I. One Summer Day

Ririana Evergreen Greywoods thought to herself. Under the drooping trumpet vines, sitting in an old rocking chair with her beloved daughter and her respected and trusted husband, this moment was truly peaceful.

“……Belle.”

An old cough shook her body gently.

The rocking chair swayed forward greatly, and her husband standing behind her gently caught the backrest, while her daughter, who had been resting her cheek against her knee, made a sniffling sound and lifted her head. Pitifully wiping her wet face carelessly with her hands, she smiled brilliantly with a calm and peaceful expression.

Just as she had requested.

It was a quiet and beautiful end.

Just as her mother had done. She too would slowly stop breathing under the drooping trumpet vine arch. The difference was that while her mother had been at the Evergreen mansion with her truly beloved husband, she was at the Greywoods mansion with her respected husband.

Ah, and she had only one daughter, which was also different.

Her mother had been with two children, her older brother and herself.

She almost wanted to laugh at such idle thoughts, but only a powerless, precarious smile that seemed ready to fade at any moment gently hung at the corners of her lips. Ririana leaned her head slightly to the left and exhaled deeply. She felt the old locket hanging around her neck slide over her collarbone.

Her body felt heavy.

“……Mother.”

Her daughter brought her face close to her dimming eyes and kissed her cheek. Some tears transferred, and she could feel the moisture. Yet she made no crying sounds at all.

How admirable.

When she was young, she would always cry louder than anyone else. That used to cause trouble. On rare occasions, her daughter, who was born a wind mage like Lian, would summon small storms along with her tears.

Sometimes it was whirlwinds, sometimes it was storms accompanied by dark clouds.

When her husband was nearby, it was fine because he was a more powerful wind mage, but when he wasn’t, it would really cause a great commotion. At the smallest scale, it would mess up the room, and at the largest scale, it would shake the entire mansion into chaos. The flowers in the garden would sometimes fall like unseasonable flower rain. Since mages were precious beings, only her husband and Lobelia in this mansion had inherited that power, so only he could suppress the child’s power.

So when her husband wasn’t there, she really had a hard time.

No matter how much she tried to soothe her, the child wouldn’t listen well.

It would take quite a long time to calm that power or to clear the blue eyes that had been clouded by dark clouds. Still, walking through the lobelia flower bed that had been planted when the child was born and patting her back would help calm her down.

Though she couldn’t walk for long because her body was weak.

Hmm, what was I like back then.

I probably didn’t even whimper at that time.

My mother had been sick for much longer than I was, and I was always by her side. I was always anticipating the farewell. So when I saw my mother off, I only smiled. I smiled as freshly as summer greenery and kissed my mother’s cheek countless times just like my child is doing now.

My older brother cried, and so did Father.

But I alone smiled peacefully as Mother wished, like an ordinary day. She wanted to quietly close her eyes under the trumpet vine arch when the whole family was gathered together.

My wish was the same.

It wouldn’t be such a strange thing. For a patient who had been ill for a long time, it would be natural to want to go peacefully at the end, with the smile of a loved one. Ririana thought so and wore the same kind and gentle smile that her mother had worn back then.

“……My verdant Lobelia.”

“Yes, Mother.”

“Don’t forget. I love you more than anyone else in the world.”

Though it was a voice mixed with faint and hoarse breathing, her daughter listened to those words very attentively and nodded countless times. Thick teardrops flowed endlessly following that movement. She would have liked to wipe them away, but like her weakening breath, her hands wouldn’t move well.

She drew in a gasping breath and weakly leaned her head against her husband’s hand behind her. She felt his fingertips flinch at that small contact.

They touched her cheek, flinched, then gently spread out as he caressed her cheek. A gentle breeze blew, carrying the deep scent of trumpet vines. It must be her husband’s doing.

She couldn’t quite imagine what expression he was wearing.

Her husband, Lian.

He was a kind and affectionate person. He respected her and never once turned his eyes elsewhere. Even after she gave birth to their daughter and became unable to bear any more children, he didn’t tolerate any criticism and acknowledged Lobelia as his only heir.

Even though having many heirs was almost like a duty for mages. Since magic wasn’t a trait that was easily inherited, having many children had become established as an unspoken duty for mages. Even illegitimate children weren’t considered a flaw. It was obvious how many stories must have poured onto him.

At least it would have helped that their daughter was born a wind mage like Lian. However, if Lian hadn’t declared it so strongly, it probably would have been a bit difficult.

And even in such a situation, he was always faithful to her above all else.

He never turned his eyes elsewhere despite all those countless proposals disguised as suggestions, and he tried to do most of what she wanted, even if it was something that would harm her health.

He was a good husband.

She too had been a good wife to him.

No, since she couldn’t know Lian’s true feelings, she couldn’t say that with certainty. So it would be more correct to say that she had tried to be one. Yes, that might be right. He always told her that she was a good wife.

Though there was no love between them.

There was trust and respect, and they lived a more fulfilling life than any couple who had made a political marriage. That’s what she thought. She wasn’t sure if her husband thought the same.

She hoped he would think so.

Ririana Evergreen Greywoods thought so and slowly closed her eyes. After taking one last look at her daughter’s face. Her thin breathing was gradually becoming fainter.

And on a day when summer’s greenery was at its deepest.

Under the drooping trumpet vine arch that had been created in her eighteenth summer, she, at thirty-three, left this world.

❀

When she opened her eyes again, Ririana thought, so this is what they call a panorama of one’s life.

Everything was blurry and had a grayish hue.

