The Knight of Clingy Young Ladies

015.

It has been nine years since I contracted the disease. Seven years since I’ve been confined to this room.

How much I despised that accursed illness that was slowly consuming me.

There were many times when I simply wished not to wake up in the morning.

The hunger that magic tools could satiate provided only nutrients to my body, and it had been a long time since any flavor touched my tongue.

The pain near my heart kept me sleepless at night.

What I struggled with the most was the loneliness.

Though there are no longer any of the friends I once had, I still remember the letters we exchanged.

Complaints about the various educational pursuits they embarked on reached me through those letters.

Eliana was nothing but envious.

They had too many expectations of her.

Learning this and that, here and there.

The complaints about having no personal time in life made her envious without end.

Because she wanted that kind of life too.

No matter how bothersome or difficult, she wished for someone to depend on her, to care for her, to love her.

She wanted to live an ordinary life, just like others.

Whenever she thought about it, all she could see was the unchanged garden and room scenery that had been the same for years.

Eliana was suffocating in the familiar grip that tightened around her with every passing day.

When she heard the news that everyone around her had died due to some sort of disease outbreak, she thought she might go insane.

The more that happened, the more she craved love.

She missed the faces of her father and mother.

She missed the conversations she had with her siblings.

Am I still Eliana Lakatus?

Being confined in this room, of no help to anyone, rather becoming a burden to my family, was like a ticking time bomb ready to explode at any moment.

At least, looking at the brooch her mother had given her long ago and then turning to look out the window was some small comfort.

Because it was the last line that reminded her she was still Eliana Lakatus.

—

Hello.

Changes came on an unexpected day.

A voice she had never heard before.

A figure she had never seen before.

At first, she thought it was Emma.

After all, Emma, who didn’t possess any mana, was the only one who could endure being by her side for almost fifteen minutes.

Even Emma didn’t venture closer than the desk beside the bed.

But what was this?

A voice close enough for Eliana to recognize the condition of her own ears.

She knew very well that for the voice to sound so loud, the person had to be right beside her.

One day, a boy casually approached her side.

It was as if his calm voice didn’t feel the accursed disease at all, devoid of any trace of the agonized cries of people that tormented her.

This was a mixture of fear and curiosity.

The boy willingly became her conversational companion.

Even when she pushed him away, fearing attachment, he dismissed it easily.

Claiming to be her guardian, the boy visited every single day without fail.

The time spent together only grew longer each day.

The boy’s name was Kalen.

—

Kalen, not exactly a gifted speaker, worked to find topics of interest, and it was quite amusing to watch him.

Before long, she found herself reminiscing about old stories brought up by Kalen’s random topics.

Had so many things happened back then?

It seemed like she forgot everything after contracting the disease.

Eliana didn’t notice that she kept repeating the same stories.

From dawn to dusk, Kalen silently listened beside her.

It was such a comforting feeling.

Conversations usually initiated by Kalen eventually turned into ones that she started first.

She didn’t know Kalen noticed, but she wondered what her increasingly personal interests and fascinations were about.

She didn’t know when her body began to face the window.

I wish Kalen would listen to me.

I wish Kalen wouldn’t leave my side.

I wish I could spend the whole day on eye level with Kalen.

—

These thoughts circled her mind.

Over time, these circling thoughts grew louder.

The seven days spent with Kalen felt like hundreds, thousands of times more meaningful than the seven years confined in the room.

The love Eliana had longed for was filling her heart in a different way.

She knew she was being selfish.

Eliana Lakatus shouldn’t be selfish.

Though she had missed out on so many things,

she didn’t want to lose the boy standing before her.

It was the moment Eliana let go of her obsession with the Lakatus name.

And at the same time, something completely different began to fill her heart.

The wave that washed over her so suddenly was impossible to hold back.

The girl couldn’t control her emotions.

They say good things lead to more good things.

Finally, she received news that she could visit the Winter Island she had long awaited.

—

The vague thoughts she had while looking at Kalen delivering the news were…

Hmm, she didn’t quite understand them.

She was looking forward to the Winter Island.

Surprisingly, it wasn’t as joyous as she thought it would be.

It was somewhat comforting that her Father hadn’t forgotten about her.

Winter Island or whatever.

All Eliana could see in her hazy vision was the image of one boy.

What did his face look like?

What was it she felt when she touched around her left eye?

Why was he so kind to her?

The pile of questions grew as the carriage moved.

—

Not being able to talk to Kalen was far more suffocating than expected.

Her body always stayed close to the driver’s seat, and at night, she still attempted to reach eye level with Kalen.

If she had known she couldn’t talk to Kalen all day, perhaps she wouldn’t have gone to Winter Island.

Eliana spent an entire day pondering this question.

—

After about two weeks, her body started feeling strange.

Her hands and feet were cold, and the condition of her eyes and ears became worse.

More than anything, the unsettling feeling near her heart concerned her the most.

Eliana knew far too well what this all meant.

The worst memory from her incurable disease came to mind.

Thinking about that day still made her breathing quicken.

The first thing that came to her mind was Kalen.

