Reborn as an Extra

Chapter 898: Home and Beyond... Part-2.

Lia just couldn’t stop laughing despite Rio’s weak protests, and she clenched his shirt and buried her head in Rio’s chest.

Her fingers trembled slightly as they gripped the fabric, as if she was afraid that he would vanish into thin air the moment she let go.

The laughter slowly turned into a faint crying soon after.

Her warm tears soaked through his clothes, and her small shoulders shook quietly as all the fear she had been bottling up for days finally came pouring out.

"I was worried... sniff... y-You went to the demon continent so suddenly... I was... I was so anxious... sniff..."

Seeing Rio finally come back alive and well, Lia couldn’t hold her tears anymore, and the anxiety accumulating in her heart burst out instantly!

Rio sighed deeply as he wrapped his hand around Lia and hugged her in his arms.

He gently rubbed her back with his palm, patiently waiting until her sobs softened, and he felt a pang of guilt for every moment she had spent waiting alone.

"Don’t worry, look, I am completely fine. In fact, I am feeling better than ever before now!"

"I have successfully ascended; I have gained enough strength to protect our future from any threat that might come across our ’Path’..."

"Not only just strength, I have regained my lost heart! I have regained my lost emotions! I can finally be a proper lover and can finally be honest with my feelings..."

"I will never leave you behind in the future..."

"I love you, Lia... your love is what helped me push through all difficulties... I cannot live without you anymore, and I cannot imagine a future without you..."

His voice was soft but steady, and every word came straight from the bottom of his heart without a single trace of hesitation.

With a happy smile on his face, Rio created a ring out of nothingness, changed his clothes to a proper black suit, and bent down on one knee to propose.

The ring glimmered brightly in the sunlight, its delicate band shining with a soft light that seemed to hold all of the countless feelings he had kept hidden for years.

"I love you, Lia. Will you marry me?"

A wide smile appeared on Rio’s face.

The face that was always expressionless and unchanging was completely gone, and now he could finally smile properly and express his deepest secrets.

His voice trembled just a little, which was a strange sensation for someone who had faced demi-gods and demons without blinking, but he did not mind it at all.

Rio and Lia had already been in a relationship for several years, and they were already adults, and now that Rio had enough strength to protect his peaceful life, he could not stop himself from being honest about his own feelings.

All the years of hidden feelings, careful steps, and silent waiting seemed to melt away in that single moment, leaving behind only a sweet and peaceful calm.

Without a single speck of hesitation, Rio proposed to Lia, and Lia’s eyes brightened as she immediately stretched her hand forward.

Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes once again, but this time they sparkled with the purest joy, and her whole face glowed like a blooming flower.

"I love you too, Rio... and yes, I will marry you!"

With Lia’s approval, Rio placed the engagement ring on Lia’s ring finger without hesitation, and finally the love that had spanned over years came into fruition!

The guards and maids who had been watching from a distance broke into quiet cheers and applause, and a few of them even wiped their eyes with their sleeves.

...

’Finally they made some progress...’

Mel, who had been watching Rio and Lia’s relationship from the start, heaved a long sigh of relief.

She stood a little distance away with her hands folded in front of her as usual, yet the corners of her lips had curved up by an almost invisible amount.

Although Rio was bold enough to propose to Lia and ask her to be his girlfriend at a very fast speed, his subsequent actions were slow.

For the coming years, Rio and Lia made almost no progress in the relationship.

Aside from going on countless dates, kissing each other and caring for each other a lot, the two didn’t go any further than that at all!

Season after season passed by, and Mel had silently counted every single missed opportunity while the two of them walked hand in hand through the same quiet streets.

Mel, who had to watch it all, felt that their relationship was stuck in a bottleneck, and Rio was suppressing this relationship on purpose.

If it were anyone else, the relationship would have already sailed through all types of seas and storms by now after the two parties went through so many difficult times together.

Mel had even prepared herself many times to hear good news, only to be disappointed every time by yet another quiet evening stroll.

Rio never laid a single hand on Lia aside from a few kisses or careful touches; it was almost as if he was purposely restricting himself.

Mel originally thought that Rio was worried about Lia’s tendency to get flustered too fast and was trying to take things slow, but now that she had seen Rio propose marriage with her own eyes, she finally understood the truth.

’He was waiting... waiting to be a demigod... How weird, I thought he was the type to be confident about everything every time, but to think that he needed to reach this level of strength to propose...’

’Is proposing marriage to someone really that scary?’

With no prior experience of love and dating, Mel couldn’t ascertain the situation properly herself, so she didn’t interfere throughout the entire process, and she was happy that she didn’t, as everything turned out to be fine in the end.

Even if it took time and Mel even had to watch Lia anxious and worried just because of Rio several times over the years, the end result of it all became better than expected, and that was all Mel wanted to happen.