WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Arsène

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◈ Spring Never Comes to Stolen Fields ◈

Chapter 14: Neighbor

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No matter how I looked at it, Celia seemed to have been waiting for us here.

And she did not seem particularly interested in hiding it from us, either.

"It’s nice to see you again, Hero. I behaved rudely this afternoon as well. My apologies. I’ll be going now."

As if Celia were not even worth acknowledging, Luna ignored her and tried to pull me past by the wrist.

Luna passed Celia, and just as I was about to be dragged past her as well...

Huh...?

Whatever trick Celia had pulled, Luna’s grip on my wrist suddenly slipped loose.

Caught off guard, Luna and I both lost our balance. I lurched backward while Luna was thrown forward.

I should have fallen, but for some reason, I did not.

Luna staggered for a moment before recovering her balance and whirling around.

And I... had ended up in an awkward position, supported from behind by Celia.

That much was understandable.

But Celia’s arms were wrapped around my waist as though she were hugging me from behind.

Celia was behind me, so she probably could not see Luna’s face.

But I could see it clearly, and my mouth went dry.

No... Luna... Hold it in...

You have to hold it in...

I did not want our precious home for the next year to be destroyed before we had even opened the door.

And Hero... thank you for catching me, but... shouldn’t you let go now...? Why aren’t you letting go...?

Unable to stay quiet, I acted first.

"Thank you for catching me, Hero. I should be going now."

I freed myself from her hands and turned around.

Celia stared blankly at me with unfocused eyes, then apologized to us.

"No, I’m sorry. It seems you lost your footing. You should have been more careful~"

Wow. That had been completely deliberate.

And Celia’s expression did not look apologetic in the slightest.

Instead, she wore the smile of a victor. Wishing us a good night, she slipped into her room with an expression that said she had done enough for today.

Luna and I were left in the hallway.

"...Um... should we go in too...?"

Luna, who had not said a word, walked over and looked me in the eyes.

"It seems our butler needs some etiquette lessons."

"Ugh."

Luna drove her fist hard into my stomach.

That feeling. It was exactly like when Yan had trained me in close combat and beaten me up every day.

Wow... It’s been a while. I don’t miss this at all, though.

Rubbing my sore stomach, I complained about the pain.

Luna told me not to exaggerate and dragged me into her room.

Both Luna’s room and mine were quite spacious for single dorm rooms.

The layout was neat. The kitchen and living room were connected, with a bedroom further inside and one bathroom.

Luna dumped her luggage in the middle of the living room.

No... organizing all this was going to take the entire day.

"Come on, Sirius. Since you’re my butler, help me organize!"

The words ‘Why me?’ hovered on my lips, but there was no need to provoke Luna when Celia’s embrace from behind had already made her as sensitive as she could be.

"Yes, ma’am..."

I felt like a pitiful butler who had surrendered to an arrogant villainess.

Though, now that I thought about it, becoming a butler was a massive promotion compared to being a slave in a master-and-slave relationship.

Luna had bought so many clothes that there were plenty I could not even identify.

As I hung each piece up and put it into the wardrobe, one item caught my eye.

Oh-ho... What is this...!

I deliberately cleared my throat at Luna, who was diligently sorting things beside me.

"Ahem... ahem!"

Luna raised her head and looked at me.

"What? Is something wrong?"

"Well... my lady..."

At being called my lady, Luna narrowed her eyes.

Her expression said, What are you trying to pull now?

"I happened to find something rather... suspicious while organizing..."

"Something suspicious?"

She tilted her head.

"What is it? Let me see."

"Well, you see~"

From the hand I had kept behind my back, I pulled out a black lace undergarment that looked incredibly risqué.

Bringing something so wicked into the dormitory. She was quite the incorrigible young lady.

The moment Luna saw it, she rushed toward me from where she had been sitting in the living room.

"Hey!!!"

When I took a small step back to avoid her, she glared at me with a flushed face.

"...Hand it over while I’m asking nicely..."

"When exactly were you planning to wear this, my lady?"

I lowered my voice and spoke like a stern butler.

"Were you planning to wear something like this to meet some strange man?!"

Without a word, she punched the same spot on my stomach with all her strength.

Come on... You’re hitting the same place again...?

"Honestly... you’re asking for a beating..."

