Chapter 20 - Volume 1 (2/2)

Because he had black hair, because he was special. Not once had she thought that there could be someone who could hold such a gentle atmosphere around him.

Realizing her thoughts, Agedilus turned his sunrise-colored eyes towards Arche as she remained astonished. She started at the sudden movement. Agedilus opened his mouth, looking down at her with the familiar indifferent gaze she knew all too well.

「……Well, nevermind that. What are you doing with my gardener?」

「Huh?」

The woman blinked in surprise, turning to Arche. Gulping at that gaze towards her, Arche quickly stood up. The woman nodded, as if somehow understanding something.

「So this is the gardener? Pleased to meet you. I’m Filmina Von Lancent.」

「—Ah, I’m Arche Mashie, I have the privilege of taking care of Sir Agedilus’s medicinal plants garden!」

The woman’s surname was the same as Agedilus’s. Arche wasn’t dense enough to not realize what that meant. Even if Arche didn’t hear her surname, she understood from their previous exchange that this woman named Filmina was close to Agedilus.

‘Why?’ she thought. She couldn’t help thinking it. She vigorously bowed, so she wouldn’t give away her feelings. As she did, she heard a gentle laugh.

「Please raise your head. Thank you so much for the lovely flowers the other day.」

「—!」

So those white flowers really were given to this woman. Her chest hurt, as if those words pierced through it. She felt like her face was about to look cramped, but she somehow managed to hold that back. Fixing her expression, she looked at Filmina’s face. As expected, she was gently smiling.

「I’ve heard lots about you, that you’re a very skilled gardener.」

「A-absolutely not. I still have a lot to learn, I always keep troubling Sir Agedilus…」

「No, no. Even though he’s rude, he’s not the kind of person to flatter others, let alone openly praise them. But maybe from now on—?」

「That’s enough, shut up.」

Filmina was about to continue, but Agedilus put his hand over her mouth. Ripping his bony yet white, beautiful hand off her mouth with her lace-covered hand, Filmina smiled at him.

「You don’t have to get so embarrassed.」

「—Who’s embarrassed, who!」

「My, my.」

That conversation felt just like they were messing about, playing around. It shook the foundations of Arche’s love.

Arche didn’t know this Agedilus. Arche didn’t know this Agedilus who rapidly changed his expressions, raised his voice like this. There were no doll-like features on this Agedilus’s face. He was just like a normal man. Just a man.

That’s right, that was right. Before Agedilus Von Lancent was black-haired, before he was the head wizard, long before he was a hero, he was just a sole man. She realized it after so long – made to realize this reality. Arche didn’t feel sadness or regret at it, but she felt herself mysteriously understanding.

——I see now. That’s right.

She hadn’t understood a single thing. She hadn’t even tried to understand.

All this time, Arche thought of Agedilus as a solitary being. Alone in a world where he never let anyone get close to him.

But she was wrong. This person wasn’t alone at all. She was the one that had wanted him to be alone, wanted him to be special. In the end, nothing had changed with her or with the people around her.

There was nothing Arche had in common with Agedilus, just like the woman called Filmina who’d become his wife. Even if the difference in their social status didn’t exist, just how could she have thought this being was the same kind of human as her, with his black hair and his beauty?

Had she misunderstood, with that one cruel thought? She was a pretty big idiot if it took her this situation to realize it. Just what could have made her different? It was embarrassing, pathetic.

She felt a strange sensation, as if blood was rushing to her head and then going back down. In front of her, the woman in the position Arche dreamed of being said, 「I have some things to do with my father, so I’ll go early,」 and was about to leave.

「Can you go by yourself?」

「I’ve come by this road countless times now.」

「Wait a second, I didn’t hear anything about that!」

「……There have to be things you don’t hear about too, right? Well then, Edi, please go on ahead. Sorry, Miss Arche, let’s meet again sometime.」

「Y-yes!」

「Oi, wait…… Oh, come on.」

Slipping through the side, Filmina disappeared in the direction that seemed to be where the royal palace was. Watching her from behind, Agedilus muttered, 「I’ll show her later.」 Of course, his expression as he said it was one that Arche had never seen before. She couldn’t help being entranced by that man’s face, that face that could never be aimed towards her. Ah…

「……Sir Agedilus?」

「What?」

「Are you… Happy now?」

It was an impolite question. Agedilus really widened his sunrise-colored eyes in surprise. He was a being that was still all the more beautiful with that expression.

「——Well, I don’t know.」

It was a short, blunt answer. But his expression was more eloquent than all else.

「I-is that so?」

That, that was enough. There was nothing, nothing more to do but give up. There was nothing else she could do, right? No matter how hard she tried, there was no way she’d rival her. Thanks to this expression of his, she realized that she couldn’t possibly make him happier than that woman made him.

She still felt like she couldn’t possibly just give up like that, she didn’t want to. But even so.

「This is belated now, but really, congratulations on your marriage.」

Holding back the tears that were about to flow again, Arche smiled.

This certainly was love. Even if it had longing and fear weaved together, even if her feelings could be called misunderstandings, this certainly was love. And as she fell in love, Arche certainly was happy. Even if it was a love that wouldn’t come true, that could never come true. Even if she had no way of earning his affections.

But, even so, the small smile on Agedilus’s face in this moment belonged only to Arche. As long as a day would come when she’d consider this more than enough for her, it was fine. ‘That’s right,’ she thought.