Getting spoiled in a woman dominating world Chapter 479: The First Companion [3]

The gentle evening light seeped through the tall windows, yet it failed to ease the heavy chill in the air.

The house's familiar cozy radiance seemed dimmed and distant.

Florence and Ravene sat next to each other on the spacious sectional couch, faces shadowed by gloom.

Florence's hands gripped each other tightly in her lap, fingers nervously twisting.

Her complexion had turned ashen, dark rings forming under her eyes from sleepless nights.

She turned toward Ravene, "It’s already been a week since Husband, Elize, and Charlotte went missing..."

Her voice shook as she added, "I am getting even more scared as time goes."

Ravene sat huddled, knees pulled up to her chest with arms wrapped around her legs.

She forced a comforting smile to her lips, "Don’t worry, Florence," she said, extending a hand to softly squeeze Florence’s.

"Both Elize and Charlotte are incredibly strong. Nothing can harm them."

Florence glanced at her, "B-But what if it has something to do with those gods?"

"They can’t fight those... They’re on a completely different level."

"W-What if-"

Ravene drew Florence into a tight embrace, as Florence pressed her face into her shoulder.

"Shhh... don’t say that," Ravene whispered, her fingers trembling while stroking Florence’s hair.

"Brandon is too stubborn to disappear on us. And Elize... she’s one of the strongest people I know. Charlotte too. They will come back."

Ravene fought to remain firm for Florence, but dread consumed her inwardly as well.

A full week passed without any sign—it filled them with terror.

Eira entered the room softly, holding a tray of steaming herbal tea mugs.

She had kept herself occupied to cope, though her eyes showed redness from earlier tears.

She placed the tray carefully on the coffee table and settled on Florence’s other side, encircling her with an arm.

"Mom... we have to believe they’re okay," she murmured gently. "Brandon wouldn’t leave us."

Florence nodded faintly, but new tears traced paths down her cheeks.

"I know... I know he wouldn’t."

She drew a quivering breath, "I just... I miss him so much already."

*swoosh* Suddenly, a spatial rift ripped open in the living room, from which Elize and Charlotte emerged, blanketed in sand.

Their garments hung in tatters and filth, faces smeared with weariness and sorrow.

Charlotte’s legs buckled right after she fully appeared, collapsing onto her knees on the carpet.

Tears surged in her eyes, "K-Kael..." she sobbed out.

Elize stood nearby, her expression one of total devastation.

Her habitual poise had broken apart, and she inhaled deeply with shudders, struggling to steady herself.

Charlotte bowed her head low, "I failed in protecting him... I-I failed as a big sister."

Florence, Eira, and Ravene gazed in shock, blood draining from their faces as Charlotte’s words hit home.

Florence leaped from the couch, surging forward to seize Elize’s collar with both hands.

"Where is Brandon?" she demanded. "Where is he?!"

Elize’s eyes flickered as she met Florence’s gaze, brimming with agony and remorse.

"He is missing..." she breathed. "We tried... we tried so hard. We searched every layer we could reach. But we couldn’t find him."

Florence’s grasp on Elize’s collar slackened, her own legs collapsing beneath her.

She staggered back and dropped to her knees on the rug, a soul-shattering scream ripping from her throat.

"Ahhhhhhh-!"

Ravene pressed a hand to her mouth, weeping soundlessly as tears flowed anew down her cheeks.

Eira’s stare wavered, her breath halting for a moment.

The stress piled up over the week at last overwhelmed her, along with the devastating emotional impact—her delicate heart proved too weak.

Her chest clenched tight, her sight growing hazy.

*thud* She fell backward onto the rug, gasping while clutching her chest amid a abrupt cardiac arrest.

"Eira!" Elize cried out, hurrying to her.

"Eira!" Ravene knelt beside the young woman.

The two reached her simultaneously.

Elize promptly flipped Eira onto her back to check her pulse, as Ravene held her head gently, stroking her hair with quaking hands.

