Chapter 345: The fifth emotion
(Time-Stilled World, The Spectral Plateau, Leo’s POV)
Leo felt the pain hidden behind the voices of the spectre as they presented the third riddle.
This was definitely by far the most complex riddle he had heard, not because it was particularly witty.
But because it was deeply human.
It wasn’t a question of logic, or deduction, or perception. It was a question of understanding hearts. Of choosing which love was real— when all three brothers had believed with equal desperation that they were the one she adored.
Leo closed his eyes, allowing the silence to settle, not rushing to an answer as he tried to empathize with each story.
The first brother had claimed her love because she laughed with him the most and because she came to him when her mother was sick.
The second insisted she loved him because she always looked for him in a crowd, confided her deepest secrets to him and enjoyed his warmth and comfort.
The third believed it was him, because she had kissed him and no other, and because she looked at him with eyes that were different from the other two.
They all had valid reasons. But love—true love—was rarely about reason.
Leo’s thoughts drifted to something Elena once said to him when he was but a teenage child.
"If you ever wish to know who someone loves... watch who they protect in their weakest hour."
It was a comment she made in passing, however, it was a comment that stayed with him for life.
’What mom said back then is definitely the truest test of love... If there was a room full of people I loved the most, and an explosion suddenly occurred that blew everyone backwards... who would I glance at first after I look up? That’s definitely the person I love the most...’ Leo thought, as inadvertently, his thoughts shifted to Amanda—the love of his life.
And this time... he didn’t fight it.
He didn’t shut the door on the pain, or bury the memories beneath layers of cold pragmatism. He let them wash over him fully—raw, wild, unfiltered—as images of her smile, her voice, and every stolen moment they shared bloomed behind his eyes.
She wasn’t perfect. She wasn’t always the most elegant or practical. But she was herself, and to Leo, that had always been enough.
He remembered the way she’d grip his hand when he ate his food too fast, glaring at him to finish the food in his mouth first, before scooping another spoonful.
He remembered the way she’d sit with him in silence after a rough day, no questions asked. The way she lit up whenever she spoke about her dreams, even if she knew they may never come true.
He loved her.
Not because she completed him, or made him feel whole.
But because... her happiness mattered more to him than his own.
Because if protecting her meant becoming a monster for the whole universe, he wouldn’t hesitate in being one.
Because he knew, deep in his soul, that if everyone else was falling, she’d be the one he’d look for first.
He would do anything for her.
Even if she never looked at him the same way.
Even if she forgot him entirely.
Even if loving her tore him apart.
And as those thoughts crystallized into something undeniable, something true, Leo failed to notice the soft ripple of color blooming around him.
A gentle pink aura—warm, quiet, and impossibly pure—began to rise from his skin like a breath in winter air, glowing brighter with every heartbeat.
It wasn’t rage. It wasn’t grief. It was love, in its most vulnerable form. Love that asked for nothing. Love that simply was.
But Leo remained oblivious to it, eyes closed, heart open, as he began to truly feel the weight of the riddle again.
Three brothers. Three hearts. One woman.
The first had spoken of laughter and loyalty in times of need.
The second had spoken of comfort and emotional intimacy.
The third... had spoken of gifts and physical intimacy.
But none had spoken of what they lost.
True Love was not a competition.
True Love was being happy even if the person they loved was with someone else.
As wanting someone to be happy only when they were with yourself wasn’t true love, but rather obsessive self love.
"All of you...."
"She loved all of you, but none of you truly loved her—" Leo responded at last as he opened his eyes and gazed straight into the fog ahead of him, at the spot where the spectre had initially vanished from.
"She treated all three of you kindly, and showed a different side of her to you based on what would feel endearing to you.
But I don’t believe any of you loved her, because if you did, you wouldn’t be fighting amongst yourself trying to prove that she loved just one.
But would rather be happy that she had a heart big enough to love all three—" Leo said in a sombre voice, as a small tear formed in his own eyes.
This was not an answer he gave from his mind, but rather one that he gave from his heart, based on his own understanding of true love, and his feelings for Amanda.
It was not an answer that he felt particularly confident in.
Especially in a test of wisdom.
However, it was an answer that he believed in, because it was in-line with his own understanding of true love.
For a long moment, there was no reply.
Just silence. Heavy, trembling silence that clung to the Spectral Plateau like dew over a field of graves.
Then, without warning, the fog ahead stirred—tugged apart as though drawn back by unseen hands—as the spectre reappeared, emerging slowly into view.
But this time... something was different.
The spectre’s form no longer stood tall and accusatory, as it’s very posture had changed.
Its eyes—three sets glowing dimly across three conjoined heads—were no longer searing with an angry glowing red.
Instead, each head turned toward the other, not in challenge, but in shame.
Their once-bright red gaze dimming to a dull brown, as for the first time since Leo arrived, none of them could meet his gaze.
Each pair of eyes slowly dropped to the ground, heavy with guilt, as their faces began to change.
The withered beards and deep lines began to fade. The warped skin, clouded eyes, and ghostly age peeled away like dried paint revealing a canvas underneath—until, for a fleeting moment, Leo saw the spectre as it once was.
Three handsome young men. Identical in body, unique in expression.
One with an impish grin. One with a calm and thoughtful gaze. One with a shy, boyish smile.
And in that moment of clarity, unmarred by time, by madness, or by cursed mana, Leo finally saw not monsters, not riddlers, not spectres...
But men.
Broken, And Regretful Men.
The leftmost head spoke first, voice cracking as though remembering how to be honest.
"You’re right..." he whispered. "We didn’t truly love her. Not the way she deserved."
The middle head closed his eyes, as if in pain.
"This world’s mana... it twisted us. Our thoughts. Our hearts. It fed our jealousy, made our minds unravel over the centuries... until we could no longer hear her voice. Only each other’s accusations."
And the rightmost head finished the truth.
"We murdered her." His words fell like stone.
"Because we couldn’t bear the idea that she loved one of us more."
"It’s the one act we regret beyond all others."
"We haven’t left from this place in over three thousand years. We’ve stood guard beside her grave... trying to remember her face. Trying to atone for what we did. Trying to believe she might forgive us from beyond the grave someday."
As his voice faded into the wind, the plateau itself began to tremble—softly at first, like a heartbeat finally returning to a dying body.
Then the stone beneath their feet shimmered, its dull gray hue beginning to shift and reshape, cracks etching through the fog-laced ground as glowing inscriptions of an ancient tombstone emerged.
[ IN MEMORY OF RUTH ]
Delicate. Honest. Eternal.
"You’re a better man than we are.... Mortal. You have earned our respect, and the right to pass.
No spectre shall trouble you on your journey from this point onwards—" The central head said, as the fog receded completely, unveiling the straight path ahead, and the broken outline of a far-away castle.