Chapter 4 - The Last Chance

Human nature doesn't change. Even if it does change, it soon reverts back.

The guard knight Loraine recalled her thoughts from meeting countless people as she looked at Damian.

The sight of the boy, covered in blood, struggling as if this was his last chance.

Although his appearance was similar to a knight who had rolled on the battlefield for too long and became an evil spirit, the content was vastly different as this situation was created solely with his own blood, without a drop of others'.

Why on earth?

No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn't understand.

If it was a real battle where life was at stake, or a duel where social prestige was on the line, she would have understood to some extent.

Buts he couldn't understand why the young master, who was so dissolute, lazy, and sensitive, was acting so desperately in mere training.

No, he did give a reason.

Grand Duchess Elisia.

He suddenly declared he would pour everything into it for his fiancée, with whom he barely even spoke.

They didn't even seem to have an affectionate relationship, let alone show interest in each other. What on earth caused this change of heart?

Could it be that he accidentally fell for the Grand Duchess?

As with anyone, love could come unexpectedly, so there was a possibility.

So maybe he decided to become a different person and was pretending to be kind.

At first, she was so surprised by the sudden change in attitude that he thought someone else had entered the young master's body.

But thinking like this, it somewhat made sense.

However, what she still couldn't understand was the sudden strange behavior of scattering bread to wild beasts, or making “tea” that was so amazing she couldn't help but admire how it was made...

While she was pondering, unable to even guess the reason, a passage from the romance novel she was reading last night suddenly came to mind.

[All he had to do was turn back time for her.]

It was the scene where the protagonist went back to the past through regression for the female lead.

Of course, the concept of regression itself was completely unrealistic, so there was no way the young master could have regressed, but...

Assuming he had regressed, all his actions seemed plausible.

Geez, what am I thinking? How could the young master be a regressor?

Thinking she should stop reading romance novels, Loraine shook her head and looked at the young master.

Watching him desperately attack with a wooden sword and hammer, she thought that no matter how much she pondered, she just couldn't understand.

I don't really get it, but I wish he'd hurry up and give me some tea.

The moment she drank it, she felt an uplifting sensation, as if drinking it might lead her to a new realm.

She felt like something might change if he kept drinking it.

So, deciding to steal and drink some tea when she had time, she lightly deflected the young master's attacks.

***

The next morning, I woke up feeling as if my whole body was being stabbed with knives.

I'm really going to die...

Potions only restored the body, they didn't eliminate pain, so the pain I had accumulated yesterday was circling my body and stabbing at my nerves.

I wanted to roll on the floor, but I had a lot to do, so I forced myself to endure and ran my hand through my hair.

Well, shall I go greet Elisia?

There was nothing more joyful than meeting the only being who had supported me when I had lost everything and fallen into the abyss of despair.

I smiled brightly, quickly changed my clothes, and headed to Elisia's office.

As I reached Elisia's office, a cold gaze met my face.

Seeing that she didn't even speak, it probably meant, “You're not welcome, leave quickly.”

Although I hadn't seen it many times, I was already familiar with this gaze, so I neatly ignored it and greeted her.

"Good morning."

"..."

She turned her gaze away to look at her work as if she didn't even feel it was worth responding.

I looked at Elisia like this and considered making her some tea, but decided it would be better to give it after we became closer, so I decided to leave it at that for today.

There's nothing more burdensome than someone you're not close with constantly trying to feed you something.

She was already struggling with work, and I didn't want to burden her, so I waved my hand again and stepped outside.

As I was heading to the training ground, telling Loraine how much I was considering Elisia, Loraine spoke to me with a sour expression, "Umm, it just seems like she's burdened every time you come to meet her..."

I lightly ignored Loraine's words and prepared to focus on training again while warming up.

If I keep at it, it should work out.

When I first started sparring, I had no idea what I should do, but by the end, it seemed obvious what the best choice was—my talent told me so.

While I was considering using the hammer again today, remembering how particularly well it fit in my hand, my personal maid carefully approached me and handed me a letter sent from my family.

"Ah, thank you."

"Yes, Young Master."

The personal maid was very flustered when I thanked her, then bowed her head deeply and disappeared somewhere.

I found the surprised reactions from those around me quite interesting, then turned my attention to check the contents of the letter.

So, to summarize, they're saying they'll send a few elixirs from the family.

By the way, seeing the words in the middle about “drinking that bitter elixir, you've grown up, is the North very difficult? your sister is waiting for you to come back, and such…”

It seemed that despite Damian's delinquent behavior, he must have treated his family well.

Anyway, now that I've secured the promise of elixirs.

All that was left was growth through training and contracting with the Sun Spirit.

So I decided to train from morning to evening.

When the moon rose at night, I would go to meet the Sun Spirit, while vigorously massaging my shoulders.