Clicking her tongue, Luna took the underwear somewhere into the bedroom.

I figured that since I had already been hit once, I might as well say one more thing.

"This butler cannot allow my lady to wear such naughty underwearrr."

Perhaps my nonsense while clutching my aching stomach was funny, because Luna burst into laughter.

She quietly came over and sat beside me, placing a hand on my thigh.

Her eyes curved like crescents.

"My butler~ Where would I ever wear something like that~?"

This sudden change in attitude left me unable to react.

She wrapped an arm around my neck and lightly licked my ear.

Her hot breath teased my ear.

"Eek... I’m sorry..."

A strange sound escaped me when the air touched my sensitized ear, and I ended up apologizing.

"As for where I’ll wear it... I’ll leave that to my butler’s imagination."

Luna whispered in a sultry voice, then resumed organizing as if nothing had happened.

I had tried to tease her, only to get more than I bargained for and ended up with a red face.

My lady really does play with a man’s heart so easily.

Once Luna’s room was more or less organized, I entered the neighboring Room 604.

I liked how it was empty except for the basic furniture.

Then I carefully organized my own belongings one by one.

All I had were a few academy uniforms and several pairs of underwear.

My luggage could not compare to Luna’s at all.

As I was about to change into something comfortable, I found the note I had received before leaving in my pocket.

[I will be watching.]

Such a short message, yet it carried enough pressure to make me smile bitterly.

Having finished unpacking in less than thirty minutes, I stepped out onto the terrace.

Come to think of it, there had not been a terrace even when I lived with Master. I really had moved up in the world.

A pleasantly cool breeze brushed past my cheek.

The lush forest viewed from the top floor had its own charm.

Seeing a green forest instead of the desolate land of the Demon World reminded me of the days when I lived in the Human World.

The academy had been built in luxurious surroundings, but at this moment, it did not feel much different from Homeron.

"This takes me back..."

Leaning against the railing, I looked down.

I had been quietly lost in thought, enjoying some time to myself for the first time in a while, when I heard a voice beside me.

"What were things like back then?"

Whoa, that scared me.

Turning toward the voice, I saw Celia peeking out at me from the terrace across from mine, only her head visible.

With her blonde hair spilling down as she looked at me, illuminated by moonlight, she seemed almost otherworldly.

She grew up well... Really well...

When I said nothing and only stared in surprise, Celia seemed embarrassed and continued.

"Don’t look at me like that. I only came out because I wanted to get some fresh air too."

Honestly, after the way she had seemed to wait for us in the hallway, I had wondered if she had been waiting for me to come out onto the terrace as well. Her words secretly reassured me.

Surely she would not go that far.

"Thank you for earlier, Hero."

Come to think of it, she had caught me when I was about to fall.

Of course, she had probably been the one trying to make me fall in the first place, but I had nothing else to say, so I thanked her.

Celia smiled.

"No... I should be the one apologizing... You were put in quite an awkward position this afternoon, weren’t you...?"

Celia spoke to me gently.

Had her suspicions about me been cleared? Yet seeing that she had applied for a room here, perhaps she still suspected me.

"Not at all. I believe it’s quite possible to run into someone who looks like another person at any time."

"That is true. Sirius, you really do look so much like the person I’ve been searching for..."

She stared intently at my face.

Unable to bear her gaze, I looked back toward the forest and continued.

"Ahem... May I ask what kind of relationship you had with the person who looks like me...?"

Celia rested her chin on the railing for a moment, as though considering the question.

"That person is... my... everything... No, to be exact, he is everything I have left..."

Even as she spoke, she looked as though her heart hurt, and she gazed into the distance for a while.

Someone else would not have understood her words at all.

But I, the person involved, understood and felt her pain more than anyone.

Because I was the same...

Because I had come all this way from that burning village of Homeron... with my eyes fixed solely on you...

For a while, we stood in silence and looked at the same moon.

I did not know what memories Celia was tracing back through, but she was probably thinking of the days of our childhood, just as I was.

Celia was the first to break the silence.

"...Sirius. Let’s get along. The two of us."

Her voice sounded as though she might burst into tears at any moment.

With those words, Celia returned to her room.

Left alone, I looked once more at the brilliantly shining moon.

"Let’s get along. The two of us."

With that murmured to myself, a single tear traced down my face.

Footnotes:

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