CHAPTER 279: CHAPTER 278 - “I LOVE YOU.”

A while later.

The golden-marked door opened with a slow, deliberate creak.

Raven stepped out first, his usual composed stride somehow softer. Lia followed close behind, her cheeks flushed, her hand caught in his like it belonged there. The faint shine of a dark, glowing ring on her finger caught the light of the treasure room’s lamps.

The air shifted. Conversations dipped into silence.

Siris leaned back on the gold heap, twirling her dagger lazily. She didn’t say anything but stared at Lia with her eyes squinted.

’She better not take my place,’ she muttered inwardly, thinking of her spot on Raven’s back.

"Well, well... finally made it official, huh?" Rufus spoke from another corner, sitting cross-legged with Jake, supposedly digesting the food they had eaten.

Jessy grinned knowingly. "Took you long enough."

"Squeak!" Nibbles pointed like he’d just won a bet.

Alex, however, lowered his head in defeat, muttering, "How could I lose? I never thought they were going to get together."

The others merely stared at him as if saying, ’You were the only one who didn’t know.’

Then, Nibbles turned toward Raven, squeaking from Alex’s shoulder in rapid-fire chirps, clearly congratulating them, though no one knew exactly what he was saying.

Even the dragon smirked faintly, molten eyes narrowing in quiet amusement.

Graye, however, crossed her arms, tail flicking.

"Right, happy for you and all that..." She muttered, her voice edged with impatience. "But seriously—when’s it my turn to join?"

The room stilled a fraction, several eyes flicking toward Raven to see how he’d answer.

But for the first time since anyone could remember, Raven didn’t say ’not yet.’

He just looked at Graye... and smiled.

That alone was more than what he could’ve said in a hundred words for Graye.

Because she could finally see some progress.

She could tell that she was getting somewhere.

Behind him, Lia looked both bashful and radiant—it was a glow that no magic could fake.

Clara, leaning against the far wall, kept her arms folded and her expression calm, as if nothing had changed.

But her gaze lingered on their joined hands for a moment too long, and the faint clench of her jaw betrayed the effort it took to keep her face neutral.

She didn’t want to feel this, but she couldn’t stop it. No matter how many times she tried to forget it, Raven’s words from earlier would echo in her ears.

Those three magical words he said to Lia.

But she wasn’t the only one feeling it.

Selena, seated in her usual composed posture, allowed herself a single glance—cool, measured, and unreadable. But her fingers curled slightly in her lap, knuckles pressing white for just a moment before she smoothed them back out.

They thought that they were hiding everything—their expressions and their emotions—but Raven could see it as clear as day.

But he couldn’t tell why they were upset.

That was until Raven heard it in passing.

It was the barest whisper, almost swallowed by the shuffle of boots against stone.

"...never even said ’I love you’ to me..."

It was Clara’s voice, low and tight, the kind of mutter meant to be kept private.

He stopped mid-step, brows drawing together.

He looked from her to Selena, whose gaze slid away with practiced ease but whose stillness was telling.

That... explained a lot.

He turned to Lia, who had been holding his hand still. She tilted her head in silent question.

"I need a moment," he said simply.

She followed his gaze toward Clara and Selena, then back to him. A knowing smirk tugged at her lips.

"Go," she said, stepping back without hesitation.

Raven crossed the short distance to the two women, the chatter in the treasure room fading under the shift in his presence.

"What’s this about me never saying something?" He asked evenly, though there was a faint quirk to his mouth.

Clara’s eyes widened slightly, then she shrugged, trying for nonchalance. "It’s nothing."

"Mm," Raven hummed, unconvinced. His gaze slid to Selena. "You too?"

Selena, of course, didn’t flinch. "You’ve never said it to me, either."

She might as well have been commenting on the weather, but the faint tension in her fingers gave her away.

Understanding clicked.

"...Right," he said slowly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Guess I haven’t."

That earned him twin stares—Clara’s incredulous, Selena’s piercing.

He exhaled, glancing at the others in the room.

Rufus was pretending not to eavesdrop.

Siris looked ready to stab whoever made the next sound.

Jessy was grinning like this was better than free theater.

Alex was leaning forward, Nibbles perched like an eager audience member.

Even the corrupt panther had stopped gnawing on Graye’s gauntlet to watch.

"Look," Raven began, "it’s not that I didn’t want to. I just... wanted the moment I said those words to be right. Romantic. Something that sticks in your memory."

He spread his hands faintly. "Thing is... life’s been one mess after another. Never really got the perfect setting."

Even at that time when he was on a date with Selena, he would’ve said those words to her if not for the events that had followed.

Then, he also planned a date for Clara, but he never got the time to ask her out.

