Chapter 37, "Tokens of Love," is entirely about emotions and separation (two parts added...).
Two people lay intimately embracing on the large bed, their white and golden-red hair intertwined and inseparable.
Easter slowly awoke. It had only been two days, yet he was already familiar with Arip's presence. For Easter himself, this was utterly unbelievable, because in his twenty-five years of life, he had never been able to form a bond with anyone—no family, no friends, and certainly no love. The former was something he couldn't change, while the latter stemmed from his own characteristics and habits. He had always thought he was destined to be alone for life, but Arip was an exception. He didn't know whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.
What Easter said to Aripal back then was entirely true. Based on his upbringing, he believed that he could only have intimate relations with his partner, regardless of whether it was an accident or the order of events. Under this concept, he would only accept Aripal as his partner. This only represented his one-sided view and had little to do with Aripal. After all, it was only based on his subjective will, and whether Aripal accepted it or not was another matter.
East subtly adjusted his posture, gathering a strand of hair into his hand, like a ray of sunlight falling on his fingertips, the jade white and golden red complementing each other, creating a wonderful sense of holiness.
Easter wanted to say that he hadn't anticipated Arip's reaction and behavior, but he couldn't deceive himself. From their second meeting, he knew perfectly well that Arip had developed an interest in him, regardless of the reason for or the extent of that interest. The conclusion was that Arip had become interested in Easter as a person.
East closed his eyes, a sarcastic smile playing on his lips. How ironic! Two people destined to be adversaries had ended up in the same bed by a twist of fate.
"What are you thinking about?" Ariber's voice dispelled the inexplicable negative emotions such as misanthropy, pessimism, and gloom that had arisen in East.
"Hiss~" It was Easter who couldn't control himself and pulled Arip.
Easter hurriedly released the strand of hair in his hand. "Sorry," he said, running his hand through Aribo's hair and gently massaging his scalp. "Sorry." He apologized again.
Arip couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Rabbit, it was the same yesterday morning. You seem to really enjoy apologizing to me the morning after something happens." It was a perfectly serious matter, but the way he said it added a lot of ambiguity.
Easter gently brushed a strand of Areper's hair aside. "No."
"Hmm? Nothing? You need to explain clearly~" Arip looked into East's eyes, not allowing him to avoid his gaze.
East was speechless.
"Sigh~" Arip reached out and covered East's eyes. "Rabbit, did I act too frivolously and make you feel insecure?" He was still wondering when Mr. Rabbit would realize it. Sooner than he expected, and later than he expected. He wanted to indulge in the false beauty, but also struggled to yearn for the truth. Mr. Rabbit did indeed have some affection for him.
Aripelago planted a kiss on the corner of East's lips. "Mr. Rabbit, you're the only one I've ever been with. You're special, don't doubt it, okay?"
East was surrounded by darkness and couldn't see Arip's expression. Even the kiss that landed on his lips seemed so sudden, just like their "special fate".
"Rabbit, actions speak louder than words when it comes to proving the authenticity of our feelings."
As Arebo withdrew his hand, East's vision cleared, and a necklace pendant came into view, with a deep blue sapphire almost the same color as Arebo's eyes shimmering before his eyes.
Easter looked at Areper, and perhaps the doubt in his eyes was too obvious, so Areper said, "You will need it, a token, a token that will allow you to travel at sea."
The first feeling that welled up in Easter's heart was not excitement, but bewilderment and confusion. There is never a benefit that can be obtained without paying a price; what is free is the most expensive.
“This is too precious for me to accept,” Easter said. “It’s getting late, and we need to finish up what we had to do yesterday.” He offered a suitable reason to change the subject.
Arip pinned Easter down with one hand, his smile vanishing for the first time in front of Easter. He became serious and composed, his striking good looks revealing a cold, aggressive edge. "Mr. Rabbit, are you trying to deny our relationship, deny your promise to me?"
East's expression shifted from surprise to deep thought, "If..."
"Rabbit, think carefully before you speak."
