[✓]My Fiancé is in Love with My Little Sister

Chapter 43

7 – The Eternity of Kaliarya Ignis – 3

“No matter how much time pass you never change. Your face still looks like a child’s.”

The cue that made me notice the abnormality was truly something trivial. It was when I went to shop at the market for Emma who said she wanted to eat some fruit. The proprietress of the street stall said that sentence while staring at my face. When I bent my head and asked, “… Is that so?” she strongly nodded her head several times, “Yeah, it is.” It was a stand I frequently visited. Before I knew it, I realized I’ve been going there for so long that they now called me a regular. At first, they acted quite reservedly in front of me as they could see from a glance I was a noble, but after meeting me so many times they grew used to it. At that time when things were still awkward, I showed them a smile. Now, I was acquainted with most of the shopkeepers and got along with them to the extent of exchanging a word or two even if I wasn’t here on an errand.
           
When these words that didn’t contain any malice dropped among my peaceful ordinary days, my eyes widened in shock.
           
“You’ve the same face as years ago,” said the lady shopkeeper while laughing. Poking my cheek with her finger, she said my face was too child-like. Then she teased me, With such a youthful appearance, isn’t it hard on your wife? A woman always wants to stay young forever, yet it’s her husband that looks younger.

“Well, your wife is also a pretty cute person, but you don’t lose to her!”

The words oozing out of her laughing voice echoed in the depth of my ears. Then, my whole body greatly shook once. Even though it was the same frivolous talk as usual. Was it my imagination that something sounded different?

“… Hey, what’s wrong so suddenly? Your complexion looks bad.”

The shopkeeper who was staring at my face frowned in anxiety. I averted my head to evade her gaze, but only my voice was pretending to be calm. I pressed down on my chest, trying to suppress my panic pulse, and I desperately made a smile. I don’t remember what I said and what the shopkeeper answered. Nevertheless, I must have said some parting words before I left that place. To support my staggering body, I cautiously took one step after the other, stepping firmly on the ground. But eventually, I could no longer stand it and broke into a run. I got on the carriage that was waiting for me near the market place and kept inhaling deep breaths again and again while listening to the sound of my heart beating louder and louder. The words “No matter how much time pass you never change” continued to repeat on a loop inside my mind.

“… Such an absurd thing cannot be…”

When I tried to persuade myself, my whispering voice quivered helplessly. The tips of my fingers had lost their color and had grown numb with cold despite the fact we weren’t in winter. I sunk on my seat and curved my back, holding my body with my arms. It felt I would fall apart if I didn’t do that. I heard the coachman ask if it was alright to depart now, but I couldn’t answer him.
           
Memories of my childhood revived inside my head. Yeah. Memories of the day father cast that unknown spell on me. Of the spell and symbols used to invoke the sorcery that filled to the brim that firmly locked room. Even till now some of them were still seared into my eyes. Even if I tried to forget that I couldn’t. Since what happened between father and me was annoying, I wanted to forget the whole incident as quickly as possible. Yet, I never could.
           
Therefore, these past few years… I spent them trying to determine what the hell was the sorcery father tried to cast. Emma was quite anxious seeing me so immersed in my research. Bringing back with me stacks of books upon stacks of books from the library, I secluded myself in my room and my complexion wasn’t that great. The fact she still didn’t say anything to try to stop me was because she worried about me. It’s surely something I shouldn’t say myself, but I must have looked very bloodcurdling.  Each passing day I tried to clarified it, father’s magic square…. Assailed by an ominous presentiment, I shivered.
           
Still I could have some peace of mind because I was convinced father’s spell had failed.
           
Not the slightest change could be seen on my body that was supposed to have received father’s magic. I had thought this was the exact proof it had failed. Of course, after the spell was casted on me at first, I couldn’t move and strange patterns appeared on my skin. But afterwards, this never happened again. On the contrary, I wasn’t sick even once. I had been the very picture of health itself.
           
… … But these words that were said to me at the market… shattered my confidence. Was it successful?...... That doubt dominated all my thoughts. My appearance looked younger than I actually was. My height that should have shot higher remained low. Appearance and height were hereditary, and when I thought of my parents and grand-parents, it seemed I was the only one different. If you think about it calmly, in this body of mine that received father’s spell, a transformation had certainly taken place. A transformation where nothing would change. Thinking about it, for a magician as great as father, weren’t the chances of success higher? In that case, I…