A Practical Guide to Ending a One-Sided Love - Chapter 57

Come to think of it, when she had passed him a few days ago his face had been covered in scratches and bruises. The joy of seeing him again had blurred it, but she remembered wondering about the injuries on his pretty face, like bruises on a ripe peach.

‘Are his seniors bullying him a lot?’

Outwardly they were kind and noble paladins, but any group living together under harsh training would inevitably have strict discipline.

Even so…

‘Hitting him is going too far.’

He was taller than before, yet the boy’s height was still about the same as Leila’s. And she simply could not understand how anyone could lay a hand on a face like a work of art.

He had been that sad just from parting with his mother, so how difficult must it be to survive in a rough Knight Corps? And being tormented by children his own age. Leila could fully sympathize with the boy’s sorrow.

Was there any way to comfort him? However, as before, suddenly appearing before someone she did not know and telling him to cheer up was impossible.

Before, she had relied on chance, but today the sky was perfectly clear without a trace of wind, and the boy no longer seemed the type who would be fooled.

After brief thought, Leila tied a handkerchief to a tree branch along the path he would pass, at about his eye level. If the Lord God helped her, the boy would surely discover it and use it.

With slight anticipation, she returned and the next day attended a mass she did not even need to attend, then checked the branch.

‘The handkerchief is gone.’

Deep down she knew the truth. It was not necessarily proof the boy had taken it, and it could have blown away or been removed by someone else.

Yet with girlish innocence, she wanted to believe. Maybe he had discovered her handkerchief by chance and gained at least a little comfort. Maybe he wiped away those sorrowful tears with that small piece of cloth.

After that day, Leila secretly watched the boy. Fortunately, the hardest period seemed to have passed, and she never again saw him cry.

Though he no longer cried, Leila could not extinguish her interest in him. She wondered to herself one time. Was this the first love she had read about in books? But her feelings were slightly different from romantic affection.

If anything, it was closer to a gardener watching a fragile sprout endure wind and rain and grow into a great tree. And it was also a skill Leila had gained from living buried in books—to study something persistently and with focus. It was truly what she could do best in the world.

From that day onward, Leila’s visits to the temple noticeably increased. Her father somewhat permitted her devout faith, yet looked at her with suspicion. Of course, as suspected, her mind was always elsewhere.

There was only one reason she frequented the temple: it increased the chance of encountering him. Sometimes once every few weeks, sometimes once every few months, yet she attended mass every day for the chance to pass by him even briefly.

Perhaps because she saw him only occasionally, the boy grew noticeably each time she met him. What troubled her was his always dark expression.

With a face devoid of emotion as if turning his back on the world, he would silently bow when meeting someone and walk past. He looked so unstable he might collapse at any moment. Even his eyes held no vitality, like someone living only because he had not died.

Perhaps it was from then. Leila began to wish to return a smile to the boy whose face seemed covered in misfortune. Just once was enough, she wanted to see him smile in true happiness.

Quiet and gentle, yet more persistent than anyone, Leila formed a firm resolve. That one-sided concern, unknown to its recipient, continued for years afterward.

And in the year she turned seventeen, the chance came to comfort Bjorn from close by, though he would never know it had been Leila.