It was midsummer, when the fragrance of the trumpet vines was at its fullest. Under the trumpet vine arch at Evergreen where her mother had passed away, she was having her wedding ceremony with a veil draped over her. The scent of trumpet vines filled everywhere, so much so that even her husband standing beside her had that fragrance faintly permeating from him.

Their hands touched politely and gently.

“Then, Ririana Evergreen. Do you swear to take Killian Greywoods as your husband, to cherish and respect each other, and to spend your lives together?”

She was wearing white lace gloves. Her husband was wearing thin white gloves. Yet the body heat where they touched felt strangely warm and vivid. Ririana quietly gazed at Lian’s hand that was clasped with hers for a moment.

Until the officiant called her name once more.

“Lady Evergreen?”

“……Yes, I swear.”

Her lips moved slowly. Her body wouldn’t move well. Had she been this nervous back then?

She didn’t think she had been……

Surely, she had answered immediately. It was a marriage that had been planned for a long time. It was a betrothal made in the womb, and their first meeting was when he turned nineteen. It was also the year she turned fifteen.

After that, they would meet once every summer. And for four years like that, it was a marriage promised for the spring when she came of age at nineteen. However, it was postponed to summer because she said she wanted to do it on a beautiful summer day when the trumpet vine arch was lovely.

Lian accommodated everything to her wishes. There were few guests and her dress was ordinary. It was the white dress with beautiful green accents here and there that her mother had worn when she got married. The veil was the most beautiful new one among what she was wearing.

Since all the accessories and everything else had belonged to her mother.

Ah, though the bouquet and wedding ring were also new.

The bouquet was made of fresh flowers so it couldn’t be helped, but Lian had insisted on giving her a new ring. A ring made of peridot and aquamarine that resembled her and his eyes. He had lost his mother at a younger age than she had, so he didn’t want to give her his mother’s ring.

Since she had a weak constitution.

It had been a wedding with hardly any fluttering heart. The excitement was the same. It had only been comfortable and stable. That’s how she remembered it.

“Killian Greywoods, do you swear to take Ririana Evergreen as your wife, to cherish, love, and respect her for life?”

“I swear.”

It was a neat and firm voice. The officiant declared that their marriage was established and gave permission to lift the veil and share a kiss. The few guests stood up from their seats and the sound of their applause rang out as clearly as thunder.

As her body shrank, Lian slowly raised his hand.

Following that touch, she felt the deep scent of trumpet vines draping over her head. And under that deep and vivid fragrance, her head suddenly lifted.

She had never seen her husband’s face back then.

She couldn’t remember why that was. She had never thought to lift her head. She had simply waited quietly for the ceremony to end. So even now as she lifted her head……

She didn’t think she would be able to see Lian’s face.

Because how could she see in a life panorama what she hadn’t seen back then?

So Ririana lifted her head without much expectation and looked at the man who had just become her husband. He had a face stiff with tension. Clearly, the world that had been painted in grayish hues brightened.

For a moment, the world shone so colorfully that it took her breath away.

Lian slowly removed her veil. Her beautiful pale blue eyes appeared. Eyes the same color as her beloved verdant Lobelia. The same hue as that child’s was spread there.

“Excuse me, Ririana.”

The whispering voice was very small. It was like the summer breeze that trembled slightly. His pale gray hair was slightly disheveled, and he slowly bowed his head with jerky, broken movements. And just like in her memory, his lips briefly landed on her forehead and then lifted away.

It felt like a butterfly landed on her skin.

It was strangely vivid.

Her mouth fell open.

“Ah.”

It was a small voice. Like a voice that was slightly blocked, as if she had been asleep for a long time and just woken up. Lian hurriedly supported her swaying body.

“Ririana?”

It was a familiar nickname. Her husband had called her Ririana since they held their wedding ceremony. She had called him Killian until their first night at twenty, and after that she called him Lian. Her head felt a little dizzy.

She grabbed Lian’s arm and bent her body for a moment.

“Riri?”

It was Father’s voice. It felt more vivid and solid than in her memory. When was the last time she had met Father…… She felt her body bending. She remembered it being just before he passed away. In the year she turned thirty, he had become a bit senile.

So he passed away peacefully like Mother.

The difference was that while Mother was under the arch, Father was on his bed. He passed away quietly in the head of family’s room with just the family members present.

That was the last time.

He called her Riri in a faint voice and kissed her forehead like when she was young. He called her older brother Alec and stroked his head. He smiled with the most peaceful face in the world and closed his eyes. She couldn’t believe he had passed away, so she kept looking down at his face several times. That remained in her memory.

Even after he was placed in the coffin, she kept gazing at that peaceful face that looked like he was sleeping.

She felt as if the world was turning upside down. Lian strongly embraced and held her up. She felt the wind blowing strongly to support her.

This didn’t happen.

She had normally exited amid congratulations that day and left for the Greywoods territory. She remembered Father kissing her cheek with his blessing and crying a little. He had turned his head away, but she could hear the sound. That’s how she knew he had cried.

But now……

She was panting. She heard someone running toward her.

“Riri!”

It was her older brother. Even when she turned thirty, her older brother called her Riri. When he was teasing her, it was little Riri. There had been times when it was a bit awkward because he called her that in front of Lobelia. Memories tangled chaotically in her head. Her vision shook and at the same time showed reality, and she saw three men with surprised faces.

Lian, her older brother, and Father.

“……Riri!”

Her consciousness gradually faded away. The vivid green eyes resembling summer leaves slowly disappeared beneath her eyelids, and her body went limp and collapsed downward.

A storm arose.

And on one summer day, Ririana Evergreen became Ririana Evergreen Greywoods once again.