East remained silent, looked up to meet Aribo's gaze, and sighed helplessly. "Can you allow me to say something complete?" Without waiting for Aribo's reply, he continued, "I don't mean to deny our relationship, nor do I mean to deny my promise to you." As he said these two sentences, his brows were furrowed, clearly showing his disagreement. "I... I just don't want our relationship to be involved with too many other things."
East's thoughts never changed. After the accident and the entanglements, his only wish was to keep the purity of this relationship and avoid too much conflict of interest. He had so little now. The difference in their status meant that if he became greedy, this already fragile relationship would be consumed very quickly. He didn't want their relationship to be so short-lived that it wouldn't even last as long as a flower in full bloom.
Arip gently hugged Easter. "I'm sorry, but I'm still very angry."
East struggled to lift her head. "You're the one who should be apologizing. Don't be angry, okay?" She pursed her lips, looking somewhat nervous and uneasy.
“It’s simple if you want me to stop being angry. Come here, let me put on the necklace I gave you as a token of our love.” Arip gave East no chance to resist and put the necklace on him.
East's expression stiffened. He really wanted to type into the system and ask if there was a way to improve his physique. Being suppressed so easily could easily lead to self-doubt.
After hearing Arriber's words, Easter couldn't bring himself to refuse. "Thank you, I'll treasure it and keep it safe." He wondered what kind of token of love he could give in return. Even if it couldn't compare to what Arriber had given him, it couldn't be so bad that it was embarrassing.
When East seemed to remember something, he hurriedly said, "Wait a minute," got out of bed, and opened the door to the adjoining study in his wooden slippers.
Arip, whose arms were suddenly empty, was speechless.
Easter came out of the study carrying a box. Arip sat up, his heart beating faster than usual. Of course, he wanted to know what Mr. Rabbit was going to do, and he became even more curious and expectant.
“Wait a minute,” Aripelago said, “How can you be so disheveled at such an important moment?”
Only then did Easter notice the inappropriateness of their clothing. He put the box on the table and changed his clothes and washed up.
Once he was properly dressed, Arip looked at the box, his heart pounding faster and faster than when he slept with Mr. Rabbit. He wondered what might be inside, but his chaotic mind couldn't process any ideas.
Under Arebo's expectant gaze, Easter opened the box, saying, "It's definitely not as precious as what you gave me."
But when Areper saw what was in the box, he was speechless with surprise, and looked at Esther with disbelief in his eyes.
Seeing Areper's reaction, Easter nervously curled his fingers. "Don't you like it?"
At that moment, Areper suddenly understood Mr. Rabbit from before. He also wanted to say, "This is too precious, I can't accept it." The crown was the crown that East wore on the day of his coronation. No one understood better than Areper what a crown meant to a king. It was one of the symbols of royal power. What did it represent? No further explanation was needed.
Finally, Arip said, "Mr. Rabbit, it's probably not appropriate to give this away, and I can't carry it with me, can I?" The last sentence was pure nonsense. How could people like them not have a spatial storage device on them?
Easter thought for a moment and nodded. Before Arip could even breathe a sigh of relief, Easter said, "How about I make you a necklace too? With this gemstone." Easter pointed to the sapphire on the crown. The sapphire was a lighter shade of blue than the one Arip had given her; it was a clear, gentle sky blue.
“A token of love should naturally be quite solemn,” East said. “Moreover, even if I gave you the whole thing, it wouldn’t compare to the one you gave me. It’s more of a symbol than a practical item.” There was no other way; East couldn’t find a more suitable item as a token of love, so he thought of the crown.
Aripor didn't know what to say. "Rabbit..." he called out helplessly. What could he do? He was the one who started this bad trend. If he dared not accept it, Rabbit would have a reason to refuse the necklace he gave her.
A knock sounded at the door; it was the cooks who had prepared breakfast coming up to deliver it.
Easter closed the lid. "I'll get it done as soon as possible." He thought that Aripor probably wouldn't be able to stay here for long, and with that thought, he stopped thinking about it and didn't want to think about it anymore.
