Chapter 88: Enjoy Your Meal

Status: 5/week mon-fri

Illustrations: posted in discord

I groaned, barely opening my eyes as I lay on the bed. Something felt off. Though I'd only blacked out briefly, elements before me clashed with my memories.

"Hey... Tina."

"Yes, Dad?"

"Yulian and Glen too..."

The children tilted their heads slightly. Meeting their curious gazes, I blurted out my honest observation.

"Did you all get taller somehow?"

"..."

The atmosphere suddenly turned awkward. I wanted to tilt my head in confusion at this inexplicable reaction.

Amidst the thick silence, Elphisia slowly revealed the truth.

"Harte. You... You've just woken up after a year."

"What...?"

"Didn't you hear me? You've been asleep for a year, darling..."

It was no laughing matter. Though it felt like I'd just had a brief dream, an entire year had passed.

My initial response was denial.

"Come on, don't lie to me, Elphisia. I'm not some ordinary person who'd lie around for a whole year."

"Mom, Dad's talking weird."

"Seems the Director's taken a serious blow to the head. Wait, is that even possible for him?"

"Because of us... How could this..."

Those were the reactions of Tina, Yulian, and Glen, in that order.

I stared blankly at Elphisia, unsure of what had gone wrong. But Elphisia was hanging her head, her eyes filled with a kind of longing.

That's when Tina innocently posed a question.

"Come to think of it... This feels more like the real Dad. Isn't it unfair that Mom always uses formal speech while Dad uses informal?"

"Certainly...!!!"

In that moment, I bolted upright. Tina's spot-on observation opened a new door in my mind.

The reason I started using informal speech with Elphisia was simple.

[Your formal speech is excessive. Rather than using awkward honorifics, it'd be better to speak casually.]

[That's a bit...]

[First, fulfill your duty as a spouse.]

... In this way, she had essentially forced me into fixing my speech pattern.

But looking back, I should have encouraged Elphisia to speak casually too. Maybe she'd been waiting for that all along...

Had I been too oblivious to notice?

"Uh... Ahem..."

I might have made quite the blunder.

"Elphisia."

"... Yes."

"Would you like to... speak casually from now on? I'll go back to using formal speech..."

"Do you want to go back to sleep, dear?"

"Ah... Haha..."

This was unbearably awkward.

Ever since regaining my memories from before the regression, it felt like my personalities were mixing.

Every time I looked at Elphisia's face, I wanted to run and embrace her. I was seized by an obsessive need to treat her with the utmost respect. I couldn't remember for the life of me how I had treated Elphisia before the hunting festival.

"I'm more comfortable with formal speech... Elphisia. Though I prefer hearing informal speech... you know."

"After speaking casually as naturally as breathing, why are you putting on airs now?"

"That's why I told you... I came back."

Elphisia seemed to have interpreted my "came back" differently. But her sharp mind soon deduced the situation and produced a perfect answer.

"Harte..."

"Yes, Elphisia."

"Is it really you?"

"That day, in the square, the flowers Flotia gave me was so pretty... Haha."

The day Elphisia asked if I wanted to be lovers.

I had clumsily embarrassed her then. But I quickly came to my senses and bumbled through a proposal to marry her.

My reminiscence hinted at the memories of that day.

"Come here, Elphisia."

"... Okay."

Elphisia approached with slow steps and carefully sat on the bed. As if being considerate of me who had just woken up.

I gently embraced her as she sat with hunched shoulders.

"Thank you, Elphisia. For choosing me again."

"... That's my line."

"Thank you for treating me so kindly."

"That's also my line..."

"I love you, Elphisia."

"That's..."

Elphisia hesitated, then whispered in my ear.

"The words I never said."

In the world before my regression, she had never directly expressed her love for me. Elphisia wasn't one to be forthright, and I thought even that suited her.

But Elphisia opened her mouth again.

As if those unspoken words had remained a regret.

As if she had resolved to convey them without fail this time.

She said,

"I love you, Harte."

"Elphisia..."

A familiar warmth seeped in gently. It was her warmth that I thought I'd never feel again.

It was highly addictive. So I didn't want to let her go, ever.

"Ugh..."

But it seemed the children didn't feel the same way.

"Mom and Dad have both just gone weird. Yulian, do you get it?"

"How could I? It's the first time I've seen these two being such an eyesore."

"Tina, and Yulian. Let's quietly leave. It seems like the polite thing to do."

"Uu... I wanted to stay with Dad a bit longer. Only Mom is being unfair. So unfair."

Only then did I snap to attention and turn to the children. Even so, I was still holding Elphisia tight, making for an awkward posture.

