Episode 115 – Ellie,

*

Ellie was so shocked that she just stared blankly at Ed.

Ed didn’t just seem strange, it was closer to a complete breakdown of a part of his emotions.

How else could he bring about a situation where those two might meet?

Rumor had it that Mella, the former Saintess, had recently gone mad, and it was all over town.

Gossipers who were just talking shit were mostly saying it was because they were worried about Robin, who had been locked up in the Emperor’s castle for almost a week being interrogated.

Ellie had heard the rumors too, but she had been so busy in the castle with Robin’s investigation and interrogation that she hadn’t yet been able to uncover the truth about them.

But if the story Ed told about the two of them was true, she would definitely go crazy as the rumors said.

Besides, what about Lara? Lara had already been as crazy as Mella for a long time.

Just thinking about her fanatical obsession with Ed made Ellie’s hair stand on end.

In terms of actual combat power, Lara was second only to Robin in the Hero Party.

It was none other than Ed who held the reins of her madness, and this time he pulled those reins and sent her to Mella.

Even if he’s a guy who’s dense about romance, is it even possible that Ed doesn’t know the situation between the two of them?

It wasn’t that he didn’t know, it was closer to not caring.

“Ed…”

Ellie tried to say something to Ed, but stopped when she saw his dry expression.

Doesn’t care?

Is it okay to guess Ed’s mental state right now with such a simple expression?

Ed’s dry expression, beyond that skin, she felt a huge pain and regret swirling that she couldn’t even dare to fathom.

He didn’t break, destroy, or sink it.

He was broken, destroyed, and sunk.

Ed is a human, or rather, if he is any being with intelligence, he may just be covering a large pot with a lid, in which a huge vortex of emotions is boiling that he can never handle.

Doesn’t care?

Maybe so.

If so, he wouldn’t just be pretending not to know, he would be desperately turning away.

Ed said that he had been in this state since seeing Mella happily accompanying Robin on the day of the social gathering.

He calmly spat out that he had only now realized that Mella was no longer his lover, love, fiancée, or future wife, and it even sounded like there were chilling fingernail marks on his words.

Perhaps the name of those fingernail marks is despair.

Sometimes, nothing gives more fatal despair than a late realization in life.

In the face of the huge waves of ‘already happened’ and ‘past’, the weak human mind, which is just a raft, has no choice but to be overturned and shattered.

Sadly, Ed’s realization was correct.

No matter how much Ed struggles, no matter how much he gives Robin reasonable humiliation, despair, and revenge, his time with Mella will not return.

Even if he still loves Mella and embraces her, the fact that the person she loved with all her heart during her most brilliant days is not Ed will not change.

Ellie realized that Ed, who knew that obvious fact, chose to close the lid on his emotions instead of giving himself over to anger and massacring all of humanity, and she felt sorry for him, and at the same time, she truly loved him.

Ed was always like that.

He complained but never refused legitimate requests, and took responsibility when he had to clean up.

The amount of money he compensated the guards who were killed by Lara earlier far exceeded the level of normal consolation money.

He was like that with Mena, Banata, and even Tess, Robin’s daughter, making various excuses, but he couldn’t just leave people in pain.

Considering that Jennifer and Billard’s final appearances were horrific corpses that didn’t even have their shapes intact, his anger must have been absolutely enormous, but even while carrying out such a crazy, murderous revenge, he was struggling to stay within the lines.

Ellie felt that Ed’s actions were contradictory, but somehow she ended up cheering him on.

He never becomes a villain despite all that power and circumstances.

But on the other hand, the fact that the person who made Ed so obsessively try to stay within the lines was none other than Mella, Ed’s former lover and Saintess, was a tragically nasty irony.

“Ugh,”

Ellie clutched her chest, feeling suffocated.

Ed, as seen by Ellie, was basically an impulsive person.

The terrible torture he inflicted on the object of his revenge, using his healing powers until his anger was relieved, and the clash with Robin that he committed in front of the Emperor of the Empire, saying “Erai, I don’t care!”, were also like that.

But his impulses were not limited to destruction and murder.

Like most people who are not lacking in conscience and morality, it seemed that there was still an impulse towards salvation and atonement within him.

Now that everyone in this city knows about the existence of Baron Salvie, even though there is no need to do so anymore, he is spending a huge amount of money every day to provide free meals, and Ellie interpreted that even turning a blind eye to Daniel’s resurrection, albeit in a twisted form, was also in that context.

“Ed.”

“Why?”

“…”

Looking a little deeper, Ed’s actions were possible because he didn’t have a future in his sights.

He was as willing to destroy himself as he was to take revenge on Robin.

It was as if he firmly believed that he would not exist after this revenge was over.

“What is it? If you called me, say something.”

“Ah, that’s…”

Ellie started racking her brain with all her might.

Ellie had thought that it would be nice to have Ed by her side, but that was only because of his usefulness, trust, and other values.

