WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Arsène

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◈ Spring Never Comes to Stolen Fields ◈

Chapter 38: Crime and Punishment

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On my way back to the Dormitory, I held my shirt closed with one hand in case anyone happened to see me in that disgraceful state.

Fortunately, perhaps because the sun had already set, there were hardly any people around, and I made it back without running into a single person.

But... why... why were you coming out of my room...?

Even if everyone at the academy had seen me like this, the one person who absolutely shouldn't have seen my disheveled clothes had seen them.

Luna slowly approached me.

Could time really move this slowly?

One step. Two steps. Luna slowly came closer.

Without saying a word, she stood in front of me and traced her finger across the center of my chest, where a little of my bare skin was showing.

Then she spoke.

"My eyes aren't playing tricks on me... are they?"

Luna's expression darkened.

She must have thought she'd seen something that wasn't there.

I could understand why. I would've thought the same.

This wasn't the aftermath of a battle. Someone had deliberately pulled my clothes open.

It wasn't easy for only the shirt underneath to be damaged while the jacket remained intact.

Honestly, I'd already given up.

Now that she'd seen me like this, my pathetic excuses would fall on deaf ears.

Punishment.

I had ignored her warning, so I couldn't escape punishment.

That's Luna for you.

Because Luna was blocking the way, I stood in the entryway without even taking off my shoes.

"...Why aren't you saying anything...?"

Luna muttered.

"What...?"

"Why aren't you saying anything?"

Usually, she barely listened when I tried to explain myself, so it was almost funny hearing her ask why I wasn't defending myself.

"If I tell you... will you believe me...?"

A trace of coldness crept into my voice.

"What...?"

Her eyes, turned blue by the ring, trembled as her anger overwhelmed her.

"Are you saying... I should stop caring... no matter what kind of state you go around in...?"

I could feel the air around Luna distorting.

The drop in temperature was probably her doing too.

"Sirius. Look at yourself."

She flung open the shirt I'd been trying so hard to hold closed.

My stomach was completely exposed.

"Can't you see... this...?"

She caressed the area below my navel.

A small scratch, as if someone had made it with a fingernail, had been left there without my noticing.

It had probably happened when I stopped Yuri earlier.

"Even after seeing this... you're still not going to tell me anything?"

Luna's face twisted.

She rubbed her face with both hands.

"...Who did this?"

"It wasn't like that."

"Who did this!"

She shouted at me.

I turned my head away and didn't answer.

The mark had been left because of Yuri's sudden behavior, but I also bore some responsibility for what had led to it, so I didn't want to tell Luna.

"Was it that Hero bitch?"

Luna turned her head toward the wall beside Celia's room.

"I haven't even seen Celia today."

"Then was it Raven? That quiet-looking woman from your Party?"

"I told you it wasn't!"

I couldn't stand her relentless questioning and raised my voice.

I wasn't one to shout at Luna, but I'd already spent far too much energy during the day.

The accumulated fatigue made her nagging unbearable.

Luna stopped pressing me for a moment after I shouted.

Then guilt suddenly washed over me.

I was the one at fault, yet I had snapped at her instead.

"...Why won't you tell me...?"

Luna bit down hard on her lip.

"...Sirius. I hate it."

"Huh?"

"I hate it. I hate that you keep things from me."

Luna buried her face in my chest.

"I hate that you go somewhere, get scratched up by some mystery bitch, and come back like this."

She touched my wound.

"I hate it. I hate it so much, Sirius."

Her voice grew thick with tears.

"Ever since I came to the human realm, I haven't had a single moment of peace."

Luna looked into my eyes.

"Sirius. I don't know how you feel, but under this blue sky, I'm living in hell."

"The Demon World was a land where not even a blade of grass grew, but I was happier there with just you."

"Even back in the Demon World, I couldn't sleep for days and nights from anxiety at the thought of you meeting the Hero, that girl."

Tears flowed from Luna's eyes.

A dull ache spread through one corner of my heart.

Every word Luna spoke stabbed into my chest.

"So... don't hide things from me... don't distance yourself from me... Sirius..."

Luna took hold of my fingertips with her trembling hand.

I could feel her indescribable anxiety and desperation through my fingertips.

Without saying anything, I pulled her into my arms.

