Reinhard woke earlier than usual and found Emily already dressed near the door, a coat resting across her lap. "Good morning. You’re looking stunning today."
Emily blinked and looked down at the coat. "You... need to stop saying that."
"I’ll stop when it stops being true." He thought about it. "So, never."
Her lips twitched. "You really mean it, don’t you?"
"Of course." Reinhard crouched beside her wheelchair. "Honestly, I’m surprised we didn’t draw a crowd at the park."
Emily shook her head, but a small smile slipped through. "I’m going to Marvell Medical Center. I have an appointment."
Reinhard’s eyes lit up. "Can I come?"
Emily looked at him in surprise. "You?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure? It’s just a hospital appointment."
"I don’t mind boring if it’s helping you."
Her fingers tightened around the coat.
"Maki might say no."
"Why?"
"Because you’ve never wanted to come before." She lowered her gaze. "You always said there was no point."
Reinhard’s smile faded slightly. The old Reinhard hadn’t simply avoided the hospital. He had made everyone around Emily feel like there was no reason to keep trying.
"Well, I’m different now," he said. "I don’t want to leave everything to you and Maki anymore. We’re a family. I should be there."
Emily looked at him for a moment. "I... do want that."
Reinhard smiled. "Then help me convince Maki."
Emily glanced at the clock. "You have eight minutes. Maki wants to leave at seven ten."
Reinhard looked down at his sleep shirt, then at the one sock he was wearing, and nodded with total confidence. "Emily, I have never needed more than five minutes to look this good."
He disappeared down the hall. Emily watched him go and quietly laughed. "He really does want to come..."
Her smile lingered before she looked down at her hands.
"Why does that make me..."
...
Maki found her a few minutes later, glancing toward the hallway. "Looking for someone?"
"No."
"Lily’s got plans with friends. Yuna’s with her trainer." Maki paused. "Don’t tell me you’re hoping Reinhard will come out to say goodbye?"
Emily’s cheeks warmed. "No."
"Right." Maki started wheeling her toward the door. "I doubt he’d even be awake this early."
That was when Reinhard walked out, fully dressed, hair fixed, smelling like he’d actually tried.
Maki stopped and looked him up and down. "...You do realize it’s seven in the morning."
"Yeah." He came over anyway. "Told you I wanted to come."
"You got ready in eight minutes?"
"Seven."
Emily covered her mouth, failing to hide another laugh, and Reinhard glanced her way with a grin. "See? Told you I’d make it."
Maki’s eyes narrowed. "You’ve never gone. You always said hospitals were a waste of time. That there was no point spending money on someone who’d never recover."
Reinhard nodded. "I was an idiot. I gave up far too early." His eyes moved to Emily. "I want to be there for her from now on."
"No." Maki frowned. "I can’t trust you. I don’t want to deal with you disappointing us again."
She expected him to argue, but Reinhard simply stepped forward and took Emily’s hand.
Both of them froze at the contact.
"Please," he said quietly. "Let me start making it up to both of you."
Maki’s expression tightened. "That’s exactly what scares me. You always apologize, then go right back to hurting her."
Emily gently tugged at Maki’s sleeve. "Maki... please? I want him there."
Maki looked at her for a long moment before sighing. "Even now, you still want to give him another chance."
Emily nodded.
Maki closed her eyes for a moment. "Fine."
"Thank you, Maki. I won’t let you down again."
"For everyone’s sake, I hope so."
...
Twenty minutes later, they arrived at Marvell Medical Center, where Emily had been receiving treatment for the past year.
The moment they entered, Reinhard noticed people looking toward her.
Then came the whispers.
"That’s Emily Ashcroft."
"The one from Nexus?"
"She was supposed to become even greater."
"What a waste."
"They say she’ll never awaken again."
A nurse nearby sighed to another employee.
"Honestly, it would’ve been kinder if she’d died."
Maki immediately turned.
Emily’s hand tightened around hers. "No," she whispered. "It’s pointless."
Maki clenched her jaw.
Reinhard stopped walking. The smile was gone from his face when he turned toward the nurse, and he didn’t raise his voice at all. "I disagree."
The nurse looked over, startled.
