Chapter 40 - Volume 2 (1/2)

For a while, the silence continued. When it became so hard to bear that it was hard to breathe, the princess glanced back at me, then looked at him once again.

「You know, Agedilus, our kingdom’s leading magician has fallen pretty low, huh?」

「Yeah, you’re right.」

At his grave and unpleasant voice and expression, I couldn’t help but feel surprised. Even though it was the princess, to think that he would just take that sort of cutting remark. Ordinarily, if it was Edi, even if he was speaking to the princess, he would pay it back many times over.

Like myself, the princess did not seem like she had expected this response. 「Oh my」, she said, looked surprised. 「I didn’t think you’d honestly admit it. I guess even you have some sort of clue with this kind of thing. If you had been difficult, I would have felt justified in slapping you across the face.」 As if to say 「How unfortunate」, she concluded in a bored tone. I couldn’t see form here, but based on her voice and what she was saying, I was certain that she was wearing a cold expression.

「P-Princess?」, I timidly called out. She turned to face me, and on her face was not the cold expression I was expecting, but a kind, warm one. A soft expression befitting of the Goddess’s beloved child, the Shrine Maiden Princess. The definition of beautiful. A precious sight. The princess showed me her largest smile yet.

「Filmina.」

「Ye, yes?」

「If anything happens, don’t hesitate to call me. If you ring this bell, I’ll come immediately,」 she said, pointing to a cute golden bell on top of the bedside table.

「Okay…?」

I didn’t really understand what was going on, but I nodded anyway, and the Princess nodded, looking satisfied. Then, she turned back to face Edi, and continued:

「Agedilus」

「What?」

「Please be careful not to hurt my precious friend any more than this. Next time, I personally will bring the iron hammer down on you.」

Hearing 「precious friend」, I became unbearably happy, but what followed after, the princess’s dangerous speech, caused my face to stiffen. An iron hammer… It was not a word that should come out of this beautiful princess’s mouth, who looked as if she had never held anything heavier than chopsticks – or, well, I guess a fork and knife.

His eyebrows twitched. Those sunrise-colored eyes shifted their focus from the princess to me. I was just able to suppress the urge to burrow completely into the blanket, but I couldn’t meet his stare, so I lowered my eyes. I felt his aura get even heavier.

I was seized by a sudden urge to run away. But that wish probably wouldn’t be granted. Silence descended on the room once again. The one who broke the silence was, as expected, the princess.

「Well then, I’ll step out for a little while. In the meantime, you two should talk things out.」

『No, that’s impossible.』　Before I said it, I restrained myself, or rather, I should say that my voice didn’t come out because of surprise. Being left alone with this man would be unbearable.

But the princess showed me a quick smile and then gallantly stepped passed Edi and left the room. The only two remaining were myself, sitting up on the bed, stiffening, and Edi, keeping up his silence. Unable to even call out to him, I looked down. Suddenly, a shadow fell over me.

Looking up, I saw that Edi had come to the chair, but rather than sitting, he was looking down on me.

「Why?」

With a sigh, he asked the short question, his tone remarkable softer even than usual. The beauty of his voice only magnified how fearsome it was. I unconsciously clenched the bed sheets. He was completely expressionless, except those eyes, which exposed his feelings clearly. The name of that emotion expressed by those flickering sunrise-colored eyes, with their gradient of purple and orange, I knew well. It was anger.

「Why, didn’t you say anything?」

「What do you mean?」

「You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? That dream. Lately, you’ve been seeing that nightmare haven’t you?」

At this point, even if I tried to stubbornly play dumb, it would be pointless. That logic ran through my head. 「I won’t let you escape」 is what those eyes seemed to say. I became unable to move.

「That’s, um…」

The dream he was speaking of, that nightmare that I had been experiencing just before I assumed. How he had figured out, just by my collapsing, about that dream made me curious, but even I understood that this wasn’t the time to ask.

I was at a loss for words. Still with that quiet voice, he continued.

「Did you think that even if you told me, it would be pointless?」

「What?」

At first, I didn’t understand what he was saying. I stared up at his face, puzzled, and for the first time he showed an irritated expression. His elegant, androgynous beauty, that made you question that he was even human, made even that expression look beautiful.

He didn’t normally expose his emotions, and I was taken aback. He said, as if spitting out the words,

「Am I really such an undependable person to you?」

In that voice, I heard some tinge of confusion. I suddenly noticed that he had his fists clenched tightly. With that amount of force, his nails would be biting into his palms. It must be painful. Even so, as if he didn’t even realize that, he glared at me.

「That’s wro-」

「What’s wrong? You decided to take care of it yourself because I can’t be relied on, didn’t you?」

That’s wrong. That wasn’t it. Even though that wasn’t what happened. I, I just…

Even when I tried to explain, as if something was stuck in my throat, the words wouldn’t come out. I felt my lips trembling, as if they were another person’s. All that came out of my mouth was a weak sigh, with no sound. Those sunrise-colored eyes were looking down at me. That strength of the light inside of them, cause me to clench the bedsheet tighter.

「I’m very sorry.」

「Why are you apologizing?」

「I caused you trouble.」

「You—!」

The air trembled at his angry voice. I felt goosebumps over my whole body.

Seeing me cower, and perhaps taken aback at the fact that he had raised his voice, he stopped in the middle of talking. From his face I could tell he was regretting that he had yelled.

Why can’t it go well? I wondered. It wasn’t like I wanted him to make this face.

I really shouldn’t have gotten found out. I couldn’t help but think that. Once I decided to hide it, after that, no matter what, I needed to hide it. If not, I should have realized that this man would blame himself.

Not saying anything, I reached out my hand. I took Edi’s hand, and opened his fist. Yep, as I had thought, his nails had left red marks on his palm. That must have been quite painful. I stroked his hand, trying to comfort him. Looking tired, he sank down into the bedside chair that the princess had been sitting in. He smoothly took his hand from mine.

「…You, why are you like that?」

「I’m very sor-」