Michael thanked me with a kiss on the back of her hand and led her outside.
The night air after the rain was cold and damp. The world was so wet that I wondered if even the moon, moving lazily across the sky, was breathing through its gills.
'Huh?'
I was puzzled by the complete lack of popularity around me. I had just gotten myself into trouble with Brigitte a few hours earlier.
But Michael seemed to have different thoughts. He smiled, gently caressing the serious expression on my cheek.
“It's okay.”
I flew up using my flight magic and landed lightly on top of the lookout tower.
As expected, there was no one there so we could be alone and cozy.
Michael did not turn down this rare opportunity and gently hugged me from behind.
To the west, a forest of conifers rippled with purple, and to the east, the buildings that Anais had painstakingly constructed.
It wasn't a spectacular view, but the subtle silhouettes created by the moonlight and the darkness of the night had their own charm and mood.
“I guess so.”
I accepted Michael's words with pride. The sound of a low laugh ringing through his throat tickled my ears.
When I was momentarily dazed by the melting sweetness, Michael playfully bit my earlobe.
"Oh."
“Concentrate. I’m going to make a very important confession.”
I was confused as if I had been thinking of something else. I felt wrong, but my curiosity was greater than that.
“An important confession?”
I turned around to face Michael. Michael didn't answer right away but just stared at me.
The reflection of Michael in my vision thickened. Not just the arc of his mouth and the way he looked at me, but his presence.
It was around that time that I called him curiously, as he seemed a little unfamiliar yet had an even more attractive aura.
I sensed a presence outside the lookout tower. It was the dull sound of many feet, not one or two.
Michael's voice caught my attention just as I was about to look out over the railing.
“Eve.”
"Yes."
“You wanted a companion with military power.”
Michael gently turned my shoulder toward the railing. That night I could see the situation below the lookout tower.
"Ah!"
Exclamations burst out of my mouth without my knowledge.
On the ground, nearly a thousand homunculus were lined up in legions and angles; it was a great ceremony prepared for us.
“How is it? Is this enough to be your companion?”
At this moment, I could clearly realize why the Michael in front of me had become a little unfamiliar, yet even more captivating.
“Michael.”
I let out a single word that sounded like an exclamation.
“You’ve awakened.”
Michael answered with a smile.
“What... happened?”
“As soon as I stopped the magic circle, there was a recoil from the sealing stone. The mana it had sucked in beyond its limits was backing up and threatening to explode.”
“Yes. It was the only way to survive, and a chance to take a lot of Homunculus' mana. When I broke through the Dendrites, my kin wanted to give me their mana, and it must have been agreed upon. This is how I gained my full power.”
I intuitively realized that Snorret was relatively unharmed despite Derek's death thanks to Michael's actions.
The situation was assessed. Now it was time to ask the most important question.
“Michael, did you get your memories back?”
The amber eyes trembled slightly. The complicated emotions made me tense.
It felt like excitement and anticipation or maybe fear.
“Eve.”
Michael's answer was calm as if confessing.
“The central axis of the return could only be you, a member of the royal family. That is why I had something to ask of you in this life.”
“What is that?”
“If you come back to life, I want you to either kill me or choose one of the two.”
Michael smiled happily in front of the surprised me.
“Thank you for choosing me.”
“Michael..."
Michael lifted my hand and intertwined it with his fingers. He wasn't finished speaking yet.
“Thank you for holding my hand. Thank you for letting me join you on your righteous and honorable path. Thank you for letting me live a different life than the last. Thank you for letting me be a knight. Most of all, thank you for making me... I was hoping you'd love me a little, just a little, but you've loved me so... much.”
A confession filled with emotions from his past life was the surest answer of all.
His words rang in my ears, but his heart went straight to my heart; my left heart leaped so hard it hurt.
My expression was completely unorganized. I sniffled and made an excuse.
“I’m not a person who cries easily.”
“Someone, isn’t it?”
