A few minutes later, Eris returned.
She had been caught by Ruijerd by the scruff of the neck, and was carried in like a cat.
"Let me go!"
"Don't get involved in parent and child fights."
Ruijerd declared as such, and lowered Eris onto the bed.
Eris immediately turned her head to glare at him.
"Even if it's a fight between parent and child, there are still things that you can say and things that you can't!"
"Yeah. But I can understand the feelings of Rudeus's father."
"Then what about Rudeus's feelings!? It's Rudeus! Rudeus who's always easy going, and who'll stay calm even when he's kicked and punched, Rudeus! He's become this depressed!"
"If he's depressed, then console him. If you're a woman, you can do that much, right?"
"Wha-!"
Eris was lost for words, and Ruijerd went downstairs.
Eris who was left in the room looks like she can't calm down, and wanders about, here and there.
Sneaking glances towards me, she sometimes folds her arms in an imposing stance. Like that, she'll open her mouth to say something, but stop, and again she'll wander back and forth.
She can't calm down.
She's like a bear in a zoo.
In the end, Eris sat down next to me.
Meekly.
Without saying a word.
She sits.
She delicately increases the distance.
I wonder what kind of face Eris is making?
I couldn't really see.
I didn't have the composure to look at another's face.
A little time passed by.
I suddenly realized that Eris wasn't by my side.
When I began to wonder where she had gone to, I was embraced tightly from behind.
"It'll be alright. I'm on your side..."
Saying that, Eris held my head.
Soft, hot, and smelt a little of sweat.
All of it was something that I had experienced over this past year; it was Eris' scent.
I felt a sense of security.
The feeling of anxiety I had from being rejected by my family, my fear...
I felt like all of it was being swept away.
Eris might already be part of my family.
Had Eris been there in my past life, I might have been saved at an even earlier point.
It was an embrace that let me think that.
"Thank you, Eris."
"I'm sorry, Rudeus. I'm, not really good at this kind of thing after all."
I had turned around and clasped her hand.
They were callused from her sword, strong, and not hands that you could believe belonged to the daughter of an aristocratic family.
They were hands that showed great effort.
"No, you really helped me."
"...Mmmn."
The pieces of my heart had connected, and just a little, my composure returned to me.
While thinking this, and feeling relieved, I entrusted my body weight to Eris.
I'll lean on her for just a little while.