kscans

Chapter 134 - The Right to Embrace

Darius gasped at the sight before him. He thought he was seeing a phantom.

"...Ariel?"

He wasn’t supposed to see her, yet he had wanted to. The conflicting desires clashed deep within his chest.

Standing there was, indeed, Ariel. Expressionless, speaking dispassionately. Their conversation didn’t connect. It was just like when they had first met.

Pain won out over joy. The girl from that time was no longer here.

She was supposed to be twenty eight, yet her heart remained that of a young girl. And... she did not remember him.

Adrian’s words cut through his heart. "Ariel would have been happy if she had never met you."

To think that she had been told such things her entire life, and that they had tormented her, felt like his chest was being torn apart. And yet, they had met again.

What’s more, she now held a bag stuffed full of the magic cores he desperately needed, casually saying "Here" as she tried to leave them behind.

This might be the last time.

Unconsciously, he found himself trying to hold on to her somehow. Amidst their disjointed conversation, I pulled a candy from my pocket. Maybe I could recreate that moment. If she licked it, maybe she would remember, even just a little.

But she knew what candy was. For some reason, she spoke of noble etiquette, her tone flat. There was no longer any way to retrace the past.

On the contrary, she peered into my face and said with concern.

"When someone says they’re okay, they’re not okay. It’s strange to be okay when you’re in pain."

Those words overlapped with the Ariel of the past, who had insisted she was okay even when she was cornered.

I should have been the one to tell her that she was not okay. And now, the Ariel of the present was speaking that very answer.

Tears welled up and wouldn’t stop.

"Why are you sad? Where does it hurt?" Though her face was blank, her voice was gentle. She hadn’t changed, even without her memories.

"...I was an acquaintance of yours, long ago. But I hurt you so much that you lost those memories. That’s why I don’t have the right to receive such kind words from you. That’s what makes me sad."

"An acquaintance?" Ariel fell silent as if in thought, staring at me. Then, she whispered.

"...I don’t know. But I forgive you."

"No, don’t forgive me. Please don’t forgive me." I desperately shook my head.

"This isn’t something that should be forgiven so easily."

"...Still, I forgive you." Her voice was unwavering.

I was at a loss for words.

"What’s your name?" As she asked, her gaze shifted elsewhere. She was captivated by the Moonshadow Wolf armor that Mireille had made.

I did not tell her my name. It would be better if she didn’t remember me.

"Mireille made that. I’m sure she’d be happy if you asked her how."

For the first time, she smiled.

"You know Mireille too? And Adrian? Leonhard? Eleonora-fujin?"

"...I know them. But I am hated by them all."

Ariel’s smile vanished, and she stared straight at me again. Then, with a soft sniffle, she drew closer.

Suddenly, she threw her arms around me.

My heart leaped.

"...What are you..." My body froze, unable to push her away.

"This scent... I like it."

"Eh...?"

"It’s a comforting scent. Everyone hates you because they don’t know this scent."

She hugged me tighter, burying her face in my chest. A memory surfaced of the end, when she was cornered, of how she had desperately wanted to be held again and again.

"Ariel, are you perhaps in some kind of pain too?"

"I don’t know. It’s just..."

In that moment, Ariel’s eyes softened and relaxed.

"...I feel safe, my strength is leaving me."

As she murmured those words, the strength drained from her body.

"Ariel...!" I hurriedly caught her, and in my arms, her lips moved faintly.

"...Da...rius."

I went rigid. She said... my name.

"If I rest... I’ll get better. Mana... empty."

And then, she quietly let go of her consciousness.