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T/N: Today I’d like to thank my Cookie Donor, Alex!! Thank you so much for the snacks~! 😀
Two years have passed since Alicia secluded herself in that little cabin.
In so ways it felt like an eternity, but at the sa ti, looking back, it feels like the days passed by in an instant. That may seem contradictory, but that’s how I truly feel.
During that whole ti, I just continued to read more and more books. Since I knew that Alicia would be using the ti to grow stronger, I knew that if I wanted to be able to remain by her side, I couldn’t just let that ti go to waste. That’s why I’ve been working hard to increase my knowledge.
And now finally…. Finally I can see her again.
I woke up extra early this morning so that I could be here when she first woke up, no matter how early it might be, and now I’m just standing outside the little cabin, waiting.
I left before anyone had woken up, and most likely they’re all still sleeping even now. I bet even the servants haven’t started working yet.
It’s currently 3:30 AM…. the sun hasn’t even risen and the landscape is still completely dark with a thick fog wafting about the ground. The air is damp with dew and still quite chilly. But I can’t rember the last ti I felt this happy. Despite having to wait in the cold and dark, I can feel myself grinning ear-to-ear.
I suppose the last ti I felt even remotely excited over these last two years was when I realized that I had grown a little taller. Too bad it was only by a miniscule amount. I must be the smallest 11-year-old boy ever. But, what I’m lacking in height, I make up for in intellect. I’m sure my brain has grown much larger than anyone else’s.
Aside from changes to my height though, I’m very much the sa as I was two years ago…. Which makes wonder, how has Alicia changed after all this ti? I suppose she’ll look a little more mature than when I last saw her, but I can’t imagine her looking too different.
I also wonder how she’s been bearing the solitude. For two whole years, she hasn’t had the chance to exchange a single word with another person. She’s just been devoting her ti to practicing magic in that tiny gardener’s cabin.
….I don’t think I could stand to be alone for that long. I think the silence would drive crazy. But I guess the fact that she was able to stay sane under those circumstances just shows how strong her desire to beco a villainess is.
….I wonder when she’ll co out.
Maybe after another two hours or so? Not that it matters. An hour, two hours, three, it’s entirely irrelevant. I can easily wait for that long. After two whole years of waiting, I’m at least sure of that much.
The day after Alicia had left felt like the longest day of my life.
Although it was still only 24 hours, it sohow felt like weeks had passed within that period. Even my favorite books held no appeal. I found myself reading the sa sentence over and over, unable to concentrate at all on the words.
Thankfully, that distraction didn’t stay with long. And over the next months I read more books than I ever had in my life. Each new book I finished took my mind off the passage of ti for a while, but in between each book it felt like the seconds ticking by were years in and of themselves.
Then, finally, I was told that today was the day that Alicia could leave that cabin. Arnold, her father, ca to inform of the news personally.
He’s been treating surprisingly well over these last two years.
I’ve been using the library practically 24/7 but he didn’t complain. He let use it as much as I wanted. And, on the occasions when I fell asleep there, I hear that he was the one who would carry back to my own room.
When he first ca to tell what had happened with Alicia, I couldn’t have hated him more. The re sight of him set in a foul mood for the rest of the day. From the bottom of my soul, I was infuriated that he gave Alicia those damned idiotic conditions.
But over ti, after realizing that the one regretting that decision the most was actually Arnold, himself, my anger slowly faded. And by the ti he ca to the library to talk to yesterday night, I had completely forgiven him.
But even if I hadn’t, his words would have made let go of the last dregs of my hatred. After telling that Alicia’s seclusion was ending, he asked if I would go greet her as she left the cabin today. And he told that I should go, that if I was there to et her, his mind would be at ease.
Obviously, I was already planning to go, but that fact that he asked to be there, that he actually wanted to be there, was startling. I never imagined Arnold would say that sort of thing to .
