Between Your Letter and My Reply

Chapter 37

[Translation By Divinity ]

“This level of bruising will fade on its own. That guy’s punches weren’t strong enough to break the skin or injure the inside of your mouth. It just looks like a bruise.”

“A handsome face isn’t meant to be used like that.”

“Lilliana, I’m hungry. Can’t we eat first?”

“Your face is more important than food.”

“Why?”

“Because a handsome face is a feast for the eyes.”

“…”

“And I’ve only taken two pictures of you so far. How can I take pictures with your face like this?”

“My photos don’t really matter, do they?”

Lilliana puffed out her cheeks at Damian’s words. She looked quite displeased and finally removed the ice pack after it had half melted.

“Here, look. Thankfully, it doesn’t seem swollen.”

She gently touched Damian’s face with her hand. Damian flinched involuntarily, more from the strangeness of Lilliana’s long, slender fingers on his cheek than the pain. Lilliana, misinterpreting his reaction, put her hands on her hips.

“See? It hurts, doesn’t it? Shouldn’t you take some painkillers?”

“Shouldn’t I eat something first before taking painkillers?”

“Oh, right. Can you even chew anything? Maybe you should have some porridge.”

“You’re the one who said I’m overprotective, but aren’t you being a bit too overprotective yourself? I can even gnaw meat off bones.”

Damian grumbled, and Lilliana, as if waiting for this, said,

“Then let’s make a promise. No more overprotecting each other.”

“…”

Damian’s lips pressed into a thin line, and Lilliana narrowed her eyes and clicked her tongue. Damian groaned.

“What a way to start our first day of sightseeing. The plan’s gone awry, and we even got pickpocketed.”

“You’re telling me. But can anything worse happen from now on?”

“Lilliana, you shouldn’t say things like that carelessly. They might come back to bite you.”

Damian shuddered, remembering the consequences of breaking Tennant’s valuable advice.

“But it was fun, wasn’t it?”

Lilliana asked with a grin, and Damian’s face turned serious.

“Fun? This?”

“Why not? Life rarely goes according to plan. So it’s not a big deal if our sightseeing plans get a little messed up. We don’t only have today. I’m already content just from seeing the palace. And honestly, you were pretty cool today, Damian. How did you win a 4-on-1 fight with just one arm?”

“Well… I’m… somewhat capable, aren’t I?”

At Damian’s words, the corners of Lilliana’s lips twitched, and then she burst into laughter.

“Ahahaha! That’s hilarious! You’re ‘somewhat capable’! Ahahaha! You’re so confident! But I can’t argue with that because it’s true. Ahahaha!”

Lilliana laughed so hard she clutched her stomach and fell backward onto the grass. She rolled around, giggling uncontrollably.

Her contagious laughter seemed to tickle Damian’s lips too. He instinctively covered his mouth with his hand, but hearing Lilliana’s laughter, he couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.

“Hahaha, what is happening?”

Seeing Damian laughing with his shoulders shaking, Lilliana stopped rolling on the grass and said as if she had witnessed something rare.

“Oh my? Is that the first time you’ve laughed out loud in front of me, Damian?”

“Ah, is that so?”

“It is! It’s the first time! So you can laugh like that.”

“I can laugh when there’s something to laugh about.”

“Then there haven’t been any funny things until now?”

Lilliana asked with wide eyes, and Damian was momentarily speechless.

‘What has been funny lately?’ He couldn’t think of anything. He couldn’t get a job, housing and prosthetics were expensive, and he had no idea how to live his life, so he wasn’t exactly enjoying himself.

“There haven’t been any particularly sad events, but… there haven’t been any joyful ones either.”

Lilliana slowly tilted her head to the side, her golden hair cascading down with the movement.

“Then let’s make a lot of fun memories from now on.”

“From now on?”

“Yeah. Like today.”

“I’d rather not experience being pickpocketed twice.”

Damian said seriously, and Lilliana chuckled.

“Oh, I wasn’t talking about pickpockets. I meant, didn’t you enjoy the palace tour?”

Damian had been to the palace before, so today’s visit wasn’t particularly new or exciting for him. But Lilliana’s constant chatter as she busily explored was somewhat novel.

In his memory, his previous palace visit had been rather uneventful. But being with Lilliana, who commented on everything she saw and nudged him to look at things, made it feel different.

Damian nodded and replied,

“Yes, I think I enjoyed it a little.”

“See?”

Lilliana wiped under her nose, looking proud.

“I promised to show you around the capital, didn’t I? It’ll be fun to explore together.”

Damian smiled unconsciously and replied,

“Alright. But before that… I need to say something.”

“What is it?”

“I’m going to refuse any itineraries like the one you made today.”

“What? Why?”

Lilliana puffed out her cheeks, and Damian said with a weary expression,

“We’re both patients. We can’t deny that. We need to face reality. With our current stamina, we can’t handle such a packed schedule. Look at us today. We’re exhausted after just touring one palace.”

Damian’s logical reality check made Lilliana look frustrated.

“That’s… true.”

“So how about we limit ourselves to visiting at most two places a day from now on?”

Lilliana thought for a moment, then snapped her fingers and said,

“Then that means I have more excuses to ask you out!”

“…I guess so.”

“Wait. What was that silent pause about earlier?”

“I don’t know.”

Damian stretched his legs and leaned back, supporting his upper body with his arm on the ground.

“I was just thinking that if we’re friends, we wouldn’t need excuses to see each other.”

Lilliana looked quite touched by his words.

“Damian, you know more about friendships than I thought.”

“What do you mean by that, Lilliana?”

“Well, you said you didn’t have any friends, so I was going to teach you everything about friendships, but it seems like you know quite a bit.”

“I might not have any friends because I lack social skills and charm, but I know that much.”

Damian’s self-deprecating remark made Lilliana laugh.

“Well, you said it yourself, so it’s a promise, okay? If you’re free and have nothing else to do, come when I call, okay?”

“Okay.”

Damian replied with a smile.

“And that means the same goes for me, right? You can call me anytime, even if you don’t have anything specific in mind.”

“I guess so. Then it’s settled. I look forward to spending time with you.”

Lilliana smiled for a moment, then lay down on the grass, using her hands as a pillow behind her head. She looked up at the blue sky and said,

“Come to think of it, I haven’t told you this yet, have I?”

“Told me what?”

Damian waited patiently for her answer, and Lilliana hesitated for a moment before speaking. Then she said something quite unexpected.

“I actually have amnesia.”

“What?”

Damian’s eyes widened, and Lilliana smacked her lips, feeling a bitterness in her mouth, and elaborated.

“I don’t remember the past two years, starting from the day of the accident. They say the shock of the accident wiped out my memories.”

The Lilliana Damian had met so far had been living a remarkably normal life for someone who had lost two years of memories. Even Damian, who was a bit more observant than others, couldn’t detect any sense of incongruity; she seemed perfectly fine mentally and had a cheerful personality.