Chapter 1 - Part 1
Huge thanks to J for the kofi! (1/1)
***
Knock, knock
Lelia, who was standing by the window, turned her head at the sound of knocking on the door.
When she told the person to come in with little energy left in her voice, it was Griffith who opened the door and appeared before her.
When he saw his friend’s face full of worries, he felt emotional. Lelia looked at the window for a moment and stared at Griffith again.
At the moment she turned her head, she couldn’t see Griffith’s expression distorted.
“Lelia.”
“…Good morning, Griffith.”
Coming up to the window, he turned his head lightly and looked around.
“Where is Oscar?”
“…I woke up in the morning and I couldn’t find him.”
Lelia hesitated and opened the shawl and wrapped it around her shoulders.
Griffith stared at the back of her covered neck.
It was not difficult to guess the condition of the covered skin.
It was full of bloody marks given by Oscar.
His stomach twisted.
She seemed to have forgiven him after hearing everything.
So easily…?
He was dejected and felt funny.
Suddenly, he felt a sense of surprise. It was the same feeling as last time when he carefully made the alchemy drug that was taken away.
Griffith was resentful of Lelia.
Why are you so merciful only to Oscar?
Was it because he was a fool who cried with seizures whenever he had time?
Or because he was a rebel who had no choice but to kill his parents?
‘Then if I kill my parents, lose everything in the world, and only have you left in this world…’
‘Then you and I…’
He barely suppressed the resentment and anger that came up from the inside.
Griffith managed to resist the destructive impulse and asked her.
“Did you hear from Oscar?”
“…Did you know that?”
“I didn’t know the details.”
He was curious from the bottom of his heart but tried to stay calm.
He wanted to remove the shawl she barely held with her thin arms and forcibly take off her clothes to check.
He clasped my resisting arm and wanted to cover her mouth.
Overlaying the traces of Oscar’s mark, recklessly taking her body, and greedily-
“Griffith?”
“Yes, Lelia.”
“Are you okay?”
“You look pale.”
“…”
Lelia approached carefully and looked at his complexion. She gently touched his hair covering his forehead to measure his body temperature.
‘I don’t think you have a fever.’
Griffith didn’t look so good. He looked pale and about to collapse immediately.
“Yes, Lelia.”
“…”
Griffith pulled Lelia’s hand on his forehead and rubbed his cheek over her small palm.
“Actually, it hurts so much…”
“Oh, where does it hurt? You can’t heal yourself?”
Surprised, Lelia asked.
He never imagined Griffith would be sick.
This is because he was able to heal himself with healing power.
“Well, I don’t know why, but I think self-healing is becoming difficult now. It’s hard to erase the traces of strangling…”
“…”
Griffith muttered a shameless lie and rubbed his cheek on her palm like a poor, fragile animal.
The warmth delivered through her small and warm palms felt good.
He liked the scent of her skin.
Griffith smiled quietly.
Lelia was particularly generous to Oscar, but in fact, she was generous to others as well.
She valued everyone equally.
Under the name of “Friend.”
A smile came out of a new realization.
When he looked into Lelia’s eyes, who was sincerely worried about him, the anger he felt a while ago subsided.
Like a lie, so easily and helplessly.
Yeah, he didn’t have to be impatient.
Anyway, Lelia is…
‘You’ll have everyone.’
Just as she fell in love with Oscar, she and the rest will fall in love with one another.
A small smile appeared on Griffith’s face and he kissed Lelia’s wrist.
It was more of an act of touching rather than a kiss.
Lelia got goosebumps for some reason, but she still had worries.
“If it hurts a lot, should I call a doctor? Or you can take medicine…”
“It’s okay. It’s just because it hurts my heart.”
“What do you mean by hurting your heart?”
“I’m just worried about Oscar…”
At Griffith’s words, Lelia lowered her hand and turned around to look out the window.
Lelia spoke slowly.
“He’ll be okay… Oscar will be okay.”
“…Okay.”
Griffith answered that way and hugged Lelia behind her back. Very carefully, slowly.
“…”
Lelia tried to shake him off, but hesitated to strongly push her friend who was sick.
In addition, it was not a touch of subtle desire, and it was just a light hug as if comforting or hoping for comfort.
It was also the first time that she had a proper conversation with Griffith since they returned from the temple.
She didn’t want to provoke Griffith, who finally made a good decision and helped her.
“…It’ll be okay.”
Lelia muttered softly as if she were chanting a spell.
“Yeah, it’s going to be okay.”
