Words That Reached the Heart
…Wh-what? That startled me!
“Hurry up and get in!”
Gepetto, who had been fumbling to get his medicine bag from the carriage, spoke like he was barking orders. The slightly timid Gepetto seemed to gain a bit of charisma when he was handling his medicine bag. Amazing! Does hyung do that too? Well. Hyung is already totally cool and full of charisma though. Since I don’t know what hyung is like living somewhere other than the village… I suddenly became curious.
Seeing that even Gepetto the physician changes a bit, hyung must be the same, right?
What’s hyung like as a Hero?
I imagined hyung gallantly drawing his sword on the battlefield, then remembered hyung drenched in blood.
Even if he’s a Hero… doesn’t it still hurt?
“Um, is hyung really okay?”
Gepetto was carefully unwrapping Ruman’s bandages.
Since Ruman gestured at a chair telling me to sit, I sat down on the carriage seat.
As the cushion softly enveloped my bottom, I momentarily wanted to lie down. As expected, sleeping on a blanket laid on the ground hurts! I firmly supported my body with my wrists to keep from tilting sideways.
“Temarr is…”
Ruman seemed to ponder for a moment as if choosing his words.
“He’ll be fine since he hasn’t been injured since the ‘Hero’s Miracle’ happened. His body was already like steel to begin with.”
“The ‘Hero’s Miracle’? What’s that?”
“Mm.”
“Huh. Doesn’t it hurt?”
Gepetto raised his head in surprise.
At his words, I also looked at Ruman’s chest. A deep scar ran across his split chest muscles. It hurt just to look at it. The scar extended from below his chest to his abdomen. The wound on his chest seemed even deeper. Blood had thickly pooled and some pus was also coming out. Something like dots seemed to be smoldering inside the gaping wound. I glared at the wound, then glared at Ruman. His golden eyes were open a bit wider as if surprised.
“Why didn’t you get it treated? Why did you come like this?!”
Kirki the priest was there!
Ruman’s wound has barely healed at all!
“It’s not a serious wound.”
“Not serious…! If this isn’t serious, then what on earth is serious?”
When I asked reproachfully, he made a troubled expression.
“Gepetto. I’m sorry, but this is an internal matter so it’s difficult to speak about—could you step away for a moment?”
“Yes. Then I’ll take a short walk.”
Gepetto left the carriage and even closed the door.
Click, even after the sound of the door closing, Ruman remained silent before opening his mouth.
“Ren.”
“……”
“Ren. You don’t need to make that face.”
Ruman loosened his lips and smiled. He made a troubled expression. He reached his hand toward my cheek, then withdrew it again.
“I’m saying you don’t need to look like you’re about to cry.”
A halo of light gathered around Ruman.
Like fireflies, beautiful light that sparkled small and faintly gathered toward me.
That warm and comfortable light seemed to reassure me. Ah, last time when hyung disappeared, Ruman comforted me like this too.
“Ren. This is an internal matter, so I actually shouldn’t tell you… but Ren, you’re Temarr’s younger brother, and I’m a slippery former Hero, so I’ll tell you secretly. But you can’t tell other people, okay?”
“…Okay.”
“Good boy.”
Good boy, calling me good just for keeping a secret…! That’s only natural!
You can’t just say things like that carelessly! At that one casually thrown “good boy,” someone like me goes “Quack!” and screams!
My heart suddenly fluttered as if I’d been struck.
If I could be a good child just by keeping secrets, I would have been the best child in our village.
Ruman, who kept saying words I didn’t know, words I hadn’t heard, was cruel.
Aah, this is why I didn’t want this.
When you get to know someone, you end up liking them.
It’s better to leave farewells as farewells, so why did I end up becoming close with Ruman?
Even as I cursed my foolish self, I couldn’t push Ruman away.
“You don’t need to be too scared. Even if Ren tells, the sin of revealing the secret will be my sin.”
Did I look scared?
It’s not that. And if I tell, it becomes Ruman’s sin?! I shouted in shock.
“I absolutely won’t tell!!”
I had no intention of telling anyway! And I have no one to tell either…
“Oh! Good boy, Ren.”
“Enough! Stop calling me good for things like that!!”
When I shrieked, Ruman giggled.
“The ‘Hero’s Miracle’ is…”
Ruman, who began with that, pondered briefly.
“To put it simply, it saves you from a crisis of death.”
“Saves you from a crisis of death?”
“When doing missions, moments of crisis come. Ren, have you read fairy tale books?”
“…I hate fairy tale books.”
“Keke. You hate fairy tale books?”
Ruman giggled again at something funny.
