Chapter 12: Beneath the Spring Fireworks

“Count, where on earth have you been…”

Noah stopped speaking mid-sentence.

He gazed at my state with a serious expression and led me toward a nearby bench.

As I stumbled and sat down on the bench, he offered the juice he was holding.

“Please drink this.”

I snatched it from him as if robbing it, gulping it down greedily.

Though I couldn’t even taste the liquid sliding down my throat, sitting quietly and drinking something cold gradually began to clear my head.

My breathing also settled.

Closing my eyes, I let out a long breath.

Only then did all of my senses begin to regain stability.

Perhaps concerned about my condition, Noah kept chattering to try and change the mood.

Listening to his voice, I opened my closed eyes.

The sky was clear, the crowd was large, and Noah stood beside me, smiling awkwardly.

Everything began to look normal again.

“Thank you.”

When I calmly expressed my gratitude, he waved both of his hands in a frantic denial.

“Please don’t say that. I only did what you ordered me to do, Count.”

Noah smiled as if it were no big deal, but I was genuinely grateful for that “no big deal” assistance.

Because if I hadn’t run into him midway, there was no telling if I would still be out of my mind right now.

Standing still and checking my complexion, Noah briefly gauged my reaction before making a subtle suggestion.

“Um, would you like to walk around a bit to get a change of pace?”

“No, I…”

“When I took a quick look around earlier, there seemed to be lots of fun things! It looks like they’re even putting on a play over there.”

Noah spoke, pointing toward where a large stage was set up.

Since I had seen Raihar de Avelonia, my purpose for coming to the festival had already been achieved, and with my condition being at its worst in many ways, I wanted to head back.

Just as I was about to open my mouth to tell him to forget it and just go back, he beat me to it, looking as though he were on the verge of tears.

“If you go back just like this, your mood will only sink further.”

Even though I was the depressed one, seeing him looking so deflated made me feel oddly responsible.

My brow twitched, and in the end, I let out a heavy sigh.

“Alright. So stop making that face.”

Placing my hand on his head and gently patting it, he smiled brightly.

“Yes!”

***

Following Noah’s guidance, who confidently told me to leave today to him, we watched the parade, strolled along the street of stalls, and eventually walked over to the large stage.

There was a massive crowd around the stage where the play was about to begin.

Noah and I barely managed to secure seats at the very end of the row.

“Wow. This is my first time watching a play! I’m so excited!”

It was my first time as well.

Up until now, I had been too crazed over Mariel to have the luxury of coming to watch things like this.

As soon as we sat down, as if right on cue, the stage curtains parted, and the act slowly began to rise.

The plot of the play was about two people who were separated by an unfortunate accident in their childhood, but reunited as adults thanks to the blessing of the Goddess of Spring.

The reunited pair faced numerous obstacles from those around them, but they overcame all of them and ultimately bore the fruits of their love.

Though it was a cliché and crude storyline, it was a play that harmonized well with the theme of the spring festival.

Even after the play concluded and the curtain call ended, I couldn’t take my eyes off the actors on the stage.

Perhaps because it was my first time watching a play, the lingering emotions lasted for a long time.

“Count, I think we should get going now.”

“Ah, right.”

Only after Noah urged me to leave was I able to stand up and drag my heavy footsteps along.

Before long, the sky began to grow dark.

While I was walking and staring blankly at the sky, Noah made a big fuss beside me.

“The fireworks are going to start in just a little bit. What do I do, I’m so excited!”

“Are you really here to serve me? Tell the truth. You came out to play, didn’t you?”

“But the whole surrounding atmosphere is so pink and romantic! It makes my heart go pit-a-pat as well.”

Noah clasped his hands together and blushed.

Seeing that, I shook my head in sheer disgust.

“Stop talking nonsense and go buy something to eat. So we can watch while eating.”

“Yes! Right away!”

Using the errand as a pretext, I chased Noah off.

Though Noah was a good companion for helping me forget my troubling thoughts, spending the entire day with him chattering nonstop beside me was a bit exhausting.

I sat down, leaning my back against a large tree nearby, to get some rest.

The fireworks were the final event that those participating in the spring festival anticipated the most.

Before my regression, I had spent the entire time staring desperately at the back of Mariel’s head from afar, so I hadn’t even been able to watch the fireworks properly.

That was how much I had truly liked him, and in truth, my feelings weren’t completely sorted out yet.

But…

Recalling the look in Mariel’s eyes when we crossed paths just now, I clenched both of my fists tightly.

My stomach, which had barely settled thanks to Noah, began to feel uneasy again.

As I sat alone lost in thought, a pink flame shot up into the sky and began to spread beautifully in the shape of a heart.

The fireworks had begun.

“Noah. You should hurry back if you want to watch the fireworks.”

To be honest, it didn’t matter to me whether I watched them or not, but Noah had been highly looking forward to the fireworks starting.

‘Did I send him on an errand for nothing?’

Just as I felt a slight twinge of conscience, I noticed someone approaching and stopping right in front of me.

Thinking Noah had returned, I lifted my head.

However, the person standing with his back to the fireworks bursting in the sky was Mikeron.

I was startled by the unexpected appearance.

