The Cliff's Edge
Naturally—or perhaps as calculated—my relationship with Anna began to unravel with the abruptness of a fall from a sheer cliff. From her perspective, it must have felt like crossing an irreversible river. She left me behind, sobbing bitterly, and turned away without mercy.
Ah, good. So, so good.
After that incident, even a stranger could see how much she'd changed; she started treating everything with icy detachment. And what about me? Well, tap, tap-tap-tap, tap-tap!
"Wanna go make a snowman together~♬?"
"...Get lost."
"...Okay... sorry for bothering you."
"..."
I was still loitering around Anna unnie's vicinity. Wow, this wasn't working. I tried mimicking a scene from my first life—one etched so deeply it outshone any other, even if the details had faded—but no dice. Winter's first snow had fallen, so I invited her to build a snowman, but predictably, rejection. That made seventy-five, I think. Tch, she's an iron wall.
Despite my advances, Anna unnie's defenses showed no sign of cracking. Well, if she crumbled from something this minor, I'd have been disappointed. Her heart seemed to harden even more against my onslaught. Or rather, like parched earth drying into stone. The drier it gets, the more inevitable the shatter once a single crack appears—no time to turn back. Just like porcelain smashing to pieces.
Hee hee.
Undeterred by the rejections, I kept up the act of the cheerful, bright kid, pretending nothing was wrong. But with just a hint of strain, of course.
"...Aris, were you here again...?"
"...Y-yeah..."
"Haa... come here, let's play together."
Whoosh.
I was shivering, my body heat draining in the biting wind. I'd planned to linger a bit longer and stage a collapse from the cold, but Remi found me first. Disappointing, but this had its own charm. She spotted me, rushed over, and enveloped me in her warm embrace. As always, she was so incredibly toasty. I wonder how good it'd feel if she cried? Imagining her clutching my lifeless body and wailing filled me with this thing called happiness.
Ah, I want to see it. But the one regret is that if I die, I won't witness it firsthand.
She gripped my hands tightly, huffing warm breath on them to thaw them slowly. A prickling sting spread as color returned to my skin. Hmm, a little longer and I'd have gotten frostbite. Didn't notice. Whoa, my hands are purple! Had I been out here for about two hours? All that time, I'd called out to her from inside, but got only refusals. Later, she stopped responding altogether, just ignoring me. Effective.
"Anna dummy! Idiot! Sea anemone!"
"D-don't say that! It's... it's my fault..."
"Aris did nothing wrong! It's that stuck-up, suffocating bitch's problem!"
Don't badmouth Anna unnie... Aris is such a good girl! Ugh! Cut your hand on paper while reading, you bookworm! Y-yeah, I hope that happens... Right!? Bookworms like her deserve it!
Remi tried so hard to cheer me up—calling her a study-obsessed reincarnated monster, saying she'd scold her herself—that I finally burst out laughing. Seeing me laugh, she laughed too. Before I knew it, my body heat was back to normal. Watching Remi's pure efforts on my behalf felt like delighting in a child's antics. It made me feel so good.
We'd gone some distance from Anna's residence, following Remi, when she suddenly turned to me.
"I wanna see it!"
Her words were disjointed, but we'd long since understood each other with just a glance—what the other wanted.
Eh... that? Yeah! That! Not sure, actually.
"Eek... it's embarrassing... I'm still not good at it..."
"I love anything Aris does! Show me! Show me~! Dance for me~!"
"O-okay then... just for unnie, okay?"
"I love Aris so much!"
I love you too. Remi unnie and I kept our good relationship going strong. I was practically her gum on her shoe, always stuck to her. And since I accepted everything she did, we never fought.
When bathing, I'd say it was embarrassing and push her away half-heartedly, but she'd barge in recklessly, eager to see my flushed face, so I gave up. If I had to say, it didn't bother me anyway. Aside from two or three hours a day, she was always by my side. She'd help with homework or studies I pretended not to know, play with me, sing me to sleep—she was like a parent. Our actual parents, the king and queen of a nation, were busy, after all.