And ever since then, I’ve been wondering what I should say to her first. As much as I wouldn’t mind filling her in on what she had missed, I haven’t exactly been keeping up with current affairs myself. I haven’t been attending the academy at all, so I have no idea what the situation might be like there. I can only guess at what Liz Cather’s been up to for the last two years, though I don’t really want to. I’m sure it would just give a headache the size of the flower field that’s growing in her brain.
And, as I’ve only spoken with Henry and Duke a couple of tis at most, I haven’t been able to hear many updates from them either.
Aside from those couple tis, and the tis I went to go see Gramps in the impoverished village, I’ve spent every second I could reading in the library. That ans I’m effectively as clueless as Alicia is.
As I’m absentmindedly lost in my thoughts, a loud creek screams out at from the direction of the cabin. I look up to see the door swinging open with the hinges complaining about the sudden movent every step of the way.
My breath hitches and I can feel my heart start to hamr violently in my chest.
…..Finally. Finally! I can see Alicia!
My heart is beating so loudly that I can’t hear the creeking groans of the cabin anymore. My ears are filled with nothing but its racing, thudding beats.
Sweat slicks my palms, but I viciously scrub them dry on the sides of my pants. I’m holding my breath without even realizing it.
“Good morning, Gilles. You’re here quite early! How have you been?”
I’m completely overco by Alicia’s appearance. I can’t take my eyes off of her. The mont I catch just a glimpse, my arms instantly break out in unending goosebumps.
Even though my heart had been beating painfully fast before, in that sa mont it stopped dead with a wrenching jerk.
I know my eyes must be gaping open at her, but I can’t help it.
I can scarcely breath, she’s so breathtakingly beautiful.
I haven’t changed much at all in these past two years…. That’s why I was expecting her to be mostly the sa as well, so this unbelievable change is overwhelming. Her features are obviously still the sa, but the air that she gives off is entirely different.
Her beauty has matured into sothing so ethereal that with the morning fog blanketing the air around her…. it’s almost like a goddess has just descended into the human realm.
Her raven black hair has grown down to her waist and is every bit as glossy and radiant as it was before. Her unwavering golden eyes seem to pierce through . The childlike roundness of youth is now completely gone and she is left with an impactful and mysterious upward slant to them that is so charmingly captivating, I can hardly bear it. And, I’m not sure if it’s because she hasn’t left that tiny cabin at all for these last two years or what, but her skin almost seems luminescent. It’s a brilliant pure white, like snow, which only emphasizes the slight pink of her beautiful lips. They are slightly thin and pouty and just perfect.
Until this mont, I had never known true beauty.
As she walks closer to , she looks carefully into my face. Her eyes are so attractive, so seductive, that I can only stare stupidly at her, dumbfounded.
The closer she gets, the more violently my heart pounds until I’m sure that any mont it will explode right out of my chest.
When she’s standing in front of , I realize that she’s not only grown more beautiful, but she’s also taller now as well. Her eyes which have always housed intelligence, now drip with an alluring depth of wisdom and knowledge.
“Gilles? You do rember who I am, right? You recognize , don’t you?”
Sohow, her voice sounds a bit softer than I rember it.
I give her a huge nod of my head since words have still not managed to find their way through the labyrinth of my befuddled brain down to my tongue yet.
“Co on! There’s still sowhere that I need to go before eting up with everyone else.”
As I thought, her voice is much softer than it was before. Is it because she hasn’t spoken with another person in so long?
Without waiting for my reply, Alicia loops her arm through mine and breaks off into a run.
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T/N: Ooh, where do you think she needs to go!? I’ll confess, I couldn’t stand the curiosity so I read the right after I finished translating this one XD So no guesses from ! But what do you guys think?
Also, was I the only one that got really, really excited by Alicia’s glow-up? I can’t wait to see how everyone reacts!!!! I also am just dying to know how else she’s changed over the two years of seclusion…. Sohow, this reminds my of my excitent after the 3D2Y ti skip in One Piece hahahahaha.
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