Volume 4 Chapter 10 Part 4 (2/2)

「Umm, here.」

「This is?」

What’s this about? The boy continued to stare at me whilst blinking his big eyes.

「What’s this?」

Asking my question, the boy pointed towards the small bag he was holding in his hand. Once I saw the bag, it occurred to me. Oh, this?

Inside the bag were the magic stone barrette and the wedding ring that must have fallen on the ground the moment that man turned into a child. He probably must have put it inside of the bag so that he would know that he wouldn’t lose it no matter what.

「This barrette is something you received from me for your birthday. The ring is something you made for us for our wedding ceremony.」

I had a matching ring on my hand. Seemingly surprised by those revelations, the boy blinked a few times. I then took the barrette from his hands and started to comb his short hair. I then took the ring in my fingers and placed it on the boy’s ring finger」

「Fufu. I knew it would be too big for you right now. Ahh….. That’s right.」

While the boy kept staring at the ring on his finger, I got up from the bed and took the magic stone that was resting on the mirror stand. I then pulled out the small chain that was on top of the magic stone, feeling the boy’s gaze on me all the time.

「Edi, could you please lend me that ring for a moment?」

「……..?」

While the boy approaches me with the ring I detach the chain from the stone. I then receive the ring from him and pass the chain through it, next showing the boy to bend his neck just a little bit so that I could place the fast-made necklace on him.

「See? That way you will never lose it, even if you wanted to.」

I thought it was a really good idea. While I was smiling in self-satisfaction, the boy picked up his ring and stared at it with a mysterious expression.

But now that I have done it, there was this strange thought stuck in my head: it would be awfully lonely to sleep by myself tonight. So I pat the mattress right next to me while I say to the boy.

「Say, Edi? Would you like to sleep together with me tonight?」

「…… I thought I told you not to treat me like a child.」

「I know, but I really would like you to stay with me tonight. So what do you say? Just for tonight?」

He blinked his eyes rapidly again in surprise. Such childlike reactions were making him all the more cuter. They never failed to put a smile on my face.

I decided to tell him the legend as we lay together so it may help him fall asleep. It proved to be a whole lot harder to tell the whole story in one go. I was also hoping that the blue light of the magic gem and the silver rings will protect us from the eventual nightmares that would visit us.

As I spoke silently, the boy kept on listening without saying anything. A story about a Black Witch and a young boy, and the terrible plague that struck the island as a result of his “betrayal”.

The boy listened to the whole story without interrupting me once. When I got to the end of the story though, it was hard for me to end it with the usual “And then they lived happily ever after” phrase. I then waited in silence for the boy’s reaction. And that reaction surely arrived, in the form of a silent whisper.

「Surely.」

「Hmm?」

As the boy begins to speak I raise my body so that I can have a better look at him. The boy glanced at me, his eyes looking like a night fairies in the dim bluish light.

「I’m sure that Elizabell must have been sad.」

「Sad?」

「That’s right. She didn’t care what others thought of her, but she didn’t want her beloved one to reject her. That must have been her biggest fear.」

The boy stretches his hand towards me and gently strokes my cheek, as if to make sure of something.

「I, I love you, too.」

「…… Edi?」