Chapter Three Hundred and Eighteen: Market Date After a Year 2
“Oh, this flavor might be my favorite… snow rabbit, I think. Here, say ahh.”
Julius blinked when Karen held out the skewered meat to him as a matter of course, but he took a bite without protest.
“ Ah, I want that too. That sandwich!”
“In that case, should we release our hands for a moment?”
“I’m not letting go.”
Karen gripped Julius’s hand tightly and firmly wove her fingers through his. No matter how sweaty her hands got this year, she had no intention of letting go. Karen’s resolve was absolute.
“If my hands are occupied with the grilled meat, then you can hold the sandwich, right, Julius?”
“That’s true—one of my hands is free.”
Julius used his free hand to purchase the sandwich. The woman at the stall noticed their joined hands and laughed a warm "my, my" as she handed it over. Julius put away his wallet, took the sandwich, and brought it to Karen’s lips first.
“Here, Karen.”
“Mm.”
Karen bit into it happily, and the flavor of salted fish and rich cheese spread across her tongue. Whether the bread had just been baked or the whole sandwich had been toasted, it was faintly warm, the cheese soft and melted.
“Mmm, it’s good.”
“It is.”
Julius ate from her half-finished piece and savored it with quiet appreciation.
The stalls had plenty of other tempting dishes lined up. Karen walked on with Julius, privately thinking about which one to split with him next.
Snow had piled up in great drifts here and there, and the people passing by looked thoroughly cold. But whether it was because her magical power had increased or because she was holding Julius’s hand, Karen didn’t feel the cold at all.
There was something else strange as well. Last year, she had heard people everywhere talking about seduction and schemes. Her hearing had only gotten sharper since then—and yet, this time, those kinds of voices were nowhere to be heard.
“…Could it be that people just haven’t recognized you, Julius?”
“Hm?”
Julius, who had food in his mouth and was too well-mannered to speak around it, tilted his head as he chewed. The gesture was endearing in spite of him being a grown man, and there was a small crumb at the corner of his mouth from eating with one hand—none of the charismatic aura of an ideal husband that the Karen of before had felt so keenly. Karen laughed softly, wiped the corner of his mouth with her finger, and silently concluded, ah, that’s why.
Once they had eaten their fill, they browsed the trinket stalls, watched a puppet show being performed in the square, and danced to the music of a traveling musician. During that part, Julius had held firmly onto Karen’s hand, making quite sure she didn’t wander off to dance with other men.
The happy time slipped by before they knew it. Karen and Julius eventually found their way to a gathering spot for couples—a plaza at the edge of the market. Unlike the lively, brightly lit market, it was a quiet and dim space with a few benches arranged as a resting area.
Karen and Julius sat down on a bench, naturally drawing close together.
“Brother Helfried and Sister-in-law Alise apparently walked through the New Year’s Festival market just like this before they were married.”
“Really!? That’s unexpected!”
Julius, seeming to see right through Karen’s unspoken thought—especially Helfried—added:
“From what I’ve heard, Sister-in-law Alise was the one who requested it.”
“Well, if she asked him, even Lord Helfried would go on a date.”
“Oh? Are you not going to call him ‘Brother’?”
“Oh, I forgot.”
Karen laughed for a while at the strange fate that had made Helfried her brother-in-law, then looked up at the sky. The dark winter sky of Ehlertt, viewed away from the lights of the market, was alive with brilliant stars.
It looked very much like the starry sky she had once looked up at from inside the dungeon. Perhaps it was actually the same sky.
“I was afraid for a very long time.”
Karen’s eyes went wide. Not because she was surprised by Julius’s fear—she felt as though she had known about it for a long time already. What surprised her was that Julius had spoken those words here, in a place as open as this.
“I think I spent many years performing the version of myself that was expected of me. Even after my father died, even after I grew stronger than him, even after I gained the power to clear the twentieth floor of the dungeon—some part of me still feared that if I failed to meet someone’s expectations, I would be thrown back into that Forest’s Edge dungeon. Even though no one could ever force that upon me anymore. At least, not anyone from Ehlertt.”
Karen made a quiet sweep of the area. Whether anyone was listening, she couldn’t tell.
Did the fact that Julius was speaking so openly mean that no one was eavesdropping?
—Or perhaps Julius no longer feared being exposed, nor anything else.
“The sight of you moving forward, when I had been unable to move for so long—it was so dazzling, and so beautiful… I found myself wanting to follow you, and before I knew it, I wanted to be closer to you than anyone else. Wanting to stay by your side was what finally let me move—and once I could move, I began to wish I could stay by your side forever.”
“That’s why I want to make the Philosopher’s Stone.”
Karen looked straight up at Julius as she spoke.
“Because I want to keep moving forward. Because you love me the way I am. Because you want to be with me as I am. Because I want to fulfill that wish of yours too. And—”
She paused for a moment, then held Julius’s gaze and said:
“Because I want to be with you, Julius.”
Her longing for alchemy and her feelings for Julius—two desires that had seemed to work against each other, that should have been obstacles to one another. Like two flames of different colors, they mingled and burned together in Karen’s eyes.
Looking down at her, Julius let a smile slip out that he could no longer suppress.
“—I love you, Karen. I love you with all my heart.”
Before Julius had even finished speaking, Karen wrapped her arms around his neck. Karen’s gaze seemed fixed on some distant place while remaining focused entirely on Julius at the same time.
A joyful smile spreading across his face, Julius closed his eyes to receive Karen’s kiss.
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