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Chapter 45 Part 2 – This is one of my memories from the previous 「108 times」 about the fall of the castle. In a castle surrounded by flames, I heard an unexpected spell of happiness.

‘….. Their determination is brilliant. Wait for me, my old friends. I’ll be on my way to you soon. As fellow comrades who have been left behind by the times, let’s get along and have a drink together.’

Matzo spoke quietly in his mind.
Scarlet hugged each of the old soldiers with tears in her eyes as she sent them off.
The old soldiers smiled proudly. Their faces were shining.
At that moment, they were the stars of the stage.
Even though there were no rewards or commendation, they were truly happy to die as proud men, instead of dying from old age.

「…. Men are such foolish creatures. But that foolishness does not mean a lot in this day and age.」

His face contorted from the intense pain of the wound, but Matzo beat it back with his willpower and smiled at Scarlet.

「….. Don’t worry about them. They wanted to die as warriors, not old men. Scarlet-sama does not think of them as nameless warriors. You remembered each and every one of them. That is all that is needed for the parting gift of a real warrior …..」

Scarlet sobbed, her shoulders shaking with the grief of sending her few allies to their death.
Matzo bit his lip as he thought of how hard she had been working and how much pain she had endured.

The people that Scarlet had loved and tried to protect were now coming to the castle to kill her.
They are cursing her as whore, spendthrift, treacherous, and other unbearable vilifications.
Believing in the false rumors, they lash out in a vengeful rage.
The crowd of fools are possessed by madness, they become an uncontrollable mob.
As if led by the devil, they unite in one direction and attack the castle.

The current people of Hydrangea are not worth protecting.
Even the good-natured Matzo had long given up on the ungrateful people.
If Scarlet were to abdicate her position as queen and flee, the land would be overrun by the four great kingdoms and turned into hell.
Until now, this kingdom had managed to keep up appearances because she had been desperately supporting it.
The destruction of the kingdom will be their retribution.
The foolish people brought this on themselves.
Scarlet would no longer be responsible for saving them.

And yet she did not run away until the end.
No one understood her, she suffered unjustified criticism, endured loneliness, and still tried to fulfill her duties as queen. Her nobility was, on the contrary, a pity.
Scarlet did her duty to the end without a single word of complaint.
She was already prepared for the fall of the castle today.

When it came down to the last moment, she took brilliant leadership in allowing the women to escape from the castle.
She took the initiative and arranged all means of escape.
She did not do it for herself.
It was for the sake of her vassals who would not abandon her and would stay behind.
She gently persuaded the weeping maidens that she would join them later.
Scarlet told a sad lie.
From the beginning, she had intended to remain in the castle.
She had planned to draw the enemy’s attention to her as much as possible for the safety of the maids as they escaped.

In his heart, Matzo spoke to his deceased friends and loved ones.

‘….. Crimson Duke, look at her. Ethelreed, are you watching? Scarlet-sama was magnificent to the end. We should be proud. Our eyes were right. Although she was unlucky, this person was a rarely-seen wise ruler. And ….. Ahh, you have seen through Scarlet-sama’s qualities since she was a baby. And you entrusted me with your most precious treasure. Thank you.’

Matzo thought of Mary, the woman he loved more than anyone else but could not marry.
He felt as if the late Mary were smiling gently at him and his heart was filled with sadness.

Sometimes he still dreams of the day he met her.
Matzo visited the Crimson Duke’s mansion for business and from the first time he saw Mary, who was working as Scarlet’s wet nurse, he was strongly attracted to her. He could not take his eyes off her.

Matzo was intrigued by her brightness as she was always smiling happily, then he was at a loss for words when he found out about her past.
Mary’s father and mother had both died early in her life and she had been left alone.
Just as she was about to be happily married to her childhood sweetheart, he was killed in an accident.
And yet, she remained courageous and single-handedly raised her son, but then her child was bitten to death by a demon dog right in front of her eyes. Matzo’s hands shook and he groaned as he recounted how, no matter how much she was kicked, she never gave up trying to get her son back and how she would not let go of the remains of her child for a long period of time with a heartrending wish of bringing him back to life.
In her mid-teens, Mary had experienced all of life’s hardships and tribulations.
He marveled at her strength to go through so much pain and yet not let it show through in the slightest, and to be so kind and caring to others.
His respect quickly turned to love.

However, Matzo, who was not very good at love, hardly spoke to Mary while she was working as a wet nurse at the duke’s mansion. Mary was also a lot younger than he is, so he was content with reserved greetings and idle chit chat. The only notable conversation was when Mary revealed her real name to Matzo for the first time.

「….. Vtorichnaya Vstryecha …. that’s my real name.」

With the sunlight filtering through the trees shining on her, Mary looked back at Matzo, smiled, and told him.
Somehow, the conversation turned to the fact that where Mary came from, women have two names.
Matzo looked over at Mary holding the newborn baby Scarlet, who was sleeping peacefully on her chest.
Determined to never forget the name she had told him, Matzo repeated it over and over again in his mind.
He was so focused that he could not pay much attention to Mary’s ensuing story.

「….. In the Krocassis region where I was born, women have long real names in addition to their common names. The name must be very hard to remember, right? But there is a rather romantic legend. When a kidnapping demon comes to a woman in the guise of her lover and tries to kidnap her, she can tell if he is her real lover or a fake by whether or not he says her real name correctly. If he is the real lover, he’ll definitely remember the name of the woman he loves, no matter how long her name is ….」

Before Mary could finish her sentence, Matzo, who had been looking down and muttering, raised his head quickly.

「….. Umu!! Vtorichnaya Vstryecha!! I have memorized it!! I’ll never forget it.」

Mary blushed as Matzo nodded and gave her a smile filled with satisfaction, then she smiled wryly at Matzo’s innocent smile and gave a small sigh.

「….. Hm, is there something wrong?」

「….. Matzo-sama is a natural womanizer. You may get caught up in trouble with women without knowing it, so I think you should be careful.」

「W-What!? Why!?」

Matzo was bewildered as the woman he liked spoke to him in a way he had never expected.
He later learned the details of their conversation, and the memory of his face blushing fiercely has now become a beautiful memory.

It was not until after Mary had left the duke’s mansion for various reasons that Matzo told her how he felt about her.
When Matzo learned that she had stopped being a wet nurse at the duke’s mansion when he had dropped by on business, his expression changed and he went to chase Mary’s stagecoach on horseback. Matzo himself thought he was hiding it well, but the Crimson Duke had long since discovered Matzo’s clumsy love and courteously told him where Mary was heading.

The passengers cheered loudly as the huge knight galloped down the green hill under a blue sky, pulled his horse up to the stagecoach, and loudly confessed his love to Mary while wearing the eye-catching red and blue armor of the Imperial Guards. It was like an act from a stage.

At first Mary was bewildered, but when she realized that Matzo’s feelings were genuine, she eventually accepted his love. While working at the duke’s mansion, she was well aware of Matzo’s gentle personality. Truthfully, she was also attracted to him.