I Need the True Ending to Graduate - Chapter 84

As expected, Lucia was there, sitting with her back against a tree. Around her, various animals were huddled together.

Butterflies of all colors, squirrels and chipmunks, small sparrows, a large crow with glossy feathers. And even the pure white rabbit he had seen earlier.

Lucia’s surroundings were bustling with animals. However, she hadn’t tamed all of them. They had all bloomed from the tips of Lucia’s fingers.

That was right. The animals that looked as if they were actually alive were ones she’d shaped with mana.

It was also the magic Lucia had been focusing on practicing lately.

Evan carefully approached Lucia and asked, “Lucia. Did you skip class again today?”

Whether his question had broken her concentration or she’d finished her practice, the animals that had taken form all changed into golden particles of magic and disappeared at once.

Then Lucia slowly lifted her head and met his eyes. Her soft brown eyes looked dazed, as if she’d just come out of a long daydream.

“…Evan. What brings you here?”

“I finished class, but I didn’t see you.”

“Ah, class is already over,” Lucia muttered blankly, blinking her large eyes.

It seemed she hadn’t realized how much time had passed.

“You’ve been coming here a lot lately. Do you have something on your mind?” Evan asked as he sat down beside her.

When she’d first left the monastery where she’d been taught basic magic and entered the magic school, she attended class diligently.

She enjoyed magic more than anyone, and even when she had a fever or felt sick, she would force herself to come to school and attend class.

But as time passed, the days she didn’t attend class became more frequent, and recently, she hardly attended at all.

There were more days she didn’t attend class than days she did.

At Evan’s question, Lucia quietly murmured with a face that clearly showed deep worry.

“Something on my mind… something like that….”

“If you don’t mind, tell me. I might not be able to solve it, but I can listen. They say that just listening can make you feel a little better, Lucia.”

“….”

“And I’m your fiancé. So speak comfortably. I’ll listen to anything.”

Wanting to be a source of strength for Lucia, Evan straightened his chest proudly and appealed his reliability to her. A gentle, warm smile rested on his lips.

Lucia looked at Evan without saying a word, as if weighing whether it would be all right to confide in him.

After blinking slowly a few times, she finally asked, “You know, Evan. What kind of life do you think you’ll live in the future?”

Caught off guard by the serious question he hadn’t expected, Evan felt a little flustered.

“What kind of life… I guess I’ll just live normally, like everyone else,” he answered, scratching the back of his head.

He hadn’t really thought about his future life. He wasn’t particularly curious either. How Evan’s life would go was already decided.

“When you come of age, we’ll get married as planned, and we’ll probably get a small house on the edge of the village and start a family. Since I’ll have graduated from the magic school, I’ll be hired as a wizard by the lord, and since you’re more skilled than me, if we’re lucky, we might even work together.”

“….”

“If you work as a wizard under the lord, the pay will be decent, so if you and I work hard and save money, our household will improve quickly. Before we know it, we’ll have a child, and we’ll be so busy raising that child that we won’t have a moment to spare. Then before we know it, the child will be old enough to get married.”

In the village where Evan and Lucia lived, everyone lived that way. There were no exceptions.

The only thing that made them special was that they possessed mana and could work as wizards under the lord.

Aside from that, everyone lived the same life. No one thought they could live a different kind of life, and no one doubted such a life. It was as natural as the sun rising when the moon set.

However, the more he talked about that ordinary life, the darker Lucia’s expression became. As if a life where the sun rose when the moon set was something dreadful.

Then she asked, “Would you be satisfied with a life like that?”

“…Satisfied with a life like that. What do you mean?” Evan asked back, unable to understand the intent behind Lucia’s question.

Lucia then explained calmly, “I mean, have you ever thought about a life other than marrying me, having children, and watching those children grow up and get married too?”

“…For example?”

“For example… leaving this place.”

After hesitating for a moment, Lucia finally spoke. Though she seemed reluctant to say it, the sentences that followed flowed smoothly, as if she had been imagining it for a long time.

“Leaving this place and going to the capital. Seeing a wider world, learning many things. Even attending the academy they say is in the capital….”

“But, Lucia. How would we even get to the capital? It’s already hard enough just attending school from this village.”

Evan asked cautiously as he listened to her. At that, Lucia pressed her lips tightly together.

She clearly looked displeased by what he’d said, but Evan couldn’t help asking. What Lucia was saying now was so unrealistic it would leave anyone taken aback.

“If what I said upset you, I’m sorry. But… that’s reality.”

