101st Confession

ically in anticipation of meeting him.
Especially when she realized that she was only a few days away from holding him in her heart.

Lucia bit down hard on her lower lip and took a deep breath.
Then she put on her usual smile and opened the door.

“Herwin.”

“Hello?”

Herwin was sitting cross-legged, sipping his tea as if he were at home.
Somehow, he looked even more handsome than yesterday, and her heart fluttered.

Lucia didn’t seem to mind her feelings and walked over to him.

“Am I too late?”

“No.
I came unannounced.”

“I know.
What brings you here? It’s only been a day since we saw each other.”

Lucia sat across with a big smile, and his red eyes swept her.

“There’s something I forgot to tell you yesterday.”

“What is it?”

“I’m going to be up north for a month or so.”

Lucia’s walls shook, and Herwin sipped his tea.

“I should have told you yesterday in front of all the people, but I forgot.
I could have told you in a letter, but I wanted to tell you in person.”

Something about the way he sipped his tea and spoke so casually shook Lucia.

She wasn’t sure if he was consciously saying it, but it felt like he was telling her that she was special, unlike the other girls.

Lucia suddenly remembered Arista and opened her mouth.

“Did you tell Arista?”

“Yeah, I told her yesterday, right before we left, but the others left first.”

“……I see.”

More special than Arista.
Of course, she couldn’t be.
Lucia stopped getting her hopes up.

“What are you going to the north for?”

“It’s time to take over, and you know that the number of monsters in the North is increasing rapidly, right?”

“Yeah, you told me about it before.”

“Right.
The rate at which the monsters are increasing is alarming.
They’ve found signs of them moving in swarms, just like the monster waves when I was a kid.”

The monster wave was a distant memory.
It was serious enough that the Herwins had to rely on Agnes for over a year.

“In a letter from my father, he told me that he had found a colony of monsters, and I was going to help him destroy them.”

The thought of Herwin going to such a dangerous place made Lucia nervous.

Part of her wanted to tell him not to go, but she wasn’t old enough to be a fool.

Unable to express her distress, Lucia clenched her fists.

“Do you have a departure date?”

“In a week.”

Only a week.
Only seven days until he left.
Lucia’s hard-won smile faltered.

Her eyes narrowed and a pained expression crossed her face, and Herwin paused.

“Don’t worry too much.
I’ll be back safely.”

Herwin’s red eyes softened as he reassured Lucia, and she felt tears well up in her eyes at his gentleness.

But Lucia bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself together.

“If you’re participating in a sweep, you might not be able to come back within a month, right?”

“That’s true… but I’ll be back in time.”

What goes around comes around, but as is often the case with people, things don’t always go according to plan.

It’s not that she doesn’t trust Herwin.
But if he leaves, she’ll never have the chance to confess to him.

There would be a gap of at least a month.
Would her father wait that long?

‘How can things be like this?’

Not even half a day had passed since she had asked John for time, and before she knew it, a week’s time limit had flashed before her eyes.

It was as if God had conspired to make her give up on Herwin.

As her mind raced, her gaze drifted to Herwin’s wrist.

There was something all too familiar on his wrist.

“Are you still wearing that?”

“Huh? Ah, this.”

Lucia muttered, and Herwin looked down at his sleeve.

“I feel a little empty without it now.”

“But, it’s so old…….”

Lucia was referring to the cufflinks.

The same red cufflinks she’d given him on the most terrible day of her life when she was 16.

Now, five years later, they were scuffed up and lacking their initial sparkle, but he still wore them.

“It’s pretty old but it’s still good, and you gave it to me.”

Herwin chuckled.
He could see himself as a child there.

It must have been a terrible memory for him, too, and it was both grateful and endearing that he spoke of it in such a precious way.

Lucia bit down hard on her lower lip and ducked her head.

“Are you feeling a little off today? Are you sick…….”

Noticing that her mood had subsided from yesterday, Herwin reached out to her.
But before his hand could reach hers, she spoke first.

“Herwin.”

“Yes?”

“One day before you go.
Can you give me just one day?”

Before he could comprehend what she was saying, Lucia lifted her bowed head.

A rigid form took shape within the blue eyes as if they had made a decision.

Lucia, who always looked so young, looked different today.

“It doesn’t matter, but… For a day, all day?”

Lucia nodded.
Herwin reviewed his schedule.
Nothing out of the ordinary.

“Okay, I don’t mind any time.
When would be good?”

“Since today is Sunday, how about next Friday?”

“Okay.
We’ll meet then.”

Herwin accepted and asked if she had any ideas for what she wanted to do that day.

He didn’t seem to know this was a date request.
Just before going north, he seemed to think he will be having a good time with his childhood friend.

Lucia felt a bitter taste in her mouth, but she couldn’t spoil Herwin’s excitement.

Lucia responded to Herwin’s words with her usual cheerful self.

‘Really, this is the last time.’

Lucia’s determination did not spread anywhere and quietly dispersed.