Chapter 46: Morning Star (3)

"....Huh?"

A strange sound came out of my mouth as I felt a soft sensation enveloping my entire body.

Just a moment ago I had been sparring with Wilhelm in the training grounds, but now I found myself lying on a bed. 

Struggling to sit up with my groggy body, I tried to recall what had happened before coming here, but my memory of events leading up to this point was hazy. The only clear image in my mind was deflecting Wilhelm's sword during our duel.

Everything that happened afterward felt blurry, like looking at a noisy, distorted picture.

"Could it be... I fainted during the sparring?"

Considering my condition at that time, it wouldn't be surprising if I had fainted during the duel. However, I had a vague feeling that I had seen Elena's face just before everything went black. Why was that?

Pausing my thoughts for a moment, I got up from the bed and looked around. Though my body felt slightly heavy from just waking up, I didn't seem to have any injuries.

However, there was one peculiar thing. If I had indeed fainted during the sparring, my shirt should have been drenched in sweat from all the movement I had done since dawn. Yet the shirt I was currently wearing appeared clean as if I had just put it on.

There was no trace of the sour smell of sweat on my body either. Instead, a faint lavender scent tickled my nose.

As soon as I smelled the scent that was thickly left on my body, I felt the corners of my mouth go up, and I felt as if I could immediately find out who made me like this.

It couldn't be possible for my clothes to be this clean without being washed in water. Unless it was magic.

Looking out the window, I saw the stars and moon was already hanging in the sky.

I completely wasted the whole day.

There was no clock in the room, so I couldn't know the exact time. But by observing the position of the moon, I could roughly estimate how long I had been lying here.

Because of that, I unintentionally skipped all three meals of the day. My empty stomach roared as soon as I regained my senses. Right now, I felt like I could devour Elena's macarons in one bite if they were handed to me.

Considering the time, dinner had already been over, and it was questionable whether there would be anything left to eat.

Nevertheless, rather than sitting in the room obediently and enduring my hunger, I thought it would be better to go to the kitchen. I began preparing to leave the room, grabbing my coat from the hanger. However, just as I was getting ready, Ken entered the room with a soft knock.

"As I thought you would wake up around this time."

In his hand, he held a basket with bread as if he had prepared it for me.

If someone were to witness this scene, they might be surprised by Ken's timely arrival, but I had already adapted to it over the past five years. Now it wasn't particularly surprising to me.

I picked up a piece of bread from the basket Ken had placed and put it in my mouth.  No matter how late it was, I couldn't help but feel the texture of the bread chewing in my mouth was not so good. As I chewed on it reluctantly, Ken chuckled and opened his mouth.

"It's the first time for someone other than the Count to exhaust the young master in a duel. I never thought that the young master would lose to someone other than the Count in my entire life."

"Ken, I'm still sixteen. And losing... I haven't lost. Probably."

Ken chuckled and laughed at my vague response. I wanted to say something in response to his teasing smile, but the memory of the duel with Wilhelm had completely vanished from my mind, leaving me unable to say anything.

Wilhelm was known not only in the north but throughout the empire as a respected knight. Even if a sixteen-year-old boy like me managed to fight back in a duel, he might be praised by those around him, but that didn't work for me either.

His swordplay, which remained vivid among the opaque memories, was like a ferocious wolf aiming for my throat.

I remember it clearly.

It was a fierce strike that made me feel like my neck would be severed in an instant, but because I remember it, I was confident that I did not lose to him.

Of course, it was an impression I had at that moment, so it was not certain what the outcome was.

Still, it didn't feel like I had truly lost.

I didn't remember clearly, but I didn't think I lost.

If I really did lose the duel against him, there would be a hole somewhere in my body or my arm would be hanging loosely. How could I have lost when my body was perfectly fine like this?

But since I had no way to explain that to Ken, I bit my lip and continued chewing the bread in my mouth.

Although it was hard, it was somewhat manageable to swallow as I drank the tea Ken had brought. After a while, the basket, which was once full of bread, revealed its bottom.

As my hunger subsided to some extent, I looked at the darkened window once again. The stars, now firmly entrenched in the high sky, reminded me of how much time I had wasted meaninglessly.

