[V13C26] The Bouquet of Spring Flowers We Saw That Day

On the morning of the day before the ceremony, Ray Albright stood in front of a room at the Royal Institute of Magic, as motionless as a statue.

Though partially hidden by his purple bangs, the Third Abyss Shaman’s pink eyes were fixed on the door in front of him.

His fiancé Frieda Blanquet was currently undergoing the revival procedure on the other side of this door.

The magic to revive someone from a coma was already challenging, and it only got worse for victims covered in a greater number of shadows. Each additional shadow required the caster to spend additional time and mana to remove it.

And among all the victims in the capital, Frieda suffered from the most severe case of shadow corrosion.

The majority of victims fell unconscious within seconds of being touched by a shadow. Then, the shadows would pause their assault once the target was comatose.

However, Frieda fought to protect Ray and Adeline even as the shadows consumed her. As a result, she refused to fall until almost 70% of her body was covered in shadows.

Naturally, removing all of these shadows was extremely difficult.

As a result, Frieda’s resuscitation was delegated to the Silent Witch, Monica Everett.

Monica was the central figure in developing the shadow-removal spell, and had already performed it on many victims in Sazandol. She was clearly the best person for the job.

But Frieda’s procedure would not be simple, even with Monica handling it. It would take several days longer than usual.

A few days ago, Monica was flown into the capital by Silas, and she said this after checking Frieda’s condition:

“The shadow-removal spell will cause mana to build up in Frieda-sama’s body… To avoid the risk of mana poisoning, we’ll need to perform it over multiple sessions before she can be revived.”

Monica certainly had the skill to remove all of the shadows in a single session, but that would be pointless if it left Frieda with mana poisoning.

To reduce the burden on Frieda’s body, the operation needed to be divided into four sessions.

And today was the fourth and final session. If everything went well, Monica would remove the remaining shadows and proceed with Frieda’s revival.

Monica had given Ray permission to enter the room and watch, but Ray chose to wait in the corridor instead. He didn’t want to distract Monica with his presence during such an important procedure.

As Ray continued staring at the door and praying for Frieda’s safety, he heard the sound of approaching footsteps.

There was a plump, white-haired old woman walking down the corridor——Ray’s grandmother Adeline. A servant carrying a wooden chair stood behind her.

“…Grandmother.”

Her hair had once been a vivid purple, just like Ray’s, but now it was a lifeless shade of white.

Apparently, performing the curse overload had consumed the vast majority of the curses carved onto her body.

“Good grief. I can barely even walk down a single corridor,” Adeline complained, sitting down on the chair placed by her servant.

Adeline had been revived from her coma relatively quickly, but she was still bedridden for a while due to the aftereffects of the curse overload she performed when attacked by the shadows.

Even now, Adeline spent half of the day in bed and had difficulty walking.

Despite her condition, she supported herself with a cane and came all the way here because she was also worried about Frieda.

Ray did not know why Adeline picked Frieda to be his fiancé. Based on his knowledge of Adeline’s nature, he suspected that it was a form of harassment towards someone.

Adeline cared little about Frieda before, but now, she was seriously worried about Frieda’s well-being. This was because Frieda had proven herself, and earned Adeline’s trust.

——Frieda got hurt because she was engaged to me.

This and similar thoughts constantly went through Ray’s head, ever since the day Frieda collapsed. However, Ray knew not to voice such thoughts out loud.

Because doing so would be an insult to her and her resolve to protect Ray and Adeline, her new family.

(So… when Frieda wakes up… I need to thank her.)

Ray continued staring at the door in desperation.

Finally, the door opened slightly, revealing the Silent Witch in her robes.

“Um, Frieda-sama has woken up,” Monica said, holding the door open.

Ray stepped into the room with trembling legs.

The room seemed a lot cleaner than the rest of the Institute. There was only one bed with a woman lying down. Her disheveled blonde hair was spread across a clean white pillow.

The woman, Frieda, tilted her head slightly to look at Ray. Her face still looked haggard, but there was strength in her eyes.

“I heard from Silent Witch-sama,” Frieda said, smiling with her wolf-gray eyes. “You made the spell that saved me, right?”

