IDIBC SS 5

Ricardo’s Awakening, Back Then (1) 

Ricardo held his head high and stared straight ahead. It was clear he was angry from the tension in his jaw, yet he didn’t loosen the arms holding her.

Lienne suppressed a smile and quickly burrowed deeper into his embrace. She knew better than anyone that if she didn’t soothe his feelings as soon as possible, he would stay upset for far longer.

She whispered.

“No, not us — it was me and Young Duke Walter Chaplin. But Ricardo, are you really jealous over something I don’t even remember doing?”

“That’s not all. Walter never takes boats out on the lake. I have no idea what passed between the two of you out on that boat.”

“How does that make any sense? We had only just met.”

“Why not? This time around, Walter fell for you the moment he saw you too.”

Lienne caught Ricardo’s chin as he looked away and turned his face to meet hers.

Even with his cheeks puffed out in a sulk, he obediently turned his gaze to her, and Lienne pressed her lips to his with an exaggerated, resounding smack.

“Just like I did when I first saw you?”

Ricardo seemed to want to stay angry, but he burst out laughing in the end. Who could ever have imagined him like this?

“You know that Young Duke Walter Chaplin is someone we owe a great deal to, don’t you?”

Ricardo didn’t answer, but Lienne knew he cherished Walter more than anyone. She leaned against his shoulder and continued.

“Let’s keep reading. Until we fall asleep reading. Just as the Empress said — we don’t have that much time left.”

Ricardo nodded and turned to the next page of the letter. Stuart’s handwriting, neat yet carrying a certain sense of freedom, perfectly captured his personality.

[Mariette, I want to tell you about the time Ricardo had his awakening. You know it too, don’t you? That even in the previous life, Ricardo’s awakening was triggered by Lienne.]

[It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that not only the entire imperial capital but the whole Empire was thrown into an uproar because of it. And yet I still don’t know how exactly it came about. Ricardo never told me.]

At this passage, Lienne felt her body stiffen with a jolt. Sure enough, a gaze brimming with suspicion turned toward her.

“Lienne, I’ve been curious about this for a while. How did you trigger my awakening this time?”

“Pardon?”

“I’ve lost my memories, but you would remember. How my awakening came about.”

“Ah, well, that’s…”

Lienne hurriedly averted her eyes from him and turned to the next page.

“F-for now, let’s read a little more.”

[In the previous life, Father decided to send Ricardo straight to the battlefield the moment his awakening was complete.]

[He conspired and laid traps together with the Grand Priest. The Grand Priest may have had somewhat different intentions, but Father would have wanted Ricardo to die in that war. And so he must have made plans to deal with Lienne in the meantime.]

Even though none of this had happened to her in this life, Lienne felt a chill run down her spine. The day of the burning at the stake — a day she now remembered with vivid clarity — was drawing near.

[Once awakened, he would come to his full senses at any moment, and they thought he would lose his memories. If he lost his memories, he wouldn’t know who had triggered his awakening — and they could simply say it had been Judith. At the time, there were already many who believed that.]

“Did you hit me?”

At the sudden question, Lienne caught her breath and drew back slightly.

“What do you mean?”

“My awakening.”

“Aren’t we reading about that now?”

“Didn’t I say I could hear at least one word that you cried out desperately?”

“What did I desperately cry out?”

“‘How am I supposed to tell him I hit him!'”

Instead of covering her own mouth, Lienne covered Ricardo’s eyes.

He paused for a moment like that, then burst into laughter and drew toward Lienne as if pulled by a magnet. Before she could even take the hand away from his eyes, warm lips found hers.

His lips, soft and pliant, always awakened a strangely new sensation in Lienne. It never ceased to amaze her that such a tender part could exist in his body.

“Thank you for triggering my awakening — whether it was by hitting me or whatever else.”

“What kind of thing is that to say.”

“Thanks to that, I overcame everything. Sometimes I stay awake all night, unable to believe that everyone I love is here beside me.”

Lienne took the hand from his eyes and gently traced his lips. She wanted to tell him there was nothing left to fear, yet Lienne herself had many moments where her own happiness frightened her terribly.

So this was simply something to be endured, she told him with her eyes.

The two of them leaned into each other’s warmth and drifted quietly off to sleep. They weren’t sharing the same dream, but even within their dreams, the two were together.

++++

After the accident at the imperial banquet not long ago — where Lienne had fallen into the water — Ricardo’s nerves had been razor-sharp.

The Grand Priest had said that frequent meetings with Judith would help bring about his awakening, but Ricardo merely scoffed.

Partly because he thought it was nonsense, and honestly, partly because he had come to feel that it didn’t matter anymore what became of his family’s power.

Ricardo had been irritable since early morning. The person who should have appeared before his eyes the very first thing upon waking was not in her place.

“Where is Lienne?”

Freddy could only move his lips without managing any reply. She had been invited to come to breakfast, yet she had not appeared in the dining room.

Tracking her whereabouts was not Freddy’s responsibility, but flustered, he had gone to find Lienne himself. She was nowhere to be found, however.

