8. What have you done to my screw?
Arwin recognized me at once. My confidence that he would never recognize me felt pointless.
I wondered what I should do.
I bit my lower lip hard, becoming nervous for no reason. What would Arwin think of me, coming to the masquerade ball while playing hooky from maid work?
In the meantime, Arwin had come completely in front of me. Conclusion: it's impossible to run away now.
"Unexpected."
Arwin spoke in an indifferent voice as always. I suddenly recalled the word Dalton had said.
Unpredictability.
It was a profound word said to draw out the other person's affection. What kind of affection did Arwin feel from me?
I wished he felt affection for me, but for some reason, I had a premonition that it would end only as my wish. A very sad premonition.
Unable to hide my awkward smile, I answered him.
"I also never expected to meet the Marquis here."
"Dalton said so. That there would be something interesting if I came here."
Dalton. How did that jerk, who had been with me all day, contact Arwin?
"Did you meet him?"
"Mages are those who contact each other without meeting in person."
Because Dalton had acted so softly, I had overlooked that fact for a moment. Right, he was an Archmage.
The conversation didn't continue further. Arwin began to scan me thoroughly with his two eyes, the only parts revealed within the face covered by a mask.
I was curious how he would accept my appearance, dressed up like a noble young lady despite being a mere maid.
Would he think it ridiculous? The unpredictability Dalton spoke of might be felt as antipathy to Arwin.
Arwin, who had been silent for a long time, finally brought up a word.
"So it was you."
It seemed to mean that the 'interesting thing' Dalton spoke of was me.
"Are you going to scold me for coming to the ball?"
"Well. I don't particularly feel like doing so."
No trace of falsehood was felt in his words.
If it was the Arwin I knew, there was a high possibility he wouldn't scold me. Because he wasn't an active man.
I had never seen Arwin scold someone by raising his voice. No, I might not see it in my lifetime. Perhaps he doesn't even know the concept of scolding.
Like that, the conversation cut off again. Arwin pressed his red lips firmly together, and I bit my dried lips.
A sense of duty that I must say something arises. If I don't speak first, it seemed Arwin would leave my side. Since I am in the middle of a devoted unrequited love, I didn't want him to go elsewhere.
What conversation should we have? Then, I recalled the conversation I had with Dalton inside the carriage.
'Even after I die, will someone shed tears thinking of me?'
I became curious if Arwin had ever shed tears thinking of someone.
"Marquis, have you ever shed tears thinking of someone?"
Arwin answered calmly.
"No."
"Will there be such a time in the future?"
I thought there wouldn't be.
Arwin and tears. The two words truly didn't suit each other. The two words seemed like things that could never meet, like opposite poles of a magnet.
"Wouldn't there not be?"
"...."
As expected, my prediction wasn't wrong. There was not a shred of hesitation in his answer.
It is the moment my wish, hoping he would shed tears thinking of me, is brutally shattered. I felt my heart becoming desolate for no reason.
"What about you?"
"...I don't."
But won't I shed tears thinking of you often in the future? I couldn't say that much and looked at him.
As death approaches closer, my love reaching toward you will become special, and as the depth of that specialness deepens, I will become sad.
I might shed tears endlessly because unrequited love is sad.
Even Dalton, the Archmage, couldn't interfere with human life and death. There was absolutely no way for me, an ordinary human, to deal with life and death.
The only thing I could do was shed tears.
"Planning to cry again?"
Was I shedding tears again?
I swept the corners of my eyes as if checking my broken tear ducts. Fortunately, there was no sign of tears.
"No."
"...Okay."
I tried to continue the conversation, but no words came to mind. Not even a small topic came to mind. It felt as if I had lost all my thoughts.
It was then, when it seemed Arwin would disappear if things stayed like this.
"...I hurt my heart a long time ago."
Surprisingly, Arwin spoke first. Oh my god.
His voice was small, and the music flowing in the hall was loud. But strangely, I felt his voice seeping clearly into my ears.
I answered without delay.
"Your heart?"
Then I listened closely. Hoping his voice would reach me a little more clearly.
"Yeah. It wasn't life-threatening, but at that time, I lost a screw that could tighten and loosen the heart."
"So?"
Although I couldn't understand his words at all, I asked back as if I roughly understood. Because only then did it seem he would say the next words.
"When I was born, my heart was assembled tightly fitting together. But after losing one screw in that accident, one corner of the heart missing the screw stopped functioning properly."
"...."
"So I thought I had to find the lost screw. Because I wanted to be perfectly assembled again."
Arwin said he wanted to be perfectly assembled by finding the lost screw, but the him I saw was already perfect in itself. I couldn't imagine well where exactly wasn't functioning.
