Chapter 32 - The Fairy and a Gentle Smile
Something soft beneath her was rising and falling.
It felt as though she were lying on something soft. From the part where her ear was pressed, she could hear a heartbeat—thump, thump—that was not her own.
Her body was enveloped in a scent that brought relief. When she became aware of something gently holding her down, Elenoa softly opened her eyes.
"……?"
The room illuminated by moonlight was not within the Stylus residence. Blinking away her sleepiness, she realized this was Louis's private room at the Research Institute.
She knew it was night, but she could not find a clock.
She heard muffled voices coming from the adjacent Research Institute building, along with the hurried clacking of hard-soled shoes going back and forth, so she thought it could not be too late.
It seemed this building, owned by the Chief, was the only quiet place.
The place where she had been sleeping was Louis's chest, and what was wrapping around her body was his hand.
Elenoa, who had been vacantly watching him breathe in his sleep, snuggled closer to his chest. In response, his hand released its restraint and stroked Elenoa's head with his fingertips. She continued to act spoiled. For some reason, she had missed Louis.
She felt as though she had had a terrible dream.
Her dress was white as it should be, her arms and legs were not twisted, and her chest did not hurt when she breathed. Why did she feel happy about such obvious things?
"……I feel uneasy unless I can feel your body heat and breathing."
"Hmm?"
Along with a weak voice, Louis sat up.
Elenoa thought she might roll off, but she was properly protected by his hand.
Why had she thought she would fall? She should be able to fly.
Sitting in Louis's hand, Elenoa tilted her head in confusion. Doing so, she noticed her hair had been trimmed around the nape of her neck. When she carefully explored her head with her hands, she found some bald patches as well.
She moved her hands to her back. Her wings were gone.
"Hey, Louis, do you know where my wings are?"
"…………."
"And my hair, when was it cut?"
For Elenoa, this was a matter of life and death. The things that determined a Fairy's life were missing, and it felt unreal.
"I used your wings as a temporary measure during treatment."
"Treatment? For whom? You didn't use them on a human, did you?"
"For you."
"……Me?"
She tried to ask why, but no voice came out.
She felt she should not think about why or what injuries she had suffered—yet Elenoa's mind began to play it back on its own. Fragmented scenes she did not wish to see.
A dark warehouse. Men's voices. Laughter. The sound of creaking bones. Blood spilled for amusement.
She had panicked, thinking she had to save that child quickly. Even after her restraints were undone once, she could not fly, and with her small body, even if she crawled all the way to the exit over a long distance, she was caught again. She was made into an amusing spectacle, with sneering grins. They deliberately gave her hope, only to hurt her again.
She was laughed at so much.
It hurt.
In the end, she had asked them to kill her, but they did not grant her wish.
"……Ah, ah, aah, ah"
Huh? Huh? What? What is this? As Elenoa muttered and clutched her head, Louis gently pulled her to his chest.
There was no one left to comfort her but Louis.
Gripping and clinging to his clothes, her small, trembling body looked painful. Her white dress had an open-back design, and all that was visible on her back were small scabs.
"Does anywhere hurt? Is there anything strange? If anything is wrong, please tell me immediately. In your current state, anything could happen—"
Knock, knock. Upon hearing the knock, Louis said, "Come in," without looking in that direction.
The door opened quietly, and a man and a woman were standing there. Both had magical lights floating beside them, but they extinguished them as soon as they entered the room. The corridor was immediately enveloped in an eerie darkness and silence.
"Excuse me. I am Ars Turner. Is this a good time? I have also brought one witness regarding the incident within the Barrier."
"Yes, come in."
"Understood."
"E-excuse me!"
It was a male mage named Ars and a female mage whom Elenoa also recognized.
The latter entered Louis's private room with a tense expression.
Then, the two seemed to notice the existence sitting in Louis's hand. Ars's eyes widened slightly, and the female mage was visibly shaken.
At the same time, Elenoa also showed her fear. Because she became frightened the moment she saw the two, Louis stared at his two subordinates.
"Did you two do something to her as well?"
"N-no. These people didn't do anything."
Yet it was Elenoa who protected the two of them.
If that was the case, why was she afraid?—Louis immediately remembered the treatment Elenoa had received.
"Could it be that you are afraid of humans?"
"I don't know. Maybe."
"Then sending you home once… I am worried, so shall we go to another room?"
"No!"
The one most surprised by Elenoa's loud voice was none other than herself. Drooping her shoulders dejectedly,
"I'm sorry. I'm interrupting your work. I'm sorry. I'll go somewhere else."
Louis watched Elenoa's display of intent, but without saying anything, he moved the Fairy to his shoulder.
"It has been a while since you last rode on my shoulder. Please do not fall."
"……Is it okay?"
"If you prefer to be by my side, you may say so clearly. You rarely act spoiled, after all. However, the following conversation may remind you of painful things, so I will cast a soundproofing spell then. Make sure to tell me."
"……Okay."
Louis smiled faintly at the Fairy who nodded firmly, and he gently stroked her.
The two subordinates of Louis watched this scene in a daze.
"……What is it? You two knew, didn't you?"
"Y-yes."
"Being shown this like this, it is quite something."
"I did not intend to show off."
While Louis was speaking, Elenoa repeated actions not usually seen, such as burying herself in his hair or nuzzling against his neck.
Eventually, she calmed down when Louis sweetly scolded her with a mix of happiness, saying, "Calm down."
Coming to her senses, Elenoa sat on Louis's shoulder with a bright red face.
