7
Elletear had become less and less human.
Each day, her condition grew worse. She always felt “horrid,” but rarely, she had “tolerable” horrid days.
She had a good day when she could just barely manage to stand.
And there was a day when the skies were clear.
Both these miraculous events happened to coincide one morning.
Somehow, my instincts told me this would be the last day. So…
I took Elletear to a hill in the countryside.
The smell of the grass wafted to us as it rustled.
The morning light that showered over us was blinding but also warm.
This was the Empire.
I was grateful that the enemy territory I ought to have hated had a hill that was so blessed with nature.
That was because…
“This feels nostalgic…”
Elletear smiled.
She’d been stuck so long in the stagnant, suffocating air of the underground laboratory that she’d slowly lost the ability to show her emotions. But now, in front of me, she smiled.
“I haven’t seen the sky in a while, or the sun, or a field of flowers. I don’t remember the wind being so nice, either…”
Then she started to run.
“Ngh. Elletear, don’t run—”
“I’m fine! Look!”
Her glamorous long hair was in disarray.
Her white dress fluttered in the summer breeze.
She waved her parasol around.
I heard her laughter ring out into the blue sky.
Who else had seen her like this—as excited as a child?
She wasn’t Princess Elletear Lou Nebulis IX.
She was my beloved master.
……Yes.
……I’m…I’m sure…
I’d wanted to share this final moment with her to see this. That was why I’d brought her here.
“Ah-ha…ha-ha…ahh… I’m so tired from running.”
She slowly turned around.
She was out of breath. Her face was red, as though she were slightly bashful.
That moment that passed in a flash was something I would likely never forget.
It was her entire true self, which she showed no one but me. What else could I have wanted?
This day and this moment could have won against a love that lasted for years or decades. Yes.
As long as we had this moment, this flash in time, that was enough for our love story.
Then…
The love that lasted for a moment melted in the rays of the sun, and I returned to being a knight serving my master.
And now…
On the outskirts of the Imperial capital, I heard a beguiling witch’s laugh ring out.
In front of me, a vortex of black mist large enough to fill the entire room swirled around and around.
Who would have believed that this black mist was Elletear?
Kelvina had been right. Elletear was more compatible with the calamity’s power than anyone and so, as a witch, she was no longer a living creature.
“ ”
The black mist whirled around again, coalescing into the shape of a human. Though she had a voluptuous silhouette, she only seemed reminiscent of the former Elletear.
“Why, I look horrific…”
She was the witch Elletear. The first thing out of her mouth after being reborn was disparagement toward herself. She looked into the floor-length mirror in front of her.
“I was afraid every night about what I would become. I wondered whether I would have three eyes, four arms, a horn on my head, or a tail…”
She had been wrong on all counts.
The correct answer was that she had gained nothing.
Not any horns, a tail, any extra arms or eyes. Elletear had lost all organs needed for an animal, as though to show she didn’t need them.
“I look truly, truly horrific…much worse than I even imagined.”
“You haven’t changed.”
I hugged her from behind. She was just black mist without a real body. When my hands made contact with her, it felt like I was touching a mass of water.
I didn’t feel warmth. She was so cold, I felt as though I was holding ice.
But still…
“You haven’t changed. Because I’m here with you.”
“…………”
The silence didn’t last long enough for me to take a full breath.
“No, there has been a change.”
“Elletear—”
“No, Joheim, I mean that you’ve changed.”
She laughed. Even though she had turned into a monster, Elletear’s laugh still sounded the same.
“You don’t hesitate to hug me now.”
“Uh.”
When she was more playful than I expected, I didn’t know how to respond.
“But that’s enough of that.”
Elletear slipped away.
I was left holding thin air as she stood before me.
She was a step away from me.
We were close enough that I could have touched her if I’d held out my arm.
“Did you not like that?”
“Oh, you silly thing.” She sounded exasperated. “Because if you hold me like that…I feel like I’ll forget everything and want to stay in your arms forever.”
More than her desire to destroy the Sovereignty or the Empire, she couldn’t help but want to stay in the embrace of her beloved knight.
“So that’s the last time. But we still have a new beginning, don’t we?”
Elletear offered her hand. I silently knelt in front of her hand and bowed my head.
“Let’s go, my knight.”
“I will fight alongside you so long as I’m alive, my master.”
Until the final moment.
Until the moment the battle ended in a flash, I would remain a knight just for her.
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