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Chapter 45 Part 4 – This is one of my memories from my previous 「108 times」 about the fall of the castle. In a castle surrounded by flames, I heard an unexpected spell of happiness.

「….. I’m sorry, you must have been so cold ….. all alone in the snow. You must have been lonely. I boasted about how …. I want to protect you for the rest of my life, but ….. when it mattered the most ….. I ….. I couldn’t do a single thing for you ….!!」

Matzo wailed and looked up to the sky.

The warmth of Matzo’s body melted the frozen snow on Mary’s face.
The water pooled for a moment on the corner of her eye and trickled down.
It was like tears of farewell to Matzo.
Matzo wiped the water droplets with his trembling fingers.
He desperately put a smile on his face and spoke.

「…. I’m sorry. …. It’s a shame for a man to cry at the end. I’ll keep my promise to you, even if it costs me my life. I’ll take care of Miss Scarlet. …. So, please …. don’t cry anymore. … I love your smile …. Thank you for everything ….. I’ll see you off with a smile, just like you did for me …..」

Mazzo’s trembling hand stopped stroking Mary’s cheek.
He saw a handmade red-haired doll, miserably crushed, lying next to Mary, who would never smile at him again. It had been trampled by the wheels of a carriage on the street near where Mary had fallen. Matzo knew that Mary had prepared the doll to wish for Scarlet’s happiness. He recalled the memories of her image as she sewed it happily. Her smile inside his memory was bright and vivid, and that is why it pierced his heart so deeply.

「…. Uhh …. Guhh ….. Aaah ….!」

Matzo had never cried on the battlefield, but he finally couldn’t hold back and roared and sobbed.

….. I wish that you would watch over Scarlet on my behalf

Those words became like Mary’s will.

Matzo never forgot that promise for the rest of his life.
He protected Scarlet, who had many enemies, in the shadows and in the sun.
After Scarlet’s accession to the throne, he continued to support her as her close aide.

He has never told Scarlet about Mary’s will.
Scarlet does not even know that her own wet nurse was called Mary.
Matzo thought that that’s fine. There is no need to go to the trouble of telling her in words.

There was a 「spell of happiness」 that Scarlet used to recite frequently when she was a child.
Matzo will never forget how surprised he was when she said it to Matzo, who had become despondent and exhausted after the loss of Mary, to cheer him up. He still remembers the conversation he had with the young Scarlet.

When visiting the duke’s mansion after Mary’s death, Matzo was badgered by the six-year-old Scarlet to hold her in his arms.
The child was perceptive and sniffed out her allies.
Matzo, a gentle giant, was always swarmed by children wherever he went.
Scarlet, held up by Matzo’s huge arms, was so excited to see the view from a height she could not normally see. Seeing her so full of energy, he was almost moved to tears. He wondered how happy Mary would have been to see the grown Scarlet, since she had been looking forward to seeing her again.

Scarlet looked up at Matzo quizzically.

「….. Why are you crying, Matzo? Did something sad happen?」

「N-no, this is …..」

Matzo panicked when his tears were pointed out. He tried to wipe them off in a hurry, but his hands were blocked by Scarlet.

「Umm, Matzo, let me hug your neck.」

Before Matzo could answer, the young Scarlet jumped on Matzo’s body and climbed up.
She put both of her arms around his thick neck, hanging on to it, and whispered in his ear.

「….. It’s okay. Don’t cry. I’ll cast the spell of happiness that I know on Matzo. Whenever I have a hard time, I always use this spell to cheer myself up. Vtorichnaya Vstryecha ….. Matzo’s sad feelings, let them fly away.」

Matzo’s big eyes widened in surprise.
It was not a spell. It was the long real name of an unforgettable person.

「….. Well, I’ll tell you a secret. Actually, Vtorichnaya Vstryecha is the name of my wet nurse when I was a baby. She took very good care of me. I don’t really remember anymore, but it seems that when we parted, she and I hugged and cried a lot. That’s why, I consider her the same as my mother who passed away. When I chant her name, it gives me courage.」

Scarlet told Matzo shyly.
Tears overflowed from Matzo’s eyes.

The words were too long for a little child to memorize.
She must have recited the name from time to time.
As if bursting, he recalled the memories and words of his deceased lover.
Even after a person passes away, they remain in the memories of those who loved them. They can live on together.
Mary’s words were true.

「…. The love you left behind was indeed inside the young lady ….. Your heart is still alive …. Vtorichnaya Vstryecha ….. As long as I remember, we will always be together …. forever …..and ever!! Thank you, young lady Scarlet. This spell has indeed given me courage.」

Matzo thought that Mary was definitely worried about him and she had come to encourage him by borrowing Scarlet’s words.

Now is not the time to cry.
I still have a role to play.
So I will save my tears until I see you again in the afterlife.
I will cry as miserably as I can and trouble you.
Will you be stunned? Or will you smile at me and say, 「Welcome home」.

Matzo spoke in his heart, then raised his face and smiled at Scarlet.

「…. Vtorichnaya Vstryecha. It’s a really wonderful spell.」

「….. right?」

The young Scarlet smiled, not understanding the meaning of his words, but happy that Matzo was feeling better.
Matzo looked up to the sky and closed his eyes while holding the young Scarlet in his arms.
Although they were not related by blood at all, the image of Mary was superimposed on Scarlet’s innocent smile.
His beloved Mary was still with Scarlet.
Matzo believed so.

Matzo never said it out loud, but ever since then he has considered Scarlet as if she were his own daughter.
Especially after the death of the Crimson Duke. Watching her grow up had been the reason for his life.

But today was the end of that.

An ominous dull pain ran down his spine again and Matzo knew that the wound had opened.
He could feel the warm blood running down his back.

He had hidden it from Scarlet, but when he had fought off Rudy, one of the five heroes, and Ralph the Demon Wolf earlier, he had been wounded deeply. They ran on walls and ceilings as well as on the ground, making them even more formidable foes than Bradd when fighting indoors. The opponent was too formidable for him to fight while protecting Scarlet. Even Solomon, another one of the five heroes, joined the fray and tormented Matzo with his ingenuity. He narrowly managed to put them out of combat, but in exchange, Matzo lost his life span and his favorite iron ball.
He has been able to stop the blood with his willpower, but probably not for much longer.
With a warrior’s intuition, Matzo knew he was dying.

‘….. You’ve held up well so far, my body. I’ve put you through a lot of hardship over the years. Thank you. And from the bottom of my heart, thank you father and mother, for giving me such an extraordinarily robust body. Please hold on for a little more ….. while I fulfill my final duties. I cannot let young lady Scarlet see me die. I can’t let this person bear any more sorrow.’

Matzo muttered inside his heart.
The scene in front of his eyes was getting darker and darker.