Volume 7 Chapter 2 Part 13
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Translation by burnt.marshmallows
Editing by Team Foxsunes
Hearing that response, I finally felt a sense of relief. But instead of looking at me, Noct looked up, with great fear, where his gaze was met with that man’s sunrise-colored eyes. As if bound tightly by an invisible thread, Noct didn’t move at all. As I looked down at Noct, that man lifted his hand and pointed towards the sky.
In his fair-skinned hand, stretched towards the sky, his favorite wand appeared out of thin air. Clank. As that man knocked the wand he held in his hands on the floor, a clear sound echoed. At the same time, magic circles appeared beneath Noct’s feet..
Leaving Noct and I confused at the sudden turn of events, that man fixed his eyes on Noct. With his face illuminated by a pale purple light, he opened those thin lips of his.
「I, Agedilus Von Lancent ask of Noct. Have you ever caused harm to a person?」
It was a question that did not allow or tolerate the person answering with a falsehood. It was a question that was aimed at the person’s name, and at their very existence.
That man’s cold eyes pierced through Noct. One could not sense any emotion from his face, so fiercely beautiful that even the night fairies sang praises of. There was no doubt that his beauty made it all the more terrifying for anyone who is made to stand in front of him. Even a bystander like me could see Noct taking a gasp of air.
「T-that kind of thing」
Noct’s lips trembled. But he only revealed his obvious fear for a short moment. A golden colored ray of light shone in those beautiful, transparent-looking, yellow eyes of his. Noct must have glared up at the man’s face and shouted.
「Of course I would never do anything like that! And I don’t ever plan to do anything like that!」
「Can you swear that you won’t? Can you swear to never hurt a person on your name, on your soul, and on your life?」
The tone of Noct’s voice sounded as though it was full of suffering. It sounded both like rage and grief, but at the same time it didn’t sound like either, His yellow eyes glittering golden, Noct announced, with those sharp dog-like teeth peeking out from his mouth. In response, that man questioned him back, with a dispassionate voice, lacking any mercy at all. Noct’s body was shaking. I instinctively wanted to call out to him, but even I knew that that was not an action that would be tolerated right now. Right now, in this location, the only ones who were allowed to speak were that man and Noct.
Noct’s lips quivered as he glared up at that man.
「I would never hurt anyone!」
With his voice shaking, he took the oath. Although he feared that man, he managed to raise his voice to take the oath in response to that man’s question. After glancing down at Noct for a while, that man finally let out a small sigh, and knocked his wand with another clank.
「Is that so? Very well.」
「What?」
It was as if the tense atmosphere had just enveloped the room never existed. That man simply nodded, almost anticlimactically. Noct froze, having raised his voice foolishly. That man gave me a sidelong glance as I left my mouth agape in shock, before chanting a spell. Clank. The decorations on his wand produced a clear sound. The purple light diverged and formed rings around Noct’s neck and all his limbs. Clank. The wand sounded again. The purple light that was bound around Noct looked like leashes. The light was then absorbed directly into Noct’s skin. At the same time, the magic circle emitted a strong light. And then, the magic circle disappeared without a sound.
Looking down at us, still both shocked, that man opened his mouth.
「I will allow you to stay in this mansion until you can find an「aim」or whatever you call it. But, make sure to never show yourself in front of other people, even by mistake.」
「ーIs that really ok?」
「I won’t say it again.」
「G-got it.」
That man glanced at Noct, who still had disbelief written all over his face, before returning his wand back to thin air. I grabbed those hands of his that had emptied and smiled at him cheerfully.
「Thank you very much, Edi」
「……I really am no match for you.」
「Hehe, that goes both ways.」
Even that voice of his, that sounded like he was genuinely tired, tickled me. As I giggled, I heard a voice shaking.「U-um」. Both that man and I turned towards the source of the voice. Noct appeared to be choked up on his words, but he stared straight into that man’s eyes and opened his mouth.
「Um, thank you.」
Noct’s voice was as soft as an ant’s, but I definitely heard it reverberate in my ears. While I deepened my smile at the heartwarming sight, that man widened his eyes for a second before coldly spouting out:「If you really think so you better behave well.」. Sigh, what a dishonest man.
＊ ＊ ＊
Then, night came. After we brought Noct to rest in the guest room, the two of us went to our bedroom and spent our time separately.
I knitted a muffler using the wool yarn that I had bought in the afternoon, while that man looked through the documents that he had brought back as work, sitting at a desk back-facing me.
「That was unexpected.」
「What was?」
Reaching a stopping point on my muffler, I stopped moving my hands and murmured. That man looked up from his bundle of documents and turned towards me. I placed my knitting needle on the bedside table, moved towards the side of the chair that he sat on, and wrapped my hands around both his shoulders from behind.
「Even though you said all that, I actually never thought that you would allow Noct to stay in this mansion. 」
The smell of medicinal herbs and fragrant grasses that stuck on that man tickled my nose. I whispered into that man’s ears as I got my fill of the smell.
Knowing that man, I had really thought that he would use that sharp tongue of his to out-argue me and chase Noct out of the mansion. I mean, even if that were the case, I wasn’t planning on giving up or backing down. I was lucky that it didn’t have to come to that, but it really was unexpected seeing how easily that man accepted Noct.