However, I nodded as if I understood. I wanted to converse with Arwin for a long time. Even if I didn't understand his words even a little.
"That screw. Did you find it?"
"Yeah."
"So were you perfectly assembled again?"
"No. Strangely, there was no effect. Whether it was too late, or I forcibly inserted a screw that didn't fit."
"So what happened?"
"For now, I kept it in my heart. Because I wanted to remain perfectly assembled on the surface."
"...."
"But these days, it's a bit strange. Because that screw is starting to fit little by little."
Having said that much, he looked down at me quietly. Unbelievably, a small gleam was cast in his eyes that had looked only indifferent.
Eyes imbued with a desire for something. That was the first will-like will I saw in him, who was indifferent.
What breathed will into him?
"Iphoe Bell. What have you done to my screw?"
Arwin called my name. As if the one who breathed will into him was definitely me.
It might be a misunderstanding. But I felt good. A smile crept onto my lips.
Please tell me in a little more detail. I tried to say that, but Arwin's words were one step ahead.
"Dalton wants to have what I possess. But he seems to lack conviction about something."
I recalled Dalton's eyes seen a few nights ago. The faint heat gathered in Dalton's eyes that day was clearly about Arwin, as expected.
Dalton's desire for what Arwin possessed. What is that?
"If... Dalton gets conviction, what happens then?"
When I asked, Arwin tilted his head obliquely. He looked around with a numb gaze, unsure when it had returned. He seemed to be checking if Dalton was around.
Soon realizing Dalton wasn't around, Arwin answered in a faint voice.
"He will take away mine. Because he is a cold-hearted mage regarding what he wants."
As if he finished what he had to say, Arwin didn't add other words. He merely looked down at me with his lips closed in a straight line.
His words lingered in my ears like tinnitus.
'Take away.'
The ominous resonance held by those words did not disappear easily.
It was at that moment that a large shade began to cast over my head. It was a shade with an aura similar to the ominous resonance lingering in my ears.
Wondering what shade it was, I lifted my head and saw dark clouds. Gray dark clouds full of rain were cast heavily on the ceiling.
Dark clouds in a ballroom where chandeliers sparkle. It is truly a scene full of disparity.
Whether I wasn't the only one thinking so, sounds of nobles murmuring around were heard.
Not long after, raindrops began to fall from the dark clouds. The rain falling drop by drop turned into thick rainfall in an instant.
As fierce rainfall struck, a biting wind also blew from somewhere. The biting wind dropped chandeliers, broke glasses, and blew people's masks away somewhere. It was an instant that the ballroom became a shambles.
The identity of the thing that ruined everything completely was a storm.
I naturally looked for Dalton's figure. Since he was the only one who could strike such a storm in a perfectly fine ballroom.
Did something happen to Dalton? Did he, angry, wave his hand in the air or something?
His figure could be found faster than I thought. Because amidst everyone leaving the ballroom frantically in confusion, there was one person standing still.
"...Dalton."
Dalton was bowing his head while soaked to the bone in rain.
Although angry rainfall and furious wind blew by his side too, there was no movement whatsoever from him. He looked as if solidified.
"Marquis. What could be the matter?"
I asked Arwin, feeling the empty spot of my mask that had blown away somewhere in the fierce wind. Then, Arwin's face seen again was too surprising.
"...."
Because he was too handsome.
Whether Arwin's mask had also blown away in the biting wind, his face was clearly visible.
Raindrops hanging on his wet bangs flowed down his cheeks like tears, and every time he blinked slowly, his rain-wet eyelashes trembled finely.
Even wet with rain, it is a truly handsome face. I agree anew with the fact that the figure of a wet man is sensual. At least, it must be an impression I hadn't felt from other men.
"I'll go."
Arwin walked ahead without even thinking of wiping the rainwater flowing down his face. I couldn't take my eyes off him as if possessed.
Arwin, approaching Dalton, spoke a few words to him. However, whether that had an adverse effect on Dalton instead, Dalton reached the point of leaving the ballroom with angry steps.
Arwin followed behind him with a small sigh. I also followed behind them. There was no reason to be alone in this place where rain and wind were raging.
Outside the ballroom was a shambles no different from inside. There were numerous nobles sitting on the ground soaked through. They seemed dumbfounded by the violent magic they experienced.
To that extent, the storm Dalton caused was aggressive. Enough that the spring he had gifted me couldn't be recalled.
Dalton and Arwin didn't go very far. I quickly approached close to them. Dalton's face seen up close was fiercely hardened.
Just what happened?
I called Dalton's name. read more on brightnovels.com