Chapter 28…………………………………………….
Weakness
The very next day after Lowell steeled himself in front of Leon.
“Miss!”
Aria, who had just stepped down from the carriage, instinctively turned her head at the familiar voice that suddenly called out to her.
“Lowell?”
“I’ve been waiting this whole time.”
“Why are you….”
Aria stared blankly at the approaching Lowell, then soon shifted her gaze to the man standing beside him.
So after all that talk about responsibility, you still dragged this kid right in front of me.
Faced with Leon’s impassive expression, Aria unconsciously clenched her teeth.
“I was told that today only healing mages and holy knights would be gathering.”
She practically ground the words out at Leon.
“Yes. That’s what I heard as well. However, with the war so close, there isn’t a suitable place to train at my estate. I plan to train at the headquarters’ training grounds today.”
“Is that so? But… I didn’t expect you’d bring your spouse along to train.”
Maintaining a smile that reached only her lips, Aria briefly glanced at Lowell.
“I—I said I wanted to come along, so I did!”
Lowell shouted almost reflexively, not missing the look directed at him.
“…….”
For a moment, Aria’s eyes wavered, unable to fully hide her emotions.
“Riiight…. Well, it’s nice to see you making excuses for each other and getting along so well. Then.”
Forcing a smile as she pushed away her sour expression, Aria turned around.
“No! I came to talk to you, Miss!”
But Aria’s steps halted again at Lowell’s sudden outburst.
“What?”
“You told me not to contact you, but… I just couldn’t stop worrying. So I came in person. Please give me just a little time. There’s something I need to say.”
“……?”
Because of his resolute tone, Aria’s gaze lingered carefully over Lowell’s face. Then, as if realizing something, she suddenly turned her head to scan their surroundings.
“I have nothing to say to you.”
The words slipped hastily from Aria’s mouth.
“No. I need to talk. Sir Leon. I’ll see you later.”
With that, Lowell grabbed Aria by the wrist. There was not a trace of hesitation in his steps as he pulled her toward an open storage room.
“Alright.”
Leon answered calmly, and in the brief moment Aria raised an eyebrow upon seeing Leon head in a direction other than the training grounds, Lowell tugged her along even harder.
Bang!
Still dazed by how quickly everything had happened, Aria soon realized she was inside—no, dragged into—a storage room at the knights’ headquarters.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Aria almost shouted as she looked at Lowell, who was clearly unable to hide his agitation.
“There’s something I want to ask you, Miss.”
But instead of answering properly, Lowell simply stepped closer to her.
“So… please just stand here for a moment.”
Soon, Lowell released her wrist and took a small step back. Then he approached a shelf stacked high with various items and took a deep breath.
“Lowell, what are you—”
Bang!
In that instant, Lowell shoved the shelf hard with one hand, and the piled-up items could no longer withstand the shaking and spilled downward.
“Kyaa!”
Seeing the large boxes falling, Aria screamed and instinctively squeezed her eyes shut.
“…….”
But there was no scream from Lowell, nor the sound of objects crashing to the floor. After a moment, Aria slowly opened her eyes again.
And then she saw it—
the objects floating in midair above Lowell.
He was manifesting mana.
“Miss, I—”
“What are you doing?!”
Before Lowell could say anything, Aria grabbed his arm and cut him off.
She hurriedly turned her head, checking their surroundings. Her eyes, searching through the gaps between the shelves, were stiff with tension.
“What if someone sees you like this?! Do you know where we are? This is the knights’ headquarters! If you get caught by knights—”
“So you did know.”
“What?”
“That I can use mana.”
As he finished speaking, Lowell used his mana to return the floating objects to their original places. As the items settled, Aria’s wandering gaze returned to him.
“Does Young Master Sion know that I have mana too?”
“…….”
“So are you threatening the lady with this?”
Lowell said forcefully as he closed the distance between them, as though Aria might run away if he didn’t emphasize every word.
“Am I… your weakness?”
He asked the final question while stepping even closer, leaving Aria unable to look away from him.
“…….”
In that moment, Aria’s pupils shook violently, and Lowell understood immediately.
Why she had endured everything Sion did to her.
Why she had done nothing but comply.
“Why… why did you do that? You could’ve just asked me once. We’re best friends, aren’t we? Then you should’ve asked me what to do and asked for my help!”
Breathing hard, Lowell shouted right in front of Aria’s face.
Just like you always did, the unspoken words rose to his throat.
“Why are you bearing everything all by yourself?!”
“Because of me!”
At that moment, resolve appeared on Aria’s previously confused face, and her voice broke as she shouted.
“What?”
“The reason you have mana, the reason things ended up this absurd—it’s all because of me!”
“What do you mean? How is it my fault that I have mana?”
Lowell’s mouth fell open, his eyes trembling.
“You don’t know. This whole situation happened because I kept repeating time.”
“What are you—”
“Lowell. Want to hear something completely insane?”
Suddenly, Aria tightened her grip on his arms and pulled him closer. Her green eyes sharply scanned his face.
“I keep living the same timeline over and over. I live normally, then die, and go back to the beginning. Then I live again. Always anxious about when I’ll be sent back again. I’ve lived like that for so long I got sick of counting the time.”
Perhaps because it was the first time she’d ever spoken the truth aloud, Aria’s words poured out rapidly, her eyes a chaotic mix of anger and sorrow.
