Elf Tensei Kara no Cheat Kenkoku-ki

「Cyril…you fell in love with Kuu-chan?」

「Yes…I was drawn to how she worked so hard with all her might…and I couldn’t turn her down when I felt that she would despair.」

Lucy’s eyes filled with tears and she looked as if she was about to cry. My chest felt like it was being stabbed.

「I-is it because I didn’t let you do it with me? I wanted to do it too, but I promised Grandma that I wouldn’t do such things until we got married….but Cyril said we couldn’t get married until Erucy became peaceful….」

「That’s not it Lucy!」

「What did I get wrong? Is there any other reason it could be? When did you stop loving me?」

「There’s no way I could hate you Lucy. Even now you are still the one I love most in the world.」

「Then why did you do such a thing with Kuu?」

「It’s because I love Kuu too. I love Lucy the most in the world and Kuu the second most.」

Lucy looked at me in disbelief. Her Grandmother was a virtuous and strict woman, so I could see that she could scarcely believe that I loved two people.

「…..Cyril, let’s imagine something. What if I said that I love Cyril the most but I loved another man the second most?」

Lucy murmured with a cold gaze that I had hardly ever seen before.

「I’d be incredibly sad. My chest would feel like it was being crushed.」

「What would happen if I slept with another man other than you Cyril?」

「I might go insane. I would probably never be able to forgive either you or that man.」

「I am currently experiencing those feelings right now. Hey Cyril…why didn’t you hide this? I…I wish I’d never heard this. My beloved Cyril and my friend Kuu-chan…I don’t want to hate you. It would’ve been better if you had just gone out in secret where I don’t know…」

I had thought of that…but…

「I hate that. It would be dishonest and despicable to both you and Kuu. I decided to reveal everything. It’s simply for my own sake, but even so I want to let you know I love you. I want you to still be mine even if it’s unfair.」

It might be that I was hurting Lucy for my own self-satisfaction. However, I decided that I had to properly tell her this.

「Do you really love me?」

「Yeah, you’re the number one in the world for me.」

「Didn’t you say the same thing to Kuu-chan?」

「What I said to Kuu was that I loved her second-most in the world. If that was alright with her then I would be with her.」

「…..Kuu-chan…really accepted that?」

Lucy fell silent and thought for a while. She slowly opened her mouth.

「My reason is telling me…that like Cyril’s father and the Chief before him you can have 3 wives in order to leave behind your bloodline…and that it was necessary as the Chief. That men are creatures that can love more than one person at once…」

Lucy whispered as if she was squeezing the words out.

「But still…my emotions are…I’m sad, I’m hurting, and I feel bitter. Even so…I still can’t help but love you…I don’t want to be apart.」

A sense of deep guilt was crushing my chest as I heard her murmur those words.

「Could you find it in your heart to forgive me?」

「Give me, a night to think…you sprung this on me so quickly that my mind’s a mess.」

Lucy said and got up to leave the dining table.

She reappeared with a bag of luggage.

「Sorry, but I want to think in a place away from you. I’ll stay over at Konna’s so I’ll be out tonight.」

Lucy said and turned to leave but I grabbed her hand.

「Cyril, don’t stop me.」

「It’s fine if you want to be alone. But this is your home. If someone has to leave, then it should be me. I’m sorry, I’ll return tomorrow morning. At that time I hope you’ll tell me your decision. Also, I know I’ve said it many times, but I’ll say it again…you are the one I love most in this world.」

「Even I want to believe your words Cyril…」

「Lucy. I love you.」

Finally I left with those heartfelt words.

**************

After that I made preparations for the shopping trip and where I would sleep tonight.

I headed over to the workshops where the Fire Foxes were staying and found Kuu. I told her the result and that I would be going shopping tomorrow as planned before returning to my workshop to lie down.

Kuu was necessary for the shopping trip tomorrow.

I had to buy clothing for the Fire Foxes, but I didn’t know anything about women’s fashion. Furthermore, because Fire Foxes have tails they needed specific types of clothing. I needed Kuu there as a representative to choose.

I had invited Lucy to guard and help Kuu.

We can only spare a day for this trip. While I was out purchasing livestock and food I wouldn’t be able to accompany Kuu to purchase clothing.

However, it was much too dangerous to allow Kuu to go by herself. I needed a girl with both combat ability and the ability to help choose clothes. The only one who fit that criteria was Lucy.

