In Love With the Strongest Man
Translator: Shizukuku
Editor: Helen
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Arc 4 Desire
Chapter 6 “Yeah. It’s a promise.”
“Shuka-san.”
A small child—a small Ideal—clutched my clothes tightly. He was crying endlessly, begging me not to leave.
We had only been together for a short time, but the child had grown very attached to me.
The child who first gave meaning to my life. I didn’t even ask his name to avoid getting too attached, but now, for this child, I wouldn’t even hesitate to give my own life. He had become someone irreplaceable to me.
“Shuka-san, please.”
“What is it?”
When I squatted down to meet his gaze, his bright, jewel-like red eyes sparkled with tears.
I was about to leave the child in the care of my trusted friend, Rarigi, and find the client who had ordered the assassination of this child. This was likely to be a permanent farewell.
Even though he was still so young, it seemed like he understood what was happening and was desperately trying to hold me back.
I hoped that he could quickly forget about me. Forget everything that had happened so far. I wanted him to make new, happy memories.
Even so, I wanted to at least grant his last wish. I shook off the hand that clung to me, begging me not to go. However, if I could do anything to stop the tears that flowed soon after, I would have done it.
“Shuka-san…!”
“Whoa. Are you okay? Did you hit your head? Does it hurt?”
“Hic… Shuka-san, ugh… please…”
I held the thin body that had pounced into my arms. The child cried uncontrollably with his face buried in my chest, desperately trying to speak, though his words came out haltingly.
“Please, be my bride…!”
What came out was a clumsy yet charming wish.
“Pfft… hahaha!”
“Don’t laugh at me…!”
“Sorry, sorry. You’re just so cute.”
Rarigi had most likely convinced him that if we were married, we could always be together. That demon toyed with the solemn innocence of the child, who was desperate to keep me in his life.
I hesitated for a moment and—nodded. I stroked the crying child’s head and held out my pinky finger to him.
“I promise. When I come back, I’ll marry you.”
Instantly, the child’s face brightened up.
“Really!?”
“Yeah. It’s a promise.”
Making a promise by entwining one’s pinky fingers was something passed down in my hometown. The child hurried to intertwine his pinky fingers with mine, remembering what I had taught him during our time together.
I had taught him to just use one hand, but for some reason, he used both. His earnestness was touching.
“Let’s make a pinky promise… We’ve made a promise, now. See? So please stop crying.”
—I can never return to this child. This promise will never be fulfilled in this lifetime.
Still, I hoped to become a support for this child until he grew up. Someday, he would forget about me. He would put his painful past in a box and lock it away, never to be seen by the light of day again.
But until then, I wanted to bring a little piece of peace to this child’s heart. So I lied with a smile.
“I’ll become your bride.”
“Promise!? Is it really, really true!?”
“I understand, I understand. I really, truly promise.”
After embracing and nodding several times, the child finally showed me a smile.
“Thank you, Shuka-san.”
“—What was that…?”
As I woke up, sunshine from the rising sun faintly illuminated the room. With my mind still fuzzy from sleep, I recalled the dream I’d just had.
“Please be my bride…!”
“Ah…?”
Suddenly, my heart began to throb painfully in my chest.
“Yeah. It’s a promise.”
It was a lie I’d told for little Ideal’s sake. However, contrary to my expectations, I survived while having the curse carved into me. In the beginning, I had thought about my promise to that child countless times. Every time people turned on me in disgust, hurt me, or when I felt on the verge of despair, I remembered it over and over again. Looking up at the sky, I thought about the child who gave me love, who must be somewhere in the world, and I was able to stand back up.
Over the long years, I became accustomed to things, and I eventually forgot the promise that I had never fulfilled. But those words were certainly what kept me alive.
“Ah—”
“…Shuka-san?”
I heard the sound of Ideal shifting in his sleep behind me. An arm reached out from behind and hugged me tightly.
“Good morning…”
“~~~…!!”
The whisper was in a voice that had lost all traces of its former self due to puberty. And yet.
“Please be my bride.”
I remembered the words little Ideal had said.
“Whooooaaaaa!?”
“Shuka-san!?”
I shook off the arm and jumped out of the bed.
My face was hot. Even my ears were hot. I was definitely, absolutely, turning bright red right now…!
“What’s wrong!?”
“Wait… d-don’t… don’t come any closer…”
My heart was pounding so hard it hurt. The sound of thumping and beating filled my ears.
“Shuka-san…?”
Ah, I…
When I tried to recall the little child he once was, all that came to mind were the images of the grown-up Ideal. His smiling expression, his frightening face, the way he sweat in bed.
All of it, every bit, were images of the man right before my eyes.
—I wanted him to call me Shuka-san in a low voice.
—I wanted him to say those words from the past one more time. Such desires welled up in my heart one after another.
All those inexplicable emotions that were raging wildly suddenly settled surprisingly into a single answer.
I love him. I love Ideal.
