Memories of the Flower Garden
"Come to think of it, you were sitting in front of the flower bed last time as well. Do you happen to like flowers, Miss Eisel?"
Zeto asked me.
I stared at him blankly for a moment before finally opening my mouth.
"......I do. Very much."
Using the excuse of liking flowers, I conveyed the words I had never been able to tell him in my previous life.
I like you. I love you.
Thank you. I'm sorry.
There were so many things I wanted to say to him.
But just this much.
Spitting it out under the guise of an excuse like this...
...was the absolute best I could do right now.
Soon after, Zeto bent his knees to match my eye level.
It was a sweet habit of his.
Even though he couldn't see the face of the person he was talking to, and even though his eyes were covered, he always tried his best to create the feeling of eye contact.
Before long, his lips parted.
"...I like them too."
His warm voice slowly tickled my ears.
Hearing him say those words while staring straight at me... even though we weren't actually making eye contact, it made me incredibly embarrassed.
Pretending to look at the flowers, I hurriedly turned my head away from him.
Instantly, memories of my previous life began to swirl in my head.
The conversation we had on the day we defeated Krectar together, with the demon's corpse lying behind us, flashed through my mind.
‘We managed to defeat it somehow. To think we'd encounter a demon.’
‘Indeed.’
‘It seemed to know you, Miss Eisel.’
‘...Let's just say there was a reason for that.’
Looking at his face, from which the smile was fading at my answer, I had asked him a question.
‘Are you scared...?’
‘Of course I am.’
‘You cut it down so easily for someone who's scared, though.’
‘It's not that...’
...I still couldn't forget the words Zeto had left me with back then.
"......Miss Eisel?"
When I snapped out of it, Zeto was calling my name.
"I'm sorry. What did you say?"
I shook my head as I answered him.
Did he really kill Krectar?
If so, why on earth, and how?
Facing him only made my doubts grow, yet I couldn't find even a single thread of a clue.
Thus, I had no choice but to engage in meaningless conversation.
"I was just wondering what kind of flower you like the most."
"That's... a secret."
"Even if you tell me the name, I probably wouldn't know it, though?"
"...It's still a secret."
I bowed my head as I replied.
I couldn't tell him.
Because the flower I liked was the flower Zeto liked.
Because I had never had a particularly favorite flower to begin with.
"...What about you, Zeto? What kind of flowers do you like?"
I asked, stealing a glance at him.
He tilted his head slightly and spoke.
"Well, I wonder. I do like them, but I don't know much about them..."
"Then, how about the one with the best scent in this garden right now?"
"Hmm... That's a good idea. I'll look for it."
Zeto stood up.
I stood up to follow him.
I began to walk through the garden behind him.
The sun beginning to set.
His footsteps, sounding like a whisper in my ears.
My own footsteps following right after.
The sweet floral fragrance wafting from the garden.
It was probably all just a coincidence, but it was exactly the same as back then.
And finally, even the spot where Zeto stopped after taking a deep breath... was exactly the same.
He stood in front of the exact same flower.
He leaned his face close to the blossom.
Then, he pointed at it.
"I like this flower the most. This scent that spreads gently and far... It doesn't give me a headache even if I keep smelling it. What is the name of this flower?"
Zeto asked me.
It felt like an illusion.
Was he mimicking his past self because some old memories remained in him for some unknown reason?
Or was it simply because he was the same person, so he gave the same response?
Either way, it was a complicated matter for me.
The only thing that mattered was that I never wanted to lose him again.
"...Obsicion."
"Obsicion. I should commit that to memory."
I knelt down in front of the Obsicion.
It was a fairly rare flower that contained a subtle blend of many colors, so only a single blossom bloomed in this entire garden.
"There's an old legend about the Obsicion that has been passed down since ancient times. Would you like to hear it?"
"An old legend... I'd love to."
With Zeto's agreement, I began to recite the tale of the Obsicion.
Obsicion.
It was the name of a woman.
Since ancient times, Obsicion had brought all kinds of misfortune wherever she went.
Because of this, she was frequently misunderstood to be a demon.
Yet, even for someone like her, there was a single person who could be called her sole piece of good fortune: her lover.
A man named Julian.
One day, Julian, Obsicion's lover, pleaded with her never to step outside the house until he returned for her.
Though she didn't understand why, Obsicion initially trusted his words and locked the door.
A day passed.
Two days passed.
Obsicion grew anxious.
Did Julian abandon me?
Did he grow to hate me because I only bring misfortune?
Eventually, she decided to go out and check.
In the end, Obsicion stepped outside to search for Julian, but he was nowhere to be found.
Instead of Julian, she encountered the villagers carrying torches and weapons.
Upon spotting her, they cried out that they had found the demon, seizing her to burn her at the stake.
Obsicion fled with all her might, but misfortune dogged her steps until the very end.
She tripped over a tree branch and fell.
The villagers finally caught her.
She wept and screamed that she was not a demon, but no one believed her.
...And so, Obsicion was burned alive.
Then, what was Julian, her lover, doing during all this?
He was on his way back to the village, having somehow managed to convince a Saint from the Holy Kingdom to accompany him.
All to prove that his beloved Obsicion was not a demon.
