Chapter 57 - Volume 2 (2/2)

Shock attacked me for the second time. He said it like it was no big deal, but it was intolerable for me. The ‘Fernan’ he speaks of is my brother that was just in this room earlier. Was the 「punishment」 he spoke of, this? This man has above average skill in martial arts too, not just magic. So that means he simply resigned himself to his fate and took my brother’s punch.

「He said to me, ‘Were your wedding vows only all lies?!’」

My eyes widened at those words, I blinked. ‘Wedding vows.’

The typical so-called ‘wedding ceremony’ practiced in our country goes like this: standing in front of the idol of the goddess being prayed to in a temple, the man asks for permission from the woman, she grants it, and then they take their vows in front of the goddess. One of the vows for the man is 「I will protect you.」 I looked at him, ‘It’s that one, isn’t it?’ He wrapped both his arms around me, just tight enough not to hurt my wounds.

「Edi……?」

「Don’t look at me.」

I twisted my body in his arms, trying to look at his face, but he stopped me before I could. But even so, it’s human nature that if someone says not to look, you end up wanting to look even more. His arms tightened more but I forcibly separated from his body, looking up at his face. I couldn’t help but murmur, 「Oh dear!」 He tried to turn his face away from me but I forcibly aim it towards me, smiling.

「Oh you, what kind of a face are you making?」

That grieving face, as if he’d start crying any second. Even I knew it’s not because of the pain from being hit. I had much more serious wounds than him, but he made an even more miserable face. I couldn’t help but smile wryly. He really is such a hopeless man.

Then, I was the one that brought my face to his shoulder, combing through his glossy black hair with my fingers. It felt so good to touch, it made me angry. I’ve always liked touching his hair for so long. I half-close my eyes at the sensation of his hair smoothly sweeping between the gaps of my fingers, nothing’s changed even a little since we were younger. With my other hand, I clap his back.

「It’s alright, Edi.」

I snuggled closer to him, speaking as he gulped. ‘It’s alright. I’m alive, I’m here. I’m in none other than his arms. Hey you, you get it, don’t you?’ I slowly kept patting his back with those thoughts, when that warmth suddenly went away. He looked into my face, tenderly caressing my cheek. His deep, thick eyelashes bordering his sunrise-colored eyes faced downward; my smiling face was reflected in those eyes. He murmured:

「I’m sorry.」

At those words, I blinked once again, reflected in his eyes. He once again carefully embraced me, not trying to say anything else.

The apology he said, was it for using me as a decoy? Was it for how in the end, he left me alone and let me get captured by Lunamerie even though he said he’d be beside me? Of course, it’s not like I hadn’t thought about that.

Liar. I was scared. I really thought I might die, and what were you doing when I needed you the most?

When that thought crossed my mind, I really wanted to say it out loud. But watching the sight of him now, I couldn’t say a single thing. Well, how could I? If he had made any excuse, I could have freely blamed him. But he didn’t say anything like that, just obediently accepting anything I said. Just what could I say to him if he is being like this?

I remembered the words the leader of the knights said to me in that jail. He said that this man was against using me as a decoy until the very end. Then it’s fine. Just that is enough. But if I said that to him just like that, I’m sure he wouldn’t understand. Should I praise him for his faithfulness or curse him for being difficult, which one is it? As I thought about that, I gently separated myself from him.

From then onwards, I was going to try doing something really sneaky. If I didn’t ask at that time, he certainly wouldn’t listen to me. I was going to freely use this opportunity. Whether he heard the unspoken voice of my heart or not, he furrowed his brows dubiously. I smiled at him.

「Well now, Edi. I have a request for you, would you please listen to it?」

It was something I really wanted him to do for me at all costs. Something I couldn’t do with my power alone, I needed to borrow his power. Normally he would say something like 「It depends」 but this time was different. It really was so sneaky of me. It was a rather cunning act, if I do say so myself. Even though I knew that, especially because I knew that, I was going to say it there.

He silently urged me to go on, and I continued speaking.