Mushoku Tensei — Chapter 174 - Sylphie, Heart — What Was Lost

Today

Rudeus suddenly said he wanted to take me on a date.

Well~ my husband is like that sometimes. Spontaneously romantic, making my heart do things it has no business doing.

Right now, he has my hand in his as we walk through town together.

"Rudeus, where are we going?"

"Hmm. I want to buy some jewelry for my wives."

"Oh? But we already have some."

Rudeus smiled and lifted our joined hands between us.

On his hand: the symbol of everything he is to us.

"Sylphie~ I have four rings on my hand, but my wives' hands are bare."

"Rudeus already gave us necklaces, though. Look~ Rudeus's color."

I lifted the necklace slightly, tilting it so the light could find it.

Rudeus's color. A golden-brown gemstone. My favorite piece of jewelry, now and probably forever.

People have come to our door with similar gifts over the years. We've always declined. My sisters and I aren't particularly drawn to jewelry. What we like are the things Rudeus gives us. The symbols. The meaning behind them.

"Necklaces are necklaces. My wives deserve more beautiful things, don't they?"

"Mmm~ I suppose that's true."

I smiled and let him lead me into the jewelry shop.

It was the kind of place that sparkled from every angle. We'd barely stepped through the door when a shop assistant's voice rang out.

"Ah! Lord Rudeus and Lady Sylphie! Welcome!"

"Yes. Is the custom order I placed last time ready?"

"Of course! Lord Rudeus's orders always receive our fastest and finest work!"

She turned toward the back of the shop and raised her voice.

"Lord Rudeus is here! Bring out the prepared pieces!"

Four shop assistants emerged, each carrying a jewelry box. They moved with practiced, careful steps. Genuinely professional.

They opened the boxes in front of us.

Four colors. My sisters' colors. And mine.

The ring before me held a green gemstone.

Mmm...

Rudeus knows, doesn't he? That the color we love is his?

What I really wanted was golden-brown. The same color as his hair.

"Rudeus..."

"Hmm?"

"I like your color better..."

Rudeus smiled. He reached into the jewelry box and lifted the green ring out.

"Sylphie."

"Hmm?"

He held it up before my eyes and tilted it, showing me the inner wall of the band.

Engraved there, in fine letters:

Rudeus [Eternal Love] Sylphiette

[Eternal Love]...?

What language was that?

"Rudeus... I don't recognize this word."

He smiled, closing his hand gently around mine as he spoke.

"[Eternal Love]. It means I will love you forever, Sylphie."

"What language is it?"

"Chinese. A very old one."

"Mmm... I've never heard of it."

"Most people haven't. That's normal."

Rudeus slipped the ring onto the ring finger of my left hand.

Then he bent down and pressed a soft kiss to the back of it.

"Sylphie, it's my selfishness. I want the ring that represents our love to be your color."

"Rudeus, honestly... why didn't we think of engraving names inside the bands back then..."

He smiled, then turned to the shop assistant.

"Wrap up the remaining three boxes for me."

"Right away, Lord Rudeus!"

------

On the way home, I kept lifting my left hand to look at the ring.

I never thought there would be a day I found green so beautiful.

This color, which once meant curses, disaster, pain.

Now, because of my beloved, it means blessing, luck, and love.

Rudeus noticed me lifting my hand. He lifted his own left hand beside mine.

Four rings caught the sunlight differently, each with its own quiet shine.

The ring on Rudeus's hand, the one I gave him, was a little duller than the one now on mine.

Does he think I didn't choose carefully enough back then...?

Uuu...

"Sylphie."

"Hmm...?"

"The Sylphie right now is so much more radiant than the Sylphie from before."

He's always like that.

One sentence, and he sees straight through to the small, self-diminishing thought I was hiding.

I've always wanted to change that about myself. I haven't. Not completely.

In front of strangers, I can hold myself the way a wife of Rudeus should. Composed. Confident. But in front of Rudeus himself, I...

It's as if he's the only one who really knows me.

Of course, I want to know him just as completely.

Not that I don't know him. I do. But I want to know him even more. His past. His present. The moments when he cries.

Sometimes I try to picture what he looked like as a child, and I want to hear him tell me in his own words. I want to know if the childhood he carries in his heart matches the one I've pieced together in mine.

Hmm... I also want to know his favorite fruit.

It's impossible to tell. Whatever I bring him, Rudeus accepts it with that same contented smile and lets me feed it to him, so I genuinely have no idea which one he actually loves most.

And his most unforgettable memory. I want to know that too.

His hair. His smile. His tears. The lines on his palm, the fine softness of his cheek, and right now, the weight those gems sparkling on his fingers carry inside his heart.

All of it. Every piece of it. I want to know it all.

Sometimes, late in a quiet moment, I think: wouldn't it be something if Rudeus belonged only to me?

But that's too greedy. I can't even fully satisfy him as it is.

In my mind, thoughts soaked in love keep surging, endless and warm.

And yet what I actually do is so ordinary.

I pressed my lips to the soft curve of Rudeus's cheek.

After leaving my mark there, I spoke.

"Rudeus, I love you."

"I love you too, Sylphie."

"Ah~ I love Rudeus so much~"

"I love Sylphie so much too."

"Rudeus... tonight, let's find an inn to stay the night? I've almost forgotten what the kind of inn adventurers sleep in even feels like."

"Hmm? Adventurers don't exactly stay in luxury inns, do they?"

"Rudeus~ do you really need me to say it out loud?"

"Yes."

Uuu...

I leaned in close to his ear.

A gentle bite at his earlobe. Then, softly:

"Rudeus. Tonight... please belong only to me."

➤ Next: Roxy's Heart — Tears Unshed