506 - Theo's Perspective: Leonardo's Trajectory
The first thing I felt was the cold. I curled my body against the piercing chill, then remembered that this was no time to be curling up just because it was cold. Deciding to push through the cold and sit up, I straightened my back, but it seemed I had been sleeping in a narrow space, as my head went thud against a wall.
"...Ow."
As I reflexively pressed my hand to my head, my dominant arm slipped on something. Then, feeling a strange sensation in my shoulder, which had begun to ache, I searched for the source with my other arm.
...Blood?
Confirming that a lukewarm black liquid was clinging to my fingers, I slowly began to understand the situation. It seemed I had been laid down in a narrow place. My dominant arm looked unusable. The black liquid clinging to my fingers was likely blood. There was a considerable amount of bleeding. Furthermore, the fact that blood, which should be red, looked black meant it was currently night. Or, I was trapped in a small room where no light entered.
...What? What happened...?
I had no memory of getting injured. That meant that while I was unconscious, I must have been caught up in some incident or accident. Wanting to first confirm my current situation, I stretched out my legs to check the size of the place I was trapped in, and my legs extended freely. Apparently, my belief that I was trapped in a narrow space was a mistake. It only felt narrow because I had been sleeping right against the wall.
...Still, being injured and left alone is not a pleasant thought.
No matter how I thought about it, this was strange. I sat up and strained my ears, continuing to seek information. I didn't hear any voices discussing anything suspicious. However, there seemed to be people outside the room, as I could hear calm voices. I couldn't clearly make out the content, but the atmosphere was truly peaceful. Perhaps they didn't know an injured person (me) was here. If so, the culprit who harmed me might have carried me into the home of an ordinary person living a peaceful daily life. The residents would be shocked and feel terror when they found me bleeding from my shoulder.
...Someone is approaching.
Listening closely, I could tell that light footsteps, likely those of a girl, were drawing near. The footsteps lacked any caution, meaning she probably had no idea an injured person was lying here. I wondered if she would be surprised to see me in this state, but since I couldn't judge whether I needed to escape, I had no choice but to wait and see how she acted.
I sat up and waited for the door to open, hoping at least not to startle her, and the person who opened the door and entered the room was a girl holding a lamp. I could tell immediately from the way her black hair was neatly tied that she was a servant, but I was the one who was surprised by the girl's face.
"Mirshe...?"
"Eh? Leonardo-sama... no, Theo?"
With a surprised face as if to say that was impossible, Mirshe came closer to me. We confirmed each other's faces illuminated by the lamp, and no matter how I looked at her, the girl was my younger sister, Mirshe. If my younger sister Mirshe, whom I had been separated from in childhood, grew for ten years, she would likely look like the girl before me. And those ten years were about to pass. If Mirshe had grown up safely, she should be exactly the age of the girl in front of me.
"Why is Mirshe...?"
"That's my line! Why is Theo... Theo...? Huh? Is it Leonardo-sama after all?"
As Mirshe stared at me intently, I observed Mirshe in return. Mirshe, who had been nothing more than a thin and dirty child, now stood before me in well-made ready-made clothes that identified her as a servant of a good house. If it wasn't my imagination, her demeanor was so refined that it was hard to believe she grew up in the slums. We were likely both wondering if this was truly my sister Mirshe. I, too, had become a Silver Knight while Mirshe didn't know. The name I used was different. Mirshe wasn't the only one who had changed beyond recognition.
"Huh? Theo, are you injured?"
Saying she would heal me immediately, Mirshe reached into her pocket. After taking out two candies, she began asking a mysterious creature that appeared at her feet to heal my injury.
"This is..."
"It's a spirit. ...Is this the first time you've seen one, Theo?"
With a perfectly normal face, Mirshe called the mysterious creature a "spirit." Apparently, without my knowledge, my sister had become some kind of shrine maiden who could see spirits. Because she spoke with such a natural air, I felt like I was the one who was ignorant.
"I only recently became able to hear the voices of spirits. Thanks to that, injuries like this can be healed quickly."
Mirshe warned me it would itch a bit, and then the mysterious creature called a spirit hopped onto my arm. Strangely, it had no weight, and despite being perched on my injured arm, it didn't hurt at all.
And in the next instant, I was attacked by an intense itch, just as declared.
Once the injury was completely closed, I slowly stood up. In the meantime, Mirshe lit the room, allowing me to look around.
The inside of the room was an ordinary living room found anywhere. For a place to leave a Silver Knight who had been seriously injured, the ordinariness was more than just a little off. It was jarring.
...What? What happened, and why was I here?
