“You went all the way there? I’ve about had it with you. You brought her from that far away, too?”
“That’s how it is, yep. Look, we’re pretty tired. Can I go now?”
“If she’s here as your wife, then you have to register her.”
That word had Saya wide-eyed and Nagi in a panic.
“Hang on! Don’t be hasty! We’re not like that!”
“I see. That honestly saves me some trouble.”
Badrino looked dead serious. Apparently, his professional duties had already filled his head to the brim. In short, he had to manage how many villagers there were, keep them alive, and distribute who took part in the blood offerings.
“By the way, there’s something I want to ask you. It might sound a little strange. It’s about your brother.”
Nagi was glad he’d met Nerthe earlier. He’d known that the chief would ask him about this, so he managed to keep his composure. In a cold voice, he said, “My brother is dead.”
This was Nagi’s normal response when suddenly asked about Keele. He was the completely common little brother of a man who had vanished despite his promising talent.
“Dead... You’re right. Sorry for bringing it up.”
Faced with Nagi’s quiet irritation, he couldn’t possibly say the ghost of his brother had appeared. This was just an act, but the chief didn’t seem to sense anything out of place in Nagi’s behavior. There was no way he would. Nagi’s icy feelings toward Keele were the real thing. In any case, judging from Badrino’s tone, he probably knew Keele was actually alive.
“That man we just met, is he in poor health?” Saya asked after they had entered Nagi’s house and shut the door.
Nagi tossed his bag aside and took off his bow and quiver as he said, “No, I don’t think so. Well, he’s pretty up there. It’s rare for someone to be that energetic over twenty-five.”
“Twenty-five?” she echoed, dumbfounded.
“Surprised? He looks younger than that, right? The chief’s business apparently made a killing when he was younger. He managed to escape the blood offerings multiple times using that money.”
Badrino didn’t speak of it much, but Nagi remembered this clearly. He’d been floored when he’d first heard of it, thinking that maybe one day he could extend his own lifespan in the same way. That feeling still smoldered within him, and it was what Keele had used to get Nagi to act so recklessly this time around.
Saya sank into a gloomy silence, but Nagi didn’t know what had her making such a grave expression. He decided to brush it off as perfectly reasonable. Saya had practically been sold by her hometown as a sacrifice and made to go through that harsh blood offering before getting narrowly saved from it.
Nagi himself had fought until he was in tatters and killed someone for the first time. His fatigue was reaching its limits.
“You can use that bed over there. Sorry it’s a little dirty,” he said as he spread out an old blanket on the floor.
“I’ll be fine with that,” she replied, pointing at the blanket, but Nagi would hear none of it.
“Don’t worry, just take the bed.”
Nagi was a little curious as to what kind of expression she would make if he suggested getting in the bed together. On any other day, that would have been a very attractive proposition for a boy of Nagi’s age. Nagi had never known someone so beautiful existed in this world until now, and that person was in his bed. It was only natural that his mind would entertain such idle thoughts.
Saya had looked dazzled when the word “wife” had been mentioned earlier. Would such a thing be possible? If Saya had been driven out of her hometown, then wasn’t it possible for her to live here together with Nagi?
Just imagining it sent a sweet sensation through Nagi’s heart. But unfortunately, Nagi was in far too much pain and far too tired. He wanted to lie down on top of the old rag immediately. Getting some rest was far more attractive an idea to him than any strange desires.
“Good night.”
And as he listened to his own voice, Nagi’s consciousness rapidly drifted away.
Saya gazed at his defenseless sleeping face, at the boy who had broken through her glass birdcage and had fallen from the sky. The boy named Nagi looked terribly innocent like this. Saya couldn’t believe he’d managed to accomplish something so outrageous.
In truth, he had brought her out of the Forbidden Garden—her prison. What exactly had happened there? Saya’s captivity, which had been unchanged for hundreds of years, had suddenly come to an end. All because this boy had fallen through the ceiling and opened a hole in it.
Even though it had been the day of the Blood Offering Festival, it was strange for only a single guard to have been on site. They had always taken turns keeping her under surveillance, so at least two guards had needed to be present at all times. But now that she thought about it, there had only been one guard for the last few Blood Offering Festivals. Several decades ago, it had been two, and before that, there were three. Going even further back, there had been four guards. Evidently, the guards placed to keep an eye on her had grown fewer in number over time. Was such a thing possible? Had someone been preparing for years upon years to get Saya out of there? If so...
Saya once more looked at Nagi as he quietly slept. Had he been sent to her by that same person? The thought sent a slight pain through Saya’s heart, though she didn’t really understand why.
But Nagi hadn’t known that Saya was in the Garden. He’d said that he had gone there searching for treasure. What exactly was this treasure? Saya knew every nook and cranny of that building. There was no such thing.
It was all a mystery to her. Why had that guard suddenly collapsed? Certainly, it had been Saya’s doing, but how? At that time, she had felt something unusual: heat overflowing from within her body. It felt like something had been born from this heat.
It’s Nagi. When I touched Nagi, I... I wonder what happened exactly? The feeling had vanished in an instant, but she knew it was something important.
There was so much she didn’t know. What was with that man, the village chief called Badrino? His face was covered in wrinkles, and his eyes were clouded white. Was he not afflicted with some sort of disease? And twenty-five years old at that... It had been Saya’s first time meeting someone so young.
Incidentally, how old was Nagi? No matter where her mind wandered, it always drifted back to the boy sleeping before her eyes.
She couldn’t do anything but gaze at his face.
“You can run away,” he had said.
“Come with me.”
“I’ll protect you.”
Saya looked at her right palm. She felt like the warmth from Nagi’s hard and rugged hand was still there. Something within her had changed upon feeling the sensation she had never known before. She didn’t know what it was, but there was one thing she was certain of.
I want to be with this boy.