Griffith whispered once again, agreeing with her.
‘We’ll be fine. Together, forever, we’ll be happy.’
Lelia stared out of the window without even knowing what Griffith was looking at from behind her back.
Then, something came into Lelia’s sight. A long carriage procession was approaching from far away toward the Superion Fortress.
Griffith, who was smiling, also noticed it.
“…It seems like the guests have arrived.”
“…”
Lelia clenched her fist in tension.
“Don’t worry, Lelia. If they bother you, I will teach a lesson to them like last time.”
After hearing Griffith’s words, Lelia struggled to smile.
The image of Griffith knocking down the princes in the Imperial city, came to her mind. Griffith was horrifyingly calm while making a mess of the two princes with his own hands and healing them in the end.
‘Yeah, I don’t have to be nervous.’
Anyway, the purpose of the princes was simply to see their mothers.
The princes also lost their mother at a young age.
Apart from what she hated about them, she didn’t want to stop them from meeting their mother.
But since her mother didn’t have any memories of them, she would have called them when her memory came back. She was going to promise and send them back in moderation.
She didn’t want them to stay here for a long time.
She hated it so much that she felt sorry for her mom. To the point where she felt guilty to see her mom’s face.
But…
They kicked her out of the place where they were the only home to her, so wouldn’t it be okay to have this much hate?
Lelia turned around as she saw the wagon procession approaching the castle.
“Are you going to go out by yourself?”
“No… Just…”
In Lelia’s hesitant answer, Griffith noticed what she really meant.
It meant that she wanted to avoid them.
“Let’s go together.”
Griffith reached out his hand. Lelia stared at it and held his hand.
***
The place that she followed Griffith was a garden outside the castle.
It was a place she didn’t visit often because it was a bit far from the castle.
Lelia sat on the bench and fiddled with her fingertips.
There had been concerns about Oscar, but he would be fine.
In fact, Lelia was not too shaken by Oscar’s confession. She took it more calmly than she thought.
She didn’t realize it.
She couldn’t believe that this place, which she thought was in the novel, was her past life.
She thought Oscar might not have made a mistake….
When she thought of his childhood dream, she thought his words might be true. In her dream, she saw a little girl taking her own life.
She thought she came to see the back in the novel, but in fact, it was her previous life.
It was just a pity for Oscar, who would have borne a huge price for it.
She wasn’t resentful.
It was hard to see Oscar in distress, so she purposely hugged him. Throughout, she muttered that he was okay and accepted him.
Oscar asked, pushing her all night. Aren’t you really resentful, will you really forgive me so easily?
Angry questions were expressed in desire.
Unlike the first night they were together, last night was brutal.
When she barely fell asleep at dawn and opened her eyes in the morning, she was alone in the bed.
Looking at the clean room without any traces, last night felt like a dream.
Unlike last time, Lelia wasn’t afraid to find that Oscar might run away.
She thought that he needed some time alone.
“…Lelia.”
“Oh, yeah.”
Waking up from thoughtfulness, Lelia looked at Griffith. He sat right next to her and stared at her.
“Is it okay if we don’t meet?”
“… I don’t want to see them that much.”
“I understand. I can understand you more than anyone else.”
Same blood does not mean that everyone can be a family.
Lelia understood the meaning of Griffith’s words.
Griffith was one of the people who could understand her mind more than anyone else.
He also didn’t think of the blood-sharing people as family members and resented them.
“Thank you for understanding, Griffith.”
“…”
“Thank you for staying here with me.”
That’s how she sat down with Griffith and talked about it.
Even though it was not comfortable at all, talking to Griffith seemed to calm her down.
As such, Griffith had the power to make his opponent feel comfortable.
Unfortunately, peace did not last long.
“You are here.”
As they turned their heads, they saw Kalix walking with a thump.
After that, Romeo, who had an unpleasant face, was also with him.
“Lelia, I am warning you, don’t be alone with Griffith. You were hit in the back of your head once and you didn’t get a hold of yourself?”
Romeo openly glared at Griffith and rebuked him. Lelia smiled awkwardly because she was embarrassed.
“Lelia, can you stay here?”
“…The princes came to see their mother anyway. It’ll be okay because they have uncle and grandfather with them”
“…”
Romeo hesitated at the words.
When Lelia looked curiously, he said after some hesitation.
“…It’s not just the princes. Princess Julianna and Ruth Castril also came together. They’re holding and begging your mother. They told her to go to the Imperial Castle together with them.”
“What?”
***
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