“Gasp!”
On his first day back in Root, Reinhild came out of the room and freaked out when he saw the Hero’s sword hanging brazenly on the living-room wall.
Wait. Is it okay for the me-who-lost-his-memory to recognize the Hero’s sword?
It didn’t seem okay.
Reinhild very unnaturally turned his head and played dumb.
“Uh, waah… it smells delicious.”
Pretending he hadn’t seen anything and didn’t know anything, Reinhild dashed to the dining table where the meal was set.
It was also odd for a Demon King who’d supposedly woken up here with no memories to run straight to the exact spot of the table, but his heart was pounding so hard he had no time to worry about that.
Of course, it wasn’t that he was startled.
A Demon King does not get startled at the sight of the Hero’s sword that once pierced his heart.
It was just… just that it briefly caught his attention, that’s all.
But wasn’t that sword originally stained with blood?
He snuck a glance at Xion but couldn’t bring himself to ask.
Sensing his gaze, Xion would look at him any second, so Reinhild quickly turned his head away first.
Ack!
Where he turned his head, his eyes met the basement door that was wide open.
That had definitely been hidden under a carpet. How could Xion make a mistake like this!
To give Xion time to notice and close it, Reinhild did his utmost to pretend he hadn’t seen a thing.
“Rein, how’s the meal?”
“It’s good.”
Reinhild stole a glance at Xion, then quickly ducked his head again.
Why isn’t he noticing the basement door is open!
Xion, feigning indifference, watched Reinhild sneaking looks toward the basement with a pleased smile.
The basement and the storeroom had long since been filled up with firewood and provisions.
There was nothing there that would arouse Reinhild’s suspicion.
Now that he’d seen there was nothing suspicious about the door to the basement, Reinhild’s curiosity wouldn’t last long.
Just as Ainel advised, it was a good thing to have everything out in the open from the start.
“Rein.”
“Mm-hm.”
After the meal, as Reinhild was about to go sit by the window, Xion called him.
Reinhild hesitated, gauging Xion’s mood.
Is it okay if I go to Xion?
At this point Reinhild wondered whether it would be all right to run to Xion. Whether, if he did, he could throw himself into Xion’s open arms.
To Xion’s eyes, such Reinhild only looked wary of him.
Seeing Xion’s face fall, Reinhild finally approached him slowly.
“Do you like hot cocoa?”
“I do!”
With a smile, Xion held out cocoa he’d prepared in advance.
So going to Xion had indeed been the right choice.
Thanks to that, Xion was happy and Reinhild got cocoa.
If he kept this kind of distance, Reinhild felt he could get through his hardships and trials while pretending to have lost his memories.
❖ ❖ ❖
A few days later. Reinhild’s clumsy act was completely found out by Xion.
Reinhild, oblivious to the fact his lie had been exposed, was simply thrilled for his first outing with Xion since returning to Root.
It’s a date with Xion!
Humans who consider each other special give the name “date” to the act of going out together.
Reinhild wasn’t human, but since he thought of Xion as special and was weathering hardship and adversity just fine, there shouldn’t be any problem with calling today’s outing a date.
Still, I shouldn’t say “date” to Xion. It’d be weird for the me-who-lost-his-memory to remember a word I read in a book.
Needing to act like he had amnesia, Reinhild kept his delight to himself and left the house with Xion.
…Huh?
Reinhild was struck speechless by Root’s scenery after so long.
It wasn’t because a deeper-than-expected snowfall had turned the whole village white.
It was because there was, quite literally, nothing in front of his eyes but snow.
What is this!
Where did the houses go? The fields? The humans?
Unable to hide his bewilderment, Reinhild gaped and looked all around.
There was truly… nothing here.
Nothing.
“Are there… no other humans here?”
“The only ones who live here are just the two of us.”
“But humans are supposed to live all huddled together…”
Reinhild wasn’t such a foolish Demon King that he couldn’t realize Xion was the one who’d changed the village like this.
He didn’t know the reason, but this, too, must have been a choice for Reinhild’s sake.
He had no idea how or in what way it was for his sake, but in any case it was definitely for him.
Is Xion okay?
Reinhild furtively watched Xion.
