Maydare Volume 1 Chapter 3 - The Night of the Meteor Shower (Part 3)
Translating this novel is honestly such a breeze because the paragraphs are so short compared to the other stuff I translate
“Is something the matter, milady? Even though the stars are so beautiful, you’ve been clenching your teeth and glaring at me for a while now. It’s scary. ...Did I do something?”
“...Oh, no. Nothing at all, nhm.”
“You must have picked up something strange to eat, milady. It’s something you would do.”
It was true that I was on the highest floor of the star observation tower I was finally allowed access to, sitting on the bench and only staring at Thor’s face when I could be looking at the clear night sky.
Father said he’s trying to make you into his adopted son-in-law...Should I tell him?
But, if I said that, Thor would definitely refuse it. No doubt he would snort and say something like “I just can’t do it” or “I’d rather die than marry you, milady.”
I mean, well, I was aware that I had done a lot of things that had people saying that. I had declared something like that to Sumilda, but it couldn’t happen if Thor refused in the first place.
“Milady, here.”
Thor sat next to me and spread out his cloak. At a time like this…
“I’m...not really that cold. I’m actually feeling rather hot.”
“I’m feeling just a bit cold, though.”
“...”
It was true that it was my special seat. I excitedly slipped inside the cloak and tucked myself in. I was small, so I fit in snugly.
“Just as I thought, you’re warm, milady. As expected of one blessed by【Fire】”
“Only you would turn the lady you’re serving into your hot-water bottle, Thor.”
Even though this was a usual thing.
Today, I felt like I’d even be able to consciously hear Thor’s heartbeat. I don’t know how I’ve been able to be normal until now.
“Here, honey milk coffee. It’s warm, but would you prefer it cold?”
“No, warm is better. ...Thank you.”
I received the mug and took tiny sips. And then, a long sigh and a slight silence.
“You are acting strange, milady. I can’t believe you didn’t notice I didn’t add any honey… Usually you would complain it wasn’t sweet enough.”
“Eh, ah…”
Only now did I realize it. It was true that I usually liked to drink milk coffee with a lot of honey, and Thor was well aware of that and mixed in the amount I liked for me.
“E-Even I drink unsweetened coffee once in a while!”
With a composed face, I took another sip, but now that I was aware that it was unsweetened, I made a frown.
Thor snatched away my mug in a flash and mixed in a spoonful of honey.
“...Mm. Yes, this is much tastier.”
“I’m sure it is. Milady, you should be more honest like that. You may seem twisted and bitter, but you are actually very straightforward and honest, and that’s your charm.”
“...I don’t know if you’re praising me or being sarcastic. Are you scheming something?”
“Please don’t doubt me like that. I’ve also been trained by you, and I’ve gone from being twisted to being honest like this.”
“You look like you’re playing innocent…”
But, it was true that when we first met, Thor was like an abandoned, bone-thin dog who couldn’t trust people.
He was still cheeky and sarcastic, but he had grown into a splendid knight of the O’Drielle house.
I would one day become the baroness of the O’Drielle family. For the sake of my family, it was certain that I must welcome a groom with magical power.
Would another man be standing next to me at that time?
No, I still couldn’t imagine it. There weren’t many people with more magical power than Thor, and if he was next to me, that would be the most reliable, and happiest, outcome.
I wondered what Thor thought about me…
I was staring up absentmindedly at the starry sky I could see from here, when a flash of light suddenly crossed it.
“Oh, a shooting star!”
”There had been occasional shooting stars since earlier. They’re fascinating even without looking at them through a telescope.”
”Thor, we have to make a wish on the shooting star.”
I put the mug aside and stood up, then put my hands on the tower’s handrail and looked up at the star-filled sky.
The stars twinkled intensely. Like pounding hearts.
“Oh, another shooting star!”
“I wish milady will pass the exams for magic school.”
“...Huh?”
I was open-mouthed at what Thor wished for behind me for a moment, but then began to worry.
“Is that your wish, Thor? You can’t, you have to wish for yourself more!”
