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tiletta ([personal profile] tiletta) wrote2024-03-17 10:48 am

Falling in Love with the Captive Noce - Episode 8

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Mitile: Is this frozen tree the Benedetta tree…?
Mia: Yes, none other.
… With this, all my secrets have come undone…

Her voice was soft like freshly fallen snow, and it melted into the silence around us.
She could only stand there, helplessly acknowledging everything we said as true.

Murr: No, you're wrong. There's still so much more about you that I'd like to know!
Akira: Murr…?

I glanced behind me and saw Murr, looking like a cat that had found a new plaything to toy around with. His eyes curved like crescent moons.
He spread his arms, and I could see his eyes brimming with curiosity like brilliantly twinkling gemstones.

Murr: Why did you make this prison? Why, oh why, did you make it only to destroy it as soon as it was done? What was it that shook your heart and made it falter?
Mia: … You arrogant… Why should I answer you? …
Murr: These are secrets of an aloof and independent witch of the North, kept under lock and seal of the highest magic calibre… I can’t help but want to know every little detail! It gets the heart pumping!
People hide things because they don't want anyone to find out about them. People don't want things to be found out, because they don't want to concede that they exist.
So, for you, what do you refuse to concede?
Hey, Northern Witch Mia. Tell me, what was it that shattered you inside, just like how you shattered this cage?
Mia: …… It… I…
Snow: Dear Mia, pay no heed to his questions.
That creature uses his words to confound you, goading you into divulging the innermost workings of your heart. You will be ruined.
Mia: … Snow…
… To think that this day would come — that I would be spared some kind consideration by the likes of you.
It seems like this catlike wizard is more than he seems.
Murr: Meeooow!

Mia ran a hand through her hair, drawing it backwards over her face. Calmly, she approached the prison, and she said nothing as she stroked the prison’s broken bars.
It was something she held precious, but it was also something that vexed her and made her bitter.

Mia: … Indeed…
Perhaps that wizard speaks true. Perhaps there is indeed something within me that I did not wish to acknowledge.
This prison… it was meant for you, Bradley. It was my creation, and I built it with the intention to imprison you within.
Bradley: ………

Mia took a long, deep breath.
Gravely, as if her death were nigh, Mia said:

Mia: Several hundred years ago, I made this prison.
At first, I thought that I'd like to keep you captive behind these bars, imprisoned up until the moment I chose to turn you to stone.
It was so no one else could steal you away. Like keeping a precious gemstone all to yourself. I wanted to make sure you were mine and mine alone…
… But the moment I imagined that: you trapped inside, myself taking your life — a part of me cried out in protest…
By the time I got ahold of myself, I'd destroyed the prison cage.

Nero: ………

Mia: But while I was at odds with myself, you were already locked away in a jailhouse in a different country.
Why did I hesitate to make you mine? Why had I destroyed the prison I had made? I felt regret, such deep regret.
And so I resolved to keep you imprisoned in my castle, should fate permit our paths to ever cross again. I would hold you captive until the day I turn you to stone.
In the meantime, I dabbled in cooking, I collected wines and liquors, I chased phantom leads that may or may not have been you, I wandered the vast snowy plains…
Time and life passed me by until I came across the Benedetta tree.

Mia lifted her gaze to meet Bradley's.

Mia: Do you remember the time you gifted me a Benedetta fruit?
Bradley: Yeah, I do. I came across it at work. I figured it'd be something a sweet tooth like you would like.
Mia: … A simple word like ‘happy’ cannot even behind to describe what I felt in my heart at that singular moment.
It was a feeling like… It was akin to stumbling upon a lone flower blooming in the frigid cold of winter.

Her golden eyes softened, and it reminded me of gentle moonlight shining down upon us on a winter's night.
She was a forbidding, prideful, and aloof witch, but now she looked like just a sweet, young girl.

Mia: I found the Benedetta tree on the night of the Calamity.
You had been taken from me… If I were to have nothing else, I would claim this tree and protect my memories of us that stem from it, so that no one could steal that away from me.
I had to ensure that this tree would stand at my side forevermore, so I encased it in ice and placed it here.
… I've been nothing but a fool. Doing this has done nothing to make you mine, and yet.

Mia spoke as if she was mocking herself.
For some reason, I felt a sharp pang in my heart, as if it was being squeezed tight.

