The scene always starts in that room, that bed.
She whispered in his arms.
“I’m hungry, Alex.”
With those words, he picked up a bunch of strawberries from the bedside basket.
“Open your mouth.”
Then the woman opened her red lips halfway. He pushed a strawberry into it.
It seemed like the woman who accepted it obediently without any doubt was exactly his.
Alessandro looked at the scene, captivated by the sensation that his heart was being submerged in warm water.
His infinitely beautiful and infinitely loving lover.
He has never seen such a moving creature in his life. There won't be any in the future.
The tip of his tongue was tickled by the emotions that were overwhelming his heart.
He wanted to say that he loved her. So he called the woman by name.
He wants to look into her eyes and convey this feeling.
"Kanna."
Then the woman slowly opens her eyes.
Then she lifted her head up and looked at him.
Their eyes met.
"Yes?"
At that moment, the woman became a child.
Alessandro froze from the shock of being hit on the head.
The scene changes in an instant.
Sponsored by Addis Mansion. To the moment when she deeply realized for the first time that that child and that woman were the same person.
“Why are you calling me?”
The girl who knows nothing smiles innocently.
A slightly shy, fearful, yearning smile.
With the smile, the girl had throughout her childhood...
“Father...”
She call him by the name she used to call him back then.
It strangled his neck. It pressed down on him with the force of taking his life away.
“Please speak, father..."
No.
He quickly excused himself. To the girl.
To himself. To the world.
No.
Absolutely not. He is never, never, never…
As if making excuses was useless, the kid called him that again.
At that moment he wanted to die. Disgust, guilt...
The high-temperature fireball burned his bones, flesh, and even soul.
The pain was so terrible that he just wanted to disappear forever.
Alessandro woke up from a nightmare.
He covered his face with his hands. There was a lot of cold sweat on his forehead.
The pain was so terrible that he just wanted to disappear forever.
***
Alessandro woke up from a nightmare.
He covered his face with his hands. There was a lot of cold sweat on his forehead.
Again.
He had that dream again. That nightmare.
A dream of that terrible moment when he realized that Kanna was that girl.
After a while, when his rough breathing calmed down, he got up from the bed.
He sat down at my desk and wrote a letter.
To Kanna
As he wrote the knife-like parting sentence, he felt it once again.
It should have been like this a long time ago. He should have cut it off a long time ago.
'Yes. This is right.'
For that kid.
And for himself.
***
Time passed like that.
After he cut off my relationship with Kanna, the nightmares stopped. He could now sleep peacefully.
It was peace that had finally come.
***
“Do you know that?”
A few days later, Claude said,
“The daughter of the lord of this place, Miss Alicia. Do you know who it is?”
“Who is that?”
“Who is it? I mean the girl who came by every three or four days and tried to get Alessandro’s attention.”
"Ah."
Only then did Alessandro remember the woman.
Is she about twenty years old now?
A woman was hovering beside him, her face blushing.
But when I saw something I couldn't see recently, I thought, I must have finally come to my senses.
“They say he’s possessed by an evil spirit.”
Claude said with a gloomy face.
“It is said that they chew up all the chickens in the chicken coop and crawl on the walls and ceilings like spiders. “The neck also rotates at strange angles.”
"Is it."
“Aren’t you surprised?”
“Not really.”
“There's nothing really surprising. Honestly, I’m not surprised either.”
Claude said, laughing.
“Some people don’t get out of bed until 6 p.m., so what’s surprising?”
Alessandro did not reply.
So Claude was criticizing him.
Alessandro protested with a serious face.
“I am free to be lazy.”
“Oh, of course. By the way, have you eaten?”
"No."
“Do you know that you’re buttoning your pajama shirt crookedly?”
"No."
“Now that I’ve told you, lock it properly!”
"Don't bother."
“Then please at least comb your hair. Sooner or later, a bird may fly in and build a nest.”
“I’m not playing it.”
“I’m talking about it! Shall we open the window? A bird will build a nest on Alessandro’s head and lay eggs or not!”