“It’s for me. If you become a splendid witch, milady, the O’Drielle family’s future will be secure. That is to say, the security of my life as well. Isn’t that right?”
“Well, that might be so, but...But what if I couldn’t pass?”
“That’s impossible, but it is what it is. It’s not so bad to have more time to spend with you. The year after next, milady, you will be living in a dorm when you attend magic school, so I won’t be able to see you properly for four years.”
“...”
“You are acting strange today, milady. Being docile or meek isn’t like you. Perhaps you have a fever?”
Thor came to my side, inclined his head and met my gaze.
Somewhat worriedly, he put his hand to my forehead and cheek to gauge my temperature.
“Well, you’re always hot, so I’m not sure…”
He said, making dumb jokes as ever.
“Hey, Thor...will you stay by my side forever?”
Thor widened his eyes slightly at me, who was looking down and acting meek once again.
“Yes, of course. I am the one you found. My wish is to serve by your side as your knight when you become the baroness of the O’Drielle house. ...Even when you accept the second son of some nobleman as your groom one day, for instance.”
Somehow, his last sentence felt awfully sad.
I must have made a strange face, because Thor said, “Oh, could it be because of this? Were you introduced by the duke and approached with a marriage offer when you returned to the master earlier?”
“Ah…”
“I knew it. I thought...it was about time for that.”
Since I couldn’t say anything, Thor forced a smile, misunderstanding the situation, and touched my ear for some reason.
“Eh!?”
“Please don’t move, milady.”
With a serious face, Thor affixed something to my ear while brushing away the hair at the side of my head.
“...This is…”
“Yes, the red crystal earrings you were looking at in that stall on the main street this morning. They are quite cheap, though... Happy fourteenth birthday, milady.”
After showing me the other one, he attached it to my ear, still looking serious.
And then, Thor knelt down, like a faithful knight.
“I pledge my loyalty to you for life, Miss Makia O’Drielle. For me as well, today is a day of destiny when I first met you.”
Even though the night wind caressing my cheeks was so cold.
Thor’s passionate and sincere words, in his own style, moved my heart, and made me feel impatient at the same time.
That’s why, I…
“Hey, Thor. Can’t you be my groom instead of the second son of some noble?”
“Huh?”
”Father is thinking about adopting you into the O’Drielle family as his son-in-law after sending you to the knight academy. To put in simply, you are my bridegroom. If you’re willing, Iー”
“Wa...wait a minute, wait, milady. What in the world are you saying?”
Thor seemed to be truly astonished by my bombshell statement, as he stood up and hurriedly shook his head.
But he was much more red-faced and flustered than I expected.
I thought he would laugh at me.
“That kind of thing cannot be! I’m a nobody who was born in the slums of a foreign country who was without a doubt born to truly cruel, cruel parents. I would degrade the dignity of the O’Drielle house.”
“...Thor.”
“I owe you more than I could ever repay in my life for finding and raising me, and now you’re going to adopt me as a son-in-law. You don’t need to do all that for me, it’s already enough, I…”
“No, Thor. We just treasure you and want you to become a true member of our family. Because, I…”
“...Milady.”
Thor put his index finger to my lips and shook his head again.
“Milady, you still don’t know this world.”
“...”
“You’ll have many different encounters in the future. At magic school and in society. Didn’t you say you wanted to work at the royal palace? I’m sure you’ll experience a wider world there. You might even find a man you like. Settling on a marriage partner before you even know true love is just too confining and stifling. It restricts your freedom.”
“But...I can say the same for you, Thor.”
I muttered.
“You might also come to like another girl.”
I later pondered on the meaning of the words that came overflowing out of me.
It meant that Thor would love another girl and won’t look at me anymore…
And then for some reason I felt incredibly sad. I had no idea why I felt so sad, but my eyes turned hot and I felt like crying.
“I, I…!”
Seeing me like that, Thor was about to make some sort of appeal.
But, it happened at that moment.
I’ve never heard it before, but I felt like I knew it somehow——
The sound of good tidings resounded loudly throughout the whole area. And just when my surroundings suddenly brightened, meteors--the number incomparable to what I’ve seen until now--raced across the night sky.
