“Uh... I...” Edlyn covered her mouth, lost like a fawn in fog.

Eli stayed on one knee with a crescent-thin smile, waiting like a stone lantern in still water for the answer he loved.

Edlyn’s cheeks bloomed pink like peach petals; her gaze skittered away like a startled sparrow. She snuck a glance, caught him catching her, and ducked down, blush burning to her ears like sunset fire.

When Eli lowered his head, a touch crestfallen like a wilted leaf, Edlyn finally breathed, “I do,” her voice small as a mosquito in summer reeds.

Eli blinked, stunned like thunder after lightning. “Huh? What?”

She nodded, cheeks aflame like coals under snow.

Joy burst through Eli like spring flooding a dry riverbed. He stood and pulled Edlyn into his arms, holding her like the tide holds the shore.

Seeing her shy as a moonflower, he chuckled, brushed a kiss by her ear like a feathered moth, then lifted her onto his lap. He sat on the stone, arms circling her like an iron ring around warm jade.

Edlyn blinked, dazed like a cat woken by sun.

He drew the ring from its box, the silver catching light like frost, and slid it onto her finger as gently as rain threading a leaf.

Both hearts quivered like taut strings plucked in a quiet hall. Eli smiled at her like dawn spills gold; Edlyn lowered her head, too shy to meet his gaze, a crane hiding by reeds.

“From now on, I get to call you my wife, right?” Eli tipped her chin with two fingers, lifting her face like a flower to sun, delight bright in his eyes.

“Sh-shut up. If you call me that, I’ll ignore you forever,” Edlyn huffed, tossing her head like a pony flicking its mane.

“My Demonic Lord, can’t take it, huh?” Eli grinned, and with a playful shove, laid her back on the stone like cloud on a hill.

“What are you doing?!” Panic fluttered in her chest like caged birds. “It’s broad daylight,” she said, breath quick as wind in grass.

“Tch. Even the sun here is fixed like a nail in the sky. Making it disappear is easy,” Eli murmured, caging her in his arms like branches around a nesting bird; her struggles rippled uselessly like fish in a net.

He only lowered his head with a wicked smile and captured her lips, warm and sweet as ripe fruit.

Edlyn fought a while like a wave against a reef, then stilled, surrendering like water to the moon.

After a long time, they parted, breaths tangled like ivy on a wall. Eli held Edlyn and looked toward a river of stars, endless as spilled salt on black velvet.

Edlyn followed his gaze to the far edge of the Celestial Realm, eyes deep as a lake at night.

“Edlyn. Let me tell you something,” Eli said with a soft smile, voice calm as a hearth’s glow.

“Mm? Go on,” Edlyn answered, leaning in his arms on the stone, her jade-white feet swinging lazily like wind-bells in summer, joy bright as sunlight.

Eli glanced down at her, his hand ruffling her hair like a breeze through willow. Relief loosened in him like a knot undone. “Eh. Forget it. It’s nothing big,” he said, smile easy as drifting cloud.

The Abyss will help her fuse the ring’s power, he thought, worry ebbing like tide from sand.

“Tsk. Always like this. You’ll tell me later, right?” Edlyn pouted, lips a cherry under dew.

“Yeah. I’ll tell you later,” Eli said, kneading her hair again, laughter warm as spring rain.

“How long can we keep living like this?” Edlyn asked, eyes on the endless cosmos, her mood dimming like a lantern in mist.

“What’s with the sudden feeling?” Eli chuckled, kissing her cheek like a petal brushing water.

“Mm...” She wiped his kiss like a cat washing whiskers and gave him a side-eye as sharp as a crescent blade. “Just a little sentimental. Nothing much.”

Eli smiled, face turning solemn like stone: “We’ll keep going until seas run dry and stones turn to dust.”

“Pfft. What rustic line is that?” Edlyn laughed, covering her mouth like a blossom shielding its heart.

“Edlyn, don’t overthink it. Let’s do what we ought to do,” Eli said, grin wicked as moonshadow.

“Eh? I thought we weren’t...” Edlyn curled up like a hedgehog, nerves prickling.

“It’s been a week. I can’t hold back,” Eli said, and pressed her down again like a storm rolling in.

“You—mmph.”

Night fell like a curtain, and no more words were needed.

Eli tucked the quilt over Edlyn like snow over a quiet field, straightened his clothes like a soldier fixing armor, and stepped outside.

The Abyss stood by the cabin he’d built, smiling like a calm sea under stars.

“Walk with me?” Eli asked, voice light as wind. “We’ll take her once she wakes.”

“Mm. That works,” the Abyss said, nodding like a pine in breeze.

“Abyss, can you tell me what time-point this world sits in now?” Eli asked, gaze steady as a lodestone.

“Brat. My daughter accepted your proposal. Stop calling me ‘Abyss’ all the time. It’s not great,” the other said, brow arched like a drawn bow, displeasure a faint shadow.

“Uh... then... father-in-law?” Eli tried, grin crooked like a chipped cup.

“...Before my daughter marries in, don’t call me that,” the Abyss said, rubbing his head like smoothing rough bark, the sound awkward as a squeaky hinge.

The title felt unnatural, like a shoe on the wrong foot.

