Volume 7 Chapter 4 Part 17
Fiancée of the Wizard
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Translation by burnt.marshmallows
Editing by Team Foxsunes
「B-but, that can’t be」
My body trembled slightly. It felt like I wasn’t in my own body. The lady-in-waiting’s words definitely reached my ears, but my brain couldn’t catch up. I couldn’t understand what I was hearing. No, I didn’t want to understand.
「But, there’s no way they would take such dire measures…….」
It must be some sort of joke. Even as I tried to laugh it off awkwardly, the sadness in my lady-in-waiting’s eyes didn’t disappear. She closed her eyes for a moment, as if to empathize with me. She then looked at me with determination in her eyes.
「Madam Filmina, there isn’t a moment to spare for hesitation. Please hurry up. If that young man over there helps you, you’ll be able to escape through the window.」
Without even waiting for my answer, the lady-in-waiting quickly took my coat out of the closet and placed it over my shoulders. Before I could notice it, Noct had let go out of my arm and was looking intently at me. I donned the coat as prompted by my lady-in-waiting, but there was no way I could come to a conclusion immediately.
「B-but」
「Do you not care what happens to your child?」
My body started trembling again, hearing my lady-in-waiting’s low voice. I placed both my hands on my belly and moved away from both the lady-in-waiting as well as Noct. It was still a flat belly. I couldn’t feel a heartbeat nor the baby’s movements yet. But my child was definitely in there. That man and I’s precious baby.
「Edi, Edi would never do something like kill this child. That gentle person could never do anything like……!」
I screamed out with a force that was as if I was throwing up blood. In response, the lady-in-waiting shook her head sadly.
「It is true that he might not be able to. However, Madam Filmina. That is only if your life is not hanging in the balance. I believe that I have said this before. Husbands are beings that, rather than their roles as fathers, prioritize their roles as husbands and as men. Sir Agedilus would probably take your child’s life if it were to protect yours, Madam Filmina. 」
「Something, like that」
Isn’t possible. Is what I wanted to say, but for some reason, my words stopped coming out unnaturally. I could feel that there was a gloomy light in the eyes of my lady-in-waiting. For some reason, I couldn’t keep my eyes off of hers. It was just like that time. She had the same eyes as she did when she asked me what I would do if the child in my belly were to be the second Demon Lord. It happened again. Again, my tongue was tied and the words wouldn’t come out. My head was in a mess and I wasn’t able to understand anything anymore.
「Let’s go, Madam Filmina.」
「ーーLet’s go Filmina.」
As I remained silent, Noct reached his hand out towards me. With one hand, he gently lifted me up. And with his other hand, he lifted up my lady-in-waiting as well.
「N-noct!?」
「Keep quiet or you’ll bite your tongue」
「ー!!」
After picking up my lady-in-waiting and I, Noct jumped out of the window. After a moment of feeling like my entire body was floating, Noct landed on the ground with a loud thud, his movements dangerously unstable. There was barely any impact. Even if it was only from the second floor, I wished he would have spared me from a sudden bungee jumping experience without a rope. I gulped. My heart was pounding extremely loudly against my chest. After seeing that I was about to calm down, Noct launched himself off the ground again, without giving me time to cool down completely.
The young man charged forward in the darkness of the night. He charged. And charged. He moved in a way so powerful that one would not think he was carrying two fully grown women. He was moving terrifyingly quickly. Before I knew it, we were far from the Schtorenvihein mansion and we could no longer see the splendid building. I could feel the cold wind, as if it were piercing through my cheeks.
I wonder how much time has passed. The lights from the villages that I could spot occasionally also disappeared into the distance before I could realize it. Carried by Noct, I entered a nearby forest. Having come this far, Noct finally slowed down before coming to a stop. He put my lady-in-waiting and I down on the ground and I could finally let out the breath that I had been unconsciously holding.
We were probably still within the Schtorenvihein region, but coming this far, I doubt that I would be able to return to the mansion on my own. In this forest at night, devoid of a single person, I felt as though something scary would crawl out of nowhere. As my body started trembling, I heard an unfamiliar voice.
「It should be fine if we come this far」
「……Daphne?」
It was a sweet, youthful voice. One that I had not heard before. It took me a while to realize that the voice came from the lady-in-waiting. I gazed at the lady-in-waiting, but she faced her back towards me and didn’t answer back.
「Noct, my sweet child. You moved quite well. I give you my praise.」
Instead of replying to me, the voice started talking to Noct. The voice was indeed sweet, but at the same time, sounded terribly cold. I could feel the cold air send a chill down my spine, but it probably was not just because of the coldness.
「……Yes, Mother」
「Noct……?」
What, on earth, was happening? There was no doubt that Noct just said「Mother」. But he was speaking to my lady-in-waiting. Wasn’t this supposed to be their first time meeting? No, even if it wasn’t, Noct was a demon, and my lady-in-waiting was a human. There was no way that he could call him「Mother」.
I could only continue watching everything unfold to understand what was going on. That was when my lady-in-waiting suddenly turned around. ……Come to think of it, what was the color of her eyes? For some reason, I couldn’t remember at all. With that thought in my mind, I looked into her eyes. That was when I regretted everything. Her eyes were completely dark, as dark as the abyss.
I completely froze up and couldn’t move an inch. The lady-in-waiting laughed. I felt goosebumps all over my skin. As she glanced at me, the lady-in-waiting’s hair, which was tied up neatly together, suddenly untied. And just like that, the hair started growing longer and longer, as if it had a mind of its own. No, it wasn’t just growing longer. Starting from the roots, her hair was being dyed pitch black, a color darker than the darkest nights. Even under starlight, her hair didn’t shine one bit. There lay a darkness that looked like it absorbed all the light around it.
「Let me express my gratitude to you, young girl.」
She moved as though she were acting in a drama. The thing that used to be my lady-in-waiting held up the hem of her uniform and gave me an over-exaggerated bow. She looked just like a normal elderly lady a few moments ago. But her face blurred for a moment and her appearance was replaced with youthful beauty.
Her harsh looking eyes looked sharp yet sweet. Those thick lips of hers were a bright red, as though she had covered them in fresh blood. Her body was also alluring, making it hard to draw the line against seduction. One would not be lying at all if they said that she was bewitchingly beautiful. The beauty of the 「something」in front of me gave off an alarming aura that felt like the chilling air around us.
Unable to speak, all I could do was watch. That「something」gave me a deep smile. It was a smile so sweet that it could make one throw up.
「Thanks to you, my deepest wish can finally be fulfilled. But before that happens, sleep all you want.」
The 「something」 pointed her finger at me. It was thin, with a sharply-pointed nail sitting on it. I suddenly could no longer stand and I just knelt down right there. I was so sleepy. As my vision blurred, Noct looked at me with a face that looked like he was about to cry.
Don’t make that face. It doesn’t suit you.
That’s what I wanted to say. But my words failed me. Noct’s expression was the last thing I saw as my vision completely blacked out.
I could feel my body’s energy getting sucked out of it as my body landed on the ground. It felt as though it wasn’t my own body. The ground that caught my falling body was freezing. But I couldn’t get up. My consciousness started to fade out.
ーAh, thinking about it.
Suddenly, I remembered. 「Daphne」was another name for the bay laurel tree. And in flower language, the bay laurel tree stood for「betrayal」. With that thought, my consciousness was completely swallowed by the darkness.
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