Arip, staring at Easter's retreating figure, fell into deep thought. "Mr. Rabbit, why are you suddenly unhappy?" He thought about it more carefully. "No, Mr. Rabbit's emotions are off." Arip's reaction was within his expectations, which meant a normal reaction. But Mr. Rabbit's reaction was a bit pessimistic. This was not normal. He hadn't noticed it in time in the previous situation. Looking back, there were problems everywhere.
Easter didn't let the delivery boy into the room. Instead, he carried the food box into the small meeting room himself. After setting out the breakfast, Arip was still nowhere to be seen. Easter walked back to the room in confusion and met Arip's serious yet worried gaze. "What's wrong?"
“It was my oversight,” Arribel said.
"Huh? What?" East, it's only been two minutes, what happened that he doesn't know about?
Arribel looked at East and took out a small, square box.
Easter's gaze swept over the small box, and he looked at Areper with a puzzled expression. It shouldn't be what he thought, right?
“This is an alchemical item that can isolate you from monster contamination to a certain extent,” Arebo explained as he opened the box.
East didn't know whether to be disappointed or relieved. Inside the box was a beautiful earring, with sparkling diamonds surrounding a rose quartz stone.
"Cough, I never thought I'd need it. This is the only one I have." The monster's contamination didn't affect Areper much, so he'd never prepared any alchemical items to isolate it. He'd snatched this from Xavier during their last drinking session; elves have always loved these little trinkets.
And what caused the fight? It seems that Xavier's mocking voice was too loud, so he snatched the earring that Xavier had worked so hard to buy in Torandall so that Xavier would also feel bad.
Now that it could be put to use, he forgave Xavier's mockery, Arip thought magnanimously.
“Monster contamination?” Ister’s voice was low, not like he was asking Areber.
Ester rummaged through the original owner's memories in his mind. "Monster pollution" refers to the pollution of people's emotions. Everyone's emotional changes are different, but after the monsters were sealed, this has little to do with most ordinary people. This is because there is a prerequisite for pollution to occur: close contact with a large number of monsters gathered together. During this period, a large number of monsters must die. Here, "a large number" means at least tens of thousands of monsters. It is conceivable how unfamiliar this term is to people today.
“I think you should know about the changes that have taken place on the mainland,” Areper said with certainty.
"Is that so?" Ister was probably the first person to know about the changes on the continent. The seal on the monsters had loosened, and many monsters had escaped from the sealed land.
"Let me put it on for you first, and we can talk about the rest later."
“I don’t have pierced ears,” East replied instinctively.
“Isn’t that easy?” Arip picked up the earring and easily slipped it through East’s earlobe.
East didn't feel any pain, nor did she feel any of the effects that the earring should have. There was no sudden peace of mind or sudden clarity of spirit; everything was just normal, as if nothing had changed.
“That should be fine, it will take effect gradually.” Aripor had never used it before, so he was naturally a little uncertain. “Tsk! I forgot.” Aripor finished speaking, took out a nearly translucent rhomboid crystal, and tapped it with his finger. “Let me ask.”
"What do you want? I'm busy."
A familiar voice rang out to East; it was Randall Green, but compared to the indifferent elegance of their first meeting, there was a barely perceptible hint of irritability and impatience in his voice now.
"The earring you bought for Xavier last time, does it work just by wearing it?" Arip was already used to Randall's temper, or perhaps he needed his help right now.
"Effect? Oh, you mean isolating monsters from pollution? What, are you so weak that you have to use such a small thing?" Besides human voices, there were also various crackling sounds on Randall's end.
“Just answer my question.” Arip didn’t give a direct answer.
"Well, if there's nothing else..." Randall's voice trailed off for a moment, "Is it what I think?"
Arip ended the call. "Let's have breakfast."
Easter silently condemned Areper for Randall for a minute, just a minute, not a second more.
“The pollution from monsters relies on an invisible ‘qi,’ which we generally call demonic energy. This isn’t a definitive conclusion, and it’s just something that’s been passed down among some magicians and swordsmen,” Arip explained as he sat down at the table. “As the number of monsters increases, the demonic energy on the continent also increases. Demonic energy isn’t something that can be eliminated by simple methods. It used to be controllable, but it’s uncertain what will happen in the future.”
