Chapter 17 - Promise (2/2)

He said softly, “I said I would never do anything that would bring harm to you. So…” His voice quavered ever so little as he spoke. “Would you like to go and see the ocean of trees with me?”

It was the same as asking if she wanted to go with him wherever he went. Ronée could clearly recall the conversation from their youth.

“That’s on the Western Continent, right?”

“Yes.”

That meant that they had to leave the Eastern Continent. A completely new land. A foreign place that she had never seen or even imagined she might someday venture to.

It must be a very different place. Originally, there had been almost no interaction between the people of the Eastern and Western Continents, so the culture must be very different indeed.

“The place where you spent 10 years.”

“Yes.” Nabel did not deny it. Although nothing good would come of revealing his identity on the Eastern Continent, at the very least, he would not deny it before Ronée.

“….Your home.”

That, too, he did not deny. “So you knew.”

Ronée nodded her head slowly. “More than saying that I knew, I wondered where this person who knew so much about mythical creatures came from.” It was a conclusion that she had come to during the time that they had been separated.

People of the Eastern Continent knew nothing about mythical creatures. Ronée had never even heard of such creatures before. But Nabel had seemed to know all about them.

A place where even a child as young as Nabel knew about mythical creatures… She could only conclude that it was a completely different part of the world.

“I used to think about it every time I thought of you. ‘So he was a westerner, after all.’”

Nabel chuckled. “I should have come sooner.” His regretful gaze brushed Ronée’s pale face.

Because I was afraid that those who were looking for me would come for you, I settled for just drawing your face in my mind over and over again.

He swallowed those words back down. “You look just the way I remember.” He wanted to call out her name one more time. Nabel smiled.

This person with her rich scent of roses. From now on, he would not be separated from her. He did not want to be separated from her.

Just as I thought of nothing but seeing her again for ten years, I wonder if Ronée thought of me.