Consolation Ceremony (4)

―――What a terrible thing.

I clutched my chest tightly as I watched my former guardian knight kneeling before me, tears streaming down his face as he pleaded.

I had no idea Commander Curtis had been suffering so much.

I’d taken the loyalty of my guardian knight—no, Canopus—far too lightly.

For Canopus, having let me die without even being able to shield me was an unbearable source of shame, something he could never overlook.

He may have regretted it over and over, far more than I could ever imagine.

Again and again, he may have blamed himself.

How painful must it be to regret something that can no longer be changed, thinking, “If only I’d done this”?

―――I hadn’t even considered that until just now, when I saw Commander Curtis’s tears.

Commander Curtis... Canopus... I should have known full well that he always suppressed his feelings and kept a straight face...