I Want To Die One Day Before You - Chapter 9
“Of course. You’re the hero who killed Demon King Audixus.”
That wasn’t it. Not as the hero who killed the demon king. He didn’t want to be remembered that way.
“Other than that?”
“Is there anything else I should remember?”
Rufus looked at the maid with a bewildered expression.
“Do you… really not remember?”
When Rufus stuttered through his words, this made the maid tilt her head once again.
“Have we met before?”
“Yes. We met in this place three years ago.”
“But so many guests come to Princess Sordid’s palace. I can’t remember them all.”
“You…”
Exhaling gruffly, Rufus lowered his head towards the maid.
“Then… did you ask to everyone who come to Her Highness’s palace to kiss you?”
Rufus murmured in a hoarse voice.
Please say no. Please.
“Oh! You!”
In response to Rufus’s words, the maid exclaimed.
“You’re that guy from back then!”
‘That guy’ from back then.
It stung a bit how impersonally she regarded him. But she certainly hadn’t asked for his name.
“Are you here to repay your debt? Haha, I might be a little moved.”
The maid winked slightly and waved her hand.
Just as he remembered her. Unfazed, maintaining a smiling face without a hint of confusion.
She was an odd woman.
“Truthfully, I came to ask for a favor again. Can you come with me for a while?”
Rufus asked suddenly.
He wanted to know what lay in his grandmother’s future. His younger brother, Edel, had said that their grandmother might not make it through this year, but he didn’t want to believe it. He wanted to ask the maid again, clinging to a tiny glimmer of hope.
“But I’m working right now.”
“It’ll only take a moment.”
“Then I’ll have to get permission from the head maid.”
“You don’t need to do that.”
Rufus turned his head to the knights of Princess Sordid Princess who were waiting nearby.
“I’ll take Sarubia for a little while. Just to let you know.”
“Y, Yes sir!”
The knights all nodded obediently. Despite his title being no more than a baron, Rufus was the hero of the Hevania Kingdom. They couldn’t possibly oppose his words.
Rufus led the maid to the guest palace where he was staying.
On their way, they encountered many people. They all looked at Rufus and the unknown maid with curious or judgmental eyes. They noticed that Rufus had come to the royal palace looking for the maid, not Princess Sordid. Some even began to bow and murmur to each other. But Rufus paid no attention to those looks.
These people probably didn’t know.
‘The saintess who foretells death.’
A woman with a unique magical power to see people’s deaths. These people had no idea how remarkable her abilities were.
Rufus stared at the maid standing beside him.
Three years had transformed her into a lovely young woman. She had grown a bit taller, and her cheeks had lost their hints of childhood. Somehow, she seemed a bit more lively, and she appeared to be healthy.
Rufus was relieved.
“You…”
“Yes? What is it?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
He had opened his mouth on an impulse, but then he quickly closed it.
—You’ve gotten even prettier.
He had almost blurted out those words. Rufus pushed them back down his throat. He couldn’t possibly say something so strange.
In reality, he had many things he wanted to say when he met her again.
He wanted to thank her for giving him hope that she could return to the embrace of her precious family.
He wanted to thank her for enabling him to survive the gruesome war with her prophecies.
He wanted to thank her for giving him courage, even when he was on the brink of death, by repeating her voice over and over.
But why was it that, in the end, he could only come up with such a foolish thing to say?
“Have you been well all this time?”
Why were these words the only one words that came out of his mouth?
“Well, at least I’ve been getting paid regularly, and I’ve been eating and living decently.”
The maid replied cheerfully, then asked her own question.
“So, why have you come to see me, Hero?”
“Don’t call me a hero.”
Rufus furrowed his brow.
He didn’t like that title. It seemed pretentious and dishonorable.
But more than that, he didn’t like that the maid still hadn’t asked for his name.
