56
Cedric smiled brightly.
“Then I’ll change the question. Did you think about me yesterday?”
“……”
“I thought about you all day yesterday ‘too.'”
“……”
“I wish I appeared in your dreams at least.”
“……”
“How was it? Hmm?”
“I, I don’t know. I don’t remember dreaming or anything like that.”
He was chattering away close to me as if sharing secrets, perhaps because there were many listening ears around, and listening to it made my face feel like it might explode, so I was about to push him away when—
“Young master! All preparations for departure are complete!”
I heard Lionel’s shout directed at me.
“Ah, got it!”
Startled and flustered from being caught off guard, I answered loudly and quickly moved my steps.
Soon I could feel Cedric leisurely following behind me. It bothered me for no reason, but I deliberately didn’t look back.
‘…Phew.’
We’re not officially dating yet and don’t know when or what kind of ending we’ll reach—we’re in a very ambiguous relationship.
Because of that, Cedric and I had agreed not to tell anyone about our current relationship.
In other words, we’re secretly dating.
So because I was trying not to show it as much as possible, I ended up being even more conscious of other people’s gazes.
“Eddie, travel safely.”
“Yes.”
“Please take good care of my son, Lionel.”
“Don’t worry! We will devote our lives to escorting the young master and his friends on their journey.”
Lionel shouted with great confidence. Even so, my parents’ faces were full of worry as they sent me off.
I hugged Mother and Father once each, left a kiss on their cheeks as farewell, then stepped back.
“I’ll be back.”
Then I turned to look at Cedric and Riette…
‘Huh?’
The two people standing with their backs to me were quietly talking about something among themselves near the carriage, a few steps away.
What kind of conversation are they having without me?
As I approached closer, both of them turned to look at me at the same time as if they sensed my presence. Riette smiled as usual and spoke first.
“Eddie! Are you done with your farewells?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. Oh, and about riding in the carriage—you two should ride in the center carriage. I’m going to ride in the back carriage with the merchant group uncles.”
“Huh? Why?”
“I’ve become a bit interested in divine artifacts. The merchant group uncles know about that stuff well, so I want to ask them various things.”
…Since she says so, it’s not like I can say anything about it, but it is sudden.
I glanced at Cedric suspiciously and climbed into the center carriage. Cedric, who followed me into the carriage, sat in the seat across from me and closed the door. I watched him do this, and when it became quiet, I lowered my voice and asked.
“You… you didn’t already tell Ret, did you?”
“Tell her what?”
“About our relationship.”
“I haven’t told her about that yet. But she’s known that I like you for quite a while now.”
“I see… what? Really?”
Riette already knew that Cedric liked me?
“Yeah.”
“Si-since when exactly?”
My thought process stopped for a moment at this unexpected fact. I couldn’t even close my gaping mouth and just blinked. He, on the other hand, just answered with an indifferent face as if it was no big deal.
“Since before we met through Ret’s introduction.”
“……”
“I’ve liked you continuously since before then. Eddie.”
“……”
I wanted to respond with some words, but my throat felt completely blocked, so I ended up just moving my mouth several times before hanging my head low.
If all of that was true, then the Cedric existing before my eyes had never actually liked Riette, and had been looking only at me since so long ago that I couldn’t even remember.
‘…This is too different from the original story.’
Maybe this world is something like a ‘parallel world’ to the original.
Actually, I’d had this thought vaguely since Cedric said he didn’t like Riette… but I started thinking that hypothesis might really be true.
‘Haa, really. Why didn’t I know until now?’
That guy’s feelings toward me, I mean.
He’d been by my side the whole time.
I buried my face, hot as a fireball, in my palms. My heart was pounding as if it would jump out through my throat if I forced myself to speak.
I felt like I needed to calm down first.
“We’re departing!”
Then the coachman checked the front carriage with Lionel, the back carriage with the merchant group people and Riette, and the center carriage with Cedric and me, then shouted loudly.
It seemed all the members of our party had boarded the carriages.
I glanced out the window, wiped my face with my palms, and took a deep breath. I cleared my throat unnecessarily before finally lifting my head. Cedric was watching me, who couldn’t seem to stay still, while smiling faintly.
“…Why are you smiling?”
“Because I like that you’re being conscious of me.”
“……”
“That’s why I’m smiling.”
“Really.”
Every time he opens his mouth, it’s flirting.
[I really can’t stand watching this.]
