---

“…No. Nooo… Count… Ah, nooo…!”

Wendy woke up from her sleep with great difficulty, gasping for breath. Cold sweat drenched her forehead. She had had a terrible nightmare. A dream where Tristan wouldn’t wake up, no matter if a year or ten years passed.

“Sniff…”

Wendy hugged her shoulders without realizing it, haunted by the vivid memory. In that dream, her tears had dried up. There wasn’t a single happy day. Days where she could do nothing but watch Tristan wither away in bed. She cried every day until, eventually, her tears stopped flowing.

A faint darkness had settled over the patient room. It was a quiet dawn. On the bed in front of her, Tristan still lay. It wasn’t a dream after all.

“Sniff…”

Wendy wiped the tears that had pooled in her eyes. Tears that had dried up in the dream were now flowing again.

Her chest hurt as if bruised. What could she possibly do in front of him, who had lost consciousness?

Wendy grabbed Tristan’s hand tightly. Naturally, she remembered the gentle hand he had extended to her on the Stairway of Truth. The kind hand that had wiped her tears. The caring hand that had stroked her head.

How many times had she found courage in that hand? If it weren’t for Tristan’s hand, Wendy would never have been able to stand up.

Wendy held Tristan’s hand like a precious treasure and spoke.

“Count. I… I had a dream today. A dream where you wouldn’t wake up… Even after a year… five years… ten years… you didn’t wake up… Sniff.”

She wiped her tears and continued.

“You… you said that in ten years, I would grow up splendidly… I don’t know if it was because of those words, but… it really happened as you said… Even though it was just a dream, I… became an adult…”

In the dream, Wendy was no longer a girl. She had become a proper lady. Her short stature had grown, and her once frail body had transformed into one with the charm of an adult woman. But…

“But I couldn’t show that to you… No matter how much I called… no matter how much I shouted, you didn’t wake up… Sob…”

Wendy’s voice began to tremble.

“No matter how much I begged you to look at me, you didn’t wake up… That… that was so heartbreaking… Finally, I reached an age where I could stand beside you, but why…”

No answer came no matter what she said, but it didn’t matter. Wendy conveyed the words she had kept deep in her heart.

“Forever… I will always stay by your side… Whether it’s morning or evening… I will be there the moment you open your eyes… I will always be your exclusive… because I am yours forever.”

Wendy swallowed her tears and spoke as bravely as she could.

“I can’t live without you either. I can’t be happy without you.”

“Wendy…”

“Because you are the most… in this world… Huh? What? Yes…?”

“…Bring me some water.”

At the sudden low voice, Wendy looked up to see Tristan coughing dryly and frowning. He looked no different from the Tristan she remembered.

“My throat is dry…”

“Count…?”

Just minutes ago, he had been unconscious, but now he was sitting up. Wendy pinched her own cheek and asked him again.

“I-Is this not a dream…? Right…?”

“…I’m a bit groggy, but it’s probably not. If it were a dream, I wouldn’t feel this thirsty…”

Tristan replied irritably. It was the voice Wendy had longed to hear. The voice she hadn’t even heard in her dreams. The voice she thought she would never hear again.

Tears welled up in Wendy’s eyes, which she thought had dried up.

“Sob…! You’re really… really the Count, right…? This isn’t a dream, is it?!”

“Yes… So bring me some wa-.”

“Count…! Waaah…!”

Wendy threw herself into Tristan’s arms.

*

“Ah… Miss Bella, you’re here?”

When Bella arrived at the hospital, it was dawn. At the hospital entrance, she encountered Blanshe and Helga.

“…How is the Count?”

“He’s past the crisis. Thanks to the healers and Miss Wendy desperately helping…”

“Is that so…”

Bella let out a sigh of relief. After seeing Tristan’s heart start beating again, Bella had set off for Paradise as if possessed. To ask Michaela to save Tristan. It was the best and last method she could think of.

Bella was prepared to give up everything. Her status as a member of the Duke’s family. The honor of the Seven Stars that had supported the Empire. Even the noble power of light magic given by God… she was willing to give it all up to get him back.

There was no hesitation. Hadn’t she made up her mind while spending a happy day with Tristan in her dreams?

Now, all Bella could do was wait. She just had to wait for Michaela to save him from Hell. The omnipotent God would surely bring him back.

