A Depressed Kendo Player Possesses a Reckless Aristocrat - Chapter 138



The Age to Begin First Love (3)

“Congratulations. It seems you’ve begun your first love.”

A small, yet clear voice carried forth.

I, who had been wearing a composed expression, let out a faint smile.

Before me stood a platinum-blonde girl with a blank stare.

On her pale cheeks, a blush she hadn’t managed to erase remained shyly.

Perhaps it was spring.

The fresh feeling wafting by tickled the tip of my nose.

I quietly kept my mouth shut, observing the girl’s reaction.

“Ah, uh… u-uh…?”

She showed a reaction as confused as I expected.

Perhaps it was because I had delivered it straight, without any roundabout explanation, but Lucy was out of sorts.

“First love… you say?”

“Yes, Your Highness is already at that age. Or perhaps, it’s a little late even.”

There isn’t a set time for first love, but I’ve heard it usually blooms during adolescence.

Lucy is now nineteen, right before becoming an adult.

Compared to other kids, it felt a bit late, I suppose.

Still, hearing this kind of talk brought a strange new feeling.

Someone I spent my childhood with, now grown enough to ask about love.

“I’m happy.”

I murmured quietly.

A short but tender phrase.

The lord who seemed like he’d be young forever, a season of flowers was blooming for him too.

When did he come to cherish such a precious feeling?

His flushed earlobes are just now catching my eye.

‘This reminds me of the old days…’

While I was mulling over the echo in my mouth, a faint voice came to my ears.

-Promise me… Naruya.

-Even if everyone else eventually leaves, you’ll stay by my side.

It was a time I had lost.

At the same time, it was a memory of a girl I could never meet again.

I bit my lip hard.

The hallucination lingered softly around my ear.

‘First love, huh?’

I gave a bitter smile.

It felt fragile, like it would break any moment, but I didn’t want to worry Lucy.

Thankfully, Lucy still hadn’t recovered from the shock.

Was the realization of his own feelings really that surprising?

I carefully raised my hand. And then, smoothing his blonde hair scattered by the spring breeze, I opened my lips.

“Whoever it is, they must be blessed.”

“Uh, er… huh?”

“I’m talking about the person Your Highness holds affection for. There is nothing more thrilling than being loved by a beautiful person.”

“Ah, beautiful…? M-me…?”

“Of course.”

I answered without a moment’s hesitation.

Lucy was one of the most beautiful women in the entire empire, after all.

It wasn’t just because I was blinded by my loyalty to my lord; objectively speaking, she was beautiful.

“O-oh, uh…”

As if embarrassed by the compliment, Lucy’s face flushed even more.

“So, in Raiden’s eyes… I-I’m attractive…?”

“That is correct.”

“Hehe…”

Suddenly, Lucy let out a silly little laugh.

I wondered why she was suddenly acting like that, but I just brushed it off.

People experiencing their first love sometimes show incomprehensible behavior, or so they say. It seemed best to just pretend I didn’t see anything in these kinds of situations.

“Anyway… congratulations again, Your Highness.”

A gentle ripple spread through my heart.

A quiet confusion had found me, but I forcibly ignored it and raised my head.

“I hope you cherish those feelings.”

Even though it wasn’t me, I hoped your first love would leave only happy memories.

I hoped it would remain a memory you could look back on with a smile.

That was all I wished for.

I hoped your first love wouldn’t be painful.

Perhaps I was hoping to see, through you, something I could not achieve myself.

*

And so, their short conversation ended, and the two parted ways.

Lucy was walking down the hallway, her back turned.

Unlike her usual composed and elegant demeanor, her steps, somewhat disarrayed, landed on the floor.

The girl’s ears were still tinged red.

Had they actually been colored?

Her original fair skin was nowhere to be seen.

Pushing back the heart that refused to calm, Lucy moved her legs.

-Congratulations. It seems you’ve begun your first love.

If she breathed calmly, a sweet voice would whisper in her ear.

The girl unconsciously flinched her shoulder.

Thump-thump-thump…

Her heart was, without fail, rioting.

The pounding felt especially loud today, and she worried if her reverberations were spreading to her surroundings.

Even her breathing was unstable now.

