Chapter 4 - Volume 1 (1/2)

Welcome, Sir Agedilus.」

He turned up at the Adina Estate, brought along by Uncle Lancent several days after he’d healed my paper cut. By then, he’d stopped hiding his black hair at the Adina Estate. I never got tired of looking at his glossy black hair no matter how many times I saw it. Though sometimes it would remind me of the 『past』 world I could never return to, making me feel something difficult to describe.

You could call it homesickness. Nostalgic and painful. Although I don’t want to deny the world I live in 『now,』 I can’t completely cast away the 『past』 world where I had so many regrets. That boy’s black hair pushes 『me』 onto myself.

Did he realize that? Or did he not realize it? I still don’t know the answer to that. But when I asked him to let me touch his hair, he obediently let me touch it, albeit unable to hide how bewildered he was. As I ran my fingers through his smooth hair, it felt somehow different from mine, as if it was consoling my heart.

「Sir Agedilus—」

「You can call me…」

「What?」

That was right as I was combing his hair. As I said his name – that name, like a tongue twister no matter how many times I said it – he said something to me. As I tilted my head, he looked over his shoulder at me, now frozen as I held the comb.

He repeated, 「You can call me Edi.」

It took me a while to properly understand what that meant – Edi.

「Sir Edi, then?」 I asked, my head still cocked to one side.

He replied in a soft voice as if I’d gotten it wrong. 「You don’t have to call me Sir.」

「Very well – Edi, is it?」

He nodded. And at that moment, grand fireworks were set off inside me. ‘Edi’ was a nickname for ‘Agedilus’. I knew that he greatly cherished the name ‘Agedilus’ that his beloved step-father, Uncle Lancent had given him. And yet, he still told me that I could call him Edi.

It was then that I knew that I was now an individual to the animal who wouldn’t trust anyone besides his step-father, a person who he let his guard down around. How could I not be delighted? If there’s anyone who has a problem with that, I’d like them to step out. If you have a fight to pick, I’m right here.

Letting my mind wander, I said his name for the first time, my facial muscles stretched into a grin. 「Edi.」

「…….What?」

「Just testing it out.」

He turned his face away, silent at what I said. At a glance, not very charming behavior, but I know that’s how he hid his embarrassment. It’s not impossible to say I instinctively smiled ear to ear at that.

And so, I got used to the name Edi on my tongue much faster than I expected.

He was much more grown up than his age or appearance suggested, and spending time with him was fun. …No, the right word is comfortable, to be precise. It’s not that we got along well or anything. It’s just that none of the other children would come over on the days he visited, so I felt less burdened by responsibility.

He didn’t talk much, or laugh or cry either. I was set free from my ‘good older sister’ position when I was with him, and it felt great.

While it’s bad for me to say such a thing, I was never tactlessly interfered with him like other children, and spent most of our time together reading. I could say we both felt the same since he never objected to it either.

To put it more childishly: Best Friends Forever. By the time I realized it, we’d fallen into that sort of friendship, which definitely happened the time he let me call him ‘Edi’. Well, even if I say we were friends, the only things we did were – as I mentioned before – just reading together, and letting me touch his hair.

In this world, no one would even think about why none of the other kids would come over when he was at the Adina Estate. It’s only natural. Even my three years younger brother instinctively knew the meaning of black hair more than I did. That must be why he never approached him, except when we were together.

And my brother was used to Uncle Lancent being around – it goes without saying the other children, from families not close to any magicians, would never go near him.

There was just one time where he ran into some kids, and it was terrible. It was really terrible. In complete contrast to the crying, wailing children, he didn’t even say a single word let alone cry. I really thought, ‘it’d be better if he just cried,’ but he didn’t. I remember feeling angry at him for not crying.

If he’d just cried, I could have comforted him as much as he liked. I knew I could have even protected him. But in reality, he just stood there, expressionless, leaving me with nothing to do but grasp his small hand tightly. Even though nothing had changed between us, I felt the warmth of his hand and was mortified at myself for being unable to say anything to him but his name.

And that’s how it was always just the two of us whenever he visited. And I started looking forward just a little bit more to that.

Two years passed in the blink of an eye.

We had – were supposed to have – a pleasant friendship. He hadn’t had another accident involving running into kids since, and nothing else had changed. We repeated each day doing the same things I mentioned before.

We certainly did things other than just reading books too. I don’t remember the exact date and time, of course, but I strangely remember exactly what we did on this certain day.

From the start, he spent his days avoiding the public eye, often turning up at the Adina Estate since Uncle Lancent was busily working as a palace magician and didn’t want him to be left alone. The ‘Black Hairs’ weren’t just respected and revered in the public eye – that boy was in a peculiar position where there was unfortunately no one who would look after him but us. It seemed my parents had promised Uncle Lancent that they would look after Agedilus and provide support where Uncle Lancent couldn’t.

In the midst of all that, this certain day was strange because he didn’t show up to the Adina Estate – I was the one who went to the Lancent Estate. Agedilus greeted me and guided me to the medicinal plants garden in the courtyard of the Lancent Estate. It was spring, and there was not only greenery in the garden but a multitude of flowers, all blooming profusely.

「This is amazing! Does Uncle take care of them?」

「Yes. They’re mostly used as medicine.」