As a child, Edith was much more tomboyish than when they met again as an adult.
“Isaac, Isaac! The weather is nice. Let’s go to the fields. Please?”
As soon as her shyness passed, Edith ran up to him confidently. Happy to have a friend of her own age, she always insisted on riding Cream and going somewhere to play.
Every time that happened, he would close the book he was pretending to read and stand up from his seat, just to see her smiling happily.
Life with Edith Lowell was full of color. Even on a rainy day, she was as warm as if one were basking in the sun.
Also, Edith’s very existence made him realize something.
『 Before staying at Lowell Manor… was I anxious?』
It wasn’t that he didn’t like wandering from place to place with his horse, Cream. The daily expenses his mother brought with her were more than enough, even overflowing.
But rather than spending every day traveling, he liked returning to the manor where Edith and Mrs. Lowell were.
Sometimes his mother accidentally burned the ingredients while cooking, but that was fun too.
“Mrs. Leah… why don’t we just cut off the burnt parts and eat it?”
The sight of Edith looking at the charred chicken dish in pity was adorable.
When they rode a horse together, her blonde hair brushing his cheek or her blue eyes looking up at him, he could forget for a moment the facts that weighed on his mind.
How much had his mother’s health deteriorated?
There are rumors of a bloody storm brewing in the Imperial Palace. Will his father be able to survive until the end?
How much longer can they live like this?
When he was with Edith, none of those worries came to mind.
Besides… Edith was vehemently showing that she liked him.
One day she would stare him in the face and then run away, and another day she would ask him with a questioning smile if there was anyone he liked these days.
“Do you like blondes?”
“Y-yes?”
“I see you like them. That’s a relief.”
After a while, he went to the market to buy something and chatted with the store owner’s daughter, who happened to be blonde. When he came back, she puffed out her cheeks like a squirrel and blurted out in a grumpy voice.
“Isaac, Isaac! You said you’d give me a ride on your horse today!”
“Huh, what?”
“Idiot!”
“…?”
There were occasions when she pouted like that, and there was even a time when she kissed him on the cheek while he was napping, whispering something in his ear before running away.
“… What the heck, seriously.”
He woke up suddenly, covered one of his burning cheeks, and stayed in a daze for several hours.
It was the first time in his life that he thought it would be okay to settle down in one place and live with someone.
However, that evening, his mother knocked on the door with a bitter look on her face.
“Isaac, it seems like Gerturk’s knights have been scouring the entire Fortrion lately. They’ve sent people to other areas too. It doesn’t seem like they are specifically chasing us, but I think we’d better be careful.”
“Are you saying we need to leave, Mother?”
“I don’t want to cause any trouble for the Lowells, so I think we have to go. Say goodbye to Edith, too.”
“…”
The reason he didn’t tell his mother that he didn’t want to leave was that he didn’t want to put Edith and Mrs. Lowell in any danger.
『 If the Gerturks decide to go after my mother and me, those who have been hiding us may also suffer.』
But that didn’t mean he would give up on Edith.
“Mother, the newspaper journalists say that the power struggle within the Imperial Family is coming to an end. Is this true?”
“It’s probably true. Your father is an incredibly strong person.”
Walter was not particularly attached to the existence of his father.
If he wasn’t accepted as a son, he still had Lexion, his mother’s family.
“In that case, I’ll return to the capital to stabilize my magic and then come back to Fortrion. I will have to keep the reason for returning to the capital a secret from Edith for a while.”
Thanks to Leah’s careful tending to him since childhood, Walter’s immense magic showed no signs of going out of control.
Leah judged that if he returned to Lexion before becoming an adult and received the help of the family, he could live without any problems.
“… It seems like I don’t have much time left. I want to take you home one last time.”
“…”
It was difficult for him to nod his head.
He knew that his terminally ill mother should have died ten years ago.
She used to say on every birthday that she was grateful to have met him, to have watched him grow up, to have had that time miraculously extended.
And so, their dreamy time at the Lowell Manor came to an end. It had been four years since he first met Edith.
