"Ta-ta-ta-ta."
"... I spoke. I did. What do I do now? I never imagined I'd say it today."
Seria's mind raced with that thought as she hurried back to her quarters, her footsteps quick and restless.
It was exactly as Alain had said.
Her encounter with Alain was not that long ago.
Perhaps it was a bit hasty.
She was aware of it herself.
But at that moment, when she received the necklace that she now cherished, she thought to herself,
Indeed, she liked Alain.
However, since this feeling was the first of its kind, she couldn't be sure if this emotion was love or merely fondness.
Yet there was one thing she was certain of.
It was the thought that when such feelings arise, one must never hesitate.
Perhaps it was an influence from her parents.
Seria remembered the story her father had told her when she was young about how they first met.
Her father had mentioned that her mother was a frail woman, having battled illness from a young age and enduring constant suffering throughout her life.
The fact that she survived was thanks to her lineage from a powerful noble family.
Had she come from a commoner's background, she would have died in her childhood.
But that did not mean her life was easy.
A frail woman born into a noble family, her delicate health meant that no expectations were placed upon her by her family.
Moreover, due to her frailty, she was unable to undergo the coming-of-age ceremony that women in this world typically receive.
The coming-of-age ceremony is a special ritual, reserved solely for women. Through this ceremony, they awaken latent talents, gaining superior strength and the ability to command golems.
However, her mother was unable to undergo the ceremony, which was customary for all women, except for those like the clergy who were removed from worldly affairs, due to her frail health.
This meant she wasn't recognized as an adult and couldn't be a proud member of her family.
As a result, she lived in hiding, with no support from her family.
It was a coincidence that Seria's father met her mother in that secluded place.
And the two fell deeply in love upon meeting each other.
It took only half a day for them to reach that point.
Two people who fell in love.
And it was none other than Seria's father who gathered the courage to confess.
Considering the standards of this era, it was quite an outrageous act.
A woman he had only recently met.
A man's confession to her. Even if it was considered disgraceful, she couldn't deny it.
If one were to liken it to 500 years ago, it would be akin to a woman throwing herself at a man she had just met, completely naked.
But in response to such an unexpected action, Seria's mother was touched and chose to marry her father.
It may have seemed like a natural course of events.
Had things continued as they were, she would have died in obscurity, forever cut off from the world.
In that case, it wouldn't be so bad to meet her end with someone who loved her deeply.
Such was her way of thinking.
However, ultimately, this incident caused a significant uproar for both families.
It was a scandal that a man and woman from reputable families had fallen in love with each other.
Moreover, the woman was said to be incapable of bearing children due to her frailty, which made her existence almost negligible, and the man was also committing a disgraceful act, coming from a family of some renown.
As a result, there was no way for the two to unite through ordinary means.
In that situation, the choice they made was to escape.
They chose to live apart from the society, just the two of them.
Thus began their new life in a secluded cabin in the mountains.
Where Seria was born.
Sadly, her mother passed away when Seria was still young, her health having deteriorated.
In Seria's memories, her father was always mourning her mother's death.
But at the same time, he held dear the last words she had told him, that she was happy and that she did not regret choosing to be with him.
While telling this story, her father would always say to Seria.
Love, he said, is something that comes like fate.
If you don't grasp it when it arrives, you will never be able to hold it again.
If you let go of that first feeling, no matter how many similar moments arise later, they will never be true love.
In the end, it will only be a pursuit of the echoes of that initial emotion.
Therefore, her father said,
"If you meet someone you never want to let go of, someone you never want to part with, then bet everything on that feeling."
Seria, who was still young, could not comprehend those words.
She merely nodded along, but now, she felt she could understand her father's words.
Remembering those moments, her heart started to racing.
It was all because of Alain.
The boy she encountered in the woods, teetering on the brink of death.
From their very first meeting, she felt a strange emotion.
For some reason, he was always on her mind.
Was it because of his looks?
No, it couldn't be just his black hair and red eyes. That wasn't it either.
So why? Seria couldn't quite understand.
Yet, he strangely occupied her thoughts, and their cautious exchanges began to unravel the questions in her heart.
Ah, so that was it.
In short, it was simply because, she was looking for a friend her age, someone with whom she could laugh and cry.
Surrounded by older superiors, there was no one who could treat her as an equal.