East recalled a previous instance of unusual emotional state, and felt that something was amiss.
“Rabbit, your emotions shouldn’t be affected so severely, but have you forgotten your summoned creatures? They have been fighting monsters all along, and I can sense that they are not affected by the monsters’ corruption. But you, the summoner, are different. You are not as immune as they are. Your connection with them is too close. The influence of one summoned creature may not be much, but when added together, it is not a small number.”
Arip's words were reasonable and seemed plausible, but Easter knew in his heart that his connection with the players was different from the connection between a summoner and his summoned creatures. It seemed he would have to talk to the system when he had time. For now, he said, "Thank you."
"Mr. Rabbit, what is our relationship? I can't stand you thanking me." Arip was seriously enjoying his food, and his words were somewhat unclear. He was used to going out on missions. When he was a nobleman, he had the manners of a nobleman, but when he didn't have to deliberately put on airs, he became much more casual.
Easter, "I'll try my best to make sure there's no next time."
Areper wasn't entirely satisfied, but knowing Mr. Rabbit's personality, he didn't press the issue further. "The necklace represents a personal relationship I've built, and has nothing to do with my family or the church. You don't need to worry too much when using it."
“Hmm…” Ister swallowed the words he wanted to say.
“Your summoned creatures have great potential, but they’re not very noticeable yet. By the time they grow up, or even before they do, there might be trouble,” Areber warned.
East wasn't too worried about this. As long as he didn't deliberately seek his own death, there was generally no danger in stepping on his territory. He didn't need to worry too much about the players. First, the players wouldn't actually die, and second, if the players wanted to do something they shouldn't, the system would be watching.
"It's good that you know what's going on," Ariber said without asking any further questions after seeing East's reaction. "Take this bracelet as insurance. Inside are some alchemical items for defense and offense, which I've already categorized."
Easter's heart skipped a beat, filled with unease, and he looked up to meet Areper's gaze.
Arip avoided East's gaze. "I... I thought I could stay a little longer," he stammered.
East had expected it, but he didn't expect it to be so sudden.
“You can’t use magic, so you can’t contact the crystal, but you can use this box to send messages.” Areber took out a pull-out box that looked very ordinary.
"When exactly?" Easter's knuckles, which were white as he gripped the silver spoon, asked in a detached tone.
"Two days at most." Ariber felt uneasy. Honestly, the church doesn't need him to function, so why the rush to get him back? This is a crucial time for him and Mr. Rabbit to build their relationship.
Easter nodded. "Okay."
"Hmm?" Are you sure Mr. Rabbit's reaction isn't right, Are you sure?
"Can I stop it? No." Easter asked himself, so he might as well be calm and accepting. It's just a long-distance relationship, right? He was already mentally prepared. This result is already very good. One shouldn't be too greedy.
Arip wiped his hands with a handkerchief and hugged Easter. "Mr. Rabbit." He couldn't make any promises. On the continent on the verge of chaos, everyone was swept up by fate, and individual strength seemed too insignificant.
Easter hugged Aripelago back, "I'll take care of myself, and you take care of yourself too." Aripelago's missions outside were far more dangerous than his own, and he hated his own powerlessness. His yearning for power and strength was no longer irrelevant.
"Sweetie, if you miss me, write me love letters. I'll treasure every single one of them," Ariber said, trying to ease the tension.
East responded softly. He wanted to spend the next two days with Arip, but as the shipping route was discussed, more matters came up. He had to suppress what he could, and what was left was what he couldn't suppress. So for the next two days, they could only meet in the evening.
Seeing how hard East looked, Aripelago wasn't the type to be greedy for sex, so he naturally wouldn't drag her into fooling around.
Every night they would whisper sweet nothings to each other, reminiscing about their pasts and exchanging loving words. Most of the time, East would listen to Areper recount the adventures he had experienced.
On the day of parting, there was not much farewell, because they both knew that this was not the last time they would meet, and that they would meet again someday.
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Author's note: I'll try to finish the next chapter in one go, but I always mess up the chapter division [crying][laughing and crying]. Please forgive me, everyone.
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