At this, the two boys shot glares that screamed "how embarrassing," while Tina pouted, looking hurt.

Somehow feeling shy, I tried to create some distance from Elphisia. Just then, the sound of frantic running came from the corridor outside.

For a moment, my stolen consciousness made my reactions slow.

Bang!

An immediate thunderous noise.

I never knew the sound of a door being flung open could be so loud.

"...... Son-in-law...!!!"

"Director...?"

The intruders were Cardi Luminel and Echo, holding a basket. Their faces lit up with joy as soon as they visually confirmed my condition.

"So you've finally awakened... I was worried sick that you might never open your eyes. What a relief."

"... I've caused you trouble."

"Don't say such cold things. There wasn't even anything to nurse, given that body of yours doesn't even get dirty."

Next, Cardi sighed in relief and took the children's hands.

"Phew, now that we've seen he's alright, let's head out."

"What? Grandpa? We have to leave already? I said I wanted to stay with Dad a bit longer."

"Now, now, good children should go to bed."

"But it's daytime right now."

"It's nap time, dear."

Tina was dragged out, almost forcibly, under Cardi's lead. Yulian and Glen followed as if entranced. Meanwhile, Echo floundered before trying to persuade Cardi as she held out the basket.

"Duke! I, I even baked cookies... Can't we all eat together before going to sleep?"

"Hmm, let's eat them later. No, let's eat them by ourselves."

"But those two over there..."

"My son-in-law and daughter will be fine. They plan to eat something else."

"I don't see any food though?"

"It'd be strange if someone your age could see it."

Echo nodded at Cardi's forceful logic. Another semi-forced acceptance.

"Umm..."

Echo, the very last to remain at the door, bowed deeply.

"Um... Enjoy your meal! Director, and Duchess!"

Thud!

With Echo's farewell, the connection to the corridor was completely cut off. Even by this point, I hadn't grasped what was going on.

Only that Elphisia was trembling in my arms.

Worried, I asked her.

"Elphisia, are you cold?"

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"Elphisia...?"

"Be quiet..."

"Pardon?"

"Just... let's talk later... Please."

Grind.

The sound of grinding teeth.

Since it wasn't me, it must have been Elphisia. As I naturally observed her, I noticed her ears had turned bright red.

"I feel like I'm going to die of shame because of my tactless father... So don't talk to me for a while."

Only after Elphisia said this did I view myself from a third-person perspective.

Elphisia, buried in my chest so deeply one might wonder if she could breathe. And me, preciously holding her tight like this.

What would a normal couple do in this situation?

As I pondered this carefully, even a fool like me could do the math.

"...F*ck."

I spat out a curse.

It was an obscenity I wouldn't have uttered even with a knife to my throat before the regression. Perhaps because my cognition was mixed up awkwardly, even common curses felt strange.

However, regardless of the awkwardness, the sentiment was real.

'How could I, with this life I've regained...'

A scorching thirst bubbled up from deep in my throat.

'I want to die again from embarrassment.'

---

---

In the corridor of the ducal mansion.

Glen took cookies from Echo's basket and popped them into his mouth. The crunching sound did a fine job of stimulating appetite.

"The cookies are delicious, Echo."

"I'm glad. Actually, the head chef said I might have a talent for it."

"Yeah, I don't know anything about cooking, but I can tell you've got talent."

It wasn't just flattery - Echo's culinary skills were improving day by day. And Harte contributed to some extent to that culinary prowess.

For the past year, the mansion's residents had visited Harte's room without fail every day. Each time, Echo felt like she was suffocating in the gloomy atmosphere.

Her eyesight had almost fully recovered by now. Hoping to ventilate the heavy air even a little, she started making simple snacks.

The effect, though slight, was noticeable.

As sweet food entered their mouths, conversation flowed, and simultaneously, she could feel the atmosphere softening.

Thanks to this, the time everyone spent waiting for Harte became a bit easier. In that sense, Echo was a hidden mood maker.

"Phew, anyway, I'm so glad the Director woke up. Right, Glen?"

"Yeah. It's a relief... truly."

While feeling relieved, Glen also recalled memories of the hunting festival.

At the time, he quickly forgot because Harte was being carried, covered in wounds, but as time passed, the questions only multiplied.

'That demon... who was he?'

There was a man who rushed at Harte first, as if recognizing him.

He was sent flying in one strike, but Glen remembered his face clearly. He was a man whose face drew attention even amidst the chaos.

'Was it just a coincidence that I felt he resembled me?'

Had the situation been peaceful, he would have surely given him a close look.

Even so, it could be dismissed as a coincidence. But in a corner of Glen's mind, doubt kept welling up like a spring.

'I'm curious.'

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