Between Your Letter and My Reply

Chapter 87

[Translated By Divinity]

“Why are you saying just two months? Is two months a short time? Whether it’s been two months or one month, I…!”

“It may not be a short time for Lilliana. But for me, whether it’s two months, half a year, or a year…”

Damian, cutting off Lilliana’s reply and speaking his own mind, murmured in a low voice like a sigh.

“My life hasn’t changed just because the guys I knew died.”

“…”

Just as Damian was about to assume Lilliana had fallen silent and began rubbing his fingertip against his coffee cup, there was the sound of a chair scraping. Then something pushed against the back of his head. Judging from the hardness, it was Lilliana’s head.

Lilliana pressed her head against Damian’s, pushing it forward, and said,

“But Lady Lintray was different, wasn’t she? You, you kept trying to find Lady Lintray. To you, she’s different from someone like me, isn’t she?”

Although Damian hadn’t explained in detail, Lilliana vaguely understood what Lady Lintray meant to him. It was the first time Damian had talked about someone for so long.

And if anyone had seen Damian’s expression when he spoke about Lady Lintray, they would have all thought the same thing:

That Damian truly cherished that person.

“…Recently, I haven’t really tried to find her. I couldn’t.”

“But you haven’t given up, have you? If you had the chance, you’d look for her, wouldn’t you?”

“That’s not wrong, but after the surgery, I really haven’t thought about looking for her.”

Because of someone.

Damian swallowed the last words. He knew if Lilliana heard them, she would surely start another long conversation.

Being with Lilliana made him feel like he had actually met Lady Lintray. And this naturally led to suspicion.

Maybe, just maybe, Lilliana was Lady Lintray. If so, wouldn’t he be spared the trouble of searching elsewhere?

Damian thought it would be better if Lilliana regained her memories quickly. At least then, he would have a definitive answer about whether Lilliana was Lady Lintray or not.

However, he wasn’t interested in who this “jerk” was that Lilliana had liked. He wasn’t even sure if he wanted Lilliana to regain her memories or not.

Damian wanted to ask Lilliana if, during the two years she had lost, there was anyone named Lieutenant McCord besides that “jerk” she was fond of. Of course, he knew he wouldn’t get a proper answer.

“You’ll understand me someday, Damian.”

Damian chuckled at Lilliana’s confident attitude.

“Well…”

“Don’t laugh. You never know what might happen. Maybe someday, you’ll also have someone you never want to forget.”

As Damian leaned forward and stood up, Lilliana’s head, which had been resting against his, snapped back. Looking down at Lilliana, who was blinking her blue eyes up at him, Damian said,

“Humans are creatures of oblivion.”

“Creatures of oblivion?”

Damian plopped down in the seat opposite Lilliana and continued,

“It means that because we forget the past, we can live in the present without being trapped in memories.”

“So you want to forget everything about the past?”

“It’s not that I want to forget it, but rather that there wasn’t anything particularly good in my past, so I wouldn’t mind forgetting it.”

“But you have Lady Lintray.”

“So please stop bringing up Lady Lintray. Maybe it would be better for me to forget about her too.”

“Why?!”

“Just… I have that feeling.”

Damian rested his chin on his hand, his eyes half-closed.

“She’s certainly a precious and grateful person to me, but… what’s the use of longing for someone who’s gone beyond my reach…?”

“Damian, you and I are on completely different wavelengths.”

Lilliana said, her tone somewhat angry for some reason.

“Sometimes forgetting is more painful. My mother passed away when I was nine, and whenever I’m about to forget her face, I look at her picture to remember her again. If I didn’t have the picture, I would feel miserable every time I felt my memory of her face fading.”

Damian, who had been half-heartedly listening to Lilliana with a blurry focus, opened his eyes properly. Unaware of Damian’s change in attitude, Lilliana took a bite of her cake and continued,

“It’s painful, but if I had to choose between remembering my mother and my feelings for her, even if her face became hazy, I would choose the former. I hate the fact itself that I might forget someone. Why? Why are you looking at me like that?”

Seeing Damian suddenly lost in thought, Lilliana stopped chewing on her cake and asked him,

“Ah, it’s… nothing.”

Damian said so and nodded.

“As expected, unlike Lilliana, I’d rather forget.”

Lilliana pouted at his words and began to silently eat her cake. But Damian couldn’t help it.

Every word and action of Lilliana’s that resembled Lady Lintray made his heart ache. It felt like Lilliana was clutching his heart and shaking it.

He would rather forget the words in the letters he exchanged with Lady Lintray. Damian truly didn’t want to live with these feelings.

***

The next day, when Damian and Lilliana went to Soliel’s shop to pick up the magic they had requested, she greeted them warmly. And immediately brought out what she had prepared.

“I was wondering how to make something you could always carry with you, so I made this. Will this do?”

What Soliel pulled out was a bracelet that shimmered with five colors. It was a bracelet made by weaving the jewels Lilliana had requested with gold thread.

Lilliana’s eyes sparkled at the sight.

“Oh! It’s beautiful!”

And she immediately tried it on.

The bracelet, dangling from her left wrist, looked like a mere accessory at first glance. The stones were small, so it wasn’t too conspicuous. If anyone asked, she could simply say they were well-made imitation stones.

“And I made this like this…”

The second item Soliel presented was a locket to be worn around the neck. When she opened the locket’s cover, inside was the 17-carat diamond.

Carrying a locket was common, and since they often contained personal items, others wouldn’t pay much attention to it.

“This is nice too.”

Lilliana examined it, opening and closing the cover, then hesitated slightly before putting it around her neck.

“It really won’t split me in half, right…?”

“If you don’t want to be split in half, concentrate. The way to use that teleportation magic is simple, but there are some precautions. First, I’ve set the activation word. It’s ‘Prosenta’. Say ‘Prosenta’, focus on one place you want to go, and think about going there. Don’t think about other places at the same time. Then you won’t be split in half. It can only transport the one person wearing the locket, not two or more people. That kind of magic requires a more complex spell.”

Lilliana, still looking unsure, put the locket around her neck with a bitter expression.

“The magic on the bracelet is simple to use. When the situation I mentioned before arises, the magic will activate automatically. You don’t need to cast it separately like the teleportation magic. As for the emerald that strengthens the room’s security, you can put it anywhere in the room.”

“Thank you.”

Lilliana wrote the remaining balance on the check and received the jewels.

It was certainly done to keep Lilliana safe, but the thought of her small frame carrying around several hundred thousand hirks made Damian feel even more uneasy.

What if she gets pickpocketed…?

‘I hope I haven’t done something unnecessary…’

The two left the magic shop, escorted to the door by Soliel. Lilliana stretched her hand towards the sky, watching the jewels on her wrist sparkle in the sunlight, and smiled.

“Now, with this, I’m safe! I can finally sleep soundly for a while.”

“Please be careful of pickpockets.”

“If I get pickpocketed, it can’t be helped. We can just make another one, so don’t worry too much.”

Damian really couldn’t get used to Lilliana’s spending habits. Still, as Lilliana said, many of his worries were resolved, and he felt relieved.

However, Damian didn’t know that just three days later, an unexpected new worry would arise.

******

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