Rather Than The Son, I’ll Take The Father
chapter-167

Aedis rubbed his face.

“I remembered the place I wanted to go.”

I stepped on my foot lightly. It didn’t hurt, perhaps thanks to the cloth that Aedis had wrapped around my feet with such great enthusiasm.

“Then let’s go.”

When I said it without asking where, Aedis used the movement magic.

Eventually, the place we arrived at was a sea of ice.

Under the popcorn-shaped clouds, a transparent superb view spread out. If I followed his stamina, it seemed that we could walk across the horizon.

Aedis didn’t even look around, he looked at me first.

“Are you alright?”

“Huh? Of course.”

Even though I nodded willingly, Aedis scanned me thoroughly from head to toe.

“…… It’s the first time I’ve moved with a living person.”

Aedis murmured softly. I paused.

…… Suddenly, I remembered the room where the crib was placed.

The corners of the furniture were blunt, and the cold wind didn’t come in, so it’s very warm.

I didn’t know Aedis’ parents, but I knew how much they loved him.

“I see.”

I answered in a dry voice.

Aedis’ brother murdered their parents. It wouldn’t be a too old thing for Aedis now.

If so, what would happen to the body?

And that house.

Of course, Kadan wouldn’t have dealt with it.

“Before the monsters’ territory expanded, it was a place where humans often came and went. I heard it was famous for ice fishing or something.”

I blinked. Come to think of it, Aedis 500 years later was also interested in fishing.

―I brought fishing gear too. Third older brother said that when you’re outdoors you should eat the prey you catch.

—Are you good at fishing?

It was when we went on an estate inspection. Procyon was talking excitedly, and Aedis was also briefly interested at that moment.

“Aedis, do you like fishing?”

“No.”

It was a knife-like answer.

I grumbled with a sad face.

“What? I thought you liked it because you reacted to fishing in the future.”

“I have never done it and have no intention of doing it. If I had to find a reason, I must have vaguely remembered coming here with you.”

“…….”

Aedis must have said it without much thought.

But it touched my heart very much.

So that means even if the chick erased this meeting from Aedis’ mind, maybe even the smallest thing would remain.

Even if it doesn’t change what happened in the past, if it can put Aedis’ mind at ease just a little bit.

That alone was reason enough for me to be here now.

I looked around and picked up a stick that looked like a fishing rod.

“Let’s go fishing! I’ll catch all the fish below!”

Aedis looked at me, suddenly enthusiastic, as if he was looking at a strange creature.

“There’s nothing but beasts down here.”

I smiled confidently.

“It’s rather better. I’m not that bad with beasts so if I become bait …….”

“No way. Dangerous.”

Aedis’ face turned terrifying.

“Umm, don’t you want to listen to my story to the end?”

“No.”

“Al, alright.”

He was really adamant.

Aedis sighed and opened my coat.

“I can only hope that you will properly erase my memory. I might just worry about you for 500 years…….”

I looked sullen. Who is caring about who?

Then Aedis’ eyes narrowed.

“But you’re sure you’re going back to the time when you disappeared, right?”

When I disappeared…… Was it the moment I fell asleep next to Regen?

“Well? I never thought about it.”

Aedis’ mouth was tightly shut.

At the same time, I grasped the seriousness of the situation.

Aedis spoke first.

“Go back now.”

“…….”

“Goodbye is…… No, go back right now…….”

Aedis’ face hardened as if he had imagined the worst possible situation. I reassured him.

“It won’t matter if I’m gone for a few hours. Didn’t the chicken also disappear? Aedis, I mean, future you knows that chick thinks terribly of me.”

Aedis lowered his hand from opening my coat and grabbed my wrist. Then applied gentle pressure to the pulse points.

“I don’t seem to have shown much in front of you, but I am impatient.”

“Huh?”

“Good at torture, too.”

“Excuse me?”

“As much as I’ve experienced it myself, I know very well how people can be broken without any means of salvation. So hurry up.”

I was dumbfounded by the bloody warning.

“But the Aedis I saw…….”

“It must have been bearable. Because you were by my side.”

“…….”

“I would have gone crazy knowing that you didn’t exist at the end of that world by now.”

