episode_0030

“Rai seems to truly cherish this village.” Killua, who had been staring at her reflection in the glass of alcohol I had filled for her, slowly began to speak.

“Rai really likes me, but… she said she doesn’t want the village to be harmed because of her own personal desires.”

Killua, as if apologizing for her slip of the tongue, candidly explained the conversation she had with Rai.

“Why would Rai and Killua-nim becoming lovers harm the village?” Filling my own glass with alcohol, I took a light sip and asked.

Then Killua, as if imitating me, brought her glass to her lips, tilted it slightly, and took a mouthful of alcohol before answering my question.

“Rai thinks I’m a very high-ranking noble. Among nobles, all sorts of conspiracies and secrets circulate. She seems worried that if she, a mere commoner, were to be involved with me, it might lead to trouble later.”

The night Rai cured Killua of the slime’s poison, Rai had frankly told me why she couldn’t be with Killua.

Sure enough, Rai seemed to have been trying to avoid being with Killua for the reason she told me then.

“But…”

Based on Killua’s words so far, it seemed their relationship had ended due to Rai’s insistence on prioritizing the village’s safety. However, there was one fact that didn’t make sense.

But before I could ask the question, a stifling frustration, as if a large sweet potato was stuck in my throat, forced me to drain the rest of the alcohol in my glass.

“Hmph…”

Feeling the warm flush of intoxication rising in my throat, I let out a small sigh. Gathering my unsettlingly swaying thoughts, I brought out the question that had choked me before.

“Why did you try to kiss her?”

The fact that didn’t make sense to me was Killua’s attempt to kiss Rai first.

Fortunately, Rai had gently embraced her, as if softly refusing the kiss.

“……”

Hearing my question, Killua remained silent, but a distinct blush began to spread across her cheeks under the soft moonlight.

As if to hide her embarrassment, she, just like me, powerfully drained the remaining alcohol in her glass.

“Hmph…”

And just like me, she exhaled the warm flush of intoxication rising from her throat, gathering her embarrassed feelings before giving an answer to my question.

“She said if I could just show proof that I’ve cut ties with the nobles… she would want to spend her whole life with me.”

“Ah… pardon?”

What came from her lips was an answer even more shocking than I had expected.

Promise a lifetime? That was practically a marriage proposal.

“She said that as much as I made a difficult decision and sacrificed everything… she would respect my decision and take responsibility for all of me.”

“No… no… a-are you serious?”

At the unbelievable and shocking truth, my lips and teeth trembled involuntarily, and my voice shook severely, showing my agitation.

Killua, perhaps lacking the courage to face me, simply lowered her head and tilted the bottle to fill her own glass.

“W-what… what did you answer… what was your answer?”

“You saw it all, didn’t you?”

After filling her glass, Killua set the bottle aside and changed the subject, seemingly too embarrassed to answer directly.

Could the attempt to kiss Rai have been a sign of acceptance for her proposal?

I had thought Killua might simply become one man’s lover.

But for her to be bound to Rai as a spouse? I hadn’t anticipated such a fact at all, nor had I even imagined it.

“Well… my sincerity must not have been conveyed properly, as I was rejected, but…”

Rai, however, had embraced her, as if gently refusing the kiss that would have signified acceptance of her proposal.

Yet, even though she had been rejected, the fact that she had taken action to accept Rai’s proposal was so shocking that I could only stare blankly at her, unable to utter a word.

“If it’s proof of cutting ties with the nobles… wouldn’t changing my hair color be enough?”

She had already made up her mind to accept Rai’s proposal, and was full of thoughts about preparing proof of severing ties with the nobles.

“You seem quite surprised too. Want another drink?”

Killua, perhaps feeling pity for me, as I just stared blankly at her without answering her question, offered another drink.

My lips were trembling so much that I couldn’t speak, so I merely lifted my shaking hand to my glass in lieu of an answer.

Killua, looking pitifully at my trembling glass, which shook like an aspen leaf, carefully filled it to the brim.

“Actually, I wanted to receive your congratulations…”

Killua spoke as if accepting Rai’s proposal and becoming spouses was already a foregone conclusion, and held out her glass towards me.

With still trembling hands, I clinked my glass against the one she offered.

“Co-congratulations…”

And, doing my best to ensure my tongue wasn’t bitten between my chattering teeth, I offered her congratulations that were almost forced.

“Thank you.”

At my nearly forced congratulations, Killua gave a wry smile and slowly tilted her glass.

Unlike her, feeling stifled and shaky inside, I quickly emptied the glass she had filled for me.

As the subtly potent and hot alcohol filled my stomach, I felt my wildly shaking heart slowly begin to settle.

“Wasn’t it too quick a decision?”

As my mind calmed, I worried about her in a composed voice.

Rai was certainly a good man.

He was well-regarded and loved in the village, and his character and abilities were impeccable.

However, Killua and Rai had only known each other for a mere four days.

Making a promise to spend a lifetime together based on such a short acquaintance seemed like too hasty a decision.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect a promise to take responsibility for my whole life… but the atmosphere made it a bit awkward to refuse, didn’t it?”

