Chapter 26

Chapter 26. "The Dark Elf, the Dwarf, and a Single Rose." 06

Is it over now? They came out fairly early. Usually it takes at least two or three hours.

Thinking that, I turned my head and saw Rene coming up the stairs in loose-fitting sleepwear with a towel wrapped around her head.

Behind her was Irisa, also with a towel wrapped around her head and looking noticeably brighter than before, and Frid, who now looked far neater than he had at first.

Perhaps because they had just finished bathing, their cheeks were faintly flushed, and seeing their faces, I gave them a small smile.

"Welcome back. How was the bath?"

At that, Irisa, her face bright, came over and sat at our table as she spoke.

"It was incredibly spacious. But heating that much water must take a great deal of time. Had you heated it in advance?"

"No. We were digging the ground because we meant to build a house, and we discovered a hot spring vein. That ended up becoming the bath. Did Rene not mention it?"

I turned toward Rene as I said that, and Rene, who had been standing behind me drying her wet hair after loosening the towel wrapped around her head, noticed all our gazes on her and replied with a smiling face, the corners of her eyes lowering gently.

"I am sorry, Irisa. Sometimes I fall asleep whenever I get into a bath. You must have been quite startled, right?"

I had suspected as much, and as expected, I was right. My wife Rene had the habit of occasionally falling asleep whenever she got into a bath.

The reason, apparently, was simply that the water was warm. At first, when I heard her say that, I thought there was no way, but one day she went into the bath and did not come out even after half a day had passed.

I rushed over, threw open the bath door, and found her fast asleep with only her head sticking out of the water and a towel tucked behind her neck.

Back then, it had been so absurd that all I could do was laugh. Hearing Rene's words, Irisa smiled and waved her hand. Rene gave her a bright smile in return, sat down beside me, stared at the side of my face, and said,

"Han, I am in an incredibly good mood right now because I have bathed properly for the first time in a long while. So, I was thinking... if you prepare dinner, I can pretend that the thing I mentioned earlier never happened. What do you think?"

I shot to my feet at once and headed for the kitchen. At that, Irisa rose from her chair behind me, saying she would help, but Rene caught her by the hand and made her sit back down.

"Ah, is that really all right?"

"It is fine. It is good practice to make a husband prepare dinner by himself once in a while. His cooking improves that way."

Whatever they were saying now, I had the privilege of letting out a small sigh of relief.

Thank goodness.... If it is only making dinner, that is cheap. Very cheap.

As I was on my way to the kitchen, Luna's voice suddenly rang out from behind me.

"You really do work your husband hard."

At those words, Rene would probably answer with a small smile and an utterly unbothered face.

"I honestly cannot deny it."

"And there is something I have been curious about since the first time I saw you. Answer me."

"What is it?"

"Why are you living together with a human?"

After that question, Rene did not answer for a moment. She was probably smiling. Because what Luna had asked was the very same thing I had once asked her.

'Why do you want to stay with me, when I am human? You are an elf.'

'Because I love you. Do I need any other reason?'

"I cannot believe it."

"You do not have to."

I paused in front of the kitchen door and glanced back at them for a moment. Luna and Rene were facing each other, carrying on a fierce(?) exchange, while Irisa and Frid sat beside them quietly listening. Among them, a small smile had appeared on Rene's face, one I had seen once before.

That little smile is probably what made me fall head over heels for her.

With that, I folded away the memories that were beginning to rise one by one, turned my head, went into the kitchen, and began preparing dinner while humming the song Rene always sang for me.

A little while later, Rene, Luna, Irisa, and Frid ate every last bit of the food I had made using every scrap of skill I had, whether I had any talent or not, and I was able to smile more brightly than I would have if they had merely told me it was delicious.

If there was less food left over, washing the dishes would be easier.

After the meal, while we were drinking tea and talking a little, the subject of Irisa's and Frid's family suddenly came up. At that, Irisa turned her head, placed a hand on Frid's shoulder beside her, and slowly continued.

"This child has a younger sister beneath him. Her name is Arin. Her father gave her that name. Come to think of it, those two must be waiting quite anxiously by now."

For a moment, Irisa simply gazed at Frid, who was nodding off beside her without a word. Then she turned back with a bright smile and said,

"I have been talking about useless things. More importantly, Rene? Frid seems sleepy. Could you show us to a room?"

"Yes. Please follow me."

