WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Arsène

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Spring Never Comes to Stolen Fields ◈

Chapter 31: Come to Me.

──────

"Because I don't care about a guy like Yuwol."

Ha... A hollow laugh escaped me.

You didn't care.

I'd endured hellish training at the bottom of the Demon World, all for you alone, and you said you didn't care.

It felt like something inside me had broken.

Right. So that was how it was.

I didn't refuse her invitation.

That was how I entered Celia's room for the first time.

Celia told me to wait and went into the bathroom.

Her room had the same layout as mine.

Anyone could tell it was the room of a modest young lady.

Her uniform was neatly hung on a hanger, and the fruit she had given me sat on the table.

I rose from the sofa and walked toward the window.

Then I opened it and stepped out onto the terrace.

The night breeze tickled my nose.

Leaning over the railing, I looked across at the terrace outside my own room.

I suddenly remembered the day she had appeared in pajamas and acted as if she were about to fall.

Celia had cried out Yuwol's name through the window in a desperate voice.

I was sure she had gone through a change of heart too.

But if that meant she had decided to forget Yuwol and spend her days beckoning another man like Sirius instead...

I didn't know.

Still, I knew what was filling me now.

Anger.

Anger toward you, Celia, for trying to treat Yuwol like someone who had never existed.

Even as I felt the rage boiling inside me, I couldn't believe myself.

You were the one who had recognized me at a glance, yet I was the one who told you to pretend not to know me. And I was also the one getting angry because you said you'd forgotten me.

I was the one who broke our promise first by making love with Luna, yet I was angry that you were making advances toward Sirius, another version of me.

Even I thought I was really...

The worst kind of man.

Thinking that way made me regret rushing into this room in anger.

What right did I have to get mad at you for trying to meet someone else?

Even so... Even so...

Couldn't you at least carry with you the fact that your first love had been me?

That the happiest memory of your life had been in that village?

Couldn't you hold on to at least that much?

I didn't know when I would be able to stand before you again as Yuwol.

Still, wasn't it too cruel for Yuwol to have that name abandoned by you too, when even I had cast it aside?

The thought of being forgotten by her made my chest ache.

Then the source of the pain in my heart emerged from the bathroom, wearing nothing but a robe.

Water dripped from Celia's still-wet golden hair.

I was sitting on the sofa waiting for her when her voice made me look up.

"Sirius."

She approached me with a provocative bearing.

The robe did nothing to hide the curves of her body, and I had no choice but to swallow.

Ha... You really did grow up well, Celia.

"Yes."

"What do you think of me?"

I'd spent all day asking Yuri that question, so having it turned back on me felt strange.

"I think you're the Hero who will defeat the Demon King."

It was the most neutral answer possible, with no personal feelings mixed in.

Honestly, I didn't fully understand my own feelings right now either.

"As a woman?"

"Pardon?"

"How do you see me as a woman?"

She perched right beside me on the sofa, looked me straight in the eyes, and asked.

Celia, I didn't remember you being this bold when we were together.

It seemed becoming the Hero had given her a lot of courage.

"I think you're attractive."

I avoided Celia's gaze and looked out the window.

It wasn't a lie.

The robe couldn't hide the body she had built through training.

Honestly, any man our age would have to admit that Celia was beautiful.

When I didn't look at her, she suddenly rose from her seat.

Then she sat on my lap, facing me.

"You wouldn't look at me, Sirius, so I changed places."

My gaze had nowhere else to go. I could only look at her face.

Maybe because she had just bathed, her damp hair and slightly flushed cheeks gleamed in the moonlight.

"Will you look at me now?"

She laced her fingers behind my neck and pulled me forward.

Her skin carried a sharp, sweet scent of apples.

At any other time, I might have blushed and let myself get swept up in the mood, but...

"Do you... act like this with just any man, Hero?"

The thoughts I'd had before she came out suddenly flashed through my mind.

Her eyes trembled, as though she hadn't expected that question.

"Sirius. What do you mean...?"

She looked at me as though I had said something unforgivable, so I told her exactly what I thought again.

"Do you treat every man this affectionately, Hero?"

She released her hands from around my neck, got up, and backed away. One step. Then two.

"...It's not like that."

"Then what is it?"

My reply was cold.

"Is it natural to bring a man you've barely met into your room as if you're trying to seduce him?"

Her hands shook as though my words had shocked her.

The moment I saw her like that, the anger that had risen earlier began pouring out again.

"Or does any man who looks like that man, Yuwol, or whatever his name was, work for you? Was it that kind of shallow love, where you liked him just for his face?"

Celia shook her head and muttered.

"No... Never... It wasn't like that... I wasn't trying to..."

"You said you didn't care about him! About someone like him!"

I shouted at her, unlike myself.

I couldn't remember raising my voice like that more than a few times in my life, so even I was startled after I shouted.

Wondering if I had gone too far, I came to my senses and looked at Celia's face.

Tears welled in her blue eyes.

One tear rolled down her cheek.

Then she spoke.

"You know it wasn't like that, Yuwol."

Ah.

That name truly was magic to me.

The moment Celia called my name with that expression, in that voice,

I couldn't think of anything.

My resolve to pretend I didn't know her, and the anxiety I'd felt that she might flirt with any man at all.

It all melted away as if nothing had happened.

Just as she had as a child, she wiped away her flowing tears with both hands.

Without saying a word, I stood and walked toward her.

"I'm sorry. I was too harsh."

I stopped myself from pulling her into an embrace and patted her back instead.

Right. This was the right distance between us.

"Can't you... hug me?"

Celia asked with tearful eyes.

"I'm sorry... for calling you Yuwol. But... could you just hug me once...?"

Celia really knew everything...

She knew that I was Yuwol and that I wanted to hide it. She understood it all.

I nodded and drew her into my arms.

Her voice was choked as she spoke from within my embrace.

"That thing I said earlier... It was a lie..."

I felt my chest growing wet with her tears.

"Saying I didn't care was all a lie. But I miss him so, so much... and I can't see him... So I think I keep taking it out on Sirius..."

What kind of feelings was she carrying as she said this to me?

"I know. I know Sirius isn't him. I know that very well, but..."

"If Yuwol were by my side, he would probably hold me like this. With the same expression Sirius has on his face right now."

Honestly, I had no idea what expression I was making, so I couldn't imagine it.

"I decided to give up on Yuwol."

My heart suddenly sank.

The very thing I had feared most had poured from her lips.

Then came her next words.

"Instead, I'm going to love you. Sirius."

What?

"I can't be a replacement for him, Hero."

I stroked her hair as I answered.

"I understand that seeing me makes you think of him, Hero, but if it leads to something like this... he probably wouldn't want it either."

Yes. As the person in question, I strongly objected.

Even if Sirius and Yuwol were the same person, I didn't want Celia to love me with that mindset.

"Sirius, I've already lost someone I loved once. My parents also died long ago at the hands of demons."

The words, “They weren’t demons,” rose to the tip of my throat.

But it wasn't time to reveal that yet.

And even if I told her, there was no guarantee Celia would believe me.

"So this time, I'm going to protect you. Sirius, because you're the second person fate has brought into my life."

She pulled away from my arms and looked at me.

"Back then, I was too weak. I was too pathetic, so I couldn't do anything and had everything taken from me. But now, it's different."

She rose slightly onto her toes to meet my eyes.

"Come to me, Sirius."

Her lips met mine.

She smelled like apples.

Footnotes:

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried