episode_0231

Soft footfalls.

The place they stopped was directly beneath the radiant full moon.

Beautiful lights blossomed profusely, and all around, tree branches stretched out, all pointing to that very spot.

As if standing in a place praised by all of nature.

Marie and Ritsu held hands and looked at each other.

“……”

Few people paid attention to the two.

Everyone was playing, dancing, and chatting freely.

Marie thought it was fortunate.

Because she could focus solely on him, without minding their surroundings.

However, Ritsu looked around with a slightly anxious gaze.

Watching the people dancing joyfully, he asked,

“Marie. Do you happen to know how to dance?”

“Yes, I do. What about you, Ritsu Oppa?”

“Of course, I know to some extent, but…”

Ritsu recalled the baptismal ceremony he had ‘conducted’.

So he knew what preparations were needed for the baptismal ceremony, and what kind of dance was performed.

He knew it all.

Nevertheless, he didn’t seem very confident.

“I’m not sure if what I know is accurate.”

That baptismal ceremony wasn’t attended by this many people.

There were no Village Chief-nim or elders to explain the rituals in detail—

It was a baptismal ceremony with only two people.

Therefore, he couldn’t be sure if that baptismal ceremony had accurately followed the old customs.

Ritsu had made great efforts to follow the original baptismal ceremony.

He even sought advice from old residents still living in Teildon, and prepared as lavishly as possible based on Ruyef’s memories.

Though he had put so much care into finally holding this baptismal ceremony.

Even he couldn’t say it was ‘perfect’.

“It’s okay. Even if you don’t know.”

Marie whispered softly.

“Dance however you want. I’ll follow your lead.”

“…Is that okay?”

To his cautious question, she smiled faintly.

“Breezedon said it would follow new customs now, didn’t it? So… what if it’s a little different?”

As if entrusting her body.

Marie lightly placed her weight on Ritsu’s hand.

“There’s nothing wrong with it, is there?”

At her words, his dark eyes wavered greatly.

Soon, with eyes that understood the meaning, he firmly grasped Marie’s hand.

“You’re right.”

A soft whoosh.

He closed his eyes and took a breath.

Then, with difficulty, he stepped forward.

His heart, which had been rigidly frozen, began to move like that.

As his body began to move forward, Marie accepted it and took a step with him.

Soft footfalls. Soft footfalls.

Their clasped hands intertwined more strongly.

Their feet lightly followed the tips of each other’s toes.

He knew it in his mind, but moving according to those memories was a different story.

Ritsu simply followed his own feelings and danced however he wished.

With dance moves that anyone could see were clumsy.

However, Ruyef, watching from afar, and the other seated people, didn’t find their dance strange at all.

Because Marie was following by his side, beautifully adorning his awkward dance.

Her fluttering white dress swayed around his knees.

Her yellow hair, scattering like the Milky Way, guided the direction they would move.

It was by no means a flashy dance.

Compared to their surroundings, where people joyfully danced and pranced about, the two could be said to be as modest as reeds in a rye field.

However, the blue eyes facing them, and the dark eyes…

Were drawn more deeply to each other than anyone else present.

Ritsu’s movements gradually became more natural.

As his face became much more relaxed than before, this time Marie led the dance.

Though there was a slight height difference, they tightly grasped each other’s shoulders.

They stretched their clasped hands out towards the summit of Dragonez.

With fluttering smiles.

The two walked lightly and danced as if enjoying themselves.

Now, even without looking at each other’s feet, they moved in perfect sync, like musicians who had performed together for years.

The reason a man and woman who had just danced for the first time could do so was—

Perhaps it was because the trust they had built up during their long journey together had already connected them.

Soft footfalls. Soft footfalls.

When the dance, which had slowly grown more passionate, suddenly stopped.

Whoosh!

Marie’s blonde hair, too, spread widely across the night sky like the ruffles of her dress.

Held in Ritsu’s arms, Marie panted softly.

The baptismal dance had ended.

“……”

Ritsu said nothing.

Words of congratulations, or thanks for choosing him as a dance partner, were unnecessary.

So that Marie could fully feel this moment of holding his warm body.

So that she could hear the voices of celebration pouring in from all around.

So that she could be immersed in the embrace of the night, gifted by nature.

He was simply being considerate.

A time permitted to only one person for just one day in Dragonez.

Precisely because it was so short, it was fleetingly beautiful.

* * *

Ritsu and Marie sat side by side on a tree stump.

The baptismal ceremony was over, but the party was not.

Those who remained were eating and drinking, chatting, or spontaneously singing and dancing.

Ruyef, who had been overseeing the festival, also seemed to relax slightly as it neared its end, and was talking casually with Leonne, who had come from Teildon.

Ritsu, watching them from a distance, spoke quietly.

“It ended safely.”

“Yes.”

“By the way, Marie.”

He turned to Marie.

