“Why are you crying?”
Lou was embarrassed.
His silver hair shimmered in the sunlight. The man, already unrealistically beautiful, appeared even more hollow.
The tears flowing silently made Lou pause.
She stroked his cheek with a trembling hand. The vivid traces of moisture ached in her heart.
"Does it hurt? What should I do? M-Maybe the wound has gotten infected—"
Her arm was pulled before she could even bite her lip out of impatience.
Les pulled her into his arms. The sound of his heartbeat could be heard on Lou's cheek as she lay dazed in his chest.
Tears streamed down Lou's cheeks.
The fear that he might not wake up, which had been present until just moments ago, finally hit home.
"Why did you do that? I told you to go back. Why did you come back there looking for me? If you're hurt, you should have taken care of yourself. Why...?"
Peleus looked down at her as she aimlessly spat out her resentment.
Her eyes were swollen. Images of her taking him and running away from the moat to her came to him intermittently from his distant memories.
"I have something I want to tell you."
Peleus wiped away his flowing tears.
His voice was hoarse from the fever and injuries, and rough as if suppressing his emotions.
“I couldn’t go.”
Lou looked at him as if asking what he wanted to say.
Instead of revealing the truth about his hidden identity, Peleus gave in to an uncharacteristic impulse.
Cho.
The sensation of soft lips touching and then disappearing was excessively vivid. Lou looked up at him with a blank expression.
"Lou, I have a heavy burden to bear. So, I'm not sure if it's right to say it out of my mouth this like this, but..."
The hand gripping Lou's hand tightened.
The feeling of his chest tightening was still vivid.
The fear that pierced through him the moment he saw her, with her knees bitten, the governor's blade aimed at her.
It was a fear of death that he had never felt, not even when moving up and down the ceiling during surgery.
"I don't want to lose you. I hope you are safe and happy."
He hopes that no hardships reach her, that the barren days of resentment end, and that only soft and warm times are given to her.
He wants to give that warmth.
The reason he was able to keep from collapsing, even after waking from the lingering image of his beloved parents, was that she was right in front of him.
What should he do now? It was Lou who made him forget the emptiness that had consumed him after sending off his sister and making the country prosperous, and who showed him a new path.
"I may be nothing more than a stranger to you, but I dare to wish for it—"
Cho.
At the sensation of lips touching and bursting forth again, Peleus's blue eyes trembled greatly this time.
A thin arm wrapped around his neck.
"I like you, Les."
Lou whispered, as if giving a name to a stray dog that had found an owner.
So this is what you mean by saying you like this feeling.
As his lips tangled, Peleus realized it was a step too late.
It seemed as though quite a long time had passed. Lou was still held in Peleus's arms, resting her cheek against his chest.
"...That song from earlier. Did you sing it?"
“What song?”
Les hummed a melody instead of answering.
Leaving behind the pounding of Peleus's heart, Lou pushed him away.
It was because she realized a moment too late that Peleus had picked her up and sat her on his lap just moments ago. In the midst of the violent movement, she didn't think about the injury.
"Les, wait a moment. The wound on your back might have burst open. I need to check—"
"How do you know that song?'
But Peleus grabbed her again as if the injury didn't matter and asked.
"It's a song I heard when I was little... I don't really know it well, I just heard it..."
Lou, held tightly in Peleus's arms, stammered out a word.
"Have you ever been to Valdina?"
"I lived there for a short while when I was very young. Before my parents left the royal castle—"
"You didn't tell me that you lived in Valdina."
Lou paused for a moment, then immediately said.
"It didn't end well. My father and a close friend had a conflict, so he fled the royal castle as if running away. Even so, my father wanted to return."
Lou slowly unfolded the story of what had happened.
Upon hearing the news of the passing of 'the late King and Queen, he intended to return immediately to Valdina...'
From the moment she left Valdina until the moment she attempted to assassinate Joachim.
When Les rescued her in front of the Governor, he must have already guessed the grudge between them, but.
"Joachim, I will definitely deal with him with my own hands."
"..."
Peleus did not object to the statement that revenge could not be stopped. He merely nodded slightly.
“Why, is that so?”
His blue eyes, as if deep in thought, were fixed on her.
"Brother, can't we go this way? There are lots of flowers here."
The little girl with the small hand that held his hand.
