66 – garden

A withered meadow covered in thick darkness. I am walking there I don’t know when I started walking or why I’m here. I don’t remember. I just walk as my body tells me.

As I was walking without even knowing the reason, a light that pushed away the thick darkness fell. red light.

I looked up at the sky where the light fell. The red moon monopolized the sky and colored it with its own color.

As I was staring blankly at the scene, something broke off from the moon and began to descend. Something descending landed in front of me, and I saw a woman wearing a wide-brimmed red hat.

A fishy smile could be seen on the only visible mouth on the woman’s face. The mouth with that fishy smile opened, and a familiar voice came out.

“Brother, wake up. It’s already time for lunch.”

With that voice, the world shook and shattered, and the sun-soaked room and Rachel came into view. After seeing the scene, I realized it was a dream.

“It must have been a dream.”

“Oh, the smell of alcohol. How much did you eat?”

I searched for her words, but I couldn’t find the memory I was looking for, leaving only headaches and nausea.

“I don’t remember.”

“Eh, it looks like you had a lot of fun leaving me out again. Dark elves who don’t drink are sad, so how do they live?”

“sorry…”

As I was talking, I was interrupted by a growing headache and nausea.

“Looking at your condition, you may not be able to eat. I will go.”

Then came the sound of a door closing with her grunting, and a silence came. In the silence that came, I suffered from headaches and nausea.

As I was having such a painful time, I heard a knock on the door.

“Alik, are you awake?”

Hearing the princess’s voice, he forced his heavy body up and opened the door. When I opened the door, I saw the princess, as usual, undisturbed.

“Your body doesn’t look… not okay.”

“A little bit.”

I wasn’t in a state to say it was okay with empty words, so I answered honestly.

“I’m glad I brought it just in case. Drink this and you’ll feel better.”

“thank you.”

The princess took out a small bottle from her bosom and handed it over. I took it, suppressed the rising nausea, and poured it into my mouth. Then, a terrible bitter taste invaded my mouth, and I felt that my expression was distorted.

“The taste is a bit terrible, but the effect is excellent.”

“I don’t think it’s a bit terrible.”

“You might feel that way when you first eat it. But if you drink it often, you get used to it.”

“It’s not a taste you want to get used to.”

It seems to be effective enough to feel the headache and nausea fading little by little, but I don’t want to get used to it because of the terrible taste.

As she thought so, a faint smile bloomed on the princess’s face.

“is it? Unfortunately, my father didn’t seem to want to leave it that way.”

Those words reminded me of the image of the duke refilling my cup. At that scene, I felt the scent of alcohol wash over me again.

“okay.”

“Say it if you don’t like it. I will tell my father to restrain himself.”

Those words sounded sweet, but I couldn’t accept them because I remembered the delighted look of the person I admired.

“There is no need to do that.”

“If you’re looking at it, don’t do it. We should become one family from now on, but it gets sick if we wait patiently.”

The words “one family” sounded particularly clear, and it began to linger in my head. Subsequently, the word son-in-law, which I had heard yesterday, floated to the surface and began to linger together.

Those words made my head dizzy, and strange emotions came flooding in.

“So tell me honestly.”

At the princess’ continued words, she put them aside for a moment and opened her mouth.

“Even though the hangover is painful, I enjoyed the time yesterday. So you don’t have to.”

Although the memory has melted hazy from being drenched in alcohol, the sense of the warmth of that time filling my heart remains clear.

“Then I’m glad.”

A faint smile bloomed on the princess’s face.

“Rather than that, has your hangover gotten better?”

After hearing that, I realized that the headache and nausea had faded a lot.

“It has improved a lot.”

“Then could you give me some time?”

“I’ll give you whatever you want.”

“Then follow me for a moment.”

Putting on a visible cloak, I followed the princess.

Our steps stopped only after we got off the hard ground and stepped on the soft soil. And a field of flowers lightly permeated with spring spread out.

“This was a desolate place with nothing until last year. It was such a forgotten place that no one cared about that fact. I was included among those people.

