It's an unfamiliar ceiling.
No, strictly speaking, it's not an unfamiliar ceiling.
I've been beaten up by Golden Sun wizards before, passed out, and been brought to this hospital.
"Ugh..."
But the big difference between then and now is that I can't easily get up.
It was only natural, since I had unknowingly abused my body a lot and suffered severe internal injuries here and there from the shock of black magic.
"You're awake."
"Oh, Cray."
Standing next to me was Cray, who had come to check on my condition.
Originally, Cray was always with Lenia, but now that Lenia wasn't by his side, it seemed like Lenia had gone to check on Aine's condition.
"I want to go see Aine."
"Not now. Why don't you check your physical condition first?"
"It hurts a little, but it's okay to this extent."
"But what can't be done can't be done. If you overdo it, your discharge will only be delayed."
I could understand what Cray was saying in my head, but it was another matter for my heart to accept it.
Concern for Aine, and a desire to see her again.
Such emotions swirled within me, constantly testing my patience.
Thanks to that, after hearing Cray's words, a gloomy expression appeared on my face.
Then, as if trying to console me, who was devastated by the fact that I couldn't meet Aine right away, Cray handed me a magic tool.
"This is...?"
"It's a communication tool. Aine is already awake, so you can contact her right now."
"Oh, thank you."
Even though I can't see her face directly, I can still hear her voice.
I expressed my gratitude to Cray and immediately tried to contact Aine using my communication tool.
"...Klein?"
A moment of silence passed, and Aine's voice came from the communication device.
Her voice was trembling with joy, as if she couldn't believe what was happening.
"Thank goodness you're alive."
I had heard stories from Cray and Lenia, but there was a world of difference between hearing that she was alive in words and hearing her voice in person.
As soon as I heard her vibrant voice, I couldn't help but reflexively say these words.
"Ugh... ugh..."
After hearing what I said, Aine had a hard time controlling her overflowing emotions, so she tried to hold back her tears while speaking.
But soon, Aine, unable to control her emotions, managed to speak with a voice completely wet and heavy breathing.
"I'm sorry I put such a heavy burden on you. I'm sorry I showed you that side of me."
Even in the midst of all this, Aine continued to speak clearly.
Perhaps because he felt he would never be able to feel at ease if he didn't tell me, he poured out all the things he felt sorry for, without hiding anything.
When I thought about my future, her words were almost burdensome, not to mention ungrateful. But I could still feel how much she thought of me, so I decided to accept her feelings.
"It's okay. Everything worked out well anyway."
"What's wrong... You fought two warlocks because of me. It wouldn't have even been a fight if things had gone as planned... So you got hurt more than me..."
I accepted her apology as if it were nothing, but Aine seemed to be extremely sorry that I had to put myself through such a rough time because of her.
No matter how much I tell her that it's okay, she can't seem to ease the burden on her mind.
So I decided to ease her burden in the simplest way possible.
"Then, grant me three wishes."
"wish...?"
"I'll ask you for what I want, when I need it."
"Huh...? Are you really okay with that?"
"I didn't need anything from you in the first place. I didn't do this because I wanted anything from you."
It was a line that I felt a little embarrassed saying, but I knew that if I didn't say it, I wouldn't be able to relieve Aine's burden, so I had no choice but to say it, enduring a little embarrassment.
Of course, after hearing what I said, Aine was speechless for a while.
Before she and I became lovers, I would have found her silence scary, but now, to me, her silence just felt cute.
"Oh, if you don't like what I'm asking, you can just pretend it never happened. As I said before, I didn't do this with any intention of getting anything from you in the first place."
"S-Stop it! I understand how you feel..."
Although I wasn't talking to her directly while looking at her face, I could see Aine's blushing face and refusing to meet her gaze before my eyes.
Just imagining Aine's appearance is enough to cause hallucinations of her. Maybe I'm also severely ill.
"I'll grant your request too. I'm just granting it because I want to."
Aine sighed as if she had no other choice and declared that she would grant my request.
I felt a bit bitter when I imagined Aine regretting that declaration so much later, but I defended myself, thinking that it was better to do it this way, considering the future.
I was injured quite badly and had to stay in the hospital for about six weeks.
After about two weeks, I was able to move around the hospital quite well, but I still had difficulty walking without an assistive device like crutches.
They said that I would need to undergo some rehabilitation training, so it seemed like I would need to stay there for at least five weeks before I could walk around the hospital normally.
From the point where a person hospitalized due to trauma can move around the hospital normally, there was no need to stay in the hospital...
I borrowed the strength of my crutches and went into the hospital room where Aine was hospitalized today.
Unlike me, who suffered major injuries mainly to her internal organs and lower body, she had been kicked all over her body, so her injuries were varied.
Among them, her ribs were completely broken and it took a long time to recover, so it was safe to say that she would not be able to attend the academy until the midterms.
I thought Aine must be a very kind person, having to stay in the hospital longer than me and worrying about how much I was hurt.
He was so kind that he allowed himself to be captured by Dark Wiz in order to rescue three female students who were being held hostage.
Aine must have known that too, because she promised me that she would never do something so reckless again.
Having come so close to death, it seems that this incident has become an opportunity for Aane to become more aware of her own actions.
Of course, I also realized from this incident that I couldn't easily accept Aine's death.
When I realized Aine was in danger, unlike before when my heart just sank, this time it really felt like my world was falling apart.
It was because I gave my heart to Aine as much as she gave her heart to me that we ended up in this situation.
Moreover, I had been vaguely thinking about how I would say goodbye to her, but now I had no choice but to seriously think about it.
After spending time idly, I couldn't accept saying goodbye to her in such a strange way.
This incident and the free time we spent at the hospital gave us more to think about than we had expected.
Of course, there wasn't only food for thought while I was in the hospital.
"Cray used a backtracking spell to find out where Dark Wiz's base is supposed to be."
Lenia ran to us with a somewhat excited expression and told us some very shocking news.
"What kind of backtracking magic was that that led me straight to their base?"
"Ah. It's a magic that Cray recently came up with. It's a magic that searches a person's memories to find someone they recently met."
"Then it's just finding people."
"So the imperial family sent soldiers to find them one by one."
"I've been hearing no news lately. It must have been a secret operation that I couldn't relay any news about."
"I somehow managed to capture a high-ranking member of the group, and through hypnosis, I was able to locate their presumed base. Of course, I won't be able to capture them all, but if I can get there, I'll be able to eradicate most of the Dark Wiz."
"This is good news to hear."
The simple fact that it wasn't long before Dark Wiz was completely eradicated felt like truly welcome news to me.
It was, in a way, natural, since the most powerful threat that remained to Aine had disappeared.
"Furthermore, if we succeed in eradicating Dark Wiz through this operation, Kreia's power will become much stronger."
"I can finally call the princess's name again..."
"Crea's been feeling better lately, and I've also become more restrained in teasing people."
Come to think of it, these days, Renia has really been teasing others less often.
Although she often teased Cray by pulling mean pranks on him, Cray accepted her pranks as if they were very cute, so it wasn't a problem.
Feeling a little awkward at her sudden change in appearance, I cautiously asked her what was causing it.
"Why did you change so suddenly?"
Then, hearing Lenia's answer, I almost lost my mind for a moment.
“I don’t want my child to grow up to be a bad child because of the negative influence of my words.”
""A child?!""
Aine and I were taken aback by Lenia's words and asked back loudly without anyone saying anything first.
Only then did she realize something was wrong, and Lenia spoke in a small voice, sweating profusely.
"That's right. I didn't tell you... honeymoon baby."
We couldn't help but be amazed at the ridiculous pace at which the two of them were progressing.