Feeling that something was wrong, I looked back at the floor where I had been lying until just now. The reason I momentarily thought it was a narrow room was that the place I had been laid was the fireplace. A fireplace with no fire reminded me of a passage from a fairy tale. On the night of the Divine King Festival, a child kidnapped by spirits was supposed to return through the home's fireplace.
"Since it's the night of the Divine King Festival, Theo came out of the fireplace, didn't you?"
"...Is that something one is supposed to be convinced by?"
"It's a common occurrence, isn't it?"
What are you talking about? Mirshe tilted her head, looking at me as if I were something strange in response to my point. Apparently, I was the strange one for finding it questionable.
...What? Something is weird.
I was surprised by the sudden reunion with my long-lost sister Mirshe, but I was more concerned by the fact that Mirshe's surprise was minimal. She seemed confused about whether to call me "Theo" or "Leonardo," but judging by Mirshe's tone, this was a mansion given to the lord of Gurnol Fort, and Mirshe seemed to be employed there. The name of that employer was "Leonardo," the same name I currently used in the royal capital. I thought I should greet this "Leonardo" as Mirshe's older brother, but according to Mirshe, I was that "Leonardo." I certainly called myself "Leonardo," but I was a Silver Knight, not a Black Knight. I had no memory of becoming the lord of Gurnol Fort.
While I was listening to Mirshe and thinking something was wrong, word must have reached the fort, as a black-haired man and Alf arrived. I was surprised that even Alf had left the royal capital, but before I could voice that surprise, I was hugged with all their might by the black-haired man. He told me that he was my father.
I was surprised by the suddenness, but I pushed the man away, stating that my only parent was my naming parent Saromon, and I was not recruiting any more adoptive or stepfathers. I had never recruited any in the first place, but lately, there had been many talks about taking me in as an adopted son, which was a bit bothersome.
The man who was pushed away had a slightly lonely face, but I thought that face looked a bit like mine. It was strange that I felt like listening to him for just a bit, even though it was troublesome for someone to suddenly claim to be my father. I was fed up because there were too many stories of this sort, but I felt that for some reason, I had to listen.
...Well, more than that, I was concerned that Alf looked strangely old.
Whether it was my imagination or not, Alf looked old. I had heard he was two years older than me, so he should be in his early twenties, but he looked to be in his late twenties. When I voiced my doubt that everything was too unnatural, Alf gave a wry smile. He said it wasn't that he had aged, but that I had become younger.
"...By the way, how old does Leonardo think he is right now?"
"I... should be turning seventeen this spring..."
"That spring passed long ago, and now it is winter."
Being told that today was the Divine King Festival, I finally started to feel a bit of a chill. Since I was wearing spring clothes, hearing it was winter made me feel a little cold.
...Embroidery?
Looking down at my clothes again, they should have been my own, but the length was too long in several places. If what Alf said was true, my height and muscle must have been lost because I became younger. These clothes should have been made to fit my original body size. Moreover, they were clothes with careful embroidery.
...Is this a gift from the Spring Flower Festival? I don't remember receiving it...
It was embroidery that I could tell was careful needlework at a single glance. Though my memory was uncertain, it seemed that a while ago, I had someone who sent me embroidery for the Spring Flower Festival. Fortunately or unfortunately, I couldn't remember the person's face or name.
Alf explained what had happened to me and what had happened to the world. I gathered what I remembered and fit it into the consistency of Alf's story.
I only had memories of becoming a Silver Knight as "Leonardo" and serving King Christoph as a knight in the royal capital, but the me that Alf knew was thirty-one years old, and he said I had become the lord of Gurnol Fort at eighteen. Since my memories only went up to seventeen, that was likely why I didn't remember Gurnol Fort.
"Even so, spirits, huh. The world has changed too much."
"Spirits have overflowed, but there are rumors that the Divine King has returned to the Divine King's Domain Quebia."
Rumors were just rumors, and apparently there had been no announcement from the Divine King's Domain Quebia. Regarding this, speculations were increasing, such as whether the Divine King, who had just returned to the surface, needed rest, or whether they were not in a state to come outside since they were just born.
Apparently, only my time had been wound back.
Just as I was starting to get used to that situation, a summons from the royal capital arrived. Even though I was young, I was a Silver Knight and could go to the royal capital alone, yet for some reason, three Silver Knights came as guards. I found out the reason after being guided to a detached palace within the royal castle. Rannvald, who claimed to be my father, was the royal brother who was supposed to be dead, and I was his only son. In other words, the Silver Knights had simply been dispatched as guards for a member of the royal family.
While I was stunned by the story, the procedures had been completed before I knew it. Since there was no way the deceased royal brother Rannvald had a son, I was welcomed as an adopted son of Christoph and Consort Josselyn.
