A Reversal of Unrequited Love - Chapter 59

Emotions fluttered like petals in the wind. The day after tomorrow. Hyacinth savored the words. If he arrived the day after tomorrow, as Diane said, it would be their first reunion in half a year.

Even after her friend left, Hyacinth stayed in the gazebo, continuing her embroidery. The repetitive hand movements were suitable for calming her thoughts. Just as she was about to search for new thread in her sewing kit.

With a light sound, a gray cat appeared as if it had fallen. It seemed to have climbed up a nearby tree and jumped down.

“Cory.”

At Hyacinth’s call, the cat wagged its blunt tail.

“I told you not to climb trees. It could be bad for your joints, and if you land wrong…”

Cory raised its tail higher. There was no trace of guilt in its proud demeanor.

“Why do you do that when you can’t even balance well, huh?”

Hyacinth pretended to sternly declare a punishment.

“Alright. No snacks for a disobedient cat today.”

The cat, who perfectly understood warnings related to snacks, hissed with its fur bristling. Though it looked pitiful as it meowed sadly, Hyacinth didn’t give in.

Bad habits needed to be corrected.

“Come here.”

She tapped the railing next to her, but Cory ran away. It seemed quite grumpy about her declaration of no snacks. Watching its disappearing figure, Hyacinth sighed deeply and shook her head.

“What am I going to do with you?”

You need to be careful with your knees…

It never listened. Sighing again, she slowly, very slowly, let a faint smile spread across her face.

An old memory had cast a shadow over reality.

Not in this life, but in the previous one, in a distant dream, a gray cat was purring on a man’s lap.

Hyacinth tilted her head slowly.

In her memory, she entered the garden. The sound of water trickling from the fountain seemed to tickle her ears. The sound of her footsteps on the path. Her heartbeat quickening at the sight of him in the distance.

Ethan Erentis was slowly petting the animal with an indifferent yet gentle touch.

Hyacinth slowly sank into the vivid fragments of her resurrected memories. Although it was now daylight with the warmth of the sun, she felt the quiet and calm of the pre-dawn air on her cheeks.

Was that when she fell for him? From the garden? Or from their first meeting…?

“That’s difficult.”

Hyacinth deliberately began to recall only the good memories.

* * *

The sound of rain tapping on the railing brought Hyacinth back from the past library to the present gazebo.

Spring in Tyche often brought delicate, translucent rain. When she reached her hand out beyond the railing, droplets gathered and shimmered in her cupped palm.

It wasn’t a heavy rain, but it wasn’t very light either. As she gauged its intensity, Hyacinth clicked her tongue.

It was almost time for dinner.

It seemed better to return now, even if it meant getting a bit wet, as everyone would worry if she came back too late. Hyacinth carefully packed her embroidery supplies and fabric into the basket. She looked around to see if the gray cat was nearby, but it seemed Cory had abandoned her early on.

“No snack for today, after all.”

Even her grumpy muttering didn’t bring any response from the cat.

Hyacinth chuckled and descended from the pavilion. It was when she was walking briskly along the path and passing under the willow tree in the drizzle.

Meow-! The cat’s irritable cry made Hyacinth’s eyes widen. While she paused, Cory’s loud protest echoed again. Without hesitation, Hyacinth ran toward the sound.

……He was standing at the beginning of the path.

Before she grasped the situation, Hyacinth noticed a silver glint. The color that always stirred her emotions. The color that had captivated her from the beginning, cruelly beautiful.

Despite expecting it, she couldn’t help but open her eyes wide when she saw that hair. Emotions surged like a wave, and Hyacinth stood frozen like a pillar of salt, staring at the silver-haired young man.

……In half a year, Ethan Erentis had grown even more.

Previously, Hyacinth had to tilt her head slightly to look up at him, but now she had to tilt it quite a bit, perhaps all the way.

He now looked exactly as he had in her dreams. Hyacinth blinked, looking at the fully grown Ethan. Only then did she feel she could define the emotions that held her in place.

Joy. Surprise. And a hint of…… fear.

She reluctantly admitted that the sight of him, now a full-grown man, was slightly intimidating.

“Please wait a moment.”

The low voice brought her back to the present situation.