The day they said goodbye, Leah hugged Edith tightly, who was wearing the blue necklace she had given her. Her magic flowed into the necklace.
Edith hugged Leah for a long time, and then, with swollen, puffy eyes that couldn’t open properly, she grabbed his hand.
Her sobbing voice reached his ear.
“You’re the first person I ever fell in love with, Isaac.”
“…”
“I… I love you very much.”
Edith couldn’t let go of his hand and sobbed for a while before finally speaking.
“So I don’t want to part with you. Please…”
You’ll come back, right?
Her tear-filled eyes were asking that question. Not surprisingly, the answer came out immediately, without even thinking.
“Edith, I’ll definitely come back.”
“Isaac…”
“I will definitely write a letter when I arrive. I promise. I won’t leave you alone for long.”
Edith kept whispering that she would wait for him while hugging him tightly for a long time. He didn’t want to part with her, but he forced himself to take a step away.
As they made their way to the capital, they had the misfortune of being confronted by a group of suspicious knights hanging around.
“I want to ask for directions… Oh.”
Their eyes widened as they saw his mother’s face, and they pulled out swords with Gerturk’s emblem on them.
“Leah Lexion? You supposedly died in a carriage accident. How…”
“Is this boy also of Lexion blood?”
“Hey, is now the time to ask? If we catch this woman, Lady Patricia will surely reward us handsomely.”
“She’s terminally ill anyway, so she’s probably not in the best of shape… It’s time to test if Lexion’s suppressive magic still works.”
Zzing—
The ominous magical power unleashed by the mage swept through the surroundings.
Leah, who was already feeling the limits of her ability to suppress unstable magical energy, stroked her son.
Her expression showed no sign of disturbance, as if she knew that these were her last moments.
“My dear son, go straight to the Lexion Manor in the capital. You’ve suffered a lot because of me all this time.”
The teleportation spell she created activated in an instant.
The last moment of his mother that remained in his memory was her mouth twisting into a grin as she unleashed a massive magical power.
“I see… These mere knights dare to utter the name of Lexion without fear.”
“Mother!”
And then, darkness enveloped his vision.
When he woke up in a nearby field, he felt an unbearable headache.
『 Is it because of the ominous magic that the mage unleashed?』
He couldn’t figure out where he was. Even resting in the shade of a tree and trying some fruit didn’t help recover his strength; instead, his body convulsed uncontrollably.
His magic power, which Leah had poured everything into cultivating for a very long time, was crumbling.
The sky appeared yellow and then changed to purple.
When he realized that his memories were gradually fading, he took out paper and pen with trembling hands because there was one thing he must never forget.
“E…dith…”
╭══════
Name is Edith.
Wavy, rich golden hair; beautiful aqua-colored eyes with long eyelashes; a lively yet elegant voice; lips like ripe fruit; a blue necklace given by Mother.
══════╯
And my name is Walter Isaac Lexion de Agnas.
“Ugh…”
His vision became blurry, as if he was about to lose consciousness.
He hoped that the note he wrote with great effort would be in his hand when he woke up.
So that he could remember who he was and how precious that girl was to him.
With that fervent prayer, he closed his eyes.
However, on that day, which seemed to be a series of unfortunate events, it appeared that God was truly not on his side.
“Walter Isaac Lexion de Agnas… Wait, Agnas? Is it Agnas?”
“Lord Nicholas. Where are you headed instead of hunting?”
“Don’t-don’t come this way!”
“Have you found some precious beast? Are you trying to keep it all to yourself again?”
An eerie, mocking laughter echoed around, and soon a hefty hand raised his body.
“Yeah. It seems I’ve found a valuable beast that can be useful.”
It was the cursing voice of Nicholas Fortrion.
──────────✿◦•
〘 “You’re the first person I ever fell in love with, Isaac.” 〙
〘 “…” 〙
〘 “I… I love you very much. So I don’t want to part with you. Please…” 〙
As if pulling the soul that was trying to be sucked into the depths, the voice he missed the most continued to echo in his ears.
And the moment someone’s tears touched the back of his hand, Walter abruptly sat up.
❀.°• ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ •°.❀
