Chapter 03
What had happened was beyond Elric’s understanding.
Naturally, the first thoughts that came to mind concerned how she had spent the last ten years.
If the marriage had never been annulled, that meant this woman had lived in the Portman estate as his wife for an entire decade.
It meant she had endured all those years without a husband, waiting endlessly with no promise of his return.
Why she would do such a thing was a mystery in itself, but there was an even greater question that overwhelmed all the others.
“Let us go inside first.”
Why are you not asking me anything?
Is that all you have to say to the husband who ran away on the very first night of your marriage?
The words rose to his throat, but he could not bring himself to speak them.
He had been the one who fled and returned years later. Asking such a question now felt unbearably rude.
After all, wouldn’t that be mocking a woman who had been forced to wait for him, whatever the reason?
Elric glanced at Tiria.
She appeared calm, and her posture remained perfectly straight as she turned and walked away.
At that moment, the shame he had felt ten years ago resurfaced.
He had never expected to feel it again, but seeing how pitiful and battered he looked in comparison to her naturally filled him with embarrassment.
“Are you not coming?”
“…Ah, yes. I’m coming.”
He forced a smile, though it was surely far from natural.
Tap.
He steadied himself with his cane and limped forward.
No matter how hard he tried, his injured body made it impossible to walk quickly.
Perhaps noticing this, Tiria slowed her pace considerably to match his.
Since she walked a few steps ahead of him, all he could see was her back.
The distance between them only made things more awkward.
Elric focused on the beat of his heart.
It isn’t racing…
Even seeing his wife, who had somehow become even more beautiful than before, did not leave his mind blank the way it had when he was a boy.
Whether that was maturity or merely emotional exhaustion, he could not tell.
Still, perhaps it was fortunate.
At least he no longer looked like a fool.
That small sense of calm soon encouraged him to break the silence.
“…Why were you in the wheat field?”
Since she had not asked him anything, he pretended everything was normal as well.
“I was checking the condition of the wheat. Harvest season is approaching, is it not?”
“Ah, personally?”
“Yes.”
That was the end of it.
The conversation died immediately.
The silence afterward felt even heavier than before.
Damn it…
If he had simply kept his mouth shut, it would not have become this awkward.
Walking through the wheat field glowing in the sunset felt as though it would last forever.
At that moment, Elric almost wished he were back on a battlefield swinging a sword.
At least when life and death hung in the balance, there was no room for worries like these.
The uncomfortable silence dragged on.
Fortunately, just as it had during the week-long train ride, time continued moving forward.
Though it felt far more suffocating than before, he eventually reached his destination.
“Please wait here for a moment. I will bring the butler.”
With those words, Tiria disappeared into the mansion.
Only then did Elric finally take a deep breath and look up at the estate.
The three-story brick mansion, famous for the fountain in its courtyard, swept away some of his worries.
“Ah…”
It’s exactly the same.
With Tiria gone, nostalgia immediately filled the void.
Even after ten years, he could still remember how many stairs the mansion had, how each room was decorated, and even where every stain was located.
A gentle smile appeared on Elric’s face.
At that moment—
“Hm? And who might you be?”
A voice came from behind him.
Elric turned around and widened his eyes.
An elderly man stood there, dressed neatly in a black tuxedo, his hair now gray with age.
Though time had carved deep wrinkles into his face, Elric recognized him instantly.
Looks like our paths crossed.
Tiria must have gone one way while the man had come another.
It was the butler.
Butler Aldio.
The man who had often filled the role of father in place of the cold and distant Hoven Portman stood before him.
A sharp ache rose in Elric’s chest.
The emotion seeped into his voice.
“You don’t recognize me?”
Aldio narrowed his eyes.
Then his expression slowly began to change.
At first he looked wary.
Then his mouth fell open.
Finally, his eyes widened in shock.
“Y-Young Master!”
Aldio hurried forward and grabbed Elric by the shoulders.
“Young Master! Is it truly you?!”
His aged voice trembled with countless emotions.