Some of us averted their gazes and cast their eyes downward.
Some of us looked upon her contemplatively.

Silence continued to hang over all of us in the chamber.
And then, one of the wizards spoke up.

Mitile: … I think you must have really loved Bradley san.
Mia: ………………………
…… Love……?

Mia stared at Mitile, dumbfounded.
She looked perplexed as she brushed a hand over her chest. It stopped over her heart.

Mia: Love, you say… This is what love is?
Akira: (Oh… So she really is…)

I looked at Mia's face, and I could immediately tell — that she definitely was in love with Bradley.
She was a witch who had lived more than a thousand years. She was someone who had definitely experienced – and overcame – far more than I have, from the beautiful to the bitter.
Yet, she said the word 'love' like it was a type of poison she had never once encountered in her long life.
She swallowed the word as if it were a deadly poison.
She was resolute. She must have wanted to let the word ‘love’ run through her entire body, so that she could ascertain firsthand if the word was sweet or bitter.
No sooner had I finished my thought, I heard Mia exhale, bitterly.

Mia: For so long… I had thought Tiletta a fool for getting drunk on love and tossing the North aside.
To love is to be robbed of your heart. It makes you give up your dignity, destroys you, and chases you to the brink of ruin and unhappiness.
I was fully aware of that, and yet… to think that I have made the same mistake.
Mitile: … You don't have to put it in such a sad way—
Mithra: I don't understand your choices. Both yours and Tiletta's.
But I don't think she was unhappy.
Mitile: Mithra san…
Mithra: She lived a carefree life in the South. She annoyed me with how happy she looked.
I don't think she felt even an ounce of regret.
Mia: … What’s this? Mithra of the North, displaying some understanding of love…?
Mithra: Not at all. It's just like what you said. It's a foolish thing.
Mia: ………
Mithra: We wizards of the North have power on our side. Being able to live alone without need for another is the strength and pride of this country.
It is a sign of weakness to make someone else your reason for living. It is a sign of those who are unable to survive on their own.
And even though both you and Tiletta knew that…

I felt as if I could hear an unspoken 'why' buried deep within Mithra's words.
Perhaps he didn’t see fit to ask ‘why,’ because that person in his memories had been smiling and laughing so happily.

Mia: … Yes, correct.
You needn’t tell me that. I already know.
But I did not understand what I was feeling. I could only feel that my heart was shaken to its core. That feeling held me captive.
… All because I met you, Bradley.

She smiled, and it was dazzling.
Bradley was silent, and he paid her his full attention. There was no hint of a smile anywhere on his face; he merely was quiet.

Mia: I get it now. I realise what a fool I've been.
I lost myself pursuing you and neglected my own dignity — the dignity of this scar, the same dignity that you had acknowledged.
I neglected to seek my revenge for this scar. All I did was wander the snowy plains in search of you, and whenever we fought, my efforts lacked any fervour*.
And in the end, I couldn't endure it anymore when you were snatched away. I allowed my heart to fall into shambles… to the point of prostrating myself on the snow in disgrace.
The Northern Witch Mia has fallen to the lowest of lows.
Bradley: …… (huff) …
Yeah… She sure has.

The Bradley I knew was someone who always spoke without hesitation. But this time, he sounded like his words were caught in his throat. His gaze was distant and bitter as he looked upon her.
Self-mockery. Sorrow. Despair. A fury that could neither be quelled nor helped.
The expressions they wore as they looked at each other was nothing at all like a passionate confession of love.

Akira: (… Why…)
(Why do the both of them look like that?)
(All she did was fall in love.)

I had spent a great deal of time with the Northern Wizards.
I tried to understand them, especially how important their pride and dignity was to them.
They were proud of being aloof and independent. It was what gave them their strength. If there was someone they held dear, that person would become their weakness.
Even though I knew that, my heart couldn't keep up with what was unfolding. All I could do was think _but why_, over and over again, like a cranky child.

Unconsciously, I started chewing my lip.
It was then that Mitile, who was next to me, suddenly clenched his fist.

