Side Story 2.9

Rian is here.

She waited for me.

“You say that, but do you know just how far and wide the capital is?”

It was astonishing. The simple fact that she was here filled up the world that had felt empty.

“Then Mother and Father, you can just travel with me. What do you think?”

“Oh, honestly, and who is supposed to take care of our goats and ducks if you— Oh?”

The middle-aged woman who looked just like Rian only then noticed the visitor and opened her eyes wide.

Blink, blink, she hesitated for a moment as if uncertain whether to trust the thought rising in her mind, then covered her mouth with both hands.

A beautiful smile, as if painted there, rose to Kaiden’s lips.

“Have you all been well….?”

“Kai!”

“Oh, my son-in-law!”

The couple sitting facing forward sprang to their feet first, their faces brightening at once. At the name the couple called out, Rian’s shoulders gave a small jolt.

“Good heavens, Kai. I hardly recognize you! You’ve all grown up into a man, hahaha!”

Though Kaiden’s gaze was directed toward the couple striding over to him, his mind was all with Rian, lingering at the edge of his vision.

Very quickly, he let his eyes slide toward her, now risen to her feet and staring at him.

“What? You’re taller than I am now? Splendid! Hahaha!”

“Our Kai has become so handsome.”

And Rian stood there quietly, watching as her parents embraced Kaiden and patted him warmly.

Kai, too, could not take his eyes off her. She was exactly the lovely woman worthy of the name he carried in his memories. No, he had never even seen the grown-up Rian before, and yet for some reason she looked so familiar and so dearly missed that his chest tightened with emotion.

“Kai….”

She whispered his name softly. Her large blue eyes at once grew wet, and a rosy flush spread over both cheeks. Then suddenly, tap, she rose onto her toes, spread both arms, and flung herself straight into him.

“Welcome back.”

Startled that she might hit herself hard against his solid body, Kaiden tilted back a little. He had no time to worry over whether he might look foolish, as though a little woman had shoved him backward, or think of dignity or anything else.

“Welcome back, Kai.”

“Rian….”

All those foolish worries he had had, imagining that if he met her he might instinctively pull her into his arms only to be pushed away, were rendered meaningless.

“I’m truly glad you came back. I’m happy you’ve returned.”

She was the one who greeted him first with a warm embrace.

“Yes….”

Afraid he might hurt her with arms now several times thicker than they had been in childhood, he instead held himself very carefully, controlling his strength as he wrapped her tightly in his arms. Hot emotion welled up inside him. The sweet feeling of her warm, soft body seeming to melt into his embrace was enough to make him feel intoxicated.

“So you really didn’t forget.”

Rian lifted her head and smiled up at his face.

“You didn’t forget your house, and you found your way back just fine?”

Following her bright smile, he too narrowed his eyes in a smile and said,

“How could I forget.”

How could I ever forget. Perrindale, you.

“I promised, didn’t I? That I would never forget.”

“Yes.”

Rian, too, seeming delighted by his words, nodded broadly like a child and then hugged him tight once more.

There had been so much he wanted to say, and so much he wanted to ask.

Beyond all the words he had filled entire sheets of parchment with whenever he wrote her letters, there had been so many more things he had wanted to say if he could ever see her face to face like this. Yet now that she stood before him, the swelling emotion devoured every other word.

“Rian.”

Kaiden wrapped one hand around hers and steadied himself, then slowly lowered his body and knelt on one knee.

He could not put it off any longer.

He held out the pink dahlia he had been hiding behind his back.

“Kai….”

Looking straight at the sight of her wet eyes trembling with ripples of light, he suddenly found the words that had seemed too difficult to even dare imagine saying aloud.

“Will you marry me?”

As soon as he spoke, his chest swelled warmly with certainty in a happy future, and he continued.

“His Majesty has granted me a fertile domain.”

He could be certain of the answer she would give him.

“It’s a place called Eldenhold. There are fields there full of the figs you love, and ponds and lakes perfect for ducks to play in. And of course there’s a great castle big enough for your family and my family to all live together.”

He could easily guess the emotion reflected in her eyes, sparkling like stars.

“Let’s get married.”

If the most beautiful star is an angel’s eye, then Rian, you are my angel.