No, doesn’t it even hurt!! Every time he laughed, that wound seemed to gape open. I had to squint my eyes to avoid looking at Ruman’s deep wound.
“Yes. I especially hate the story about the Hero who goes to fight the Demon King to save the princess.”
I glared fiercely. That’s not a fairy tale, that’s, that’s… a heartless and cruel story.
“Ah. You read ‘The Magic Castle and Princess Anapelicia.'”
“I don’t even like the title!!”
I suddenly got choked up!
“The Hero defeats the Demon King and saves the princess, so why is the title like that? Why are the magic castle and the princess’s name the title! I’m so frustrated I could die! The Hero almost died more than three times trying to save that princess! Isn’t the Hero the real protagonist?!”
‘Protagoniiist—!’
My echoing shout shook the forest like an echo.
Uaaaah!
I’m angry just thinking about it again!!!
As I frantically pulled at my hair, Ruman was busy trying to stop me while laughing.
“Keke…haa. Ren. Calm down! All your hair is going to fall out.”
“This isn’t something to laugh about!”
I’m really, really, really angry!
I read that book when I was 4 years old. I thought it was so cool that hyung was a Hero. When I liked it so much, hyung said it was money he earned as a Hero and bought me a fairy tale book with that money. It was a fairy tale book where the Hero coolly defeats the Demon King and even saves the princess.
But what happened? Ugh. I never wanted to recall again the ending of that heinous fairy tale book that I read line by line, treasuring it with excitement. I bit my lip because I felt like tears were welling up.
The scene that remained vividly in my young memory was the image of the Hero pushing his own chest onto the Demon King’s sword to save the princess. What was the Hero feeling, hidden behind his helmet so he couldn’t be seen? What expression did he make?
I got choked up again. Ah! I don’t want to cry, really!
This isn’t because I’m sad! It’s because I’m pissed off!!
I couldn’t bear to tear up the gift hyung gave me, so I buried that fairy tale book very deep behind our house. I couldn’t live under the same roof as that vicious fairy tale book! That book should be grateful I gave it the backyard!
Just using the Hero! The Hero isn’t that kind of existence!
They should be more precious, respected, and live comfortably in their later years!! They’re not the kind of person who should die in someone’s place!
Even though I was trembling with rage, Ruman was just dying of laughter.
“No one recognized the Hero! How much the Hero sacrificed! How sad his family is!”
I shouted fiercely… but after saying those words, my heart became indescribably lonely, and I regretted shouting what I felt like saying.
When I became dejected, exhausted by my own fuming, Ruman finally stopped laughing.
He wiped away the tears in his eyes with his finger, then let out a long sigh. Even his sigh was tinged with laughter.
“Ren recognizes it.”
“Me? What?”
I blinked.
“How sad the families are, how much the Hero sacrificed.”
I was momentarily at a loss for words.
I stammered as I opened my mouth.
“But I don’t know anything.”
I trailed off. I don’t know anything. Only my own sadness. What hyung sacrificed… because hyung doesn’t tell me.
Not about his time as a Hero either. Not about that 7-year war that seems to have left terribly awful memories. I could only speculate alone seeing hyung’s gaunt face and the long scars that remained.
“I really wish you didn’t know.”
Ruman smiled softly.
“Ren knows, and I know too. We’re both parties to it.”
“Well…”
“Just that alone makes me happy enough.”
“Happy?”
Ruman gazed intently into my eyes.
His eyes gently closed. Ruman’s delicate, slender eyelashes curved like a fan. Between those eyelashes, a yellow light like fireflies lingered. It was a smile that seemed to seduce people.
As I stared blankly at those eyes, he nodded slowly, briefly, and firmly.
“Very much. I didn’t know I’d get to have this kind of conversation with someone.”
Ruman’s cheeks were faintly red. It showed especially well on his pale face.
S-surely he’s not being shy. If that’s the case, here’s my request. Please don’t do that, Ruman! I feel like I’m going crazy from embarrassment too!!
When I averted my eyes, Ruman laughed with a deflating sound.
“So, I’m a bit comforted. Ren, you too…”
Ruman paused to choose his words.
“Never mind.”
“Never mind what?”
“Ren, do as you please.”
“What??”
“What Ren wants to do.”
“What’s this all of a sudden?”
I couldn’t grumble as much as before.
Becoming close is uncomfortable. Because you can’t do things freely, as you please!
But if asked whether it’s better after becoming close or before, I don’t think I could answer readily. For some reason, my heart tickled.
I should wash up. It’s itchy because I haven’t washed. I glared for no reason.
“Um. Are you finished talking? The sun is rising!”
Gepetto knocked on the carriage.
