Again and again.
The concept of time had completely lost its meaning for Chronos. The ancient dragon had watched the sun rise and set across thousands of different timelines. Every time the breath of life left Rea's body with old age, Chronos would spread his wings once more, tear open a corridor through time, and fly backward into the past—to the moment when the girl had just been born.
He never grew tired of it.
He was there when little Rea ran through the forest and hugged his snout. He was there when Rea grew into a young woman who complained about how difficult it was to live as a human. He listened to her ridiculous jokes, ate the roasted meat she gave him, and became the only shoulder she could lean on amid the harshness of the world.
Yet in this latest repetition—in a timeline where they had spent nearly a hundred years together—the question had finally become impossible for him to hold back.
Today, the silence inside the old cabin deep in the forest felt especially oppressive.
Rea lay on her wooden bed. Her once-shimmering golden hair had turned completely white as snow. Her skin was covered in wrinkles, and her breathing sounded so frail, so slow amid the silence of the night.
Beside the bed, Chronos sat in his humanoid form. The silver-haired man clasped Rea's frozen, trembling fingers.
"Chronos..." Rea called in a faint voice that was almost swallowed by the rustle of the night wind.
'I'm here, Rea,' Chronos whispered through telepathy. His voice was as soft as silk, holding back the tremor of pain beginning to creep through his chest.
Rea smiled faintly. Her age-clouded eyes remained fixed on the face of the silver-haired man who had never aged.
"I'm... really old now, huh?" Rea murmured with a soft chuckle, though a small cough immediately wracked her. "These miserable years... they'll finally be over soon."
Chronos clenched his hand. For a hundred years in this timeline, he had watched Rea reject the dozens of young men who came to propose to her. He had watched as she chose to spend her entire youth growing old alone in this forest cabin, all so she could cook meat and sit chatting with him every day.
Without a family. Without children. Without ever knowing what it felt like to be loved by another human being.
'Rea,' Chronos called softly. His cold hand gently squeezed the old woman's fingers. 'There's something I want to ask you. Before you go.'
Rea nodded slowly, giving him permission.
'Why did you never get married?' Chronos asked, his chest tight. 'Why did you always choose to remain single? Why did you let yourself grow old alone, without a family... just to be with me?'
Silence enveloped the small room for several seconds.
Rea did not answer right away. Another faint smile formed on her pale lips. She moved her weak fingers and stroked the back of Chronos's hand, which she was holding.
"The men out there..." Rea's voice grew softer, broken by the last of her breath. "...not one of them was like you, Uncle."
'Rea...'
"Ever since I got lost in this forest for the first time, when I was nine... when I saw you sleeping among the tree roots..." Rea paused, gathering the last of her strength in her chest. A sincere warmth suddenly shone in those clouded eyes. "I've been in love with you. At first sight."
BOOM!
As if struck by lightning in broad daylight, Chronos's entire body froze. His golden pupils trembled violently.
"I knew... you were a dragon," Rea whispered as she slowly closed her eyes. A faint, delicate flush suddenly appeared on both her wrinkled cheeks—the exact same blush she had worn at nine years old. "I knew it was crazy. But my heart could never lie. For the hundred years of my life... I loved you sincerely, Chronos. I never wanted anything from you."
Rea's grip slowly loosened.
Her final breath swept through the cold night air, leaving behind the most peaceful smile ever to grace her lips.
"No... Rea..."
Chronos remained frozen in place. The silver-haired man stared at the woman's body as she breathed her last in a silence that felt deadly.
An overwhelming sense of regret suddenly exploded from the depths of the dragon's soul, tearing his heart to shreds until nothing remained.
'In love at first sight...?'
The thought continued to spin, battering his consciousness like a relentless barrage of blows.
All this time... in every timeline he had repeated, in every hundred years he had spent with Rea... Chronos had thought he was giving the girl "happiness" and "protection." He had thought he was the one saving Rea from loneliness.
But the truth was far more painful than death.
For the sake of Chronos's selfish happiness—for the sake of satisfying his own longing and curiosity—Rea had sacrificed her entire life. She had never married, never had children, never felt the warmth of a human family, and had let her youth rot away in loneliness simply because of her unrequited love for a dragon who had never realized her feelings.
'How many times...?' Chronos screamed hysterically within the void. 'How many times have I made your life miserable, Rea?!'
He didn't know. He had never understood.
Why could this woman love him so deeply? Chronos had never done anything extraordinary for her. He had only slept, listened to her complaints, and eaten the meat she gave him. Yet the love in Rea's eyes just now... had been pure truth, untouched by even the slightest lie.
Chronos rose, his body trembling violently. The regret burning in his chest had now transformed into overwhelming fear.
'I am poison to you,' Chronos sighed in a broken voice. 'Your love for me... is your greatest suffering.'
The dragon looked at Rea's body one last time.
He had made his decision. If his presence would only condemn Rea to a lifetime of suffering without a family, then in the next timeline... he had to sever this accursed fate.
He had to leave. He had to let Rea live happily as an ordinary human, without ever knowing a dragon named Chronos.