chapter 34
Normally, when people say “the sun is setting,” they imagine a world wrapped in darkness and silence.
But that day was different.
“Miss!”
“Young Master!”
The servants of both households had turned the entire village upside down searching for Elric and Tilia, who hadn’t returned home.
For Tilia, it was a nerve-racking situation that made her heart sink.
But Elric seemed completely accustomed to it.
With a bright grin, he grabbed her hand and led her away.
“Come on! I’ll show you my secret base!”
The place he brought her to was beneath a stone bridge at the edge of the village.
A cozy tent had been set up there.
Despite being in the shade, it wasn’t particularly damp.
Once they were hidden inside the tent, completely cut off from the outside world, Elric lit a lantern.
The flickering light illuminated his mischievous face.
There wasn’t a trace of anxiety on it.
Tilia found that strange.
“Aren’t you scared?”
“Of what?”
“I-If we get caught… we’ll be punished…”
And not merely punished.
Surely something far worse than before awaited them.
She might be beaten more severely than ever.
Perhaps she would even be forbidden from leaving the estate again and forced to live under strict supervision.
Wasn’t he afraid of that?
His answer was the same as before.
“It’s fine! My dad doesn’t care about me anyway!”
He said it proudly.
Yet it was easy to notice the shadow hidden behind those words.
Tilia had always thought of him as fearless and energetic.
Seeing such a gloomy expression on his face was completely new.
Perhaps that was why her curiosity about him grew even stronger.
Feelings of sympathy and kinship colored the way she looked at him.
She wanted to ask.
What was his family like?
Why didn’t he get along with them?
How did he endure it when his family hurt him?
But before she could ask, Elric spoke first.
“They say I killed my mom when I was born.”
Tilia’s fingers trembled.
Staring blankly at the lantern, Elric continued.
“They say I was too big, and giving birth to me was really hard for her. They even brought doctors from the capital, but in the end, Mom couldn’t make it.”
“…”
“They say Dad cried his eyes out that day. I can’t really imagine it. He’s always expressionless.”
Crackle.
Crackle.
The lantern flame flickered.
Its light danced across Elric’s face.
Was it because of what he was saying?
Or because of the atmosphere?
The shifting shadows made it seem as though sadness had settled over his features.
“I haven’t really talked to Dad much. He doesn’t talk to me.”
Elric picked up a stick.
As he lazily swung it through the air and stared at its tip, he suddenly declared:
“So I’m going to become a knight.”
“…Out of nowhere?”
“What do you mean, out of nowhere? You don’t get it?”
“…?”
Tilia didn’t.
Her common sense was far too rigid to understand how having a bad relationship with one’s father connected to becoming a knight.
Elric sighed.
Then he shook his head dramatically before explaining.
“If I become a knight, that means I’ll be someone greater than Dad. And knights are cool. Then he won’t be able to ignore me anymore.”
With his arms crossed, Elric looked incredibly arrogant.
Tilia blinked several times before nodding.
“…Okay.”
It was mostly a halfhearted response because she didn’t know what else to say.
Immediately, Elric exploded.
“This is why talking to girls never works!”
Tilia instinctively apologized.
“Sorry.”
“Huh? Why are you apologizing?”
“Just…”
“If you don’t have a reason, don’t apologize, you idiot. If you apologize first, people look down on you.”
The logic still made no sense to her.
Yet unlike his dream of becoming a knight, these words struck deeply.
Being told she didn’t have to apologize was something entirely unfamiliar to Tilia.
Her chest tickled strangely.
She lowered her head.
Feeling her face grow hot, she answered in a trembling voice.
“…Okay. Then I’m not sorry.”
“That’s right! If someone asks what you did wrong, throw a rock at their face! Then they’ll never ask again!”
“Pfft…”
A laugh escaped her lips.
Tilia laughed harder than she ever had before.
She now understood that laughing out loud could be enjoyable.
And she liked the boy who taught her that just a little more.
Of course, it wasn’t love.
Not yet.
At that point, Elric was simply a strange and fascinating child her age.
Someone who was fun to be around.
That was all.
The way she viewed him changed later that night.
Sleepiness was beginning to overtake them.