"Now, let us get to the main topic. There is something I wish to ask you two."
"Chief, if you do not do something with that hand, it will not feel serious."
Louis obediently lowered the finger that had been playing with the Fairy.
"Now, truly getting to the main topic… Ars. I had asked you for healing, but at that time, you had left your post?"
"……My apologies."
"There must have been a reason for leaving."
Otherwise, a mage would not break an order.
Louis had the two sit on the sofa while he sat in the chair at his desk. While being mindful of the Fairy on his shoulder, he prompted one of his two subordinates to speak.
Ars began to speak while roughly stroking his unkempt beard.
"At that time, I was called by Gilrem-san. There was someone who said they had urgent business with me, telling me to come immediately."
"Gilrem-san? The knight?"
"……Continue."
"Well, it wasn't an ordinary person. It is only natural that the Chief's orders take priority, but… when the King calls, one cannot refuse. So when I went, they said they hadn't called."
—The King?
As a noun to come up in this place, it felt extremely out of place, and the female mage was speechless.
But Louis carved deep wrinkles between his brows, let out a voice as if in understanding with "……Ah," and fell silent. After thinking for a moment, he looked at his subordinate.
"In other words, Gil lied."
"That is what I think. I do not know the reason. It is a boring story, isn't it? That is all I know, so I was not involved in Elenoa-sama's case."
"I see. …Next, please."
"Y-yes!"
The female mage was a veteran who had worked at the Research Institute for several years, but she had a quiet personality. Having never spoken face-to-face with the Chief, she reported everything she had seen while stiff with tension.
＊
"I am terribly sorry!"
"Why are you apologizing?"
"I was at the scene. But my power was insufficient, and I exposed you two to danger. I will humbly accept any punishment."
"You simply followed my orders. It is not your fault. Rather, you deserve praise. You did well."
"Such words are too much for me. You two… you two are citizens who should be protected as well."
"But there was nothing that could be done. If you had moved alone, that Barrier would have been destroyed. It was indeed a wise judgment."
Perhaps dissatisfied that she would not be punished, the female mage looked down and fell silent.
Ars was staring out the window with eyes that made it impossible to tell what he was thinking.
Elenoa was clinging to Louis's collar. As the conversation progressed, her fear returned. Midway through, Louis had asked, "Shall I cast a soundproofing spell, or perhaps a sleep spell?" but she had refused. It was her way of trying hard to endure it.
Louis's face, as he played with the Fairy with his fingertips, was also somewhat dark.
In the room where silence had fallen, Elenoa suddenly tugged lightly at Louis's hair.
"Listening to the story, about three days have passed since then, right? During that time, Louis and I were here, right?"
"Yes, does that matter?"
"What about Lumina-chan? What about her meals and school?"
The air froze.
Louis closed his eyes. When those eyes opened again, they held a cold color.
But Elenoa wondered if she had heard something that deserved such a gaze. With an innocent expression, refusing to remember, she asked innocently.
"Ah, in a situation like this, there is no school or anything, I suppose. If she is at home, I am worried, so I want to go home too."
"Elenoa."
"I wonder what the situation is with ingredients now. Shopping and such."
"Elie, listen."
What?
Elenoa asked again with an innocent look in her eyes.
The female mage averted her eyes and gripped the skirt on her knees, while Ars looked at Elenoa with pity. After a while, the two left the room.
Elenoa did not understand why the two had made such faces.
Elenoa waited for Louis's unusually serious and dark words.
"Lumina is no longer with us."
Elenoa still had a "I do not quite understand" expression on her face.
Louis moved her to his palm and spoke to make her understand.
"That child's grave is by the lakeside. When you have calmed down, let us go visit the grave."
"I do not quite understand."
"You do understand, don't you?"
"I don't."
"…………"
"I don't understand, because I don't want to."
She shook her head, saying no, no. The one to scold such an Elenoa was none other than Louis.
"Elie!"
Even if she became frightened or scared, Louis had to say it. He had to make her acknowledge it.
More than anything, he himself had to acknowledge it.
Those cold hands, that pale skin, that stiff body, everything.
"Please listen! There are things you must acknowledge, surely you understand that!?"
"Ugh……"
"It was I who found her. I checked her breathing, pulse, and pupils! But……"
He had confirmed it until just before placing her in the grave. Even knowing it was too late, even sensing that rigor mortis had already begun, he could not help but do so.
"It cannot be helped. Magic cannot create a soul."
Something shining fell before Elenoa.
Drop by drop. It was the second time Elenoa had seen Louis cry.
He kept trying to make the disobedient Fairy understand. Words that should have been tearing him apart with pain, such as "Lumina is dead."
Seeing such a thing, Elenoa could no longer refuse to acknowledge it. If only someone would say it was a lie, but the absolute existence for Elenoa affirmed the bad dream as reality.
Louis bit his lip. Hard enough to break the skin and bleed.
"Ugh……"
Elenoa wiped her own tears.
Then she reached out to Louis's face, pulled him close, and kissed him. She licked the blood oozing from his cut lip and took on human size.
Then she embraced him directly from the front.
The tears that overflowed again were left to flow without wiping this time. She wrapped her arms around Louis's back and buried her face in his embrace. She did not mind that his clothes were gradually becoming wet.
She was not the only one who was sad. He, who was blood-related to Lumina, was surely suffering more.
Elenoa felt as though she would die from the sense of loss alone, unable to imagine any greater sorrow, so for now, she simply embraced him.
Because their mutual grief was immeasurable, they decided to expose reality, gouge out their wounds, and lick them together.