Kuu probably understood something from my behavior and said 「I’m sorry. Do your best」 as we parted.

She didn’t need to feel indebted. This was all my responsibility.

「I wonder if Lucy will forgive me…」

I had been naive, I thought that Lucy would be more forgiving and was optimistic that she would accept Kuu. I hadn’t thought that she would be so saddened.

That was the first time I had seen her like that.

If I’d known beforehand would I have simply let Kuu slip away?

「No…I probably would have done the same thing.」

I muttered as I drifted off to sleep.

****************************

The next morning I dressed myself and headed to Lucy’s house.

Kuu was also prepared for the trip and stood next to me.

After waiting for a while Lucy appeared. She was properly dressed for the journey and had a bag ready.

However, in her case she would surely help us do this job even if her response from last night was negative. I was unable to shake my uneasiness.

「Lucy…could I please hear the decision you’ve made?」

I timidly asked.

「Cyril…I…as I thought I still love you. However, I need you to promise me something.」

「Tell me.」

「I don’t want to feel this painful heart-breaking feeling ever again. So I want you to promise that you won’t lay your hands on another woman. No matter how much they love you…I won’t be able to forgive you if this happens again.」

「I can promise that I won’t do it again.」

After all, even Kuu said as much. If it would be a betrayal of both Lucy and Kuu there was no way I would seek out another woman.

「Also, I want to have some peace of mind. Once spring comes around I want to get married. I won’t wait any longer than that. I want to be joined with Cyril in the truest sense of the word.」

「I suppose you’re right. I myself want to be joined in matrimony with Lucy sooner than later. Once spring settles in I promise that we will get married within two months of the snow melting.」

「Un, that’s an absolute.」

「Yeah, it’s a promise.」

We said and I stuck out my palm to Lucy and she put her hand in mine. We then intertwined our fingers.

This was the pinky swear of this world.

With this my greatest anxiety had been cleared.

Kuu watched as we repaired our relationship with a smile on her face. But, I could see a bit of jealousy hidden there. She resolved herself and opened her mouth.

「Lucy-chan I’m sorry. Even after knowing your feelings I still fell in love with Cyril-kun.」

「It’s okay. I’m not angry. Even I understand those feelings and…..no I shouldn’t lie. Truthfully at first I really resented you. Why did you say you liked Cyril? But even so you’re my friend and Cyril made his decision so I was able to reach an understanding. That’s why…I’ll be in your care Kuu-chan.」

「Lucy-chan….thank you.」

Lucy extended her hand and Kuu took it. They both shook hands.

When they let go I could see Kuu was tearing up.

「Okay then, let’s go.」

I smiled at Lucy and Kuu.

We should only be gone for about two days, but I had made plenty of arrangements for when we were gone. Once I left the traitor would surely make some moves. I had left instructions with those I was sure I could trust to be on the lookout for anything suspicious. I’m sure they’d take the bait without even realizing it.

「Cyril, we haven’t prepared the carriage.」

「Of course we won’t be using such a slow thing.」

After all, it wouldn’t be strange if it started snowing any day now. If we insisted on taking a carriage down the bad road to Erin then it would take at least five days.

「It can’t be that we’ll be doing the same thing we did when we went to the Fire Fox Village right?」

「Of course…it’s the improved version.」

「But we don’t have any way of carrying the luggage.」

「I can carry all of the stuff we buy by using storage magic so don’t worry about it.」

「Really…it seems like anything’s possible with you Cyril-kun…」

First I let Kuu climb onto my back before securing her with rope and cloth while allowing her weight to be equally distributed.

I then princess-carried Lucy and placed a bag with 300 gold coins in her arms. The gold was heavy so I didn’t intend to carry any more than necessary. Even these 300 coins weighed 12kg.

Then I activated 【Body Enhancement】 and my wind magic to begin high speed movement.

However, today’s task was made much more comfortable.

「Cyril-kun should I warm us a bit more?」

「No it’s fine.」

「Are you having any trouble breathing?」

「This much is almost perfect.」

Kuu was using her fire magic to warm our surroundings and Lucy was using her wind magic to reduce the head wind.

Like this we enjoyed a calm and warm trip. Furthermore, both of them were hugged close to me so I could feel their warmth and softness which made my motivation shoot through the roof.

At this pace the 120km distance to Erin would be covered in around 2 hours. Then we would begin our fun shopping trip.