Feelings Intertwine And Are Accepted

The gate Aura-chan and the others had connected led to a deserted street in the Royal Capital.

After confirming where I was, I broke into a run. That back alley wasn’t far from here.

I raced through the darkened Royal Capital toward the alley from that day.

Even though I should only have been there once, I made my way there without getting lost at all.

Part of it was because I knew where it was, but it also felt as though my body itself remembered the way.

The back alley had changed greatly over the past ten years.

It was hard to believe that the shops’ goods had once been piled around haphazardly; now the place was properly maintained.

There were no goods lying around anymore, but there was no one there either. The atmosphere was just as it had been ten years ago.

And the snowman—and the girl crouched there beside it—was just as it had been ten years ago.

“…I knew you’d be here.”

At the sound of my voice, she gave a small twitch.

I sat down beside the crouching snowman—though unlike that day, there was no snow falling now—and looked up at the sky.

Night had fully fallen. The moon had risen into the sky and was shining down on us.

“About your mother, Shia.”

Shia reacted strongly and buried her face even deeper.

I noticed, but I continued speaking.

“Yuti-san told me. About what kind of person your mother was, and that maybe you were comparing yourself to her.”

“…………”

“…But I still don’t really know what you’re thinking. So I want you to tell me. What you were thinking, what you realized… and what’s hurting you.”

“…………”

Shia didn’t answer. She remained crouched there and wouldn’t even lift her face.

But I kept waiting. I thought it was fine for her to take things at her own pace.

“…While I was talking, I started wondering whether what I’ve been doing was really any different from what she did. She did it for magic, but I wondered whether I had done the same kind of things for your sake, Nova-san.”

“What… did you do?”

I asked her.

My voice naturally came out gentle and accepting rather than accusing.

“…You won’t hate me?”

“I won’t.”

I answered without hesitation and waited for her to continue.

“…Two years ago, I defeated Mother in a duel and took the position of family head from her. Until then, I had been hiding my strength, so when members of the family condemned me for suddenly becoming the head, I forced them into submission with magic. To end the war, I secretly pressured both the royal family and the Empire. I even threatened them that if they defied me, they would lose their lives.”

“…Yeah.”

“When I learned that you were being treated poorly in House Fols, I contacted Tanya-san. I became her backer and helped her keep people who might harm you away from you. In exchange… she told me all sorts of things about you, and during the southern campaign, I arranged things behind the scenes so you wouldn’t be placed in danger.”

“…Huh?”

Wait.

I thought we were talking about huge things like the position of family head and the war, and suddenly the subject had turned to me.

And Tanya… had she been selling information about me?

I’d thought something about her behavior had seemed strange, but so that was what had been going on…

“I also pressured anyone who opposed the marriage proposal with House Fols until they fell silent… In other words, I’ve done all sorts of things to make matters go the way I wanted.”

“I see…”

Listening to her, I more or less understood what Shia had done.

And with that in mind, there was only one thing I could really say.

“…Honestly, isn’t that fine?”

“Huh?”

Shia raised her face in surprise.

Meeting her gaze, I told her what I genuinely thought.

“I think everyone wants things to go their own way to some extent. Whether they can actually make that happen depends on whether they have the power to do it, and you did. So you used that power. That’s all, right? Maybe this is a strange thing to say, but I don’t think you need to torment yourself over it so much.”

I didn’t know every detail of what Shia had done, but from what I had heard, I didn’t think it was necessarily wrong.

“At the very least… hmm, if I were in your position, I think I might have done the same. Actually, if it were me… I might have gone around beating up every bastard in House Fols who pissed me off.”

How many times had I imagined that when I was young?

That one day I would awaken to some great power and get back at Zeroad-niisama for hurting me, Kairas-niisama for acting as though I didn’t exist, Father for creating the environment that allowed all of it, and the servants who looked down on me.

In the end, they had remained nothing more than fantasies.

Though thinking about it now, I still kind of wanted to break one of Zeroad-niisama’s arms.

“…………”

Shia stared at me in astonishment for a while, then eventually lowered her head and began speaking in a halting voice.

“…I gathered quite a lot of information about you without you knowing, Nova-san. Don’t you think that’s creepy?”

“Of course not. You did it because you cared about me, right? If anything, I’m happy… Actually, if you’d just asked, I would’ve told you anything.”

“I-I’ve also been pretty cold toward people other than you, Nova-san, and sometimes even a little ruthless…”

“I’m pretty distant with everyone except you, Tanya, Aura-chan, and a few others too. Honestly, I think most people are like that.”

“…………”

Shia stared at me, stunned, and I smiled as I told her what I was thinking right now.

“So I think you’re fine just being yourself, Shia. You might think you’re the same as your mother, but I don’t. And even if you were, I don’t think that automatically makes you wrong.”

“…Not… wrong.”