“Duke?”

‘Why is this man here?’

In my bewilderment, my eyes widened.

Mikeron being here meant, surely, Mariel was also…

As I hurriedly scanned the surroundings, Mikeron beat me to the punch, as if reading my thoughts.

“I do not know why you are looking for Mariel, but Mariel is not here.”

“What?”

‘No, does he not see the fireworks bursting right now?’

I briefly took in the fireworks soaring into the sky, then returned my gaze to Mikeron.

My face scowled from sheer disbelief.

The fireworks were the final event of the spring festival, and the main event everyone looked forward to.

Yet this guy had come to me right now, abandoning his partner, Mariel.

My mouth fell open in dumbfounded shock.

I suddenly doubted whether Mariel could live happily beside such an oblivious and inconsiderate guy.

“Since I let you go like that earlier, it kept weighing on my mind, so I searched for you. I barely managed to find you.”

“Why me?”

“Your complexion looked poor. Now… you seem to have recovered. I am relieved.”

Why was Mikeron fussing over my condition?

A faint annoyance, like shimmering haze, rose inside me.

“Is it alright for you to act like this with me? I could have come to stalk Baron Mariel, you know?”

Though I curled the corner of my mouth up in a sneer, he asked calmly.

“Did you come out to stalk Mariel?”

“…No.”

“Then that is fine. May I sit beside you?”

Mikeron accepted my answer so easily it was almost anticlimactic.

While it was unsettling that he believed me without a shred of doubt, the words that followed were utterly ridiculous.

Why was he trying to sit next to me?

If he had searched for me because I looked unwell, now that he had verified I was breathing perfectly fine, shouldn’t he return immediately to where Mariel was?

“Weren’t you partnered up with Baron Mariel? Then you should head to where the Baron is…”

“Ah, that is fine. Mariel and I only became partners out of mutual interest.”

‘What on earth does that mean?’

My brain wasn’t functioning properly.

As if realizing that I couldn’t comprehend the situation, he continued to explain.

“We only partnered up to act as each other’s shield because we both hated other people pestering us to be partners.”

Even if they were partners of convenience, before my regression, the two of them had definitely watched the fireworks together…

While I was confused by the discrepancy between past and present, he asked.

“Now that you understand, may I sit beside you?”

“Do you really need to ask for my permission? Do as you please, Duke.”

“Then, if you’ll excuse me.”

Mikeron actually sat down right beside me.

Upon realizing he wasn’t joking, my pupils shook as if an earthquake had hit.

I grew intensely curious about what on earth was going on inside that bastard’s head to make him act like this with me.

Wondering if all of this was perhaps a dream, I pinched the back of my hand, but pain registered.

It was no dream.

‘But Mikeron being here means Mariel is currently alone, doesn’t it?’

‘This bastard dares to leave the fragile Mariel alone and slip over here by himself?’

Just as I glared at the miserable bastard sitting next to me, the brooch pinned to his snow-white cravat caught my eye.

It was the very brooch I had given him as a gift.

“The brooch!”

“Since it’s a gift you gave me, I could hardly go without wearing it. Does it suit me?”

The brooch with the blue sapphire suited Mikeron exceptionally well.

Though if it were Mikeron, he probably would have looked good even if gifted a brooch with a bizarre design and an odd color.

Thinking that made me feel displeased, so I offered a highly stingy evaluation.

“It’s not completely intolerable.”

“It is an honor.”

Mikeron gave a solid laugh.

That steady yet soft smile was newly worthy of a knight.

“Ah, those fireworks look like your eye color, Count.”

Tracing the spot Mikeron was pointing to with his fingertip, I saw red fireworks burning with a brilliance that was beyond passionate.

‘Those look like my eye color?’

It was absurd.

After all, my eye color was the color of the devil, nothing more than a chilling shade that brought disaster.

Though I knew they were empty flatteries, for a brief moment, it felt as if those passionate colors had become a color dedicated to me.

Swept away by the fluttering emotion, I murmured unconsciously.

“Your eyes look like the ocean, Duke.”

“…”

“That brooch, I bought it because it reminded me of your eyes. It’s nothing grand, but I hope you like it.”

Mikeron shut his mouth and stared at me intently.

He wore an expression as if he had been struck on the head.

At first, I tried to let it slide, but when his gaze wouldn’t budge at all, it began to bother me.

‘What is it?’

‘Why is he staring at me like that?’

‘Did I say something wrong?’

Just as I grew displeased upon realizing I was warily checking Mikeron’s reaction, he spoke quietly.

“So that was why.”

“…Pardon?”

“I like it truly, deeply.”

Revealing a hint of his teeth, Mikeron smiled brightly as if he couldn’t possibly be any happier.

The moment I saw that smile, my heart thumped loudly.

My fingertips grew hot, and warmth swelled softly in my chest.

‘What is this feeling?’

I had completely lost my gaze to his smiling figure.

Staring blankly at his face like someone who forgot to blink, my heart began to race once again.

Just then, accompanied by a loud bang, a red firework soared into the sky.

The firework that rose into the dark night sky burst into a heart shape before gradually losing its form and vanishing into the void.

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