Ch#69
Waiting for Spring (7)
Whatever the situation was, it was crystal clear that Tiria was harboring a massive misunderstanding.
Elric opened his mouth to clear it up first.
But,
“Wife, no… I mean…”
“I apologize. I do not wish to hear it.”
Tiria cut him off as she abruptly rose from her seat.
Her deeply bowed head and tightly clenched fists spoke volumes of her state of mind.
“I do not think I can take anything you say in a positive light right now. I…”
Tiria eventually trailed off.
It was the first time she had ever been so vague.
Seeing her—someone who always spoke her mind clearly regardless of the situation—so shaken made Elric feel flustered as well.
He needed to hold her back and talk to her right now, but she headed toward the office door as if she wouldn’t give him even a moment’s chance.
“I shall go and tidy myself up for a moment. It is nearly time for dinner.”
He couldn’t let her leave.
Thus, it was the moment Elric reached out and firmly grabbed her hand.
“Young Master, My Lady. The mage has requested an audience.”
Simultaneously with those words.
“What, just open it.”
Click!
The door opened.
And Elric and Tiria, who were in the room, froze at the same time.
“O-Oh, hello…!”
Igret, whose hood was pulled down low so that only her brightly smiling lips were visible, was linking arms with a man.
“My husband! I’m here to take him!”
Her shy demeanor was that of a girl in love, plain for anyone to see.
No, more than that, what caught their attention was the man she had captured.
“…Vice Captain?”
Tiria’s expression went blank.
Vice Captain Ricky looked like his soul had left his body.
It didn’t take very long to grasp the situation.
This was true for Elric, but especially for Tiria.
The mage’s words about looking for her fiancé.
The private meeting with Elric.
And Elric, who was currently displaying embarrassment and a sense of injustice.
“…I told you it wasn’t me.”
Only then did she realize.
‘…Ah.’
It was a mistake.
The mage’s fiancé wasn’t Elric, but that vice captain.
Come to think of it, the knights had been the ones to invite the outside personnel.
It was a plausible scenario.
If so, then what on earth were those words she had just uttered?
What whirled through her mind like a storm were her past words, too embarrassing to even speak aloud.
‘I am sorry. I decided not to ask about the past.’
‘…If promising a betrothal is “nothing special,” then what does that make me?’
‘I apologize. I do not wish to hear it.’
What welled up was shame, self-reproach, and also relief.
What was being projected were Elric’s sense of injustice, Igret’s happiness, and Ricky’s daze.
She was utterly isolated.
The fact that she had trembled in anxiety all by herself and even poured out her emotions finally began to weigh down on her.
Creeak. Tiria’s head turned toward Elric.
She saw him letting out a hollow laugh.
Flush!
Her face turned beet red.
Her eyes grew watery, looking as if they might spill tears at any moment.
Her lips were tightly pursed, and her eyebrows drooped.
It was a monumental moment where her mask was completely stripped away.
“Are you willing to listen to me now?”
Elric said.
Igret fussed about in a small frenzy, hitting Ricky’s arm repeatedly.
“This is crazy! Crazy!”
Ricky thought to himself.
‘You’re the one who’s crazy…’
Why are you doing this to me?
The sequence of events was drawn roughly in Elric’s mind.
Igret must have said something misleading while trying to hide her identity on her way here.
She probably said something about a fiancé, and Tiria had singled out him—who had been away from the mansion for ten years—as the target.
Regardless of what Igret’s actual intentions were, it had been quite a troublesome situation, and it was a relief that it ended well.
The details could be figured out later.
Right now, there was something else drawing Elric’s attention even more.
“Are you all right now?”
“…….”
He had temporarily dismissed Igret, Ricky, and Edward.
Only the two of them remained in the office again, and Elric was looking down at her as she kept her head bowed.
His chest felt strangely tight.
Even in that flustered moment, the expression that had been seared into his retinas was unforgettable.
Without a doubt, it was a succession of blatant expressions he never thought she would make, culminating in a face flushed with shame.
It was a mean thing to say to Tiria, who had suffered through her heartache alone, but each of those expressions made the corners of his mouth twitch upward whenever he recalled them.
If she lifted her head again, would he see those expressions?
A thought also struck him.
Why had she been so sad?
Why did she think of him so seriously?
Did he hold such a great significance within her that she couldn’t even manage her emotions?
Though he couldn’t voice it immediately, it seemed his intention had been conveyed.
Or perhaps Tiria was babbling because of her own guilty conscience.
