For Your Failed Unrequited Love

At the sudden serious expression on his face, the Madam looked at him with a puzzled face and nodded her head.

“She once took Lucy to a women’s social gathering hosted by the Marquis. That trip was probably in the fall of 8 years ago….”

Colin remembered that time and helped out.

“You don’t know how much Lucy bragged after returning from her Marquis’ Mansion! The dishes she ate there, the desserts, and the beautiful lake she saw while strolling through the garden…. In addition, she was so noisy all day, she was reciting the names of all the flowers she saw in the garden!”

“A lake?”

“She said she saw a big lake near the garden? Since it’s your mother’s relative, you must have been there before.”

lake…

Felix stared blankly at the table top. All of a sudden, some vague memories began to come to mind.

His face seemed calm at first glance, but in his head he was going back eight years very quickly.

To that fall, which he had been turning away from for a long time, that he deliberately did not want to recall.

In fact, when he recalled the fall eight years ago, all he could think of were memories of his mother.

He was led by her hand and climbed into the carriage going to the Marquis. And the disappointed expression of his mother when he confessed that he wasn’t Adrian in the carriage.

A child who had been  neglected by his mother for a whole month….

Just thinking about it was a sad memory, so he consciously tried not to think of that autumn. For Felix, that autumn was like a lost time.

However, the moment he heard from Madam Triana that Lucy had visited the Marquis, a small memory that had been pushed aside in a corner came to his mind.

That little memory flashed through his mind in an instant. And finally, a face that had been forgotten appeared hazy. Even in the vague form, some parts regained their vivid appearance.

Hair braided neatly behind the back. The white little hands that were handing out the ointment. And mysterious emerald eyes.

“Ah….”

Finally, Felix slowly got up from his seat at a memory that he had long forgotten.

“Sunbae, why are you like this!”

As he stood up blankly with his mouth open, Colin waved at him and asked. Felix murmured without a reply to his words.

“No way…. “

Leaving Colin and the Madam behind, looking puzzled, Felix quickly ran upstairs.

His heart was pounding. If that girl really was Lucy then, why on earth did he not remember until now?

Arriving in front of Lucy’s room in one step, he took a deep breath and carefully knocked on the door.

“…. Lucy.”

Soon, Lucy’s bewildered voice leaked from beyond the door.

“W, wait a minute! I’m getting dressed!”

Then there was a sound of footsteps running towards the door. Soon after, Lucy’s voice was heard from behind the door that was still not open.

“I’ll change clothes and go out soon!”

But instead of replying to that, an impatient question came out of Felix’s mouth.

“Is it you?”

“…… yes?”

At the question that had been cut both front and back, Lucy asked with a bewildered voice.

“Are you that kid then?”

His head was so complicated that only random questions came out of Felix’s mouth.

“What do you mean?”

“The….”

Felix barely regained his composure and asked calmly.

“Autumn, eight years ago. The girl who spoke to me at the lakeside in the Everen mansion. The child who gave me wound ointment and put moganara plant on my ankle.… Is that you?”

Silence passed for a while. There was no sign of anything beyond the door.

After a while, the door slowly opened. Lucy’s face, still wet with damp hair, was exposed. Big eyes looked up at Felix’s face as if surprised.

Yes, these emerald eyes.

How could I have forgotten these eyes?

For a moment, even though she looked surprised, Lucy opened her mouth with eyes filled with resentment.

“That … you just remembered now?”

Felix immediately opened the door and hugged Lucy tightly. Joy filled his heart.

He asked, pressing his recalled face against Lucy’s head.

“Did you remember me?”

“…of course. How can I forget that pretty face?”

Wrapped in his arms, Lucy murmured. 

“Besides, you said I smell like horse dung.”

After Felix released Lucy, he wrapped her face with his hands.

“Did I really say that? I don’t remember…. I can’t have said that to you.”

Lucy clenched her lips once, and she asked with a suspicious look.

“Aren’t you pretending you don’t remember?”

Of course not.  He couldn’t have really said such a thing. She smells so good.

