Chapter 77
“You’re not a ghost, are you?”
Overwhelmed with relief, I blurted out any words that came to mind.
His eyebrows twitched slightly at my question.
He’s alive, he’s alive.
Seeing his handsome face, I realized he must be my husband despite his dirty expression.
“I’m not dead.”
He whispered with a sniffle.
Tears threatened to flow again.
“…Yeah, I’m not dead.”
He placed his hand over mine, which rested on his face.
“So don’t worry.”
His words truly put me at ease.
“…But what was that earlier?”
“What… what do you mean?”
As I pondered what I said, he spoke first.
“Don’t die in front of me.”
“…”
Listening to him repeat my words, I heard the sound of paper vibrating in my ears.
“What do you mean?
Don’t die in front of you?”
Gulp.
A dry lump caught in my throat.
I realized too late that my words, too focused on survival instinct, had blurted out, but it was already too late.
“W-What do you mean?
You don’t want to die.”
My voice trailed off into almost a whisper, and my head instinctively turned away.
I couldn’t bring myself to meet those shining eyes.
“Look at me and speak properly.”
My face, which had turned away, was gently turned back to face him by his hand.
It was impossible to turn away again with his hand firmly gripping my chin.
But I still couldn’t bring myself to meet his gaze from above.
When I tried to pry something out of him, his gaze was truly beyond imagination.
“Open your eyes.”
The commanding tone stirred a strange defiance within me.
“Who do you think you are, telling me what to do?”
I exerted more force and closed my eyes tightly.
But the next words that reached me were mocking.
“You seem to be expecting something with that.”
In response to his words, I blinked and opened my eyes.
“What do you mean?”
At my puzzled exclamation, he responded with an expression that seemed to say, “What do you mean?”
His shamelessness was beyond words.
“Were you not?”
He said with a hint of pity.
I grumbled in frustration but suddenly froze in action at a creepy feeling.
“By the way…”
As I thought back quietly, the previous situation came to mind.
So before we ended up rolling around on this grassy field.
So he wasn’t… hurt.
Sniffle.
Realizing this belatedly, the sound of paper vibrating echoed in my ears again.
“You trickster!”
I grabbed tufts of grass and threw them at his face.
“You’re cunning!”
My anger was more directed at my own gullibility than at him.
“Hey!”
I kept tearing up grass and throwing it at his face.
Some of them calmly landed on his fine hair.
He brushed off the grass piled on his head.
“Pt, pt…”
As the fallen grass tickled my face, I had to endure a grassy baptism.
Shaking my head to clear away the grass, I felt something warm on my face.
It was his fingertips.
Amoide gently removed the grass stuck to my eyes and said,
“But you still haven’t answered.
What did you mean by ‘don’t die in front of you’?”
This persistence was more resilient than a steel cable.
“It’s exactly as it sounds, what else could it mean!
I said don’t die in front of me!
Don’t die, please don’t die!”
“Don’t die, please!”
Because I need to live too!
I swallowed the rest of my words and raised my voice with all the bitterness I could muster.
“….”
Contrary to my outburst, he suddenly fell silent.
The silence was so profound that it almost felt reverent, and I shivered slightly.
Suddenly, every sound around me seemed to come alive.
The sound of the wind, the rustling of grass brushing against the wind.
Everything became overly clear.
Even his face, which had been blurred by drying tears, began to appear clearer.
Even his gaze as he looked down at me.
The silence, which had felt so long, finally broke, and he spoke.
“Yeah, I won’t die in front of you.”
“….”
“As a knight’s oath.
Even though I’m currently in a humble state.”
“Amoide?”
In response to my call, his eyes blinked slightly, as if to trap me within them with that small gesture alone.
“I, Amoide Ifrit…”
He looked at me and blinked slowly.
As if that small gesture would somehow contain me within him.
“I’ll never die in front of you.”
Shoo.
A sudden gust of wind pierced through us.
He rose from me.
I, too, quickly stood up.
His body covered in grass, mine too.
It was all grass, grass, grass.
Amidst the frenzy of brushing off grass, he spoke.
“It’s too late.”
“What?
Too… Oh.”
It was time for him to take his medicine.
“The cat…”
I couldn’t hear well amidst the grass brushing.
“What?”
“Never mind.
I’ll tell you later.”
What does he mean he’ll tell me later?
Before I could ask again, he was already walking away.
I turned my body, captivated by a strange feeling.
And then, I noticed the grassy bushes beside the lawn were trembling slightly, even though there was no wind.
“….”
As I watched the trembling bushes, I suddenly felt a sense of unease.
I feel like I’ve seen this scene before.
When was it?
What was it?
As I searched through my memories to find the source of my unease, a round head suddenly emerged from the neatly trimmed bushes.
“Oh my!”
“Rona, Rona?”
I called out her name repeatedly while clutching my chest near my heart.
“Why are you, why are you coming out from there?”
“I saw everything!”
And why does she have hearts in her eyes again?
My ominous premonition had hit the mark once again.
“I won’t die in front of you.”
“….”
“What a passionate confession!”
Calm down.
“Rona, please.”
I shouted desperately.
“No, it’s not like that!”
I denied with all my strength.
“No!
I saw everything!”
Rona’s hair tied up on one side seemed like it could float up into the sky at any moment.
“Oh, please stop it!”
This time, I wanted to grab her by the hair, not the grass.
“I saw everything, I tell you!”
Rona was laughing with her mouth stretched all the way to her ears.