“But in this cursed timeline, no matter how many times time repeats, what happenso happens never changes. And the more it repeats, the worse things get!”
“…….”
“You don’t know this, but you never had mana to begin with. The fact that this happened to you means… as things worsened through repeated timelines, you ended up gaining mana.”
Her breathing grew rough, and her bloodshot eyes struggled to stay focused on Lowell.
“Lowell. You don’t know anything.”
“I….”
“You don’t remember, but I do. I remember what you got dragged into every time I asked you for help. So how could I ask you again?”
As she spoke, Aria released her grip on his arms.
“And besides… you finally look happy now. Seeing you with the person you love, you look freer than you ever did in any timeline I’ve seen. How could I destroy that?”
With a trembling voice, Aria’s gaze, fixed on Lowell, slowly dropped to the floor.
“I think I finally found the right way. So just this once, stay quiet. For me. And for you. Lowell, I’m going to stop everything and get out.”
She murmured the words as if talking to herself. Her voice was so desperate it was almost painful.
Click.
Aria closed the storage room door and walked away.
And perhaps the reason Lowell couldn’t stop her was because the emotions overflowing from Aria had spilled into him as well.
Whooo—
A cold wind announcing the approach of winter slipped through the cracks in the mage tower’s walls.
“…….”
At the chill, Leon’s gaze shifted to Lowell, who was sitting on the floor.
Lowell sat before an hourglass on the table, eyes closed, murmuring a spell—trying to destroy the delay magic circle Leon had placed on it.
Is he really okay?
Leon thought to himself as he watched him. Considering how she had looked just a few hours earlier, focusing on spells late into the night seemed excessive.
When Leon left headquarters, he had found Lowell leaning weakly against a wall.
“You’re back?”
As their eyes met, Lowell pushed himself off the wall and forced a smile to greet Leon.
In that instant, Leon sensed the emotion on his face and swallowed the question of what had happened.
It was unmistakably sorrow.
At Lowell’s request, they came straight to the mage tower instead of returning to the estate, and until now, Leon hadn’t asked a single thing about Aria.
“I told the guard unit about the young lady’s situation, so the ducal house will restrain mana circulation for the time being. With war preparations, she’ll be busy too, so they won’t be able to extract mana recklessly. You can relax for now.”
Noticing Lowell’s trembling hands as he cast the spell, Leon spoke in a subdued voice.
“Ah… yes. Thank you.”
Only then did Lowell withdraw his hand and turn around.
“Oh, right. Come to think of it, I forgot to share mana with you.”
After staring blankly into Leon’s eyes for a moment, Lowell suddenly said that, adding a soft “I’m sorry,” which made Leon frown in confusion.
“It’s fine. I don’t feel like draining mana from someone who looks that exhausted.”
“But the contract—”
“It’s fine.”
With a sigh, Leon cut him off. Instead, he sat down beside Lowell and pulled over a glass of wine with magic.
“At least drink this.”
Red wine sloshed gently inside the glass.
“Huh?”
“You don’t look like you’re going back to the estate tonight. Drink it. It’ll help raise your body temperature.”
Leon said this after noticing Lowell’s slight shivering. While Lowell hesitated, Leon lifted his own glass first and took a sip.
“Ah… yes. Thank you.”
In the end, Lowell accepted the glass. The mage tower was cold enough that pulling an all-nighter without something to drink would be difficult.
Crackle.
The two of them silently emptied their glasses while watching the logs burn in the fireplace. As the wine bottle emptied, warmth spread over their cool skin, and a hazy comfort settled in.
“…She said it was because of me. That she thought my having mana was her fault…. So I think she did whatever Young Master told her to, just to protect me.”
Whether it was the easing of tension or the effect of alcohol after a long time, Lowell suddenly spoke, pouring out what he’d been holding inside.
“Hearing that, I couldn’t even tell her the truth. That I remember everything too, just like her. I think she believes it’s better that I don’t remember…. So I couldn’t say it.”
It’s funny, right? Lowell added, resting his face against his folded arms as he looked at Leon.
“…You stayed silent for the young lady’s sake. Don’t blame yourself for something you couldn’t help.”
After holding Lowell’s gaze for a long while, Leon spoke slowly.
When the conversation ended, silence settled in. Within that quiet, Leon suddenly realized how close he was sitting to Lowell.
It must have been because of the silence that Leon’s eyes unconsciously drifted to Lowell’s lips.
“Sir Leon.”
As Leon’s gaze wandered meaninglessly, Lowell’s voice reached him, and Leon’s eyes finally left his lips.
“I’ve been thinking this for a while… you’re surprisingly good at comforting people.”
Lowell leaned more deeply against his arm as he spoke. His tone was playful, but a gentle smile rested on his lips.
“…….”
Those straightforward violet eyes. Leon felt as though they were piercing straight through him.
“I just don’t want you to be hurting so much.”
The words flowed slowly from Leon’s mouth.
And whether it was because the wind coming through the window suddenly grew colder, or because the wine they’d drunk earlier was unusually strong, or simply because both of them were exhausted that day—no one could say.
But when the moonlight shone inside again, their lips were touching, stealing each other’s breath.
Within those mingled breaths flowed emotions that were neither clearly comfort nor clearly love.
