North x Northwest

The group was welcomed by the sight of villagers preparing for a feast in the square. Exclamations rang out from all around when they noticed that the first cart they saw was stacked.

“Wow!”

“..?”

Lil turned at the sound of a familiar voice.

“Did you catch all that stuff?”

Levi snooped from behind them, holding an unfamiliar little girl. Lil glanced at the child, who was clinging in Levi’s arms.

“Who is this little lady?”

“Her name is Marie. I treated her last year.”

“Oh, hello?”

The child, with her red hair braided into two pigtails, lifted her head. Lil smiled as sweetly as she could, while Ed, standing beside her, tried his best to suppress his laughter when he saw the artificial smile plastered on her face, before greeting Marie as well.

“Hi.”

“Marie, this is Lil. She’s a hunting genius.”

“Really?!”

Marie’s eyes lit up instantly. Lil thought the reaction was pretty cute, but at the same time, she still found it difficult to interact with a small creature known as a child. Especially when it was their first meeting.

‘…What… should I do?’

After pondering about it, Lil answered.

“That’s right…”

“That’s so cool!… Huh? Mister!”

When Marie spotted Linhardt walking towards Ed, she waved her hand eagerly. Linhardt, now only a short distance away, looked at them and said.

“Sir Picard just told me that because of today’s successful hunt, he’s planning on hosting a feast and inviting us.”

Lil, not wanting to stand out, shook her head. Ed similarly declined by saying he wasn’t keen on attending such events. As a result, it was quickly decided that only Levi and Linhardt would attend in their stead.

When Levi exclaimed she had to get ready, she held out the child she was holding towards Lil and Ed. Lil just stared at Ed, not having the confidence to look after children. Noticing her stares, Ed, even though embarrassed at first, eventually accepted his fate.

“I guess it can’t be helped.”

Ed awkwardly took over the child. It seemed like he was holding her up with strength rather than with skill, nonetheless, it probably looked ten times better than what Lil could have done. Also, it didn’t seem like Marie intended to leave them either. It actually amused Lil that the child behaved without hesitation even though Ed’s attention was directed towards her.

They strolled around the square where preparations for the feast were in full swing. An increasing number of people were gathering in the square, and a few of them settled down to play music. The smell of savoury food also began to intensify.

“Miss, how did you learn how to hunt?”

“I learned it when I was young, a royal… a soldier taught me the basics.”

“Wow. That’s amazing. I can’t even hold a bow yet.”

Ed struggled to carry the child properly when Marie pretended to shoot an arrow and wiggled her legs.

“You can learn it if you want. It’s not that difficult.”

“Wow. Does that mean I can become a hunting expert like you, Miss?”

“It may be hard at first, but if you don’t give up, you will achieve it in the end.”

Seeing Marie’s eyes gleam even more, Lil tilted her head and whispered to Ed.

“…It seems like the world truly is changing. This is a big deal…”

“You simply amaze people. You were already great in my eyes, so how much more so in this little one’s?”

It was then that Marie started moving wildly in Ed’s arms.

“Oh? Mom!”

As soon as Ed put her down, the child ran into her mother’s arms without even looking back. Marie then turned to face them, eagerly waving her hand as she was carried by her mother. Lil waved her hand in unison, but upon realising that Ed had merely nodded his head, she grabbed his wrist and forcefully shook it from side to side as well.

Ed muttered, looking at his helplessly swaying wrist.

“…Finally, liberation…”

“Why? It suited you well.”

“You must be joking, right?”

‘Even though he says that, Ed did a great job taking care of her.’

The two could finally walk hand in hand. The town, which had a festive atmosphere, became increasingly noisy and due to the smell of meat being cooked over a fire, Lil felt like she was getting hungry.

Looking for a suitable restaurant for dinner, Ed suddenly asked.

“By the way, who was that soldier you knew and taught you how to hunt?”

Lil responded with a sigh.

“…Maxwell.”

“ ‘That’ Maxwell?”

