Chapter 118 · Farewell (1)

Leo looked straight at me and whispered low.

“You don’t feel even a little sad about parting from me.”

Perhaps because our voices echoed inside the sound-blocking barrier, a chill ran down my spine.

“Th-that’s not true. Of course I’m sad…”

I stammered. But he did not relax his deeply furrowed expression.

“If you were sad, you wouldn’t look so perfectly fine.”

Leo seemed to be reproaching me for being heartless, and it made me feel bad. I felt terribly wronged!

I’m sad too, you know. That’s why I risked danger and sneaked out in the middle of the night, and he didn’t understand that at all.

“You probably weren’t thinking about me at all. You must have been completely focused on whether that holy knight commander was all right or not. You…”

Leo poured it out rapid-fire, then bowed his head deeply and muttered.

“Damn it.”

Where did this boy learn to swear… And he’s supposed to be such a proper prince.

If he uses vulgar language after returning home, his father will be upset.

“…”

“…”

Silence settled over the room.

I simply could not understand why Leo was angry. He was finally escaping this wretched country, wasn’t he? When such a happy thing was happening, was he angry because I didn’t seem as sad as he expected?

Suddenly, a memory from when I was four came to mind.

“Papa weally doesn’t care?”

When Alter tried to adopt me, I asked Paeon that.

At the time I hadn’t realized it, and even now I hate to admit it, but I think I wanted to be loved by him. That was why I had been so angry when Paeon seemed no different from usual even though I was about to become someone else’s daughter.

Was Leo feeling something similar to what I felt then?

Perhaps Leo too, having gone so long without being loved by anyone, had become attached to me, the only person who had treated him well.

But that was an emotion that would fade quickly once he returned home. In Kalisa, there would be plenty of people who would treat him well even if it wasn’t me—how much would he really miss the princess of an enemy nation? In fact, as time passed and my face grew hazy in his memory, he might come to hate me again.

Thinking that made my heart sting. The bridge of my nose tingled too. I held back tears and spoke.

“I’m extwemely sad, but it’s a good thing for Weo… so I think I should congratulate you rather than be upset.”

“…”

He gazed at me silently, then suddenly reached out both arms and grabbed me.

“This isn’t right.”

“…?”

I stared blankly into his iolite eyes, bewildered. I felt like I could fall into those deep, deep eyes.

“I can’t leave you here and go. People who are after your life are walking around in plain sight!”

“…”

Leo seemed terribly worried about me. Honestly, it was a little touching.

“I can help you escape. I can’t take you with me right now, but as soon as I arrive in Kalisa, I’ll ask my father and send people. You have more freedom of movement, so it should be easier for you to escape than for me. When you come to Kalisa, I’ll find you a guardian. I’ll make every arrangement so you can grow up as the child of a noble family. I can make sure no one knows your true identity. So…”

Having poured all that out without pausing for breath, he stopped, gasped for air, then immediately opened his mouth again.

“Asha, let me help you.”

Leo’s proposal was incredibly tempting. I nearly answered, “All right.”

He must mean it sincerely. And given his personality, he would not break his promise. He would try somehow to keep it. Even if it was terribly difficult…

Leo loved Kalisa. The country he described to me was beautiful, and its people seemed mostly polite and kind. The goodwill Leo was offering me now might be a stroke of luck I would never receive again.

But I shook my head slightly.

“I can’t, Weo. I’m sowwy…”

“Why?”

He asked, his body stiffening.

“I… I have something I have to do.”

Leo’s pupils shook greatly.

“You… in the end, you’ve decided to inherit that position?”

As expected, this child is quick to catch on. I looked down at my knees without answering.

“You could die. No, even if you don’t die… we’ll become enemies.”

The hand gripping my arm grew tighter and tighter. He was trembling.

“Are you really all right with that?”

My throat burned and I couldn’t answer for a long while.

“…I won’t think of Weo as an enemy. Just as I always have.”

“Don’t say such naive things. Even if we don’t think of each other as enemies, the situation will make us enemies!”

He was right. The chasm between Santra and Kalisa was too deep to ever be bridged.

“…I know it’s shameless of me to ask after receiving so much help from Weo, but I have one last favor.”

I spoke in a cowering voice.

“Please stop your father from invading Santra.”

He stared at me blankly as if shocked, then flared up like fire.

“I can’t promise that. No, I won’t!”

Leo released me roughly. His eyes were boiling with anger.

“You’re just trying to use me to the very end.”

I was left speechless. It felt like a dagger had pierced my chest. Even if he thought that, I had nothing to say. The kindness I had shown him had come partly from pity, but also partly from ulterior motives. I had wanted him to tell me how to make the herb of life sprout.

Leo had only received what I unilaterally gave him, and never once asked anything of me. And yet here I was, making a perfectly selfish request to the very end.

“…I’m going.”

He turned his head away from me and spoke.

For this to be the last time was truly the worst. This kind of farewell was worse than not saying goodbye at all. But I could not hold on to him. I could only watch him, unable to move.

