The West Wind's Destination - Side Story 5
In the end, being swept away in the moment, it was already dawn. On such occasions, it was usually Aseph who would awaken first, full of vigor, but today, for some strange reason, Bea was the first to open her eyes.
Trying to extricate herself from the arms that held her tight, and then giving up, Bea shook Aseph to wake him.
“Aseph. Aseph Vilkanos.”
“Yes, Bea, I love you…”
“Time to get up.”
Such occurrences were rare, so Aseph sat up. And immediately, his face turned pale upon seeing the blanket Bea had pulled up.
The sheets were stained red.
“Did, did I go too far? How could this happen… I, I’ll call the doctor right away.”
“It’s not like that.”
Bea stopped Aseph, who was about to rush out, and made him sit down.
At first, Bea thought the same, but this wasn’t the first time Aseph had fretted over being ‘too rough’. During their honeymoon, she had wondered if the act might actually kill her. But even then, there was no bleeding.
Bea laid her fingers over the bloodstain and quickly came to a conclusion.
“It seems I’ve started menstruating again.”
“What? How could that be?”
There was a time when Aseph was furiously angry, cursing at the deplorable fiend who had ruined Bea’s body. He didn’t even want to say the man’s name.
Afterwards, he brought Bea over to the mages and even Homun, who became a mage, so they could pour all their magical power to heal her. They regenerated her, focusing only on restoring her ear, which bore that bastard’s lasting scars. As long as her hearing was back to normal, they didn’t even consider anything beyond that.
But this.
“This, Bea, this is like back then…”
Realizing what it meant, Aseph began to cry. Before Bea could even ask why he was crying, Aseph threw himself into her arms.
“I’m so, so happy. It’s such a relief. Really…”
Then Aseph pulled away to look at her, his lips quivering as if to say something, but then he embraced her again.
“Ah… hic…”
In reality, Bea, who was indifferent to the matter, found Aseph getting overly emotional and sobbing for a while.
Embracing Aseph as he wet her neck with his tears, Bea patted him and then yawned softly.
“I’m a bit sleepy.”
Hearing this, Aseph stopped sobbing. In the midst of his fussing, he agreed that she should sleep more. He tried to lay Bea down but then stopped and instead rolled her in a clean sheet and picked her up. As they moved elsewhere, Bea dozed off in his arms.
Listening to Aseph’s voice giving orders to the servants, Bea closed her eyes.
Not feeling pain but a languid sensation, reassured by Aseph’s gentle voice, Bea fell into a deep sleep. Aseph’s excited breathing over her forehead was as comforting as a spring breeze.
“It’s really a relief. It’s really such a good thing, Bea.”
Bea was confident she knew her own body, but Aseph Vilkanos, insistent on making sure that she was well, joyously jumped around after calling the doctor to check thoroughly.
She had already received confirmation that her body was healthy when her ear was treated. The reason she hadn’t menstruated for so long was speculated to be due to her mental state being as unstable as if she had been through a battlefield.
“Now, I guess I have to be careful with contraception.”
His words, even as he wiped away tears of joy, puzzled Bea. Naturally, since she was now capable of conceiving, she had thought he would want to have children.
“Didn’t you want to have a child with this body?”
“What? Oh, but we already have an heir. Actually, descendants of the Vilkanos family are known to have a fierce temperament from the womb, which can be quite taxing on the mother’s body. Your body is already quite frail, and since we already have an heir, I don’t want to overburden you…”
“So, essentially, nothing changes.”
“That’s not true. Being unable to do something and choosing not to do it even though you can are different.”
Is that so? But Aseph Vilkanos had shown a happy response when she said contraception was not necessary the first time they were intimate.
Above all…
“You… You get anxious thinking I might leave somewhere.”
“Did it seem that way?”
“Yes.”
In reality, for Bea, neither the ceremonial aspects of a wedding nor the formalities meant anything. Whether she received the protection of Vilkanos publicly or not, she thought it wouldn’t significantly impact her life.
Without any qualms, she agreed to Aseph’s request for a wedding and even signed the document to prove it because she felt he would become anxious if she didn’t.
She thought he would use this opportunity without fail. She was even considering agreeing to it.
So, this reaction was unexpected.
“It’s not about being anxious. Just… think of it as a way for me to confirm your feelings.”
“Hmm.”
As always, Aseph made a vague and flowery statement. But Bea, now accustomed to Aseph’s way of speaking, surprisingly understood what he meant right away. The words he had just used surely had a dual meaning.
Being unable to do something. Choosing not to do it even though you can.
They are different.
Being tied down, unable to leave. And in contrast, not bound and able to leave anytime, but choosing to stay.
They were too different, indeed.
“You… sometimes, you’re so strange.”
Always seeming confident while courting, yet using such a trivial method to confirm feelings.
Wasn’t there a more certain way?
But then, Bea realized that, all this time, she hadn’t even given him that one simple phrase.
Looking down at Aseph, who was nibbling the back of her hand like he was sulking, Bea opened her mouth.
“I love you.”
“Huh?”
He lifted his head. A bewildered expression. He seemed to wonder if he had heard wrong.
“I love you, Aseph Vilkanos.”
“…Huh?”
He unknowingly dropped his hands.
“Say it again.”
His lips parted, but no sound came out.
Soon, his beautiful eyes began to fill with moisture like jewels.
“Please, again.”
“I love you.”
“One more time.”
“I love you, Aseph.”
“Ah, Bea…”
He looked like he might cry at any moment, but then Aseph broke into a wide smile. It was as if the whole room brightened with his expression.
Ah, now she finally understood. Why Aseph had fallen in love just by seeing her smile. Maybe this feeling was the same as what he felt back then.
With Aseph’s smile, she was healed.
That smile was so beautiful that it seemed unreal, making her want to dwell in this dream forever.
Bea leaned in and smiled back. Finally, she understood that foolish feeling.
“…So, that was it.”
“Yes.”
This was the west wind’s destination.
—The End.
