Ch.114Smoothly (4)

It was a quiet afternoon.

A day no different from any other, just a bit chillier as winter was beginning, the kind of day for sipping a cup of tea.

Evan met with Chris alone for the first time in a while. Seeing him without his uniform since retirement felt somewhat awkward, but

unlike his usually serious expression, he was smiling broadly, which made Evan quietly smile in return.

“You look well.”

“I am. No worries to deal with anymore.”

Chris chuckled as he took a sip of his cooling tea.

Darjeeling tea—the sudden memory of a certain person made Chris smile as he looked at Evan.

That dark expression from when they first met had completely disappeared, replaced by a face that finally looked human.

What could have possibly changed his mindset that day?

Wondering about the complete transformation in Evan, Chris slowly opened his mouth.

“Since I’m retired now, I can ask—what made you change so suddenly?”

“Change suddenly?”

“If I remember correctly, you were pale-faced until you became a guard knight, but then one day your complexion suddenly improved. Before that, you were always snippy with Lize, but then you started walking around with a smile. I thought you were about to die.”

“That wasn’t being snippy, I was just not in a good mood back then… ah?”

Evan frowned slightly at the memory flashing through his mind.

He suddenly recalled memories he shouldn’t have been able to remember—memories from before his possession—allowing him to somewhat remember the time Chris was talking about.

But how did he know this?

As the memory resurfaced without any awkwardness, as if it had always been there, Evan gaped blankly, and Chris chuckled at his expression.

“Why are you making such a stupid face all of a sudden? If you don’t remember, just say so.”

“Yes… I don’t remember.”

Evan laughed awkwardly.

The sudden resurgence of memory fragments was confusing, but it wasn’t something to worry about right now.

Still, he couldn’t help but wonder why memories from before his possession were suddenly coming back to him.

As Evan fell silent in thought, Chris clicked his tongue, emptied his teacup, and leaned back in his chair, tilting his head back.

The cracking sound from his neck was slightly startling, but Evan felt mixed emotions, realizing he no longer needed to be greatly concerned about such things.

Should he be happy about this, or should he feel relieved?

During his days as a knight, when he always took care of his body, he would have tried to restore his physical condition somehow,

but now he simply accepted that his body was aging.

As the sunset gradually painted the sky,

Chris frowned at the white clouds passing through the red-colored sky and muttered quietly.

It felt like something was about to happen. Not necessarily something bad,

but his intuition told him something significant was coming, making him shudder slightly.

And shortly after, as the sunset gradually faded and the sky turned dark.

“Sir Knight! Sir Knight!”

Evan raised his head at the sound of Rofena calling urgently from a distance.

Since he was the only one who would be called “Sir Knight,”

Evan’s expression subtly changed when he confirmed it was Rofena’s face.

Unlike usual, she wore an extremely serious expression. Since this was the first time Evan had seen Rofena with such an expression,

when he asked her about it, Rofena stamped her feet anxiously and grabbed his wrist.

“Chris can come a bit later. You need to come quickly! It’s about the young lady!”

“Did something happen? Explain first.”

“No, I can’t explain here. Come quickly.”

What could have happened so suddenly?

Led by Rofena’s hand to a deserted corridor, Evan spoke to Rofena, who was fidgeting and looking at him.

“You said it’s about the young lady, so why are we—”

“I think the young lady is pregnant.”

“…What?”

For a moment, doubting his ears, Evan let out a hollow laugh.

Pregnant? That would mean he was going to be a father.

It had only been one night.

Just one night where they had confirmed their feelings for each other, with a bit of courage borrowed from alcohol.

How could she be pregnant from that one time? But despite Evan’s laughter, Rofena’s expression didn’t change.

Instead, she firmly held Evan’s hand and spoke with an even more serious expression.

“…Be by the young lady’s side. This isn’t a joke.”

Is this what it feels like when the whole world turns white?

Leaning blankly against the wall, wiping his face, Evan came to his senses and began running toward Airin’s room.

#

“Airin!”

When Evan urgently opened the door, he saw Airin looking at him with a faint smile.

Not showing any sign of panic or distress.

With the same expression as always, Airin quietly smiled at Evan.

“You’re here?”

“I—no, I… I heard from Rofena. Is it true?”