What would happen to Kalen if the same happened?

Eliana almost spoke but decided against it.

Eliana Lakatus had to abandon her selfish thoughts, but ‘Eliana’ as herself dared to wish that Kalen would still be by her side in this terrifying illness.

When the feared moment arrived, Eliana immediately regretted it.

Recalling past events, the situation seemed even more severe now.

Because of her selfishness, Kalen was nearing death, yet her voice wouldn’t come out.

The words that escaped her mouth were not her true feelings but the screaming of her body.

She needed to tell Kalen to run away quickly, but she couldn’t.

‘I have been nothing but a burden, haven’t I?’

Still, it was fortunate.

Kalen was a smart man.

He would surely notice when the situation got strange and run away.

And the moment the pain suddenly lessened,

was when she found herself held in Kalen’s embrace.

—

*

The feeling was as if her brain was being turned upside down by the pain, yet she remembered everything.

How Kalen didn’t run away, but rather pulled her into his arms.

Even as she spouted meaningless words, he whispered hope to her.

Even as his body was marked by scars, and despite the blood and vomit she emitted, he stood by her without hesitation.

Amidst the terrible pain, one thing remained vivid:

Kalen stayed beside her to the very end.

Kalen surely remembered everything they had shared; otherwise, he wouldn’t have embraced her like that.

The governess, the head maid, the steward grandpa, the internal and external manager, the knight commander, her brothers and sisters, and her parents.

All of them had given up.

And in the world, there was only one person left.

Kalen remained beside her.

This person stayed by her side to the end, sacrificing so much for her.

Regret turned to hope, hope turned to longing, and longing turned back to dependence.

Even though Eliana was the one hurting Kalen, she wanted to be a little more selfish.

Would it be okay to lean on him just a little more?

He is, after all, my bodyguard.

He is smart, so if he feels unwell, he’ll surely keep his distance.

—

Eliana was smart too.

She knew those wounds would hurt, and even without the injuries, the sight of her own coughing up blood and vomiting would be enough for anyone to stay away.

As she had decided, Eliana chose to be selfish.

Kalen kept whispering hope, even amidst the chaos.

All she could hear amidst the chaos in her head was his whisper.

Despite the disease being much more painful than before,

for some reason, right now, she felt overwhelming peace.

The belief that Kalen would stay by her side.

The reality that it hurt less with Kalen beside her.

The girl’s world was completely filled with the boy.

—

How many days had passed like that?

—

Sigh.

Quietly, Eliana raised her body.

Sleep?

Sleep was more akin to a natural phenomenon.

She hadn’t fallen asleep amidst such severe pain before.

Only this was different.

Her body was refreshed, her mind was clear.

—

“…Not hurting.”

Quietly, Eliana muttered while touching her head.

Her head, which had been painfully pounding, was perfectly fine.

Almost like before she fell into the curse of this terrible illness.

Her head… was clear.

The sight before her eyes was precise and vivid.

Things that always seemed to flicker like shadows were now so clear.

It wasn’t inside the carriage anymore—it was the driver’s seat.

The blanket covering her body.

Horses that seemed to be sleeping, and a vast, open plain.

Eliana slowly tilted her head up to look at the sky.

The sun was stretching.

Eliana wasn’t foolish.

She knew precisely what this all meant.

From grand mages to some eccentric hermit doctor in the mountains,

it had been nine years since she contracted the cursed disease that everyone had given up on.

Eliana finally reclaimed her old world.

—

She could walk.

The first thing Eliana did upon realizing she was cured wasn’t filled with amazement.

“Kalen…”

She set out to find Kalen, who wasn’t in the carriage.

Based on the last memories before she fell asleep, Kalen had gone to wash the blanket.

Finding his location wasn’t difficult.

His trace was clear.

The smoke from the fire Kalen had lit was vividly visible.

Only her legs, unused to movement, didn’t obey her commands.

It was far different from the time when Kalen used magic to help her walk.

Even so, despite tripping and stumbling numerous times, Eliana managed to walk forward.

—

Crackling sounds…

She saw Kalen sitting with his back against the bonfire.

In the air, perhaps by magic, the blanket and Kalen’s clothes were drying.

The sound of the fire crackling brought a different kind of joy.

Eliana approached Kalen carefully.

Judging from his breathing, he seemed asleep.

Kalen, who had never left her side, probably decided to take care of the overdue chores once he saw she was fine.

Instilled by a sense beyond habit.

Eliana, quite naturally, headed towards Kalen to maintain eye level.

—

“…”

She grabbed Kalen’s face and looked at him for a long time.

Thump, thump.

The disease that once troubled her heart and mind had vanished completely.

But now, her heart was pounding more than it ever did during her illness.

What about her mind?

Far from being cramped, it felt both dizzy and swollen.

Careful not to wake him,

She gently traced his face with her fingertips.

Her eyes didn’t waver from Kalen’s face for a second.

“…This is how you look…”

When she was young, her mother once described what a prince should look like, but Eliana liked Kalen’s face much more than any imagined prince.

Eliana smiling with a faint blush was more beautiful than anything.

—

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