He’d heard it was a racial trait for humans to live in crowds. He worried about Xion living in a way exactly opposite to that trait.
Xion mustn’t get lonely.
However, Xion interpreted that look, he said something beside the point.
“Other villages are far away, and there are no horses here, so it’s hard to go find other people. There are lots of monsters around here too, so leaving the village is dangerous.”
Roooaar.
In the distance came the cry of an owlbear.
“?”
Reinhild was flustered.
No, this went beyond flustered; he couldn’t begin to guess what reaction would let him keep up his amnesia act.
Why are owlbears here?
A Root Village where the humans who should be here were gone and owlbears that hadn’t been here had appeared.
He wanted to cling to Xion and pepper him with questions, but since he had to act amnesiac, he couldn’t ask.
How frustrating!
Reinhild felt so frustrated he wanted to thump his chest.
But if he showed something like that, his lack of memory would be exposed, so he could only stew in frustration inside.
The frustration continued after that.
His lip had swollen up from some bug bite, but he couldn’t even ask, “There weren’t bugs in this house before… what happened?”
When Xion kissed him, he couldn’t decide whether he should act wary or just close his eyes and stay still.
How long am I supposed to keep pretending to have lost my memories?
He’d forgotten to ask the human with dragon’s blood.
And it wasn’t something he could ask Xion.
Anxious, Reinhild finished breakfast and sat by the window.
Should I confess first that I’ve been deceiving Xion?
Reinhild couldn’t stand living like this any longer.
He figured he should ask Xion to bring him some human books and look for a method there.
But perhaps his desire to sleep came before his will to fix the situation; bathed in warm sunlight, Reinhild couldn’t resist nodding off.
When Xion came over, he even clung to him, forgetting the keeping of distance demanded by his amnesia act.
What followed was exactly the situation from just before.
“How long were you planning to keep pretending you’d lost your memories?”
Hardship and adversity.
Reinhild felt the weight of those two words with his whole body and was appalled.
He started in shock and tried to run, but being held by Xion, he couldn’t even do that.
“I… I…”
Just as Ainel had predicted.
He had tried so hard not to let Xion discover the lie, but in only a week everything had been exposed.
Watching Xion’s face every moment, unable even to look him properly in the eye, answering curtly when spoken to… all that effort had come to nothing.
“Are you… mad?”
Reinhild snuck a glance at Xion, testing the waters.
No matter how much it was Xion, no one would feel good about being deceived.
What if Xion is offended?
Tilting his head, Reinhild watched Xion’s expression.
Xion watched him for a moment—then pulled Reinhild into a tight embrace.
“Whoa!”
When Xion moved while holding him up, Reinhild suddenly felt as if he’d drop to the floor and was scared stiff.
His back was only about five handspans from the ground, but fear is fear.
Of course, a Demon King does not feel fear merely from being suspended a little in midair.
This is… merely a continuation of the “amnesiac Demon King” act.
If asked what connection those two had, Reinhild wouldn’t have had much to say—but anyway, that’s that.
“…Xion?”
Clutching Xion tightly, Reinhild noticed Xion’s reaction was a bit different from what he’d imagined.
Xion wasn’t angry, nor did he look displeased.
Instead, he buried his head against Reinhild’s chest and murmured.
“Rein.”
“Mm.”
“My Rein…”
Xion’s body was trembling, ever so slightly.
Even though he’d thought that Reinhild would not have come back pretending amnesia for a bad reason, he’d still been afraid until he heard it for himself.
Afraid that Reinhild might resent him.
Afraid that, even though he’d returned here because he had nowhere else to go, he’d faked amnesia because he hated Xion.
But that wasn’t it.
Even knowing everything, Reinhild had chosen him.
Xion couldn’t hide the swell of emotion at that fact.
“Thank you for coming back to me, Rein.”
Only then did Xion lift his head and smile at Reinhild.
It was a smile tinged with a little sadness, some mix of sorrow and relief.
So he wasn’t disappointed because I deceived him. Thank goodness.
When Xion smiled, Reinhild finally relaxed and smiled back.
“Thank you for waiting.”
Five hundred years.
After a long, long time… Having overcome every manner of hardship and adversity, Reinhild returned with his memories intact.
Into Xion’s arms.
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