“Well, we’ll probably need a doctor to confirm, but I think it’s likely true.”

Airin’s hand rested on her belly, which hadn’t yet begun to swell.

Pregnancy—he had never seriously thought about such a thing before.

Airin was equally dazed by the sudden conception.

How many people in the world could immediately grasp the reality that life had taken root inside them?

Rather, it was Evan who was more shocked,

and seeing his reaction, Airin chuckled and sat on the bed, patting the space beside her.

“Come sit here. We have a lot to talk about.”

“Are you alright? I… I should have been more careful.”

“Why are you apologizing to me? I’m the one who kept you from sleeping when you wanted to rest.”

Evan stiffened at those words, and looking at Airin, he slowly sat down beside her.

He didn’t know what to say. Should he be happy about this sudden connection,

or what should he do? He had no idea.

Evan placed his hand on Airin’s belly and quietly held his breath.

“It hasn’t swelled yet. If I got pregnant then… it’s only been about a month.”

“……”

Looking blankly at his powerless palm, Evan recalled the past.

Specifically, the father figure he had experienced throughout his life.

He wasn’t a good person. No, he was a terrible father by anyone’s standards.

His father was a wretched man.

After discovering his talent for piano, he even prevented him from meeting his younger sibling,

confining him to a world of music with only the piano in his mind.

Having never received love, he resolved not to be like that.

He vowed not to live like his father, and instead poured out the love he never received onto his younger sibling.

But as time passed, his world changed.

He fell in love with a woman named Airin, and now he was about to become a father.

Father. Evan was afraid. Afraid that he might become like his own father.

He feared this nameless blessing that had come without giving him time to prepare.

Had he placed too great a burden on Airin? Why hadn’t he noticed this sooner?

He felt nothing but contempt for himself. His trembling finger touched his eye.

Slowly, with a cold breath, his descending hand turned pale.

“Airin.”

Even as he tried to continue speaking, he couldn’t.

Words that had risen to his throat got caught in his chest and wouldn’t come out.

His gaping mouth moved, barely conveying that he had something to say.

Various emotions churned in his heart, and eventually, moisture began to appear in his trembling eyes.

He was happy. Despite his fear, how could he not be happy about this?

Although there was an instinctive fear stemming from his experience with his own father.

Evan felt joy in this. Could he be a good father?

And about Airin, the woman he was now responsible for—could he make her happy?

Amidst these questions, Evan finally managed a faint smile.

The responsibility weighing on his shoulders was much heavier than before,

and the thought of having impregnated Airin made Evan’s breath catch.

But even so, if there was one unchanging fact…

Evan acknowledged the emotion rising from a corner of his heart.

The feeling of happiness, at this moment. A happiness he had never felt before.

If Airin had been sad, it might have been different, but she too was quietly smiling while holding Evan’s hand.

When Evan raised his head, his eyes met Airin’s, who had been watching him all along.

Many thoughts flashed through his mind. The moment they first looked into each other’s eyes.

In this room, Evan had knelt, and Airin had looked down at him.

When had it begun? The moment he started following these green eyes.

Airin smiled and stroked Evan’s cheek.

The tears that had been flowing wet Evan’s cheek down to his neck, giving him quite a funny face, and he took her hand in his.

“Are you sad?”

“…How could I be?”

“Then why are you crying? It’s a happy day.”

Holding Airin’s hand, Evan wiped away the rest of his tears and quietly smiled.

If asked why he was crying, it was because his emotions were complex.

To be precise, he was crying simply because he was happy.

This reality, this fruition, tickled his heart.

Despite his upturned lips, his eyes kept getting moist.

It was an indescribable emotion, one he had never experienced before.

It was a good day. So good that he couldn’t express how good it was.

Nestled in Airin’s embrace, Evan listened to her heartbeat.

Thump—as the rhythmic sound reached Evan’s ears,

Evan looked at the ring on Airin’s finger through narrowed eyes.

He never thought he’d have to change it so soon. What would the craftsman who made the ring think?

Thinking of the word “marriage,” Evan smiled again in Airin’s embrace.

He didn’t want to say it right now. If the threat of extinction disappeared…

If everything peacefully returned to its place, he wanted to say it then.

He didn’t know how long it would take, but at least before the child in her womb was born.

“…It would be funny if I’m not actually pregnant. We’d just be getting excited over nothing.”

