NOVEL FROG Chapter 226
EP.226 Life is a Flower. Love is the Honey of that Flower (13)
”Thank you so much! Dawna!”
Fueled by that lively voice, Dawna’s droopy eyes suddenly widened.
”Huh?”
A brief, startled breath escaped her.
Unrefined emotions poured forth from the hazy melody that had taken hold of her.
”Ro… Lowville…?”
Like those who wake from a light slumber, Dawna blinked for a moment and unconsciously began to move her lips.
She simply couldn’t grasp the situation unfolding before her.
If her memory served her right, they had been wandering the Academy’s Central Corridor just moments ago.
Suddenly, when she gathered her thoughts, the place had shifted to her personal room, and the bright sun was already setting.
It truly was a bizarre situation.
It was as if she had mindlessly flipped through dozens of pages of a book she was reading sequentially.
This muddled sensation of her consciousness lagging behind the rapid flow of time and space was peculiar, bordering on a vague fear.
”Dawna. Are you okay?”
In that moment, Regis carefully spoke to Dawna.
His words and actions radiated concern.
The familiarity of the scenery pulled Dawna’s chaotic thoughts into the bright daylight.
”I—I’m fine. It’s nothing. Lowville…”
Gently rubbing around her brow, Dawna collected her thoughts and tried to act nonchalant.
How long had it been?
Dawna suddenly realized what she was doing.
Yes, at that moment, she had just finished writing a petition to the Vatican requesting an assessment of Regis’s qualifications as a priest.
Originally, had she the time for such a tedious and meaningless task, she would have been engrossed in new magical studies.
Regis had brutally donated most of the salary she had given him as a contribution to the Vatican.
Adding to that was Regis’s desperate desire to get his priestly qualifications assessed by the Vatican, which ultimately led Dawna to pick up her pen.
Why had she forgotten about this obvious fact until now?
A sensible doubt floated in her mind.
”Are you really okay? Dawna?”
Startled!
Dawna’s head spun even more at Regis’s sudden action of bringing his face close to hers.
”D-Don’t come any closer!”
”Eek!”
Swish!
Dawna swung her staff nervously.
Regis narrowly dodged her aggressive movement, letting out a frightened moan.
”To approach a lady like that without hesitation! There’s a limit to insensitivity! You really are something!”
”Y-Yes!?”
Regis wore a shocked expression at her sharp reaction.
Dawna herself had a vague idea why he was so bewildered.
Initially, she had viewed him merely as a contractual relationship where they were tied by money.
Eventually, as someone she would grow close with in the distant future, a mere practice partner.
Recently, however, Dawna began to see him in a slightly different light, and those shifting emotions sometimes slipped out in her demeanor.
She was not exactly sure when or what prompted that change.
Perhaps it began when he first started offering her sandwiches he made himself, while she was always too consumed by experiments to bother with meals.
Or maybe it was the day she first suffered from mana exhaustion, and he stayed up all night tenderly nursing her back to health.
In truth, attempting to define such processes was a futile exercise.
The link she formed with another person, having left the warmth of family for the first time.
Given that Dawna was secretly struggling with her life in a strange land, it was only natural for her to cling to that cozy warmth.
That was precisely why writing a recommendation letter for him was not something Dawna was inclined to do.
Even if the chances were infinitely slim, the idea of Regis being formally appointed as a priest by the Vatican meant that the possibility of him leaving her side would significantly increase.
”Just so you know, writing this letter doesn’t mean your holy power will manifest. So don’t get your hopes up…”
”Of course not!”
Despite receiving that advice countless times, his cheerful response never changed.
It was expected.
Having crawled up to this position from such a lowly background of being a Celestial Orphan, for him, the manifestation of holy power was the last hope. It was like a lifeline.
If he had been unlucky enough to not even gain admission to the Academy, he could have easily given up on achieving anything.
But having tasted the view from the top somewhat, he had grown hungry for fame.
Even the fact that he was consistently donating part of his living expenses, which should have been saved for his future, to siblings at some nameless orphanage was a misdirected expression of that ambition.
”Ah, here you go. I’ve attached my signature along with the seal of the Magic Tower, so you should be able to get your talent assessed starting tomorrow.”
”Thank you! Dawna!”
Hug!
”Eek! D-Don’t just hug me carelessly! Didn’t I tell you repeatedly? You really are something!”
”Hahaha!”
”Ugh!”
Despite Dawna aggressively flinging sharp remarks and violence at being suddenly hugged, Regis met it all with a bright smile, looking utterly enviable.
”I will never forget this kindness! Thank you so much! Dawna!”
”A-Alright! I get it! So stop clinging to me!”
Dawna desperately tried to push Regis away as he rubbed his face against her cheek like a drunken father.
It felt slightly gross since he was acting out of character.
But the main reason was that she didn’t want him to hear the relentless sound of her heart pounding due to this sudden physical contact.
”If I become a high priest in the future, I will definitely repay this debt!”
”I get it! Just let me speak! I feel like I’m going to die from dizziness!”
Could he really pull it off?
At that time, Dawna wasn’t taking Regis’s bold claims too seriously.
However, that complacency flipped into shock when she later heard the news that Regis manifested holy power at the level of a high priest.
”Then I’ll go off for my apprentice priest training! Dawna! Don’t cry while I’m gone!”
”W-Who’s going to cry! You should refrain from sobbing at night when I’m gone!”
Dawna’s words had not even a hint of falsehood.
She did get teary-eyed every other day, and she did wail once a week, but she wasn’t crying every day.
Just hold on for a bit, she told herself.
If he could safely finish a mere six months of apprentice training, he would undoubtedly return to her side.
Worried about his safety, she prepared various magical tools and even provided him with a considerable amount of money, believing time would surely resolve everything.
But Dawna’s sincere wish twisted in a way she could never have imagined.
About a few months after Regis left her, she received a letter from him.
Since it had been through sporadic correspondence, the letters from Regis had been her only solace for his absence.
Naturally, when she opened that letter, she wore a joyful smile on her face.
However, that smile quickly shattered as her quivering lips betrayed her.
The content of the letter was a series of shocks.
Just revealing that he planned to drop out from the academy, where he had spent all the money he had saved, was enough to make her eyes widen.
The fact that, clearly invited by the Vatican as a candidate for high priest, he was now starting a new life as a lowly adventurer was simply unbelievable.
But above all, what bewildered Dawna the most was the revelation that all of that was written not by Regis himself, but by someone else.
– Regis has stated that he can no longer accept financial help from you, Dawna, and does not wish to continue correspondence in the future. I’m sorry, but I don’t know the reason either. No matter how much I ask, he just keeps repeating that he no longer has the right to do so.
With that pitiful farewell written by another’s hand, no letter from Regis ever reached Dawna again.
Not a single time.
Yes, not a single time.