“Right. And if you ever do make a mistake, I’ll stop you. I’ll tell you when something is wrong.”

“Nova-san…”

Shia looked away from me and stared down at the palm of her hand.

“Can I ask you just one last thing?”

“Hmm? What is it?”

“…Being similar to Mother was one of the things that frightened me, but there’s something else I’m afraid of too.”

“What is it? Tell me.”

Slowly, Shia turned toward me and opened her mouth.

“In the end, I took everything that woman valued away from her. Her magic, her position as family head… everything. I’m afraid that because I’m similar to her, I might walk the same path… that I might lose you, Nova-san.”

Her gray eyes trembled with fear, and as though drawn along by her emotions, a prickling tension spread through the air around us.

Without thinking, I took Shia’s hand.

“It’ll be okay.”

The trembling in her eyes stopped at once.

The heavy atmosphere dispersed.

“No one’s going to take me away from you, and I’m not going anywhere.”

Besides, there was something I had realized at the Ark Gate estate.

If I received Shia’s power, I wouldn’t lose to anyone.

In that case, no one would be able to take me from her either.

“!”

Shia knocked my hand aside and threw herself into my arms.

The night air was chilly, but I could feel her warmth throughout my whole body.

When I wrapped my arms around her back to support her, Shia embraced me just as tightly.

“Nova-san… I love you… I’ve loved you for so, so long… I love you with all my heart.”

“Yeah… me too… Ever since that day.”

If the feelings from childhood continued without fading, then perhaps they became love.
Surely those feelings had been there ever since the moment I held Shia’s hand while she was suffering that day.

They had simply grown larger and larger.

“I love you, Shia.”

The same as hers.

They had become love.

“Shia, let me accept the marriage proposal… Let’s be together.”

I finally gave an answer to the marriage proposal I had left pending for so long.

I wanted to be with Shia.

I wanted us to walk forward together.

The passion burning in my chest had nowhere else to go, and I hugged Shia tightly.

“Are you sure…? I’m quite… intense, you know? I’m the kind of woman who wants to know everything about you, Nova-san, and actually goes and finds it out.”

“That’s fine. I’ll tell you everything. And if that still isn’t enough, investigate as much as you want. You can do whatever you like.”

“…I may be inexperienced, but please take care of me.”

“If you’re inexperienced, then I don’t even know what that makes me.”

Still holding one another, we both laughed.

Reluctantly, we slowly pulled apart and met each other’s gaze.

“I-I don’t know how to put this, but… having you accept the marriage proposal at the place where we first met is kind of romantic.”

“Y-Yeah… it is…”

Once Shia pointed it out, I suddenly became embarrassed and looked away.

An awkward silence fell between us as neither of us looked directly at the other, and for no particular reason, both Shia and I kept turning our heads to look around at various things.

Even though there wasn’t anything there.

Eventually, perhaps finding the awkwardness amusing, Shia laughed.

Her laughter made it seem funny to me too, and I started laughing.

Part of it was because the situation really was amusing, but more than that, I simply felt like laughing.

When Shia took both of my hands, I looked at her in surprise and found a beautiful smile on her face.

“Nova-san, thank you. I finally understand that it’s all right for me to simply be myself. Now all the worrying and fear I felt seem almost ridiculous. Truly… you’re always the one who saves me, Nova-san.”

“You’re exaggerating… but if I’ve really been able to help you, then I’m glad.”

The fact that I had been able to help Shia twice had become something I was proud of.

I truly was glad I had met her here that day.

“But now we’re finally engaged. Please take care of me from now on, Nova-san.”

“Yeah. Same here.”

“Then shall we register our marriage right away?”

“That’s sudden…”

“But we’re already twenty. And I’m the head of House Ark Gate, so an engagement is essentially the same thing as marriage.”

“That’s true, but I’d still like a little time to prepare myself mentally…”

I replied with a wry smile.

I had always known that once I accepted the marriage proposal, we would proceed straight to marriage, but now that it was actually happening, it was only natural that my emotions hadn’t quite caught up yet.

“Then shall we think about the more distant future?”

“That’s even more vague…”

I muttered that, then looked up at the sky before turning back to Shia.

From now on, I would spend my life together with Shia, someone far better than I deserved.

I still didn’t know exactly what that future would look like.

“But I think I’d be happy if we could just live peacefully. You ended the war, Shia… so I think I’d like to help make this peace last.”

It was still a vague idea, but I wanted to be of help to Shia.

She had ended the war and brought peace, and I wanted to help preserve what she had accomplished together with her.

It was the first truly grand goal I had ever resolved to pursue after spending my life doing nothing in particular.

“Yes. I feel the same way. Together, Nova-san, let’s protect these peaceful days.”

I was sure Shia could preserve this peace even without my help.

Even so, I wanted to support her however little I could.