It felt like a newborn chick mistaking a corpse-eating eagle for its mother.
"Hmm~ hmm~ Aris's dance~"
"You like it that much?"
"Of course!"
I took Remi's hand and headed to the garden. On the way, I stopped by my room to grab a sword. One made to my custom order. Teacher Feyrn said I had nothing left to learn. Call it a parting gift from his retirement. Haha, Teacher's something else. Hey, out of our sight, peeking from the building's corner—Anna unnie was eavesdropping. Propping me up like that. Could it be... Teacher too? Nah, probably not.
Thanks to Feyrn teacher's unexpected assist, I returned to my room in high spirits. Anna unnie? She probably snuck back, heart pounding, harboring more dislike for me. Soon, her fondness would twist into resentment, then hatred. The day wasn't far off.
After that, I'd pondered how to spend my time. Sword practice? I'd done it for thousands of years; a few more wouldn't improve me. Lost in thought, the idea to try a sword dance struck me suddenly. Remi saw me practicing alone in the garden and threw a tantrum until I promised to show her. That brought us here.
Hmm. Still, this sword feels too flimsy.
Twing!
"Mm~ nice sound."
"Yeah? If unnie likes it, I'm happy."
"You... adorable little thing!"
I lightly flicked the blade with my finger. A clear ring filled the garden. Pretty sound, but performance... well, comparing it to future swords is unfair. Even a simple alloy plate cut into sword shape would outlast and outperform most famed blades in the palace. Still, the dissatisfaction lingered. Not just this one—all swords felt downgraded compared to what I knew. Even steven, I guess.
I gave a wry smile.
"...Still thinking about Anna unnie...?"
"Uh, y-yeah? Yeah..."
I stepped slowly to the garden's center, leaving Remi—who watched me with a dark expression—behind. It felt odd, like I was driving a wedge between them, but thinking of it as my influence on them made me feel like I was soaring. Ahh, I feel alive.
Alright then.
"Waaah! Aris! Aris!"
"Eek... don't tease!"
"Heehee, sorry~"
I took my stance. Two spectators. There, inside the garden, cheering me on: Remi unnie. Her clapping and whooping outshone the blooming flowers. My loyal fan. And far off, in the building's crevice.
"......."
One more, staring at me with hollow eyes. She wants to watch in secret, so I'll pretend not to notice. A spectator's privacy is sacred, after all. I won't say who. Just that it's a very welcome face.
Clap clap.
For such a crude dance, to draw so many honored guests—this humble performer is truly happy. An honor beyond my station. Ladies and gentlemen—no, let me start over. Ladies, it begins.
I hummed a tuneless melody through my nose, lips sealed. Not moving the sword by my will, but flowing my body to match the sword's intent as I listened to my own tune. Swords having intent? Sounds like nonsense, even to me. But swing them enough, and you get it. Straight swords worked well across most worlds I'd lived in. Sometimes for self-defense, as main weapons, backups, tools to clear paths through nature, or decorations for ceremonies—my trusty companion.
A thousand years? Hyperbole? Hmm... never counted, so who knows.
"...Whoa!"
"......~"
The dance? Yeah. Medea's tragedy. Perfect. The woman who, ensnared by divine trickery, slew her own blood. Love drove her to butcher her brother savagely, hacking his corpse and hurling the pieces into the sea. Villainess, yet hailed as a female hero in later ages—an exception. In dreamless, hopeless Greco-Roman myth, she avenged herself successfully, her children became kings. A rare happy ending.
Hoo!
"Amazing...!"
Applause for the future Medea, our protagonist! And death for me, the future Absyrtus!
In the garden, I spun with my mirror-sheen sword. Twirl, twirl. Twirl. Twirl-twirl. Ah, fun.