#18: Between The Veil Of Night — And So, One Hundred Years Later, The Magician Noi Galenée Becomes a Bride (WN)

In the mornings, it was always Kardia’s role to rise before anyone else and open the curtains.

Across a span of years so long it made the mind go numb, this had also been a precious ritual for Kardia, one that recalled those brief days when he had lived as the disciple of the person he loved most.

The person who, bundled in bedding, glared at the sunrise like a mortal enemy from within the bed—was gone.

But since yesterday, someone else had been in Kardia’s bed.

(How many years has it been since I last slept beside someone?)

The warmth had startled him. The ache in his chest had been so sharp it made him want to bolt; even after he woke, he could not move for a while.

Climbing out of bed, Kardia sighed as he looked at the girl curled up atop the covers.

“—Kardia, have you lived a hundred years?”

It had been decades since he was grateful to have his back turned.

He should have mastered the art of showing no telltale change in his expression, and yet, at that moment, Kardia had been glad of it despite himself.

If they had been face to face, the simple act of hearing his name in that voice might have made him look like he was about to cry—and she might have seen it.

For decades now, Kardia had kept his ties with others as shallow as possible. If you did that, then when you lost something, your heart would not hurt.

Pushing everything far away and looking down on it all from a distance, Kardia’s heart had grown as still as a lakeshore at dawn.

And yet—

(It may truly be the first time in a hundred years that my heart has been shaken like this.)

Noi’s voice, calling to him, sounded enough like that person’s to make him feel that way.

(—Troublesome.)

Her manner of speaking, even her face—so similar.

(Even her voice is like that person’s.)

—The girl, Noi, who from today would be living in this house.

Kardia had summoned her by magic.

A hundred years since the Demon King vanished from the world—since he lost Noi.

Kardia had inherited the magic Noi left behind.

Noi had truly been a genius. Every magic circle she crafted was precise and intricate; almost no mages alive had even been able to understand them.

Unraveling what those circles signified one by one, deepening his knowledge, experimenting again and again—Kardia had finally, over a hundred years, brought them to completion.

One of them was transference magic.

It was a spell that transferred its target from the far side to the near side.

A piece of madcap magic, very like Noi, that overturned the “common sense” that spells fired from here to there.

Having perfected the transference magic, Kardia began by calling Noi.

—He had never truly thought he could call Noi herself.

He had only wanted, when the Demon King had been confronted a hundred years ago and Noi had vanished without a trace, to obtain at least her remains—or even the smallest part of her.

But the magic circle had produced results beyond Kardia’s imagining.

It had called, with precision, the “Noi” Kardia pictured in his mind.

—A girl named Noi, with white hair and emerald eyes.

(Perhaps… a blood relation? The face is similar. The voice is similar. —But her mana is decisively different.)

Mages identified individuals by the mana they bore.

Noi’s overwhelming mana had left an impression far stronger than her face or name ever could.

Kardia had not recognized the girl Noi as his own master, Noi Galenée. That was a piece of common sense to anyone who had lived as a mage.

(Even if she looks alike—she’s merely a look-alike.)

Without mana, she absolutely could not be the person herself.

(…Not unless she had circumstances as unusual as mine.)

With a wry smile, he touched his abdomen. Tracing the feel beneath his palm with his fingers, he closed his eyes.

The instant he saw the girl he had summoned by transference magic, Kardia had a flash of inspiration.

—If I use this child…

By the time he had thought it, he was already proposing to her.

Gazing his fill into those wide, peppermint-colored eyes, Kardia had desperately pondered how to keep Noi by his side.

“What are you thinking, sir?”

Leaving the twice-sleeper Noi upstairs and coming down, Kardia found Ornis kindling the fire in the kitchen. Ornis, who had been boarding here for a few years, had been trained not to do things Kardia disliked.

“What do you mean?”

“Inviting in a little bundle of nothing but suspicion like that—and on top of it, sleeping together.”

“But look. Just as I said, nothing happened, right?”

When Kardia spread his hands and said it, Ornis faltered, at a loss for words.

“As promised—no more meddling about her from here on.”

The two of them had made a wager last night after showing Noi to a room.

If Noi bore malice toward Kardia, night—when the two could be alone—was the perfect chance.

So Ornis had promised that if Kardia was not harmed last night, he would not interfere in decisions about Noi’s treatment going forward.

“I’ve never heard of a disciple who sticks his nose into his master’s love life.”

“Love? With a girl like that? If so, there’s nothing but problems!”

“To me, whether it’s ten or twenty years, you’re both children.”

Nineteen-year-old Ornis twisted his face in frustration. Noi might be a child, but it seemed Ornis did not think he was one. Kardia laughed.

“It’s true—love at first sight.”

Because his voice came out unexpectedly like someone dreaming on a faraway star, Ornis stiffened in alarm, then bowed his head. “I was impertinent.”

Kardia gave a wry smile and set a hand on Ornis’s head.

“Don’t worry—my adorable beloved disciple is you.”

“Please stop. I’m not that young anymore.”

Ornis quickly slipped out from under Kardia’s hand and, with magic, brought down a pot that hung from the ceiling.

“And what even was that? I thought it was a Manmanbara (Gūt). Spare a thought for the one cooking.”

A Manmanbara (Gūt) was a magical creature much like a hippo—an adorable, round little beast. It had a big mouth and was always eating. Unlike the Dream-Eater (Baku), said to feed on people’s nightmares, it truly just rolled around and ate all day long.

Many were charmed by the way it ate; when a traveling show came to town, lines would form to watch it.

“My apologies. I’m counting on you.”

Saying this to Ornis as he started breakfast, Kardia made to head outside. Still turned away, Ornis spoke.

“One day you’ll be found out, and it’ll hurt.”

“By that girl? No, no. I won’t show any seams.”

What could a pure, innocent young lady possibly see through? Kardia smiled.

“—If she truly is just a girl with amnesia, then please don’t do anything outrageous.”

Kardia curled one corner of his mouth and glanced back at Ornis.

(Is it really amnesia?)

For that, she sometimes knew too much—or too little. Her words and deeds looked terribly unstable.

Was that itself proof of a person who had lost her memories? Even after a hundred years of life, Kardia had never dealt with such a person; he could not judge.

But—whether she had memories or not, he intended to overlook a few oddities.

(Because I’ll likely never get my hands on such a prodigy again.)

“A calm, clever child—an uncanny one.”

“In uncanniness, you don’t lose by even a step.”

Smiling at his disciple’s remark, Kardia leaned his back against the wall.

“I’ll be gentle.”

Be gentle.

If loving and being loved were the world’s happiness, then he would make her feel as loved as she pleased.

(Someday she’ll love me—and if it’s then… will she forgive me?)

Forgive him for using her like a thing—for his selfish convenience.

(Ah, but… if she truly grants my wish…)

“Trust me. I’ll love her.”