CH 24

The afternoon sun was shining brightly. It was a day when the blades of grass swayed in the wind and the chirping of birds rang outside the window.

I opened the window while taking in the unusually fine weather outside.

“Ei.”

“Why?”

Dante called me, yet he didn’t even look at me and reached out his hand. Immediately, a blue bird the size of a palm flew in and perched on his finger.

Chirp, while letting out that beautiful sound, which is really cute unlike anything else. It’s also commendable that it tilted and then rubbed its head as if it was acting cute.

Look at those bright purple eyes. Truly one of the most beautiful birds I have ever seen.

“Why is our Lisa so pretty?”

“Because it resembles the owner.”

“I guess it’s because it doesn’t resemble the owner. Right?”

Naturally, Dante’s words were ignored. ChirpㅡLisa cried once in response to my words, and I laughed, running my fingers gently through Lisa’s fur.

However, before I could compliment Lisa further, I felt warmth coming from behind.

“Hey.”

“Hmm, Ei.”

“Let go.”

Are you bragging about being tall, now? It wasn’t enough for him to hold me, so I could feel him pressing my head with his chin. I tapped Dante’s arm to tell him to let go, yet he didn’t do it easily.

Through the part I touched him, I could feel Dante’s small grin.

“You need to like the familiar’s owner also, not the familiar only.”

“Who is that?”

“Ah, really.”

Really, what? I snorted as if I was laughing at Dante’s voice.

The day I told Dante to leave the house and come back in the evening, he kept half of my word. It was because he was really out of the house and came back earlier than dinner.

When asked if he came quickly because he had some urgent business, Dante replied.

[No, I just wanted to see you quickly.]

[…]

If he had made an effort to come up with another excuse, I wouldn’t have said anything more.

As a punishment for breaking a promise just for that reason, and confidently stating the reason, I had been pretending not to know Dante since yesterday to this second.

While I continued to try to get out of his arms, Dante, who was silent for a moment, called me as if he had made a resolution.

“Ei.”

“Why.”

“What am I supposed to do?”

What do you mean what you’re supposed to do? You think I’m ignoring you like this simply because I want you to pamper me?

“Buy me some cake.”

“I’ll be back.”

You know very well. Actually, seeing your sullen face made me feel better, but to think that you are fooled without knowing that.

I waved at Dante with a triumphant smile when Dante sighed and ran his hand through his hair. As usual, his troubled face was also very handsome.

In the end, Dante laughed as if he couldn’t win, then lowered his head and kissed my forehead. I stopped pretending to be angry and just laughed at his kiss.

Dante asked me while launching a magic circle as he was going to go to the next village right away.

“Did you write a letter to Masha?”

“Ah, right.”

“You forgot again.”

That is possible, whatever. I shrugged my shoulders as I watched Dante disappear.

***

The day after I proposed to Dante, I went to Masha’s house to announce that I was getting married, and I heard a rather startling story.

It was the story of Masha going to the capital.

Around that time, she was working in the village’s clothing store. At first, she said she did nothing except move the fabric from the side, and at some point she even took the work and started doing it at home.

The first time I saw it, I was worried that she might be being forced by the owner, yet Masha right away said it was what she wanted to do. If she had been forced to do it, she wouldn’t have held on for so long.

Masha’s work, which I stared at with a sidelong glance, looked great. It didn’t seem like a beginner’s skill even to me, whose eyes have gotten hardy as I got older.

I think I complimented her a few times, saying that she definitely has talent in this field and that I know why she was so favored by the owner. And I encouraged her to try harder.

Masha went to the clothing store even more diligently because of my praise, and in the end, she received an offer from the owner of the clothing store to go to the capital together.

It was a hasty decision, so she would leave immediately after two days. Congratulating her on the news, I soothed the weeping Masha, who was holding onto me and said, “Even if I leave, you can’t forget me.” then asked me to send letters more often until right before she left, as I was trying to calm her down a few times.

Finally, two mornings later, after seeing Masha off, I realized.

Ah, I didn’t tell you I was getting married.

