Chapter 35: Conflicts and anxieties
A silence fell between the two, as if time had stopped, but Liddellina was the first to recover.
She frantically ran up to Friedrich, who was standing in front of her in a daze, and touched his back.
At that moment, he flinched and she was startled, but he just turned around and immediately hugged Liddellina.
“Ah, Liddellina, I must have been locked up here when I was a child.”
She was relieved that he had not rejected her, but her chest was tight with the thought of her childhood circumstances. Friedrich’s large body was trembling. Liddellina stroked his back soothingly.
“Please, my Husband, don’t overdo it. Let’s go back to the castle for now.”
“I’m sorry I got you into this mess.”
He said with difficulty. His face also looked bad.
“In any case, let’s leave here immediately and return to the castle.”
Liddellina took him out of the tower while soothing him.
***
It seems that he was in shock after returning from the tower, but he calmed down a little after drinking some warm tea.
“Husband, let’s end this now.”
Liddellina became worried seeing Friedrich’s quiet appearance.
“Liddellina, I remembered one thing. That letter was something I carved with a spoon when I was a child.”
He is going through a desperate childhood. What could have happened?
“Husband, I don’t need an apology. I am happy as I am now. So please stop searching for the past.”
Liddellina pleaded. She doesn’t have any special dislike for him after getting married. On the contrary, she is happy. She shudders at the thought of being in her inherited family home, taken over by her relatives, as it was before.
“However, even so, I can’t say that I am facing you sincerely.”
“That’s not true. You are an honest person. You probably forgot because you don’t want to remember, right?”
“I am running away from myself. Yet I want to be a normal couple with you… Isn’t that cowardice?”
“Cowardice? What’s wrong with that? If it’s painful, then it’s okay to run away.”
Friedrich looked up in surprise at Liddellina’s unusual fierce tone.
“If you don’t like it, just run away with all your strength! You have experienced many battlefields, right? Have you ever run away from an enemy you can’t beat? Have you ever stubbornly stuck with your subordinates against an enemy you knew you couldn’t win?”
“…I don’t remember, but if I did, I wouldn’t be alive now.”
Friedrich answers as if pushed by Liddellina’s momentum.
“This is a strategic retreat. Run away, run away, just keep running. There’s no need to remember the painful past you’ve forgotten and get hurt again.”
“Liddellina… thank you.”
Saying that, he gently hugged Liddellina.
Since then, there have been times when he sometimes sulked, but he gradually recovered his energy.
As if forgetting the day he entered the tower, her husband was running around the territory and was absorbed in his work. He started a new silver mine excavation and not only in the territory but also recruited people from neighboring territories, and began paving the streets. Busy days continued.
One evening during dinner, her husband told her,
“The inn’s building is completed. I have something I want to ask you.”
“What is it?”
She was finally allowed to help him. She is glad to hear it.
“Since I don’t seem to have any sense of style as far as castles go, I want you to think about the interior together.”
Things have been slowly changing since Liddellina came to live in the castle, but it certainly has a rugged feel to it.
“The other house I lived in initially had a very nice interior.”
“Ah, that seems to be the place where my grandmother lived after my father inherited the household.”
She was a little startled to hear a story she had never heard before.
“Is that so? Did you remember that?”
She looked at him anxiously.
“No, I just looked at the records.”
“So you were still searching for the past.”
Liddellina was worried about him. If he remembered the past while she wasn’t around, he might suddenly become like before one day.
“It’s okay, I’m not forcing myself. If anything happens, I’ll always consult you.”
Saying that, he smiled peacefully.
