Chapter 64
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: One Week (3)
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After I became aware of the feelings I held for Aden,
I desperately suppressed my heart, which pounded as if it might burst,
and the fierce whirlwind of emotions...
At the academy dormitory entrance, where we had returned together...
I parted ways with Aden and entered my own dorm to get some sleep.
And so, the next morning arrived.
Finally...
The last day of the Founding Festival had come...
'Today marks the end...'
In the imperial palace, all the nobles gathered for a grand banquet,
while the commoners assembled in the plazas for celebrations...
On the last day of the Founding Festival,
a day that should have been filled with immense joy as the end of misfortune arrived...
Now, for the first time,
the mere fact that the festival's end was approaching felt regrettable.
'Still, I should make it a happy one...'
Even so,
to spend the final day happily with Aden...
At lunchtime,
as per Aden's suggestion to meet a bit later,
I began preparing to head out a little later than usual.
After neatly and properly getting ready,
I stepped out of the dormitory
and headed to our usual meeting spot where I always saw Aden.
"Isabel, you're here?"
And there he was,
Aden, who had always arrived before me,
waving his hand and greeting me as I emerged from the dorm.
"Yeah, good morning, Aden."
Seeing him like that,
I waved back with a light greeting of my own.
Aden looked at me and continued.
"Today, we're going to the capital."
"Huh...?"
And with those words,
announcing that we were heading to the capital together today...
a bewildered sound slipped from my lips automatically...
"Not Madel—the festival in the capital. If you don't like it, we can go somewhere else."
After that,
with Aden saying we could go elsewhere if I didn't want to,
I quickly began thinking about the capital...
'It's sudden, but...'
Honestly,
all the places I'd visited with Aden so far
had been quiet and serene spots like meadows, countryside villages, mountains, or the sea...
places not crowded with people,
so this was quite sudden... something I hadn't expected.
And...
'The capital...'
The capital.
The capital during the Founding Festival, no less...
A place with nothing but bad memories,
not somewhere I wanted to go,
nor anywhere I liked...
However...
"Sounds good. Let's go to the capital."
If it was with Aden...
For some reason... it felt like anywhere would be fine.
With him by my side,
I could even be happy in the capital.
That's why...
I gave Aden a faint smile
and said we should head to the capital...
"Thanks, let's go, Isabel."
Hearing that, Aden flashed a light smile of his own,
thanked me, turned around, and started walking.
And we arrived at the teleportation device.
Using the device we'd relied on for days,
my familiar shifting view soon settled
into a familiar place...
'The capital...'
Not the nobles' village of Madel,
nor the imperial palace where banquets were always held...
We had arrived at the outskirts of the capital,
where the festival commemorating the Founding Festival's end was in full swing.
"There are already so many people..."
And as Aden said right after we arrived,
even though the capital's festival had just begun,
the plazas were already packed with crowds...
"Shall we take our time looking around, Isabel?"
Seeing that,
as I heard Aden suggest we stroll slowly...
I began weaving through the throng alongside him.
"Wow... so this is the capital..."
And as we fully entered the festival,
true to Aden's exclamation from beside me...
the festival grounds were filled
not like the quiet shopping streets or villages we'd explored with him before,
but with all sorts of amusements, food stalls,
and artificial structures galore.
After a moment of marveling at the sight,
Aden and I roamed every corner of the festival,
properly enjoying ourselves...
"Hey! Isabel, let's try that one too."
The various quirky and fun attractions inside the festival...
"Aden, that looks tasty."
The food streets selling all sorts of treats...
We wandered everywhere,
enjoying the myriad amusements
and sampling various foods.
'I'm happy...'
The packed plazas of the capital,
the bustling crowds...
None of it bothered me anymore.
In my eyes,
only Aden was visible,
joyfully leading me as he dashed through the festival...
And even...
the painful memories of the capital...
They no longer came to mind.
' "Oh my, Isabel. You're showing your lack of refinement?" '
She usually seemed indifferent,
but my stepmother always noticed the slightest mistake like a ghost and tore into me...
She wasn't here now.
So I could relax...
without overthinking... and roam freely.
' "Maintain your dignity." '
My father, indifferent to me,
forbidding even a smile to preserve decorum...
He wasn't here.
Now I could laugh freely...
and enjoy the festival to my heart's content...
' "Disappear from my sight." '
My younger sibling, who always filled me with disgust...