"It's good. It’s a new ball for dinner that night.”
Claude suppressed the urge to punch Alessandro on the back.
“Alessandro, be careful. If you continue to live like that, sooner or later you may change to a sloth.”
Then Alessandro stared at him as if he were crazy.
“Claude, what happened to your head? Come to your senses.”
At that moment, Claude burst into tears and became angry.
Who needs to come to their senses?!
'Why on earth did this person become like this!'
Alessandro Addis has become the equivalent of a sloth! The person who is said to be the strongest among Addis of all time!
But until recently, he was living quite well, going fishing, going grocery shopping, and cooking...
He really doesn't do anything anymore.
'I'm not an unemployed person who gave up on life!'
He was so helpless that he seemed like an old man just waiting to die.
“Listen to me. Alessandro, your body stopped growing in your early 20s, and time only recently began to pass, right? I heard Lady Kanna broke the curse?”
"...”
“Do you know what that means? It means that you have many more years left to live.”
Claude spoke passionately.
“But are you going to live like this without doing anything? With the mindset of starting over again... Holy shit, you’re sleeping!”
Since when have you been dozing off!
But when I saw something I couldn't see recently, I thought, I must have finally come to my senses.
“They say he’s possessed by an evil spirit.”
Claude said with a gloomy face.
“It is said that they chew up all the chickens in the chicken coop and crawl on the walls and ceilings like spiders. “The neck also rotates at strange angles.”
"Is it."
“Aren’t you surprised?”
“Not really.”
“There's nothing really surprising. Honestly, I’m not surprised either.”
Claude said, laughing.
“Some people don’t get out of bed until 6 p.m., so what’s surprising?”
Alessandro did not reply.
So Claude was criticizing him.
Alessandro protested with a serious face.
“I am free to be lazy.”
“Oh, of course. By the way, have you eaten?”
"No."
“Do you know that you’re buttoning your pajama shirt crookedly?”
"No."
“Now that I’ve told you, lock it properly!”
"Don't bother."
“Then please at least comb your hair. Sooner or later, a bird may fly in and build a nest.”
“I’m not playing it.”
“I’m talking about it! Shall we open the window? A bird will build a nest on Alessandro’s head and lay eggs or not!”
"It's good. It’s a new ball for dinner that night.”
Claude suppressed the urge to punch Alessandro on the back.
“Alessandro, be careful. If you continue to live like that, sooner or later you may change to a sloth.”
Then Alessandro stared at him as if he were crazy.
“Claude, what happened to your head? Come to your senses.”
At that moment, Claude burst into tears and became angry.
Who needs to come to their senses?!
'Why on earth did this person become like this!'
Alessandro Addis has become the equivalent of a sloth! The person who is said to be the strongest among Addis of all time!
But until recently, he was living quite well, going fishing, going grocery shopping, and cooking...
He really doesn't do anything anymore.
'I'm not an unemployed person who gave up on life!'
He was so helpless that he seemed like an old man just waiting to die.
“Listen to me. Alessandro, your body stopped growing in your early 20s, and time only recently began to pass, right? I heard Lady Kanna broke the curse?”
"...”
“Do you know what that means? It means that you have many more years left to live.”
Claude spoke passionately.
“But are you going to live like this without doing anything? With the mindset of starting over again... Holy shit, you’re sleeping!”
Since when have you been dozing off!
Claude stomped his foot.
"Wake up!"
"Wake up!"
***
Eventually, Alessandro was kicked out of the house by Claude.
'Why should I be kicked out of my house?'
Claude seems to want him to do something, but he can't help it. He was planning to do his best to be lazy somehow.
He found a hill in a deserted forest and lay down.
'I can sleep now.'
After lying down in the shade of a tree, he pulled a straw hat over his face.
When he tried to take a nap like that...
"Alex?"
The woman's voice was heard.
“Alex, is that right?”
Alessandro slowly put his straw hat aside.
“As expected, it’s Alex.”
Black hair flutters, filling his vision. She was looking down at him as she smiled.
It was dazzlingly beautiful.
