“When is my birthday?”
“The eighteenth day of the Month of Radiant Arrival, 1422.”
“Everyone in the Northland probably knows that.”
“Then why are you even asking me…?”
“What do I like to eat?”
“Apple pie. The kind baked until the crust is slightly charred and crispy. Also, pumpkin oatmeal porridge, cream of mushroom soup, and holiday stew…”
“Hmm… if you asked the chefs in the Palace, they would probably tell you that too, right?”
“You—then ask about things that only you and I would know!”
Lian was so anxious she was on the verge of tears, sitting on a bench in the court garden meant for strollers to rest.
Meliya, who was lying across her lap, laughed as she reached up to pinch and knead Lian’s cheeks.
“Things only ‘you’ and I know? I haven’t believed a word you’ve said, you know. Dammit… these soft little cheeks and this lying little mouth really make an aunt like me jealous to death.”
“Just ask already!”
“Fine, fine. Let me think… what was the nickname he gave to Iyue in the letters he sent me?”
Meliya thought about it for a moment before tossing out the question. Without needing even a second to think, Lian blurted out the answer:
“‘Old Woman Unloved for a Lifetime’!”
……
“A-achoo! Which bastard is cursing me now…?”
Across a certain wasteland, an Elf sitting before a campfire suddenly let out a massive sneeze.
She rubbed her nose and went back to poking the flickering flames.
……
“Wow… you actually know?” Meliya’s tone sounded quite surprised. “It seems he really did tell you quite a lot.”
“I told you, he didn’t tell me… I am him! Do I—do I really have to recite all those love poems he wrote you in those letters for you to believe me?”
“Why not? Go ahead and recite one. Use the opening poem from the eleventh letter of the second year.”
“Me—Meliya… you really want me to recite that?”
Recalling the contents of that poem, Lian’s overheated brain cooled down significantly.
“Do I look like I’m joking? Speaking of which, you haven’t used any honorifics at all while speaking to me… Recite it now. Otherwise, I’ll have to charge you with the Crime of Lese-majesty.”
Meliya’s face suddenly darkened as she grabbed Lian’s cheek and pulled it to the side.
Her playful smile vanished, replaced by the dignity and unquestionable authority of a high-ranking ruler.
Left with no choice, Lian began to recite the love poem that had served as the letter’s opening that day, her face turning beet-red.
In the past, she had always felt that it was her masterpiece… but later, when Vera saw it, she had coldly torn the poem to shreds.
Now that Lian had to recite it to her lover personally, she seemed to understand why Vera had criticized it so harshly.
“…I hope this letter finds you well, my dear Meliya.”
“Though time flows forward, today and yesterday are no different to me — because I miss you every single day.”
“I — I wonder if you miss me as much as I miss you? As I walk along the road and see the sunset dyeing the wheat fields red, I find myself thinking it is your blushing cheeks…”
Lian paused, looking down at Meliya, who was suppressing a laugh in her lap, with watery eyes.
“Why stop? Keep reading!”
“I know… just pull a little lighter, please…! — As a result, I stared at the sky for so long that I walked into a tree.”
“And then? And then?”
Meliya’s eyes sparkled, and her body trembled as if she were about to start squirming in Lian’s lap.
“The tree broke. I know you might laugh at me or my metaphors, but I truly feel — the scent of wheat carried by the wind is the fragrance of your hair, and the shadows of the branches are your graceful silhouette…”
“Continue!”
“…Then I suddenly realized that today and yesterday are indeed different. Because in this very second of realization, I miss you significantly more than the previous second. How could today and yesterday even compare? I picked myself up, thinking and walking just like that — “
“And you ended up breaking another tree!”
Meliya laughed loudly as she wrapped both arms around Lian’s neck, pulling her down so far that Lian had to bend her waist.
Then, she held Lian tightly, embracing her with all her strength and resting her face on Lian’s shoulder.
“Ah… it really has been so long…”
“Do you believe me now?”
In that warm embrace, Lian seemed to hear Meliya’s voice, tinged with a slight sob, whispering and sighing into her ear.
“I don’t.”
“Why not!”
“My husband couldn’t possibly be this cute. And he certainly couldn’t be a little girl who can recite such embarrassing love poems out loud.”
“I told you, I turned into this as soon as I returned…!”
“Then use that incredible armor to change yourself back. You said magic is meaningless before it, right?”
“Of course I’ve already tried! If I had a way, I certainly wouldn’t want to stay in this form… but it’s only a replica, so there’s bound to be a slight difference between it and the real thing… I might have to go to the Kingdom of Salvation to borrow it…”
Long before Sephy had brought her to the Sage’s Tower, Lian had already tried that method.
The fact that even the replicated Heavenly Silver could not change her back was one of the reasons her mental state had collapsed, leading her to the tavern to drink herself into a stupor.
“Then do just that. Only when you change back will I fully believe you.”
Meliya rested her head back on Lian’s lap, though her arms remained tightly wound around Lian’s neck.
She looked up at Lian with a beaming smile.
“I recited that love poem from memory and you’re still like this! What exactly do I have to do for you to believe me — “
“I said ‘fully believe,’ didn’t I? That means I already believe you halfway. This is a reward.”
As she spoke, she suddenly gave Lian’s neck a sharp pull, bringing her face close.
In a daze, Lian felt an incomparably familiar, exceptionally soft, and moist sensation land on her cheek.
Meliya then fell back into her lap, her eyes filled with the same tenderness as in the past, gazing at her with deep affection.
“Yes! I am Lian — “
“No. Not yet. If the current, adorable you uses that name, it just won’t do.”
Meliya suddenly shook her head and poked Lian’s sore nose.
“…Yes! I am Lian, Lian Clausel. I’m back.”
Lian felt a blurry mist fill her vision.
She blinked, intending to reach out and rub her eyes to stop a dignified Hero from disgracefully shedding tears in front of his wife.
But Meliya held her hands, preventing her from doing so.
And so, Lian’s tears continued to fall, drop by drop, landing on Meliya’s cheeks and the corners of her lips.
She wanted to reach out and wipe them away for Meliya, but Meliya still wouldn’t allow it.
She cried quietly for a while, then suddenly perked up as if remembering something and lifted her face.
“I have more proof of my identity! I don’t need to go to the Kingdom of Salvation… Sephy… Sephy has known all along! I didn’t mean to conspire with her to trick you… but I was so confused at the time, and Sephy advised me not to startle you all immediately… If she testifies for me, you’ll believe me completely, right? I happen to have a Communication Pearl on me… I’ll contact her right now!”
After saying that, Lian hurriedly pulled the Communication Pearl from her clothes and channeled Magic Power into it —
However, even after a long time had passed, the surface of the pearl failed to light up with the glow that signaled a successful connection.