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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 39
Chapter Title: Another Kivrin
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Beneath long, fluttering eyelashes, golden eyes opened to look at me.
“By the way, that feather you’re cherishing—does it belong to that little bastard who just left?”
“...Excuse me?”
My eyes went wide.
Did he just, just curse…?
“I’m not asking because I plan to kill you. I hate killing people.”
“...”
A strange feeling washed over me, and I snatched my hand from Kivrin's grasp.
Kivrin, who had been staring blankly at my action, suddenly burst into tears.
“Did I do something wrong? I waited patiently.”
“...”
“I can’t stand being hated like this.”
His pale face was instantly drenched in tears.
H-He seems to be in a really bad state...
His face was also starting to turn red as his temperature rose.
Naturally, this was the first time I had ever seen Kivrin cry like this.
—At this rate, Del will awaken.
Rose’s words as he fled alone suddenly came to mind.
...What if he’s already woken up?
N-No, th-that can’t be, right?!
I asked, my heart pounding wildly in my chest.
“Young Lord, do you know who I am?”
“You’re the one I love and respect.”
No, I’m not.
Who in the world have you mistaken me for?
A cold sweat trickled down my back.
“May I trouble you for a moment?”
As I tried to approach him again, Kivrin stopped crying. He gave a slight nod.
I hesitated before moving behind Kivrin and lifting his shirt just a little.
His back was perfectly clear. There was nothing there.
I-Is the sealing spell really broken?
But Rose ran off and left me here?!
My hands trembled uncontrollably as I straightened his shirt.
R-Rose, you should have checked the sealing spell when you knocked Kivrin out.
Truly, a more unreliable and unhelpful non-human being could not exist.
Instead of sitting back in the chair, I took a step back.
And for good reason.
“Rose did give me this feather. He said that if I had this, you... wouldn't hurt me.”
I’m not Cheria if I ever trust Rose again!
As I spoke, half-crying, Kivrin blinked.
“Why would I hurt you? And who is that bastard to say I wouldn't hurt you if you had that?”
H-Huh? You won’t hurt me? And you don’t recognize Rose?
“You don’t know Rose? He said that you... that Del cared for him like a son.”
Of course, he did add a rather disparaging remark to that.
Kivrin’s expression shifted as if he understood the situation.
“Ah, are you scared because you think I’m Del?”
“No... you’re not?”
“It’s true that I’m holding onto Del’s memories and power, but...”
“...”
Kivrin chose his words carefully, gauging my mood.
“For now, let’s just say I’m Del. If that’s less of a shock for you.”
What’s this? He’s talking like a stranger.
Could it be because the sealing spell was just broken?
Just then, Kivrin stood up.
He seemed to have grown a little taller in an instant.
Fearing I’d be killed on the spot, just as Rose had said, I instinctively scrambled back toward the door.
My action seemed to have hurt Kivrin quite a bit. Fat tears rolled down his cheeks pitifully.
“Ugh... I want to be sealed again. There’s no point in coming out if I’m not going to be loved.”
Seriously, when did we even meet? Why is he acting like we’ve been in love for a thousand years?
I had grown very fond of Kivrin, but this was on another level.
I-If he keeps crying like that, he’s going to collapse.
...Rose, you just wait. Scaring me half to death and then running away.
I decided to calm him down first and then try to talk things through.
“Wait a moment.”
I took out the feather that had so upset Kivrin and placed it on a decorative cabinet.
With teardrops clinging to the corners of his eyes, Kivrin stared at me intently.
I had planned to approach slowly, but once Kivrin seemed convinced I wouldn’t run, he pulled me into an embrace.
“I missed you. I missed you so much, and I was so annoyed that they wouldn’t let me see you.”
I trembled in his arms and stammered.
“M-My name is Cheria. I don’t know who you’re confusing me with, but...”
“...”
Sensing the situation was getting stranger by the second, I changed my question.
“B-But still, do you love the person you’re confusing me with? Do I... have to get a divorce?”
But I don’t want to be separated from Kivrin.
“...Haaah.”
It was the sigh of a world-weary adult.
“This is an important issue for me, you know?!”
“I’ve been looking right at you, Lady Cheria, this whole time. I haven’t said anything confusing.”
Kivrin said, sounding slightly offended, before quickly trying to reassure me so I wouldn’t run away again.
