Life as an Adventurer with the Banished Marquis' Daughter - Chapter 14: Reflecting on the First Time with the Banished Marquis' Daughter, Part 4

Chapter 14: Reflecting on the First Time with the Banished Marquis’ Daughter, Part 4

Someone, anyone, please praise me for not screaming, for not trembling, and for responding calmly without stuttering. 

I managed to say it.

“What do you mean?”

In my mind, it sounded more like, “w-w-w-what do you mean?” Erika Solnzari hesitated, sighed softly, and spoke to me.

Please stop with the sighing. My heart can’t take it.

“I’ve killed someone.”

＊

She started talking without waiting for my response.

“It was my first time.”

But there was no regret in her voice.

If anything, there was confusion.

“But it doesn’t feel real. I thought it was a monster.”

By the way, monsters and demons are different. 

Many people who have never seen a demon confuse them, but anyone who has actually seen a demon will unmistakably say they are different.

When facing a monster, you don’t feel that intense revulsion you get with demons. 

Erika Solnzari, being a marquis’s daughter, probably never even faced a monster.

At the academy, practical combat is only a fourth-year task.

The closest experience to taking a life might be killing livestock with one’s sword for an academy assignment.

“Even now, after you told me that it was originally human, I honestly don’t feel it.”

Erika Solnzari shook her head slightly.

“It’s not that I doubt you. It’s just that it feels disrespectful to have killed someone and not feel anything.”

She looked up at the sky, searching for the right words. Seeing her profile, the words naturally came out.

“It was my first time too, Erika Solnzari.”

I looked up at the night sky and closed my eyes.

I pictured the faces of the three men I killed today. 

They were ordinary, everyday men. 

Nothing particularly evil about their appearances, men you could find anywhere in this city.

“But I have no regrets.”

I could say this with conviction.

“Because I protected you. Because I decided for myself that I would protect you.”

As a noble, let me tell you this.

Whether you realize it or not, one day someone will die because of your decisions. 

It might be when you order the execution of a criminal or when you sacrifice a few for the greater good.

But that day will inevitably come. 

As the second son who wasn’t set to inherit the family, the chances of me having to make such a decision were low, but it could still happen.

Even so, the decisions made by the family are ones that everyone associated with it must bear. 

However, this wasn’t something I was fully aware of in my first experience.

I decided, by my own will, to protect Erika Solnzari. 

I chose to protect her because I wanted to. 

There was no regret in that decision.

Even when I remember the faces of the three men I killed today, I don’t regret my first time. 

It might seem like a selfish thought, but I don’t want her to be uncertain either.

“What were you thinking when you swung your sword back then?”

I asked, looking at her. 

Her wandering eyes met mine.

Erika Solnzari thought for a moment, then gave a small, wry smile.

“I thought I had to protect the coachman and the tired-looking guard.”

She smiled, adding, “Though technically it was the coachman, and the guard who is also my husband.”

“If that’s the case,” I said, to tell her that her decision and its outcome were not made out of uncertainty, 

“I should thank you. Erika Solnzari, thank you for wielding your sword for me.”

After a brief silence and a small nod, she responded, turning her body towards me, “You’re welcome.”

“Then let me thank you as well, Shin Longdagger. Your sword has cleared the obstacles from my path.”

Even now—she added with a smile.

“By the way,”

Erika Solnzari said, as if she had just remembered something. We both turned our gaze back to the city, feeling a bit awkward.

“Shin Longdagger, I followed your lead in calling you by your full name as a sign of your resolve. But it is rather cumbersome.”

I realized she had misunderstood something.

I had no special reason for calling her Erika Solnzari. It was just that calling her Erika felt too embarrassing.

“I’m going to call you Shin from now on. And you should call me Erika.”

Isn’t that a bit difficult? 

I was stunned by the sudden increase in difficulty before I could correct her misunderstanding.

“This isn’t to disregard your resolve or feelings; it’s just that over the next year—”

“Erika,” 

I blurted out.

I said it. 

An awkward silence fell over the balcony. 

She asked me to call her by her name, but now that I did, she’s gone silent.

Please don’t do this to me; I’m dying of embarrassment.

“Yes, let’s go with that, Shin.”

Breaking the silence, she smiled. 

Erika Solnzari—no, Erika—glimmered with golden magic.

“And it was wrong in the first place, wasn’t it?”

She teased with a smile.

“I am no longer a Solnzari, but a Longdagger. So, if you call me correctly, it should be Erika Longdagger, my dear husband.”

With that, she left the balcony.

That was close…

I almost jumped off the balcony.

That night, every time I remembered her calling me “my dear husband” while I was in bed, I felt like I was going to go crazy. 

From the next bed, I could hear her turning over restlessly, making it hard for me to sleep. 

I see, she has quite a bad sleeping habit.

＊＊＊Afterword＊＊＊

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