"Eira, breathe! Stay with us!"

Ravene’s tears splashed onto Eira’s face as she begged in a whisper, "Come on, sweetheart... breathe..."

Florence crawled swiftly to her side, "I-Is she getting cardiac arrest again?"

Elize positioned the heel of one hand at the center of Eira’s chest, the other atop it, and commenced CPR.

"One... two... three..."

Florence arrived and seized Eira’s hand, gripping it hard.

Elize pressed on with the compressions, her own hands quivering a bit.

After thirty pushes, she angled Eira’s head backward, squeezed her nose, and gave two firm breaths into her mouth, noting the chest’s rise.

"Come on, Eira."

Elize persisted with the CPR routine while Ravene and Florence went on speaking to her, holding her steady.

An eternity seemed to pass before Eira’s body suddenly twitched.

She drew in a sharp breath, her eyes blinking open as she grabbed at her chest.

Elize halted the compressions right away and cradled her head, letting golden healing ether pour from her palms into Eira’s form to steady her heart.

"There you are... breathe slowly... that’s it..."

Eira gasped once more, "B-Brandon..."

Florence bent forward and touched her forehead to Eira’s. "Eiraaaa."

Ravene brushed away Eira’s tears using shaky fingers.

Charlotte stayed kneeling, her head lowered, tears dropping onto the rug and blending with the sand stuck to her garments.

"I failed..." she whispered repeatedly. "I was right there..."

Eira’s breaths gradually steadied. "He... is really gone?"

Elize drew a deep breath and murmured, "No, h-he is just missing. We will surely find him."

While saying this, she glanced around and noticed Charlotte had vanished. ’Huh, where is Charlotte.’

---

Night had fallen over the desert.

Blazing hot during the morning, it turned freezing cold under the night sky now.

The night breeze bit crisp and keen, its chill piercing his ripped attire and prickling his skin.

Perched atop a dune, Brandon gazed upward at the stars.

He breathed out leisurely, observing his breath form a pale white vapor in the frigid air. ’I keep thinking about it...’

That earlier epiphany clung stubbornly to his thoughts.

In a Bootstrap paradox, events cause themselves. No starting timeline exists... the future shapes the past, which shapes the future. A endless loop without origin.

If he truly was the "second awakener" future Rheanne mentioned... his being here didn’t alter a thing.

It completed it.

He had always been destined for this spot.

’If I’m truly trapped in a Bootstrap paradox, then nothing I do here in the past can ’change’ the future—it’s all set in stone...’

To ward off the creeping chill-induced numbness, he rubbed his palms together.

’In that scenario, future Rheanne recognizes me before our church encounter.’

’Yet she pretended ignorance...’

’Wait, no—there was that instance with her cryptic words... claiming I brought her hope.’

His gaze sharpened as the puzzle pieces aligned. ’She knows me from this era already, aware I’d journey back in time.’

’She’s anticipated this precise instant for centuries.’

His scowl intensified. ’Hold on, if I time-traveled, what became of my 2051 self who went back to 1502?’

’Did I perish, or is my body elsewhere?’

In a true Bootstrap paradox, no action here could shatter the future he remembered.

Florence, Elize, Charlotte, Eira, Ravene, Yverine, Dhayun, and Jiyeon—everyone dear to him back home... they’d persist.

He’d make his way back to them.

One way or another.

His slow exhale let the misty breath fade into the icy night.

’This is madness... I’m parked here 550 years ago, chatting with the lady who’ll someday linger for me in a church eons ahead.’

He raked fingers through his gritty, sand-clogged hair, shaking his head. ’And I’m clueless on returning.’

The cold gnawed fiercer now.

He eyed the tent Rheanne pitched, his look dropping. ’Rheanne...’

Rising from the dune, he thought, ’I pray my theory holds—it’s a bootstrap paradox. That way, my past actions won’t disrupt the fixed future.’

’Or perhaps I’m overcomplicating it all.’

’...Clarity awaits once I exit the tower.’