Volume 8 Chapter 2 Part 3
Fiancée of the Wizard
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Translation by Goma
Editing by Team Foxsunes
This meal was what Noct delivered to me every morning and night. The food, such as one piece of dry bread or a soup with little ingredients, was plain. However, I was thankful that there was any food provided. Having prepared food by demons that do not need food was already good enough.
While I was eating. While I had been trying to escape from this estate. I realized it had already been two days. It was not “just two days”. For me, it was “already two days”.
To flee from this estate, I had to escape this room. However, I had already stumbled at this stage. Yesterday, I had made up my mind to not just wait for the man’s help, but try to take things into my own hands. As expected, I had searched the entire room for an exit without success. The day ended without any results.
Then, today. I had finally resorted to force against the door that refused to budge. …….Well, that too had been a needless struggle. Barely containing the urge to sigh, I reconsidered the situation.
As I mentioned earlier, it has been two days since I had been kidnapped by the high-ranking demon. Since then, I had neither seen the demon, nor had been hurt. Only Noct had come to deliver food in the morning and at night. Nonetheless, Noct did not talk to me at all. Anyways, ever since I had been brought to this estate, I have neither conversed or locked eyes with him.
During these two days, I could not find the words for him as he expressionlessly and hurriedly left the meal. Every time I saw his blank face, I felt the unbearable sadness and loneliness and…….not only did I feel such “beautiful” emotions, but also felt a self-righteous and irrational frustration and anger.
Would something change if I could talk to him just a little? Would he… change? What could I say to Noct, who had tricked me, or rather us the whole time? If only I could give him kind words, saying “I still believe in you despite all this”. Could I be so kind?
The already bland meals felt even more disgusting. I was not sure, but it was perhaps because of my never-ending cycle of miserable thoughts that made me feel like I was being stuck in a bottomless swamp. Eating the meal, which was definitely not tasty, I thought about how to escape this room. Currently, as aforementioned, there were no results.
——-The demon’s goal was still unknown
What did she intend to do by kidnapping me? A simple answer would be revenge, but why me, and not directly targeting that man and the hero? Did she mean to target me as an important figure in the man’s life? Was this stomach’s baby her target? I could not find the answer to the question that I had been repeating since last night.
Looking down at the bracelet I wore on my right wrist, I bit on my lip hard. The bracelet’s centre bore a precious magical sphere of the same morning glow colour as the man’s eyes. He had given it to me. It was a token of identity, a transmitter, and a recorder…….as you can see, it was a magical tool with numerous functions. Ah, had I not mentioned this before?
With this, that man should be able to directly know all my actions and location. But yesterday when I called him, that was not the case. It seemed like the man still assumed I was being protected in the Schtorenvihein estate. The very fact that the man who was usually very sharp did not notice my situation indicated the extent of how cornered he was. At this point, I wanted the princess and others to act as soon as possible.
It was so shameful that I had to rely on others again, even though I had made up my mind to fetch him. Nonetheless, I was powerless against a large authority. In order for that man to be released, I must seek help from the princess and others no matter what.
In that way, if the man learns of my situation after being released by the princess’s actions, the man would surely come to this place immediately. That in itself was not bad. That was because I could think of a worse outcome.
The worst outcome was: the man forcibly comes to fetch me before his criminal status is cleared, upon learning of my situation through the bracelet. Inferring from his weakened voice that did not sound like him at all, the man must be heavily exhausted. However, the man might come to me without waiting for his own recovery. Not knowing what sort of dangers lay ahead, that is. I could imagine him running away from the church’s pursuit, knowing what an offense such action would be. Then, he will come to me, just for the baby and me. I was aware of how loved I was.
—————-Then, I could only do one thing.
「There is no choice, right?」
By firmly saying so out loud, I told myself. Yes, there was no other choice. I had something more precious than this bracelet. That was why I took off the bracelet from my right wrist. It was something very very precious that the man had given to me. Nevertheless, it could not replace the man himself.
If this bracelet would bring this man to this place, I had to stop it no matter what. Although the man usually rashly went ahead with things by himself, without this bracelet he would surely ask for help from the hero and the princess. He would not have done that last time, but surely now.
That was why I made up my mind. Getting off the bed, I rubbed the bracelet once more. Ever since I had received it, I had put it on most of the time. I knew that I was doing something mean against such an object. However, because I had something that I could not lose no matter what. Because. I said to myself over and over again. I gulped a breath of air. Then I lifted the bracelet high, and smashed it against the ground with force.
「!?」
Upon crashing into the hard floor with a loud thud, the bracelet simply rolled away. Neither the bracelet’s sphere nor the metal part broke as I expected. I picked up the bracelet. It had no visible change, and still reflected light beautifully. This could not be true. I almost murmured, then I realised suddenly.
What I recalled was the incident when my bracelet was destroyed by the jealous servant girls during the big festival earlier on. Weighing the incident heavily, the man said he had “reinforced” the bracelet alongside fixing it. This must be the result of that.
How much effort had he put into reinforcing this? Thinking of how worried I had made him not only made me feel sorry for him, but abashed as well. Indeed, such an emotion was out-of-place and inappropriate. But it was not the time to be saying such things. I must somehow destroy this bracelet so that the man would not come here.
So, I smashed the bracelet against the floor once more. A high-pitched screech like a scream echoed through the room as the metal collided with the floor. However, as expected, the bracelet did not break. I sighed at how the bracelet still dazzled, reflecting light near my feet. At that moment.
「……What are you doing? 」
「Aah!?」
My body trembled involuntarily at the voice from behind. It felt like I had not heard that voice in ages. Peering behind, I saw Noct making an expression other than his blank look for the first time——he was gazing at me with a suspicious face.
I did not know when he came in from the door. He placed a new water pitcher and a cold ingredient-less soup on the side table. The side table was one of the few pieces of furniture which had no damage. Then, Noct looked around while wrinkling his eyebrows.
「What a mess you have made」
His tone of voice clearly conveyed an exasperation, rather than anger. Well, it would be natural for him to say so after seeing this room’s state. However, I did not feel a crumb of remorse even as he said so. Rather, I wanted to scold him. Whose fault was it that I had to resort to this.
If I voiced this thought even once, surely the thought would turn into a violent impulse to punch Noct. Although I did not want to, I knew that very much. Thus, I bit my lip hard and swallowed the scolding that almost came out of my mouth. I told myself that this situation was not entirely Noct’s fault. I was also partly to blame for this situation.
All the while, Noct had been gazing at me and my silence. Then, he lowered his gaze onto the floor. His beautiful yellow eyes flickered. My precious bracelet was in the direction of his gaze.
「……..This. Isn’t this something precious? If you dropped it like this……. 」
Plainly saying so, Noct bent his body to pick the bracelet. His skinny hand was about to touch the bracelet.
—-That was when the impulse I had been barely containing burst out
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