Ray wanted to rush over and hug Frieda, but his legs refused to move properly. All he could do was awkwardly stumble forward until he fell to his knees in front of the bed.

“I… I… hng…”

Ray wanted to express his gratitude, but he lost control of his emotions once he saw Frieda’s face. He no longer had the composure for words, only sobs and tears.

A shaman must not let their emotions stir, as the curses would overflow from the depths of their heart. This rule had been ingrained into Ray since childhood.

But for now, the only thing overflowing from Ray was genuine tears and emotion.

“I-I, um… I wanted to say thank you… Ugh, hng…”

Ray sniffled as he took out a cute-looking red bag from the pocket of his robe.

This contained the hair ornament he had ordered from the Flux Company.

Ray needed to leave Sazandol before the hair ornament was complete, so Lana had asked Monica to deliver Ray’s order when returning to the capital.

“T-This is for you… Frieda…”

Ray held out the hair ornament, making sure to give Frieda a good view of it.

Lana’s design was for a glossy purple ribbon dotted by several gemstones. This was what she had to say about it: “The size and color of these gems are intentionally different, so it looks like a bouquet of spring flowers.”

Most of the gems were various shades of pink, with light purple and yellow-green gems adding a subtle accent. This represented the softness and elegance of flowers blooming in spring.

Meanwhile, the purple ribbon represented the ribbon for tying bouquets.

Back then, Ray had muttered, “I wonder if Frieda even likes purple…” However, Lana responded with confidence, “Purple will look perfect on your fiancé. Also, the academy I attended had a custom of giving flower accessories based on your hair and eye color.”

Ray muttered quietly to himself when he saw the design proposal, and Lana responded confidently with a cute smile.

Ray had never been good with words. There was no way he could convey the feelings behind this gift as well as Lana.

Nevertheless, Frieda examined the hair ornament in Ray’s hand and let out a small sigh of admiration.

“The colors of spring… It looks just like the field of flowers we saw on our trip.”

She understood.

This was exactly what Ray wanted to convey: the beautiful field of flowers they saw on their outing a few months ago.

“Thank you very much, Ray. Everything you give me is so heartfelt.”

The powerful emotion of love was overflowing from his heart.

But for shamans, the phrase “I love you” was simply a curse for binding the other person.

So, instead of words, Ray took Frieda’s hand.

This was a reenactment of the day they met.

——It seems you consider being unable to say ‘I love you’ a terrible thing, but there are other ways to convey your feelings to someone. Like this…

That was what Frieda said when planting a kiss on Ray’s hand.

With those memories fresh in his mind, Ray barely tapped the back of Frieda’s hand with his lips.

This was by no means a graceful kiss. Ray was shaking all over, and his entire body was drenched in a nervous sweat.

Regardless, Frieda sat up and took Ray into her arms.

“I love you too, Ray!”

Frieda’s reply was filled with her characteristic strength, which made Ray incredibly happy.


After watching Ray and Frieda’s exchange from her chair, Adeline spoke up.

“Ray, it’s about time for us to leave.”

“Huh? B-But there’s so much I want to talk about…”

Ray frowned in disagreement, but Adeline scowled back with a powerful glint in her pink eyes.

“Don’t be stupid. No woman wants to be seen by a man when she’s lying down in a sickroom.”

“That is true,” Frieda agreed. “I’m probably not in any condition to take a bath, but I do want to clean myself up a bit.”

Upon hearing this, Ray’s cheeks went completely red.

“Ah… ah… I-I’m s-so sorry, I’ll leave now…” Ray stammered, flapping his arms meaninglessly. “Um, I’ll miss you…”

“Don’t worry,” Frieda said reassuringly. “I’ll recover quickly. Just wait for me at home.”

Ray nodded vigorously with his face still bright red.




Monica was silently observing the exchange between Ray and Frieda from the corner of the room.

However, she lowered her head with a stern expression, realizing something that she had almost completely forgotten about.

(That’s right… I need to seriously think about this.)

There was a certain problem she must confront after returning to Sazandol.

…One that may affect the future of her and her disciple.

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