She was a little taller than Dea. A girl with dark brown hair in pigtails pulled Peleus's arm.
"I told you not to go there, Rossi. Come here."
His voice calling the child sounded unfamiliar.
"You're pretty! The flowers are pretty. They suit you well, they're pretty."
The sound of a mother's singing was heard behind the voice of a girl who laughed as she poured out a bunch of wildflowers she had experienced to him.
“Les?”
“...It was you.”
Peleus let out a sigh. A large hand carefully traced her cheek.
“W-what?”
With a bewildered look on his face, Lou hugged Peleus.
"Wait, I can't breathe. Les, check the wound first. Is it okay~"
Does Lou know how much of a comfort it is to him to know that there is someone there, even if it only exists in his memories, and if they share the warmest and safest times together?
***
The town outside Lord Osric Castle.
A shop clerk sweeping the deserted street with a broom raised his eyebrows in puzzlement.
"Why is the street so deserted today? I don't see a single ant."
"Well, I’m not entirely sure, but the atmosphere over the Lord Castle seemed ominous. Didn’t bright red smoke start rising up there earlier this afternoon?"
The owner of the shop next door replied, pointing toward the city wall with the tip of his chin. The clerk shook his head and responded.
"Wasn't it supposed to be fireworks? I heard today was the Lord's celebratory banquet. It looks like the party is still in full swing."
"Well, I haven't seen a single carriage leaving the city gates yet. There is a limit to how long a banquet can go on."
"Come to think of it, what was that armed army pouring out earlier? They were searching everywhere. I wonder who they were trying to catch."
The owner lowered his voice as much as possible and looked around.
"Judging by their appearance, they didn't look like our Karkan soldiers. To think foreigners have come all the way here, brandishing swords and running rampant... I wonder if a war might break out at this rate."
"Hey, man, don't say such ominous things. If the Lord hears you, you'll be dragged away immediately."
"Well, since the city gates are locked tight, how would commoners like us know what kind of bloodshed is raging inside?"
The two people stared at the firmly closed castle gate with anxious eyes.
The people outside the castle could never know what ugly truth was being engulfed in flames beyond the towering walls.
***
Lord Osric's Chamber.
"W-what on earth is going on!"
Lord Osric, who had rushed over upon hearing the roar of the explosion, turned pale.
The office, which had been the epitome of dignity and wealth he had painstakingly crafted, lay in a state of utter destruction.
The once magnificent murals were covered in soot, and the floor was littered with broken stones, the corpses of subordinates who had died without even screaming, and the injured.
Although their condition was serious, Maya and Eric were among those who miraculously survived the scene of chaos.
It was thanks to the fireplace where the explosion started, being quite a distance from the corner where they were standing.
"So, Rosien... you were only worried about your subordinates even in that desperate moment, huh?"
Joachim gritted his teeth and muttered.
"Governor, can't you hear me? What is this explosion? Why did this suddenly happen in the middle of the castle?!"
Given the circumstances, the Lord forgot even his usual subservience and strode toward Joachim, who was receiving treatment.
"What are your soldiers for? Our Lord's Castle has been completely destroyed! What do you intend to do about this chaos? If you don't explain this to me right now, cough!"
The problem was that Joachim had absolutely no room to listen to such an excuse.
Joachim spat out blood-tinged phlegm and muttered to the knight standing beside him.
"Lock them in the basement. Everyone who attended the banquet, too!"
"Your Excellency! Th-what do you mean! This is my castle...!
Lord Osric asked back with his split lips, but was soon carried away by Joachim's subordinate with his mouth covered.
Joachim turned his head away from the sight.
"How did the search go?!"
Like a beast having its prey snatched away right before its eyes, a fierce glint flashed in his eyes.
"Who on earth is that guy! Who dares to block my path!"
"It, it is that one! Acares of the Facade!"
The voice of the adjutant giving the report trembled.
"What?"
"I mean Facade! That infamous arms dealer who spills blood across the continent..."
"I know who Facade is, too!"
Joachim let out a shout.
His hand was filled with murderous intent as he snatched and threw the cumbersome bandage.
With what nerve did those bastards crawl all the way here and steal my stain?
"Pursue them immediately! Scrape the bottom of the reservoir if necessary, and bring at least that corpse before me!"
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