Chapter 42 - Fairies, Snow, and a Boy
Elenoa awoke in the quiet darkness. It was dark because she could not see. She had long since stopped opening her eyelids when there was nothing to see.
When she reached out with her hand, she felt a smooth, exquisite texture. She recognized it as her own room, unchanged from before she had fallen asleep.
After confirming her location, it had become her daily routine to listen for sounds.
Something crackled and popped. Something was burning in the fireplace.
There was the sound of fabric—of clothes worn by someone—rustling. She sensed Louis's presence. There was also a child named Bis, but it seemed he was not there today.
"...Have you awakened?"
Recalling that she tried to speak but could not, she turned her head slightly to the left on her pillow. There was the sound of a book snapping shut, and firm footsteps approached.
These sounds of daily life sounded clearer than usual.
How much time had passed since she had come here?
At first, Louis had teasingly but dutifully told her the time, saying things like, "You have been asleep for three days." But after she had fallen asleep several more times, he stopped doing so. Thus, Elenoa had begun asking, "How long was I asleep?" Although he answered her questions, his voice had grown somewhat sorrowful, so recently she had stopped asking about the time.
She understood Louis's feelings.
She could understand them just from his voice.
Her sleep duration had been extending extremely. She had realized what this meant.
The last answer she had heard was, "It has already been a week."
She felt she had slept for long periods about three times since then. What month and day was it now?
Before she knew it, it was winter.
While feeling hands silently stroking her hair, cheeks, and the nape of her neck, Elenoa strained her ears.
From the direction where she had been told there was a window, there was a faint, ambiguous sound, like a gentle tickling.
When Elenoa showed concern for the window, Louis told her, "It is snowing."
—I see.
Elenoa was convinced.
The snow had absorbed the breathing of the plants, the roars of monsters, the gentle breezes, and such things. That was why the sounds inside the room were so audible.
"Is there anything you desire?"
Louis always asked Elenoa this. But no answer came to her mind.
She had been given many things until now, such as books whose letters she could read by sliding her fingers over the凹凸 of the paper, or music boxes that played melodies. However, since she could no longer move her hands properly, she no longer needed them. Since she felt like singing even though she could not produce a voice, she no longer wished to listen to music. (T/N: basically Braille)
Her eyes could no longer see, and her voice had become difficult to produce, so she was very bored while awake.
She had grown tired of the scent of morning dew, the sound of birds flying, and the atmosphere of the night. And yet, her body ached here and there without rest. She did not even have the energy to groan, and could only manage shallow breaths.
To her in such a state, it seemed Louis would grant her one salvation today.
"—Are you tired already?"
—Just a little.
Elenoa could not answer the thought that could be conveyed in a single word.
She understood that the edge of the bed sank, meaning Louis had sat down there. His presence approached as it was. From the side, to directly above. It was a distance where she could even feel his breath.
She smelled his scent.
"If I give you my blood again, you will surely break."
"............"
"I have done my best, but I cannot... force you to accompany my selfishness any longer, can I?"
—Selfishness?
Elenoa's lips expressed her question.
To her, who seemed to want to say, "What is it?", Louis gently spoke the words, good night.
"Shall we rest for just a little while longer?"
At the edge of her thoughts, wrapped in soft cotton, Elenoa felt happy.