Episode 109 – Arrival
by Afuhfuihgs
*
Reading the letter Mella sent, I realized she was gradually approaching the truth about my identity.
But for some reason, I also felt like she would never reach the truth.
Looking at the contents of the letter, it seemed she had realized that the doctor and Baron Salvie were the same person, but she hadn’t realized that I was ‘Ed’ at all.
If she thought about who could possibly possess her divine power, she would quickly figure it out, but considering that I gained Mella’s divine power due to the typically impossible ‘death by holy sword,’ it wasn’t unreasonable for her not to recognize my identity.
Of course, that didn’t mean I wasn’t feeling unpleasant.
Had I become such a small fragment of a memory to Mella that I no longer even crossed her mind?
Or, conversely, was the loss she felt due to my death so great that she couldn’t even consider the possibility of me being alive?
I didn’t know the reason, but regardless of which was the cause of her not recognizing me, I felt quite displeased.
In fact, I could have just pretended not to know, as I had been doing.
Keeping my identity a secret from Mella until I killed Robin.
No matter how I thought about it, that was the safer and more correct decision.
No matter how deeply and sincerely Mella and I had shared emotions, she had already lived as Robin’s wife for several times longer than our dating period, so even if I revealed the truth about my death to Mella, she might end up siding with Robin and exposing my identity to her husband.
However, I eventually called Mella out and took off my mask in front of my false grave.
It was an impulsive action, but it wasn’t something I did without any thought or plan.
After all, I was no longer hiding my hostility towards Robin even under the guise of Baron Salvie, I had no intention of delaying my revenge on Robin any longer, and I also had faith that she wouldn’t reject me, who had helped her son and saved her daughter.
If Mella sided with Robin even after hearing the whole truth…
Well, I don’t really know what would happen.
Rather, I wanted to know too.
Whether all my lingering feelings for Mella had really disappeared, whether Mella had completely lost her feelings for me.
Whether it was Robin who separated us, or fate.
And, though it’s a bit childish and pathetic, who remained larger in Mella’s heart between Robin and me.
This was a kind of gamble, a test, and at the same time, an attempt to re-establish our relationship that had been torn apart by external forces.
As Lara said, I became a strange person whenever I met Mella.
I became so emotionally overwhelmed that I couldn’t think straight, and recently, conversely, I became blocked off as if my emotions had disappeared.
The reason I break down whenever I stand before Mella is probably because she and I faced a separation against our will at a time when our love and feelings for each other were at their peak.
If Mella chooses Robin, only then will I be able to completely let go of Mella in my heart.
Even if it involves some risk, if I can completely cut out my feelings for Mella, wouldn’t that be something worth trying?
That’s what I thought.
[…Hehehe, ]
[…]
‘Why.’
[It’s funny. Ed.]
‘What’s so funny?’
[If she chooses that hero, as you say, it will be a farewell, and she will become your enemy.]
‘…Yeah, I guess so.’
[But, what if she chooses you instead?]
‘…What?’
[I didn’t know. I was deceived. It wasn’t my intention. If she says that while grabbing onto your pant leg, what are you going to do, Ed?]
[St, stop…]
‘…’
[Are you going to take her back? Are you even going to be lovers with her again? Her, who has a child with the man who killed you?]
[…St, stop it. Please.]
‘…’
I couldn’t say anything to Ulgaros’s point.
If Mella chooses me, will I be able to take her back?
My answer was ‘I can’t.’
‘Just seeing you is enough to hurt me. And Mella will feel the same way.’
Those words I spat out to Lara were not a lie.
No matter how much I love Mella, and no matter how much Mella misses me, we can never be the same lovers we were before.
Then why am I doing all this?
I know best that I can’t be lovers with Mella again, so why am I taking such a dangerous gamble that she might side with me or with Robin?
Even though I won’t accept her even if she chooses me.
I was staring at Mella, trying to ignore the questions that filled my confused head.
Mella was frozen in place, like someone who had been frozen alive.
“Ed…?”
*
Eyes that shone with amber irises, a well-shaped nose, a mouth that used to wear a playful smile, hands that lived with various minor injuries and were covered in small scars.
Like a puzzle. Piece by piece, Ed’s appearance stuck to the image in her blurred memories, as if fitting the pieces together.
Eventually, Mella realized that Ed’s appearance in her memory, the one she last saw in front of the Demon King’s Castle, matched the Ed in front of her, and she opened her mouth.
“Ed… is it really… you?”
“…”
Mella thought she was dreaming, or seeing a ghost.
After all, it had been 20 years, and the place was in front of Ed’s grave in the cemetery.
Could it be that Ed’s vengeful spirit, unable to return to the embrace of the Goddess due to the funeral being held without a body, was wandering the afterlife and came to find me?
His appearance was the same as before, as if defying the passage of time, enough to make her think that.
Ed slowly opened his mouth.
“Long time no see, Mella. Did you miss me?”
“Ed…”
Like being released from bound chains, Mella approached Ed step by step.
It didn’t matter if it was a dream, it didn’t matter if it was a ghost.
She wanted to see Ed’s face, hidden in this darkness where there was no light except for the moonlight obscured by the cloudy clouds, in more detail.
Mella slowly approached Ed and caressed his cheek.
She felt the shape, tracing his face with her fingertips.
Mella’s hands, which were caressing Ed’s face, found their place as if they were familiar with it.
Oh my god.
It really was Ed.
No matter where she looked, no matter where she touched, he was definitely Ed.
“Ed!”
Mella hugged Ed tightly.
However, Ed blocked Mella’s shoulders with his hands, pushed her away, and slowly stepped back.
“…Ed?”
Mella was surprised by Ed’s actions and looked at his face.
She had never experienced him rejecting her even once.
Not even in her imagination.
Moreover, Ed’s face, which contained no expression, held a frighteningly cold look.
“Don’t come closer.”
“…Ed, E, Ed.”
Mella kept calling out Ed’s name, as if she had forgotten how to speak.
Ed stepped back, maintaining a distance of about two steps from Mella.
Mella opened and closed her mouth without saying anything.
It wasn’t that she had nothing to say, but rather that she felt like she had too much to say, so nothing could come out of her mouth.
Why did you die?
No, were you alive?
If so, why didn’t you show up all this time?
Where have you been all this time?
Why did you appear under the identity of Baron Salvie?
Why did you treat me like a stranger?
Then why are you taking off that mask now?
Why aren’t you hugging me?
Even though countless questions were filling her mouth, Ed, who was looking at Mella who was just moving her lips without knowing what to say first, slowly opened his mouth.
“It seems like you have a lot to say.”
Mella shook her head up and down vigorously.
Ed looked at Mella and slowly shook his head from side to side, saying.
“There won’t be a correct question among them.”
“…?”
Mella couldn’t understand Ed’s words.
No, she couldn’t understand this whole situation at all.
The fact that Baron Salvie was Ed, the fact that he was keeping her away.
None of it was something Mella had ever thought about.
Mella barely started to say his name, and words that weren’t his name.
“Ed, Ed… what do you mean?”
“…The correct question is this, Mella.”
Ed acted as if he couldn’t hear Mella’s words.
It was as if he was only saying what he wanted to say, no matter what Mella said.
At that moment, Mella felt a tingling sensation in her head.
Her breathing became rapid again.
It was like a sensation that passed by her just before the Demon King appeared on the day the party was defeated by the Demon King during the hero party days a long time ago.
It was this fear.
An instinctive fear that something big was about to happen.
She felt the fear that if Ed’s words continued like this, something irreversible would happen to her.
Before Mella could stop Ed, he pointed to his grave and opened his mouth.
“Who killed me.”
Mella flinched greatly at Ed’s words.
Because the past days of grieving over his death flashed by.
But at the same time, she also felt doubt at Ed’s question.
Who, well, that’s obviously…
“It wasn’t the Demon King who killed me.”
“…!”
Mella listened to Ed’s words with wide eyes.
Robin and Jennifer had clearly said that he had died together with the Demon King.
That he would sacrifice himself for the country and people he loved, and for Mella.
Please take care of Mella.
They had clearly said that was his last words.
But Ed was saying that it wasn’t the Demon King who killed him.
That was a very strange sentence to Mella.
First of all, if he was someone who had been killed, then what on earth was he in front of her now.
And if it wasn’t the Demon King, then who on earth killed him.
Ed said to the confused Mella with a cold expression.
“How was it, Mella, living in love with the man who killed me?”
It took Mella a little time to understand that sentence.
And finally.
Mella’s world collapsed.
“…Robin… killed Ed?”
Mella’s knees also crumbled.
.
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