Episode 121 – Unfamiliar Ceiling
by Afuhfuihgs
*
It’s an unfamiliar ceiling.
The moment I opened my eyes, I didn’t even have time to be surprised by the unfamiliar sight, as my head started to ache as if it were being hammered.
Helplessly succumbing to the pain I hadn’t felt in a while, I held my head and slowly sat up.
“Fucking hell, what the hell did I eat?”
Even while complaining like that, I smiled slightly.
Honestly, it wasn’t all that bad of a feeling.
When was the last time I felt a hangover?
It felt like meeting a mischievous friend I hadn’t seen in a long time but was still glad to see, and I even felt a deep sense of nostalgia.
Besides, it was the first time in my life that I had drunk until I lost my memory.
I muttered to myself in a parched voice.
“…I’m thirsty.”
I slowly looked around to assess the situation.
I don’t know where this is, but judging from the structure of the room, it must be an inn of some kind.
My guess is that Master-nim moved me here.
Trying to minimize the impact on my buzzing head, I slowly pulled back the blanket and got out of bed.
Even walking as carefully as possible, my head pounds with every step I take.
“Ugh, shit.”
Trying to find something to drink, I turned towards the window and flung open the wooden lattice window.
As the dark room brightened, the warm morning sunlight and slightly chilly dawn breeze splashed all over my face.
That wonderful feeling, both warm and cool.
The sensation gently soothed my mood, which was suffering from a terrible headache.
Tasting both the pain and joy that a human body can feel, I opened my mouth wide and tilted my head towards the blue sky, greedily inhaling the fresh air.
It was at that moment.
I heard someone opening my door and coming in.
“Are you awake?”
“…Master-nim?”
Deborah said that as she opened the door and came in.
I stared at her with wide eyes and turned my head to look at her.
In her hands, she held a tray with a brass cup steaming with vapor and a plate with rye bread on it.
“Good morning, Ed.”
“…G-Good morning…”
“You don’t feel well, do you? But it’s better to fill your stomach with something. I brought breakfast. Let’s eat together.”
Deborah put the tray on the bedside table and sat down on the bed.
Unlike her, who seemed nonchalant, I couldn’t hide my flustered expression and just kept opening and closing my mouth.
Snapping back to my senses at the sudden situation, I realized that I wasn’t wearing a top.
…Could it be?
…No way?
…Shit?
An unpleasant, very bad guess flashed through my mind.
Feeling my lips dry with tension, I asked Deborah very carefully.
“…Umm, excuse me, Master-nim?”
“Hmm?”
“By any chance, did we sleep together?”
Her appearance could only be explained by that, but I desperately hoped it wasn’t true and asked her.
Deborah looked at my face and then smiled.
“Oh my, you don’t remember.”
“No way… No, right?”
“That’s too much, Ed.”
“…Huh,”
Deborah, who had a slightly disappointed expression, looked at my dumb face and started laughing, spitting out saliva.
Soon, she burst into laughter, struggling to hold back her laughter as she began to explain what had happened yesterday.
*
Crying in Deborah’s arms, I began to contemplate.
There are such timings in life.
After a surge of intense emotions overwhelms your body and brain, causing you to pour out expressions of sincerity without even realizing it, there’s a time when the afterglow fades, your head cools down, and your heart calms down.
For example, when you suddenly calm down after being furiously angry and belatedly try to move on in a good way, or when you and a friend are laughing hysterically while looking at each other while sharing a funny story, and then gradually stop laughing awkwardly.
It’s that kind of timing when a bit of embarrassment and awkwardness creeps in.
I was facing just such a moment.
However, the difference from the examples above was that the size of the embarrassment and awkwardness could never be described as ‘slight’.
After leaning on Master-nim’s chest and bawling for a long time, even though I wasn’t drunk, as my tears gradually subsided, I couldn’t lift my head due to the overwhelming feeling of shame and remained in her arms.
Whether she knew my feelings or not, Master-nim slowly stroked my hair and said.
“…Ed,”
“…”
“You’re embarrassed, aren’t you.”
As expected of the Empire’s best swordswoman.
Her sharpness was worthy of a former knight commander.
Struck in a vital spot, I froze like a broken clock.
She gently tapped my head and said in a playful tone.
“Are you touched?”
“…”
“Or do you just like my embrace that much?”
I’m in a dilemma.
Judging from the burning sensation in my ears, my entire face must have been bright red, so I couldn’t rashly lift my head, nor could I keep my head buried in her arms.
After a fierce deliberation, I slowly lowered my head and gradually moved away from her arms.
“Even your ears are red, oh my, how embarrassing.”
“…It’s because of the alcohol.”
“You only drank one glass of lime beer, and that was an hour ago.”
“I guess I’m just weak to alcohol.”
“Uh, um, uh…”
Like an idiot, I stammered and slowly lifted my head to glance at Deborah’s face.
It seemed that Master-nim had been looking down at my face all along.
My gaze met hers in the air.
Deborah’s deep eyes reflected my amber eyes and curved like the moon.
“…Hehe,”
Only then was I able to properly see her face.
Her face was also flushed red.
Well, I did too, but she also fearlessly blurted out words that were nothing short of embarrassing.
200 years this and that, I’ll always be by your side this and that,
Looking back now, they were words that I couldn’t say sober, almost like a love confession.
I barely regained my composure and said.
“You seem embarrassed?”
“I’m drunk, okay? Unlike you, for real.”
“…Ah, damn it.”
That’s right, Master-nim had been drinking one after another as soon as she arrived.
In the end, I was the only one making a fool of myself while sober.
