#087
Resentment was lodged in the eyes that looked at me.
But her words sounded different to me. Didn’t having nowhere to go mean she didn’t want to leave? Wasn’t she saying that because she couldn’t love him, she no longer felt meaning in life?
A sigh escaped. It seemed I had to persuade Celia too. It wasn’t that I didn’t feel like telling them to solve their romantic problems among themselves, but as always since coming to this world, I had no choice.
Considering the situation, drawing tears from Celia was the best approach. Given the mansion’s setting that was bringing in all sorts of fairy tales, and considering that a fairy tale similar to “The Snow Queen” was a likely hint, the point would be to move Celia emotionally and melt her frozen heart.
But the problem was that I wasn’t confident in storytelling to begin with, and I was currently quite emotionally numb to persuade someone emotionally. Most of all, wasn’t I in a state of having drunk a Tranquility Potion?
But I had to somehow squeeze out a story. First, this fairy tale book and the Desert Rose must have some special meaning. There must be a story containing the mansion owner’s true feelings that Celia didn’t know or had forgotten.
I searched my memory. Whether it was library materials, something I saw on community boards, or behind-the-scenes stories released by the game company, wasn’t there more to the story I heard in-game that I was just forgetting? They wouldn’t have given me a problem to solve that I didn’t know at all and could never solve.
Then one story came vaguely to mind. The strange thing was that this story didn’t seem to be something I had simply read somewhere or heard about. An image of Licht telling the story directly in a more ordinary, human-like appearance briefly flashed and disappeared.
What was this? Had I ever met Licht separately in the game? Was there a scene where I talked with Licht in a mini-game event?
I felt uneasy about the vague memory, but since time was pressing, I spoke to Celia again based on the story that came to mind.
“Celia. The mansion owner, that is, Licht loves you. That’s why he wanted to wake you up, and since there was no other way, he even asked me.”
“What does that have to do with him loving me? He just wants to send me back. No, whether he loves me or not, I’m not interested anymore.”
Is that the expression of someone who’s not interested?
I decided to ignore Celia’s reaction and continue the story. I held up “Desert Rose” to show her.
“Remember, Celia. You know what this fairy tale book is, right?”
She looked at the fairy tale book but soon turned her gaze away and answered indifferently.
“I know. It’s a book I read as study material to learn the letters of this region.”
“Do you know who translated this book?”
“Do I need to know that?”
“You do need to know. Try guessing.”
“Why on earth should I… Ah.”
She suddenly stopped speaking. Her eyes widened a little. I didn’t miss the hope that arose in those eyes. I nodded.
“That’s right. Licht translated it himself. From the day he proposed to you, he learned the desert language and translated it letter by letter directly for you. He also drew the illustrations and handcrafted the cover. This is the only one in the world, a book he made just for you.”
An expression of disbelief appeared on Celia’s face.
“But he never once said such things…”
“As you know, he’s a taciturn person. There’s no way he could say such things to your face.”
If it were Licht, he would have given it bluntly the night after the wedding ceremony, as if he had just picked it up somewhere.
“Such…”
A bit of warmth appeared in Celia’s eyes, but that light soon faded.
“I don’t know. Maybe he had some interest at first. It would have been intriguing for a desert woman to come to this cold snowy mountain. But that was really only for the very beginning. He’s someone who grew up lacking nothing, and he quickly got tired of new toys.”
He didn’t get tired. What did you say when you pretended to break ties, you bastard Licht?
It was increasingly becoming a point where I wanted to say ‘solve this through conversation among yourselves,’ but I firmly suppressed the sigh that wanted to escape. Come to think of it, I too was having misunderstandings that weren’t really misunderstandings with various NPCs including Carlisle. When people live, misunderstandings pile upon misunderstandings to create situations that absolutely cannot be resolved with words. How could I boldly tell Carlisle or Rosie that they were just NPCs and I was merely playing a game?
