Volume 4 Chapter 9 Part 3 (1/2)

Volume 4 Chapter 9 Part 3

Translator: Imlartis Editor: Queenie

I ignored the islanders and tourists looking at us and just continued running. And like this, holding the boy all the way, I arrived at the small isolated inlet where I first met Juri.

Just like that time, the waves were crashing peacefully and there were no people around. I relaxed at last and all my strength left my body.

「I-it should.. be.. fine.. here.」

I couldn’t say anything else. Panting, I put the boy I’d been holding down and just sat down there. No matter how much smaller he was compared to other boys his age, I didn’t have enough stamina to run at full speed while holding a child and not be out of breath.

As I was wondering whether those people did something bad to Juri, I lifted my head and looked up at the boy who was standing frozen next to me and looking at me from above. Seeing his expression I gasped without thinking. He was glaring at me with eyes like he could start crying at any moment.

「W-why?」

「Huh?」

The boy who had both his hands clenched tightly growled in a low voice.

「Why did you protect me…!」

Hearing those words I blinked without thinking. I tilted my head while wiping the blood off my forehead with the back of my hand. Seeing my reaction, the boy growled angrily, but I could only tilt my head some more. After all, that was it. It was a pointless question to ask.

「Why, you ask. Do I need a reason to protect you?」

「Of course you need one!」

At my bewildered voice the boy’s face looked increasingly like he was about to cry. Then his lips trembled.

「After all… I’m not “your Edi”!」

「!」

Those words hurt. My face with my wide open eyes was reflected in the boy’s eyes.

All this time I’d been thinking that for the boy I wasn’t the real 「Filmina」. I thought that was the reason why he didn’t try to communicate with me more than necessary. But that wasn’t it. I was wrong. The one who hadn’t acknowledged the boy as that man, was in reality me. I was always comparing the boy with the man I had in my heart. I only realized it after the boy pointed it out. I hadn’t noticed it myself but there was no way the boy, who was more sensitive to the subtleties of human heart, hadn’t noticed. Just how much had I hurt this boy till now?

「… I’m sorry Edi.」

「Why are you apologizing?」

「Because I’ve been hurting you all this time.」

「You are the one hurt! You got such a wound protecting me, even though there was no need to!」

「This wound is nothing compared to your wound.」

「!」

The boy bit his lips for a moment and lifted his hand over my forehead. From those pale and thin lips, I heard some magical words which I couldn’t understand. I was sure they were magical words used to summon the water spirit. However, this healing magic wouldn’t have any effect on me. The warm light gathered in the boy’s hands dispersed. I smiled bitterly at his astonished expression.

「Water spirit magic doesn’t work on me.」

He must have been very confused since he tried using magic even though he should have known it wouldn’t work. It was an unusual blunder for the boy, who tried to always stay level headed. His expression became twisted as I said those words. It wasn’t as if I wanted him to make such a face, but I always failed.

「As always, I only get protected by you.

… Sorry.」

He murmured in a timid voice. I opened my arms towards the boy, who opened his heart at that place and hugged him tightly. It was a thin and small child’s body, completely unlike that man’s. Even then I had finally realized that this boy, this child, was truly that man. This child who was so stunned by being pulled into my arms, that he even forgot to resist, was none other than that man. While not letting the boy see me, I thought self-mockingly that I was very late in realizing that. Then, I once again let go of him and put my hands on either side of the face of the boy, who was now above than me.

「I suffer much more when you get hurt, than when I myself get hurt. I don’t want an apology. Listen my beloved Edi. Do you know what words I want to hear?」

This time the boy gasped. No tears fell from his wet eyes. The boy at this time still hadn’t remembered how to cry. The first time I saw him cry was at the time when I collapsed because of Cerves’ magic a few months before. Both back then, and now, and the time I got my back injured by the flame spirit. The tears he cried and the ones he hadn’t cried, all of them hadn’t been for his own sake. He had never cried for himself. He was a kind child, who only cried for someone else. How could anyone get scared of such a child? How could they hate him? Why did I unconsciously want to protect this child who cried for my sake? Yes, that’s right, my beloved boy.

After having a close look at my face, the boy’s lovely lips, which were like cherry blossom petals dancing in the spring air, finally moved awkwardly.

「Th-thank you.」