Wasn't here either.
Here,
there was now only one person more precious than anyone else...
The one I loved more than anyone...
"Isabel! Shall we try that one too?"
Just that one person with me.
"Sure."
Yes.
Everything with Aden...
Was happy.
Fun.
So...
'With you...'
Everything was wonderful.
Like that,
for quite a while with Aden...
Blissfully, thoughtlessly...
Without a care for dignity,
manners, or formality...
I was enjoying the festival so happily when...
Slowly...
"Ah..."
The red light that always signaled the end of my joyful times
began to blanket the sky.
"The sunset's already here..."
And Aden's words,
noting that the sun was setting...
Seemed to announce that today's happiness was truly coming to an end.
However...
"Hurry, Isabel!"
As I swallowed my regret at the ending of this happy time,
suddenly Aden grabbed my hand
and started heading somewhere...
"Wha... what? Where are we going, Aden?"
Though I followed him in confusion,
asking our destination,
"It's a secret!"
Just like the first time we went out,
Aden replied with that playful tone...
saying it was a secret.
Feeling bewildered yet naturally following,
after some time...
as the sky turned red and darkened...
"We made it in time!"
Aden said that and abruptly stopped his hurried steps...
'Where is this...?'
The spot where Aden halted after racing through a maze of paths
was a high vantage point,
like a neglected observatory.
'Was there... a place like this in the capital?'
Though I'd visited the capital countless times,
after a brief look around this unfamiliar spot...
'No one's here...'
It felt wondrous,
as if it weren't the capital at all,
but some rural village with not a soul in sight.
"I didn't know... there was a place like this in the capital."
"Yeah, it's pretty amazing, right?"
"It is..."
An amazing place.
Aden's words fit perfectly.
As if someone had deliberately hidden it,
yet it captured the entire scenery of the capital.
"It's beautiful..."
"Not the time for that yet."
Gazing up at
the capital's stunning view,
I naturally let slip that it was beautiful,
but Aden, hearing me,
said it wasn't time for such words yet
and began settling in at the observatory...
"Something else coming?"
Seeing him wait for something,
I approached and asked if there was more,
and Aden, with a look of sudden realization,
"You wouldn't know—the nobles are all at their banquets on the last day."
Said that, then
pointed to the spot beside him,
as if beckoning me over...
'He'd just say it's a secret anyway...'
Asking what he was waiting for
would probably get the expected reply,
so instead,
I simply stood beside him as he wished,
waiting for whatever it was.
'Whatever it is, it's fine...'
I didn't know what it was,
but just that this time with Aden stretched a little longer
made me so incredibly happy...
With that thought, after waiting a bit with him,
Whoosh—Boom!
'Huh?'
Something rose into the sky,
emitting a brilliant light that drew flower shapes across the heavens...
"It's starting now."
Aden, watching it,
said as if what we'd been waiting for had begun,
explaining to me.
"It's called fireworks. The magical spectacle that always caps off the Founding Festival's end."
"I didn't know..."
I didn't know.
Fireworks...
I had no idea something like that existed.
Something so...
beautiful adorning the sky.
"It's beautiful..."
"Right?"
Always...
the last day of the Founding Festival
had been met with
' "Act like a dead rat." '
' "Oh my, Isabel. Don't act so childish." '
' "Disappear from my sight." '
only scorn
and disgust greeting me...
So I had no idea
about something like this...
this beautiful magic.
Not at all.
"Hey... Aden, I... I don't want to go back to the Helm Marquis family..."
That's why I especially didn't want to return to the Helm Marquis family.
I wished this happiness could last forever.
"Don't go back. You don't have to."
"Would that... really be okay...?"
"It will be. And if it's not, I'll make it okay."
Even knowing it was impossible,
the words slipped out naturally.
I'd been a Helm since birth...
I had to return to being a Helm someday...
But...
Aden accepted my whining.
Told me not to go back.
Said he'd make it okay.
"Stay with me from now on too."
"Anytime."
"Pfft... Thanks."
He accepted even my foolish complaints.
All of them.
'Ah...'
For some reason...
I felt like I knew.
Even after the Founding Festival ended,
tomorrow, the day after, years from now...
This happiness would continue,
this man, now more precious than anything,
would be with me each time...
Gradually...
' "Don't smile, it's disgusting." '
"You look good when you smile."
My happiness
was slowly
erasing the deeply rooted nightmares.