“So Kiki and Didi were these two?”
“Yeah! This one’s Kiki, and this is Didi.”
According to Ailien’s explanation, the black cat was Kiki, and the flying squirrel was Didi. Kiki yawned constantly as if everything annoyed her, yet did not unwrap her tail from the child’s leg. Her yellow eyes were quite fierce.
Didi blinked her large eyes, and that look seemed quite similar to Ailien. Perhaps because she was the most sensible of this trio, she had her front paws neatly gathered, which made her look quite apologetic.
“Can they understand human speech?”
Calisto thought it was a truly stupid question. There was no way animals could understand human speech.
“So three really is too many after all?”
Ailien said in a dispirited voice. Kiki rolled her yellow eyes upward, and Didi looked almost ready to burst into tears. He had not said anything, yet he felt wrongfully accused of being a terrible person.
“Lili will just go alone……”
“Meow!”
“Squeak!”
“It seems this is as far as we go……. I’ll be sad if you two aren’t by Lili’s side, but I’ll try to endure it……. Lili will have a sword by her side, after all……”
Calisto, who had been about to say they could come along, watched the situation for a moment with a sense of absurdity.
“Mari said that those who live must live! And animals are supposed to live in the forest anyway!”
“Nyaaang.”
“Squeak, squeak!”
“What!”
“Wait.”
If he did not intervene now, it seemed he would have to keep listening to the round-robin song of ‘Meow,’ ‘Squeak,’ and ‘What!’ Calisto looked at Kiki and Didi. Judging by the fact that he could sense Marilyn Zeronias’s energy from the two of them, it seemed she had cast a spell to allow communication for Ailien’s sake.
“The three of you can come.”
“Kiki! Didi!”
When had he ever said he would leave them behind? Now that they could actually go together, Ailien bent down and hugged Kiki and Didi tightly, as if happy. Didi, also overcome with emotion, hugged the child’s cheek tightly, while Kiki licked her fur as if pretending not to be pleased.
“All right, then pack your things.”
Hearing that, Ailien ran excitedly around the house to fill a large bag.
Calisto, watching quietly from behind, thought the child was putting in somewhat useless things, but he did not bother to interfere. Fortunately, Kiki and Didi packed clothes and daily necessities instead.
“If you’re ready, let’s go out now.”
If something was needed later, they could buy it then. Suddenly, he recalled Evangeline, who had once said while decorating a room, “How wonderful would it be if I had a daughter?” He also pictured the scene of her meeting Ailien.
He did not know why, but his mood improved.
But unfortunately, Evangeline was currently away from Ruventain Castle, staying in the capital. As an outstanding magic swordsman, she was devoting herself to training juniors.
‘When was she coming back?’
It was the moment Calisto was counting the days until Evangeline’s return and about to lift Ailien into his arms.
“Wait a moment!”
His outstretched hand was left hanging as Ailien dashed off somewhere, as if she had remembered something. Then she took out paper and a pen and began writing something diligently.
“Who are you writing to? Marilyn?”
“I already said my goodbyes to Mari very properly.”
“Then who?”
“If I tell you who, is there any way a sword would know?”
At the child’s utterly pure and innocent question, Calisto was left speechless. In the end, he stepped back so Ailien could write her letter comfortably.
When she finished the letter, Ailien carefully placed it on the flower bed along with a single sprig of lavender.
“Can we really go now?”
“Why are you so impatient? If you were in such a hurry, you should have come yesterday.”
“You never let a single word slide……”
Even as she said that, Ailien ran pitter-patter into the room. She was a little worried that Calisto might change his mind.
‘Mari said I absolutely had to take it!’
What Ailien packed was a necklace with a bright red ruby.
For a moment, the recipient of the letter crossed her mind, but there was nothing to be done.
She could not cling to personal feelings. Ailien was destined to become a hero and save the world.
‘Mari said she hid treasure in the castle!’
She was still a baby and therefore a little weak, but once she found all the treasure Marilyn had hidden, she would become very strong.
‘All right, baby. I will protect you.’
If Ailien grew up to become a hero and drove out all the bad people.
Then she would be able to return Marilyn to her baby!
With a solemn look in her eyes, Ailien took one last look around the small cabin where she had lived her whole life, and finally stepped outside the door.
A single black bird circled overhead, watching that historic moment.
* * *
‘I’m sorry, Lili.’
The night Marilyn left the small, cute cabin.
Ailien lay in bed, pretending hard to be asleep.
Marilyn knew, but did not bother to wake her.
‘Let’s meet again soon.’
At that promise without a set date, Ailien wanted to get up and shout, asking when on earth that would be.
But she could not. The person who was struggling the most and was loneliest right now was Marilyn.
That was what it meant to be a hero.
In the morning, when Ailien woke and looked at the empty spot beside her, the black cat Kiki and the flying squirrel Didi came running to her.
Ailien hugged them both tightly.
‘Lili is okay.’
Lili can eat meals alone, sleep alone, and get along alone just fine.
So she hoped Marilyn would also be alone for just a little while, just a very short while.
Until someday she could send Marilyn back to the family who loved her.
‘I will do what I must do. Ailien just needs to grow up well.’
At Marilyn’s words, Ailien wanted to talk back. Marilyn was Ailien’s peaceful world. Thanks to her, Ailien had always been happy.
But sometimes a question arose. What kind of existence was she to Marilyn?
When Marilyn spoke of her baby, her eyes sparkled like the night sky and shone beautifully. Ailien would listen quietly, not because the story was interesting, but because she liked Marilyn’s expression in that moment.
But at the same time, she wondered if it was because of her that Marilyn could not go to the baby she longed for so much.
‘I’m sorry, Lili.’
So on the day Marilyn left her behind, Ailien could not bring herself to open her eyes and pretended to be asleep until the very end.
Because she had practiced hard how to send her off well.
‘Let’s meet again soon. My little thunderbolt.’
If she opened her eyes now, would Marilyn be before her?
She opened her eyes.
It was the moment she carefully opened her eyes, swelling with anticipation. But what she saw before her was not Marilyn, but a man with blond hair and red eyes.
Ailien blinked and cautiously asked.
“Thunder peach?”
“Are you hungry?”
At Ailien’s random remark the moment she woke, Calisto slightly furrowed his brow. But Ailien only shook her head slightly.
“Hey, sword.”
“Hm?”
“Come to think of it, I never said goodbye to Mari.”
At Ailien’s words, Calisto was momentarily speechless. While he hesitated, not knowing what to say, Kiki and Didi familiarly clung to the child’s side and shared warmth.
Watching that scene, he suddenly recalled what Ailien had said earlier—that she had not been alone, but had Kiki and Didi with her.
So the three of them must have relied on each other like that.
“I miss Marilyn, too.”
“You too, sword?”
“Yes.”
“Does your chest ache? Do tears prick at your eyes?”
At Ailien’s words, Calisto did not answer and only smiled. Then he turned his gaze out the window. Aching chest, prickling tears. It seemed he had forgotten such feelings at some point.
Evangeline had changed as well. She had always been rather cold, but she grew anxious like someone who had lost something, and the days she shed tears for no reason increased. And she began to obsess over records.
The Ruventain Grand Ducal House was thus struggling under the aftereffects of the war.