"She’s still here," Reinhard said calmly. "So maybe you should stop deciding when her life is worth living."
The nurse’s mouth opened and closed, and she looked down at her clipboard. Reinhard turned back to Emily. "Come on."
...
Doctor Alfred opened the examination room door and paused when he saw the three of them standing outside. His eyes lingered on Reinhard for only a moment before shifting back to Emily.
"Emily," he greeted with a tired sigh. "You came again."
Emily lowered her head slightly. "I had to."
He opened her file, quietly flipped through a few pages, and closed it again.
"You already know..." he said softly. "...nothing has changed."
The smile on Reinhard’s face slowly faded.
Doctor Alfred closed the folder and looked toward Maki. "Let’s begin the scans."
Maki nodded and gently pushed Emily’s wheelchair deeper into the examination wing, leaving Reinhard standing alone outside the office.
Reinhard used the opening to slip into Doctor Alfred’s office, closing the door quietly behind him.
"What happened to my wife?"
Doctor Alfred looked up, exhaustion written across his face. "So you finally decided to come." He opened a thick file on his desk. "What exactly do you know about Emily?"
"She used to be a champion."
"She wasn’t simply a champion," Alfred said. "She was the youngest champion in history."
He slid a faded newspaper across the desk.
Reinhard glanced at it. "Yeah, I saw that before."
"Everything changed two years ago." Alfred’s expression became serious. "Her Gnosis was shattered."
Reinhard expression darkened. "So, some bastard destroyed my wife’s Gnosis?"
"No." Alfred shook his head. "That’s the problem. We have no idea why it shattered."
"How could you not know?"
"Emily won’t say. She only asks if we can fix it."
Reinhard frowned. "Did the incident also cause her to end up in the wheelchair?"
Alfred nodded grimly. "When a Gnosis shatters, the backlash tears through the nervous system. Ninety percent die. Emily surviving was already a miracle."
"And recovery?"
"I’ve tried everything I know." Alfred sighed. "It’s impossible."
Reinhard slowly looked down at Emily’s medical file. "So every expert reached the same conclusion."
"Yes."
Alfred closed the file. "That’s why I’m telling you to get her to stop coming. Her situation is hopeless. Every visit only confirms the same result."
Reinhard smiled faintly. "I see."
Alfred frowned. "You see what?"
Reinhard closed the file and stood. "That none of you ever considered the impossible."
"Impossible?" Alfred stared at him. "I told you—"
"So what?"
Alfred froze.
"My wife is still trying, even after everyone else gave up on her." Reinhard smiled. "So as her husband, it only makes sense that I help find a solution, even if it’s impossible."
Then he left.
As Reinhard stepped into the hallway, a familiar blue window appeared in front of him.
[Investment Opportunity Available.]
[Target: Emily Ashcroft.]
[Objective: Provide sincere emotional support to the target.]
[Difficulty Grade: D.]
[Success Probability: 85%.]
He looked at the window for a moment. Emotional support? His eyes drifted toward the examination wing where Emily had disappeared. A small smile appeared on his face. Seems easy enough.
He continued down the hallway.
...
Reinhard, Emily, and Maki stopped at the entrance of the hospital.
Maki pulled out the keys to the van. "Don’t run off, and watch over my sister," she said. "I’ll be back soon with the van."
Then it was just the two of them waiting together.
"Why did you come?" Emily asked quietly. "The real truth..."
Reinhard gently took her hand and began tracing small idle patterns across her fingers. "I wanted an excuse," he said.
She glanced at him. "An excuse?"
"To learn more about my wife."
Emily looked away. "You never..." She started, then stopped herself before finishing the thought. Instead, she asked, "Why did you say you disagree?"
"I don’t believe it would’ve been better if you died."
"I lost everything," she muttered. "I’m already living in hell."
Reinhard was quiet for a moment. Then he smiled faintly. "So?"
Emily’s head snapped toward him in surprise.
"Who says people can’t crawl out of hell? And those that do usually become stronger than before."
Emily’s hand shook beneath his. "Since when did you start believing that?"
"The moment I realized my wife still believes it."
She shook her head quickly. "I don’t."
