The day after I successfully crafted a mithril knife, we returned to the workshop in the forest since I still had quite a lot of leftover tal to work with. Now that I knew the process better, I thought about making sothing more complicated.
Since I was probably going to use the knife myself, I thought the princess would like sothing, too. I knew that she practiced fencing since I had seen her face off against the knights during their training, and while she wasn’t a swordmaster or anything, she knew the basics of it and used her magic to create her own style of fighting.
’I’ll try making a thin blade for her. An estoque...’ I thought.
However, molding the blade that thin proved to be more complicated than I thought, and before I knew it, I had spent an entire day working on it.
I managed to finish it very late at night, and when I turned around to show my work to the others, I saw the princess, the maids, and Yoru sleeping on the side of the workshop.
Only Vespera was awake, who told they had fallen asleep so ti ago after watching work the entire day.
"A-are you guys not bored just sitting there?" I asked my companion.
I understood why Vespera and Yoru liked watching do stuff, and it was because they learned from every ti I did sothing. For example, the reason Vespera was able to cast gravity magic was by simply watching do it and explaining it.
While they weren’t getting any magic experience from crafting weapons traditionally, they still learned sothing new that could make them more powerful in the future.
But that didn’t explain why the princess and the maids were here.
’Well, the maids are probably just here to accompany lina...’ I thought.
"lina is very active, you know? That’s why it’s strange that she just sits there and watches ..." I comnted to Vespera, who let out an exasperated sigh.
"I swear, Ichiro..." she muttered as she planted her palm on her face.
"What!?" I asked.
"Why are you purposely being dense?" she asked with a serious expression.
"Wh-what do you an?" I asked.
"Do you rember that Yoru and I can feel your emotions? Did you think we didn’t know?" she asked again.
"Speak clearly, Vespera," I replied, getting sowhat annoyed at her cryptic ssages.
Closing her eyes deep in thought, she switched to speaking with with telepathy.
["Ichiro, we know who lina is. We know that you are purposely denying it, for whatever reason..."] she said, her words echoing in my mind.
I widened my eyes, surprised at what my companion said, but I couldn’t reply to her as my mind went blank, allowing her to keep talking.
["We’ve been having dreams of your past, Ichiro. We even saw the vision that Armaros showed you..."] she continued.
["Yoru and I discussed this, and we concluded that you have been purposely denying the fact that lina is your past wife!"] she exclaid, her words getting even louder in my head.
’Purposely denying it, huh?’ I thought. That was a good way to describe it, honestly.
["It’s obvious she feels so sort of connection with you, too. That’s why she watches you and enjoys her ti doing it. Do you understand now?"] she asked, sowhat condescendingly, but that was normal for Vespera.
At that mont, a mory of my past life flashed in my head.
My wife lina and I had traveled to the countryside of a European country, and the house we rented wasn’t in the best condition. Nonetheless, we decided to stay and remodel the place as we saw fit.
I rember it took an entire day to fix a few walls that looked like they were one wind blow away from collapsing, and during that whole ti, my wife just watched work attentively.
I turned around to look at her. "Is it that fun watching do this?" I asked with a slight smile and a hamr in my hand.
lina placed her finger on her chin inquisitively. "It’s fun watching YOU do it," she said confidently.
"Are you sure? You could just watch a TV show or sothing..." I said as I kept looking at her beautiful green eyes.
My wife nodded. "This is much better than any TV show," she replied, her tone soft and soothing.
Just as she said that, the mory suddenly shifted, and my brown-haired and green-eyed wife now looked like the princess with silver hair and aquamarine eyes.
Yes, she looked very different from our past life, but so did I. However, that gaze was the sa. That solemn and loving look that made fall in love with her the first ti was still present in our new life.
Vespera was right.
I had been purposely denying the fact that she was the reincarnation of my past wife.
Why did I deny it? Well, I couldn’t say for sure.
Maybe I didn’t want to be disappointed if she wasn’t the real deal, or perhaps I just didn’t want to believe it.
"Do you see, now?" Vespera asked with a low tone to not wake up the others, bringing back to the present mont.
"I do..." I replied, feeling confused.
My companion gave a reassuring hug and whispered.
"Rember what Phelena told you when she brought you here..." she said as she let go of the embrace.
Hearing her words, I tried my best to recall my eting with the Goddess Phelena, but the mories were kind of blurry.
It made sense since I was technically dead at the ti, but if Vespera could see my mories, then I should have been able to uncover them, too.
I rember asking Phelena why she chose , but she didn’t have a clear answer for . Instead, she said: "There is sothing I want you to do, and there is sothing that you want to do."
’What did she an by that?’ I pondered, gazing at the princess who napped peacefully beside Yoru and the maids.
At that mont, the last monts of my past life ca back to , flashing so violently that it made kneel on the ground as I held my chest, feeling a sharp and cold pain.
I was bleeding out on the ground, looking at the stranger’s face.
"Make sure to always protect her..." I said to him, but those weren’t my last words.
There was one final thought after that.
"Maybe... we get to et again... lina..."
At that mont, I snapped from the mory, and the pain I felt had utterly dissipated.
Vespera held my arm with a worried expression, but I knew that was what she wanted to see.
"What I wanted to do..." I muttered to my companion while still kneeling on the ground.
I understood what Phelena ant at that mont. What I wanted to do was see my wife again, and she had given the opportunity to do so.
It also explained why she wanted to send as a twelve-year-old instead of a baby. Because then I would’ve been way younger than the princess.
Even when I asked her to send far away from people, she still sent to the Sephyr Kingdom. Sure, it was the most desolate place in the kingdom, but it was still the sa place where lina resided.
She could’ve simply sent to an uninhabited island, but she decided to send to End Forest, leading to my eting with lina.
’Did she really plan this from the beginning?’ I pondered.
However, I still didn’t know what she wanted to do.
I found out what she ant in the end, but there was still a mission that she wanted to complete.
’This would have been much simpler if she just told what she wanted to do...’ I thought, but she probably had her reasons.
’Well, surely it will co to at so point, just like this...’
After the long talk with Vespera and the road to mory lane, lina coincidentally opened her eyes and rubbed them with a tired expression, then focused her vision on the thin blade that was on the table.
"Oh, you did it!" she exclaid, waking up everyone else as she stood up to take a closer look at the estoque.
Seeing the princess curiously glancing at the blade made blush a little. Now that I wasn’t fooling myself anymore, I suddenly felt slightly shy around her.
’Say sothing... stupid...’ I insulted myself, trying to co up with words. But the princess beat to it.
"I didn’t know you practiced fencing," she said.
"I-I don’t. I made this one for you..." I replied, gazing to the side out of pure shyness.
The princess’s face switched her smile to surprise. "B-but you worked so hard on it..." she said, looking down and blushing.
"Well, of course. I wasn’t going to make sothing for you with half-assed intentions." I said.
Instead of saying anything, lina hugged tightly and whispered, "Thank you," as she buried her face in my chest.
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