“Yes. Even though he seems drained of life now, when I was young, he was a generous and cheerful person. He even gave me a bow and taught me how to shoot a crossbow just for fun. He probably did it because he was getting bored with having to escort a girl and that was what he came up with to spend the time. Even though that was pretty obvious, it was actually helpful to me. It stopped when we almost got caught by my older brother… But to be honest with you, if being able to hit my target didn’t make me feel that good, or if Maxwell never told me that I was talented, I might’ve never even thought about joining the Karabinae. I would never have known it was possible…”

“But now, he’s threatening one or both our lives? It must be a complicated situation.”

“I don’t know if he’s going through so much trouble since he became the captain of the royal guards, but… it would’ve been nice if he just confided in me. I’m no longer the helpless little girl that I used to be…”

“…”

Ed gently wrapped his arms around Lil’s shoulders and kissed her forehead. While resting her head against Ed’s shoulder, she looked up at a completely dark sky like someone who was about to dwell on the past.

“Maxwell must be resenting his past self. He probably never realised before that he was the one who put the key to freedom in my hands.”

“…”

The more she spoke, the more bitter her mouth became. Lil swallowed the familiar taste down her throat.

“I’m grateful to him, but I know that this gratitude is only a mockery to Maxwell…”

***

As the night wore on, the village, which had been in a festive mood, quieted down.

Similarly, Lil’s energy, which had been at its peak for the first time in a long while, even causing her to barely be able to control her excitement, died down as well.

She turned towards Ed, before stretching out in exhaustion. For the past hour she had been talking about her childhood with a mix of both enjoyment and weariness. As Lil became bored during their journey, she naturally opened up to Ed about her past, which she had been keeping to herself for so long.

Lying down next to her, Ed had been listening intently with a serious face, as if blinking even once would be a waste of time.

Lil, who had been talking for a while now, muttered as she raised her sluggish upper body.

“…Why don’t we stop here and go out for a walk?..”

“This very night? It’s almost dawn… why, are you suddenly feeling stuffy?”

Lil vigorously nodded her head.

Then, out of nowhere, her body, along with the blanket, was lifted up just when she was about to lie down again. Lil shrugged her shoulders as the cold wind seeped through the blankets.

“…Why are you doing this?!”

She asked, squinting her eyes after Ed set her down on the window sill. Lil eventually leaned her head against the open window frame but kept looking at him.

“Because the moon is beautiful.”

‘…Well… the crescent moon is indeed pretty…’

Lil looked up at the sharply curved moon before noticing that Ed had picked up a blank canvas. He apparently felt that the night’s serenity made a perfect setting to draw her.

“No, what is this? Are you trying to draw again this early in the morning?”

“It’ll just take a moment. Didn’t you say you were feeling stuffy?”

“Well… that’s true.”

Lil swallowed her words upon seeing Ed sharpening the charcoal with such anticipation.

‘It does feel refreshing… especially with the gentle breeze blowing in…’

Lil yawned unconsciously and adjusted the blanket.

Holding his charcoal vertically to proporting his composition, Ed muttered.

“…You look really good with the moon behind you right now…”

“When does something not suit me? Every time you draw me you say I go well with something.”

“Well…”

“Why are you suddenly drawing so often?”

“I can’t tell you that… it’s a secret.”

“…Why?”

“…”

After saying it was a secret, Ed kept his mouth shut. Judging from the twitch in his mouth, Lil knew that he was up to something, but not having the energy to interrogate him any further, she simply leaned her head against the window frame again.

“…The reason behind everything you do seems to be a secret…”

Despite her complaints, Ed kept his head down towards the canvas.

The wind was chilly. It wasn’t cold enough to pierce through her nightgown, but it caused the light of the lantern to sway, as well as the shadows on the hair of Ed’s forehead. The moonlight illuminated the armrests of the chair Ed was sitting on and if she stayed completely still, she could hear the sound of charcoal grazing the paper. Ed’s eyes fell on her legs hanging under the blanket as the strokes he created through the moonlight slowly moved down her thighs, knees, calves, and toes.

Although his eyes were always so blatant, Ed’s face remained stoic whenever he drew or wrote.

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