Joy.
Sorrow.
Regret.
Relief.
The intensity of his reaction stirred Elric’s own feelings.
Wrapping one arm around the old man, Elric embraced him.
“It has been a long time. I’ve come back.”
Feeling the old man tremble, Elric found an unexpected sense of warmth.
* * *
A long while passed before Aldio finally calmed down.
After pounding his chest and catching his breath, he spoke again with a bright expression.
“I nearly failed to recognize you! You’ve changed so much!”
Elric chuckled.
It was understandable.
The last time Aldio had seen him, he had barely looked like a man.
Back then, he had been little more than a boy.
Simply growing taller would have been one thing.
But the ten years Elric had spent surviving brutal battlefields had transformed him completely.
To survive, he had trained his mana relentlessly.
The result was a larger frame.
His once-scrawny body had become sturdy and powerful.
Most noticeably, his eyes had taken on a dark crimson hue due to the influence of mana.
For those who only remembered the boy from ten years ago, recognizing him at a glance would be nearly impossible.
“I have changed quite a bit. I can understand why you—”
Suddenly—
Elric stopped speaking.
“Hm? Is something wrong?”
Despite Aldio’s question, Elric could not answer immediately.
A strange realization had just struck him.
His gaze drifted toward the mansion.
More specifically, toward the entrance where Tiria had disappeared.
…Didn’t she recognize me immediately?
She had identified him at first sight.
Yet she had given no indication that she already knew who he was.
The wedding day had been both the first and last time she had ever seen him.
How had she recognized a boy she had met only once, despite how drastically he had changed?
The question lingered in his mind.
“Young Master? Are you alright?”
“…Ah, yes. I’m fine. Just thinking.”
Perhaps she simply has a sharp eye.
Rubbing his neck, Elric pushed the thought aside.
* * *
From behind a window, Tiria watched Elric speaking with the butler.
Though ten years had passed since she had last seen him, she had recognized him instantly.
How could she not?
He was the man to whom she had promised her life.
His brown hair.
His sleepy-looking eyes.
His sharp nose.
Even the scar near his ear.
Everything was exactly as she remembered.
Even now, her heart was pounding.
When she had emerged from the wheat field and suddenly found him standing there, she had been utterly startled.
She had desperately tried to appear calm.
But thinking back on it, she feared she might have acted awkwardly.
Please don’t let him notice…
Feeling nervous, Tiria took a deep breath.
As she replayed their reunion in her mind, checking whether she had made any mistakes—
“Why…”
She froze.
The moment she remembered his words, her shoulders trembled slightly.
A delicate frown formed between her brows.
Her lips pressed tightly together.
Her gaze drifted toward Elric, who was now smiling brightly outside the window.
It was a smile he had never shown her.
Throughout their walk together, he had only produced uncomfortable silence.
Not only today.
Even before he left.
On the day he abandoned her.
Throughout the wedding ceremony, the corners of his mouth had been turned noticeably downward.
When he finally slipped the ring onto her finger, his face had been deeply furrowed in a frown.
That alone had made her cry in secret.
But what truly broke her heart came afterward.
That very night, Elric left the mansion and never returned.
A suffocating heaviness settled in her chest.
She pressed a hand against it, but the pain did not lessen.
The joy of seeing him again had been brief.
Reality soon followed.
The atmosphere surrounding him after ten years was still not what she had hoped for.
His question had sounded as though he wished she were no longer here.
The bright smile he showed others.
The lack of curiosity he displayed toward her.
A bitter, sorrowful smile appeared on Tiria’s lips.
As expected…
Even after all this time, she was still an unsatisfactory marriage partner in his eyes.
That realization hurt.
And even more painful was the future that awaited her.
Just as she had for the past ten years, Tiria would continue waiting endlessly for the day his heart finally turned toward her.
Perhaps the time ahead would be even harder than before.
After all, the faith she once held—that he would one day return smiling and embrace her—had now been shattered.
To carry feelings that would never be returned…
was far more painful than most people could imagine.