“…It would not have been good for the family’s prestige. If it became known that the heir, who returned after ten years, had a mistress, bad rumors would have spread through the neighboring nobles to the entire kingdom. I am glad it was a misunderstanding, but please be careful so that something like this does not happen again.”
Tiria gripped Elric’s sleeve so tightly it wrinkled.
Elric felt it.
Since only the neat crown of her head filled his vision, he let the words slip.
“But you wouldn’t listen, Wife.”
“…!”
“Please listen to me too. From now on.”
Tiria’s head buried itself even deeper.
Thump. Her forehead touched his chest.
Her earlobes, the only part visible, were as bright red as if they’d been seared on a grill.
It seemed her embarrassment had yet to fade.
Elric instinctively wrapped his arms around her shoulders.
It was a relief that the matter was resolved, but as their bodies pressed together, his breath was growing hot for some reason.
He felt as if he wouldn’t be able to forget the sight of her today for a while… no, for a very long time.
That thought was welling up within him.
As dinner time approached, Danal was watching the place where the dining table was located.
From outside the window.
‘Ricky?’
His eyes, scanning the interior, trembled like an aspen leaf.
His heart pounded wildly, and his insides were dyed with despair.
Ricky was being held by that wicked witch.
The comrade he had sworn to survive with since they were trainees of Wolyeong was captured.
Ah, why did it turn out like this?
The answer came quickly.
“So, that knight is the husband?”
“Yup!”
The words flowing out of the dining room were the clues.
Marriage? Engagement? This was all clearly a trick.
Because Danal possessed survival instincts and a quick wit that wouldn’t lose to anyone, he could tell.
This was a hideous roleplay.
Ricky was merely a sacrificial lamb caught in some conspiracy.
At this rate, Ricky would be sacrificed.
Suddenly, memories with him flashed through Danal’s mind.
‘We’re definitely going to become the greatest assassins on the continent!’
‘Congratulations on becoming the leader! No! Congratulations, sir! I will assist you from now on!’
‘Leader! We got promoted again! We’re going to a new branch!’
‘So what if we left Wolyeong? We’re still alive, aren’t we? Let’s hang in there!’
The moments they had resolved to survive together shone like stars, then vanished.
His heart felt like it was breaking at the thought that those memories would soon fade.
‘If I hide like this, I can live.’
But was that a life worth living if it meant abandoning the comrade he had been with?
‘No!’
Danal firmly denied it.
Survival had no meaning if they weren’t together.
The moment his resolve surged, his body moved first.
Crash!
Danal broke through the window and landed in the dining room.
“W-What?!”
The most surprised was Igret.
The others also had expressions full of horror.
In the midst of that, what Danal saw was a teary-eyed Ricky.
‘Leadeeeeer!!!’
It felt as if he could hear that voice.
Danal smiled at him.
‘Don’t worry. I won’t abandon you!’
Danal, jumping to his feet, looked at Kasha, Tiria, and Igret in turn.
Then he went in front of Igret and thud! dropped to his knees.
“Is it not possible for it to be meeeee?!!!”
He shouted with burning passion.
Danal intended to become the hostage in Ricky’s place.
“Wh-What…?”
“Is it not possible for it to be meeeee instead of Ricky?!!!”
He didn’t know why, but Igret needed someone to play the fiancé.
If she had put Ricky—whom she had never even met—in that position, there was no reason he couldn’t be put there too.
He didn’t care if it was a mess.
He didn’t care if they saw him as a madman.
As long as he could save his subordinate!
“Does that mean…”
“Please marry me!!!”
Thud!
He slammed his head against the floor.
Shards of broken glass embedded themselves in his forehead, but Danal could feel no pain.
The friendship between men was just that strong.
However, there was one thing Danal hadn’t considered.
“This guy…!”
The Flame Demon Igret Valentia was a lunatic.
She was such a massive lunatic that it was said only the Saint of the Holy State could be compared to her in all of the West.
Within her way of thinking, Danal’s actions were seen as nothing more than a new opportunity to make her lie even more solid.
“Leader!”
“Ricky!”
While the two were sharing their thick bond of friendship,
“Don’t fight over me! I’ll take both of you!”
Thump! Igret said, hitting her chest.
A satisfied smile appeared on her lips.
While the onlookers were finding it increasingly interesting,
“…Huh? Why?”
Danal ended up asking that question.
It was turning into a double suicide rather than a sacrifice.
…In any case, it was a relief that Elric and Tiria’s misunderstanding was clearly resolved.
The Wife Waited in the Wheat Field (Serial)