When I thought of the term NPC, I suddenly felt a strange sense of dissonance. Calling them, especially Carlisle, NPCs seemed newly strange and awkward. As the time I spent in this world grew longer, had I unknowingly forgotten that they were NPCs? Surely I wasn’t forgetting reality and melting into this world like this.
Apart from the cold, I felt slightly chilled.
‘At least I haven’t forgotten the goal of returning to reality…’
As my thoughts wandered, my heart became anxious again. Focusing on the quest and escaping this place first was the priority. I pushed away my impatient feelings and lifted up the terrarium pot.
“This Desert Rose is the same.”
The brilliantly bloomed flower was overflowing with vitality and sparkling like a jewel. Outside was the dead of winter, but inside the glass bottle was the middle of summer.
“This is a flower that only blooms in the desert. Even if you don’t want to return to the desert, you don’t hate everything about the desert. Your companion fox, this flower, and the ‘Desert Rose’ fairy tale book that contains all of that. Licht wanted to implement as many things you liked as possible here. So he tried for a long time to make this flower bloom here. Failing and failing and failing again, but never giving up.”
Licht’s image came to mind again. This time it was a more concrete and vivid memory. Licht, the farmer, was coming to me asking how to make the Desert Rose Selenium bloom even in the snowy mountains.
‘What is this? When, where, and how did this happen?’
But no matter how much I searched my memory, I couldn’t recall where such a thing had happened. If it was a scene I saw in the game, it would have been a 2D character, so no. If it was something I read on a message board, the scene couldn’t be this vivid.
Did I dream it? But why would I dream specifically about Licht and not some other NPC? What made it even stranger was that if this was true, it meant I had known how to make Selenium bloom from the beginning. I recalled the situation from a little while ago when my head was spinning remarkably fast. The fact that the word NPC felt awkward too.
Somehow I felt chilled.
‘Surely I’m not really melting into the game. Like I might become one of the NPCs someday…’
What nonsense. Am I crazy? There’s no way that could happen.
Maybe being caught up in this quest for so long was gradually causing confusion in my head. You know how it is. Like in hunter stories or ghost stories, there are dungeons that cause mental confusion – maybe this place was like that too.
Anyway, it was fortunate that the background story came clearly to mind. Whether it was true or not, the fact that such a story was injected into my head might itself be a hint. I had to solve this quickly and escape this dangerous place. My heart became urgent.
However, I couldn’t mess up the important parts just because of that. Suppressing my strangely pounding heart, I met Celia’s gaze and tried to convey Licht’s feelings with emphasis on each word.
“Finally a bud formed and Licht was delighted. You were very ill around that time and always bedridden, so he hoped that seeing this flower bloom might cheer you up. But on the morning the flower bloomed, Licht heard from your attending physician that you had no more hope here, that you could only survive by returning to the desert. So he agonized and suffered before finally recommending that you return. Since you stubbornly insisted you wouldn’t leave even if you died, he hid his anguish and deliberately acted cold.”
“……”
Celia finally stopped arguing. The coldness in her eyes gradually blurred. But she didn’t shed tears. She seemed to be holding them back firmly. I became impatient and urged internally.
No, Celia. Cry. Let out your emotions. People should know how to cry when emotions overflow.
“He merely hoped you would live, even from afar, rather than lose you forever. When you left the mansion and froze in the snowy mountains, he carried you back and froze himself and the entire mansion. He too couldn’t live in a world where you didn’t exist.”
I brought the glass pot close to her face and whispered carefully.
“Smell the fragrance, Celia. This is a flower that bloomed because Licht tended to it every single day thinking of you. I heard the flower’s meaning is a vow of eternal love. Remember your heart that loved him more than anything else. Your love wasn’t unrequited. Licht loved you as much as you loved him, no, even more.”
Her green eyes swelled up with moisture. And finally, the long-awaited tears overflowed and wet her cheeks. Once the tears started, they wouldn’t stop. Sobs leaked from her covered mouth and her delicate shoulders shook painfully.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
