In fact, she asked Cedric this question four years ago when they were lying face to face in his room inside the bunker during a crisis.

「Say, Cedric. What would have happened if I hadn’t spoken to you when we first met?」

After a moment of thought, he gave an unexpected answer.

「Then I would have spoken to you.」

「……You would?」

She asked with widened eyes, surprised by his answer.

「There’s no other way if you didn’t talk to me.」

He had just calmly said that.

“……”

Thinking about it now, it must have been a lie. No matter how much she thought about it, that shy young man from back then definitely couldn’t have started a conversation with her.

Four years ago, Cedric lied for her sake. In case Blair regretted starting their connection by speaking to him first, he said that if she hadn’t spoken, he would have, so nothing would have been different.

“……”

See? He’s a habitual liar. A man too good at lying.

Blair aimlessly kicked at the grass with her shoe.

A man of few words and no fun. Perhaps if she hadn’t spoken to him, they wouldn’t have continued their relationship.

“……Mom!”

She snapped out of her thoughts at her child’s screeching voice from above.

“……Alvin?”

Blair quickly looked up. I told you not to climb too high…! Alvin was on a branch twice as high as promised.

“Mom, I don’t know how to get down……”

The child had climbed up and now trembled on the branch, not realizing it would be so high.

“My goodness! When did you climb up there!”

Blair ran over and touched the tree trunk. But she didn’t know how to climb trees.

“……Wait. I’ll go borrow a ladder from Aunt Kay.”

“Uwaaah, Mom. Hurry……”

Holding her fluttering heart, Blair ran down to the village.

* * *

Bang Bang!

Blair, panting heavily, knocked hard on the door of Kay’s house built right at the foot of the mountain, but there was no sign of anyone inside.

She was too tight on time to go back to her house which was located in the city center to fetch a ladder.

‘…I have no choice but to climb the tree myself.’

Blair had never climbed a tree before. There was no way she, who grew up as a noble lady, would have played by climbing trees. But now, that was the only option that came to mind. She had to do something to protect the child. Blair grabbed her skirt and ran back into the woods.

“Huff, huff…”

Blair ran with all her might, fearing that the child might have fallen in that short time.

“…Alvin!”

While running, Blair looked up at the branch Alvin had been hanging from just moments ago. But it was empty. Blair turned pale and frantically looked around.

Then, from behind, a voice called out.

“Mom!”

Alvin had safely come down from the tree and was sitting on the grass.

“Oh, Alvin!”

“Mom!”

Blair ran and hugged her child tightly. The child also stretched his short arms to embrace her.

“Alvin. How did you come down?”

She asked while roughly stroking Alvin’s short hair.

“…Over there,”

Following the direction of the child’s short arm, she saw old military boots. The person must have big feet, since the shoes were larger than those of an average adult. Blair slowly raised her gaze from the man’s legs to his head. But the man’s face was obscured by the sunlight pouring from behind.

“……”

But she knew who it was. Even if the sun disappeared forever, she would not fail to recognize him. As the man slightly moved his head, his face became visible. His black bangs fluttered in the wind.

Cedric, whom she met again after four years, looked surprisingly the same as before. Although his skin was a bit more tanned, his thick eyebrows, slightly upturned long eyes, golden irises, and prominent nose… everything was as she remembered him. However, perhaps because he has aged, his eyes seemed deeper than before, and his brows protruded more. His expression was as calm as the sea, but there was a faint smile on his lips.

And he was wearing the uniform of Eleanor’s army. He was dressed in a blue jacket with gold embroidery and tight white trousers which made his thighs look thicker than four years ago. Moreover, the number of decorations on his shoulder had increased, perhaps due to his achievements in this war.

Blair’s large eyes began to moisten. The man slowly opened his mouth.

“Hello, Blair.”

His voice was low. It was the same greeting he had given her seven years ago when they reunited at the Cavendish mansion.

“…Sorry I’m late.”

But this time, there was an additional remark. Blair looked at the man who was offering an apology with a dazed look.

She blinked once and her plentiful eyelashes fluttered. Her whole body trembled in this dream-like situation. Her long hair, half-tied up, scattered in the mountain wind.

“…Why, why are you so late? The war ended three months ago.”

She didn’t mean to start with such words. She didn’t intend to scold him first.

“I had some bruises and cuts. I waited until they healed.”

The man still smiled as he spoke, somehow that smile didn’t seem real.

“……”

Rustle.

Blair watched as the man reached into his pocket. Then he pulled out a crumpled paper. It was yellowed and worn at all edges from being folded several times.