Wrapped in a somewhat awkward atmosphere—though perhaps I was the only one who felt it, since they were elves—we immediately rose from our seats and followed Rene upstairs. After climbing the stairs, Rene stopped at the second room on the right, opened the door, snapped her fingers, and said,

Snap!

Flash!

"There are two beds, but they are large, so it should be fine even if you use them together. I also put firewood into the fireplace and warmed the room in advance, so all you have to do is rest comfortably. And to turn off the light, you just have to lie down on the bed and say the trigger phrase, 'Time to sleep.'"

Hearing Rene's words, Irisa carried Frid, who was sleeping soundly in her arms, into the room, laid her son down on the bed near the fireplace, then came back over to us and said with a peaceful smile,

"Thank you."

"Rest well."

Rene and I bowed slightly as we said that, and Irisa smiled. Then I closed her door for her, looked over at Luna, who was standing by the stair railing looking down into the hall, and Rene walked over to my side, lightly tapping my shoulder as she asked,

"Which room is it?"

At her question, I raised a hand and pointed at the room beside the stairs.

"I deliberately chose one far from our room. Do you think she will like it?"

At my words, Rene smiled faintly and walked over to Luna. She went behind her, bent slightly, tapped her on the shoulder with her fingers until Luna turned her head, and then spoke.

"I will show you the room where you will be staying from now on."

"If possible, I would prefer one far away from your room."

At those words, I gave her a smile of unclear meaning and opened the door to the room beside the stairs. Then, before I knew it, Luna had stepped in front of me, stretched out a hand, and snapped her fingers.

Snap!

At once, the Light Ball attached to the ceiling poured out light. The room, now bright, was simple. It was a guest room, after all.

One small table, one clothes rack, two chairs, one fireplace, one bed, and one small cabinet. That was all. From now on, I would have to add things one by one.

"If there is anything you need, tell me from tomorrow onward. I will make you anything."

"Anything?"

"Anything."

I replied with a grin. Luna looked around the room expressionlessly, then stood in the middle of it, turned toward us, and finally opened the mouth she had kept tightly shut.

"I like the window, at least. But there is one thing I want to confirm."

"What is it?"

Rene, standing beside me, asked with smiling eyes. Luna hesitated a little, then looked straight at Rene and me and said,

"So from now on, I can stay here, right? I do not have to move somewhere else again, right? I do not have to follow someone other than you, right? I do not have to look up at an unfamiliar sky instead of the same sky every time, right? I do not have to wake up every morning and wonder where I am, right? When I open the window, I will always see the same scenery, right? Right? From now on, from now on......"

Luna kept talking, almost like someone deranged, and as Rene listened, she slowly approached her, knelt down to meet her eyes, and quietly pulled her into an embrace.

Then Luna, her eyes brimming with tears, kept muttering something under her breath before finally bursting into loud sobs, and Rene gently soothed her in a quiet voice while stroking the back of her head.

No matter how sharp her tongue is, and no matter how cold she always seems, she really is just a child.

With a faint bitter smile, I looked at Luna as she cried and at Rene as she comforted her. Then I heard a door open behind me, so I turned my head and saw Irisa peeking out.

She glanced around, spotted me, and sent me a questioning look. I pointed into the room where I was standing and gave a small shrug. At that, Irisa smiled softly, withdrew her head, and closed the door again.

In any case, after crying in Rene's arms for a long time, Luna eventually cried herself to sleep. I helped Rene lay Luna on the bed, pulled the blanket up to her chest, turned off the light, and stepped back outside. As I quietly closed the door, I said,

"She is brick on the outside, but glass within."

"That is a good way to put it. In any case, Luna is still young. She must never have had anything like a friend who could wash clean and soothe the hurts she had suffered. So she was grateful to us for accepting her, and in one corner of her heart, she must have been sad as well. It probably brought back sudden memories of the past, when all she ever received was abandonment."

"So that is why she cried when she shut the door earlier, and why she cried again now like this?"

"Yes. But now that she has cried as much as she needed to, she will be all right from tomorrow onward. Luna is our family now. Right?"

I quietly looked at the elf woman smiling brightly at me, dressed in her sleepwear with her long golden hair tied back. Then I soon smiled back and nodded.

Well, it will be fine. As long as I can keep seeing Rene smiling the way she always does, I do not mind.

Then, her face still filled with a smile, she walked over to me, linked arms with mine, and led me toward our room as she said,

"It has already been a whole day since I last held you."

"Ah?"