Clara and Selena didn’t know that, but he did.

Clara arched her brow. "So you were waiting for a candlelit dinner and rose petals?"

"Don’t tempt me. I could make that happen," Raven deadpanned, before his tone softened. "Point is—yeah, I wanted it to mean something. But if you want to hear it that bad..."

A slow smile tugged at his lips. "...I could say it a thousand times. Ten thousand. Until you get sick of it."

On Raven’s arm, the sword tattoo pulsed as Omni’s voice cracked in like a heckling friend. "Yo, ladies, I say you take that deal. Man’s offering unlimited love on demand."

Raven ignored him, stepping closer to the two women.

"Clara," he said first, his voice low and deliberate. "I love you."

Clara froze.

Just for a second, her usual calm cracked—eyes widening, breath catching—but she recovered with a faint smile that trembled at the edges.

"Took you long enough," she murmured, but her gaze was warm.

Then he turned to Selena.

"I love you."

Selena’s expression didn’t change at first... but the faintest pink touched her ears.

Her hands smoothed her skirt, unnecessarily precise. "...Accepted."

"Good," Raven said, smirking faintly. "Now, for practice—Clara, I love you. Selena, I love you. Clara, I love you. Selena—"

Siris groaned loudly. "We get it. You love them. Stop rubbing it in."

She was feeling like a winner since she realized that she was the first girl Raven had said ’I love you’ to, but she still didn’t want to see Raven saying that to someone else repeatedly.

Graye, leaning on her spear, muttered with mock injury, "Still waiting for my turn..."

Jessy was outright laughing now, Rufus shook his head like a proud older brother, and Alex whispered to Nibbles, "Bet he’ll say it at least twenty more times before dinner."

Nibbles squeaked affirmatively.

Clara and Selena, despite themselves, both looked a little lighter as their earlier tension eased.

As for Raven? He just gave them one more, softer than the rest, meant only for them.

"I love you."

No one in the room doubted he meant it.

.............................

A while later, the dragon informed them that their time here was over.

So, it was time for farewells, and the farewells were almost dignified.

Almost.

Raven stood before the dragon, his expression composed, but the corner of his lip raised.

"Thanks for not eating us," he said.

The massive creature let out a sound that could have been a chuckle or the grinding of boulders. "Just go."

"That’s her way of saying ’you’re welcome,’" Jessy stage-whispered.

However, the dragon really wanted them to go, as she feared that her treasures would be gone if they stayed here any longer.

Soon, the group began gathering their things—Jake hefting his pack without a word, Rufus doing that habitual armor check, and Graye flicking imaginary dust from her sword.

Lia, still holding Raven’s hand, gave the dragon a graceful nod. Clara and Selena kept their distance but offered curt acknowledgments.

It wasn’t until they were halfway to the carved stone platform at the cavern’s edge that Alex suddenly froze.

His eyes went wide. "Wait... the entrance we came through—"

The realization hit the group like a bad smell.

"Oh no..." Jessy’s face twisted. "Please tell me we’re not going back the same way."

"The same way" being, of course, the... anatomically inconvenient exit of that colossal creature they had traveled through earlier.

"Absolutely not," Graye declared. "I’ll take my chances living here before I crawl through that again."

Selena’s tone was dangerously calm. "I would rather perish."

Even Siris grimaced, muttering, "That... is not a ride worth repeating."

All eyes turned to Raven, who—thankfully—shook his head. "Relax. We’re not doing that again."

Everyone exhaled in relief.

He turned back to the dragon. "You’re sending us out, right?"

The dragon inclined her great head, smoke curling lazily from her nostrils. "I will."

In the next instant, mana surged. The air thickened, swirling into visible currents, streams of power coiling upward like translucent tubes. The ground beneath them trembled as the vacuum caught hold, tugging them gently off their feet.

"Whoa—feels like being sucked up by a giant noodle," Jessy said, her voice echoing oddly in the mana funnel.

Nibbles flailed briefly before settling into Alex’s hood, squeaking indignantly.

Graye tilted her head, pointing at something. "Hey, why is the dragon keeping that spear we stabbed into her again?"

No one replied for the dragon’s sake, and she seemed thankful for that.

In a second, they were already halfway up when Raven suddenly tilted his head, like something had just occurred to him.

"Hey," he called down to the dragon, his voice carrying over the hum of magic, "who’s the strongest entity in the spirit realm?"

The dragon’s eyes narrowed in faint amusement—or maybe curiosity. Her massive head tilted slowly, studying him.

The swirling mana froze. The entire magical current shuddered to a halt, leaving everyone suspended midair like confused marionettes.

"...Raven," Rufus said slowly, "why do I feel like you just ruined our quick exit?"