4. Chersha Kalua – (2)
***
Shining blond hair.
The straight features below it.
And her unique, deep blue eyes that caught her eyes as a child still seemed to shine brightly with that light.
Ed in his overalls, he looked so good in his own eyes that he would catch most eyes no matter where else he was.
That look was more like a man from a noble family than a knight.
The boy’s appearance in the memory … Was the figure of a man who far exceeded his own expectations.
“Let me introduce myself first. As you may already know, this is Ed Gleard.”
His voice, which was soft when he was young, has become a bit heavy.
The feeling of that time was definitely left behind, but it was a discreet tone that seemed to contain a sense of weight in it.
“Chersha… Kalua.”
“Please call me Plea!”
Even when he answered, his lips were not easily separated.
His body stiffened as if he were dealing with someone he had never seen before.
I certainly wouldn’t have done this when I was younger.
It was supposed to be just a light introduction, but my mouth was frozen and I couldn’t speak properly.
Would my attitude seem rude or strange? I was concerned about even the smallest things.
“Please take a seat.”
I slowly walk and take my seat, following his hand lightly guiding me to the table in the parlor.
Good.
“… ….”
“… ….”
Squeeze.
The image of Ed pouring tea into a prepared teacup.
Pleaa looked at her with a small admiration, then glanced at Chersha.
You can tell that he is hardened just by looking at his appearance.
It was the first time I saw it.
Anyone who was confident and presented himself with a dignified attitude anytime, anywhere.
As if he was constantly thinking about what to do with the current situation. She looked like a girl of that age.
I thought that Chersha would have prepared many of her words in preparation for the situation we would meet, but now that she was so stiff, Chersha’s unusual appearance was completely unexpected for her.
‘…Alternatively.’
How many times do you think you can become like that?
Her hands were neatly gathered under her table, hidden from Ed, but he knew that her lowered hands were trembling slightly.
Thinking small inside, Plea turned her gaze to the front and pursed her lips ahead of time. At least it was necessary to evoke this atmosphere.
“Thank you!”
“No. I hope the tea will fit her mouth.”
“Just by smelling the spreading scent, you can tell that the tea leaves are of good quality.”
The way she smiles at her own words and pours tea into her own cup.
It certainly did well.
She knew only that she was a knight and didn’t know much else, but she was pretty eye-catching looking just for the person she looked on the outside.
I just didn’t think Chersha-sama would react that way.
She must have something she doesn’t know, but since she doesn’t know it herself, she was even worried about how to choose a topic.
Chersha was cautious.
Simply reunion in this moment. She felt that if she wanted a private conversation, she wouldn’t have brought her along.
“How do you know Ed-sama and Chersha-sama!?”
That’s why Plea asked directly.
“How can Chersha…”
Chersha reacted noticeably to Ed’s hesitant words when he came to the title.
It’s like a reaction you would show when you hear something you don’t want to hear.
She knew that because Plea had been by Chersha’s side for a long time.
In her moment, Chersha, biting her lip and holding her own robe lightly, let out a small breath and licked her lips.
“Ed. Please don’t use honorifics about me. Just… Like before, like then. I want you to speak comfortably.”
At those words that contained Chersha’s will, Ed muttered a little as if to answer at the end.
“Just like before.”
And pierce Chersha as if meeting her gaze. Faced it.
“… ….”
“… ….”
They looked at each other and said nothing. Within a short time, Ed nodded momentarily and gave a small smile.
“Yes, okay.”
Looking at his blue eyes, he was confident.
Obviously he remembered it too.
Memories of his childhood, memories of himself… He hadn’t forgotten at all.
Just being sure of that removed a lot of the anxiety that had settled in his chest.
Ed changed his tone, took a moment to catch his breath, and spoke slowly.
“Chersha.”
She saw Ed calling himself Chersha… For a moment, Chersha couldn’t take her eyes off her.
I felt my heart lighten without even realizing it. He even felt as if the weight that had been weighing down his chest had disappeared.
Feeling that the atmosphere in the parlor had become lighter, Ed spoke first.
“Chersha. It’s been 8 years since we’ve been together, right?”
