Volume 7 Chapter 4 Part 16
Fiancée of the Wizard
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Translation by burnt.marshmallows
Editing by Team Foxsunes
Even if I ran away right now, that wouldn’t solve anything. Rather, it might just worsen everything and just cause more trouble for the people around us. And more than anything else, I wanted to wait for that man. He told me to wait for him, the person who told me to wait together with the child in my belly. I wanted to fulfill the task that he set out for me, even though he rarely asked me to do anything for him.
But Noct shook his head in response to my words. Noct strengthened his grip on my hand. Feeling the pain, I couldn’t help but scrunch up my face. Noct quickly loosened his grip, but he didn’t let my hand go.
「Noct?」
「There’s no point in waiting」
「What?」
「Agedilus can’t come back」
That was a declaration of despair for me. I had believed all this while that that man would definitely come back to me. But it felt as though the part of me that was still anxious somewhere deep down had been forcibly dragged out. The words wouldn’t come out. I opened and closed my mouth repeatedly but no sound came out. Finally, I squeezed out some words.
「What, do you mean by that?」
The alarm bells in my head went off. I felt that I shouldn’t listen to any more of this. I was compelled to ask him to stop. But the words didn’t come out. The movement of Noct’s lips looked so vivid, even in the dark room.
「Before I came here, I went to the temple where Agedilus was being captured. He was trapped by a seal so strong that I couldn’t even get close. The Priests are planning to bring Agedilus back to the Royal Capital like that, before completely sealing Agedilus away in the deepest part of the large temple.」
That was exactly what I had heard from Sir Klanven during the Grand Festival that occurred just earlier. At that time, I argued back that I would just protect that man in that case. But what happened in reality? I was completely helpless. But I didn’t have the time to complain about my own helplessness. Noct continued to deliver the devastating news to me.
「That’s not all. I overheard the priests and temple knights who were stationed there talking. They……are going to make Agedilus kill the child in your belly.」
「W-what did you just say?」
「I heard them say that they wanted to make the Pure Black Magic-User, the father of the child take the responsibility since they didn’t know what kind of curse might befall them if they just carelessly killed the next Demon Lord. They were saying that magic to cause an abortion would probably be easy for someone like the Royal Palace Head Magician.」
At that moment, blood rushed to my head. It wasn’t that Noct was doing anything wrong, but I couldn’t help but scream and shout at him.
「Edi would never do something like that!」
That man was very very terribly clumsy, but he was a truly kind person. There was no way that he would do something like kill the child that he was so happy about. He shed tears upon receiving the news. He wouldn’t do something like that no matter how much they begged him to. But in the end, that was only if I believed in the side of him where he was a「father.」What if he decided to prioritize the side of him where he was the 「Royal Palace Head Magician」or the 「World-saving hero」side of him? What would happen then?
Why would I think something like that? I never thought about something like this no matter what people said to me in the Royal Capital. Why couldn’t I completely believe that man?
No matter how much I pondered, I couldn’t find an answer. My brain was about to give up. That was when Noct continued to speak, as if to give me an additional blow.
「Even if Agedilus refused to, there’s no doubt that the temple will make him do it no matter what it takes. There’s no way they would treat demons with any tolerance. The very existence of demons is a sin to the temple.」
Noct spat out. That’s not true, is what I wanted to say. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t help but think that the words he said were based on his own experiences. But even so, there was no way that I could just accept it with a simple「Is that so?」. What was I supposed to do if I ran away right now? What can I do? What should I do?
「But Noct, I……!」
「I beg you!」
「!?」
Hearing Noct’s screams, I instinctively trembled. Seeing my response, he looked like he was about to cry, but his grip on my hand got even stronger.
「I beg you, Filmina. Run away with me. If not, it won’t be too long before……!?」
That was when Noct let out a gasp. I looked behind me. As I turned around, following his line of sight, the door there opened up, slowly and quietly. There, my lady-in-waiting assigned to me in the Schtorenvihein mansion, Daphne, stood there with a serious expression on her face.
Her eyes were not directed at me. They were directed at Noct, who was standing beside me. Noct’s face stiffened up. This is bad. That thought appeared in my mind for a moment as I felt his body begin to tremble. Panicking, I tried to conceal him by twisting my body around, with his hand holding onto mine, trying to block the lady-in-waiting’s line of sight.
「Daphne, it’s not what you think, this child is!」
「ーI heard what he said. 」
「What?」
I had assumed that she would let out a scream, but her tone was one far from a scream. It sounded calm. She walked towards my direction, as I stood there frozen with my mouth agape. After closing the door behind me, she moved quickly towards me. She held the hand of mine that wasn’t taken by Noct and squeezed it tightly. Her cold hand caused me to shiver once again as I felt goose-bumps on my skin. But I didn’t have the time to think about that, as the lady-in-waiting opened her mouth.
「I will accompany you. Let’s run away together Madam Filmina.」
Just saying that I didn’t expect to hear those words was an understatement. Those words were so shockingly contrary to my expectations.
「Daphne, do you understand what you are saying.」
「Of course I do. There is no way that I would say something like this as a lie or a joke.」
I couldn’t help but be bewildered as the lady-in-waiting nodded strongly. But the reason I couldn’t nod back was not because of her unexpected words. It was because the words that man said resurfaced at the back of my head again.
ーWait for me. Together with our child.
That’s what he said to me. It was none other than that man who told me to wait for him. If so, I had to wait. No matter how long it was going to take. No, it wasn’t out of obligation. I wanted to wait for that man. After all, I made a promise to him. Sadly, the promise that he would 「Come back soon」had already been broken, but that didn’t give me a reason to not wait for him. I didn’t want to break the promise I made with that man.
「Daphne, I really appreciate the thought, but in the end I still……」
「We don’t have time to be taking things so lightly anymore!」
「!?」
Hearing the lady-in-waiting’s sudden panicked outburst, my body instinctively shrank inwards. From behind me, I could sense Noct’s body trembling violently. The lady-in-waiting looked at us with a desperate look in her eyes.
「The reason I came to find Madam Filmina was for that very reason. The priest in question has finally notified the Young Master and the rest to hand Madam Filmina over.」
Hearing the lady-in-waiting’s words, my eyes widened. It seemed that the notice that I thought would come someday has finally come. It was much earlier than I expected it to be. The priests were probably moving quickly in a bid to act before the Princess and the rest acted. Didn’t they know that nothing good will come out of being too eager to succeed? Is what I wanted to say, but it’s not like they would listen.
「Even if this is the Young Master we are talking about, when it comes to matters regarding demons, there’s no way they can flat-out reject an order from the priest of a large temple. We might be able to buy some time, but probably will not make that much a difference. This is what the priest is saying. If Sir Agedilus kills the child, they would guarantee Madam Filmina’s life. It means that he would be proving his own innocence by killing the child. But in turn, it would probably mean that if Sir Agedilus is unable to kill the child, then they plan to make Madam Filmina kill the child herself.」
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