She wanted to regain her composure quickly, but it wasn’t something she could control.

-There is nothing as heart-racing as receiving affection from a beautiful other, you know.

-Please, cherish that feeling.

Following, word after word that painted her mind white.

The emotion of ‘love’, which she was experiencing for the first time, caused an enormous aftershock.

‘I like Raiden…!’

She barely swallowed the exclamation that threatened to escape.

The girl, calming her feverishly hot body, looked back at herself.

First love.

It was a word she had never connected with.

Now that such a situation had crashed into her life, she didn’t know what to do.

She was just endlessly confused.

But, that too was love.

The girl was simply clumsy.

It was the first time she had such a deep longing for anyone.

‘Just when… did I start liking him?’

In truth, looking back, so much had happened.

She couldn’t pinpoint at what time, due to what trigger, or how she had fallen in love.

When assassins had attacked, he had appeared coolly and saved her.

He had even forgiven her for the times she had resented him without knowing anything.

On the days she felt weak, he had quietly stayed by her side.

Raiden had always remained the most trustworthy person closest to her.

“What do I do… I, I really think… I like Raiden…”

Lucy finally admitted it.

The trembling that stained her chest, it was truly affection for just one boy.

Once again, her face flushed with heat.

The girl suppressed the burning feeling with effort, plastering a calm expression over it.

But alas, her inner self was a mess.

‘Th-then… Wh-what should I do…? Should I just… marry Raiden…?!’

Before that, shouldn’t I confess first?

What if Raiden says no?

No, he said he’d stay by my side forever. And besides…

‘…He said I was beautiful, that I was attractive.’

Of course, she usually knew that her looks weren’t lacking anywhere.

But hearing those words from the one she loved, it was so incredibly embarrassing. And her heart was beating like crazy.

The girl let out a flustered breath.

It felt like a hazy fog was settling in her head.

‘Th-this much… doesn’t it mean that Raiden has already accepted my confession…?’

Where had her usual rational side vanished? Lucy was in a fluster.

Her face was flushed, like someone drunk.

The fresh, youthful air that resembled a cool spring breeze.

Even her platinum blonde hair, fluttering with the scattering flower petals.

Truly, such was a girl in love.

*

The sunlight that illuminated the world disappeared beyond the horizon, leaving only the faint starlight.

Time had become night.

People were finishing their days.

One by one, they lay down on their beds to shake off the accumulated fatigue.

The boy was no different.

The boy, comfortably dressed, was preparing for bed.

His distinctive black hair, like the night sky, still had a slight dampness from just washing it.

-Click, hissss…

The end of the stick in my mouth catches flame.

It was always a weed I told myself I’d quit, but on days like this, it was impossible to hold back.

“Haa…”

Smoke spills from between my lips.

The exhale, sticky and thick, carried the scent of decay.

The boy standing there, burning his cigarette for a long time, was none other than Raiden Lyscht. It was his own reflection in the window.

I flicked the stick I was smoking.

Dust falling into the ashtray.

Fragile and crumbling like those ashes, I was alone, precarious.

Sleep felt far away.

Even if I pulled the blanket over me now, I knew I’d only toss and turn until morning.

Was it because of what happened during the day?

A deep swell seemed to wash over me.

-There’s someone… When I think of them, my heart beats like it’s about to burst.

-Does Raiden know?

The girl’s voice, asking the question, still echoed in my ears.

I murmured quietly.

‘First love.’

A strangely new feeling.

So, the time had come for Lucy to experience her first love too.

As I tried to sort out the pointless tangle in my mind, a forgotten wound began to ache.

-You said that only you would stay by my side.

-You liar.

No… it was a lie, actually.

It was a wound I’d never forgotten, not for a single moment.

It was the most terrible regret and despair I had carried through my past life.

Just as everyone has a first time.

I had my first, too.

I could still picture it vividly if I closed my eyes.

Eyes that held a melancholic light, the always disheveled black hair, a clumsy smile.

“……Jihye noona.”

Lee Jihye.

The name of the girl I first held love for.

Maybe now too far gone, the age when I began my unrequited love. The memories of nineteen.

I slowly closed my eyelids.

In my mind, a faded tape was playing. A story from the old days.