And back to the present. Instead of being able to tell her directly, it was getting late to announce the news of my marriage, at least through a letter. The problem arose because the village was so remote that it was difficult to send letters.

I should have said that in the letter I sent in the beginning. I forgot because I was busy talking about Lisa.

Why don’t you tell her that I’m married? When I asked such a question to the village girls, I was criticized, “You have to say that yourself!” I have nothing to say because it’s true.

I don’t want to ask Dante to tell her that I’m married. In the end, I had no choice but to promise myself that I would definitely write this letter.

Just write down whatever comes to mind. After putting Lisa in the cage, I sat down in front of the desk and pulled out a paper. It was a yellow letter paper with small red flowers on it.

I was re-reading Masha’s letter to write a reply, but there was a sentence that caught my eye.

[I think the hardest thing here is that no matter what happens, I can’t tell anyone what’s inside me. I’m still getting close with other people.

That’s why I’m writing this in a letter, but anyway! What is the difference between writing and speaking?

But you’re lucky. If you have any concerns, you can tell Dante right away. Sometimes I envy you because you seem to have no secrets from each other.]

…Dante and I seem to have no secrets from each other, she says.

Hmm, I tilted my head to one side. Certainly Dante and I tend to be honest with each other, and we talk right away if something happens from that day on, but well, I don’t know.

For me, who still had one fact left unsaid to Dante, it was a sentence that made my conscience sting.

Well, I think I should have told him earlier. None other than the fact that I don’t die.

“…”

If there are people who are shocked that I still didn’t say that even though I’m now married, I want them to listen to what I have to say. Of course, I myself think that what I say is more of an excuse, but wouldn’t it be better to listen to an excuse or whatever?

I, of course, thought several times that I should tell Dante my secret. As much as I was happy to hear that Dante didn’t die, I also thought that he would be happy to hear my story.

I tried to say it over and over again, however, when I tried to do it in front of him, my mouth just couldn’t move.

As long as Dante lived forever, my secret would be nothing special.

I also didn’t know why I was doing this, so when I thought about it, I was able to find the reason with difficulty.

I find it difficult to say ‘I don’t die’, and just because the other person is Dante, it doesn’t change that fact.

It was a conclusion that I came to only after looking at myself as if I were someone else, but it was more plausible after thinking about it.

It’s a very strange thing. I never thought it would be difficult, yet I can’t believe it couldn’t come out of my mouth when I tried to bring it up.

I haven’t really thought about why it’s difficult. Maybe the things I went through because I didn’t grow old were imprinted unconsciously, well. It’s been too long since I’ve turned a blind eye to my feelings to find a reason behind them.

So, instead of considering the difficulties I was going through, I decided to put off telling Dante that I didn’t die.

It was a very simple conclusion. We were going to be together for a long time anyway, and there was no need to tell the truth right away because of impatience.

Of course, it wasn’t that I wouldn’t tell him at all, but I had no desire to tell Dante my secret as soon as possible. And I didn’t dislike the way that feeling was gone.

Who would feel bad about avoiding difficulties?

…I sat down to write a letter to Masha, yet I was thinking about other things. I stopped thinking and picked up a pen belatedly.

[Dear Masha.

I got married. You know who I did it with, so I won’t write it down.]

Ah, I only wrote this much, but it feels like I’m already getting six replies.

The content is roughly: ‘His face is nice and he’s kind to you, but he’s not trustworthy, as expected, just marry me’… I guess. It will take some effort to read them all.

I wondered what else to write, and as I swung my pen around, there was a knock on the door. What is it, is Dante already here? It’s still too fast even if he used magic.

However, it soon occurred to me that Dante wouldn’t knock on the door. Is that a villager then?

After thinking for a moment, I remembered that Dante had said that no dangerous person would ever come near the house. I think it was some kind of prevention magic, whatever. I’m not sure exactly.

In any case, Dante wouldn’t have used magic in vain, so it would be fine. I put down my pen, got up, and headed for the door.

“Who is it?”

Saying that, I opened the door, yet the person standing in front of the door had a face I had never seen before.

A robe similar to Dante’s stood out.