Since "Theo" was too short as a name, my name was changed to "Theodore" here.
The reason my adoptive mother was Consort Josselyn was apparently that she was elderly and could no longer bear new children. King Christoph loved his three wives equally and had the same number of children with each wife. Because Consort Josselyn had fewer children due to her age, they decided to take an adopted child. For that adoption, the child of the supposedly deceased Rannvald was convenient. For that reason, I suddenly gained an older brother, Prince Anselm, who was four years younger than me.
...This is.
Before I knew it, I received a royal title up to a royal peerage due to "Leonardo's" achievements, and I was dragged around by Rannvald to give greetings here and there. This afternoon, since Felicia was staying at her own detached palace, I paid a visit, and I was captivated at a single glance by a painting displayed in the entrance hall.
Art was something unrelated to me, and I probably wouldn't understand the quality of a painting in my entire life. I had somehow acquired some knowledge as education, but I had dismissed it as something distant, yet it was a complete hit at a single glance. My heart was seized at a single glance, and my eyes were drawn in so much that I forgot to breathe.
"...Ah, this painting. My father painted this."
I heard Rannvald's proud voice asking if it wasn't amazing, but I let it go in one ear and out the other. All my consciousness was drawn into the painting, and Rannvald's voice didn't properly enter my head.
"Oh, Theo seems fascinated by the Owl Princess."
I heard the giggling voice of Felicia, who had become my older sister, but I mostly ignored this as well. However, unlike Rannvald's words, a few things remained in my head.
"...What do you mean, the Owl Princess?"
What was depicted in the painting was a white owl spirit. Even though it was an owl spirit, what was depicted was a beautiful girl. A girl with a manufactured beauty depicted in a painting. I thought such a beautiful girl couldn't possibly exist, but there was a charm that made it impossible to look away. Rather than Rannvald's skill as a painter, it was likely that it matched my preferences too well. It was the first time I had been so attracted after seeing a woman's face.
"The Owl Princess refers to the girl who was the model. She was also called the Spirit Princess, among other things."
"Is the model... a real person?"
"It would be a problem if she weren't."
Adding to that, the model was from her girlhood, and the adult figure imagined at that time was the "Owl Spirit" in this painting. When I said I definitely wanted to see the sketches of the model, Felicia laughed at me. She said if I wanted to see the "Owl Spirit" from when she was the model, I should just look at my own chest. The cameo girl in the pendant hanging from my neck was the profile of the "Owl Spirit" in her girlhood.
...Indeed, if the childish roundness of the cheeks disappeared, would they look similar?
I immediately took out the pendant and compared the painting with the profile of the cameo. Once told the model was the same, I could indeed find common points.
"...However, she is such a beautiful princess."
If she had become an adult, wouldn't she already have a fiancé or a husband? As I tried to stop my heart from leaning toward the "Owl Spirit," Felicia told me that this thought was correct.
Even if the girl who was the model for the "Owl Spirit" were found, she apparently already had a fiancé.
...A fiancé means there is still a chance for me...
If it were an engagement based on mutual love, there would be no opening, but if it were an engagement decided by parents, there was still a chance for me. I was a member of the royal family who entered through a sudden adoption, but a prince is still a prince. In wooing a woman, this title should work in my favor.
...I never thought the day would come when I would rely on a title to woo a woman.
I suppose this is what they mean by not caring about appearances.
To enter the sight of the "Owl Spirit," I felt I could do things that were more than just a little unsightly, which was terrifying even to myself.
If I truly inherited Rannvald's blood, it meant that the blood of a troublesome royal, which required careful handling, flowed in me as well. I couldn't let this blood run wild, cause trouble for the "Owl Spirit," and be feared. I would need to be more than just a little cautious and calm.
Immediately after returning from Felicia's detached palace, I began gathering information about the "Owl Spirit," and Alfred made a strange face. He said the spirit's name was "Christina," and that she should have been acting together with me when I lost my memories.
"According to the guards assigned to Christina, she apparently intends to stay hidden until you come to get her, because you said you would come for her or something."
I was troubled even if Alfred told me to go find her quickly. I had no memory of a girl named "Christina."
"Even if you tell me to find her... the name 'Christina' doesn't ring a bell..."
"I see. The seventeen-year-old Leonardo couldn't possibly know 'Christina'."
It seemed that Christina and I met when I was twenty-one. There was no way I, who was seventeen and soon to be eighteen, would have memories of Christina.
"Ah, I see. If 'Christina' doesn't work, how about 'Tina', Theo?"