“Then what? Why so many rules?” Eli’s brow lifted like a hawk on a thermal.

“Tsk.” The Abyss rolled his eyes like marbles. “My true name is Milan Edward. You can call me Edward.”

“I’d rather call you father-in-law,” Eli muttered, staring up like a man weighing clouds.

“Suit yourself,” the Abyss said, eyes rolling again like lazy wheels.

Silence stretched between them like a bridge over fog, until Eli said, slow as dripping water, “Do you know the tale of One through Nine?”

“One through Nine?” The Abyss paused, doubt flickering like a moth. “You mean those nine people I’m thinking of?”

“What else?” Eli said, voice flat as stone.

“I know it,” the Abyss replied, calm as an old well.

“So it’s real?” Eli pressed, curiosity sharp as frost.

“Not exactly true, not exactly false,” the Abyss said, words balanced like scales.

“How?” Eli asked, frown cutting like a plow through soil.

“The nine people are false; the great threat is real,” the Abyss said with a smile, a thunderclap in clear sky.

“If the nine are false, how was the threat removed?” Eli asked, questions flocking like crows.

“I don’t mean they don’t exist. I mean their story is false,” the Abyss said, tone cool as shade.

“Then how was the threat removed?” Eli pushed, mind taut like wire.

“...The World Tree,” the Abyss said after a pause, eyes drifting far like a bird’s.

“The World Tree, huh?” Eli murmured, words falling like seeds.

“Many things are only fun when you dig them up yourself,” the Abyss said, smile sly as moonlight.

“And those nine? What’s their deal? If they exist, they’ve got to be tied to it. So why is their story false?” Eli said, the thoughts turning like a millwheel.

The Abyss only watched him with a smile, silent as a stone Buddha. He knew Eli was talking to himself.

“One more thing,” Eli said, voice tipping like rain from a leaf.

“Are you that old man who plays with talismans?!” Eli blurted, suspicion sparking like flint.

“Edward, what state are you in now? You know the past too well,” Eli added, confusion rising like mist.

“Huh?” the Abyss said, innocent as clear water.

“You said you couldn’t show up often, but it’s not that simple. You know too much. Your emotions aren’t clearly suppressed. That means you’re weaker than your original self, yet you cross all time, stepping into any era. I don’t get it,” Eli said, frustration curling like smoke.

The Abyss laughed, looking at Eli’s pained face, and shrugged like a gull. “Hahaha. You finally asked. I’ve waited too long.”

“Huh?” Eli said, baffled as a deer.

“Think of it this way. Didn’t I tell you the Celestial God didn’t kill me? Then where could I escape his pull?” the Abyss asked, voice mysterious as a cave mouth.

“Of course, the Sea of Time. Even what you see now isn’t the Abyss from the era you think. In every slice of time, there’s a version of me,” he said when Eli stalled, the answer smooth as a riverstone.

“What’s the Sea of Time?” Eli rolled his eyes, impatience flaring like a match.

“Same as always. It’s only fun if you explore. If I tell you straight, it won’t do,” the Abyss said, wagging a finger like a reed in wind.

“To hell with your immortal ancestors,” Eli muttered, temper snapping like dry twig.

“...?!” the Abyss blinked, startled as a heron.

Edlyn stretched like a cat in warm light and found two men studying her.

One was her father, the Abyss, looking fresh as clear morning, happiness bright as dew.

The other was the man who’d just proposed to her. He wore raccoon eyes, his face bruised and puffed like clouds after a storm.

“What happened to you two?” Edlyn tilted her head, puzzled like a sparrow.

Eli smiled. “Edlyn, you might need to leave with the Abyss for a while,” he said, voice gentle as dusk.

“Eh? Why?” she asked, brows folding like willow leaves.

“Does that mean we can already beat the Celestial God and those other clowns?” Edlyn asked, confusion rippling like wind on rice.

“No... just go with the Abyss. I need to stay here a bit, then I’ll come find you,” Eli said, rubbing his aching face with a grin crooked as a waning moon.

“...But... I don’t want to go,” Edlyn said, biting her lip, a rare streak of willfulness rising like a summer squall.

“Be good. I’ll come for you soon,” Eli said, warmth steady as a brazier.

The Abyss nodded. “Edlyn, if you want to truly help Eli, you must come with your father. I’ll make you a one-of-a-kind existence under this sky,” he said, vow firm as granite.

He added the rest in silence, trying to bend fate like bamboo, away from tragedy.

“But...” She looked at Eli, her gaze misting like rain over a lake.

Moved, Eli sank to one knee again. He lifted her ringed hand and kissed it like carving a promise in stone. “Edlyn, I’ll come to marry you. Trust me. This is for you too. Okay?”

“Mhm... okay.” She lowered her head, a petal bowed with dew.

He pulled her close, and for the first time she hugged him back, arms threading him like silk around a warm core.

The Abyss watched them, envy and relief crossing his eyes like twin stars.

“Pack up. Edlyn, get ready to come with me,” the Abyss said, checking the hour like reading a sundial. “Eli, you must master that thing in this span. Only then can you survive. As you are, you’re far too weak.”

“I know,” Eli said, nodding with a smile steady as a mountain’s shadow.