It seemed that that man had read my mind. He let out a deep sigh in my arms. Seeing how solemn he was acting, I choked up on my words. Staring up at me, that man grunted with a hmph.
「It was not like I accepted him because I wanted to. To be honest, I’m still against it. So much that I want to throw him out right now.」
His low voice made me shrink my body instinctively. What he said made my ears burn. With those sunrise-colored eyes of his, that man stared at me for a while, as I wore an uneasy expression. Then, with a completely serious face, not even breaking a smile, he opened those thin lips of his.
「Especially in this time…….no, not just now, I want to be the only one who’s always beside you. Do you think that it’s weird for me to think that?」
「!」
I couldn’t help but widen my eyes. He placed his hands on my hands, which had stiffened up. My face started to redden uncontrollably as I felt his warmth. My face was red like no one’s business. He wouldn’t let me look away. If anything, it felt as though he had been anticipating my flustered reaction, and was slowly savouring it. I couldn’t help but get embarrassed. Yes, it was terribly embarrassing.
「I don’t think it’s weird. But, I think it’s, embarrassing.」
「That’s good to hear.」
「Hmph, I can’t stand you!」
It wasn’t the time to be messing around. In response to the answer that I was barely able to squeeze out, that man nodded, satisfied, causing me to accidentally raise my voice. But, calm down, me. That’s not the problem right now. It’s not like this was the first time I got to know how embarrassing this man was. More than that, there was something I wanted to ask him right now.
「Um, so…….why did you let Noct stay if you’re really so against it?」
In response to my question, that man gave me an exceedingly expressionless look, and opened his mouth. 「I didn’t have a choice right?」
……Hearing those few words that he uttered out, I couldn’t help but stiffen up. Leaving me be, that man continued expressionlessly.
「Just like humans, demons are also a factor that keep this world in balance. Be it a demon, if one of the factors that make up this world were lost, the balance that was kept would no doubt fall apart. Ever since the demon lord was slayed, the current situation of the world is very unstable, if we look at it from the perspective of magic. If we make matters worse by driving the demons, in their weakened state, to a corner, it wouldn’t benefit us either. In that sense, I’m not really sheltering that brat Noct, but rather I’m leaving him under my surveillance. 」
「Will that really work?」
Although it was not in my place to say this, it really felt like he was bending logic here. It seemed that my thoughts reached him clearly, as that man grunted, displeased.
「I’ll make it work. I hope that you can finally realize that you’re the only one who could make me do something like this.」
「S-sorry…….」
Unable to argue back, I had no choice but to obediently apologize. That man shrugged in response.
「Anyway, that boy has given me his word. I’ve enforced that restriction on him. With that, he probably can’t do anything that bad. So it’s not like i’m lying or anything.」
「Is the restriction that magic circle?」
「Yes. It was an agreement that was laid in exchange for his name……his very existence. If I’m to place him under my surveillance, it would be a disgrace if I don’t at least do something like that. Moreover, if that brat by any chance…….」
「By any chance?」
What did he mean by「By any chance」? I tilted my head, seeing how he tapered off his words at the end, something he never did. WIthout speaking, that man shook his head while still in my arms.
「No, it’s fine. Enough about that kid. Care about your own body more. Stop thinking that your body still only belongs to you alright?」
「Yes, Edi, i know.」
「I wonder about that.」
「I already get it alright? It’s the precious child that I have with you, my precious person. I would never be able to neglect this child, whom you care so much about.」
He’s right. My body no longer only belonged to myself. As that thought entered my head, I felt all the more that I had to become someone who wouldn’t bring shame to this child. Surely, that was why. Maybe that was why I was so hung up on Noct, who had so much in common to this man.
Maybe it was precisely because the reason that Noct was ostracized was because he was a demon. Because that is the kind of existence that demons are towards humans. It was just like how Pure Black was feared by others and how people kept a respectful distance from it. But there were a countless number of people who could accept this man, even though he was a Pure Black existence. I couldn’t help but pray that that child ーNoct, too could exist like that too.
Noct said that he had no intention to hurt humans, and that he wanted to live in the human world. If so, I wanted to help him as much as I could.
I couldn’t help but feel that Noct somehow resembled that man in the pastー……no, not just the past. No matter the past or the present, that man never changed. That man’s fundamental nature somehow resembled Noct’s. If this man hadn’t gone to Magic Academy, he might not have become as nasty and sharp-tongued as he was not. He might have been just like Noct, a man of few words. The thought of that in turn made me want to watch over Noct even more…….but that was just my own self-conceited thought.
Which was why, actually saying it out loud to that man would be too embarrassing, and at the same time rude to Noct. In turn, I strengthened my grip around that man’s shoulders and nestled up towards his shiny black hair. I was aware that I was trying to cover up my own thoughts. But luckily, it seemed that that man didn’t notice. He placed his hand over mind and gave it a tight squeeze.
「Filmina」
「Yes」
「In your eyes, do I really look like「it」?」
「What?」
……What did he mean by that? What on earth looked like「that」? Unable to understand the intention of the question that he had whispered softly to me, I tried to look back at his face. But before I could do that, that man leaned against me and wouldn’t show me his face.
「Edi?」
He didn’t answer me even as I called his name. As he just snuggled against me, not saying a word, I wasn’t able to do anything other than let him continue. At that point of time, I really didn’t know anything at all.
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