I didn’t care about that.

I looked at Aedis, who decided the worst situation without giving me any room.

“Why are you so sure?”

“It is me after all.”

“…….”

“I have no intention of getting married, but I certainly have no intention of keeping it. So when I saw you, I was stunned. It wasn’t a decision that could change over time.”

“…….”

Suddenly, I had a strange thought.

If Maevia in 〈Esmeralda's Crescent Moon〉 had proposed, would Aedis accept?

If he had rejected it, why did he accept my marriage proposal?

When I proposed, Aedis had enough information about me.

I thought that Aedis had accepted the marriage proposal because I had taken a completely different move from the novel.

But what if that’s not all?

What if it was because of something very small that remained even after this meeting was erased like foam?

“So you may not know it, but you are very important to me…….”

“Yeah, I am important. I am very loved.”

“Then…….”

Aedis tried to say goodbye in a calm tone.

No way.

“But I’m not leaving right now.”

“Why?”

I smiled at my 19-year-old husband.

“Do you believe I won’t get into an accident until I go back? Believe in your future self, too.”

“…….”

“Well, the chick is sleeping, too.”

“You can wake it up.”

Aedis said menacingly.

“For now, it would be too hard to grant what I want, but please don’t torture me…….”

“…….”

“And I still haven’t been able to properly explain that I didn’t marry just by looking at your face.”

“…….”

Aedis looked disgruntled, but kept quiet. No, he looked like he was choosing his words carefully.

“If you don’t believe in the future you, believe in me. Shall we continue fishing?”

Aedis took the fishing rod from my hand. Then he lifted it so that my arms could not reach it.

“Wah, that’s mean.”

Aedis ignored my protest.

“Is this a problem that can be solved by believing someone? Don’t try to get away with it. I am not a child.”

“Is it because I’m making an expression like a kid whose toy was stolen?”

Once again, Aedis mercilessly ignored me.

“Even if you suddenly disappear like how you suddenly appeared, I won’t mind. Everything just goes back to normal.”

“…….”

“But you’re going to spend more time here leisurely just because you believe in me in the future? I can’t even remember properly?”

Aedis’ voice became harsh. He reacted sensitively as if the word ‘believe’ was his trigger.

“But I will remember, as you said.”

“…….”

Aedis’ face contorted at my quiet retort.

I made my point.

“Again, the future you really won’t cause trouble. I believe so. I’m sure.”

Regen also calls me mother, so I can’t let that go to waste now.

Aedis sighed and denied it.

“No.”

“Hey.”

My fishing rod was broken.

“No matter who I am in the future, I will not deserve that kind of trust. You will only be disappointed.”

“…….”

Finally, Aedis told me the reason for his defensive attitude.

“You think too highly of me.”

Even though I couldn’t look in the mirror, I got the feeling that my eyes were shaking a lot right now.

What is this situation where I say I believe in my husband but get scolded by my past-husband…….

I lifted my heel and grabbed Aedis’ cheeks.

Aedis didn’t shrug it off.

Well, at least the first step was a success.

I looked Aedis straight in the eye.

“Aren’t you underestimating yourself?”

Aedis retorted without hesitation.

“I think you are the best…….”

“Oho, that doesn’t count.”

No wonder. If he was nineteen, it wasn’t long since he had escaped from Kadan’s clutches, but he didn’t show it.

Aedis’ wounds were festering on the inside.

The house that was small and pretty enough to be used as a background for a childrens’ book was Aedis’ world.

To Aedis, who had difficulty getting out of bed, his parents and brother were his world.

But they were all gone.

It was clear what Aedis must have been thinking about in the cave.

He would have blamed himself all the time.

He who had been tricked by his own brother.

He who couldn’t prevent his parents’ deaths.

Even more so, he couldn’t even get revenge properly.

…… Really, I wish there would be a little left behind. Even if he forgot my face and voice.

I whispered in a sweet voice.

“Aedis, I am a very good person both objectively and subjectively.”

“…… so?”

“A good person like me will not marry just anyone.”

“…….”

“So you…… What’s wrong with your expression?”

Why do you look like you don’t believe it?