“What are you doing here?”
She pushes her shaking hair past her ear. Her white ears, exposed under the sunlight, looked as beautiful as if they had been painted.
"Oh sorry. Did I wake you up from your sleep?”
Alessandro quietly looked up at her and answered in a low voice.
"No."
The moment he blinks like that.
He woke up from a dream.
Alessandro opened his eyes.
Shoot, the leaves fluttered in the wind.
A beam of light splitting between the shaking leaves pierced his eyes. His eyes were dazzling and he frowned.
It was just scenery. Just the scenery.
'When did I fall asleep?'
Alessandro closed his eyes again.
The straw hat he had covered his face with before going to sleep had disappeared before he knew it.
It must have been blown away by the wind.
Does not matter. If he could just fall asleep again...
'No, that's wrong.'
After a while, as expected, a voice was heard calling him.
“Hey, are you Alex?”
Alessandro slowly opened his eyes and checked.
A knight in armor was glaring at him with a grim face.
“You arrogant bastard. What are you doing if you don’t wake up right now?”
It's bothering him.
But if he ignores it, more troublesome things will happen. Alessandro obediently got up.
“Red hair, green eyes. That's right. You’re Alex, right?”
Alessandro nodded.
And at that moment, the knight punched him in the face.
“How can a commoner nod his head so arrogantly! Why don’t you give me a straight answer?”
Alexlssandro's face turned sideways.
His eyes, revealed through his red hair, were just bored.
How will he do it?
"Sorry."
How can he do it?
There is nothing in this world as easy as suffocating an opponent, but now the slaughter was so boring that it made him sick.
Throughout his life, he has destroyed and trampled on too many lives.
So now he doesn't want to kill anyone. He doesn't even want to fight.
If a problem could be solved by spitting out a word of only five letters, it was better to do so.
“Hmph, spiritless guy.”
The knight mocked him, spitting at his feet.
“You bastard, don’t brag about being loved by the Young Lady. A bastard with nothing to see other than his decent body..."
The knight looked at Alessandro and said with a disapproving look on his face.
“Follow me. The Lady is calling.”
“I won’t go.”
“If you said you wouldn’t come, the Lady told me to tell you this.”
He took the paper handed over by the knight and unfolded it.
< I'm keeping your lover here. What do you think I will do to this woman if you ignore me again? >
...She wrote this?
‘Did you write this while drunk? Or, drugs?'
Although she had been bothering him lately, she wasn't a bad girl.
Alessandro wasn't the kind of person who would engage in this kind of third-rate political drama...
'Besides, my lover.'
There is no such thing as a lover.
In the past and now. The existence of a lover in his life...
'No. Is not it?'
Now that he thinks about it, he thinks it exists.
Only once in a lifetime.
Except for the moments when his memories were tangled and he returned to his childhood, love was always something he did alone.
However, there was something that bothered him that he couldn't just ignore.
That kid.
Not long ago, she came here to meet Orsini.
'No, is that possible?'
This is a ridiculous idea.
But, still...
'Besides, my lover.'
There is no such thing as a lover.
In the past and now. The existence of a lover in his life...
'No. Is not it?'
Now that he thinks about it, he thinks it exists.
Only once in a lifetime.
Except for the moments when his memories were tangled and he returned to his childhood, love was always something he did alone.
However, there was something that bothered him that he couldn't just ignore.
That kid.
Not long ago, she came here to meet Orsini.
'No, is that possible?'
This is a ridiculous idea.
But, still...
If...
Even if it's just one thing...
"All right."
In the end, Alessandro followed behind the knight.
Of course, it's a stupid trap.
It's not that he doesn't know. He knows it well.
However, it was better to see it with his own eyes rather than leaving even the slightest possibility.
This was so sad to read. Kanna cursed him. Unknowingly so, and perhaps out of necessity because she would have surely died without his protection, but still. To make him promise to raise her child self also cursed him to play the role of her father. Almost impossible to reconcile the image of a doting daughter to the woman you have sexual feelings for. I feel sad for him.
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