Editing KSGU:Volume 5 Chapter 2 (section)

===Part 8===

The atmosphere at the seats cooled off, and it took about 10 minutes before Mineva could leave her seat naturally. She left the party with a stomach full of undigested food, and walked around the mansion, trying to look for Riddhe.

It was unknown if most of the servants went to help out with the party as the mansion was completely quiet. Ronan should be working inside the house, but there was no way to detect his presence in this large mansion. Mineva went from the hall to the stairs, passed through the empty wide corridor, and went forward. She saw Riddhe’s back as he stood on the terrace facing the courtyard.

At this moment, the wall clock let out a sound, and it was 18.30. If the time was taken at Greenwich Meridian standard, it would be 23.30 in space. She looked up at the digital clock that showed both timings, and again understood that she was in a place that was very distant. She passed through the door that was opened and stepped onto the terrace. The wind blowing by the courtyard caused the curtains to flutter, flipping some pages of a book that was being read.

Riddhe continued to stare at the trails of the setting red Western sky as his back did not move. The sounds of the helicopters flying from afar were mixed in amongst the winds, causing the trees surrounding the courtyard to buzz unsteadily.

Mineva looked up at the sky that was turning from orange to blue and to a deep indigo color, and smelled the flavor of the evening wind that had the presence of night hidden in it. “I’m sorry” the voice entered her ears, and she looked forward, staring right at Riddhe’s back as he still looked forward. She lowered her face and said, “There’s no need for you to apologize…”

“I feel that this is reality too. If I continue to remain in Neo Zeon, I wouldn’t know all of these things.”

''This might be a good chance to learn.'' Mineva muttered in her depressed heart, but she could not find any words to overcome these words that were full of such prejudice. She thought that mutual understanding was just a dream, and she remained unable to breathe in this helplessness of hers. “That’s not it.” Riddhe said as his shoulders trembled, and he clenched his hands that were on the handrails tightly.

“That’s not what I want to talk about…”

The sunset showed the figure of the shoulders, and the shoulders were trembled, probably because he was crying. That was not an emotion that could be caused by a breakdown in talks between him and Ronan, and Mineva sensed that there was a greater despair and sense of loss here, “Riddhe…” she called him, and approached his trembling figure.

Suddenly, that back profile left the handrails, and Riddhe turned to Mineva, his chest filling her sights. Mineva was hugged around the shoulders as she was pulled to him, and he embraced her in his clutches.

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“I’m sorry, I…I actually brought you to such a unthinkable place…!”

Riddhe’s arms that were hugging Mineva exerted more force as he uttered out such unperceivable words, sounding like he was trying to squeeze out all the fluids in his body. Mineva wanted to push her aside, but notice that she had no place to exert strength, and was shocked as she felt Riddhe’s body warmth.

“No matter what, I’ll protect you well no matter what, so please stay here, stay by me…don’t leave me alone…”

Water droplets that had warmth dripped on her hair, wetting her forehead. ''Why is he crying? What’s causing him so much pain? At that moment, Mineva had no sense of uneasiness or disgust as she felt Riddhe’s trembling body with her own. She hesitated over whether she should put her arms around him, and she looked at the sky that was entering the night from past the shoulders wearing the military uniform.

Mineva saw the stars flicker on the other end of the thick atmosphere. That star looked much more gentler than what she saw in space, but it was so blurry and hard to grasp sight of.