Suddenly Prometil popped out and grumbled. When I thought that he was nitpicking every single flirtation per breath that Cedric took, a strange rebellious feeling bubbled up.
‘That could happen. Why are you suddenly popping out and saying such things? If you don’t like it, don’t watch. I never told you to watch.’
[Oh my. Sweetheart, you’re just like him.]
‘Wh-what am I…’
“What’s wrong?”
Cedric’s voice interrupted for a moment. My expression must have looked strange.
“No, the god suddenly started grumbling at me…”
“God?”
“This thing. Prometil.”
I shook the bracelet on my wrist to show him.
Cedric, who had been staring at it intently, asked.
“…Come to think of it, the god who chose you as an avatar was the god of wisdom, wasn’t it? Did you make a wish to that god?”
“No. He said something about being able to make me… a sage or something, but I’m not really interested in that kind of thing.”
“Good job. Try to keep doing that if possible. Even if you want something from that god, don’t ask for it, and don’t trust him too much either.”
“Why?”
“It varies depending on each god’s disposition, but… there are gods who pretend to be generous and grant what you want while simultaneously giving you despair. Since I don’t know much about that god called Prometil, I’m telling you to be careful.”
[Hmph. I’m different from those guys!]
Prometil, who had been grumbling about not being able to stand watching, was apparently still observing the situation and barked in a dissatisfied tone.
“He says he’s different from those kinds of guys.”
[That’s right! I’m different from guys like Jephs.]
“He says he’s different from gods like Jephs…”
[Where else would you find a god as human-friendly as me?]
When I spoke for him, Prometil got excited and chattered even more. But what kind of god is Jephs anyway?
“Do you happen to know what kind of god Jephs is?”
When I asked Cedric, he nodded.
“Yeah. The god I just mentioned as an example… the one who gave both the avatar’s wish and despair together—that’s Jephs.”
Hmm. So there are gods like that too.
“What kind of wish did that god grant and what despair did he give?”
“Instead of granting the wish to live an immortal life of eternal youth, the despair of being forgotten from the memories of everyone who knew that avatar.”
“……”
“Forgotten by parents, siblings, even loved ones.”
I unconsciously frowned.
Isn’t that just a living corpse?
“That’s cruel.”
“Right.”
Suddenly a small stone got caught in my heart.
“…But how do you know about that?”
The story of that person who was forgotten by everyone.
Cedric was silent for a long time, then mumbled evasively.
“I happened to find out somehow.”
“…Hmm.”
“Somehow,” he says. It seemed suspicious, but I decided not to pry further. He probably has circumstances he can’t talk about.
“You borrowing only books related to divine artifacts from the library last time too—you’ve been quite interested in this area.”
“Don’t get interested in such things.”
“Why?”
“Instead of spending time on that, pay more attention to me.”
[Here we go again.]
Prometil grumbled as if he was sick of it, and this time he really seemed to disappear. I couldn’t hear his voice anymore.
He was either closing his eyes and resting for a bit, or he said that and was actually secretly watching—I thought it was probably one of the two.
I continued my conversation with Cedric after that. Sometimes when we had nothing to say, we’d look out the window and enjoy comfortable silence, and when we thought of something to talk about, we’d strike up conversation.
How long had the carriage been running like that?
I yawned because sleepiness was starting to pour over me.
“Sleepy? Should I lend you my shoulder?”
“…Yeah.”
Around the time I brushed my heavy eyelids once, Cedric moved over to sit next to me. When our shoulders touched, I moved my body to find a comfortable position, then slowly leaned my head against him.
“Is this okay?”
“Mm-hmm. I’ll close my eyes for a bit.”
“Alright, sleep well.”
As I slowly closed my eyes, I felt Cedric’s hand stroking my bangs. Somehow I felt a deep sense of security and was in a good mood.
Thanks to that, when I opened my eyes again after sleeping deeply, Cedric was sleeping alongside me with his cheek resting against the top of my head.
“……”
If I move here, this guy will wake up too. My neck is a bit stiff, but I can endure that much.
‘…I should sleep a little more.’
So I pretended not to notice and closed my eyes again.
* * *
That early evening, our carriage stopped briefly at Sertin territory, which was in the middle of the westward road. There happened to be a large mansion owned by the Rosman family there, so we planned to stay overnight.
‘Is this the place?’
I lifted my head while getting my luggage out of the carriage. I could see the large mansion that appeared to be neatly and well-maintained.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
