kscans

Chapter 135 - A Kiss of Farewell, A Resisting Heart

Darius frantically pressed his ear to Ariel’s mouth. Faint breath. A pulse. But her body was cold.

"...Mana exhaustion?"

In the dark base, he couldn’t even see the color of her face. She might recover with sleep, but he should seek a doctor’s diagnosis.

His expression hardened as he went to the communications room to report to Adrian. Ariel has collapsed, he said. The reply came at once. I’m on my way to get her.

(...I won’t be able to see her anymore.)

A tightness gripped his chest, and he lowered his gaze.

He quickly lifted Ariel in his arms and carried her to the bed in the captain’s room she once used. The moment he tried to pull away, her hand gripped his clothes tightly.

"..."

It was a welcome thing, to be needed unconsciously. But now he couldn’t leave, which was a problem. Left with no choice, he did not lay her on the bed, but sat down and held her in his arms.

Her sleeping face was as peaceful as a child’s. One might believe she was still only in her early twenties. He made sure no one was around and gently pressed his lips to hers.

A kiss of farewell, trembling with guilt. He stroked her hair, touched her forehead, her cheek, simply confirming her warmth.

"...Goodbye, Ariel."

◇◇◇

The rescuers were quick. It took less than an hour. If one put up a monster ward and hurried, the base was close to Adrian’s territory.

Adrian and Leonhard arrived. The former’s face was twisted with anger, while the latter’s was colored with confusion.

Ariel still would not let go of Darius’s clothes. It took both of them to pry her fingers away so Leonhard could finally lift her into his arms.

"...When I returned, she was here, holding the magic cores," Darius explained succinctly.

"Hmph. Cedric came crying to me," Adrian said, throwing him a look of hatred.

"He said that even with two sons who have mana, they can’t match a single Ariel. The government is on the verge of collapse. ...That people are saying the former king was better."

"Darius, what do you plan to do now?" Leonhard asked.

"I won’t run. I can’t do as much as Ariel, but I’ll see this through to the end. ...Unlike you, I’m a man who couldn’t even protect a single woman. If the royal family sinks, I’ll sink with it."

He declared it resolutely, his gaze fixed on her sleeping face.

"I don’t know if it’s really mana exhaustion or something else... In any case, please have her seen to quickly."

Adrian turned on his heel with a look that said he wanted no part in this, and began to walk away with Leonhard. It was at that moment.

"No! I don’t want to!"

The sudden scream startled the three men. Ariel had woken up and was struggling desperately in Leonhard’s arms.

"Ariel...!" Darius called, and she ran straight to him, throwing her arms around him.

"Here... I’ll stay. It’s safe here. I’ll stay here..." With a trembling voice and hands that clung desperately, her warmth felt like it would tear his heart apart.

The three men stood there, dumbfounded. Ariel’s strength gave out again, and she fell asleep in Darius’s arms.

◇◇◇

In the end, Darius had to be the one to carry her to Adrian’s house. When they tried to separate them for treatment, she would search for Darius with a tearful face. Once they let her hold Darius’s hand and told her he was nearby, she finally calmed down.

The diagnosis was apparently mana exhaustion from using a massive amount of magic all at once.

As Darius supplied her with his own mana, the color returned to her face in an instant.

"I knew it, Master really does love you, Darius-san," Mireille murmured, and Eleonora nodded silently.

Like a chick searching for its parent, she sought him by instinct.

But what filled Darius’s chest was guilt. If he had never met her, she could have lived a much happier life, he thought. He had put her in a situation where she felt anxious without him by her side.

"...Adrian, I’ll ask you to have me removed from the ducal family register. But I cannot abandon my work in the Tree Sea. On top of that, if I can become just a man. If she would love me once more... I will propose."

As he spoke, gripping her sleeping hand, Adrian snorted.

"You idiot. You’ve finally made up your mind? In that case, I have a plan as well. ...Don’t you ever make Ariel cry again."

For just a fleeting moment, the corners of his mouth relaxed.