Belatedly, she admitted it was a mistake that she had been swept up in the moment and accepted Rai’s proposal.

“But after thinking about it a bit, it doesn’t seem so bad.”

However, she didn’t seem to regret the mistake.

With a relieved smile, as if she had set down a heavy burden, she caressed her shoulder, which was tightly wrapped in bandages.

“A life settled in a quiet village. My stubbornness to find the fragments was wrong, and your proposal, which I thought insignificant, was the right answer.”

Admitting her error calmly, she slightly furrowed her brow as if feeling pain from the shoulder she was caressing, then brought her glass to her lips again and spoke.

“You won. You defeated the White Sorceress, the greatest in the world.”

As if to swallow the pain in her shoulder, she poured the remaining alcohol from her glass into her mouth.

Killua admitted defeat, saying her judgment was wrong, but I wasn’t happy at all.

Instead, I felt a sense of crisis that the White Sorceress-nim, who had always seemed so great and brilliant, was slowly becoming someone similar to me.

“What color are you thinking of dyeing your hair?”

To change the uncomfortable topic of conversation, I asked, gazing at her hair, which shimmered with beautiful silver under the moonlight.

“Hmm… how about a safe blonde? Or a subtle brown would be nice too…”

At my question, she lightly brushed her hair with her hand.

The thought that I might never see her beautiful silver hair, flowing through her slender, delicate fingers, again filled my chest with a dull ache.

“Black hair… how about black hair?”

“Black hair?”

Killua looked at me with wide eyes, as if my suggestion was unexpected.

Black hair was a similar color to her beautiful eyes, which resembled delicately crafted obsidian.

“It would match Killua-nim’s pretty eyes well.”

Was the alcohol stronger than expected? Due to a slightly loosened tension, a word that should have only lingered in my mind slipped from my mouth.

“Oh… i-is that so?”

Killua, startled as if she was weak to direct compliments about her beauty, blushed and turned her head.

Flustered, she simply tilted the innocent alcohol bottle, filling her empty glass.

“Let’s stop drinking now.”

In the awkward silence, I stopped Killua’s hand as she tried to bring the glass she had filled for herself back to her lips.

The alcohol she had made from slime’s mucus was as fragrant as a forest, but beneath its aroma, it hid a considerably high alcohol content.

“Why? Do I look drunk?”

Killua raised the corner of her mouth, looking triumphantly at me, as if my action of blocking her glass was laughable.

“It’s much stronger than you think. The moment your tension relaxes, it’ll hit you hard.”

I smiled faintly with my eyes, met Killua’s gaze, and gave her a sincere warning born of experience.

“Heh… you seem awfully confident just because you beat me once, don’t you?”

Killua lightly shrugged her shoulders as if it were nothing.

Then she pushed away my arm that was blocking her hand, and defiantly poured the half-filled drink into her mouth.

“I can easily deal with this much intoxication!”

Draining her glass in one gulp, Killua smiled triumphantly, closed her eyes, focused her mind, and inhaled the cool night air deeply.

Back in her White Sorceress days, when she occasionally drank with her followers, she would close her eyes and lightly meditate to dispel the intoxication from potent alcohol.

It was a method of using the immense magical power flowing within her body to evaporate the alcohol, the cause of the intoxication, thus eliminating the drunkenness.

“Um… Killua-nim?”

But the current Killua was merely an ordinary girl, with not a speck of the immense magical power from those days remaining.

Belatedly, I tried to stop her pointless meditation.

“Ugh…”

But within seconds of closing her eyes and meditating, Killua’s intoxication surged instantly, and she collapsed onto the soft grass.

“Ugh… I’m dizzy…”

Was the soft, gentle feel of the cool grass in the night air pleasant?

The collapsed Killua didn’t even notice her clothes getting dirty, merely rubbing her body on the ground and mumbling about being dizzy.

“Killua-nim…”

I let out a sigh mixed with a faint laugh at her childish behavior, which was unfitting for someone known as the White Sorceress, and approached her as she lay collapsed on the ground.

“Whoosh!”

And I effortlessly lifted her light body into my arms.

Killua, without resistance, leaned her head against my chest and shifted her body slightly to find her most comfortable position.

“Thank you, Jazel.”

Having found her most comfortable position, Killua let out a groggy sigh, heavily laced with the smell of alcohol, and expressed her gratitude to me.

Her true feelings, with her reason blurred by pleasant intoxication, seemed to have spilled from her lips without her realizing.

I couldn’t deny that it was regrettable for her to be with Rai.

But the fact that Killua was genuinely grateful to me, someone insignificant and ordinary compared to her, was a small comfort.

“I’ll make you happy too, no matter what…”

She burrowed deeper into my embrace, seeking refuge from the cold night air, and promised my happiness in a small, fading voice.

“Yes. I believe you, Sorceress-nim.”

Unlike the villagers who treated me as if I didn’t exist in order to connect Killua and Rai, the White Sorceress-nim hadn’t forgotten me. Smiling faintly at this fact, I responded to her promise.