The Final Proposal

—Esria Kingdom Calendar, Year 492, Late Spring

The Hyuetos Magic Count’s domain, located in the south of the Esria Kingdom, was a city on the water.

A decade ago, this land had been devastated by the Demon King—and then it developed with astonishing speed. In place of streets, canals were laid, and boats were drawn along them by a magical creature called the Naiapio—its lower half a fish and its upper half a bird.

People lived with the water, and the water nurtured blessings for the people.

With its bustling trade, Hyuetos had now become one of the kingdom’s leading tourist cities.

“You’re still here in a place like this?”

The woman, a freshly bought “Demon King bun” from a stall held in her mouth, spun around. Her limbs were long and straight, her waist slender. Her milky, lustrous hair was always neatly braided by her lover, but today it had been plaited with special care.

“Aidoni is screaming and searching everywhere for you.”

At the man’s mention of his own wife’s name, the woman grinned.

“Is my job to be found by Aidoni?”

“It would be easier if it were.”

The man let out a sigh. The woman watched over the man—who had been burdened since his youth—with a sunny smile.

“There’s one more runaway. If you find him, drag him back if you have to.”

“Got it.”

The woman waved to the man and strode off with sure, unhesitating steps.

The cityscape—ordered and harmonious—had been refined by renowned mages from across the realm who had come saying, “Please let me apprentice myself to the Magic Count who purified the Demon King!” The place was always lively, but today it was livelier still.

From the freshly verdant trees to the cloths hanging in the house windows, everything was white. The flowers hung from walls, the flags snapping in the wind—everything, all in white.

“I knew you’d be here.”

The woman headed straight for the square.

Once, there had been only a few shops and the Galenée Statue there; now it had become an enormous park. Paths had been laid so people could stroll easily, and tended flowerbeds and trees welcomed visitors—all encircled by the canal.

In one corner of the park stood the Galenée Statue.

It was a bronze likeness of the First-Sun mage—the one said to have once saved the world. The statue—so like the woman currently looking up at it—was kept polished by the townsfolk and showed not a speck of moss.

And behind that statue, there lay a stone—about the size a child could curl up upon.

The woman’s quarry stood there, absent-minded, in front of the stone.

“I know there’s nothing inside it.”

When the man smiled, narrowing his crimson eyes, his pair of stacked moles rose with the expression. At that gentle, tender smile, the woman shook her head.

“That’s not true. It’s packed full—with a hundred years of your feelings.”

The woman rubbed the stone with her palm—the stone that had once been enshrined as her own grave.

“I like this.”

“More than me?”

“What if I said yes?”

“Then I’ll cry and pitch a fit right now and cause you trouble.”

“The one you’ll be troubling isn’t me—it’s Ornis. He’s running around in a panic looking for you.”

So the woman said, but the man looked down at her with a face that all but said, “If it’s Ornis, that’s not a problem.”

Amused by her grand-disciple who would always be handled the same way no matter how much time passed, the woman chuckled, and the man spoke in a gentle voice.

“…I didn’t think you’d come.”

“Hm?”

While stroking the stone, the man gazed off at some far point.

“I never thought a day would come when the world cherished me… not in all eternity. The god I prayed to so fervently didn’t even save you. But… I had a promise—with you.”

The hand stroking the stone stilled. The man turned to the woman with a soft smile.

“I’d never believed—and yet a day like this… actually came.”

Still looking into the woman’s eyes, the man smiled faintly. A canine tooth peeked from the corner of his mouth. It was the same as the “angelic” smile he had worn as a child.

The woman smiled back in the same soft way.

“…Days like this aren’t only today. Tomorrow, the day after, and the day after that—days like this will go on, always.”

The woman laid her hand over the man’s.

“Even if a hard day comes, it will absolutely turn back into a day like this. You’re the one who said it—when winter ends, spring comes.”

The man—who had once said he hated winter—looked from the woman’s smiling face up to the sky.

Then, slowly, he looked back down at her.

“…Spring had already come. Surely all along. From the first time I saw that smile of yours on the floating isle.”

—My dandelion.

Using the dear old nickname, the man smiled with a face that looked on the verge of tears.

Hand in hand, the two started walking toward the lakeside.

“Hey…”

“Mm?”

“It’s already the day—and after all this, you still haven’t done it.”

Perhaps to hide her embarrassment, the woman swung their joined hands broadly and stuck out her lips in a little pout.

From that look, the man seemed to realize what she meant, and he raised one corner of his mouth in mischief.

“The first time ended in a broken engagement; the second time you said it was the worst. What man proposes a third time?”

“The first was your fault. And the second was… mostly your fault.”

“…”

Silenced by the unassailable truth, the man fell quiet. The woman spun around to stand before him and peered up straight into his face.

“I, too, have ordinary girlish longings.”

“…You think if you make that face, I’ll do whatever you say.”

“So I was the only one looking forward to it. In that case, I suppose—”

Before she could finish, the man swept her up.

It was no longer as easy to do it one-armed as before. Lifted with both hands, the woman slid her arms around his shoulders and nestled close.

“—Good day to you, my lady.”

Realizing what he meant to do, the woman waited, bright with anticipation.

“I’ve kept you waiting far too long—but if you still won’t abandon me—”

Unable to keep still, the woman kicked her legs in a little flurry.

After years of stubbornly refusing to acknowledge his feelings, the man had finally done so; the woman who had waited so patiently let a soft laugh slip free.

“Won’t you be my bride?”

Hearing that beloved form of address for the first time in ages, the woman couldn’t hold back her grin and hugged his neck tight.

“…Your answer?”

On a day like this, there was no need to be anxious—so the woman had to laugh.

There was only one church in the Hyuetos Magic Count’s domain, and it had been full since morning. People had thronged from all over the territory to catch a glimpse of the noon wedding of the lord and his bride.

“You can stand to be made to wait a little and learn how I feel.”

“Yes, yes—my deepest apologies.”

Still carrying the woman, the man started up the road to the hilltop church.

“Kardia.”

“What is it, Noi?”

“I’ll give you my answer later, in front of God.”

Still twined about Kardia’s neck, Noi murmured it into his ear. Kardia grinned and set her down.

“I look forward to it. Let’s hurry.”

Kardia held out his hand.

Noi took it.

These hands had been joined all along—since a hundred years ago—

And from now on, they would live walking side by side.

A warm, gusting wind stirred their long hair.

Pale white petals—the same color as the bride’s hair—whipped up by the spring wind, scattered and danced away.

—And so, the mage Noi Galenée, a hundred years later, became a bride.