Chapter 23
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Miss. I Can't Accept This.
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The next day.
"Uwa! Finally done."
Tail stretched his body out long.
He hadn't even been sitting that long, but his body already felt stiff and sore.
Once a month, at the abbot's request, Tail helped tidy up the monastery's ledgers.
Yesterday, he'd barely gotten any work done because Cecilia and Chloe had come by, but today they were both busy, so he could handle it at a leisurely pace.
Unlike the usual bustling days, the emptiness today felt strangely hard to get used to.
Even Yujin had gone off to make lunch, leaving the room feeling utterly desolate.
'But this will soon be my everyday normal.'
So he had to adapt somehow.
Tail gathered up the organized ledgers.
'First, I should let the abbot know it's all done.'
When his head felt cluttered, nothing beat moving his body.
With that thought, Tail stood and went to find the abbot.
Arriving at the abbot's door, Tail knocked familiarly.
Knock knock knock.
"Come in."
Permission came quickly, and Tail opened the door and entered.
In his usual tone, Tail said,
"I've finished sorting the ledgers and brought them."
"Oh ho. You're late today."
The abbot, Noha, peered over his glasses at Tail.
And well he might—Tail had never once missed a deadline since taking on the ledgers.
For him to be late by a day was unusual.
Noha was puzzled.
Tail replied casually, as if it were no big deal.
"Well, yesterday Cecilia and Chloe came to hang out in my room."
Noha nodded in understanding.
Everyone knew how fond those two were of Tail, so he said nothing more.
He simply gazed steadily at him.
"What? Gonna lecture me again?"
Tail grinned playfully, but Noha didn't play along as usual.
"Tail."
He simply called his name in a gentle voice.
"Do you know?"
Noha continued slowly.
"That the Bellenuus Empire has seized the advantage."
"Yes. I know."
Tail nodded.
And once Marquis Duvier's secret mission kicked off, the Bellenuus Empire would claim total victory.
'Probably before this season changes.'
As Tail thought that, the abbot slowly spoke.
"Once the war ends, everyone will return to their proper places."
Tail caught what Noha meant.
The "everyone" surely referred to Chloe and Cecilia.
So instead, he kept quiet and listened closely to what came next.
"The way you chat casually with those two now, share meals..."
Noha paused briefly.
"Yes. It's an awkward phrase that doesn't sit right on the tongue, but treating them like friends might feel natural at the moment. However, Tail."
Noha took a short breath before continuing.
"You need to understand."
Noha's eyes held nothing but deep concern for Tail.
Perhaps because of that, Tail found himself even less able to speak.
"The moment those two leave."
Noha's eyes blinked slowly.
"It will be best for your mental health to cut out all memories of them completely from that day on."
Noha smiled faintly.
A strange pain flickered in that smile.
His gaze seemed fixed on some distant memory.
"It's cruel, truly. Events that can never happen again become painful even as mere memories."
Was it just his imagination, or did those words echo Noha's own experience?
Tail had no reply.
He already knew it in his head.
That he would have to send these children away.
That the world awaiting them was utterly different from his own.
But hearing it spoken aloud made his heart ache in a way his mind couldn't accept.
'Ah...'
Only then did Tail realize.
How much affection he had already poured into these children.
How they, in turn, had gifted him the memories and emotions he longed to give.
Tail forced his lips into a smile.
"I know."
He pried his mouth open to speak.
Each word felt like it dropped like lead into his chest.
Like a blade slicing his heart.
"I know it's just a fleeting dream."
But he had to say it.
Saying it might calm this rampaging heart.
"So. Don't worry, Abbot."
Tail showed a smile.
But worry only deepened in Noha's eyes.
He had seen through Tail's heart in an instant.
"Yes. If it's hard, tell me anytime. This monastery is your home, and we're your family."
"Yes, thank you. Then I'll take my leave."
Click.
The door closed.
"Haa."
Outside the door, Tail let out a long sigh.
His heart felt unbearably heavy.
He had no idea how to face Chloe and Cecilia from now on.
'No. It's fine.'
Tail tugged his lips upward.
'Just go back to how things were.'
That's all it was.
No problem there.
Tail repeated those words to himself all the way back to his room.
At that moment, in Cecilia's tent.
Cecilia was rummaging through the room.
'It was around here somewhere.'
She tossed everything in her hands aside as she searched.
'Dad said it was one of a kind in the world.'
A gem even Marquis Duvier had struggled to obtain.
A lilac diamond, drawn from the purple hue symbolic of the Duvier family.
The ring crafted from that diamond was priceless.
And Cecilia was its owner.
Now, she was looking for that ring.
After a while of digging, her eyes lit up.
"Found it!"
Opening the gold-melted box revealed the ring, its embedded gem catching the eye first.
The softly violet sparkle made it look precious just to behold.
The band, forged from melted platinum, only heightened its value.
"Will Tail like this?"
After suffering humiliation from Chloe yesterday, Cecilia had wrestled with the decision.
She wanted to see Tail's surprised face when he received a gift she chose.
So during the day, she'd asked various workers about Tail.
They said he liked money, jewels, expensive things.
She'd already given him gold, so pondering other options, this lilac diamond came to mind.
'This should crush that Chloe wench's pride, right?'
How annoying it had been yesterday, hearing her brag about the golden rose.
If she weren't the imperial princess, Cecilia might have slapped her.
'Now I can see Tail's happy smile too!'
Brimming with anticipation, Cecilia grabbed the diamond and headed out.
To find Tail.
Tail wasn't far away.
He was out in the empty lot in front of the monastery, sweating as he ran.
Building stamina through exercise.
That was what Tail did whenever he had free time.
Today, of course, it was to shake off his crushing gloom, but Cecilia, unaware, grinned widely.
She waved at him.
"Tail!"
Spotting her, Tail smiled awkwardly.
Then he jogged right over.
"Tail~"
Cecilia leaned in for her usual hug, but Tail sidestepped slightly.
"Ah. I'm pretty sweaty."
Tail smiled awkwardly.
Missing the unusual smile, Cecilia puffed her cheeks.
"Hmph. I like Tail's sweat smell."
But Tail smiled faintly and refused.
"I don't think that's a good idea. Anyway, didn't you say you had work?"
At Tail's deflection, Cecilia's face brightened.
"Tail! I brought a gift!"
"A gift?"
"Yeah! Something expensive and nice!"
A bad feeling coiled around Tail.
She didn't uproot a Duvier family pillar or something, did she?
At the same moment, Cecilia pulled something from her bosom and handed it to him.
"Gasp!"
Even the case was pure gold.
Tail opened the case with a slightly stiff expression.
Inside lay a ring with a brilliantly colored gem.
Obviously exorbitantly expensive.
The kind he couldn't afford in a lifetime of work.
Tail fell silent.
In that moment, the gulf between her status and his hit home starkly.
She was nobility.
He was just a commoner.
This ring drove that fact home directly.
But Cecilia, oblivious to Tail's unusual demeanor, giggled.
"Tail, you're surprised, right? Huh? This is super expensive! Really good! Super expensive!"
"... ."
As Tail didn't respond, Cecilia tilted her head and tugged his sleeve.
"Tail?"
Then Tail snapped the case shut.
He handed it back to Cecilia with an awkward smile.
"Miss. I can't accept this. I'm sorry."