When I lived in the town of Gurnol as "Theo," I must have met a girl named "Tina."
Being pointed that out, I tilted my head. I didn't remember talking to Alfred about a first-love girl. I didn't remember it, but the fact that it was pointed out like this meant something must have happened in my lost memories.
"The 'Owl Spirit' you are pining for is Christina, also known as 'Tina', Theo's first love."
Alfred laughed, asking if I was suddenly motivated to find her now.
I was no longer an orphan. Regardless of the truth, a father was found, adoptive parents were made, I obtained my original status, and a sister with a different father left her mother to be protected by "Leonardo" and already had a stable job. Furthermore, I was no longer a child. If I ran out of travel money, I could work and earn it, and although my dominant arm had become difficult to move due to the injury, both my legs moved freely.
I could go anywhere by my own will.
"I believe 'Theo' and 'Tina' parted after a fight."
If asked if I didn't want to meet the first-love girl I had parted with after a fight, I could only say I wanted to. That girl still remained in my heart, and it was because I thought of her that I was still alive now. If I could meet her, I wanted to. If she was waiting for me to come for her, she was someone I had to go get.
...If the "Owl Spirit" was truly waiting for me.
Even though I was told to search, I didn't even know the specific direction, and days passed while I was overwhelmed by my work as a royal peer. I was seventeen when I returned from the fireplace on the Divine King Festival, but I had entered the latter half of eighteen.
What I found out in the meantime was that the detached palace where I was staying had changed its name to the "Spirit Palace" in the last few years, and the original owner was the "Owl Spirit" I was searching for. No wonder I was being guided to a guest room despite my status as a prince. The owner of the detached palace was someone else.
Just as I began to think I wanted to go get her by the time I turned nineteen, changes began to appear in the detached palace. Rather than changes to the palace, graffiti began to be written on my face while I slept.
--Leo the idiot. You're slow.
When I managed to read the upside-down letters reflected in the mirror, that's what was written. When I casually commented that it was hard to read because the mirror reflects things inversely, the next time, letters were written that were calculated to be inverted in the mirror, so the person who wrote this must be watching my reaction from somewhere.
--So sloooow. Leo the idiot. Dummy.
I think the opponent was also getting irritated as the wording gradually increased. Regarding this, when I muttered, "I'm Theo now, not Leo...", this too was corrected the next time.
--Whether it's Theo or Leo or whatever, if you don't come get me soon, I'm going to eat all of Leo's puddings!
With the graffiti gradually increasing in word count like this, I became a little worried that eventually, not just my face, but my whole body would be covered in graffiti. When I mentioned this to the ladies-in-waiting of the detached palace, they laughed, saying the owner of the palace really might do such a thing.
I really had to catch the culprit of the graffiti soon. Thinking so, I kept my sleep light and waited for several days, and in the middle of the night, I felt someone's presence. Just as I thought I was enveloped in a soft scent of flowers, I heard small, cheerful giggles from around me. This was definitely the culprit of the graffiti. I jumped up to catch them in the act, but there was no one around. However, a small light was floating in the darkness. The light spun around above my head as if inviting me, then swiftly moved away from me and left the room. Knowing I was being invited, I rushed into the hallway following the light.
The light proceeded through the hallways of the detached palace without hesitation. Whether it was just its nature or it knew the structure of this detached palace was a mystery. In any case, it was the current view of Alf and me that it was impossible to think about the things spirits do with logic.
Following the mysterious light, I stepped into the spring room for the owner of the detached palace. The light, proceeding without hesitation, disappeared into the fireplace. Thinking there was something here, I searched and immediately found a hidden door. Peering inside the door, the light was indeed waiting for me.
I followed the light through the hidden passage. It seemed to be getting light from somewhere, as I could walk without a lamp even though it was night. Eventually, I hit a dead end, and in front of me was a door that was for some reason newer than its surroundings.
When I opened the door, a small house enveloped in greenery stood beyond it.
"...It should have been the middle of the night?"
It should have been the middle of the night, but the surroundings were completely bright. Judging by the position of the sun, it should have been morning, but no matter how I thought about it, it wasn't the middle of the night.
For now, I approached the house in front of me, which would be a clue, to catch the graffiti culprit. Then the back door opened, and a beautiful girl with black hair and blue eyes came out. She was holding a basket of laundry in her hand, and that domesticity seized my heart. I thought this feeling was the first time since I encountered the painting of the "Owl Spirit," and then I realized. The girl before me was that "Owl Spirit." I had heard that a young girl was the model and the adult figure was an imaginary drawing, but she looked exactly as she did in the painting. Rather, the real thing was more wonderful because her expressions changed vividly.
