117 – The Secret
It was definitely the voice of Diet.
“Again, once?”
Sophia and Leon looked at me, asking what the hell did that mean?
Reina also didn’t say anything, but her eyes asked me to teach her what it meant.
“… When I went back to my hometown, the head of Avatar, Dait Chernobog, came to visit me once.”
And I quietly explained what had happened.
Of course, I hid the fact that I wasn’t really ‘Ike Access’.
“He invited me to come over to Avatar, and I declined.”
“… If that’s true, I don’t know what the head of Avatar is thinking.”
Everyone expressed their doubts, but Dite continued speaking in an emotionless voice.
Dite still thinks that I have returned from the future to the past just like him.
In other words, he can’t understand the anguish I’ve been through.
But.
The choice is yours. If you want to come with the guys there, I will greet you with all my might as the head of Avatar.＞
As Dite said, there was something I wanted to ask him.
Date’s voice was not heard at the end of those words.
I looked around and everyone was staring at me.
“What do you plan to do, Ike?”
“… Do I have the right to choose?”
The opponent is Avatar, an organization that is bringing chaos to the empire.
Even if the head of such an organization asked someone to talk, there would be no reason to accept it from Leon’s point of view as the crown prince.
It’s been a long time since the situation that can be solved with such a thing has already passed.
Even so, as if Leon was entrusting it to me, he looked at me without saying anything.
“… Miss Sophia.”
“Yes, Prince Ike.”
“Could you heal my body enough to fight at least one more time?”
Of course, Dyt said he wanted to talk to me.
But my gut was screaming.
Even if I go looking for him alone, I’ll end up fighting him in the end.
“… All right.”
Sofia put her hand on my back again.
Then a warm light enveloped me, and the trembling of my whole body gradually stopped.
“From now on, I will forcibly cover all the wounds on Prince Ike’s muscles, bones, and magical passages with my magic power. Then you can move normally for a while.”
But, and Reina had her say.
“This is literally just a stopgap. After all, if I fight, my magic power that covered my wounds will slowly wear away. So, if you want to see the match, before all my magic power is gone. You know?”
“Okay.”
At the same time, Sophia removed her hand from my back and looked pretty tired.
“Miss Sophia, are you all right?”
“Ah, Lady Reina. Are you okay. I was a little tired after using a lot of mana at once….”
Originally, this would not be where I would go.
This is the part where Sophia and Leon should decorate the end of the story.
Nevertheless, I couldn’t let go of my personal greed.
“Ike. If you’re the head of Avatar, what would you take with you?”
Leon tapped the holy sword.
But I shook my head and said no.
“It’s okay. Last but not least, I want to decide on my own.”
I quietly took Neia out of the scabbard and looked at it.
A dance competition held in Heros five years ago.
The sword I obtained after reaching Vulcanus after reaching the finals.
Neia, a Hildegrim, a weapon that never breaks.
There hasn’t been a single day that I haven’t taken care of it just because it doesn’t break.
Even so, the training and battles she had been through so far must have been arduous, and Neia was much tougher than when she first received it.
But that’s the most convincing proof of what I’ve been working on so far.
If you leave them behind and move forward, winning will be absolutely impossible.
“Hmm.”
I tried slightly swinging Neia, but I didn’t feel her awkwardness at all.
Even the creaking sound that I had heard just a moment ago.
It must have been thanks to Sofia giving her all.
“Thank you, Miss Sophia.”
I bowed her head gently to Sofia, who was sitting down, and then looked over the dark aisle at her.
If I remember correctly, the huge door at the end of this passage.
Dite will be sitting on the throne in that room, waiting for you.
“I’ll be back.”
“Yes.”
“Never overdo it.”
And I called her for the last time, her.
“Raina, there is something I want to say for a moment.”
★
“Ha ha.”
After Ike and Raina completely disappeared from sight, Leon let out a sigh.
Leon also knew.
If you think about it rationally, there is no meaning in a situation where the head of Avatar and Ike are talking together.
But that’s meaningless for the Empire, and it’s definitely a different matter for Ike personally.
‘That I’m the only one who can understand your anguish and secrets.’
Leon remembered what Diet Chernobog had said earlier.
Leon knew long ago that Ike had a secret.
Surely, Leon expected that the reason Ike said he wanted to go alone this time was to settle it.
“It’s a pity that you confided that to us and didn’t hear back from us asking for help.”
Of course, there were questions.
Ike certainly wouldn’t have told Reina about the secret he was hiding, so why does the man who is the head of Avatar know about it?
Depending on the situation, it is a secret that the safety of the empire is at stake.
But Leon didn’t say anything about it.
For Ike, more than any doubts, he had firm faith as a close friend.
“… Hmm.”
After sitting down on the floor to rest, Leon stood still and looked at Rex, who closed her eyes.
The last thing we shared earlier.
Obviously, it was the sword he forcibly swung in order to block himself from an unstable position.
Even after shedding it, Leon’s right arm was still trembling non-stop.
To think he was receiving a heavier attack from the front for nearly 10 seconds.
“It’s hard to follow, really….”
It was natural for Leon to utter such a lament.
“Ha ha.”
After a long time, Leon quietly recalled the memory of that day.
‘I won, Reina.’
5 Years ago, Ike fought against himself in the finals of the dance competition held in Heros.
He eventually won the battle in which no one could see the odds, and raised the thumb of his right hand toward Reina.
It was definitely the most beautiful sight Leon had ever seen in his life.
Acknowledging one’s own weakness, accepting one’s disadvantages, but never giving up, the firm will was certainly beautiful enough to make one think it shined.
“So, never lose and come back, Ike.”
Leon thought there were no miracles in the world, and that thought hadn’t changed until now.
In other words, Ike’s path, starting from his socialite debut ball, has never been anything but miraculous.
It was definitely the fruit of my tireless efforts for precious relationships.
‘After all, imagining a future where everyone is happy is the best thing.’
“Because in such a future, you must exist as well.”
Saying that, Leon smiled.
★
“… Is it here?”
At the end of the passage we arrived at, a huge door was waiting for us.
Inscribed in the center of the door is a pattern of a snake and a thorny vine that strangles a lion.
It was the symbol of Avatar.
“Ike, are you really okay?”
She asked as if she was worried about Reina, who had followed her without saying anything until now.
Okay. Considering what Sophia said earlier, it was only natural.
“I’d be lying if I said it was okay, but this is definitely the last fight.”
But I couldn’t back down.
As Dait said earlier, I had something I wanted to ask him, and he must also have something he wanted to tell me.
“… Okay. Then what does it mean that you have something you want to talk about?”
Yes. I brought Reina here not because I wanted to be worried, but because there was something I wanted to say.
And it was a story about a secret that would destroy our relationship that we had built up until now.
‘How does it feel to be deceiving everyone around you?’
‘If what Your Highness said is true, you are Ike Axus, but you are not Ike Axus, are you?’
‘That I’m the only one who can understand your anguish and secrets.’
“Reina. Remember the story I told you last year?”
“A story from last year?”
“The story I told you on my birthday last year that I was lying about something very important.”
It’s scary.
It scares me that Raina might come to despise me after hearing that I’m not the real Ike Axus.
But if I keep hiding this fact, I’m sure they’ll consider my relationship with Reina fake.
And I hated that more than being scorned by Reina.
Rather than such a fake relationship, I wanted to build a real one even if we had to fight.
“I am.”
To tell the truth was such a scary thing.
“I….”
Okay. For the past five years, he has been fooling Reina and everyone.
It would be rather strange to be able to say anything while doing so.
“I am Ike Axus….”
“It’s okay, Ike.”
And Reina cut me off without hesitation.
“You said that at the time, right? Ike, I’m not disappointed in you no matter what. If you’ve been deceiving me, I’m sure there must be a reason.”
“No. I want to talk about that….”
“You saved me. You saved my wish. You saved Anna. You protected us when everyone was down. I convinced her father, and I won a duel with His Highness Leon. Even though it was difficult, I did not stop and worked hard…. And you said you would be my knight. Ike, you are my lifelong benefactor.”
“So, the story I want to tell is… !”
And the story that follows.
“Even if you are not Ike Axus, I like you.”
I stopped thinking.
★
If you ask me when I started noticing even a little bit, I would definitely answer from the very beginning.
If you don’t feel strange seeing Ike, who suddenly treats himself awkwardly, uses honorifics for servants, and starts reading without interest, that would be even more strange.
But, of course, I didn’t think it was someone else at first.
Just what happened? Because all I had was a question.
I wasn’t particularly sure.
It was only recently that the thought that it could just be that way passed by for a moment.
But what is that?
That doesn’t change the fact that he saved me.
The fact that I saved Anna, that I protected us, that I persuaded her father, and that I won a duel with Her Highness Leon will never change.
The fact that he worked hard for me is never a lie.
The promise he made when he was young must be something he doesn’t remember.
Nevertheless, he said he would be my knight.
Isn’t it rather strange to not like someone like that?
“I don’t like Ike Axus, the second son of the Duke of Axus. I like you standing here right now.”
“Why the hell….”
But he couldn’t believe it, and his eyes were still shaking.
Then I’ll have no choice but to show my heart.
“Ike.”
I waved at him and made him bow his neck slightly.
And then, gently grabbing his neck from behind, pulled him forward.
“What, Son?!”
As their bodies touched, their lips overlapped.
Because it was after a series of desperate fights, the appearance was a mess, the atmosphere was not good, and the scent of blood could be felt.
But none of that mattered.
The first thing I noticed was his lips.
“At this level, you can tell it’s not a lie, right?”
Because it was definitely softer than anything else.
“I like you.”
“Reina….”
“So I want you to tell me your real name.”
This was greed.
The greed that only I want to know his only secret.
And he nodded quietly.
“When everything is over this time, I will tell you no matter what.”
At some point, he was back with his usual eyes.
You feel relieved just by looking at them, and although they look blunt, their eyes are straight and friendly.
As expected, I really like him.
“Yeah, that’s enough.”
I was smiling involuntarily.
★
“As expected, you came alone.”
In the room, Diet sat alone on a huge throne.
“I think you want that.”
“Then have you thought about what I said earlier?”
“Are you referring to the story that only you can understand my secrets and anguish?”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry, but it’s declined. The reason I came alone is to ask questions.”
“… Good night. Then let’s start a conversation.”
Dait raised the corner of her mouth fiercely.
“Anything is fine.”