"...Sirius..."

"Yeah, Luna."

"Now tell me who did this."

She pulled away from my embrace and looked at me.

Ah... but even this...

"I'm sorry, Luna. I can't tell you."

Luna removed my arm from around her shoulders and lowered her head.

After turning her back and taking about three steps away, she spoke.

"...If you can't tell me, even to the very end... that means you'll accept the punishment that comes with it too, right, Sirius?"

Her voice still carried traces of tears, but it had turned sharp.

If that's what you want...

I'd gladly accept it.

My master.

* * *

The more I saw of Arin, the cuter she was.

Of course, she might have been treating me especially sweetly because I'm the Hero, but even taking that into account, I still thought she was adorable.

Today, I visited Arin's Magic Tower.

When I was living in the capital of the Empire, I'd often been amazed by the size of the Magic Tower whenever I passed by it, but I'd never imagined that Arin was the Tower Master's daughter.

The magic she showed us in one of the practice rooms inside the tower was truly incredible.

To have achieved so much at her age... I even thought recruiting her to my Party might be a good idea.

I had never seen Sirius use magic himself, but if he was, almost certainly, Yuwol, then I thought it would be difficult for him to surpass Arin.

After touring the Magic Tower with Arin, our Party went to the most popular restaurant in the capital and ordered all sorts of dishes.

Of course, Arin paid for everything.

She was adorable as she thumped her chest and insisted on paying because she had brought us there.

Seeing someone with such a small frame make such a grand gesture only made her even cuter.

After returning to the academy, I took a shower as usual, then sat on the sofa and gazed at the dark night sky.

Perhaps because the weather was so clear, the sky was covered with stars that looked ready to pour down upon us.

I stood up, opened the window, and went out onto the terrace.

The terrace.

Whenever I came out here, I carried a certain expectation with me.

I'd already been lucky enough to talk with Sirius several times.

So whenever I was alone in the evening, I found myself going outside about once every two hours.

Maybe I'd run into him.

Maybe I could say one more word to him.

Yesterday's events suddenly came back to me.

He had said he couldn't be with me because he needed to stay by Luna's side.

The more I thought about it, the more infuriating it became.

If that was how he felt, I didn't understand why he was wasting a spot in Class 1 by staying here. He could at least give someone else a chance.

Still, the thought of him distancing himself from me was even worse.

I had to get closer to Sirius somehow and make him confess that he really was Yuwol.

The moment he admitted it, I was ready to give him everything.

My status as the Hero. Every benefit I'd received and would receive, I'd share with Yuwol.

Then we could slowly rebuild our happy everyday life.

While I was picturing that hopeful future, I heard the sound of a window opening from Sirius's room.

Hoping I might be able to talk with him again today, I leaned toward his room.

But the voice I heard wasn't his languid one, the voice I liked so much.

"Please... please let me lick it. Please..."

It was Sirius's voice, desperately begging to be allowed to lick something.

He sounded like he was in terrible pain.

"Do you want to eat?"

A sharp, husky voice.

I knew who it belonged to.

Luna Iaros.

It was the voice of the thief bitch who had stolen my Yuwol from me.

Just knowing that the two of them were inside Sirius's room at such a late hour made my insides burn.

"I... I was wrong... Lady Luna... please have mercy..."

From what I could hear, Sirius seemed to have done something wrong to her, though I couldn't tell what.

His voice already sounded like he wasn't in his right mind.

It was the voice of someone who had been driven insane by torture or abuse.

"Then you need to show some sincerity."

After that, they were silent for a while.

I pressed my ear against the wall and focused on every sound they made.

"Ah... ahh... ah..."

Luna's moans drifted faintly through the wall.

Despite how soft the sounds were, I could feel my heart beating faster and faster.

That bitch... what was she making my Yuwol do...?

Yuwol was all I had left in this world.

He was my entire world.

It was hard to hold on to my reason.

I wanted to smash through the wall and storm into the room next door right away.

"Sirius. How does my toe taste? Ah... haa..."

But Sirius's reply made my heart crumble.

"It's so delicious. It's so delicious, Lady Luna."

My legs gave out.

I forgot they might notice me in the next room and dropped to my knees right there.

Ah... Yuwol... what am I supposed to do...?

Footnotes:

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