But now, Ellie truly wanted him to be by her side from the bottom of her heart.

It was the same but completely different.

It wasn’t a wish with reasons like trust, assets, power, or safety.

She wanted to be with Ed.

No, even if she couldn’t be with him, she wanted him not to disappear after this revenge was over.

Ellie started racking her brain before she even figured out what her feelings were.

What could she hold onto to keep Ed in this world?

What could make him feel like he still belonged in the world when he woke up 20 years later and was lonely?

At that moment, Ellie looked to her side.

An idea flashed through Ellie’s mind, and she blurted it out without hesitation.

“Ed… I have a favor to ask, could you spend some time with Teacher?”

“What?”

Ed asked back in a bewildered tone at Ellie’s somewhat absurd words.

Deborah also looked at Ellie with a look that said, “What is this all about?”

“Your Highness,”

“I told you, you can just call me Ellie when we’re outside.”

“…Ellie, what are you talking about?”

“Yeah, what’s with that out of the blue? It’s not like you have something to order, but you’re telling us to spend time together.”

Ellie nodded.

The excuses were all made up.

“…Sorry, I’m suddenly asking you this, I know it’s not the situation, but I’ve been so busy preparing for the social gathering for the past few days, and then investigating Robin because of what happened before the social gathering even ended. Both me and Teacher.”

“Ah, it’s because of me… Sorry.”

“No, as a member of the Imperial Family, it was a good opportunity to mess with Robin as much as I wanted, so it was okay. More than that, I put so much effort into dressing up for the first time in a while. I want to take this opportunity to quietly wander around the city alone. And it’s also like giving my teacher some free time.”

“Your Highness… No, Ellie… Are you sure you’ll be okay? If something happens,”

“I’m a top graduate of Aureo Academy in my own way. Teacher knows better than anyone that I have the skills to handle city thugs with my eyes closed, right? Besides, Billard and Robin are gone, and the noble factions are so busy trying to get back in line with His Majesty the Emperor that no one has the余裕to threaten my safety.”

Ellie rattled off the words in a clear voice in an instant.

Deborah still looked at Ellie with a puzzled look, not knowing what she was thinking, but soon sighed.

She already knew from her experience that there was no way to logically explain her when she came out like this since she was young, and if Ellie started to whine, she would just hide with magic if she didn’t grant her request.

Besides, it was true that she had been having very busy days for the past week or so, so she also thought that it was natural for her to want to take a break, even for a short time.

At least Deborah felt that Ellie deserved a break, so she reluctantly nodded.

“Haa, then Ed, would you hang out with her for a while?”

“…Sure. From now until tonight, right?”

“Yeah, Robin will be out tomorrow, and after that, we might not have the luxury to rest like this again.”

“Yeah, well, you’re a person too. You have to have time to rest.”

“Talk to Deborah-sensei and decide how you’re going to treat Robin tomorrow and let her know. Then it’ll be delivered to me too.”

“Okay, I got it.”

Ed took a swig of the flat beer and got up from his seat.

Deborah also got up from her seat and said.

“I don’t know, but let’s just say I got a day off today. Good for you, Ed. I’ve wanted to have a drink with you for a while.”

“Alcohol?”

“Yeah. What kind of teacher doesn’t have a drink with their own student? It’s 20 years late, but it’s better late than never. Let’s go. Of course, you’re paying for the drinks, right?”

“Ha,”

Ellie felt a surge of joy as if she had proven that her idea was right when she saw Ed’s face with a small, hollow laugh.

Ellie waved her hand and said.

“Have a good time, both of you. Deborah-sensei, see you tomorrow morning.”

“Just in case, take care of yourself, Ellie-nim. Don’t follow strangers.”

“What do you think I am, a child?”

“Hehe,”

Deborah smiled faintly, bowed slightly to Ellie, and took Ed out of the bar.

Ellie waved her hand with a smile until the two disappeared from sight.

In Ellie’s heart, for some reason, a sense of pride spread, like a child who had picked up trash on the street.

Ellie muttered, clutching her slightly overwhelmed chest.

“I did the right thing, right? I think I did the right thing.”

Nostalgia for a place can be felt by visiting that place.

But how can you make someone feel nostalgia for a time that has passed?

The answer is a person who doesn’t change.

In general, a person who has spent a long time together, such as an old friend, parent, or family member, is the subject that helps to overcome nostalgia for time.

But Ed, who suddenly woke up 20 years later, had no one who had grown old with him.

Lara and Mella have already become different people after experiencing so many things in 20 years, so Ed may be lonely.

But at least as far as Ellie knows, Deborah was like that now as she was then, even though her position had changed.

She was a consistent person in a good way.

She might be able to comfort and heal Ed’s mind.

The smile she showed a little while ago proved it.

Throb.

“…?”

Ellie clutched her chest at the sudden, inexplicable chest pain.

What is it?

When she thought of Ed’s smile, she suddenly felt a tingling pressure inside her chest.

.