The Story of a Middle-Aged Knight Who Tried to Live a Relaxed Slow Life in the Countryside, Only for a Duke's Daughter Whose Engagement Was Broken Off to Move in With Him

A Flower That Cannot Bloom Where It's Planted

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*****

Just like that, Watta had won immediate recognition for her role in butchering monsters and processing their materials.

Cistilia, on the other hand, was still fretting over what role she could play in the village.

Even her job as Watta's interpreter was diminishing, given how quickly Watta was picking up the language.

In the morning, while I was preparing food, Cistilia would head behind the manor to water the flowerbed where she had planted the Moon-Waiting grass.

At first, Cistilia used to rub her sleepy eyes, but having adjusted to the village routine of early nights and early mornings, she had recently been waking up briskly.

Just as I finished setting the food out in the dining room—

「—Eeeeeek!」

A shriek from Cistilia reached my ears.

「W-What's wrong!?」

I darted out through the kitchen back door and rounded the back of the manor.

Cistilia was slumping dejectedly in front of the flowerbed.

Looking at the flowerbed before her, I realized the cause.

The Moon-Waiting grass had withered.

The Moon-Waiting grass, which had been heavy with clusters of pale purple bell-shaped blossoms, had wilted stalks, and its flowers, turned brown, lay limp on the soil.

「Ahhh...」

Cistilia let out a dazed, hollow voice.

「W-Why... It was doing so well up until yesterday...」

I didn't know what to say to comfort the crestfallen Cistilia.

「I'm so sorry... It's because I didn't take proper care of it...」

Tears spilled from Cistilia's eyes.

I couldn't find the right words.

I stood rooted to the spot, able to do nothing but watch over Cistilia as she grieved.

We ate our completely cold breakfast.

Cistilia clearly had no appetite, but she seemed to force down everything served to her purely through sheer willpower.

「...I'm sorry. For making you worry...」

「No, don't be. I was shocked, too.」

Cistilia had been diligently watering the Moon-Waiting grass every morning, after all.

There really hadn't been anything wrong with it up until yesterday... or so it seemed.

For it to wilt so suddenly...

「I thought if I could at least grow medicinal herbs... I can't do any village work, but I thought if I put the knowledge I learned from my tutors to use, I might be able to cultivate Moon-Waiting grass. But in the end, it was just book learning. There was no way someone like me, who had never grown a single flower, could possibly cultivate Moon-Waiting grass.」

As I mumbled out words of comfort, rain began to fall outside.

It was on just such a rainy day that Cistilia had arrived as well.

Cistilia retired to her room, saying she wasn't feeling well.

Left with no choice, I cleared through administrative work in my office.

When I opened a letter that had arrived early this morning, something concerning was written in it.

「...Missing Person Notice. For the sake of the individual's honor, their name will be withheld, but a young lady of a certain noble family has gone missing. Anyone with information, please report... huh.」

At the bottom was the signature of the Knights Order I used to belong to.

I let out a sigh.

「I knew this was coming, but still...」

The longer the report was delayed, the worse my position would become. And, of course, Cistilia's position as well.

I knew that full well, but as I put it off day after day, enough time had passed that I couldn't make an excuse.

At this point, simply claiming that Cistilia had wandered in by mistake would be a flimsy excuse at best.

If anyone asked around the village, the fact that Cistilia had been sleeping and living at my manor would come to light instantly.

「Is it about time to face reality...?」

At my murmur, a loud clatter! came from the direction of the hallway.

I whipped around in a hurry.

The office door was cracked slightly open.

Beyond it stood Cistilia, having dropped the tray carrying tea.

The color had completely drained from Cistilia's face.

「Ah—no, wait!」

Shaking off my call to stop, Cistilia bolted.

Cistilia dashed down the stairs and burst out the front entrance.

「I said wait!」

I gave chase after her, stepping out into the lukewarm falling rain.

By then, Cistilia had already headed down the slope in front of the manor, making her way toward the watermill and the slime shed.

「Dammit, for a highborn lady, she's fast!」

I'm a forty-year-old middle-aged man here.

While my feet were slipping in the mud and nearly tripping me up, Cistilia vanished into the rain beyond.

Left with no choice, I jogged through the rain, peeking into places where she might hide, like the watermill and the slime shed.

