Chapter 2.1 – Shattered Memories

Ten years ago, Miguel had a perpetually grumpy attitude that matched his unlucky face and was as abrasive as sandpaper. A child completely different from Benjamin, who lived in the same castle and was of the same age, came to Cherlin.

“It feels like an angel turned into a devil….”

“What?”

“I said, it seems like it.”

“No, it’s not about the formal speech…!”

When her father was the village chief, trusted by the residents, Lisael often went to the castle with him to discuss the management of the village with the Lord. 

It was to meet Benjamin, who always greeted her with a bright smile like a rabbit. Lisael always looked forward to and awaited those meetings. Until one day, a boy like a red fox popped out with Benjamin and disrupted everything.

“Dante, don’t bother Lisael.”

“Benjamin!”

“When did I ever bother her!”

Miguel found Lisael, who immediately ran to Benjamin and clung to his back as if she had been waiting for him, more annoying than Benjamin, who scolded him for something absurd.

“Why is a commoner wandering around the Lord’s castle so recklessly in the first place!”

“Wandering around recklessly? I came to see my friend Benjamin!”

Lisael, putting her hands on her hips and getting angry, seemed displeased with the word “wandering.” She then turned her eyes back to Benjamin and smiled.

“Right, Benjamin?”

Miguel felt an inexplicable anger rise as he watched Lisael and Benjamin smile at each other.

“Why do you speak informally to Herais?”

“Because Benjamin is my friend!”

‘Why… why am I getting angry? Somehow, it feels bad to hear her use formal speech with me!’

“Hey, speak informally to me too!”

Lisael, who didn’t even bother to refuse out of courtesy, continued to speak informally to the Young Earl. Despite the enormous barrier of social status, children became friends so easily and quickly. Of course, their friendship included constant bickering.

“Give it back, Benjamin gave it to me!”

“Shut up! Do you think a pumpkin like you deserves such a ribbon?”

“What do you mean by that?”

Miguel and Lisael were certainly close. Although they often pulled each other’s hair and punched each other, they were good friends.

“Hey, hey, stop it! You’re going to make me bald! You’re so unnecessarily strong…!”

Even though his hair was being pulled out, Miguel, who never let go of the pink ribbon pin, surrendered with his hands up and moved away to avoid being caught again. Lisael, still not calmed down, glared at Miguel as if she would pounce on him again.

“Instead, take this.”

“…What?”

“This suits you better.”

When something appeared from the soft, small hand of the boy rummaging through his pocket, Lisael squinted suspiciously and looked at his palm. On Miguel’s palm lay a jewel hairpin as radiant as a pearl in a shell.

“Just now, you said it was unsuitable because I looked like a pumpkin!”

“On Halloween, people put candles inside pumpkins, don’t they? You too, instead of a ribbon, with something shiny like this….”

“Heyyyyy-!”

That day, they fought until Benjamin came to break them up, and it ended with Miguel getting a bloody nose. Miguel never returned the ribbon. Instead, he was satisfied only after seeing the forcibly given ruby hairpin adorning her small brown hair.

“Sniff… Sob sob sob!”

“Stop crying! What’s so good about a kid who left saying he’d live well in the capital that you even cry for him? Your tears are too precious!”

On the day Benjamin left, Lisael’s tears finally burst. She had come all the way to the deserted sheep pasture to avoid showing her tears to others, but the oblivious Miguel had followed her.

Moreover, instead of comforting her, he made her angrier. Miguel was a good friend, but his way of expressing it was too rough. It only made her miss Benjamin more.

“…Aren’t you sad that Benjamin left? He was your friend too!”

“What? I…!”

“Waaah, Benjamin!”

‘From the start, you were my only friend.’

Miguel, about to retort to the absurd misunderstanding, closed his mouth at Lisael’s renewed sobbing.

“Lisa.”

Miguel, who hated the idea of sitting on the dirty grass, eventually plopped down next to Lisael, following her unending sobs. As he felt the uncomfortable sensation of grass and dirt ruining his clothes, wrinkles formed on Miguel’s forehead.

“Lisa, don’t you think we suit each other well?”

“…What?”

Lisael, who had been crying inconsolably, suddenly stopped and raised her face at the nonsensical comment.

“Your pumpkin-like eyes… I mean, gem-like amber eyes. Anyway, your eyes and my hair color too.”

As Lisael’s sensitive eyes widened, Miguel flinched and looked up, twirling his bangs with his fingers.

“My eyes and your hair?”

“Yeah, when combined, they look just like the sunset.”

Miguel pointed straight ahead as if telling her to confirm it herself. Just then, beyond the blue hills, twilight was gradually descending, creating a sunset.

It was just as Miguel said. The sun, revealing a sphere more vivid and distinct than in the daytime, resembled her bright yellow eyes, and the sky tinted by the sunset was red like Miguel’s hair, with patches of orange just the same.

“Wow, really. Especially your hair color is just like the sunset.”

“You finally stopped crying.”

“…Huh? I did….”

Lisael, who had been completely absorbed in observing the sunset, forgetting the sadness of Benjamin’s departure, muttered sheepishly.

Left alone, the two became the most special village friends to each other, and that fact didn’t change for the next three years. 

By the time they were 15, their meetings began to change from how they were when they were younger. The Earl’s family gradually discouraged the Young Earl from meeting his childhood friend, and the village chief, mindful of rumors circulating in the village, kept Lisael at home under the pretense of cultivating her manners.

It had been fifteen days since she last met Miguel. While taking a night walk, Lisael suddenly burst into laughter, letting out a deflated sound. To think she would miss Miguel, she felt a ticklish shiver at herself.

She couldn’t help but feel an empty void without the friend who teased her daily but also took care of her with a grumble. Lisael cast a gentle gaze at the wall that blocked her house from the Lord’s castle.

She was aware as well. The more they grew up together, the more unnecessary rumors attached themselves.

To think she and Miguel were in such a relationship, a romance. People were too much. How could they think of pairing her, a proper lady, with that mischievous boy?

Lisael’s gaze, immersed in such fleeting thoughts, suddenly lingered on one spot. She caught sight of a crack in the wall, which she thought was as sturdy as the Wailing Wall.

‘Well, they say it’s been there since before my father was born.’

It was quite old, so it was bound to have a hole. The hole, big enough to fit two thumbs, seemed like it would break and collapse the wall if a strong wind blew.

“Can a wall collapse just like this…?”

“…Lisa?”

As Lisael approached the crack in the wall to see if she should tell her father for repairs, she was startled and fell on her butt when a voice suddenly came from the wall.

“The wall… spoke?”

“What nonsense, it’s me!”

“Miguel?”

The girl, fond of daydreaming, momentarily thought she had become the protagonist of a fantasy, but Miguel’s curt reprimand shattered that fleeting illusion. Feeling embarrassed by her silly remark, Lisael rubbed her butt and replied curtly.

“Ugh… Miguel, you startled me, and I fell.”

“Long time no see?”

“Yeah, nice to see you.”

“Come here, Lisa.”

Miguel’s voice, deepened by puberty, came through the hole instead of the wind. Responding to his call, Lisael approached the wall.

“Come closer.”

When she bent down and placed her gaze on the hole, Miguel’s sky-blue eyes were shining brightly. Lisael, too, pressed her face against the wall to show her eyes.

“Did you get into trouble? I haven’t seen you outside lately.”

“Unlike you, I need to become a cultured lady, so I’m voluntarily staying home to cultivate my manners.”

In fact, it was Miguel who was preparing to enter high society by learning etiquette from famous tutors, but when Lisael took the initiative, he chuckled in disbelief.