The paper unfolded along its creases was the marriage registration form of the Eleanor Empire. The same document she had seen years ago.

[ Marriage Registration Form

Groom: Cedric Fitzgerald

Bride: Blair Seymour ]

All fields were filled except for the section allotted for Blair’s signature.

“I wondered if you would sign the marriage document.”

“……”

The laughter of the man, who was no longer a boy but a man with thick lines on his face, was as clear as it was ten years ago.

Flutter.

The mountain wind swept between them. The hem of Blair’s long dress adorned with small floral patterns fluttered against the backdrop of the green forest.

“……”

Tears dropped from Blair’s blue eyes.

This man. This man hasn’t changed at all. He’s still the biggest fool in the world.

“Sob, hic…”

Her crying became more intense. Because the man in front of her was such a fool.

So you mean you spent three months aimlessly waiting for your wounds to heal? There’s a limit to being clueless. General Cedric Fitzgerald, who’s rumored to have everything, is the most clueless person in the world.

…That was just something she said without meaning. There’s no woman in the world who would promise to marry a soldier who’s going to battle and come back without a scratch. No woman would say such a thing to a man she doesn’t care for!

Cedric looked bewilderedly at the woman who suddenly started crying.

He didn’t know what to say, so he stood there hesitantly with his large frame; this time, laughter came out of her. Suddenly crying then laughing — she thought she must seem a bit crazy.

She was someone whose emotions rarely fluctuated. Alvin often grumbled that his mom was too quiet. The only man who could make her emotions swing wildly was standing right in front of her.

At nineteen, she waited for him as soon as sunlight began to illuminate the room.

The barn repair lasted for a month. At some point, she found herself waiting for a young man from the village who came to fix the roof of her house. She would take care of her hair, smooth it and pick out pretty clothes to wear.

At twenty-nine, she’s the one who subscribed to the most newspapers in Little Port. So gray papers were always piled up like a mountain at her house entrance.

And once upon a time, she had been married. In the midst of her compromised marriage, she still hoped for a miracle. She hoped for the miracle of someone declared dead returning alive.

Eventually tired of everything, she left the capital knowing he would follow her.

Thus 10 years passed. Not a day went by during those 10 years when she didn’t wait for him.

Slowly rising and spreading her arms, she took a step forward. Blair embraced Cedric’s chest and said,

“…Marry me.”

She returned the words a certain man had said to her years ago.

“That’s quite an intense welcome.”

The man did not respond to her proposal but gently stroked her back with his large hand. From his joking tone, she knew he wasn’t rejecting it.

“The child needs a father.”

Blair said while embracing him.

“Are you using the child as an excuse?”

Cedric chuckled in response.

“Marry me, marry me.”

She nuzzled her head into his chest, repeating the same words over and over.

Actually, I was envious of Marilyn next door, who received telegrams.

Her morning starts with opening the newspaper. Out of habit, she started with the list of the fallen. Each time she flipped through the gray paper densely packed with black letters, her heart sank. At some point, this daily morning routine became unbearably painful.

She knew she hoped not to see his name in the newspaper. The day she admitted that, Blair climbed up a high hill overlooking the sea and cried her heart out.

She did not wish for Cedric to die. She hoped he would return safely. She hoped he would return without a single injury. The realization came to her like lightning.

She buried her face again in the embrace of her returned lover. As she rubbed her head against him, the tears hanging on her eyelashes wet his military shirt. He burst into laughter like a dandelion seed¹When describing someone’s laughter as being “like a dandelion seed”, it suggests that their laughter is gentle, effortless, and brings a sense of joy and lightness to those around them, seemingly delighted.

“…Marry me.”

The grown woman continued to bury her face in his embrace like a child.

It was a relief he returned unharmed. Since he kept his promise, she could also keep her pride, saying that signing the marriage documents was just fulfilling a promise she made as an adult. Secretly, she was already willing to sign even if he had returned severely injured.

The man held her in a squeezing embrace. He buried his lips in the nape of her neck. Then, a gust of wind blew, and the old paper he was holding flew into the forest.

“…Oh no.”

The man watched the fading paper carried away by the wind.

It’s okay, we can just write it again. When one of them spoke out, the other burst into a genuine laugh.

A young boy sitting quietly on the grass looked at his mom and dad with eyes full of wonder.

Blair celebrated the safe return of the man she had been waiting for with tears. It was a day when the tickling sunshine felt scorching on her neck.

『My Former Lover Didn’t Die And Came Back.』 The end.