Volume 5 Chapter 8 Part 7
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Translation and editing: Team Foxsunes
And after a while, Ambassador Gabriel was hauled off to the palace in secrecy under the supervision of the head knight and the princess. I didn’t return to the mansion and stayed behind like the princess who hadn’t returned to the palace. I anxiously watched over the man and the youth, Lucius, who were confronting each other.
They fought and split, Lucius was kidnapped, and now they stood face to face. There is no way they’re not awkward.
The man had a calm expression, but the youth looked obviously flustered.
｢They look so much alike, yet their expressions are so different…..｣ Widnichol murmured and I completely agreed with him.
After a while, Lucius took a deep breath and looked up into eyes that were of the same colour as his.
｢I assume you can’t forgive me or Father?｣
｢What?｣
｢Eh?｣
I raised a dumb voice along with the man due to the unexpected question. Damn it, I’d decided to keep quiet during their confrontation. But, the good thing was that Lucius ignored me as I was putting my hand on my mouth. He continued his speech in agony ｢Isn’t it right, since when you were suffering so much here, we were just living peacefully in Nerogrant. You don’t want to come to Nerogrant because we’re…..｣
｢No, that isn’t the reason.｣
Edi blatantly said that and shook his head in denial to the youth who seemed to be holding back a lot of emotions. ｢Wow, that’s mean,｣ muttered the head knight. His foot got stepped on by the princess with all her might. Hero and Widnichol were somehow trying to handle the head knight, who was letting out low screams in agony. Lucius couldn’t hear any of that and was blinking his eyes again and again in surprise because of the words uttered by the man, ｢Is, that so?｣
｢Yeah, it isn’t about forgiving or not forgiving. At this point, I don’t feel anything when I’m told that you guys are my family.｣ Words uttered by the man weren’t the words of salvation, but instead, they seemed like they were further attacking Lucius. Edi needs to be more subtle, I’ve thought about it tens of times, and yet I was thinking about it again. Yeah, hey, look. The air around the youth got clearly depressive. I don’t think I’m imagining his tears face.
Anyone would react in a similar manner, hearing something like『I don’t really care』directly from the person they admire, as an elder brother, even if they were fully aware of it.
｢The-then why are you so attached to this country, brother? ｣
｢Lucius.｣
｢Ye-yes?｣
｢Do you put cheese on your tomato main dish?｣
What is this man even saying in a time like this? I think it wasn’t just me who thought as such. The youth, Lucius blinked all baffled. Yes, yes, I understand that feeling very well. Even I, who has been around him for so long don’t get it, why did he ask something like that? Why the tomato? Why the cheese?
｢Eh, ah, no.｣
While I thought about it, so much that my head hurt, Lucius answered the man’s sudden query by shaking his head in denial, ｢I see｣ the man gave a nod.
｢If you ask me, I put cheese on. Filmina’s dishes are delicious as it is, but I like cheese. Indeed there are times I don’t put cheese, but the times I put cheese are more frequent. Is that right, Filmina?｣
Come to think of it, he is right. He puts on cheese more often on dishes that go well with cheese…especially the tomato dishes. But, what’s the correlation between that and the current situation? Lucius looked puzzled and I probably had a similar expression on my face. There is no way the man hadn’t realized that but he continued nevertheless.
｢It makes a big difference when there is cheese and when there isn’t when it comes to tomato dishes right? It’s the same as that.｣
So, what are you talking about? What could be similar to the tomato dishes and the cheese? Looking at Lucius and me, who were all puzzled, he let out a deep sigh as if to say that it was hopeless to explain it like that. No, no, no, the ones who need to let out a deep sigh like that were us. We wouldn’t agree or get what you are saying if you don’t explain it in an understandable way. I quietly waited for the man to continue his words without making a fuss and finally, he opened up his mouth.
