“That is….”

Cail asked me with a cracked voice.

“What does that mean?”

“I wanted you to be happy even after I died.I wanted at least you to be happy. That was my last wish and lingering attachment. But….”

I bit my lower lip firmly and lowered my gaze.

My palm slowly moved down along his jawline and caressed his nape.

It was the spot where, though now subsided, black veins had bulged prominently just moments ago.

Near where the blood vessels pulsed, I could feel the remnants of Helasio’s magic.

“But why did you…become so pained like this?”

The Cail I had wished happiness for said he had made a contract with a magic dragon to hold onto my soul. That power which had tormented me long ago was now hurting him.

At my sadly sunken voice, Cail closed his eyes tightly before opening them and answering.

“…I wanted to save you.”

“…”

“In that moment, I could only think about saving you. You told me yourself to become a knight who protects you.”

“…”

“So I did it to protect you. I did it to do something, anything, as you were dying.”

“But why? What am I to you?”

My voice trembled finely with rising emotions.

Cail held me in his gaze for a moment before slowly opening his mouth.

“You said I was your only lingering attachment.”

He gently wrapped his hand around mine, which had been resting on his face.

I lowered my eyes at the warmth transmitted over the back of my hand, but his following words captured my gaze once again.

“To me, you were my only purpose. You were everything in this life.”

Everything. All I had done was bring you from that place and keep you by my side. Yet you say I was everything in your life.

“This lowly slave dared to look up to you as my sun. Not knowing my place, I loved you.”

“…”

“Raised to be a knight who protects you, I knew it wasn’t my place, but by the time I came to my senses, I was already in love with you.”

“…”

“And so I committed a great sin against you. Because I loved you, I saved you in the way you would have wanted least.”

“…”

“But don’t worry. I will bear all the punishment for this sin. I will ensure that not even the slightest scratch remains on your fair body.”

“…”

“So please, hate me a little less. Jella….”

At the end of that calm confession of love, all he asked of me was one thing.

Not my heart, not a moment of love, just that I hate him a little less.

That was all he wanted from me.

That fact left me speechless.

“How did you understand my words? I told you, you were my only lingering attachment.”

I finally couldn’t hold back and blurted out my confession while embracing his body tightly.

“Why would I hate you? I…I like you too….”

“…!”

I could feel him flinch and stiffen in that moment.

I knew without looking up. That he would be standing there with a surprised face, not knowing what to do.

“Sometimes I couldn’t name the emotion flowing toward you, and I deliberately hid it more tightly because I was afraid of the name of this unidentifiable feeling….”

I whispered, resting my head against his chest.

“Now I think I know. That the name of this feeling is love.”

I could feel him exhale a thin breath with a shallow m*an. Somehow, that breath, condensed with countless emotions, made me feel like crying.

“If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have done that. I should have spoken honestly to you just once. If I had known your heart was the same as mine, I wouldn’t have hurt you like that.”

Cail, left behind after my death, had secluded himself in the north for five years without ever coming out, he said.

The desperate resentment, pain, and loneliness in his voice at having been called the hero who killed me for five years would probably be difficult to wash away for a long time.

“You said I did nothing wrong to you. No, I committed too great a wrong against you.”

So this was an apology that came too late.

“I’m sorry.I thought you…could live happily even without me. I didn’t know my death would hurt you this much.”

I finally offered the apology I should have given on the day we reunited.

“I’m sorry, Cail.For hurting you, making you struggle, tormenting you, and…for leaving you alone like that, for making you feel abandoned, for making you lonely. I’m sorry.”

“…Jella.”

He called my name with a deeply subdued voice.

Only then did I raise my head to face him, smiling gently.

“But I want to be by your side. I want to stay with you. Don’t abandon me. I’ll never abandon you, so don’t run away and stay by my side.”

“…”

He couldn’t answer and made an ambiguous expression that looked like he might cry.

Seeing his expression, I suddenly feared he might run away again.

“…Do you hate me so much for hurting you that you don’t want to be by my side anymore?”

Just as I was asking while clutching his collar with growing anxiety.

Hug.

Cail unexpectedly pulled me into a strong embrace, burying my body completely in his large arms.

“How could that be?”

Surprised, I looked up at him, and he answered with a faint smile directed at me.

“If you allow it, I will stay by your side until my last breath.”

***

After pouring out long-held emotions with Cail, all the accumulated fatigue rushed in at once.

Too many things had happened in one day. I received a marriage proposal from Niel, then had my body taken by a god, then after a final battle with the god, I destroyed him, and helped revive Yuphe…

So when I thought I would rest a little, leaning against his chest, I must have fallen asleep.

When I opened my eyes again, I was on a soft bed.

“You’re awake.”

At Cail’s voice, I raised myself and looked around, finding myself in an unfamiliar space.

“Where is…”

“I brought you to my room.”

Startled.

“S-so I slept in your bed?”

Unlike me, whose face was reddening from embarrassment, he nodded with an innocent face and explained.

“Yes, you slept for exactly one day.I was a bit worried because you didn’t wake up for so long.”

“…I see.”

Just as I was turning my head away, feeling awkward about looking at his face.

A large black cat curled up beside me caught my eye.

“Oh?”

My eyes widened at the discovery of the cat.

“This is Blackie!”

I almost didn’t recognize it because it had grown so much bigger than I remembered, but this cat was definitely Blackie, the one I had found in the empty princess’s palace long ago.

Meow!

Blackie responded to my words by rubbing its head against me. The sight made me smile quietly, as if it recognized me.

“This fellow, you’ve survived well. Do you recognize me?”

When I scratched its head familiarly, Blackie purred.

Watching the scene, Cail explained in a calm voice.

“After you left, I took it in.”

“I see. Looking at how plump it’s become, it seems to have been eating and living well.”

As I was giggling and having this emotional reunion with Blackie, a white cat I’d never seen before squeezed in between Blackie and me.

“Hmm? Who’s this?”

“…I don’t know. One day Blackie suddenly brought it home.”

“It doesn’t have a name either?”

“No.”

Judging by its sleek fur, it seemed to have been cared for within the castle walls, but apparently no one had given it a name.

I clicked my tongue at Cail’s indifference.

“Well, you never gave Blackie a name either, even though it followed you so well.”

“Ah, that’s…”

Cail trailed off without answering. The thought that I had flustered him made me smile.

It seemed I would need to name Blackie’s friend as well. I was contemplating several names in my head when.

“That day…why didn’t you ask?”

Cail suddenly asked me.

“That day?”

“The day you gave Blackie its name. That day, I committed an impropriety while you were asleep.”

“Ah…”

I recalled that time and chuckled.

“Because I thought you would really run away if I asked.”