“It might be a little strange to ask now, but there’s something I’m curious about. Back then… why did you follow me?”

“……”

Marie, who was organizing her thoughts for a moment at the sudden question, lowered her gaze.

“Back then, Ritsu Oppa seemed to be struggling so much. So I went with you, thinking I should help.”

She said that and then raised her head to look at Ritsu again, but…

Ritsu was just staring at Marie, as if waiting for her to continue.

Marie must have known well by now that that alone wasn’t a sufficient answer.

“…Of course, I shouldn’t just say that. Hehe.”

“If it’s too much, just pretend I didn’t ask.”

“No, it’s okay. I’ll answer honestly.”

Marie smiled faintly.

“Actually… I’ve liked Ritsu Oppa for a very long time.”

Though she hadn’t said it aloud, everyone knew it from her actions all this time.

Marie liked Ritsu.

Otherwise, a girl wouldn’t have followed a man she didn’t care for to such an extent.

“But Ritsu Oppa and Tia Unnie, to me, seemed like a match made by the world itself. Oppa and Unnie always roamed the village together, but I had to stay home constantly due to my persistent illnesses. I didn’t feel any jealousy or anything like that. Tia Unnie was a wonderful Teacher-nim to me. So I truly wished for Oppa and Unnie to end up together.”

Marie, who had been calmly recounting the past, took a short breath.

“But one day, the Village Chief-nim called me separately.”

Ritsu’s eyes widened when someone completely unexpected was mentioned.

He doubted his ears and asked again.

“Village Chief-nim…? My father, you mean?”

Marie nodded.

“The Village Chief-nim asked about Tia Unnie. He asked me to visit every ten days to talk, so I told him everything I knew. He asked me to keep these meetings a secret, so I didn’t tell Oppa. And about a year later… which was shortly after Olivia Aunt gave birth. The Village Chief-nim asked if I could buy ‘ginger biscuits’ that Tia Unnie liked.”

Marie told Ruyef and had him buy the ginger biscuits.

However, all the ginger biscuits in Teildon were sold out, and Ruyef reportedly had no choice but to go to Fosao’s general store and buy one ginger biscuit.

Marie received the biscuit and delivered it to the Village Chief-nim.

“But he didn’t eat the ginger biscuit. He just fiddled with it a few times, then suddenly asked me if I could take good care of Ritsu Oppa. I didn’t understand what he meant, so I replied that it would be better to ask Tia Unnie about protecting Ritsu Oppa… But the Village Chief-nim just said that if Ritsu Oppa was in danger, problems would have already arisen for Tia Unnie too.”

“……”

“So I promised I would. Because I didn’t want to see Ritsu Oppa struggling, or hurt and in pain.”

And that was the very day Ritsu met Marie, who was eating the ginger biscuit.

The Village Chief-nim knew.

How the small mountain village of Breezedon would fare in the future, and what kind of raging storm these events would become when they spread into the world.

But he couldn’t stop it. The more he used his ‘power to see the past’ to see the future in more detail and try to stop it, the fiercer the winds blowing into Breezedon would become.

The very reason the Village Chief-nim was confined to this village in the first place was because of people who feared that power passed down through generations. So he had tried to protect the village without using his abilities.

However, the Village Chief-nim had made a very big mistake in the past.

Leaving his own son—Fosao—as he was.

By the time he realized that power had also been passed down to Fosao, the Village Chief-nim had already grown too old.

Ritsu, having heard the whole story, spoke with a choked voice.

“I’m sorry, Marie.”

“What? Why…?”

“My father, Fosao, Tia, and me. You were dragged into something that should have ended with us, even though you had nothing to do with it.”

“That’s not true.”

A light head gently rested on Ritsu’s shoulder.

Marie said, leaning against him,

“You don’t need to be sorry at all. These were all my choices. And…”

Her earlobes, visible within her fluttering blonde hair, turned red.

“Even if I hadn’t promised the Village Chief-nim. I would have followed Ritsu Oppa.”

Ritsu smiled.

“Yes, thank you.”

“I want to keep being with you. Even if it’s not as much as Tia Unnie…”

“No.”

His gentle voice held a brief firmness.

“Marie isn’t Tia’s substitute. You are ‘Marie’.”

With that, he gently stroked the small bird perched on his shoulder.

“And I too. The person I want by my side right now is…”

“……”

“Marie. It’s you.”

Perhaps.

I think it was from that time already.

To find me. From the moment that long journey began.

Though our purposes and hearts were different.

The direction we headed was always the same.

Ultimately, the person who stayed by Ritsu’s side was.

Not I, Tia—

But Marie.

“You know, after this baptismal ceremony ends…”

So, it’s true.

“Will you marry me?”

This was the natural order.

Ritsu and Marie.

The ending I, who wished for their true happiness, desired most.

And.

“…Yes. I’d like that.”

A destiny I could never reach.