“Yes. It’s been eight years.”
Just by recognizing the fact that each other remembers each other, the atmosphere became much lighter.
At the words, it’s been 8 years, Plea looked at them in a daze. Obviously, Chersha-sama is 17 years old. Edd, the person she was talking to. She also seemed to be the same age as she was talking naturally, and she seemed to be talking about her childhood.
I thought there was a point of contact between them in childhood.
“Ed. Hey, do you remember Althea Nursery School?”
“If it’s Althea Nursery School, are you referring to the place where I was?”
“Yes, there. A lot has changed now, the building has become bigger, and there are more people inside.”
“That means Chersha. Still… You’re sponsoring an orphanage.”
“If you stop supporting me because you left. Wouldn’t that be just as strange?”
“What is that? Well, I’m not in your position, so I have nothing to say about that. One thing is for sure, the children at the orphanage will really appreciate you.”
“I’m not sponsoring you to hear those nasty things… you know that, Ed.”
…
…
“Hmm.”
Looking at the two men and women whose conversation had been interrupted by drinking tea at some point, Plea cautiously opened her mouth.
I kept thinking of the servant of the Glaad family who had opened the door earlier and disappeared.
“Would it have been better for me to step aside…?”
From noble mtl dot com.
Looking at them having a small conversation as if they were speechless at some point, he himself did not even think of interfering in the conversation, but now he opened his mouth.
“This. I must have been neglecting you too much.”
As if Ed belatedly realized his mistake, he looked at Plea and opened her mouth. Chersha nodded her head and said something unexpected.
“Plea. Why don’t we take a look at the Gleard family’s mansion for a while?”
“Is that so?”
Pleaa, delighted with Chersha’s words, nodded her head.
“Yes. It doesn’t take that long… No. It might take a little while.”
Flea took those words with a subtle meaning and slowly left the drawing room. Ed, who was looking at her, took a small breath and organized her thoughts.
To carry on a conversation by consciously choosing light topics only.
It felt more like Chersha and I than anything else.
The space in the drawing room where the magician named Plea left, leaving only the two of them.
That atmosphere is as if the light atmosphere from earlier was a lie. It was sinking deeper and deeper.
A deep, heavy silence enveloped Ed and Chersha, not enough to take over the space.
Took.
A situation in which they are just fiddling with the teacup placed in front of them without saying anything to each other. In a way, it seemed that they were afraid to break this silence, and maybe they wanted the other person to speak first.
“You know, Ed…”
And it was none other than Chersha who broke that silence.
“The words you gave me before you left the nursery school.”
“I still remember.”
It just ends with that word.
Chersha didn’t say anything further about the content, and she didn’t even rush Ed into answering what she said.
I just waited for Ed’s answer.
His words 8 years ago that he would become his own knight.
Simple, but not simple at all.
Ed’s sincerity and determination are contained in it, as it is dismissed as just childish words. Chersha she kept it in her own heart more than anyone else.
Because becoming a knight who makes a contract with a wizard had so many meanings in itself.
In fact, it was like a contract in which the magician who absolutely made a contract stood in the position of power.
No matter how much the wizard himself gives preferential treatment to knights with whom he has a contract, and even the imperial family recognizes that position.
In the end, it is to put one person under one’s own existence.
That’s it. It was that he would look only at himself for the rest of his life, and that he would dedicate his life itself to me.
A relationship that goes beyond a simple relationship between rulers and subjects.
That was the relationship between a knight who made a contract with a wizard.
Tick tock.
Tick tock.
Only the ticking of time echoed from the clock on one side of the wall of the living room through the thick silence.
“….”
Amidst the blank consciousness, he continued to be speechless.
A word that conveys the clear meaning of Chersha.
Even though she knew that he was asking about the idea of becoming her knight, she couldn’t help but open her mouth.
Didn’t she think about it several times and make up her mind recently?
I still couldn’t open my mouth.
My hands kept shaking.
A sense of denying one’s true nature.
I had to say the words of rejection out of my mouth, but it was as if my instincts refused.
“Chersha…”
And at the end of it, Ed was able to get his words out in a very deep, sunken tone.