However, the girl before me might be the culprit of the graffiti on my face. I approached her, intending to first capture her and then hear her story, but by the time I noticed, I had taken the girl's hand, knelt, and was pleading.
"Please marry me."
By the time I realized I had said the wrong thing, it was too late. The girl's blue eyes widened in surprise, and she froze. Looking at the girl's appearance, there must have been countless men who proposed to her the moment they met. Most likely, she was troubled by such types and even felt disgust.
"Ah, I made a mistake. ...No. That's not it."
How should I smooth things over to lower the girl's guard? As I frantically searched for words, rather than being guarded, the girl wore a smile like a flower blooming. Unfortunately, my mind went blank at that smile.
"...It's the opposite of that time."
"That time?"
"When I first met Leonardo-san. At that time, I was looking up at the big Leonardo-san, but now Leonardo-san is looking up at me."
The giggling girl was irresistibly cute, but there was one thing that wasn't funny. Apparently, the one who made this smile was me, but "Leonardo."
I knew that "Leonardo" was also me, but since I also thought of myself as "Theo" now, it didn't feel right, as if another man was making the girl smile.
While I was in a state where I couldn't even speak properly due to nervousness in front of the "Owl Spirit," this girl was apparently not like that. With natural gestures and a natural voice, she welcomed me and smiled at me.
I was the only one conscious of the opposite sex. For some reason, that wasn't funny.
"...I am 'Theo'. Who are you confusing me with?"
"That's true. You were 'Theo' now. ...Theodore-sama?"
Feeling somewhat strange, after laughing for a while, the girl introduced herself as "Christina." She said that although her name was Christina, she used to be called "Tina."
"...I'm sorry for saying 'die' before, Theo."
But Christina frowned, saying she wouldn't forgive the fact that I pushed her into the river first. She apologized for her own faults, but said I was also in the wrong.
"I'm sorry for pushing you into the river. And..."
I forgave Christina's verbal abuse for apologizing. That's what I wanted to convey, but the words that came out of my mouth were again the proposal, "Please marry me." Apparently, I really wanted to get my hands on this spirit princess. I wanted to hide her in a place where only I could meet her right now, without giving anyone an opening.
"Didn't you hear from someone? I have a fiancé."
"A fiancé is a fiancé. You're not husband and wife yet. There are plenty of openings..."
"Ah, then shall we break the engagement?"
Christina proposed breaking the engagement so casually to my insistence that I became suspicious. Had she been forced into a loveless engagement by her parents? While I began to rejoice inwardly that there was a chance for me, something bothered me strangely.
"Um... were you forced into an engagement with someone unpleasant?"
"No? That's not it. I made an engagement with someone I love, in a way that I pushed through."
At the words "someone I love," I felt as if cold water had been poured over my head. This beautiful girl already had a partner she loved and wanted to be engaged to. Was there really an opening for me, who appeared now?
...No, but? Since she went as far as to suggest breaking the engagement, maybe she actually regrets this engagement?
Which is it? My head was filled with questions. I had never been occupied by a single thought to the point of not knowing the answer before, but I realized that this is what it means for a person to become foolish when they fall in love. I wanted to get this girl more than anything, but I didn't want to do anything that would make her hate me. As long as I didn't know Christina's current feelings toward her fiancé, I couldn't say anything reckless.
"So, what will you do? Does Leonardo-san want to break the engagement with me?"
"...Huh?"
"You seem to have forgotten this too, but my fiancé is Leonardo-san."
Christina laughed, saying that being proposed to again by one's fiancé was quite an interesting experience. She said it would also be interesting to break the engagement once and then engage again.
"I haven't heard from anyone that I have a fiancé, or that I am the fiancé!?"
"Was it so obvious that everyone forgot to mention it?"
Christina tilted her head, saying it was strange, but there was no way Alfred would forget, so it must have been intentional. The royal family in the capital intentionally hid the fact that I was the fiancé and provoked me by saying the "Owl Spirit" had a fiancé.
I should have been depressed that I was played so perfectly, but the joy was greater than the embarrassment of being used as a toy. In other words, the "Owl Spirit" was my fiancé from the start. It meant there was no worry about being hated by the "Owl Spirit" who loved someone else, and no romantic rival to knock down. This was something to be happy about.
"So, since you seem to understand, I'll ask again, what will you do?"
Christina's slightly mischievous smile was hateful, but the answer coming from my mouth was decided. The engagement continues, and there's no way I'd break it.
My mouth, which was supposed to say that certainly, made a mistake for the third time. Please marry me, it said.
Tina "Being a prince is a minus point for me! (Smug face)"
Typos and omissions will be fixed at a later date.