Mitile: … I think I don't understand Northern Wizards after all.
I thought I had started to understand all of you a little bit more than before, but…
Figaro: Mitile, not now
Mitile: But I can't just stand here while Mother and Father are insulted!
Mother chose to marry Father, and she chose to have me and my brother……
Those choices weren’t foolish!
Bradley & Mithra & Mia: ………
Akira: … Mitile…
Mitile: … I'm sorry for yelling.
Mia: … You, boy. What did you just say…?
The way you said it, it's almost as if Tiletta herself was your mother…
Mitile: Yes, she is.
… I'm Mitile. The Southern Wizard, Mitile Flores.
I'm the son of the Great Witch Tiletta!
Mia: ………
… So you are Tiletta's son…
That person even gave birth to children…
Mithra & Figaro: Hey—
Mitile: Whoa!? M-Mia san? Why are you touching my face…
Bradley: She probably just wants to sense if it’s true — if the blood of that great witch does flow within you, and if you are Tiletta's child.
Mia: ………
… It's faint, but true… This child is what Tiletta has left behind…
Mitile: ………

Mia's golden eyes wavered; they looked troubled.
She was looking at Mitile, who had his lips tightly pursed. He did not falter in the slightest as they held eye contact.

A few seconds passed after their eyes met.
Mia exhaled in a small and soft sigh. The corners of her lips pulled upward, very, very faintly.

Mia: … Child. You said your name was Mitile.
Mitile: Y-Yes.
Mia: I still think that both Tiletta and I made the incorrect choice.
Now, if you were as strong as Bradley, then I may have a different answer.
Bradley: ………
Mitile: ………
Mia: But…
You are bold enough to forgo your survival and defend your mother’s name before me, and even more than that, you could glare fiercely back at me with a steady gaze… For a southern wizard, I daresay you are a boy with promise.

Mia looked straight at Mitile.
She looked at him for who he was, without searching his appearance and presence for any hint of the great witch that passed onto him.

Mia: Mitile Flores. If you would wish for me to acknowledge that your mother was no fool…
Then prove it to me in the way you live your life, as what Tiletta left behind after she drowned herself in that silly thing called love.
Mitile: …!
Mia: ………

[ No BGM ]
And if that day shall come, perhaps I too will—

'Acknowledge what is in my heart,' is what I thought I saw her lips soundlessly say.

Bradley: … Mia…
Mithra: ………
Mia: That is my answer for everything thus far.
… Mitile. What is your answer?

[ BGM starts ]
Mitile: — Of course! I'll prove it to you in the name of my own mother, the Great Witch Tiletta!

I felt like I had seen the light at the end of a very deep, very dark tunnel.
Figaro, who stood in a corner of the chamber, sighed in relief.

Figaro: … Man, that had me on edge.
Sheesh… Northern Wizards sure are difficult creatures.
Snow: Ohoho. Says you, of all people?
Figaro: That's right. It's because I'm a wizard of the South.
Snow: … But to think that Mia would end up in such a sorry state. What a fearsome thing love is.
Murr: Really? Love can completely change you, turn you into something you are not, even if you proclaim to be immutable. And sometimes, love changes you, but the changes don’t last for good.
But that’s why the tumults of love are so fascinating!
Figaro: Haha… Says the scholar Murr, who fell in love with the moon. It sure changed him alright, into the person he is today.
Can’t you see that’s why love is called a fearsome thing?
Murr: Huuuh?
Snow: Well, leave him be. Someone like him could spend an entire lifetime and come no closer to understanding why we find love so frightening.

Snow sighed and looked straight into the broken prison cage. He smiled and shrugged.

Snow: As a witch of the North, Mia’s path has been rife with mistakes. But destroying this cage… that was the one thing she did right.
Bradley is not someone who would obediently allow himself to be caged.
Rustica: You have a point… Certainly she did the right thing when she destroyed the prison, but I believe that she also did the right thing when she built the prison.
You'd not want to be separated from a loved one, and a cage would guarantee that you’ll always have them by your side…
I too am familiar with that feeling, that impulse, that brings upon such actions.

Rustica patted his magical tool, which was a birdcage.
He gazed upon its empty interior with love.

From behind the little group, Nero stepped out and approached Mia, stopping right before her.
Sitting upon his outstretched palm was a Benedetta fruit.

Nero: … Here you go, a Benedetta fruit. Sorry, but can you give him back to us now?


* namanurui 生ぬるい — Same w as Ep4, where we translated it as "boring." Again, this is a recurring word from the main story. It's been used by the Northern wizards to negatively describe how other Northern wizards have changed, e.g. going soft, lacking verve, and being less stereotypically Northern, since coming to live at the Manor.


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