｢According to the people of olden times, life needs to be spiced up.｣
｢｢Pardon…..?｣｣
My voice and Lucius’ voice overlapped beautifully. We both looked at each other with a sudden reflex. Edi ignored us both and continued further, ｢It isn’t a bad deal to go to your country with Filmina, because I can be happy as long as she is around. But it isn’t the same case with Filmina. ｣
｢What about me?｣
｢You need the “cheese” right?｣
Lucius’s jaw dropped and his pretty face had such a dumb expression as he stared at the man after hearing him say such a thing with a straight face. My feelings grew more and more complex as I started to realize what he’d meant.
I see, so cheese, it is a weird analogy but he isn’t wrong. I unintentionally looked around at the faces of the people around me, their personalities indeed have a strong flavour just like the cheese. They were quietly listening to what he was saying.
Cheese isn’t something that’s an absolute necessity, but it’s something that can make you happy by existing. It’s something that can cheer you up by being there. It’s something that can bring pleasure just by being there. The man wanted to say that, that’s the “cheese” for me and that’s not just something exclusive to me.
｢I would have the “cheese” too if it’s there. ｣
The man said it silently and the “cheese” …..I mean the princess and the others weren’t able to hold back their laughter anymore. He’s a helpless man who can never be completely honest. He took a roundabout way but still managed to explain it, yet he can’t be honest. I wanted to say ｢It isn’t the time to be playing games,｣ to him who was saying things in a childish manner unlike the usual Edi, but I couldn’t do it. I felt the tears swelling up in my eyes. My sight slowly turned hazy and, before I was unable to see anything, I wiped off the tears with the back of my hand. His words, his feelings brought me joy. I could feel the happiness bursting out of my heart.
At last. At last, he realized. He finally accepted them to the extent that he refers to them as one of the few things that he likes. He’s quite a dense guy to realize such an important thing after taking so much time. Is it because he was ignoring it on purpose? He had realized accepting them would increase the possibility of him getting hurt. But, at last, he accepted himself who had gone through a change. He finally saw people apart from stepfather and me with his beautiful dawn-tinted eyes.
｢Filmina.｣
｢Yes.｣
When I realized, I had somehow managed to stop my tears and I was gazing at the man. The man smiled as if he was unaware of my feelings. And that smile took away all my vocabulary.
｢This is my choice. Do you have any complaints against it?｣
｢There is no way I’d have any complaints against it.｣
It’s the answer that he finally chose after pondering upon the matters and by realizing things all by himself. There’s absolutely no way that I’d go against such a choice. I can’t possibly do it. It’d be meaningless if I interrupted him and made him realize. It’d be meaningless unless he realized it by himself. Finally, he was able to realize and his answer couldn’t be any more perfect. I wiped off tears from the corner of my eyes and desperately tried to smile. If I didn’t consciously smile I would break down into tears. I don’t know what he thought of me but he muttered ｢Is that so?｣ and nodded.
｢That is so｣ I nodded back and gazed at the man. At that moment, the last drop of tear rolled down, but this time I didn’t try to wipe it off.
｢Brother is…｣
Lucius neither had a smile nor an expression, his face just had a calm expression. His expression was innocent like a child.
｢Brother is happy now, right?｣
The voice had a confirming tone, a tone that was trying to digest something and at the same time, it sounded as if his burden was lifted off and that he was relieved from the bottom of the heart suitable for his innocent facial expression.
Edi sneered at Lucius ｢Obviously, I said that clearly a moment ago. Don’t try to measure my happiness with your scale. ｣
｢E-Edi, that’s enough.｣
｢No, it’s fine. I’ve done and said enough things, he should treat me like this.｣
If it was the youth Lucius from a few moments ago, he would’ve felt down by the man’s blatant wording but I don’t know what had gotten into him. He wasn’t feeling low at all and was smiling.
He was smiling as if his shoulders had finally been freed from a heavy burden. The man had a straight face, but his lips weren’t tightened and were slightly loose. The princess and the others looked at each other and smiled after witnessing those two.I watched it all and I felt like crying and smiling. It was a complicated feeling, the man seemed to have noticed it too, ｢Filmina?｣ he addressed me, but I silently shook my head. I don’t need words. This is enough.
Thus, this incident had finally come safely to an end.
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