Chapter 28 - Volume 2 (2/2)

The attendants were both of our relatives along with the hero, the princess, the knight, and his disciple, who had all slipped away from their official work. It was in one of the temples of the goddess that’s scattered around everywhere in this country; and it was even considered a small temple out of those. So the ceremony was held rather secretive.

I might get yelled at in shock by my friends, the other noblewomen, as being wasteful. But I preferred holding the ceremony here more than in the grand temple within the city center.

Since the defeat of the demon king, something like a hero’s wedding ceremony should have been a grand event with all of the nation’s people invited. But my real intention was to avoid it even as a joke, standing in front of a crowd of many people beside that man who’d be wearing the most highest grade wizard uniform as the groom, looking more beautiful than the bride.

But it is also true that it genuinely made me happy to wear a wedding dress for this man, something the 『past』 『me』 wasn’t able to wear. Even though it might have been considered disgraceful considering my age, I was still happy.

And then, I and that man got married. The wedding was hidden by his intent. Although there are still very few people that know about it, the wedding was real, accepted.

「……You really are hopeless.」

Sitting up in bed, I caress his head. There are no signs of him waking up. His rustling hair is so pleasant to touch it irritates me. My emotions about it change on a whim – sometimes I want to make the people that called him bad luck or a monster actually touch his hair, and other times I want to hog it all for myself.

There are absolutely no signs of him waking up. He quietly breathes, his face just like a child’s.

The other day, I teased the boundary and called him 『idiot』. Lately, I’ve been thinking it might be alright if I relinquish him of that. But in place of that, I want to stick the label 『hopeless』 onto him.

I mean, it’s true, right? How could I not have noticed that the reason he didn’t want to make our marriage public was to protect none other than me? I know I’ve realized it, but I mean, what else would I call this man that wants to hide my existence if not 『hopeless』?

If he revealed my existence to the public, at least the proposals that come fluttering in under him would decrease, become less than they are today. He was already extremely busy with being the head wizard of the royal palace – no doubt it must be incredibly annoying to suddenly have proposals endlessly coming in. But despite that, he still hides me.

I’ve never thought something like ‘is he hiding me because he’s embarrassed of me?’ Because if he was so embarrassed of me he couldn’t tell people around him about me, he would have outright divorced me right away before hiding me. That’s the kind of man Agedilus Von Lancent is.

My position——namely, the position of being this man’s wife, is extremely unstable, to be precise. After all, I am nothing more than a mere aristocrat, not even worthy of being compared to the head wizard. Everyone would think the position of being 『the savior of the world’s wife』 is too much of a heavy load for me.

If a grand rumor spread around that I was married to this man, I can easily imagine it would cause a good-for-nothing mess. Divorce is acceptable in our country, so people that want that to happen would try to get me at any way possible. If so, there might be those that would take strong measures to do so.

That’s what this man worries about. If I said his worries about it didn’t make me happy, that would be a lie. The fact that he’s trying to protect me certainly makes me happy.

But, be that as it may. Because even I have something to say.

The world in general would say that me and him are still newlyweds. We’re the kind of newlyweds that would be able to come on TV in the 『past』 world.

It took far too long friendship to get there. It feels as if I could easily forget that, but still, I had gone from just a 『childhood friend plus fiancée』 to 『wife』. If you ask me whether I find it funny that other girls keep trying to woo my 『husband』, the answer is of course, no. I mean, I get jealous just like everyone else.

Even though I hadn’t thought things like that until now, just as I became a wife I started thinking things that are far too mercenary-like, if I do say so myself. I can do nothing but just giggle, laugh it off with the composure of someone who is barely a legal wife – just what am I to do?

I’ve finally come here after so long, but I still can’t relax properly. Because at any rate, the women that approach him aren’t just the ones that see him as nothing but a hero – there are also those who certainly see him as 『Agedilus』.

Because of that, he really is clueless. Even though he’s so sensitive to bad things that are said to him and responds accordingly, he’s completely dense when it comes to good things. Considering his early life, perhaps it can’t be helped, but it really is too much.

I’ll also say that although I won’t call him an idiot, I really can’t help calling him hopeless, someone who just can’t be helped. Though I do know that it’s not something to be upset over, I should be grateful since he came back alive for me.

I’m happy that he’s protecting me, but that alone isn’t enough. I really should just be grateful for what I have.

Still almost sitting up in bed, I stop caressing his head. As gently as I can, I slide my finger along the faint scar under his closed left eye. He draws closer to me, as if it feels good. It’s such an innocent gesture, unthinkable considering his usual behavior. It stirs up such deep emotions within me.

His upturned eyelashes are so long they anger me, casting a shadow over his cheeks, making me feel extremely annoyed. I suddenly feel like pinching his pointlessly high nose, but his reaction afterwards will be a pain……Or, rather, scary. So I decide not to do that.

And so, I caress his cheek, stifling a sigh that was about to escape my mouth. I was hoping that sleepiness would fall over me soon, but for some reason I can’t even yawn. No matter what, I don’t feel like sleeping even if I try to fall asleep again.

What plays over and over in my ears is that unknown person’s crying voice. Painted under my eyelids is that darkness, darker than the dead of night.

I think I ended up seeing an odd dream. It was a nightmare, of course, a dream that nothing could be done about.

It feels like nothing will change if I keep lying in bed like this, but I also can’t bring myself to wake this man. Removing his arm from on top of me, I gently get out of bed.