“Let’s become a real family, the two of us.”

“Kai….”

Drop by drop, beads of light ran down her lovely cheeks.

“Yes.”

Rian nodded brightly with a smile more dazzling than starlight, more dazzling than sunlight.

Ah, my Rian. 

She had always been like this. Just as one would expect of a person who always met affection with honest warmth, without ever playing hard to get.

“I waited so long. I waited only for you.”

Rian’s voice was as sweet as biting into a perfectly ripened fig. Kaiden sprang to his feet and swept her into his arms. He lifted her up and gazed up at her face as though in reverence, then, unable to hide the affection overflowing within him, kissed her.

Dong, dooong, the New Year bells softly stirred the night air.

As he shared a deep kiss with Rian, Kaiden thought that perhaps that resonance was not the sound of the bells at all, but the sound ringing from within his own chest.

“Ahem! Shall we go watch the bell ringing too, Madame?”

“Yes, let us. I had just been wanting to eat some delicious festival food.”

“I-I shall escort you, my lord and lady! It would be dangerous if a wild beast appeared on the road at night!”

Even after the hurried footsteps of the three of them had left the house, Kaiden and Rian remained in each other’s arms for quite some time. Only when the sound of an actual wolf howling began to echo from somewhere did they reluctantly separate.

“It sounds like there may be wolves… did you lock your house door?”

Kaiden asked, red-faced and fumbling, while studying Rian’s expression.

“Yes. I’m not particularly afraid of wolves… but I think we only need to lock the front door here.”

Rian too, still catching her excited breath, smiled shyly. Seeing that the front door she pointed to was left slightly open, Kaiden quickly locked it, then turned back and pulled her into his arms again as if pouncing.

“Kyaa!”

Lifting her as she laughed and cried out, he walked toward the bed while sharing the kisses they had not yet finished. As naturally as if they had always been lovers like this, he laid her on the bed, climbed over her, and wrapped himself around her in a deep embrace.

“Rian….”

As he removed the dress that hid her body, fragrant with its sweet scent, he drank in her presence to his heart’s content.

Blood rushed downward, and for a moment a dizzy lightheadedness overcame him. Before he knew it, the two of them were n*ked without a single thread between them, their bare skin pressed together.

Without hesitation, he pushed himself into her as she wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him.

“Ah….”

The sensation of holding each other so completely that not even the slightest gap remained between their bodies, of becoming one, was indescribably blissful. As though trying to engrave upon one another whom he possessed and to whom she belonged, he kept meeting her eyes, kissing her, and moving into the deepest place within her.

That night, Kaiden lay holding Rian in his arms.

“I want to see our castle soon, Kai….”

Falling asleep with their warm bare bodies pressed together felt as easy and cozy as if it were something that had always been part of their lives.

“Our duck family will like Eldenhold too. We’ll have to plant the garden full of dahlias. If big-faced flowers suited to a great castle bloom all over, our garden will be wonderful. And later, if we dig up the roots and roast them the way my father does, they’ll be delicious too….”

As he stroked Rian’s shoulder while she whispered in a voice fading more and more with sleepiness, Kaiden smiled quietly.

Just before he fell asleep, his eyes caught the pink dahlia Rian had gone to place carefully in a vase beside the bed, wandering about n*ked.

‘Do you know what the flower language of dahlia means?’

Mr. Ralph, who had become his new father, had taught him many things in the capital besides swordsmanship.

‘It means, ‘I’m glad to know your heart.’’

From then on, Kaiden had waited with all his heart for the day he could give her dahlia flowers. Together with the jewels he had gathered one by one, he wanted to confess that to the man he had become, she alone was the most precious woman.

That just seeing the face of the woman who said she would plant dahlias, flowers whose roots could be dug up and made into delicious dishes, and whose blossoms were so lovely, was enough to fill his heart. That she was the one who gave him rich happiness.

Now that the day had finally come, and he had learned the heart of the woman who had waited only for him, he could not possibly be happier.

“Mmm, just one more bite….”

Perhaps Rian was eating something delicious in her dream, because she smacked her lips softly. Kaiden laughed soundlessly, pressed a kiss to her lips, smack, and then closed his own eyes in peace.