Chapter 45: Walking Together into the Future

Fiene is now in the position of being Noah’s fiancée. She feels unworthy of being engaged to such an admirable man as him.

Noah, who has revealed his true face, is surprisingly popular. But that’s only natural.

Until recently, Fiene harbored resentment towards her family, but that resentment has faded away now that Fiene is happy.

Though she caused various inconveniences to the servants of the Stein family, Fiene is now accepted and loved by people for the first time in her life.

The two returned to the Stein estate and enjoyed their rest.

Today is the perfect day for a picnic.

Noah finished his work early to take Fiene for a walk. However, perhaps due to hurrying, his black hair is still as messy as ever. Lloyd always tells him to tidy it up.

And now, Fiene is riding in a boat rowed by Noah. It’s a dream come true for her to be boating. The wind crossing the lake surface feels pleasant. Being with Noah, Fiene finds herself falling more and more in love.

“By the way, Noah-sama, why did you have scars on your face? It’s more of a curse than magic, isn’t it?”

“It’s an act of atonement.”

For the first time, Noah began to tell Fiene about his past on the boat.

As a child prodigy, he conducted reckless experiments that injured many people.

The laboratory within the castle exploded at the time, injuring the servants, and his mother, caught in the blast, injured her leg and could not walk.

Since then, he has refused treatment for his own injuries and also refused to recover.

“After that, I worked on developing potions. And finally, I healed my mother’s leg, allowing her to walk again.”

“Is that so? But why didn’t you heal the scars on your face?”

“It took three years. My mother couldn’t walk for three years. Neither my father nor my mother nor the servants blamed me. So, it’s a reminder to myself.”

Fiene suddenly became curious.

What happened to his parents now? She never heard from anyone.

“After my mother recovered from her injury, she and my father started traveling together a lot. To make up for the time she couldn’t walk.

It was a love marriage, rare for nobles. They were a close couple. I was sixteen at the time. They left energetically that day. But they never came back. They were involved in a maritime accident.”

“That’s…,” Fiene’s eyes tremble with sadness. He lost what he loved. How much pain must he have carried in his heart?

“So, I decided to create a teleportation device using a magic circle.”

Fiene felt like she saw the origin of Noah’s research.

“Noah-sama, you dedicated yourself to research, wishing for someone’s peaceful life and happiness, didn’t you?”

Noah blushed at Fiene’s words.

“It’s nothing special. I just wanted to satisfy myself.”

“Hehehe, Noah-sama, thank you very much.”

“For what?”

Noah replied in his usual blunt tone.

“Thanks to you giving me life, I can now get to know many things about Noah-sama that I didn’t know before. Please continue to take care of me from now on.”

Fiene bows her head.

“So stop it! It’s not that big of a deal.”

Noah’s ears turned red, but there was no hood to cover his face anymore.

“Right. Noah-sama, why don’t you hire me as your assistant? Of course, exclusively for this laboratory. After all, I’m no longer needed as an experimental subject, right?”

“Hmph, while we’re at it, I’ll tell you. Your magical abilities are slightly different from those of humans.”

“Huh?”

“It’s true that there are elves in the Hausen family’s ancestry. Your abilities are something humans don’t possess.”

“What?”

Fiene blinked in surprise.

“Whether it’s atavism or changeling, you’re a subspecies of high elves.”

“Huh? You’re joking, right? Me, an elf?”

Fiene asked Noah with a forced smile, but his expression was serious.

“It’s impossible for humans to absorb and neutralize magic power from others on such a scale. It’s impossible.”

“Whaaaat?!”

Fiene’s scream echoed across the lake.

“So, you’re non-human. It’s an important thing, so I had to tell you in the middle of the deserted lake.”

“So, does that mean I can’t marry Noah-sama?”

Fiene was confused.

“Why would that be the case? I’m going to marry Fiene. Besides, elves are a subspecies that can intermarry with humans. But it’s a secret that you’re an elf. You might be hunted or exploited.”

Hearing about being hunted sent shivers down her spine.

“Understood. If Noah-sama says so, I’ll believe it. Can you please stop calling me non-human or a subspecies?”

Fiene complained, and Noah burst out laughing.

“You’re an amusing one. But you weren’t human to begin with.”

Noah said with a smile, shaking Fiene’s body.

“Rather than that, what should I do if I end up living alone for two hundred or three hundred years?”

Having a remaining lifespan of only six months is bad, but living too long is also a problem.

“It’s just a legend. Your lifespan is no different from that of a human. You lived long because you were in a place with clean air and water.”

Fiene found it strange there.

“Why do you know so much about it?”

“There’s a forest beyond the lake, right? Elves used to live in that forest about two hundred years ago.”

“Is that so?”

Here, the water and air are clean, and the forest is lush and beautiful.

Fiene loves this place, where she’s with Noah.

Maybe Noah’s ancestors were also elves. Considering that his magical power is said to be the highest in recorded history, it’s entirely possible.

“Fiene seems oddly fond of this place, as if she’s returned home.”

Noa said it sentimentally.

“Then, please take me to that forest next time.”

“Got it. Let’s go together.”

Noah smiled and nodded.

Once again, he fulfills Fiene’s wish.

Noah will never break his promises.

Thinking that she could make many promises with him in the future, Fiene was happy.

She’s not alone anymore.

She’ll always be by his side… walking through life together.

At that moment, the wind gently tousled Fiene’s hair.

Crossing the lake from beyond the forest, a refreshing breeze blew through.

As if blessing the future of the two.