Chapter 80

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Translator: MadScientist

Chapter: 80

Chapter Title: Finally, Liberation

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"Th-this isn't a condom?!"

-……

Nayu's shout plunged the noisy pork belly joint into instant silence.

The single word "condom" drew every eye in the room at once.

Nayu hadn't even realized she'd shouted it so loudly.

Her mouth hung open as she stared down at the item that had tumbled from Chayuri's bag.

"F-first…!"

Chayuri hurriedly tried to salvage the situation.

He shoved the fallen items back into his bag and made to bolt.

"Chayuri Floridel. Hold on a moment."

But Nayu blocked Chayuri's path.

The tense standoff had everyone—from the customers to the kitchen staff—fixated on the two of them.

Unable to advance or retreat, Chayuri finally sat back down.

He slumped his head low.

In a small voice, Chayuri said,

"How did you end up here, Nayu…?"

"Junior Ian helped me out. I wanted to talk."

Only then did Chayuri piece together what had happened.

He'd known Nayu had been chasing him down relentlessly.

He could guess what she wanted to discuss.

"…I'm sorry, Nayu!"

After much agonizing, he'd decided to lead with an apology.

Chayuri hadn't wanted to disguise himself as a man, either.

But it was true that he'd deceived Nayu for years.

Even knowing she was courting him, he'd hidden the fact that he was a woman.

Taking responsibility with a sincere apology seemed the best course.

But Nayu's response defied Chayuri's expectations.

"Sorry for what?"

"…Pardon?"

Nayu genuinely couldn't fathom why Chayuri was apologizing.

If anything, that was what she wanted to do.

That was the very reason she'd sought him out so desperately after learning he was a woman.

"If anything, it's I who should apologize."

Chayuri could only gape at Nayu's words.

She'd been dodging the truth out of fear of what Nayu might say.

And yet Nayu's reaction was the polar opposite of what she'd feared.

"Chayuri Floridel… no, Lady Chayuri. I proposed to you without even realizing you were a lady. It must have been agony receiving a woman's proposal as a woman, and yet I tormented you for years without knowing."

"That's… not…"

"I'd watched you for so long—I should have noticed. But I didn't, and I left you to suffer."

"No, that's not it. It was all because of my mother's pressure. You have nothing to apologize for."

It was an apology so fervent it left the recipient, Chayuri, flustered.

Nayu truly hadn't done anything wrong, just as he said.

Yet she was tormented by what she hadn't done, even though it wasn't her duty.

"Even so, the fact remains that I failed to protect you, Lady Chayuri. I'm sorry."

Nayu stood and bowed deeply.

Chayuri panicked and pulled her back up.

"What happened to your mother?"

"My mother… she's gone. Killed by the family head."

The Archmage Duke of Floridel had slain Chayuri's mother.

Nayu was briefly stunned, then composed herself.

"Are you all right?"

"……"

It was a question she'd heard countless times.

Ian had asked. So had Hisenna and Elrim.

Few could truly be "all right" after losing a parent.

Yet Chayuri always answered that he was.

And truthfully, he was liberated—and glad for it.

This was the freedom he'd craved.

"I think I'm okay."

Chayuri gave the same reply.

He thought he was okay, but it was an ambiguous answer.

For some reason, nothing else ever came to mind.

"Really? Truly, truly okay?"

And Nayu asked again.

"…Yes. I think I'm okay."

"Are you really okay?"

"Yes."

"Are you really okay?"

Nayu kept asking, over and over.

No matter how many times Chayuri insisted he was fine, Nayu's expression never wavered as she repeated the question.

Under that relentless questioning, Chayuri's responses grew weaker and weaker.

"Is everything okay?"

"…"

Chayuri fell silent, unable to answer.

He thought he was okay. But with the questions piling on, the words wouldn't come anymore.

Why? He was okay, surely.

His mother had committed wrongs—threatening the academy, even the family.

No matter her intentions, she'd challenged the Archmage Duke.

The duke had raged, and no one could stand against that justified power.

And she'd been the source of his torment.

There had even been times he'd wished she'd just die. So why…?

"Are you really, truly okay?"

Under Nayu's unyielding probing,

it was as if a dam burst. The tears pent up inside came flooding out.

Once broken, the dam unleashed them without end.

Chayuri wept without understanding why, powerless to stop it.

"Wh-what…?"

Chayuri wiped frantically at the tears streaming down his face, bewildered.

Nayu handed him napkins, but a few sheets couldn't stem the flow.

These were tears confined for a lifetime.

Even after exhausting a whole dispenser, they kept coming.

"What I wanted wasn't for me to marry you, Lady Chayuri."

Finally, as Chayuri's tears showed no sign of stopping, Nayu broached a different topic.