“Freddy?”

At the cool voice demanding an answer, Freddy had no choice but to tell the truth. The young Young Duke who had appeared at the estate one day out of nowhere had a more impatient temperament than the current Duke.

“She was not in her room.”

“Then where is she?”

“It seems she has gone out for a… walk.”

“It seems she has?”

At the words that were clearly a reprimand, Freddy lowered his head slightly.

“I will go look again.”

After Freddy left, Ricardo went to the window to collect himself but couldn’t hold out for long, and in the end set out to find Lienne himself.

He couldn’t forcibly prevent her from moving about within the estate, but without his permission, Lienne could not leave. So she had to be somewhere inside.

Thinking she would likely be taking a stroll, he headed to the garden first, and instinctively frowned at the intense sunlight that made it difficult even to keep his eyes open.

He resented the clear sky. As always, the sky over Dermeier was too bright and too clear for Ricardo.

With every step, everything surrounding him felt unpleasant.

The tie strangling his neck, the crowd of people trailing behind him, and the figure of a woman far in the distance swinging a wooden sword this way and that in a manner that seemed out of place.

“What are you doing out here right now?”

At the sound of his voice, Lienne startled and froze. As he strode toward her, Lienne hunched her neck like a rabbit encountering a fearsome beast in the forest.

That, too, displeased him. It grated on him that the same woman who occasionally stood her ground boldly enough to catch him off guard also sometimes avoided and felt uneasy around him.

“I’m learning swordsmanship.”

At Lienne’s words, Ricardo looked over at Harold, who was drenched in sweat some distance away.

He had heard that Lienne spent most of her afternoons with this man. Everything was disagreeable, but of all things, that was what Ricardo found most disagreeable.

“This is something I’ve been sensing for a while.”

Even while on full alert like a rabbit, Lienne was the type who always said what she had to say.

As she tilted her chin up slightly and took a step closer, Ricardo felt, for the first time that day, something like satisfaction.

“What have you been sensing?”

“The Rochester estate is, well, even larger than I had imagined. And yet somehow I keep running into you by coincidence. And so often, at that.”

Ricardo’s eyes darkened as he watched her face break into a smile as though she genuinely found it strange.

“You think that’s a coincidence?”

He gazed at the tiny beads of sweat gathered on Lienne’s forehead, then slowly let his eyes drift downward. With her hair pulled tightly up to exercise, she looked far younger than her age.

Without quite realizing it, Ricardo tucked a few stray strands that had fallen below her ear back behind it.

She seemed to flinch, but Lienne did not pull away from him.

“If it isn’t a coincidence?”

She simply shot back at him boldly.

“Why are you learning swordsmanship?”

He too answered not with a straight answer but with a mischievous smile and a question of his own. His eyes were involuntarily drawn to her red lips as they parted in what sounded like a small, sighing reply.

“Because I can’t keep being at the mercy of others.”

Ricardo knew what she meant. Trouble had followed her everywhere she went.

Judith’s influence had taken hold of all of high society, and now rumors of a scandalous nature were slowly spreading even among the common people of the Empire.

Baseless slander had begun, and physical attacks had followed. Ricardo had been stepping in to protect her, but her desire to protect herself was understandable as well.

“That’s a good attitude.”

“Do you really think so?”

“Yes.”

“You’re right. I no longer wish to be a burden to you.”

A cool breeze swept over her brightly smiling face. The fine strands of hair catching the light and glimmering translucently swayed gently in the wind.

Ricardo regarded her for a moment, then raised his voice slightly.

“Do you know who is the finest swordsman in this country?”

Lienne cast her eyes downward and fell briefly into thought. At the sight, Ricardo let out a soft laugh.

“Is that really something that requires thinking about?”

“Oh…”

“Come here, I’ll show you.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Surely I’m a great deal better than Harold, who gave up knighthood because it wasn’t his calling. Wouldn’t you say?”

Just as all those who followed Ricardo were exchanging looks of astonishment, Harold stepped forward.

“C-could I perhaps learn as well?”

At that, Ricardo furrowed his brow and looked Harold up and down. He didn’t wield systematic swordsmanship, but his physical condition was excellent.

“If you want to learn from me, first go beat at least one person from the Rochester Knights. Do that, and I’ll teach you.”

“Do you mean that?”

“Of course.”

Harold was promptly escorted to the Rochester Knights.

He was not ordinarily a man lacking in perception. So he was not unaware of how Ricardo looked at Lienne. Even so, he could not pass up the opportunity to receive direct training from Ricardo.

Harold had taken up residence at the Rochester estate, and he had begun to dream of becoming a knight again.

Working for Count Fennel’s order of knights had stirred no feeling in him whatsoever. He had even thought he would be better off becoming a merchant.

But coming to the Rochester estate, he came to understand what a true knight really was. They had honor, conviction, and genuine loyalty to their Young Duke.

That was the true image of a knight Harold had dreamed of since childhood.