Cistilia was nowhere to be found.

When I made my way to the front of the butchering shed, Watta was standing outside it.

「Watta. Did Cistilia come this way?」

「Said... no want... see you.」

Watta's reply left me speechless.

「Me... look after... Cistilia. Leonardo... go back.」

Watta said so without a trace of reproach.

「Leonardo... say... Cistilia... not wife. Then... Leonardo... cannot say... anything.」

Watta was completely and utterly right.

(Chasing after her, what was I planning to say?)

(Marry me?)

(Or perhaps, 'I'll protect you'?)

(As if I could ever say something like that.)

(And as long as I couldn't say it, I had no right to face Cistilia right now.)

「...I'm sorry. Please take care of Cistilia.」

Leaving Watta with only those words, I turned back toward my manor as the rain beat down on me.

It happened that night.

In the end, Cistilia didn't return by dinner time.

The food I had cooked was left abandoned in the dining hall, completely cold.

I didn't even have the heart to clean it up.

Unable to sleep, I was gazing at the half-moon visible through the bedroom window when the ill-fitting door squeaked softly.

The door opened without a knock.

Through the gap in the door, a white figure slipped inside.

Turning my gaze toward it, I was stunned.

「...Hey, what are you doing?」

The person who walked in was, of course, Cistilia.

But Cistilia was wearing nothing but a white lace nightgown.

Exposing her fair skin and generous cleavage to the moonlight, Cistilia had snuck into my room.

Expressionless, Cistilia approached my bed.

The bed creaked loudly.

Cistilia climbed onto the bed and straddled me.

「Stop it.」

Remaining silent, Cistilia leaned her upper body forward.

Cistilia's moist lips gleamed in the moonlight pouring through the window.

As Cistilia brought her face closer—

I pushed back against her shoulders with both hands.

「Is it... no good?」

「I don't have a habit of taking advantage of a desperate woman.」

「This is... the only thing I can do...」

「...You don't need to force yourself to find a place in this village.」

「Yes I do! I want to be by your side, Master Leonardo!」

「You can't! There's no way you can!」

I shoved Cistilia aside and sat up in bed.

「Stop this. I understand your feelings, but any more than this is truly impossible. It will only lead to ruin for both of us!」

「I... For your sake, Master Leonardo, I would do anything...」

「Those feelings will fade someday, too. By the time you regret it, it'll be too late. Falling from high society takes only a moment. After that, you can't go back, no matter if you take a lifetime.」

「I don't care about any of that!」

「...Listen, what do you expect me to do? Throw everything away and run away with you? To where? Even if we could go somewhere, how would we live? Let me tell you, I don't have the capability to provide a highborn lady with a decent life. Nor do I have the power to keep protecting a beautiful woman like you from other men. I can already see it. You getting worn out by life and cursing yourself for giving yourself to an unsightly man like me.」

「Are you saying there's truly nothing to be done?」

「Yeah, there's nothing to be done.」

「Even if I discard my noble status and become just another village girl?」

「Didn't you realize you can't do that either? Just like that Moon-Waiting grass, didn't you think that you, too, can only bloom where you belong? That's what you thought, wasn't it?」

Hitting the mark, Cistilia hung her head.

On the other hand, my own thoughts were far from settled.

(What do I want to do?)

Cistilia should undoubtedly be sent back to her family.

There was no reason not to.

In the first place, I hadn't eloped with Cistilia.

She had simply pushed her way here on her own.

Whether that excuse would work on her father, the Duke, was another matter...

(And yet... damn it. There's a part of me that doesn't want to send her back.)

I had no choice but to admit it.

I wanted Cistilia.

I was starting to think it would be nice to have a woman like her as my wife.

That was why, in the end, I still hadn't written a reply to the notice from the Knights Order.

Even though I knew full well that the longer I delayed, the worse both my position and Cistilia's would become.

「I just don't know what to do anymore,」 Cistilia said softly.

「Why is being by your side so difficult, Master Leonardo? When I don't wish for anything else...」

Cistilia climbed down from the bed and stood up.

As she made to leave the room, I almost reached out a hand.

That hand hovered in midair, failing to grasp her.

「...Good night.」

Cistilia said and closed the door.

I couldn't say a single word and could only clutch my head.

*****

Wow, sane mc with sane logic.

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