Elric was already nodding off, his head drooping every few seconds.
Winter was just around the corner, and the night air was freezing.
Eventually, unable to resist sleep any longer, Elric pulled out a blanket.
“Come here. Let’s sleep.”
There was only one blanket, but it was large enough for two small children.
Elric pulled Tilia into his arms and wrapped the blanket tightly around both of them.
Tilia froze.
Then Elric gently patted her back.
Pat. Pat.
“If you do this, it’s easier to fall asleep. My nanny does it for me sometimes.”
Tilia had never experienced anything like that.
But he was right.
As Elric patted her back, her body gradually relaxed.
The tension she’d been carrying all day slowly melted away.
And with it, her heart softened as well.
Only then did she remember what had happened the day before.
Suddenly, tears began to rise.
“Uuuh…”
Perhaps it was because the contrast was too great.
There was an enormous difference between her father’s hand, which lashed out accompanied by vicious shouting…
And Elric’s hand, gently patting her back with a soft voice.
“Hic…”
Tilia had never known human warmth could feel like this.
Because her parents had never hugged her.
Every night she worried about tomorrow.
Would she do well in her lessons?
Would she avoid being hit?
Those thoughts always accompanied her to sleep.
That was why this was the first time.
For the first time, she wasn’t afraid of tomorrow.
“Hic…”
“What’s wrong?”
“Hic…”
“There she goes crying again. You’re seriously going to become the Queen of Butt Hair.”
Tears flowed endlessly.
No matter how much she cried, they wouldn’t stop.
Yet despite his complaints, Elric never stopped patting her back.
Tilia was incredibly grateful for that.
When she buried her face in his chest, the warmth became even stronger.
The warmth of the boy beneath the bridge felt greater than that of any luxurious room in her family’s mansion.
His body heat was warm enough to melt away the cold inside her heart.
That was probably why—
That night, Tilia didn’t have any nightmares.
Instead, she dreamed of lying in a peaceful meadow beneath warm sunlight.
And the reason the dream felt so warm became clear the next morning.
Without realizing it, she had spent the entire night clinging to Elric, sharing his warmth until dawn.
When morning finally arrived and she opened her eyes, Elric was still there.
Looking at him, Tilia realized something.
I’m not afraid.
When Elric was with her, she wasn’t afraid of falling asleep.
She wasn’t afraid of waking up.
He was the one who made her feel that way.
This boy was someone who could become a great fence, shielding her from everything frightening in the world.
It was a feeling born from a child’s heart.
Yet it was precious.
A feeling that made her heart race.
A desire to never leave his side.
A wish to stay together forever.
Such childish thoughts belonged to children alone.
And yet they touched upon the very essence of first love.
She had lived her entire life without Elric before that day.
Yet somehow, she found herself thinking she wouldn’t be able to live without him.
Smiling to herself, Tilia nervously fidgeted with her fingers.
At that moment, Elric woke up.
“Ugh… I can’t breathe.”
Opening his eyes halfway, he frowned.
Because they had slept wrapped tightly together in the blanket, their faces were so close that their noses nearly touched.
Thump.
Thump.
Tilia’s heart pounded.
Even with sleep still clouding his eyes, Elric looked like a prince from a fairy tale.
“Ugh. You’re ugly.”
…If only he had kept his mouth shut.
“Move your face. You’re scary.”
“No.”
“What?”
“No. And I’m not sorry.”
Tilia finally found a dream that day.
Not the kind of dream you have while sleeping.
A dream she wanted to make reality.
She wanted to fall asleep beside Elric every night.
And wake up beside him every morning.
And she knew exactly how to make that happen.
“I want to marry you.”
Her father and teachers always talked about marriage.
If they got married, they’d be together every day, wouldn’t they?
A girl in love is often reckless.
A girl who had spent her life living according to others’ desires, only to discover her own wish for the first time, spoke boldly and honestly.
There was only one thing Tilia didn’t know.
“I don’t want to. You’re ugly.”
Marriage required the agreement of both parties.
And—
“I’m going to marry the most beautiful woman in the world. Aldio said knights get to live with beautiful ladies.”
On that day, Elric was a particularly obnoxious and hopelessly immature six-year-old.
