Chapter 90: Facing the TruthThe day after I successfully crafted a mithril knife, we returned to the workshop in the forest since I still had quite a lot of leftover metal to work with. Now that I knew the process better, I thought about making something more complicated.

    Since I was probably going to use the knife myself, I thought the princess would like something, too. I knew that she practiced fencing since I had seen her face off against the knights during their training, and while she wasn’t a swordmaster or anything, she knew the basics of it and used her magic to create her own style of fighting.

    ’I’ll try making a thin blade for her. An estoque...’ I thought.

    However, molding the blade that thin proved to be more complicated than I thought, and before I knew it, I had spent an entire day working on it.

    I managed to finish it very late at night, and when I turned around to show my work to the others, I saw the princess, the maids, and Yoru sleeping on the side of the workshop.

    Only Vespera was awake, who told me they had fallen asleep some time ago after watching me work the entire day.

    "A-are you guys not bored just sitting there?" I asked my companion.

    I understood why Vespera and Yoru liked watching me do stuff, and it was because they learned from me every time I did something. For example, the reason Vespera was able to cast gravity magic was by simply watching me do it and explaining it.

    While they weren’t getting any magic experience from me crafting weapons traditionally, they still learned something new that could make them more powerful in the future.

    But that didn’t explain why the princess and the maids were here.

    ’Well, the maids are probably just here to accompany Melina...’ I thought.

    "Melina is very active, you know? That’s why it’s strange that she just sits there and watches me..." I commented to Vespera, who let out an exasperated sigh.

    "I swear, Ichiro..." she muttered as she planted her palm on her face.

    "What!?" I asked.

    "Why are you purposely being dense?" she asked me with a serious expression.

    "Wh-what do you mean?" I asked.

    "Do you remember that Yoru and I can feel your emotions? Did you think we didn’t know?" she asked again.

    "Speak clearly, Vespera," I replied, getting somewhat annoyed at her cryptic messages.

    Closing her eyes deep in thought, she switched to speaking with me with telepathy.

    ["Ichiro, we know who Melina is. We know that you are purposely denying it, for whatever reason..."] she said, her words echoing in my mind.

    I widened my eyes, surprised at what my companion said, but I couldn’t reply to her as my mind went blank, allowing her to keep talking.

    ["We’ve been having dreams of your past, Ichiro. We even saw the vision that Armaros showed you..."] she continued.

    ["Yoru and I discussed this, and we concluded that you have been purposely denying the fact that Melina is your past wife!"] she exclaimed, her words getting even louder in my head.

    ’Purposely denying it, huh?’ I thought. That was a good way to describe it, honestly.

    ["It’s obvious she feels some sort of connection with you, too. That’s why she watches you and enjoys her time doing it. Do you understand now?"] she asked, somewhat condescendingly, but that was normal for Vespera.

    At that moment, a memory of my past life flashed in my head.

    My wife Melina and I had traveled to the countryside of a European country, and the house we rented wasn’t in the best condition. Nonetheless, we decided to stay and remodel the place as we saw fit.

    I remember it took me an entire day to fix a few walls that looked like they were one wind blow away from collapsing, and during that whole time, my wife just watched me work attentively.

    I turned around to look at her. "Is it that fun watching me do this?" I asked with a slight smile and a hammer in my hand.

    Melina placed her finger on her chin inquisitively. "It’s fun watching YOU do it," she said confidently.

    "Are you sure? You could just watch a TV show or something..." I said as I kept looking at her beautiful green eyes.

    My wife nodded. "This is much better than any TV show," she replied, her tone soft and soothing.

    Just as she said that, the memory suddenly shifted, and my brown-haired and green-eyed wife now looked like the princess with silver hair and aquamarine eyes.

    Yes, she looked very different from our past life, but so did I. However, that gaze was the same. That solemn and loving look that made me fall in love with her the first time was still present in our new life.

    Vespera was right.

    I had been purposely denying the fact that she was the reincarnation of my past wife.

    Why did I deny it? Well, I couldn’t say for sure.

    Maybe I didn’t want to be disappointed if she wasn’t the real deal, or perhaps I just didn’t want to believe it.

    "Do you see, now?" Vespera asked with a low tone to not wake up the others, bringing me back to the present moment.

    "I do..." I replied, feeling confused.

    My companion gave me a reassuring hug and whispered.

    "Remember what Phelena told you when she brought you here..." she said as she let go of the embrace.

    Hearing her words, I tried my best to recall my meeting with the Goddess Phelena, but the memories were kind of blurry.

    It made sense since I was technically dead at the time, but if Vespera could see my memories, then I should have been able to uncover them, too.

    I remember asking Phelena why she chose me, but she didn’t have a clear answer for me. Instead, she said: "There is something I want you to do, and there is something that you want to do."

    ’What did she mean by that?’ I pondered, gazing at the princess who napped peacefully beside Yoru and the maids.

    At that moment, the last moments of my past life came back to me, flashing so violently that it made me kneel on the ground as I held my chest, feeling a sharp and cold pain.

    I was bleeding out on the ground, looking at the stranger’s face.

    "Make sure to always protect her..." I said to him, but those weren’t my last words.

    There was one final thought after that.

    "Maybe... we get to meet again... Melina..."

    At that moment, I snapped from the memory, and the pain I felt had utterly dissipated.

    Vespera held my arm with a worried expression, but I knew that was what she wanted me to see.

    "What I wanted to do..." I muttered to my companion while still kneeling on the ground.

    I understood what Phelena meant at that moment. What I wanted to do was see my wife again, and she had given me the opportunity to do so.

    It also explained why she wanted to send me as a twelve-year-old instead of a baby. Because then I would’ve been way younger than the princess.

    Even when I asked her to send me far away from people, she still sent me to the Sephyr Kingdom. Sure, it was the most desolate place in the kingdom, but it was still the same place where Melina resided.

    She could’ve simply sent me to an uninhabited island, but she decided to send me to End Forest, leading to my meeting with Melina.

    ’Did she really plan this from the beginning?’ I pondered.

    However, I still didn’t know what she wanted me to do.

    I found out what she meant in the end, but there was still a mission that she wanted me to complete.

    ’This would have been much simpler if she just told me what she wanted me to do...’ I thought, but she probably had her reasons.

    ’Well, surely it will come to me at some point, just like this...’

    After the long talk with Vespera and the road to memory lane, Melina coincidentally opened her eyes and rubbed them with a tired expression, then focused her vision on the thin blade that was on the table.

    "Oh, you did it!" she exclaimed, waking up everyone else as she stood up to take a closer look at the estoque.

    Seeing the princess curiously glancing at the blade made me blush a little. Now that I wasn’t fooling myself anymore, I suddenly felt slightly shy around her.

    ’Say something... stupid...’ I insulted myself, trying to come up with words. But the princess beat me to it.

    "I didn’t know you practiced fencing," she said.

    "I-I don’t. I made this one for you..." I replied, gazing to the side out of pure shyness.

    The princess’s face switched her smile to surprise. "B-but you worked so hard on it..." she said, looking down and blushing.

    "Well, of course. I wasn’t going to make something for you with half-assed intentions." I said.

    Instead of saying anything, Melina hugged me tightly and whispered, "Thank you," as she buried her face in my chest. sea??h thё N?vel?ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.