"You keep coming back." He cut off her protest. "You still sit through every examination. You still listen to every doctor. You still endure every whisper out there." His thumb brushed lightly over her knuckles. "If you’d truly given up, you would’ve stopped coming a long time ago."
"Besides," his smile grew, "my wife is the best."
Emily almost smiled before she looked away. "Stop being ridiculous. I only come because I have to... you’re sounding like a fool."
"I don’t mind being a fool," Reinhard said, laughing softly. "If my wife is foolish enough to keep trying, I’ll happily become a fool right beside her." He continued tracing patterns across her fingers. "I believe one day you’ll recover everything, and everyone who calls us fools can eat their words."
Emily said nothing. But Reinhard noticed something then, for the first time since he’d taken her hand: her fingers weren’t tense anymore.
"Thank you... for believing in me."
Reinhard smiled.
A familiar blue window appeared in front of him.
[Investment Objective Completed.]
[D-Grade Investment Successful.]
[Target Value Increased.]
[Emily Ashcroft: E+ → D.]
[Calculating Returns...]
His eyes flickered toward the window. Already?
The screen remained in front of him.
[Reward Calculation Complete.]
[Legendary Reward Obtained.]
He raised an eyebrow. A single line appeared.
[Legendary Skill: Mind Glance.]
He stared at it. Mind Glance?
Another line appeared beneath it.
[Effect: Allows the user to hear the surface thoughts of a single target for twenty seconds.]
[Cooldown: 24 Hours.]
[Restriction: The same target cannot be affected more than once within the cooldown period.]
His eyes narrowed slightly, then his lips curved upward. He already knew this would be extremely useful. Especially with my wife.
She was still looking down at their hands, completely unaware of the blue window floating in front of him. I’ll try it later.
[Additional Reward Granted: Mana Reinforcement Enhanced.]
[Effect: Increases the strength of mana reinforcement by 50%.]
Reinhard blinked before a grin appeared as the next notification came.
[Additional Reward Granted.]
[30 Days Compressed Mana.]
Warmth spread through his Gnosis as he felt a surge of new strength through his body.
[Additional Reward Granted: Physical Body Enhanced.]
Reinhard closed his eyes as something inside him felt different. His breathing became easier. His body felt lighter and he could hear the faint hum of mana moving through the room.
He opened his eyes and clenched his hand and the air around his fingers seemed to tighten for the briefest moment.
He stared at his hand and then he smiled.
Another notification appeared.
[Additional Reward Granted.]
[Cooking Skill: Trash → Basic.]
He stared at it. Cooking? He blinked once before reading it again.
[Cooking Skill: Basic.]
A grin slowly spread across his face. So my cooking went from trash to basic? He almost laughed. After everything the System had given him, this might have been the most insulting reward yet. At least he was no longer qualified to accidentally poison his own wife.
He glanced at Emily, still sitting beside him, completely unaware of the notifications floating in front of his eyes. His grin softened. I suppose I can put it to good use.
"You can thank me by getting better and showing the world that Emily Ashcroft only took a quick break."
Emily paused before smiling and saying, "You... really are ridiculous."
Reinhard smiled.
Then an idea occurred to him. Mind Glance. He glanced at the notification still hovering in his vision. Why not?
[Legendary Skill: Mind Glance — Activated.]
For a moment, nothing happened and then he heard her thoughts.
Why does he keep doing this?
Reinhard’s smile faded slightly.
He came here for me.
Emily lowered her gaze.
He actually got angry for me.
Her fingers shifted slightly against his.
Everyone else told me to give up.
But he still believes I can recover.
Emily looked at him.
Why?
Reinhard remained perfectly still.
What if he’s wrong?
Her eyes lowered again.
What if I start believing him... and fail again?
Something deeper entered her thoughts. Fear. But it wasn’t fear of dying. It was fear of hope.
I don’t think I can bear that.
Reinhard’s expression softened and then, just before the twenty seconds ended—
But... I want to believe him.
The connection disappeared. Reinhard looked at Emily. She was still unaware that he had heard any of it. For once, he didn’t make a joke. He simply squeezed her hand.
Then I’ll just have to keep proving you can believe me.