No. Even if Michaela couldn’t save Tristan, it didn’t matter. Even if God had abandoned him, she would never give up on him. And… perhaps the others felt the same.

Bella looked at the two people in front of her. They both had dark circles under their eyes, as if they had stayed up all night. Especially Helga’s expression was darker than Blanshe’s. And in her hand was a lit cigarette.

“You… smoked before?”

“…Occasionally. It’s a secret from the Count.”

Helga took a drag from her cigarette. It burned as black as her heart, which must have been as frustrated as anyone’s. When Tristan collapsed, Helga, his bodyguard knight, had been surprisingly calm. But that was just an act. Even now, her fingers holding the cigarette were trembling.

Bella suddenly realized someone was missing.

“By the way, where is Wendy?”

“She’s sleeping next to the Count now. She refused to leave his side even for a moment…”

Of course. That’s just like Wendy. Among those worried about Tristan, she, the youngest, must have been especially shocked. If Tristan’s unconscious state continued, Wendy’s heart would bear an indelible scar.

“…Then let’s go up.”

Helga, who had stomped out her cigarette, led Bella and Blanshe to the patient room.

“The healers said they’re planning to perform surgery tomorrow morning.”

“Surgery?”

“Yes. They plan to use a mental magic formula to access the Count’s mental world. I don’t know if it will work, but… they have to try something.”

“……”

It was a grim story. The mental magic formula used in the hospital began by drawing the formula directly on the patient’s head. Especially since it involved shaving the patient’s head and drawing directly on it, the risk was extremely high.

The principle was to avoid using mental magic formulas unless the patient was in critical condition. The fact that they were using it meant, as Helga said, they were grasping at straws. In other words… Tristan’s condition was close to despair.

Bella clenched her fists. A long treatment might be about to begin. How many times would her heart, which had already crumbled, have to break again…?

As they walked down the quiet hallway, nearing Tristan’s room, the sound of crying reached their ears.

“Co-Count…! Waaah…!”

The sound of crying, almost like a scream, echoed through the hallway. If they weren’t mistaken, it was Wendy’s crying. The three of them exchanged glances, and a foreboding thought crossed their minds almost simultaneously.

“Could it be…?!”

Helga was the first to move. She sprinted down the hospital hallway at an unbelievable speed. Meanwhile, Bella and Blanshe started running a step later. But they quickly caught up with Helga. And the distance to the room wasn’t that long to begin with. Wendy’s crying grew louder.

Bang-!

Helga burst into the room, almost breaking the door.

“Count!?”

Helga, who was the first to see the situation in the room, froze on the spot. And the same went for Blanshe and Bella.

“…Count?”

Sitting on the pure white bed was the nobleman… and in his arms was Wendy. Holding the crying Wendy, he looked slightly surprised at the three who had suddenly barged in.

“You all…”

“Count! Are you awake?!”

“Blanshe?”

Blanshe was the first to rush to the Count among the three.

“Are you alright?!”

Blanshe tightly held Tristan’s hand as she spoke.

“I was so worried…! I thought you might never wake up… Do you know how worried I was? From that moment, I…”

“Yes… I’m a bit late, but I kept my promise.”

“…Huh?”

“Didn’t you ask me to?”

“…!”

At Tristan’s words, Blanshe hurriedly covered her mouth. And it didn’t take long for the hand covering her mouth to cover her eyes as well. Bella couldn’t help but be surprised as she saw Blanshe’s shoulders start to shake slightly.

It was a sight even Bella, Blanshe’s master, had never seen before… Blanshe crying.

“Count…!”

While Bella was momentarily stunned, Helga staggered towards Tristan. And then she hugged him tightly.

Tristan closed his eyes tightly at the sudden embrace.

“Helga… How long was I asleep?”

“Sob… Almost a day… about a day!”

“Is that all it took…?”

“Is that all?! For me, it felt like an eternity…! How much I… how much I…”

“Enough… Let go. It’s hard to breathe.”

Tristan spoke with an uncomfortable expression. That face was unmistakably the Tristan Bella knew. Realizing this, Bella finally managed to step forward.

“You… really came back? How did you get out of Hell-.”

“Wait…”

Tristan stopped Bella with his hand. He raised his index finger and spoke.

“Let me have a glass of water first, then I’ll answer.”

 

---