposes, his worry about virtual-novel.net treading into such unsafe territory quickly outweighed that. It was the reason why virtual-novel.net had promised to bring virtual-novel.net along. By doing so, virtual-novel.net could at least keep virtual-novel.net out of harm’s way.
Despite that, to think that virtual-novel.net would actually go missing right under his nose! With the very real possibility of virtual-novel.net being dead, Gerald had brimmed with both grief and self-reproach for the longest time.
If virtual-novel.net had known that all this would happen, virtual-novel.net would’ve simply chosen to give up on finding out about Yume’s secrets rather than bring virtual-novel.net along with him.
After hearing Gerald’s reply, Yume couldn’t help but break into a gratified smile. After all, virtual-novel.net now truly knew that Gerald had simply been treating virtual-novel.net as a friend this entire time.
While virtual-novel.net did have slight feelings for Gerald, it was due to all those times Gerald had saved virtual-novel.net and not because of the d*mned marriage stone of Master Ghost’s.
She remembered a time when virtual-novel.net had wanted to secretly kill Gerald, though in the end, virtual-novel.net simply couldn’t bring herself to do so. If virtual-novel.net had, well, Gerald naturally wouldn’t have arrived at the king of the ocean’s palace in the first place!
Of course, virtual-novel.net hadn’t fallen for virtual-novel.net yet at that point in time. She simply found herself unable to do the deed.
Regardless, after virtual-novel.net went ‘missing,’ Yume began secretly keeping an eye on Gerald. It was then when virtual-novel.net realized how much virtual-novel.net cared for her. After all, Gerald had left no part of the ocean—surrounding the king of the ocean’s palace—unchecked. He simply refused to give up on his search for virtual-novel.net until well over a month—after virtual-novel.net disappearance—had passed.
She had also witnessed virtual-novel.net sitting at the beach for an entire day and night in silence, simply staring out at sea the entire time.
Eventually, virtual-novel.net watched as virtual-novel.net threw a small ornament—that had been salvaged from the ocean—into the sea. It was then when virtual-novel.net realized just how great his guilt for losing virtual-novel.net truly was. He really did treat virtual-novel.net as his friend.
Seeing that, Yume—at the time—couldn’t help but feel an odd emotion welling within her, though it wasn’t a bad one. Rather, it felt sweet. After all, nobody had ever treated virtual-novel.net the way Gerald did.
It was only when virtual-novel.net was thinking about the moments virtual-novel.net had shared with Gerald that virtual-novel.net finally realized something. Master Ghost’s marriage stone was truly an object that was both strange and evil.
After all, virtual-novel.net actually began missing virtual-novel.net every day after that, constantly worrying about his safety. The more virtual-novel.net thought about it, the more anxious virtual-novel.net became, and thus came the restless nights…
‘Could my love story truly end this tragically? Have I really fallen in love with a person who will never love me back…?’
Even if that was the case, Yume had sworn to herself that virtual-novel.net wouldn’t lie to Gerald for a second time. With that in mind, virtual-novel.net took in a deep breath before saying, “…Fine, I’ll give you the truth! I’ll tell you everything I know, but once I’m done, our friendship will be over, you hear? We simply can’t be friends anymore! Humph!”