The expressions of the two people, laughing and crying, were exactly the same as if reflected in a mirror.
I also had a lot to say when I met Michael from my past life.
“Thank you, Michael, for giving me a chance. For everything you have accomplished. Thank you so much for giving up and making concessions. How did you do that? You have given me so much that I don’t know how to repay you.”
“I wonder if that’s the only thing I did well in my past life.”
I shook my head at Michael's bitter self-mockery. I rubbed Michael's intertwined hands against my cheek and said.
“I'm partly to blame for what happened to Michael, I should have chosen you, I should have held your hand so we could fail together, but I didn't.”
“I was so foolish and pathetic back then, doing nothing but standing still, believing it was my innocence that made me different from the rest of the royal family, but it was just the cowardly excuse of a man without courage. I've come a long way, haven't I? I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.”
Michael choked up when I told him that the last batch of bottled water was the worst and that it was my fault.
It taught me that it's not always the perfect person who deserves to be loved.
Still, he didn't want Eve to feel sorry for him. Michael was deliberately joking.
“Don’t be sorry. It’s my fault for not honing my charm enough to be chosen by you.”
“I, I had that in mind.”
“I was so cruelly beaten back then.”
"Ugh... "
After regaining his memories, he became even more adept at pretending to be pitiful.
It was when Eve was more depressed than usual in front of Michael, who was pretending to be hurt.
Michael said, blowing away the mood with a loud laugh.
“I haven’t heard the answer to the more important question yet.”
"Uh?"
Michael winked at the ground beyond the lookout tower.
“Look at my legion again. I asked if they were qualified to be a military companion with authority.”
"Ah!"
Eve's face turned bright red.
“No way is this it? P, proposal..."
“Yeah. Is it something to be so embarrassed about?”
“Oh, it was so sudden.”
“If it’s not a problem, then that’s good.”
He shows a gentle and affectionate smile but is fixated on Eve.
Michael's smile was sweet and gentle, but his eyes were fixed on Eve, serious and tense. He focused on her with all his attention, waiting for her answer.
“Ugh, I don’t know. What should I do..."
"...Do you hate it?”
“No, that’s not it!”
"Then?"
“Well, according to royal law, I, as the Princess, should be doing this, but Michael already did it first.”
That was enough of an answer, and all the anxiety in Michael's eyes vanished. The corners of his mouth crumpled and he smiled like the happiest man in the world.
Michael carefully moved Eve's hands away from her face.
“Hey, Michael.”
A bashful face appeared. At that moment, Michael looked at her.
The urge to shower her with kisses surged within him, but he barely held back and was able to say what he originally wanted to say.
“You don’t have to feel sorry. You did it a long time ago.”
“Huh? Me?”
“Don’t you remember? You promised me that you would give birth to my child.”
"Ah!"
I remembered. I had said that to Michael while giving him all kinds of flowers, including gladiolus, in the palace garden.
At that time, I realized that Michael was too perfect as a political partner.
Looking back, the words and actions I said in excitement were no different from a proposal.
'Oh really? You did it instinctively, that's great, me!'
With this, I saved my reputation as a Princess.
While I felt proud of myself, Michael smiled and said.
“Of course, we’ll make the child we promised back then together, right? I’m looking forward to it. A pretty child who resembles you.”
“Oh, he'll look just like you.”
“Of course. Because he’s our child.”
“We were ecstatic about our child. It felt urgent to make a child in more ways than one.
At that time, Michael called me again with a serious face. The proposal procedure still remained.
“I wish I could give you a gift as proof, but all I have is my body, and I have nothing else to give you, so forgive me if a kiss will have to do.”
I happily gave him a word of thanks.
“I like it. I must treasure it.”
“I’ll give you a real ring someday.”
“Yeah. I’ll look forward to it. Whatever Michael gives me will be the best.”
Our lips were close together, with no one to say who was first. The moon of Yggdrasil blessed us, as two promised our future on the watchtower.
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