But after meeting you, this place seemed so lonely. That feeling only grew the longer I spent with you. The feeling grew so much that I had people take care of it before leaving.”

The princess smiled a little vaguely and continued her conversation.

“I didn’t finish it with my own hands, and the flowers haven’t bloomed yet, but I wanted to show you first. To you who changed me.”

At those words, the strange feeling that had been put aside came back. After contemplating what to say to that feeling, he spat out a clichéd, ordinary phrase.

“I look forward to the day when spring fully awakens.”

“At that time, the flowers will bloom and it will be worth seeing. But, that’s not what I really want.”

Princess took her eyes off the flower garden and looked at me.

“I want to take care of this garden with you and have a ceremony with you here next spring.”

The words that came suddenly made a big impact in my heart.

“I know that it is a sudden and confusing story for you now. I still wanted to tell you.”

The Princess reached out and took my hand.

“I will definitely find your memories before next year. And I will make you happy That is my heart, and this is my resolve.”

I didn’t know what to say at the words of the princess’s heart. Still, I felt like I had to say something, so I opened my mouth.

“I am…”

However, those words were immediately stopped by the princess.

“There is no need to force your words out. I just said what I wanted to say, and you got caught up in me. So, don’t force yourself to think and squeeze your words out.”

I nodded at the words that seemed to have looked into my heart. Only then did the princess’s hand fall off, and I felt empty at the disappearing warmth.

When I was feeling such emptiness, warmth came to my hand.

“Why are you blank? The time you promised to give is not yet over.”

Saying that, the princess pulled my hand. That’s how the princess dragged her by the hand, looking around the garden and talking.

“How about planting the evening primroses I saw last time over there and the tulips here?”

“Evening primroses are dormant during the day, so it would be better to plant them in a more secluded area or in another garden.”

“Hmm, I guess I’d better do as you say,”

As we were talking about how to decorate the garden, I saw a small tombstone and white flowers placed in one corner of the garden.

I was puzzled by the sight that did not match the garden.

“Princess, what is the tombstone in the corner over there?”

The princess’s eyes flickered for a moment.

“You mean that? It was made by me to remember those who are momentarily far away.”

I could feel the sadness emanating from the calm words.

“Ah, don’t get me wrong. They are not dead people, but people who have been away for a while.”

The princess added a little bit of a sense of urgency.

“okay.”

“Yes, so don’t get me wrong.”

After the words were emphasized again, I heard a mumble so small that it was hard to hear even though I was next to it. The murmur dissipated, and a careless rumble echoed in my stomach.

The sound of hunger resounded from the stomach that had not eaten anything, and shame surged.

When I was struggling with shame in my heart, I felt a violent force in my hand and was dragged away.

After being dragged along, I arrived at a table in one corner of the garden. When I looked at the princess who was suddenly dragged into the situation, I could see her spleen.

“There is something I have prepared for you.”

Saying so, a basket came out of the pocket enchanted with space expansion magic. The princess opened the basket, still with a solemn expression on her face.

The basket opened, revealing the neatly placed sandwiches.

“Before you lost your memory, you did the cooking every time. It bothered me, so I prepared like this.”

Contrary to his spleen expression, he reached out for the sandwich with a smile at the voice that gradually became smaller.

“Thank you, I will eat.”

Sensing the princess’ uncomfortably staring gaze, I put the sandwich into my mouth. Along with the crunchy texture of the vegetables, the juices of the meat flowed out a little, and the salty taste spread in the mouth.

I savored the slightly salty yet mouth-watering taste, and smiled at the princess with a nervous expression on her face.

“It fits my mouth well. Don’t just look at it, princess, eat it.”

It was clear that the nervousness had disappeared from the princess’s face.

“I’m glad that’s the case.”

The princess smiled and started eating the sandwich. And a small murmur was heard.

“The hard work was worth it.”

“what did you say?”

“It is nothing.”

The princess’s face turned a little red. Looking at her face, I savored the princess’ sincerity.