Come to think of it, Ethan Erentis was facing off with the gray cat with the stubby tail. Cory clung to the middle of the old tree, meowing irritably, while Ethan tried to remove the cat by holding its body. Cory stubbornly meowed, trying to climb higher.

“Cory-!”

The cat seemed to recognize its owner’s voice and stiffened. Seizing the moment, Ethan quickly separated the cat from the tree.

“I told you not to climb trees!”

Cory whimpered pitifully. Instead of scolding, Hyacinth approached and placed her hand on her waist.

“How many times do I have to tell you!”

The cat, flailing in the air, dashed away as soon as Ethan set it down. Watching Cory scamper out of the garden through the entrance of the path, it seemed the cat had given up on climbing trees.

Hyacinth, who had been watching Cory with disapproval, realized the situation a beat late.

Now, she was alone with him.

And…… they were standing too close. She had approached quickly to scold the cat.

What should she say? What greeting would be best? All the eloquence and social skills she had honed were useless in the face of her confusion. As Hyacinth clutched the basket handle tightly, searching for words, something soft and thick covered her.

At the same time, the cool scent of the north tickled her nose. The scent of Ethan Erentis, and thus the scent of the north. The winter scent in the spring of Tyche was so foreign that it felt even stronger. Wrapped in Ethan’s cloak, Hyacinth quietly waited as the man even placed a hood over her head.

His light touch was withdrawn.

She took a step back and gazed intently at Ethan Erentis. The young man, who seemed to be sculpted from the beauty of winter, was faintly smiling.

“…I heard you would arrive in two days.”

“The North will be.”

It seemed that the high lord of the North had left the procession behind and rushed to Tyche first. Knowing the reason for such haste, Hyacinth felt slightly embarrassed. Her ears seemed to burn of their own accord. As she adjusted her cloak to hide the blush, Ethan asked worriedly.

“Are you cold? Staying outside in the rain…”

“No. I’m warm.”

“Really?”

“Yes. But I’m sorry that your cloak is dragging on the ground.”

Although Hyacinth was by no means small, Ethan Erentis’s physique was overwhelmingly large. Looking at the fabric trailing on the ground, Hyacinth resolved never to cross a muddy path.

“It’s fine.”

“I’ll clean it and return it. Have you met with Their Majesties?”

“…I will soon.”

The Duke of Trisel’s handsome face showed signs of embarrassment. It seemed he had completely forgotten about the royal couple. Any noble should first pay their respects to the monarch upon entering the city.

Hyacinth refrained from nagging.

After neatly folding her long sleeves, she extended her hand, and Ethan, kneeling on one knee, bowed his head and kissed the back of her hand. With her hand caught between his strong hand and soft lips, Hyacinth held her breath for a moment.

There was no particular reason.

It was just that the moment and the person sharing it with her felt unreal.

As was typical of Tyche’s capricious spring rain, the drizzle had stopped before she knew it.

Being alone in the wet garden felt like being in a painting rather than reality. Even after the silver knight’s lips left, Hyacinth did not withdraw her hand. Ethan did not let go first. Instead, after a short hesitation, he carefully clasped her hand. He wrapped his hand around hers and fidgeted with the tips of her fingers. Throughout this sequence of actions, he kept his head bowed.

Hyacinth shifted her gaze from the sky cleared of rain, to the faint rainbow hanging in the west, and finally to the silver-haired young man who appeared like a golden box at the end of the rainbow.

…Her heart began to beat even faster.

* * *

“Now, Cory. It’s time for you to earn your snack.”

The next day, Hyacinth, who had woken up at the crack of dawn, faced the gray cat instead of going back to sleep. The mischievous thief, caught trying to steal a snack, froze in place as it met its owner’s gaze.

Regardless, Hyacinth grabbed the gray cat and complained.

Yesterday, on the way out of the garden, they ran into Benjamin. Pretending to greet them warmly, Benjamin had subtly inserted himself between her and Ethan. It was both a metaphorical and literal description, as he had physically wedged himself between them and taken over the escort.

In a way, it was considerate. Given that they were not formally engaged yet, it was only natural.

Despite understanding this fact, Hyacinth felt a bit peeved.

“Look.”

Hyacinth extended both hands to Cory. The cat rolled its big eyes and then pretended not to see.

“You need to earn your snack.”

Meow.

“If you choose my left hand, I’ll go to the training ground now.”