Chapter 44.5 (2/2)
'What should I do? I missed training…'
Strong emotions bubbled up inside her. This time, it was not sadness, but anger and self-loathing.
'Even though he said that we'd be together.'
She felt lonely and uneasy.
Small teardrops fell from Leti's emerald eyes.
”Oh, Leti!”
She heard the voice that she wanted to hear most. When she whirled around, she saw Wynn, who was wearing a wide smile.
”Whatcha doing? Let's go! Come wash your face. Crying doesn't suit your pretty face.”
”Let's go? Where are we going?”
”Didn't I say so yesterday? We're gonna celebrate your birthday today! Look, I got some bread, cheese, and some sausages from Randell.”
He was holding a basket full of food.
The small earthenware probably contained freshly squeezed fruit juice. She also saw some expensive fruits.
”Whoaa.”
Leti widened her eyes.
”I guess this wouldn't really compare to what your family was going to prepare, but let's go and eat this outside the city!”
”Okay!”
Leti desperately tried to hold back her tears. However, the strong emotions that had bubbled up within her mellowed out and became softer.
There was a small hill outside the city.
The two of them ate there, on the gra.s.sy field, as they talked about silly and childish topics.
The food and drinks had been cooled down by the cold weather, but Leti still felt that it was more delicious than what she normally ate.
After they ate until they were full, they ran around in the gra.s.s.
”Look, snow! Onii-chan, it's snowing!”
The white snow seemed to dance as it floated to the ground.
”Hey Onii-chan, let's dance!”
Leti grabbed Wynn's hand.
The two of them whirled around in a dance that didn't seem like a dance, with Wynn awkwardly following her along. It was not a dance one would see in high society.
However, that did not matter to them.
Leti sang as they danced.
Even after Wynn became tired from the unfamiliar dance and sat down, Leti continued her dizzying dance.
Her voice was as clear as a bell. The snow seemed to dance to the sound of her voice as it fell.
Leti's voice outshone any of the minstrels who had stayed at the Wandering Bird's Roost.
Wynn felt that Leti's figure that danced in harmony with the snow was much prettier than any picture an artist could draw.
Time flew by quickly.
The city gates would close soon.
Wynn clenched both of his fists as he watched Leti reluctantly prepare to go back.
They had feasted and they had danced. The last thing left was to give her a present.
While he was at the market stocking up for the inn, he had brought some of the money he had been saving up to pay for his admission to the Knight Academy.
He had bought a lunchbox from Randell as a customer.
He had then bought a present from an accessory shop at the market.
Leti had occasionally stopped to gaze at the accessory.
Leti never lacked food or clothing, but unlike her older siblings, she had never received a present.
She had only been able to watch from a distance as her sisters enjoyed their own presents.
Those gifts were all extraordinarily expensive, and it was impossible for Wynn to obtain most of those types of gifts. However, there were some that he could afford that were being sold at the stalls in the markets.
Even so, it was still an unimaginable amount of money to Wynn. However, once he had decided to buy it, he never wavered. He asked the craftsman to make a child's accessory.
There were some things that even money could not buy.
Leti's smile was one of them.
He took a small bundle from the bottom of the basket.
”Leti.”
”What is it, Onii-chan?”
Wynn took Leti's hands and brought the contents of the package out from behind his back with his right hand.
Leti's eyes widened.
”Happy eighth birthday. Here, your present.”
Embarra.s.sed, Wynn ended up speaking bluntly.
Leti's gaze travelled back and forth between the small present in her hands and Wynn's face many times.
Leti then held her present tightly to her chest.
”… I'm so happy.”
She broke into tears.
”… I'm so happy…so happy…”
She quietly repeated the same words over and over.
”H-hey, you're crying. Wh-The gates are about to close soon–”
Leti laughed at how Wynn was so fl.u.s.tered.
At that moment, a gap appeared in the clouds that had covered the skies.
Wynn became breathless. The light made it seem as if Leti was emitting a golden glow.
For a moment, Leti appeared sacred, inviolable. He could only look on in a stupor.
”Onii-chan?”
Leti's voice brought him back to his senses.
”A-ah. That's right, we should get going.”
When she saw that Wynn's face had turned red, Leti laughed again.
Her tears did not stop, but the feelings in her heart were no longer negative.
She cried with a smile.
That was the day that Leti first noticed her feelings.
”Hey, are you ready yet? Everybody is changed and waiting, you know?”
”Yeah, I'll be right there.”
She looked herself over in the mirror to make sure that her clothes were in order. Her blazer was pure white with blue hems. The hems were embroidered with gold thread. It was truly a uniform befitting of a n.o.ble.
Only a handful of knights in the empire could wear that uniform.
Leticia worked vigorously as a member of that order of knights.
'Do you remember, Onii-chan?'
That had happened six years ago.
Since it had been made for a child, the gift could no longer fit on her finger. She looked at the tiny aquamarine ring.
It was not a particularly expensive item.
It did not suit the third daughter of a duke. Rather, it might not even have suited a slightly well off commoner family.
However, Leticia always wore the ring on a silver chain around her neck.
n.o.body would ever see it.
Wynn had lived through true poverty.
He had worked to the point of exhaustion every day in order to save up money.
He had not hesitated to use the money he had shed his blood and sweat for in order to make the young Leticia happy.
It must have cost Wynn a fortune.
It was inevitable for the maids who helped her change clothes to see it, but no criticisms escaped from their lips.
She had never told Wynn that the ring still hung around her neck.
Her right hand touched the ring underneath her uniform.
Leticia decided that the day she told Wynn about the ring had yet to come.
That day would surely become the most important memory of her life. On that day, with Wynn standing beside her, she would say:
”Do you remember, Onii-chan? That time…”
Author's Note: Merry Christmas!
TL Note: What the author said. And also, I'm not a lolicon. I'm just a Leti-con.
<script>