Ferzen Too, Euphemia Too
Ferzen and Euphemia alike had lost all interest in the weddings held in this cathedral.
Nothing caught their eyes.
Nothing reached their ears.
'Ciel……'
Clutching the hem of her dress, Euphemia quietly murmured the name of the one man she could never forget, deep within her heart.
So much had changed, but she recognized him at a glance.
'You did it.'
The man who had once clumsily played at being a knight by her side now stood there proudly as a true one.
Though it had nothing to do with her, Euphemia felt a swell of joy.
It was as if all the time he had devoted to her—a wretched soul who could offer no reward in return—had finally been repaid in full.
She wanted to drink in the sight of him a little longer, but Euphemia forced her gaze away, fixing it stubbornly on some irrelevant spot.
Three months.
Ninety days.
2,160 hours.
In all that time, Euphemia had never once mentioned Ciel Midford.
Ferzen hadn't either, which gave her a strange certainty that the memory had been cleanly erased.
No, not erased.
Simply deemed unimportant.
From this distance, he hadn't even noticed the changed man before him.
'This is enough……'
She had no intention of making some clumsy plea for help.
If she had, she would have taken Ciel's outstretched hand back in Ruerg and fled with him.
She didn't want to drag him into her mess, to tarnish the radiant, glorious moment he had forged with his own hands.
Their paths had diverged at the fork—parallel lines now.
She mustn't reach out.
And he mustn't reach for her.
'Still……'
A man who, though no knight, had ironically been the only one to stand by her side like a true knight.
Short, if deemed brief; long, if called so.
Memories of those struggling yet happy days.
Ciel Midford—that name, she would carry forever.
It had been a life of endless trials.
His father, once a noble, had fallen into ruin, left with nothing but a crumbling castle and a marriage to a lowly village woman.
Born from that union, he and his younger sibling had grown up watching their mother waste away under relentless abuse.
The first time Ciel Midford tasted true happiness in that hellish existence was when his father finally died.
But mere months later, witnessing his mother's pitiful death, he belatedly understood that misfortune and happiness always came hand in hand.
Thus orphaned, he plunged into the mercenary world……
Only for his sole remaining family—his sibling—to die protecting him during a joint commission.
After that, Ciel Midford wandered aimlessly.
Self-destructively taking commissions without rest, as if seeking the grave that would claim him, until he reached Ruerg, believing it his last.
And there, he met Euphemia.
A woman who bore pains akin to his own, yet stubbornly led her domain without yielding.
Perhaps it began as shared sympathy.
So Ciel stayed in Ruerg even after completing his commission, lingering there.
In time, he naturally began interacting with Euphemia.
And he felt a strange, itching sensation—like new flesh growing over wounds that seemed forever raw.
But he tried to ignore those feelings.
All that had been precious, all he had loved…… had crumbled to dust at his side.
Yet human emotions did not obediently heel to the leash of reason.
If they did, falling in love wouldn't feel like magic.
Thus, Ciel Midford suffered a mature case of lovesickness.
Odd to call lovesickness mature, but that's how it was for him.
And then…… fate's wheel turned like a curse.
Right before his eyes, she was stolen away.
He resented the world, hated the powerless self and the Ferzen who had taken Euphemia.
Escaping with his life to some snowy mountain, where only white death awaited, Ciel closed his eyes.
Buried in the endlessly piling snow, he shed tears that wouldn't flow, awaiting his end.
But he didn't die.
His frostbitten, ruined flesh and hypothermia-ravaged body regenerated repeatedly under some warm force.
Painful, agonizing moments……
But those sensations awakened him, and Ciel set a goal, clawing through the snow to rise.
He trudged relentlessly through the mountains, realizing the energy that spared him from death was mana.
By the time he reached the capital, endless fortune rained down as if repaying his misfortunes, and he became a knight of the Robelium Kingdom.
But Ciel felt no joy.
A mere glance down revealed the corpses of his misfortunes piled at his feet.
His mother, sibling, Euphemia—entangled in those woes, he was but a parasitic fungus blooming from their suffering.
"Ciel, why don't you go rest?"
"I'm fine."
"I know what role you played in this delegation, so shut up and go. You need a change of scenery, don't you?"
"……"
"Right. Don't worry about it. The banquet will drag on anyway, so just be back before five."
"Understood. Then…… if you'll excuse me."
At his senior knights' words, Ciel bowed his head and slipped out of the cathedral's fourth floor, where the banquet was in full swing.
The once-awkward armor now felt familiar.
"……"
Descending to the first floor, the drizzle still fell, so Ciel opened an umbrella and headed to the cathedral's rear.
His seniors had told him to sightsee the imperial capital for a mood boost, but foolishly, he trudged to the parking area lined with carriages, glancing around.
"Ah……"
And there they were.
Euphemia, who had left the banquet early, and Ferzen standing beside her.
"……"
Crack!
A fracture spiderwebbed across the umbrella handle.
He had failed to control his grip unconsciously.
Snap! Thud!
The broken umbrella fell to the ground, cold rain seeping between his armor plates.
Euphemia…… el Lerenne Ruerg.
She had risen on tiptoe, wrapping both arms around Ferzen's neck, pressing her lips to his of her own accord.
"……"
Whoosh!
The downpour intensified.
His hair soaked through in seconds, vision blurring……
But Euphemia and Ciel's eyes met clearly.
Her distinctive golden eyes widened, then slowly veiled with wistful sorrow.
"……"
The long kiss ended, and Ferzen gently stroked her hair as if in praise before heading to the cathedral's back door.
Plip, plip.
Torrential rain battered his armor.
The clamor echoed loudly, but Ciel heard nothing.
Splash……
Suddenly, he saw himself stepping forward.
She stood with her back turned, umbrella up, rooted in place as if with no intention of moving.
Splash……
The distance closed.
Her silhouette looked so frail.
She hadn't been this fragile.
In just three months, she had weakened so.
Splash……
Reaching arm's length, Ciel noticed Euphemia's body trembling faintly.
What should he say?
What could he say……
"Don't…… come to my side."
Her small voice brimmed with concern.
How long had it been since he'd heard that longed-for timbre?
"Milady."
How long since he'd called her that?
"Are you happy?"
"Yes……"
"Then…… show me that happiness too."
"……"
Euphemia never turned.
Never looked at Ciel.
And that alone was answer enough, so he spoke to her back.
"Do you remember?"
"……"
"You said you weren't my knight, so I had no need to sacrifice for you."
"……"
"So I became a knight. Now…… I'm ready to sacrifice for you."
Those resolute words, laced with unyielding will.
Euphemia stepped forward and opened the carriage door.
"Ciel. There's no value in that life. As my final request…… don't live for others."
Slam!
The door shut.
The carriage plunged into the rain, departing heartlessly.
But Ciel knew what that heartlessness meant.
"Do you know……"
All that had been precious, all he had loved.
He had never once protected any of it.
So Ciel Midford wanted to live a life where he could safeguard such things.
Even if death awaited at the end.
'Don't grieve for me……'
Ciel was human too.
Why wouldn't he dream of a peaceful life with Euphemia?
But the wall of House Brutein was too high.
So he abandoned visions of a future together, resolving instead for one where she could live freely.
Even if, in the end, his colors ran out and he could paint no more……
He would have no regrets.