***

About a month passed after that day.

It was a time that could be considered long if one said it was long, and short if one said it was short, but it was enough time for countless things to change.

"...Wow, really, Young Master's talent is just insane."

I swung my wooden hammer at Loraine while listening to her praise.

Unfortunately, I couldn't even touch her clothes, let alone her body.

Loraine praised me greatly and admired me.

"I've seen all sorts of monsters during my time in the knights, but among them, Young Master seems particularly outstanding."

That wasn’t very important.

Talent only had meaning when it was nurtured, and talent that wasn't nurtured eventually died.

Because of Damian's lazy nature, I started training much later than others, so I was just starting to plant the seeds now.

No matter how outstanding the talent, it hadn't even sprouted yet, so praising the talent was meaningless.

But it means there's potential.

Thinking that hope had arisen, I tried an irregular attack by dropping the hammer from my hand while striking down with it, and attacking with the sword in my left hand.

"Giving such variables would make the opponent feel considerable pressure, so it wasn't a bad choice, but..."

Loraine lightly deflected my attack and said, "Since the hammer flew away, it's an attack with more losses than gains, so it's hard to say it was a good choice. But still, is it really possible to do this in just a month? It's really unfair."

Recently, Loraine has been showering me with all sorts of excessive praise, probably because I gave her tea when she listened well to me or made me happy.

I was looking at Loraine, wondering if there might be addictive components in the tea.

Loraine scratched her head with an awkward smile and said to me, "I might have been a bit overexcited... but I'm not exaggerating, I'm serious."

"Thank you."

"Then, could I have a cup of tea? My head hurts a bit..."

As far as I knew, the tea I made didn't have any effects to cure headaches.

I couldn't understand it at all, but in any case, she was my teacher, so I decided to make her some tea while shaking out my wrist.

"Thank you... thank you..."

Should I have the tea components tested later? I didn't feel anything special when I drank it, but I didn't know why she was so crazy about it.

Thinking that, I decided to go meet Elisia for a moment and went to wash up first.

***

Since various issues erupted simultaneously in the morning, Elisia had left to deal with them, so unfortunately I couldn't greet her in the morning.

Regretfully deciding to at least say good evening, I reached her office and saw Elisia looking in an extremely bad state.

The dark circles under her eyes seemed deeper and longer than usual, and her skin was so pale that it would be right to describe her as sickly.

Seeing her in a state that seemed like she might fall seriously ill if this continued, my heart felt like it was being torn apart, so I asked about her well-being, but...

"You never get tired, do you?"

All I got in return was a cold answer.

I knew that opening her heart wouldn't be easy, but while I was thinking that it was even harder than I had imagined, I suddenly noticed Elisia staring intently at my hand.

Normally, I wouldn't have been able to guess the meaning, but perhaps because Loraine kept whining for tea…

I could roughly guess what that gaze meant, so I asked, just in case, "Would you like a cup of tea?"

At this question, Elisia looked at me with a conflicted expression.

Then she turned her head and spoke in a voice devoid of any emotion, "...Damian. I'll speak frankly. Although I am your fiancée, I have no intention of being with you. In other words, no matter what efforts you make, I won't accept them, and furthermore, I don't plan to acknowledge you."

I knew this, but hearing it directly suddenly made it hard to breathe.

I looked at Elisia, who was staring at me with emotionless eyes, and calmly opened my mouth, "You finally looked me in the eye. You must be having a hard time because of what happened earlier? I'll brew you some tea right away."

"...Do you have no intention of listening to what I'm saying?"

I was listening well enough. Although I didn't show it, I was actually deeply hurt when I heard those words.

Rationally thinking, it would be best for both of us to give up at this point, but...

I couldn't easily give up on the savior who had pulled me out of my life of despair, and the emotions built up from five years of blind love.

Moreover, knowing that she's pushing me away not because she dislikes me, but for the sake of the North...

Thinking foolishly that I couldn't let this go, I let out a hollow laugh.

Then, shaking my head inwardly, I decided to stop being greedy.

All of this is just my one-sided love.

So I decided to reach out one last time, and if Elisia rejected even this, I would let go cleanly.

"...I know a way to make the North warm."

At my words, Elisia looked at me with an expression mixed with emotion for the first time.

Thinking how nice it would have been if she had looked at me like that all along, I calmly continued speaking, "I'll make the North warm for you, so won't you look at me properly, even if it's just once?"

Deciding to give up everything and return to Damian's family home if she rejected even this, I smiled awkwardly.

Elisia reluctantly nodded and said, "Alright. If you really can make the North warm... I'll face you properly from now on."

At those words, I decided to grasp this last chance, recalling the “only” way to make the North warm—the Sun Spirit.