But just as Leo was about to rise from the bed, a loud yawn came from outside.

“Yaaawn…”

“!”

Startled, I grabbed Leo. I grabbed him so urgently that my center of gravity shifted sharply and I pitched forward.

“Whoa!”

Fwump!

There was the sound of the blanket denting, but it wasn’t soft. I had fallen on top of Leo.

Something soft touched my lips with a soft sensation.

“!!”

When I hurriedly lifted my head, I was startled to meet wide-open iolite eyes.

Leo’s face was too close. So close that my flustered face was clearly reflected in his violet pupils.

“Gasp!”

I quickly rolled away from him.

“I put up a sound-blocking spell!”

Leo sat up and cried low.

“S-sowwy. I was ju… just supwised…”

“…”

Color spread rapidly across Leo’s face. My face grew hot too, and my heart pounded wildly.

“Um, s-so… d-did… did we…”

I couldn’t bring myself to ask. Did it touch? Something touched, but I couldn’t tell whether it was lips or cheek.

‘It must have been the cheek. It was too soft.’

But Leo turned red all the way to the tips of his ears and covered his lips with his arm.

‘The wips? Huh? Don’t tell me it was the wips?!’

That can’t be. No way! Leo’s face may be small, but the area lips take up on a face is tiny—what kind of coincidence would that be!

Thinking that I had forcibly stolen his lips made inner screams erupt in my mind. Even someone who knew nothing about romance knew how important a first kiss was…

Leo sprang to his feet.

“I-I’m going.”

Before I could say anything, he vanished in an instant.

“…”

I cupped my burning face in my hands and stared blankly at the spot where he had left.

‘I never thought we’d have such an absurd farewell.’

I could still feel that soft sensation on my lips.

◇ ◆ ◇

Paeon was trapped in a dream. But he did not know it was a dream. For him, it was all too vivid a reality.

He was in the middle of the Dark Forest, and A-rank monsters swarmed and rushed at him in packs. No matter how many he cut down, there was no end.

Grrraaah!

Thud! When he cut down three orcs at once, Shellman came running.

“Hah… hah. Commander, several monsters have escaped the forest. There’s a high chance they’ve moved toward the village.”

“Confirm their location at once.”

He wiped the monster blood splattered across his face with his arm. It smelled foul and metallic.

Several months had passed since monsters began breaking through the barrier of the Dark Forest and escaping. The damage had been enormous. Destroy one pack and another emerged, destroy them and more emerged…

“But Commander, word came from the royal palace.”

Shellman hesitated before speaking.

“They say Princess Anastasia has been stripped of her title and cast out.”

“…What?”

His vision changed in an instant.

A white-haired girl was being dragged along by people, bound with ropes. The small, gaunt child was crying, utterly terrified.

“You’re the one who brought calamity to Santra.”

“With Kalisan blood, and you even coveted wicked magic!”

“That’s why Lord Lux is angry!”

“N-no… It’s a misunderstanding!”

The people did not even pretend to listen to the child. They bound her tightly to a wooden post. And they poured oil over the pile of wood.

“No!”

Something terrible was about to happen. Something that must never happen.

“No…”

He shook his head frantically, trembling. Where on earth was he, and what was he doing?

His vision changed again. He was on a galloping horse, and because the view changed so suddenly, he nearly fell.

His horse was running violently. The destination was where she was.

His heart felt like it would burst. The Dark Forest was at the northernmost edge of the continent. Wherever she was, he would have to ride for at least several weeks.

The moment he realized that, several scenes blended together. People set fire to the woodpile… the flames rose quickly.

“No, no… No!”

He wailed, terrified and in pain. It sounded like the cry of a beast. As if mocking him, the flames appeared before his eyes, all too vivid. He heard her screams too. But he could do nothing but ride.

By the time he reached the village, only ashes remained. People discovered him and screamed in shock. It was because he had ridden for days without rest and looked barely human.

Their screams were soon swallowed by the sword he swung.

He killed every last villager. They were ordinary commoners who could not even resist, and killing them would not bring her back, but he could not endure it otherwise.

But the one he most wanted to kill was himself.

He wanted to tear himself apart and kill himself. He wanted to throw his corpse to the beasts, crush his bones, and have them trampled under people’s feet.

After cutting down the last person, he raised his heavy sword and held it to his own neck. Bloody tears dripped onto the gleaming blade.

The next moment, his vision changed again. This time he saw a familiar ceiling.

“Hah… hah…”

His whole body was heavy as water-soaked cotton.

“Sir Parsiel, are you awake?”

Rosa was looking at him with wide eyes. She was holding a large incense burner.

His mind gradually returned. The memories from just before he collapsed rushed in all at once. He sat up abruptly, pressed his temples with his hand, and asked.

“How long have I been asleep?”

“Um… about half a month.”

She added cautiously, watching his reaction.

“I-I’m sorry. The High Priest ordered it, so there was no helping it…”

“The princess… where is the princess?”

At his urgent question, she answered with a troubled face.

“The princess has left for the port of Salamis.”