I suddenly felt regret, thinking that I might have spent that time with Elena.

There wasn't much time left that I could spend in Merohim.

At most, two days...

For someone like me who wanted to hold onto as many memories as possible with her, it was a regrettable waste of time. It felt like since coming here, the things I needed to be mindful of have piled up like a mountain... Nothing seemed to go as planned in this world.

Even now, the lavender scent she left behind still lingered in my body.

Even without that, my senses had become more sensitive than before, constantly capturing her fragrance, causing Elena's face to keep appearing in my mind even without conscious thought.

'It seems like it won't work.'

Unable to resist the lingering lavender scent that kept surrounding me, I finally stood up from my seat.

I stood up from my seat and, while fixing my clothes neatly, I opened the door, glancing at my reflection in the small mirror placed in one corner of the room. Ken, seemingly unperturbed by my sudden action, sat calmly in his place and spoke.

"There's no need to be in such a hurry. The lady hasn't gone to sleep yet."

"Yes?!"

Without saying a word, Ken's remark struck a nerve, and I looked at him with a bewildered expression. The old butler, wearing a serene smile, looked at me with eyes that seemed to say he already knew everything.

"If you rush, you might make mistakes you wouldn't make otherwise. Look, isn't your brooch slightly crooked?"

"Ah..."

As Ken said, I looked into the mirror again and noticed that my tie's brooch was slightly tilted.

I started noticing other issues as well, such as creases in my clothes and other minor imperfections. Taking my time, I rearranged each item of clothing one by one, while Ken spoke to me in a calm voice.

"Young master, when you meet the young lady, don't make excuses. Speak honestly about what's in your heart. That would be better."

"...I understand. Thank you, Ken."

He really knew how to peer into my mind.

I replied with a soft laugh to Ken's advice and stepped out of the room.

The dimly lit corridor was only illuminated by the moonlight coming through the window. The darkness made me anxious, but despite that, I maintained the same pace without rushing.

As I walked, in sync with the beating of my excited heart, I felt my excitement gradually subside.

There was light ahead.

The darkness that surrounded me made the light seeping through the crack of the door even more noticeable. Knowing that I would be able to see her in that light, my heart regained complete serenity. Fortunately, as Ken had mentioned, it seemed that she hadn't fallen asleep yet.

I cautiously approached the door of her room and knocked.

***

I couldn't fall asleep.

Normally, by this time, I should be lying in bed, ready to sleep. But for some reason, my eyes wouldn't close. It felt like there was something I absolutely had to do, yet I had let it slip by.

Feeling stifled, I went out to the balcony and quietly gazed at the landscape spread out beneath the winter sky.

Although it was a sight I had seen countless times before, it felt a bit regrettable, knowing that I wouldn't be able to see it for a while due to my imminent departure. I absentmindedly turned my head to the side and muttered softly.

"It's a shame..."

I said those words weren't because I couldn't see the scenery in front of me. It was because of his absence, his absence made me say it. 

'It's really a shame.'

Thinking of his face when he wasn't next to me, I knew why I couldn't fall asleep. It wasn't even a question to ponder so deeply. It was just a pity that I couldn't spend time with him today.

With that realization, I leaned against the railing and let out a small laugh.

In the beginning, just being by his side was enough to satisfy me. But now, I felt a sense of regret for not having had a conversation with him for just one day. Unlike before, when I found happiness in small things, my relationship with him was changing, and I could clearly feel it.

The regret of him not being by my side still lingered in my heart, but the smile on my face didn't fade away. It was evident that my heart had become accustomed to spending time with him.

『Tweet tweet-』

A small blue bird perched in the dark night sky and landed on my hand.

The blue bird, with its beautiful blue feathers, was looking at me with sparkling eyes. I gently stroked its head with my finger and then released it back into the sky.

"Master."

Who could look at that bird and think that it was made of magic? Even the master of golem magic and the master of the Golden Tower, known as the Archmage, would not be able to create such sophisticated magical creatures.