"From the first time I saw you, Lady Chayuri, you looked tormented somehow. You smiled, but it felt like you were on the verge of bursting."

Like any of the Ronnight family, Nayu had recognized at first sight that he was her fated blood match.

And like any family member, her feelings weren't reducible to mere marriage or lust.

"I wanted you free from whatever was tormenting you. My proposal was just to make you happy, from the closest vantage point."

It could be called love, or loyalty, or friendship, depending on who you asked.

"Even knowing you're a woman changes nothing for me. I just want you to be happy. It doesn't matter if your mother dies, so long as it makes you happy. And if her not dying makes you happy, that's fine too."

Chayuri's tears flowed unabated.

It was as if they'd accumulated for an eternity—endless.

And strangely, the more the dam broke, the lighter his heart felt.

"Let me stay by your side. Let me make you happy. That's what I wanted to say."

"Hic… snk… ugh…"

Chayuri let out the sobs he'd been holding back.

He wanted to hide the tears, but couldn't.

He wanted to stifle the wails, but they spilled out anyway.

Everyone in the restaurant stared at him.

But ignoring them all, Chayuri kept crying. Sobbing.

As if pouring out everything that had been locked away all those years.

"I'm not… okay…! I wanted freedom, but Mother died. I'm glad, but it hurts. I'm free and happy, but it hurts."

He couldn't rejoice or grieve over his mother's death.

Freedom was good, but it felt bought with her life.

"I thought since it was because of me, I had to take responsibility. But…"

Those were the words he heard from his mother every day.

Chayuri had spent his life believing he bore responsibility for being born a girl.

It wasn't his fault, but watching her suffering hurt.

To shoulder that burden, he'd endured what he hated. And now he wanted release from it.

But his mother's death was a half-liberation, unearned.

"It wasn't your fault, Lady Chayuri."

Nayu stepped down from her chair and embraced Chayuri's small frame.

Chayuri unleashed the torrent even more fiercely.

Incongruous with the bustling pork belly joint.

"It wasn't your fault, Lady Chayuri."

Nayu patted his back soothingly.

As if urging him to drain every drop from the dam.

As if telling him to cast off the heavy load and shatter the barrier.

And so Chayuri poured it all out, for a long while.

Finally, liberation.

After the flood of tears subsided,

Nayu and Chayuri—now scrapping any talk of courtship and opting to get along as sisters, senior and junior—finally ordered some pork belly and chowed down happily, if belatedly.

"So, how's it going?"

"Hmumph?"

Starved after all that crying, Chayuri glanced at Nayu, cheeks puffed full of pork belly.

Nayu watched him with a knowing smile.

"I'm talking about Junior Ian. That condom—you brought it thinking of him, didn't you?"

"Guh, pfftph!"

The sudden condom mention caught Chayuri mid-bite, sending him into a coughing fit.

He pounded his chest and gulped down water.

"No need to be embarrassed. Big sis knows all about it."

"Th-that's…"

"Junior Hisenna and Junior Elrim had that look in their eyes too. And lately, I've seen Yuuna taking an interest in Junior Ian."

"Y-yeah… For some reason, all these seniors are suddenly getting close to Ian…"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Nayu was in the same class as Yuuna.

There was a line drawn by her princess status, but she and Yuuna got along fine.

"At this rate, someone might just swoop in and snag him. Junior Ian seems like a pretty good catch."

Chayuri flushed red.

It was his first time feeling this way, so opening up was mortifying.

"But… I don't really know. I've never done anything like that as a girl…"

"No worries. I've seen plenty from my sisters back home. Lady Chayuri doesn't need to do a thing—physical charms will handle it."

"Ph-physical charms?!"

"Perfect timing—you're meeting Junior Ian soon anyway."

As thanks for arranging the talk with Chayuri, Ian had asked for some pointer.

Nayu figured she could use that to create an opportunity.

She explained her plan to Chayuri.

Th-that…! But can I really pull it off?"

"You strut around with everything on display—what's there to worry about? It'll work itself out."

"U-um…"

After some deliberation, Chayuri nodded.

Come to think of it, he'd even brought condoms today.

The two conspired in the pork belly joint.

I see. So it's called mana forging.

Carving off part of my total mana capacity to create something.

You can make simple attack-only forgings like a crossbow, or at Meditation King's level, even split your ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ego in two.

Like forging a second me, I guess.

That sounds like territory for someone with insane mana reserves and ego control via meditation.

For now, I just want to forge a weapon to carry around.

I was about to ask the gallery how when Nayu showed up.

As thanks for helping mend things with Chayuri, I'd asked her to teach me crossbow summoning.

The gallery said even crossbow summoning is tough at my level.

Forging in general seems to require high mastery.

Whatever.

For now, I asked the arriving Nayu to demonstrate forging for me.