Dimensional Descent

Leonel's heart skipped a beat.

It wasn't a question that should have moved him very far from his original baseline at all. He should have been able to read from Eamon's expressions that it was something like this.

However, the problem was that this situation was too familiar.

In love with someone he shouldn't be? Wasn't that the woman he jokingly called Aina's mother-in-law all the time?

Leonel might not interact much with Eamon, but he had seen plenty from afar. He knew how much he cared about Cindra. But he also knew how much Cindra cared about Miel.

Much like he had ignored the oddities surrounding Goggles, he had ignored this one as well... because it was simply too uncanny.

Goggles had truly been in love with Rollan's wife back then. Something that probably came off as mostly a joke to everyone else was quite serious to him, or else he wouldn't have risked so much and even practically changed himself for her. Even if it meant that he wouldn't actually get to be with her.

And now Eamon was in love with someone that Leonel effectively thought of as Miel's woman. In some ways, he even thought of her as a quasi mother-in-law already.

Leonel forced himself to calm down.

He truly didn't care much about Goggles at all. The reason he had such a visceral reaction the first time, and now this time, was because Goggles was a representation of his father in his eyes. Not in type, and certainly not in ability, but he was a mirror that forced Leonel to look into it.

He could only logic his way out of the uncomfortable feelings.

First, Goggles had met Rollan's wife while she was already married, but Miel and Cindra had yet to even have a date together, let alone marry. Being able to see their feelings for one another because of Dream Force was a completely different beast compared to them actually acting on it. He couldn't expect that Eamon would be as sharp as he was, which was why he had taken so long to realize what was happening and that he had already lost the woman he loved.

Second, their reactions to this information was entirely different. Goggles always used to joke about it to the point that even Leonel didn't realize he was being serious until it was far too late. This caused Leonel to misjudge a character he thought he knew quite well.

As for Eamon, he showed his heart on his sleeve and had even told Leonel directly about what the problem was.

Goggles was too good at scheming and hiding his real thoughts while Eamon wasn't this sort of person at all.

Putting them in the same box was doing a disservice to Eamon, one he didn't deserve at all because none of this was his fault.

After thinking this far, Leonel calmed down and plopped down beside Eamon. He forced a smile and laughed somewhat self-deprecatingly.

"I'm honestly not the best person to ask for relationship advice," he finally said.

Eamon's gaze dimmed. He thought that Leonel was just saying that. He had such a beautiful wife, and there were clearly women throwing themselves at him all the time, how could he not know?

Leonel picked up on the subtle hints quite easily and his smile grew more bitter.

How could he even explain it? That his future self was so powerful that he fell in love without even understanding why he was in love?

Sometimes he even thought about if Aina really did love him at all, or if it was something his future self had done as well.

In a lot of ways, they were robbed of their story because of the way this world worked and it was hard to tease apart the truth from the fiction. He could only do his best to cherish his wife in the here and now.

Leonel sighed. "Do you know how many times I confessed to Aina?"

Eamon blinked, not quite understanding the odd question. Wasn't that something people normally did just once?

"No..." he said tentatively.

"521 times."

Eamon was speechless.

"She ran away every time and never gave me an answer. Then when I finally saw her again after the Metamorphosis descended, the first thing that girl did was rip the heart out of some guy's chest.

"I was under the impression this whole time that she was some shy girl who couldn't even say "NO" clearly. Come to find out she's some murdering psycho."

Eamon coughed, and before he could stop it, he burst into a fit of laughter. Leonel thought he would stop after a while, but he just kept going... and going... and going.

"Hey, hey. Don't you think you're laughing a little too hard?" Leonel asked, feeling somewhat aggrieved. He was really going through it back then, it felt like his whole world was flipped upside down.

Eamon snorted and wheezed as he tried to stifle his laughter, but it was nigh impossible. Nothing he did seemed to work.

Eventually, he managed to calm down and take deep breaths.

"... I really can't imagine it," Eamon said with a chuckle.

He really couldn't. Leonel looked good at everything, what do you mean confessing to the same woman 521 times? Didn't he know how to take a hint?

"You see why I can't give you advice now? I stumbled around with this stuff just like you, how am I supposed to tell?

"What I can tell you, though, is this... don't waste time on a woman who doesn't love you, and don't hurt a woman who does. Do you understand?"

After his and Aina's breakup, Leonel learned that first lesson well, but the second... it took some maturing before he put some other things before his ego.

Aina had hurt him so he used logic as a shield to hurt her back. That was the crux of the issue. If not for how mature Aina had been about that situation, maybe they wouldn't even be together now...

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