kscans

Chapter 140 - Proof of Lost Love

Darius and Ariel stood outside, looking up at the tower.

Darius released the recognition-inhibiting magic, and a five-story tower materialized before them.

"...In the past, there was an incident that caused you to lose your memory. At that time, I think you hid documents on the fourth floor and cast the spell so it couldn’t be seen from the outside."

"The diary too?"

"Those documents are gone now, and you don’t need to hide the diary. It’s a precious memory for you, me, and Mireille."

Ariel squeezed Darius’s hand and didn’t let go. It was a way of seeking comfort she had never shown before. Perhaps she had been holding it all in for so long.

"...I don’t have to hide it?" Her expression relaxed with relief.

"I was excited about making a bed," she said, looking a little dejected.

"Let’s make it together."

"Really?" Her face brightened in an instant.

Just moments ago she had been tormented by her lack of memory, but now her eyes were sparkling as she talked about the bed. A room where the morning sun would stream through an open window, a fluffy duvet made of phoenix feathers. For the cloth, she was apparently torn between using silk from an Enchanting Butterfly or a Seductive Butterfly.

...That sounds like a rather suspicious bed.

"I mean... sounds like one could sleep well in it." Was it better not to object?

"You won’t be able to sleep! If we sleep together... huh?"

Ariel fell silent.

"It has a charm effect..." She was visibly crestfallen.

"I wonder if... I wanted to charm you."

"Why does that make you sad?"

"Because you shouldn’t change a person’s heart..."

Seeing her shoulders droop so pitifully was endearing. What, so something I said is still in a corner of her memory?

"But you can do whatever you want to me. It won’t have any effect."

"Really?"

"I was charmed by you long ago. Don’t worry."

"Was I... charmed by you too?"

"You may not have seemed confident, but I was always loved by you."

"...I see."

There was, however, something I had to confess.

The Ariel of the past rarely showed emotion unless I whispered words of love to her. Even when I told her I loved her, she would say she didn’t understand love. Or she would reply with "I love you" like a parrot, but her heart was hard to read. Like a fool, I thought our feelings weren’t mutual.

In the past, the young knights were targeted by the queen. I would drink the aphrodisiacs meant for them and flee, or use my defense magic to block the charm spells the queen cast. I helped them out of many a questionable perfumed situation. When ordered by the queen, the young knights couldn’t refuse. Leonhard, too, had come close to danger many times.

I protected them. Generally, these things could be repelled with defense magic. Or purified immediately. I had self-control. But it was a fact that I would feel a sense of arousal after protecting them. I would always return to my room and fly to Ariel’s side with the ring.

I could purify the drug, yet without saying so... I clung to her sympathy. And kind Ariel, to help me in my suffering, offered her purity.

After that, under the pretext of the queen’s actions, the act was repeated until she lost her memory. I continued to whisper "I love you," but she must have thought she was just reluctantly accepting me until the drug wore off.

So now, I decided, was the time to tell her.

"Ariel... actually."

But she tilted her head.

"In that case, I must have wished for it too."

"Why do you think so?"

"I’m good at purification magic. I often get food poisoning from monster meat!"

She said it with a smug look, and all Darius could do was stand there, dumbfounded.