“It seems as if all I do is cry in front of you, Sir Celes.”
I gave him an embarrassed smile as I rubbed my eyes. They must have been all red and puffy. I really hadn’t wanted him to see me like this when we’d finally found each other again.
“You’re cute, whatever you do. And honestly, I’m glad I’m the only one to see you cry. You’re too precious to show to anyone else,” Sir Celes dropped that cheesy line before kissing me again. “And you called me ‘Sir’ again. I was happy to hear you just call me Celes. Are you still going to keep that up?”
“Ah!”
It’d just slipped out because of habit, but he noticed right away. The way he asked with a little mischievous smile made it hard to turn him down.
“I-I’ll try...”
I probably just need to get used to it. It’ll stop being embarrassing once I do. Probably. I’m tired of regretting everything. If I regretted not just using his name before, I should do it now!
I gathered all of my courage and opened my mouth. “C-Celes... Ah, it’s still embarrassing!”
“It’s okay. Thanks for trying.”
Pulling together all of my courage didn’t do a thing against the embarrassment. I managed to get it out, but I couldn’t make myself look at his face!
When I covered my blushing face, Sir Celes softly touched my wrist.
“You’re still wearing your bracelet,” he said with a small smile. The wrist that he had touched was the one with his handmade wooden bracelet. Though it had been hard to look at, I could never bring myself to take it off. I was afraid of breaking our bond if I did.
“Yeah...” I gently ran my fingers over the bracelet, glad I hadn’t removed it. “Honestly, I thought of taking it off. It was difficult for me to keep wearing it...but I couldn’t. I felt like I’d be giving up on everything if I did. I’m glad I kept it, though. We’re together again, after all.”
“Thank you. I don’t know what I would’ve done if you threw it away.”
“I’d never do that. I wouldn’t give it to anyone — it’s my treasure...”
Gathering my courage once again, I stepped forward and clung to his arm. I felt like I could, now.
“I’m not giving you to anyone,” I whispered.
“I’d never give you to anyone either,” he said, pulling me in for another embrace. I’d been self-conscious in front of everyone, but it was fine to do this when we were alone, right?
“So...how did you find me?”
The moment I asked, his smile wavered.
“Oh man, where should I begin?”
He only hesitated for a second before recounting the story, still holding me in his arms.
He told me how they’d searched the castle for me, and how they’d blamed Sir Astorga; about how Miss Maria hadn’t believed I was dead; how he’d left, ready to quit the Knights; how Sir Gaius went with him. It hurt to know that my disappearance had hurt not only him, but everyone else so deeply. He and Sir Gaius had searched everywhere for me. At first, they thoroughly searched the places that the Vice-Commander could have gone. Once that didn’t work, they expanded their search area.
“I never expected you’d be this far away.”
Since Sir Astorga had come back so quickly, they’d thought I must be somewhere relatively close. It made sense to think that way. Wherever he’d left me, he would have only had so much time to do it before returning to the castle.
“Sir Astorga wasn’t the one who took me this far.”
“Yeah. When he told us he didn’t know where you’d gone, I had no idea what to do...”
They’d been exchanging letters with the capital the entire time. Sir Celes and Sir Gaius would tell them where they were heading next, and everyone at the castle would send them information as it came in. The reason that they hadn’t returned to the castle at all was because they felt like it would be giving up on me.
“So you heard from Mister Guido?”
“Mhm, but not directly. He sent a letter. I’d never thought he’d have anything to do with this. He’d been in the middle of a mission when he met the Vice-Commander, and went straight back to it after bringing you here.”
Knowing I’d be in danger if anyone else found out I was alive, Mister Guido had sealed the letter and sent it to the Knights as something highly confidential, only to be opened by Sir Celes. As such, the letter had been in the Third Regiment office the entire time.
“My Vice-Captain got curious after a while and told the Commander about it. They didn’t want to open a private letter, but they also didn’t know when I’d ever come back, so they didn’t want to leave it.”