Deborah chuckled and ruffled my hair.
It might be unpleasant to be treated like a child, but for some reason, her touch didn’t feel unpleasant at all.
I turned my head away from her gaze and reached out to pick up the bottle of alcohol on the table.
Deborah went back to her chair, picked up her glass, poured the whiskey inside onto the floor, and said.
“Pour me a drink.”
I filled Master-nim’s glass and clinked her glass against the bottle.
I looked at her and brought the bottle to my mouth, taking a swig.
Deborah smiled and emptied her glass into her mouth, then got up from her seat, threw a few coins on the empty counter, and came back with four or five more bottles.
We shared many stories that had been building up over time.
We laughed together, got angry, and then cried again.
In the meantime, my memory was cut off somewhere.
*
It was clearly a sunny day when it started, but the scenery outside the window had become so dark that you couldn’t see an inch ahead.
More than 10 bottles of wine and whiskey were scattered around the table where Ed and Deborah were sitting, and two bottles of wine were lying on the table as well.
A rolling wine bottle stopped when it touched Ed’s black hair, who had collapsed with his forehead on the table.
Deborah, who was watching Ed muttering something incomprehensible, chuckled and slowly shook her head.
“Oh my, what is all this?”
The old bartender, who had been playing cards at the table in the next room until now, looked at Deborah and Ed’s table and said with a startled expression.
He looked back and forth between the bottles scattered on the floor and the coins piled up on the counter, then pulled the coins with his hand as if sweeping up poker chips and put them in his pocket, then spoke to Deborah, who was drinking water.
“You drank a lot more than usual today.”
“There’s one more person now.”
“Even considering that, it seems like you drank a lot more than usual.”
At the bartender’s words, Deborah looked around her and nodded.
“…I guess so.”
“It looks good.”
“…What does?”
Deborah slowly put down her water glass and asked.
At her question, the bartender said as he organized the cupboard from which she had taken the alcohol without permission.
“Well, there are more than one or two people in this neighborhood who drink until they’re drunk, but it’s been a long time since I’ve seen this kind of sight.”
“What do you mean by this kind of sight?”
“Young lovers, I mean.”
Deborah squinted at the bartender’s words as he smiled contentedly and fiddled with the coins in his pocket, then looked at Ed and said.
+”Ha, is that how it looks?”
“Oh, I’m sorry if that’s not the case.”
Deborah shook her head.
“It’s okay, I’m not angry.”
“It’s a rare atmosphere in a bar in a town full of sadness, so I thought you were lovers, but well, at least it seems like something good happened.”
Deborah twitched her lips at the bartender’s words and then immediately closed her mouth.
Something good.
She almost said that.
Of course, Deborah was very happy today.
Not just today, but ever since she found out that Ed had returned alive, even though he was a demon’s body, she had always been happy and grateful.
But at the same time, the many things that Ed had to go through, and is going through now, were making Deborah hesitate to express her joy.
It’s definitely a very good thing for me that Ed came back, but can I say the same for Ed?
No matter how much it’s for revenge, Deborah hesitated to think so easily when she thought of Ed’s appearance, torn to shreds so that his heart was tattered.
Ed’s heart was wearing out quickly.
By the time the revenge is all over, it might all be worn away.
The empty expression she saw during the day painfully tickled Deborah’s heart.
Maybe Ellie felt the same way and arranged this meeting out of consideration.
Deborah stroked the top of Ed’s head in front of her and said.
“…I’ll have to try to make it a good thing.”
Deborah staggered and slowly grabbed the armrest of the chair and stood up.
She hadn’t lost consciousness like Ed, but she was so drunk that she couldn’t stand properly.
Deborah glared and slapped her cheeks to come to her senses, then slowly staggered to Ed’s side, grabbed his shoulder, and shook him.
“Ed, wake up.”
“Ugh, Master-nim…”
Ed only turned his head to the side while lying on the table and looked at Deborah through his fallen bangs.
Seeing his bloodshot eyes, Deborah felt a sense of pity, but she ignored it and said.
“Yes, it’s me. Get up. Quickly.”
“Where are you going…”
“We have to go back.”
“Where to.”
“To where you should be,”
Ed was silent for a moment at Deborah’s words, then started laughing emptily, hehe.
“…Heh, haha. I have nothing.”
“What are you talking about, you have a mansion. This bastard, I’ve been working my whole life and haven’t been able to get a mansion like that.”
“I don’t. I have nowhere to go.”
“…”
“Nowhere. Except for Master-nim.”
Deborah sighed and lifted Ed’s arm to wrap it around her neck.
The bartender approached Deborah and said.
“Can I help you?”
“It’s okay. Don’t hurt your back for nothing, I’m leaving now.”
“Yes, please go in.”
Deborah took a short breath and pulled Ed out of the chair.
Ed hung limply on Deborah’s neck like a piece of laundry and stood up.
“Oh, oh.”
Deborah almost fell over on the spot due to Ed’s weight.
She was also already drunk, so she couldn’t possibly take Ed to that mansion.
Deborah supported Ed and barely stood in place, then slowly turned her gaze to look around.
Finding the stairs leading to the second floor, she asked the bartender.
“The second floor here…”
The bartender nodded before Deborah could finish her sentence and said.
“Yes, we also run an inn.”
“Oh, that’s good.”
“How many rooms should I prepare?”
“…”
Deborah looked back and forth between the stairs leading to the second floor and Ed’s face without saying a word.
No sound could be heard from the second floor, and Ed already had his eyes closed.
Deborah readjusted Ed’s arm and said.
“One.”
.
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