Contrary to the cute appearance of that bird sent by my old master, it had the ability to easily knock down quite a few magicians.

I didn't think she sent it to threaten me, but rather, like a tool she sent to fulfill a promise.

"Even so, I won't be able to find it now."

I murmured to the blue bird flying toward the sky.

Dragon eggs grew by consuming the earth's mana flowing through the dragon's veins.

Therefore, before the Tower of Dawn was built, she put her egg into the dragon's vein flowing here. However, once the tower was built and the tower's magicians found her egg and stored it somewhere in the tower, things began to get complicated.

Since the dragon egg didn't show any signs of its power until it consumed a certain amount of mana, it would have appeared to those who discovered it as just a stone that absorbed mana. Now, after a long time had passed, in order to find the egg, one would have to meticulously search through the vast tower. But if I wait for just five more years, the egg would diligently absorb the surrounding mana and wake up.

And this blue bird was for that time. The moment it detects the egg's mana, this bird was designed to guide me to the location of the egg.

Although my old master Theia was connected to the egg spiritually, she couldn't accurately predict the exact time the egg would wake up, she could just make an estimation. That was why she sent me this bird. Of course, having already turned back time multiple times, I knew exactly when the egg would wake up.

Recalling the promise with Theia, the events of that day came back to my mind.

Come to think of it, when I made the promise with Theia, he had a very startled expression. Well, from the story he knew, it was the beginning of a relationship between me and Master, so it was not surprising. However, if he knew about my regression, he wouldn't have reacted that way.

"There will be countless events like this from now on... I'm looking forward to it."

To borrow his expression, was this what he call "deviation from the original story"?

Before, I used to run around everywhere with him to change fate, but now, just by staying still, everything he knew would be completely reversed. There was no longer such a thing as the fate he knew as the original story in this world.

Imagining how he would react to the changed future, a smile naturally formed on my face.

"...I'm sure it won't work."

I stand up from leaning on the railing.

I thought it would be okay if I just looked at the surrounding scenery, but it seemed to have no effect. Even when I tried to think about something else, it somehow leads back to a topic related to him, just like before.

At least, I felt like my heart would be at ease if I saw his face once before going to sleep.

-Knock, knock.

Just as I made up my mind, the sound of someone knocking on the door reached my ears.

Was this instinct? Even though the door didn't open as soon as I heard the sound, I felt like I knew who was standing in front of the door.

"Please come in."

Speaking in a voice that wasn't too high or too low, I adjusted my voice so that my current emotions wouldn't show.

As soon as I gave permission, the door opened, and he entered the room. His pupils reflecting my face clearly looked like a dragon, but they didn't hold the same sharpness. His warm gaze, golden like the sun, looked at me.

Seeing me, he smiled softly and said,

"It's late at night. Why haven't you slept yet?"

I couldn't bring myself to say it was because I was thinking about you...

"...I just couldn't sleep. What about Damian? Why did you come here at this late hour?"

I asked, trying to beat around the bush. He also hadn't been sleeping until late hours. In fact, even as I asked this question, I had a rough idea of his answer. He must have come in after seeing the lights still on in the room.

However, the answer that came out of his mouth completely exceeded my expectations.

He briefly avoided my gaze when I asked the question, then smiled faintly and approached me. Stepping out onto the balcony and briefly looking up at the sky, he turned to me without turning his face away and spoke.

"...After waking up, I just wanted to see your face. Elena."

His gentle voice, flowing from his lips as if it brushed against my ear, melted into my ears.

His answer, far beyond my expectations, was enough to evaporate my reason for a while. But I no longer transformed into a fool who couldn't do anything with a single word from him, as I did before.

I held his empty hand, cooling it from the rising heat carried by the wind.

Feeling the warmth and strong pulse in his hand, I held on tighter. Holding his hand, just like him, I looked up at the sky.

The starry night sky was beautiful. Even though I wouldn't be able to see this kind of sky anymore once I left for Sarham in a few days, I didn't feel any regret.

Because I could be certain that the sky I would see from the south would be just as beautiful, I leaned against him, feeling the warmth transmitted through his hand.

--- END OF CHAPTER ---

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