“That can’t be possible.”

If she weren’t pregnant, he wouldn’t have felt these emotions.

The certainty, the feelings he felt the moment he saw Airin,

the warm sensation still rising within him—they all stemmed from Airin’s pregnancy.

It was just a feeling, but Evan was certain. Their child, now “our” child, was in her womb.

Emerging from Airin’s embrace, Evan embraced her in return.

Patting her back, they felt each other’s warmth without words.

What was needed at this moment wasn’t any words but simply each other’s presence,

the fact that only the two of them existed in this small space.

Both Airin and Evan focused only on feeling each other, clearing their minds of distractions.

Airin was trembling too.

She knew best that her physical condition had changed in many ways recently.

She felt sorry for only now realizing something was in her womb,

but she didn’t think it was a mistake. Though it still didn’t feel real,

she could tell that the long thread of connection between Evan and Airin had finally thickened.

A thick red thread that could no longer be cut.

Was she the only one who felt reassured by this fact? The foreheads of the two who had stopped embracing touched slightly.

Listening to each other’s breathing, the hands on their chests felt each other’s pulse.

Their breaths touched. Warm, and sometimes cool.

When their noses bumped amid irregular breaths, they both smiled as if by agreement.

“I never thought… your promise to remain my guard knight for life would mean this.”

“Indeed.”

Looking into Evan’s eyes, Airin was suddenly reminded of last winter.

The memory of practicing smiling when he abruptly asked for a smile as a birthday gift.

The memory of scolding him when he was injured fighting a dark wizard. That winter when the first snow fell,

the memory of him saying he would remain by her side as her guard knight.

Evan recalled the same memories, and their eyes held the same scenery.

Their lips met gently and brushed past each other. A light touch, then their lips parted.

Holding each other’s chins gently, they pressed their foreheads together again, their hair brushing.

A rough sensation, their tightly closed eyes curved like crescent moons.

Their lips met a second time, a little more intensely than before.

When their lips, which had been together for a long time, parted with a trail of white saliva,

Airin smiled broadly and buried her face in Evan’s chest, her shoulders trembling.

A gust of wind carried white snowflakes. A cool breeze, the first snow of winter.

First, and first again. The first snow came a little earlier than four years ago, but

the two people who recalled the same memories remembered the excitement of that time.

The emotions they could feel because they hadn’t yet realized their feelings,

now as lovers. And recalling the slightly more sticky emotions they could feel in a relationship moving beyond that.

Their lips met a third time and didn’t part again.

Their tongues intertwined gently, connecting them. Their clasped hands interlocked,

their nails pressing so hard they turned white.

When their lips, which had been together for so long that nail marks remained on their hands, finally parted,

Evan and Airin looked at each other, breathing heavily.

“…I was thinking about your birthday present.”

At Airin’s words, Evan shrugged and replied.

“An unforgettable gift.”

“Forever?”

“…Forever.”

This moment would surely pass. Just as this moment of the first snow would eventually end,

someday it would remain in a corner of memory, mixing with other memories.

But later, he would remember that he could never forget his twentieth birthday.

Evan smiled faintly, his expression a little more relieved than before.

“But what should I call Evan now?”

“You mean how to address me?”

“Calling you ‘my love’ doesn’t seem right anymore, since we’re not simply lovers now.”

Meeting the gaze of Evan, who was staring at her, Airin eventually pretended to think deeply, placing a finger on her chin, and smiled broadly.

Then, cupping her slightly reddened cheeks with both hands, she carefully parted her lips while slightly avoiding Evan’s gaze.

“…Honey?”

As Evan gaped blankly, Airin twirled her white hair with her finger and spoke again.

Looking a bit embarrassed, her reddened cheeks were even redder than before.

“Should I call you… honey?”

Thump-thump-

Evan’s heart began to beat faster than ever before.

#

On the day of the first snow, news that the young mistress of Yuris was pregnant reached everyone’s ears except the Duke’s.

The doctor confirmed Airin’s pregnancy,

and mentioned the possibility of twins, making Evan’s face turn pale.

The maids envied Airin,

and the knights who were friends with Evan all scolded him.

In the end, everyone sincerely blessed the couple.

The blessing of new life, the finally realized connection between the two.

People were truly celebrating.