“I’ll disappear soon. I won’t scare you.”
You’re already plenty scary!
I barely managed to pat Kivrin’s back once.
“Why did the sealing spell suddenly break?”
Kivrin ignored my question and took one of my hands.
“Lady Cheria, may I kiss the back of your hand?”
Do you think you can?!
“I don’t think that’s a good idea... right?”
I pulled my hand from his grasp.
Seeing him back off obediently, I spoke kindly.
“Alright, you said you wanted to be sealed again, so hurry up and go back in.”
“...But we’ve only just exchanged a few words.”
Kivrin muttered with a pout. Yet, he showed no fear at the word “sealed.”
My eyes darted around.
“Will you come bursting out again if I’m holding, say, only three of Rose’s feathers?”
“...”
Kivrin chose silence.
At this point, isn’t it less of a seal and more of a revolving door…?
“S-Setting aside how overwhelming you are, Rose said he’d take you and leave when the sealing spell breaks and it’s time for you to shed.”
“That’s a creative way to throw his life away. What was his reason?”
Why do I get the feeling Rose would lose if they fought?
I couldn’t help but recall the infamous, grown-up Kivrin from .
“Um, well, uhm, so.”
“If you don’t want to say it, don’t. I can just ask him myself.”
“Are you... are you going to ask him nicely?”
“No? I’m going to torture him.”
Why is he smiling with his eyes?
I opened my mouth.
“Rose found out late that Del had died and started looking into it...”
“And?”
“...”
As I hesitated, Kivrin gave up cleanly.
“I’ll follow him and ask about the rest.”
Aack! I shrieked.
“F-Fine! He said Del’s personality was the absolute worst and that he went mad and died! Just stop causing trouble!”
You’ve already been marked after threatening the servants!
But Kivrin looked more bewildered than angry.
“He insulted Del in front of you, Lady Cheria?”
“He did...?”
Kivrin tilted his head, his eyes still red.
“Guess there’s a limit to how a bird-brained bastard can think... I recognized you at a glance.”
“...Excuse me?”
What did I just hear?
“Well, as long as I recognize you, that’s all that matters, right? I don’t care if he gets himself killed for running his mouth.”
Where did my soft, sweet husband go?!
“I’ve been wanting to say this, but the Young Lord doesn’t use that kind of language!”
I protested timidly.
Kivrin immediately changed his tune.
“Then I won’t, either. Please don’t hate me.”
I glanced at him, thoroughly intimidated.
“Why are you trying to accommodate me? I’ll say it again, I’m not the person you love and respect.”
“Yes, you are.”
“No, I’m not.”
“...Wouldn’t it be better for you to just agree? That way, there’s no chance of me hurting you.”
Kivrin retorted, acting as though he was deeply hurt that I didn’t understand. He looked like he was about to cry again.
Aaargh!
“Fine! I’ll agree with you, just stop crying with the Young Lord’s face!”
“It’s my face, too. Our memories might be a little separate right now, but we’re ultimately the same person.”
“...”
Rose had said something similar.
The Kivrin with the broken seal was, in essence, the same person as the Kivrin I was trying to raise well.
That was why I was enduring this, even though I felt like I was going to die of shock.
Moist golden eyes locked onto mine with unnerving focus.
“I think I understand the situation now. So, Lady Cheria, how many years would you like me to be sealed for?”
“...Can you normally just negotiate the length of a sealing period?”
I muttered in disbelief.
“Negotiating isn’t the only thing I can do.”
Kivrin chuckled and picked up a pen.
I wondered what he was doing, but he began to fill a blank sheet of paper with unfamiliar symbols and phrases.
My eyes darted around before I cautiously moved to Kivrin’s side.
Kivrin switched the pen to his other hand so I could see better.
I couldn’t make sense of the symbols, but I could read the words.
It wasn’t the imperial language, yet just like the stone tablets I’d seen in the artifact vault, I could read it with strange ease.
“‘May the prayers of Moritia quell the black ocean’...?”
“That’s right. That’s how you read it.”
“But the Kingdom of Moritia...”
“It was utterly destroyed. That’s why the sealing spell is so weak.”
So he really was confident he could break the seal whenever he wanted.
So right now... is he just going along with me?
Because I’m scared?
