Dimensional Descent

2043 ...

Aina smiled sweetly, standing up to the tips of her toes and kissing Leonel deeply. Leonel seemed to feel his heart calm. The feeling of Aina's soft waist in his arm and her ample bosom pressed against his chest was like the sweetest taste of heaven. It was so simple, and yet so relaxing at the same time.

He didn't know how long he kissed her for, he seemed to have completely lost track of time, or maybe time simply didn't matter much to him any longer. If it wasn't for the fact he knew others could start watching them at any time, he would have most definitely taken his wife to bed now.

Although he thought about forcefully using his Dream Force to shroud such a connection, he decided against it in the end. He simply held Aina, feeling more and more at peace with every passing moment. His lips even curled into a smile as he pulled away, running his fingers through her hair.

Seeing Leonel like this, Aina felt a warmth within her.

No matter how hard she tried to run from it, the matters of all those years ago still haunted her. Sometimes she wondered when the next time Leonel would cruelly cut her off again without a word of care. Although she knew that she had a role to play in the matters of the past, this was still a very much human reaction on her path.

However, there was no greater sign of love than what Leonel had done just now. Maybe he knew that she had only said such things to get him to continue fighting on, but just the fact she had said it was enough for him to continue.

For someone like Leonel to say that he didn't care about the Heir Wars anymore took a great deal, whatever had happened was most definitely not just a small matter. And yet, for him to take back those words almost instantly just because of a request on her part just went to show how much weight she held in his heart.

Even without saying as much, just this gesture alone assured Aina, there was never anything much to worry about in the first place. This was her man, her future husband, the person she would grow old with.

Aina put on a new set of clothing to cover herself up while in Leonel's embrace and then took his hand, entering the Atlantis Territory along with him. She brought Leonel to the city core under his questioning gaze and then she waved a hand.

When she did so, Leonel was suddenly enlightened.

In truth, he had acted without regard earlier. He had triggered the upgrade challenge without any upgrade rewards or territory rewards. So, technically, he had faced off against three Heir-Grade challenges, and two each of Bronze-Grade, Silver-Grade, and Gold-Grade. That said, a Bronze-Grade and Silver-Grade and Gold-Grade challenges weren't worth much of anything in the face of an Heir-Grade challenge, especially not one that was three times as difficult, so Leonel hadn't cared much.

Now, Aina had come with the territory upgrade reward that he would need to claim the entire sea.

Like this, he had claimed his third sea, and he exhaled a breath.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Aina asked.

The previous Leonel was on track to maximize efficiency, so when it was convenient, he had sent Aina off on her own missions. However, she wanted to know if Leonel preferred her here now.

She knew that whatever Leonel was going through wasn't just magically cured with her words, she was just happy that he cared enough about her to be able to ignore it for the time being, but that didn't mean that she didn't want to find a solution as quickly as possible.

Leonel didn't respond immediately, looking out into empty space for a moment.

"What do you think about life, Aina?"

"Hm?" Aina was a bit confused, not sure where this question was coming from. In reality, no one could have known what was going on in Leonel's mind, even her. To have deduced what he had from such small and minor bits of information, was absolutely ridiculous. Maybe even those in the background, pulling on their puppet strings, would have never guessed such a thing.

"If you didn't have the drive to gain revenge for your mother and make up for the loss of your childhood with children of your own, what do you think you'd be doing with your life right now?"

Aina paused, uncertain of how to answer.

Leonel's question wasn't only difficult to answer, it was nigh impossible. Removing such things from her was like creating an entirely new person. If she never experienced such things, how could she still be the same Aina? In that life, she might not have even ever met Leonel in the first place.

Leonel was asking her who she would be if she wasn't herself, and even deeper than that, he was asking what her fundamental being was.

However, even that seemingly fundamental question was layered with yet another even deeper meaning.

What made a person? Was it their life experiences? Or was the person they would be decided upon at birth?

If there was a "fundamental Aina", then that would assume that everyone had an innate nature to them. If there wasn't, then that would mean that it was entirely a matter of nurture.

Someone else might have tried to casually answer this question, but although she didn't seem to be as smart as Leonel, Aina held her own sort of weight in this regard. So, quite truthfully, she didn't know how to answer for a very long time.

Aina had once lost her personality… Back then was she still Aina? She still had all of her memories, so why had she acted so differently than usual.

The answer was complex. Aina felt what made a person wasn't just a series of events, but also the variables associated with them. The timing, the sequence, these two things were highly important.

Aina took a breath. "… I don't know."