Felix laughed softly as he smelled the soapy scent emanating from Lucy’s body. Instead of answering, he hugged Lucy tightly again. Lucy also snuggled into his arms without a word.

Felix was very surprised and pleased to remember the old encounter he had not remembered. At the same time, once again, I was happy and confident. 

Maybe Lucy and him are destined to be bound by a thread of solid ties.

* * *

The holiday at Madam Triana’s mansion seemed a bit short. It was such a fun and peaceful time that they wondered if they could go back to the academy and adapt again.

Thankfully, the Madam was so impatient to give this and that until the moment they left. If it wasn’t for the servant the Madam gave them, they couldn’t have taken all of them.

“Thanks for the invitation, Madam.”

“I had fun too. Everyone, get home safely.”

Greeted by the Madam, they got into the carriage.

The carriage rumbled once and then began to move forward gently. Although he stayed only one night, the mansion and garden, which became a special place for Felix, gradually disappeared from the window.

Opposite him sat a person waving her hand out of the window, she made the mansion that had nothing to do with him a meaningful place. 

To him, Lucy was now an existence that he could completely give up. Because he didn’t think he could make this kind of relationship with anyone else.

“Lucy, sit with me.”

Felix spoke to Lucy, who was sitting next to Colin, and tapped the seat next to him with his hand. At his words, Lucy glanced at Colin with a bewildered expression on her face. She didn’t know that Colin had noticed their relationship yet.

Colin pouted his mouth and looked displeased at Felix’s behavior, which now seemed to care nothing about him.

As Lucy continued to sit in confusion, Felix got up and tapped Colin’s foot.

“Swap seats with me.”

“Meh! Can’t you just go away?”

Colin muttered discontentedly, but Felix forced him to get up and change his seat.

As soon as he sat next to Lucy, Felix reached out to her. Lucy, who was looking at Colin’s expression, hesitated and clasped his hand. Then she whispered softly.

“Did you happen tell Colin? I didn’t say anything….”

“Yeah, he saw us holding hands yesterday.”

He said with a smirk.

“Just tell me, I will not leave him alone. don’t worry.”

“It’s not that…… I was afraid that you’d be upset because I did not tell you beforehand.”

“He won’t die from being upset.”

“I can hear everything.”

Colin pouted and snapped.

Felix ignored his words and gently brushed the back of Lucy’s hand with his thumb. Then Colin quickly turned his head away, as if he had seen nothing.

Now Felix couldn’t contain his feelings for Lucy. It was to the point where his love for her had already grown uncontrollably for a long time.

But last night, when he realized one memory that connected him with her, his confidence in her grew even greater.

And over the years that went by, he was so thankful to Lucy for not forgetting him and remembering him throughout her life.

He stared at Lucy’s round head looking out the window and kissed her lightly. Lucy, who looked back at the feeling of something touching, blushed after realizing that it was Felix’s lips.

“Am I a ghost?”

Colin’s dissatisfied voice came straight in.

“Can’t you see me?”

This time, Felix pretended not to hear him and buried his face in Lucy’s shoulder. After rubbing his face a few times, he put his cheeks to Lucy and looked out the window quietly. Trees strewn with yellow leaves flew past.

The gloomy autumn street looked as bright as a spring day.

* * *

After the three-day holiday, the academy was again bustling with students returning from their homes, but the mood was down. The students still could not get out of the idleness of playing and eating, so they could hardly concentrate even in class.

Everyone looked out the window with unfocused eyes as if their minds were elsewhere.

In the meantime, there was a person who was already keen to prepare for the final exam, staying alert on her own.

Felix sighed as he looked at Lucy. She was walking around struggling with a bag full of books which drooped down on the floor.

“Give it to me.”

Felix took the bag from her hand. He frowned at the heavier weight than he had expected.

“You don’t have to do this. You always work hard. So, it won’t be a problem even if you just do what you normally do.”

At his words, Lucy looked back with a sullen expression.

“…… I don’t want to hear that from someone who crammed but still manage to ranked first.”