Only with Your Heart

Alde-- now.

Never before had the castle of Ruklov been so anxiously wrapped up.

Many servants gather in the Great Hall restlessly and secretly talk to each other with a worrying look. The content could have been heartless rumours or concerns about the whereabouts of the marching knights, including Luklov.

The work is hard to come by, and everyone is softening up with a face he is not here in his heart.

Alde was also one of them.

That's not all. Unlike the other servants, Alde knew too much. And that afternoon, I was heavily responsible to my heart for leaving Chizuru alone.

The castle, where my husband was absent, was like a sadly empty box of tears. Quiet and dim......

"Mother, may Chizuru return soon? When it was clear, I promised to hang out with him."

Noah, his only daughter, asked Alde, nodding her eyes as she pleaded. At an early age, he seems to have a proper sense of the rush in the castle, which makes him sweeter than usual.

"Yep... we're almost there. Master Luklov's picked you up, so I'm sure you'll be home safe and sound soon."

With her daughter in her arms, Alde lowered her eyes softly and snapped.

Alde knows.

some of that, even if not all.

Fourteen years ago, Luklov's grief since Chizuru disappeared.

Four years ago, he gave up searching for Chizuru's whereabouts, and he completely lost his emotions, looking like some sort of loose shell.

And a month and a little while ago... after Chizuru returned, I slowly regained my vibe, gradually breaking the shell that was stubborn, and I began to smile happily.

Four days ago, Luklov's reaction to finding out that Chizuru had gone missing was awesome.

Furious as a demon, without listening to anyone's advice, he immediately marched on to Count Kaftor's mansion with even the new knights. Lone took the form of cursing words and following them with a mundane.

They haven't come back yet.

All Alde could do was imagine. And praying.

Both were breathless and the meal barely went through my throat. Still, Alde did not fail to always increase and clean the room of the thousand cranes, hoping that Lucrov would take back the thousand cranes safely and return soon.

At the same time as the disappearance of Thousand Cranes, some speculated insensitively that the young knight Bal, brought by Lone, had gone missing... Ruklov ignored all of that. Even Alde knows that's not possible.

Alde had to lift up his face and swallow the tears that crept up as he polished the floor of Chizuru's room.

─ ─ When I was just starting to set up in this castle, Ruklov stood blurry in the middle of this room and watched the universe quietly with his uncertain eyes. That's not once or twice either.

It was a long time ago to ask clearly in his mouth, but Alde knew.

This room belongs to Master Chizuru, right?

You still dream about her coming back to you.

The reason Ruklov kept hiring Alde in the first place, and as just an unusual woman, it should have been nothing more than a thousand cranes.

Alde snorted in silence and prayed to heaven that he should not inflict any more suffering on Ruklov.

And it was that night that the entrance to the castle suddenly became noisy.

Nadal, breathless and reddish-faced, rushed over to Alde, who was helping him clean up after dinner in the dining room, holding his legs together.

"Master Ruklov is... Master Ruklov is coming back! Take Master Chizuru! Now the pioneering transmitter has just arrived. Quick, make sure you have a room soon......!

"Well, is it true!

Alde raised his voice of joy, but the excitement also squeezed quickly, and anxiety took its place.

"Chizuru-sama's room is always in order... What do we need to prepare?

Nadal seemed quite confused. He shook his head thoroughly and is desperate to think about what to say from what. For a while I explained to him out of breath.

"I haven't either... I don't know... But the pioneer said that Master Chizuru was injured. The pharmacist (dull) and the need for cloth and hot water..."

Alde could feel his face turning pale.

Without waiting for Alde's reply, Nadal continues.

"The pioneers seem to have come in quite a hurry. As soon as I got there, the horse fell. But still, Mr. Ruklov says he's right behind you..."

Nadal crouched on the spot and stuck her face like a baby before she cried out.

Originally, Nadal was an orphan, a boy that Ruklov picked up from a nearby village when he came to this castle. Since then, Ruklov has looked after Nadal as if he were his nephew or something within him, and even to Nadal, he admired Ruklov as if he were his father. I have publicly declared that it is my dream to be a fine knight like Master Ruklov, and I have never cried in public, at least since I became a squire.

That's what I'm crying about now, shaking my shoulders.

"Ya, stand up, Nadal"

Alde, too, was finally able to keep his voice from trembling.

"If Master Luklov comes with me, I'm absolutely fine. I'll get you a pharmacist as soon as you can."

Tingling and stiffening her spine, Nadal raised her face.

The boy's eyes were still shaking in confusion, but he remembered his mission and just watched as he regained his vitality. "Yes," he replied with a faint voice, Nadal fluttered up and left the dining room on an unreliable run.

Alde also looks up and stretches his trembling spine.

My lady companion next door opened her mouth to say something and stared at Alde.

"You heard me, I need your help."

When Alde did so with her temperament, the woman shook her neck silently and ran to the kitchen for a small run. It's okay, Alde told himself. It's okay. Because it has to be...

And soon, after the water had become noisy around the castle gate before it boiled, Alde jumped out of the door behind him with a quick leg, holding the clean cloth he had been collecting in his chest.

There is often a rushed crowd at the castle gate, which is often closed and tightly guarded by outposts.

In the distance, it was felt that all the faces were smudged.

Alde's heartbeat was so painful that he no longer knew what to do. I guess I would have to be prepared for what I was able to say sooner rather than later, not being blurry in a place like this. But Alde's legs didn't move.

I couldn't move.

I have a bad feeling. Why not?

Alde's vision diminishes with palpitations blurring his eyes and the dust winding up the chaos at the castle gate. But Alde saw a tall, pitch-black haired man emerge loosely from the hedge and thrust this way.

It's Luklov.

Something is held tight in his arms, and something dripping without force is shaking in the universe.

No way. Please, say no.

The night sky, which was almost full moon, was brighter than usual. By the way, the bonfire set up in the castle and the light of the doorway lit upon the announcement of Luklov's return clearly illuminate the approaching shadow.

"Oh no... Dear Chizuru!

Alde raised a voice resembling a scream. He is undoubtedly held in Ruklov's arms because he was a thousand cranes who were losing their blood and falling asleep.