~Chapter 43~
Bella’s hair was a mess, split and frayed—probably from using cheap dye.
Her complexion was pale, her body frail.
Even though she had managed to open a small shop, she clearly wasn’t living in comfort.
Wanting to see more of what had changed, Armin took a step forward.
“Uh… Your Grace…”
“What is it?”
“As you know, I am… still a prisoner.”
“…”
“You promised a wish to whoever truthfully reported that woman’s whereabouts, didn’t you?”
“I did.”
Armin nodded carelessly.
“I’ll tell Beryl. After your pardon, you’ll also receive the bounty.”
“Thank you, Your Grace!”
But that didn’t mean Jacob was free yet. Negotiations with the lord still remained.
As the knights moved to drag him back, Jacob quickly called again:
“Y-Your Grace!”
“You still have something to say?”
“I was just curious… Why do you search for that woman so desperately? Was she a fraud after all?”
“…What?”
“I figured as much. She suddenly appeared one day and opened a shop. I wondered where she got that money without a man backing her. Guess she used her pretty face to seduce Your Grace, heh—”
Armin’s hand clamped around his throat, lifting him off the ground. Jacob kicked and clawed as his airway was crushed.
“What did you just call her?”
“Gghh… kuh… hhh—”
He clawed at Armin’s wrist, desperate for air.
Three years of war had hardened Armin into a ruthless warrior. Jacob could never hope to match that strength.
“You dare call my lady a fraud.”
My lady? What did that mean?
Jacob’s eyes bulged—then rolled back as Armin snapped his neck.
Thud.
Armin tossed the body aside.
“Your Grace.”
It was Beryl, Armin’s most trusted man and the commander of his knights.
“Did you find out?”
While the others followed Armin, Beryl had stayed to investigate Jacob.
If Jacob’s wish had been to go free, Armin had been willing to negotiate with the lord—as long as his crimes weren’t too severe.
Now it was meaningless.
“Yes. But…”
Beryl whispered the details in Armin’s ear—
how Jacob ended up imprisoned, and what he had done to Bella.
“…Too merciful a death.”
He ground his heel into the corpse, mercilessly.
Yet on his cold face was only faint regret—no hint of guilt.
“Dispose of it.”
As Armin turned away, some knights whispered uneasily.
“Is this really all right? Even if he was a prisoner…”
“This isn’t a battlefield.”
Beryl cut them off sharply.
“What are you talking about? Look at him—natural causes.”
For two years, he had stood at Armin’s side. He knew well how obsessively the duke clung to Bella—and how mad he’d become in the process.
Not long after becoming duke—
[If you insist, I’ll obey. But why must we find her?]
Beryl had once asked.
[She didn’t cheat you, and you said there’s no grudge. You only mentioned some old favor.]
[That’s right.]
[Does she even know you’re doing this?]
[…Probably not.]
[If I were her, I’d be terrified.]
[Stop with the cheap mind-reading. Just find her.]
[But you said she might not even be alive. Let’s build a memorial stone instead.]
[Shut up and find her!]
He knew.
That his obsession with Bella was unnatural.
Even he couldn’t explain why.
Was it gratitude?
Was it to ease his guilt?
As the years of searching stretched on, the fear of facing the truth grew heavier.
Yet the more he recalled their time together, the more every memory became precious—and he could not let her go.
Bella.
When he listened, he could hear the voice that had unchained him.
Bella.
When he closed his eyes, her face was carved into his mind.
The ache in his chest was unbearable.
He had avoided naming it, avoided facing it.
But when the shop door opened—
“Who’s—”
The truth he had put off could no longer be denied.
“Bella!”
He realized, finally, what he felt.
He had no choice—
Because the heart that had been dead
had started beating again.
He had imagined it countless times.
What you might say when we met again.
That you had waited for me.
That I was too late, and you resented me.
Or that it was all right, and you’d smile.
In all those dreams, you smiled or wept.
But never—
“Who… are you?”
Not this.
“You seem like a stranger.”
Her wide eyes stared into him.
He froze, as though denied the right to breathe.
“You… truly don’t remember me?”
“No. Not at all…”
Her bewildered look flipped his insides.
You don’t remember me?
His fists clenched with the urge to destroy everything in sight.
You had to remember.
You had given me peace, then abandoned me in a world without you.
You had to remember me.
Even if you hated me, you should at least recall my face.
When you told me your name, wasn’t it so I could find you again?
How could you forget?
He wanted to accuse her of lying—but her gaze was calm.
The only one shaken was him.
Her expression was that of a stranger.
A suffocating weight pressed on his chest.
Had she truly erased him?
“Ha… haha…”
It felt like his heart was being scraped raw.
Would tearing it out hurt less?
Sanity held only because his outstretched fingers touched her.
The warmth he thought lost two years ago.
“It’s all right.”
So he could say it.
“Even if you don’t remember…”
If you have forgotten me,
“I’ll make you remember.”
I’ll carve my name into you again.
Just as you once did for me.
Like a parched man at a spring, he pulled her into his arms, burying his face in her neck.
Air filled his lungs again.
He exhaled, eyes closing gently.
He was alive.
And so was she.
For now, that was enough.
“….”
Consciousness grew clear.
I felt the chill air on my fingertips, the soft blanket beneath me.
I sat up abruptly, brushing the cold sweat from my brow.
The ceiling above was blessedly familiar.
The attic room of my shop.
The place I usually slept soundly.
“…A dream.”
I let out a long breath, muttering the cliché.
What a strange dream.
That Armin, who I hadn’t seen for two years, had come seeking me—
embracing me with such desperate eyes.
“That’s impossible.”
Ermel was nothing special.
Not crowded, not empty.
Just an ordinary town with nothing noteworthy.
There was no reason for Armin to come here.
“…He shouldn’t be here.”
I turned toward the small window.
Far away, atop the estate, a blue flag rippled.
The duke’s banner.
