No Need For Love (3)

(Surely there had to be a reason.)

Thinking so, Noi went after Kardia to his office once the royal soldiers had withdrawn to their rooms.

Aidoni followed behind Noi. Noi gave her a single nod and knocked on the office door.

“Kardia, may I come in?”

“Yes. Please, enter.”

Noi flinched at his response.

There was simply… nothing in it.

From the man who had gone so far as to introduce a “fiancée” to the king and then on his own changed her into a “relative’s child,” his voice carried no guilt, no apology—nothing she could read.

Noi stepped timidly into the office. Ignoring the sofa Kardia indicated, she walked straight to his side.

“Kardia, you know what I want to ask, don’t you?”

When Noi stopped in front of him, Kardia dropped to one knee and looked up at her.

“Yes, Noi.”

“Since when did I become your relative?”

“Was that displeasing to you? If so, I’ll think of another arrangement at once.”

“That’s not it!”

She raised her voice—but she still could not draw any reaction from Kardia.

“…Wasn’t I supposed to be your bride?”

Kardia’s expression broke for the first time. He gasped, so surprised that Noi herself was startled. In that instant, a tear slipped out.

“Ah… no, that’s not—no.”

In a panic, she covered her eyes with the hem of her clothes. Useless as it was, she couldn’t help trying to hide.

(Like this… it will give me away…)

Crying because her engagement had been unilaterally canceled—

(That would be as good as saying I love him.)

Noi still had no intention of telling Kardia how she felt.

Kardia felt aversion toward the women who pressed themselves on him.

Even if he doted on her now, if her feelings were exposed—outside the reins of his reason—Noi might become a target of that same aversion.

“—I was just… startled! I didn’t know. I—I couldn’t tell what you were thinking…”

“I’ve made you uneasy, then. I’m sorry. I should have told you first.”

Still hiding her face in her hem, Noi shook her head.

Kardia seemed to wait a while for Noi to peek out again—but at length he opened his heavy mouth.

“—Let us dissolve the engagement.”

Unable to believe what she had heard, Noi slid the hem down below her eyes.

The crimson gaze looking up at her peppermint-round eyes held a grave light.

“I, of all people, completely forgot until Panselinos mentioned it—forgot that you and I were engaged.”

Anger rose—What are you saying?—and at the same time resignation—So that’s how it was.

Even though he had introduced her to the king, Kardia truly had no intention at all of marrying Noi.

“I intended to kill the Demon King—and die myself.”

At the quiet strength of the words, like a breath, Noi’s eyes welled.

(It was supposed to be me who was killed…)

That whole time, Noi had loved Kardia, and it had hurt.

With that sorrow gone now, she had finally thought she could simply hold an ordinary love—but—

“I admit it’s irresponsible, but I had no intention of taking responsibility for what came after you. …Yet even with the Demon King gone, both you and I still stand on this earth.”

Kardia spoke with an earnestness that made clear it was his true heart.

“—Noi. I return your future to you.”

With a body that the Demon King had nearly consumed, Kardia had cried out.

That he had taken so much from Noi.

And now that same Kardia said that Noi had a future.

(I should be… happy, right…?)

As his master, Noi was, of course, happy.

But Noi, who loved him—hurt.

(And in that future… you aren’t there?)

When Noi squeezed her eyes shut, Kardia’s tone turned soothing.

“—To me, you are as vital as this heart. There exists no one more precious than you, nothing I should ever place above you. That is precisely why the engagement that binds you is unnecessary now.”

Noi had first become his fiancée so her food, clothing, and shelter would be guaranteed.

Kardia now intended to host Noi as a guest, engagement or no engagement.

And from Kardia’s side—he no longer had any need to forcefully keep Noi and use her as a vessel for mana.

Hence the conclusion, “We no longer need the engagement.”

But Kardia’s consideration squeezed Noi’s chest so tight she could hardly breathe.

(—Ah, so that’s it…)

That was the wrongness she had been feeling.

Since awakening after the Demon King’s purification, Kardia had been as kind as ever—no, kinder than ever.

But he could choose to maintain that face. That was why she hadn’t noticed.

(You knew, didn’t you… that he’s a liar.)

If it meant being doted on by his former master—if it meant being liked—this man could easily keep up the same old self.

Playing the clown, acting spoiled—anything Noi wanted.

For Kardia, who had lived a hundred years, it was easy.

“It can’t be helped. I will never treat you lightly.”

But he would never yield the core he had chosen.

(Is that how large the “Master” inside you is?)

Noi had surely become “Master” inside Kardia.

“It’s true. And a book somewhere said that husbands and wives make their own rules. Between me and Noi, let’s make it a rule that a bride gets carried.”

So there was no need to carry her anymore. He and Noi were no longer in a place to make “husband-and-wife rules.”

The red eyes peering up from below settled it. The gaze that had once met hers head-on now came from below—Noi looked down on him.

He would not shake off Noi’s outstretched hand—but he would not reach out first.

Even with Noi in tears, he would not embrace her to comfort her. He knelt at a slight distance, like a retainer.

Yes. It was, unmistakably, the disciple’s place.

“Y-you—you—”

“Yes.”

She wanted to say something—ask something.

How could she overturn this? How could she get him to treat her as “just Noi” again, like before? Noi searched desperately.

“…Are you… not going to fall in love, ever again?”

And what came out carried no power at all—only the question she most wanted to ask.

“You know how it goes, don’t you? I end up vomiting. Hurk, hurk.”

Perhaps to spare her, Kardia joked. That, too, felt like a line drawn, and it hurt.

“…I don’t mean touching. I mean the heart.”

“I don’t do that sort of thing. I have no need.”

Kardia’s words were crisp and final. His face was the same as when he had demanded the seating be changed.

A part he had no intention of changing, no matter what anyone said.

Yet unable to give up, Noi stood on trembling legs and clenched her fists.

“…Even if the other person is me?”

“—Of course.”

Kardia’s tone hardened.

Noi’s body jolted.

(…It startled me.)

In a daze, she lowered her head.

(My heart—felt like it stopped.)

Just one line—just that—

Noi had never known words could make her chest hurt so much.

Kardia leaned in to catch Noi’s downcast gaze, looking straight into her eyes with unwavering sincerity.

“Please don’t worry. We were engaged only for a time, and I have not the slightest intention of demanding anything of you because of it. This feeling is not something trifling like love. Noi—you are someone for whom even my everything would be too little to offer.”

Pressing a hand to her chest that hurt to the point of agony, Noi closed her eyes.

(…Even if you give me your everything—you won’t give me love.)

“She’ll be my bride”—She recalled the words she had heard from him countless times.

Being with Kardia so long had let Noi dream.

Maybe—just maybe—she was different from the other women. She had fooled herself.

(That if it were my love—he might accept it.)

Saying it even to herself made it hurt again. If only she could rip out this aching heart right now.

When she opened her eyes slowly, Noi’s vision wavered. But without a single word of complaint, she gave Kardia a faint smile.

“I understand, Kardia. I’ll do as you say.”