Sir Agliardi and Lord Reynard finally ended up making the decision to open it, and found out where I was. Then, they forwarded the information to Sir Celes.
“Really, it probably would’ve been better for them to send another set of knights to come bring you home as soon as they found out, but the Commander thought it would be best for it to be us to get you. I’m sorry for being so late, Lucia. If they’d sent someone else, you could’ve been home so much earlier.”
Sir Celes looked dejected, but I was glad that he was the one to come find me.
“The speed doesn’t matter to me. I’m glad it was you two that came for me... You were the one I wanted to see most, after all.”
I wanted to see Miss Maria too, but I really was glad that Sir Celes had been the one to come get me.
“Once Gaius gets back, you can say your goodbyes and we’ll head back to Arldat. Ah, but we’ve got to detour to Hasawes first.”
“Hasawes?” I repeated, confused. Why was he talking about my hometown?
“Honestly, when we were having such a hard time finding you, I went to your parent’s graves as a last hope. I prayed, saying I’d never leave you alone again, so please give you back to me,” he smiled awkwardly. “So I need to go back and tell them it came true.”
I didn’t know what to say. The fact that he worked so hard to find me made me so happy, but at the same time, made me feel so bad.
“Really, we could do it after going back to the capital, but since Hasawes is your hometown, I thought it might be nice to get married on paper at the temple there... What do you think? How quickly do you want to become my wife?”
The moment the word ‘wife’ left his lips, I could feel my face heat up. I never thought I would ever be able to get married, so I was ecstatic to know that I could become my beloved’s wife.
Wait... I feel like I’m forgetting something... Oh no, that’s right! I can’t get married!
“Wait!” I exclaimed, as it finally clicked in my mind. “Oh no... Sir Celes, what should I do!?”
“Lucia?” He gave me a confused look as I went white.
“I can’t become your wife!”
“What!?”
I was near tears, but Sir Celes looked even worse for wear.
“W-Why!? Do you hate me!? Do you not want to get married anymore!?”
“I do! And I could never hate you! But on paper, I’m...” I answered quietly, biting my lip.
On paper, I was dead. If “Lucia” was deceased, that would make me a ghost. My short hair made me look like a widow, but I was the one who was supposed to have died. There was no way “I” could get married like this. It felt as if ice water had been poured over my happy feelings. I’d been so happy to meet him again, and that we still felt the same, but I couldn’t marry him.
“Ah, that...” Sir Celes gave a relieved sigh after I answered. When I looked at him, confused, he gently explained. “Don’t worry, you’re still alive. His Majesty made sure of it. Your hair is cute when it’s short, too — I could tell it was you, even from far away. The length of your hair doesn’t matter. Whatever you looked like, I would have definitely still found you.”
Hearing his explanation, the relief made me cry all over again, which ended up worrying Sir Celes. I wouldn’t tell him that the fact that he held me until I stopped crying had made me cry even more.
A little bit after I stopped crying, Sir Gaius and the mayor came for me.
“Thank you so much for everything.”
I put the cold cloth I’d put over my eyes back in the basin, and thanked the mayor for all his help. When I told him how thankful I was for the village’s warm welcome over the few months I was there, he smiled brightly.
“I knew something must have been up, but I never would have expected that Guido would bring the Dragonslayer’s wife to us,” he said, chuckling.
I blushed bright red. It was all I could do to mutter that I wasn’t his wife yet.
“Thank you all for protecting her. I don’t know what I could ever do to thank you,” Sir Celes expressed his gratitude as well while pulling me close.
“Oh, I didn’t do anything. Olga and the others are the ones you should be thanking.”
“Alright. I’ll make sure to thank them before we leave.”
I really could never thank Missus Olga and the other villagers enough. They did everything they could to help me — never poking their heads into my past. I’d never thought the day I’d say goodbye to them would come, but I wanted to thank them properly before I left.