“….”

“Of course it’d be nice if we could go to the capital. I’d like to see how people there live at least once, and I’d like to study freely at that academy everyone praises. But you know it too, Lucia. Things like that are impossible for people like us.”

“….”

“Do you hate this place? Or… do you not want to marry me?” Evan asked. He couldn’t think of any other reason for her to suddenly say such things.

Of course, when they were young, the village felt narrow, suffocating, and boring, with nothing interesting at all.

The small village festival held once a year was the only source of enjoyment. For a child, the stimulation was far too little.

But as they grew older, most people naturally accepted the village’s quiet and peace. And they no longer found the village boring.

Just like everyone else living in the village, they accepted that their life was their life.

But Lucia, like a child, still regarded the village as dull and tedious. Even though she was nearing adulthood.

At Evan’s question, Lucia fell silent for a moment. It seemed she was struggling to figure out how to properly convey the emotions swirling inside her.

After a long silence, Lucia moved her lips a few times before finally opening her mouth with a resigned expression.

“It’s not that I hate the village. It’s the place where I was born and raised. There’s no way I could hate it. And Evan, it’s even less that I dislike you. But….”

She trailed off. As if trying to suppress something rising deep in her chest, she frowned. Lucia’s eyes wandered across the vast open fields, far beyond them.

“But… I don’t know.”

“….”

“I just keep wondering whether living like this is really right.”

Those were the words she finally forced out after much struggle. The expression on Lucia’s face as she said them looked deeply anguished. It seemed like the depression people often said came right before marriage.

Would it really be all right to spend her entire life with this man? Was this man truly the best choice in her life?

They said there were quite a lot of women who worried about things like that before marriage.

‘Everyone says it’s something everyone does, but it’s only natural to have many worries ahead of something as big as marriage.’

And at times like this, Evan thought that he, who would become her husband, needed to encourage Lucia and become her support.

Evan deliberately put on a bright, innocent smile and earnestly comforted her. He also didn’t forget to firmly hold onto Lucia’s cold hand.

“It’s all right, Lucia. I’m here by your side. I can’t make every moment of your life happy, but I can be a source of strength beside you. So don’t get too depressed. We’ll live better than anyone else.”

“…Yeah. Thank you, Evan.”

A smile finally appeared at the corner of Lucia’s lips, which had remained quiet the whole time. A bit of light also returned to her eyes, which had looked empty. Just that alone filled Evan’s chest with deep satisfaction and relief.

Just when it seemed the conversation was coming to an end, Lucia suddenly asked, “But if, hypothetically, someone offered you all the money to go to the capital and live there, and to study in a good place too, on the condition that you’d have to part forever from me, your family, and the people of the village, what would you do?”

“Hmm….”

It was an abrupt question, and a situation he’d never thought about before, but Evan considered it seriously.

Leaving the village and going to live in the capital. On top of that, not only parting from his family and friends here, but also leaving Lucia, whom he’d promised to marry.

‘Anything else aside, parting from Lucia… I don’t like that….’

Lucia could become his family, and she could also replace a friend. But family and friends couldn’t replace Lucia.

He had no confidence in abandoning Lucia and living alone in the capital. No matter how abundant, wealthy, and dazzling a life might be waiting for him there.

“I think I’d stay in the village.”

“Why?”

“Well….”

Because you wouldn’t be in the capital.

Evan was about to answer like that, but when he saw Lucia’s face waiting for his reply, he felt it was somehow embarrassing to say out loud and roughly brushed it off instead.

“Because I like living together with my family, the people of the village, and you like this. Living in the capital would surely be nice, but I still like the village where I was born and raised. …And I like being by your side like this.”

“I see.”

Lucia quietly nodded. It was hard to tell whether it had been an answer for her or not, but when he glanced at her expression, she seemed a little better than before.

To lighten the gloomy atmosphere, Evan playfully changed the subject.

“By the way, next week is your birthday. Is there anything you want?”

“….”

“Nineteen. It’s the day you become an adult. I can’t get you anything expensive, but I can at least give you something small. Yeah? Tell me.”

Evan had some emergency money he’d secretly saved while helping with village work. It wasn’t a large amount by anyone’s standards, but it was enough to buy Lucia a bouquet of flowers and a gift.

Saving the money had been a bit tough, but since they were even engaged, he didn’t want to celebrate her coming of age empty-handed and pitifully.

He worked up the courage and showed off a bit, but Lucia didn’t look particularly happy or surprised. She only wore a vague smile and gently shook her head.