“Wha...a meteor shower!?”
“What is this?”
In this world, meteors were good tidings.
They announced the arrival of something exalted.
“Ah…!”
After a sharp headache, I felt a strange sensation, as though a dizzying swarm of light was swallowing me up.
Then for some reason, many, many unfamiliar visions flashed through my head.
The scenery of a distant world that wasn’t here.
The boy who comforted me when I was crying from failing my exams.
Another girl, who liked the same person I did even though we were supposed to be close friends.
Dusk, when I ran to the rooftop to convey something.
And then, what I saw.
A bright red twilight, a sea of blood, and two people on the ground.
The blond man, who killed me.
Ah. This was my usual dream of that spineless and dull girl.
A dream? No, that wasn’t it.
This was my life from before my current one--my “past life”.
I don’t know why I understood that. But I had been told by the meteors that my dream was something that leaked out from my memories of my past life.
——Your name shall be Thor.
Suddenly, the memory of me naming Thor in this world was triggered within me.
That name, which I spontaneously gave him, which came down into my head like a divine revelation.
Thor. Tooru. Tooru…*
(TN: Thor and Tooru are written the same way in Japanese.)
That’s right, the name of the one I liked in my past life was “Saitou Tooru.”
Have I possibly given him the name of my crush from my past life?
No. He and I died at the same time, in the same place.
Could it be that you are that boy’s——
“Hah!”
My consciousness was finally brought back to the present.
The lights that had raced before my eyes had all passed by before I knew it, and with the end of the meteor shower, the quiet night returned.
“...Ow…”
However, next to me Thor was pressing his hand against his chest and complaining about a sudden pain.
“What’s wrong, Thor!?”
“I-I suddenly...felt a burning pain in my chest…”
Thor staggered and leaned against the railing, and then slowly crouched down to the ground.
There was a light shining from his chest.
I had already thrown away my confusion towards the things I remembered earlier, took off the coat of Thor right in front of me and unbuttoned his shirt.
“This is…”
I was stunned. Right above his heart, a strange mark with a faint light had appeared. The mark looked like a flower with four petals, or a star shining in four directions, or four swords protecting something.
“Thor, let’s go to Father…!”
Whether it be the meteor shower or the memories of my past life that I remembered, there was something strange going on.
I felt magical power from the mark. It might be a curse.
I took a somewhat breathless Thor down the tower and went to Father.
However, the Bigreitz residence was also in an extraordinary panic, and everyone was shouting that it was an emergency.
“The stars fell!”
“The Savior is arriving!”
I heard talk like that here and there. Savior? What was…
“You returned, Makia.”
“Father!”
Father came out of the back room with the duke.
“I was astonished when I saw the stars. The sheer number of them in that meteor shower.”
”That's not important right now, there’s something wrong with Thor! A, a strange mark appeared above his heart…”
“...What?”
“Wh-what if it’s a curse? Thor looks like his chest hurts, like he’s in pain…”
Looking at Thor sweating uncomfortably and his drawn face, Father had a grim expression on his face.
He checked that mark on his bared chest, and his eyes widened even more.
“This is…”
“Indeed. So he is one of the ‘Guardians.’”
It was the duke who continued his sentence with a calm tone. Father nodded as well.
And then, they separated me from Thor and ordered their close aides to take him to the infirmary.
“Thor, Thor!”
“Milady…”
Thor turned his gaze in my direction and his face twisted in pain again.
“Makia, please calm down. Thor might be in pain right now, but it will pass soon.”
“Hey, Father, you can undo Thor’s curse, can’t you?”
“That is not a curse, Makia. Thor was one of the ‘chosen.’”
“...Chosen?”
“I’m sure...you and I both knew from when we first met him. That this child is special. But, this sort of thing…”
Father cast his eyes down a little and smiled bleakly.
No, I didn’t understand it at all. The meteor shower, what happened to Thor’s body, or anything.
Father and the duke went into the back room again, and I was told to wait in my room.
Even though I was out of my mind with worry about what had happened to Thor.
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