But what met Julian's eyes upon his return... was Obsicion, already reduced to ashes.
Ah, Obsicion.
The man wept bitterly as he gathered her ashes.
The Saint, watching this, could do nothing.
He could only raise his hand and bestow the blessing of the main god upon the pitiful lovers—a blessing that no longer held any meaning.
Though the blessing of the god and the man's sorrowful tears fell upon the ashes...
...the miracle of Obsicion's resurrection, of course, did not occur.
Instead, a tiny flower bloomed from the gray pile of ash.
"So that flower... is the Obsicion."
Zeto murmured softly as he listened to my explanation.
"It's a rather foolish story, isn't it? Why didn't the man explain things properly before leaving, and why couldn't Obsicion trust his words... It's such a frustrating tale, full of flaws, that I don't even know if it actually happened."
"Well, that's usually how old legends go. What do you think you would have done if you were in their shoes, Miss Eisel?"
"......I think I would have locked them up securely myself before leaving."
Because if they could just endure and wait for a little while, everything would be resolved.
At my slightly delayed response, Zeto let out a thoughtful hum.
"Hmm... So you were talking about Julian's perspective, not Obsicion's..."
"...Because Obsicion was in danger. But it seems he didn't want her to know. Perhaps because he was afraid she would be hurt... That is how I interpret it."
I cut Zeto off and added my explanation.
"That's a rather nice interpretation. What is the language of flowers for the Obsicion?"
"Its meaning is..."
The meaning of the Obsicion was the exact opposite of its tragic tale.
"...A happy ending."
Their story had not been a happy ending.
Perhaps what they had wished and yearned for so desperately had been engraved as its meaning instead.
"A happy ending... What an interesting flower."
Upon hearing the meaning, Zeto's expression brightened warmly.
"Right?"
"Yes, it makes me like it even more."
I hoped the smile currently gracing his lips would never fade.
Would I make a similar choice one day?
For the sake of a happy ending.
For the sake of his smile.
A choice to leave Zeto in a safe place and depart all on my own.
I emptied my mind and stood up.
"Well then..."
This much conversation with him was enough.
I felt like I would only become more confused if we talked any further.
It was overlapping too much with the memories of my previous life.
Before my confusion grew worse.
Before it became too painful for me, I had to leave him.
As expected, talking to him in a place filled with such deep memories was too difficult.
It was just as I took a step to leave the garden.
"Uh...?"
A startled gasp escaped my lips as my body tilted. I had tripped over a stone on the ground.
Without any way to resist, my body was thrown forward toward Zeto, who stood right in front of me...
—Softly—
...and he caught me, pulling me into his arms.
"...Are you alright?"
Zeto's gentle voice immediately reached my ears.
I could feel his arms wrapped gently around my waist.
"That... well..."
The words wouldn't come out.
...While I had unilaterally hugged an off-guard Zeto before, I had never been held by him like this.
I couldn't even bring myself to look up at him.
Yet, I didn't want to pull away from his warm embrace either.
Lately, it had been hard enough watching other girls constantly hover around Zeto.
Zeto was too kind for his own good.
Whenever I saw girls getting involved with him, even unintentionally, I couldn't help but feel a pang of resentment toward him.
I wish he was only kind to me.
He was my Zeto.
My Zeto alone.
And in the North...
‘The two of them went to a sauna together...?’
‘No, Kaen went with them too.’
...I heard he had sweated alongside other girls in a place he had never even visited with me.
I thought I was going to lose my mind when I heard that.
I had barely managed to suppress my desires, my greed.
So, just for now.
Just a little bit.
Couldn't I afford to be greedy?
"...My legs must have given out after sitting for so long. Would it be alright if I stayed like this for just a little longer...?"
I asked Zeto in a cautious voice.
Even though I knew how his gentle nature would respond, my heart still pounded with anxiety.
"..."
Zeto seemed to be contemplating something.
Fortunately, my anxiety didn't last long.
"...Yes."
His readily given consent followed immediately.
Emboldened by his answer, I snuggled deeper into his chest.
I could hear the sound of Zeto's heartbeat.
Realizing that I had been letting him hear my own racing heartbeat without any filter all this time made me feel a bit embarrassed.
As I smiled to myself with those thoughts...
...I detected a strange energy emanating from his chest.
What is this...? This energy...
I couldn't quite grasp what kind of energy it was, but at the very least, it didn't seem like something that should belong to a human.
"...Is this enough?"
Right on cue, Zeto gently pushed me back first.
"Ah, yes. Of course."
At Zeto's words, I stepped away from his embrace.
It was strange.
Something was lurking deep inside Zeto's chest, concealing its presence.
The faint energy I felt was closer to a negative, malevolent force.
A curse...?
That was the only thing that came to mind.
I could say with absolute certainty that I had never felt such an energy in my previous life.
Which made it all the more shocking.
Something has gone terribly wrong.
Suddenly, the conversation we had after defeating Krectar flashed through my mind once more.
‘It's not that...’
My head spun.
‘...I am afraid of losing you, Miss Eisel. I am terrified.’
Me too.
I'm so terrified of losing you too, Zeto.
I raised my head to look at Zeto standing before me.
He was still smiling at me.
Zeto, what on earth should I do now?