“Lewis, I’m coming in!”

As the sun set, William tapped the door of Lewis’ room.

William opened the door without waiting for the other’s reply. It had been a long time since he had last been in that room. While looking around the still, lifeless, room, William quietly closed the door behind him.

“…It sure has been a long time.”

Lewis glanced over at William while sitting on his bed. He had taken off his vest, opened two buttons of his white shirt from the top, rolled his sleeves up to his elbows, and leaned in a careless manner on the bed. It was an appearance he wouldn’t show others on daily basis. He rarely even showed that side of his to William.

“We’ve been through a lot… women sure are scary…”

William sat down beside Lewis, recalling Hannah’s remorseful expression. That room didn’t even have a sofa. As such, sitting places were limited.

“There’s nothing you can do about it. If you hadn’t taken your eyes off Amelia, that wouldn’t have happened. Because of you, I had to leave Hannah alone, what do you have to say in your defense?”

Towards Lewis’ harsh scolding, William deflected his gaze. He was reflecting in silence. Lewis, knowing William’s heart, continued. “By the way…”

“You probably wanted to know the meaning of those words I said to you in the city.”

Lewis stared at his feet and exhaled gently.

His complexion was pale. He seemed unhealthy. But, he was expecting William to talk about it.

Lewis considered even wiping the sweat off his forehead a bother. He turned his eyes on William, staring at his profile.

“I lied to you.”

He said in a carefree tone, and smiled a little, as if he was eager to see William’s reaction. William frowned towards such Lewis.

“More like, that’s already the usual thing, considering it’s you.”

That was a fact—Lewis was always such a liar.

Be it his true name, his age, his power—until now, William was still uncertain over whether or not Lewis was telling him the truth. It was actually unsurprising for Lewis to lie.

However, for him to admit it upfront like that—such had never happened before. It gave William a very strange feeling.

“No, this time, it’s different. Do you understand? —I betrayed you.”

“!!”

‘Betrayal’—that word widened William’s eyes. His gaze wavered for a moment in the color of fear. Lewis resumed, “That day—“

“—that day, Arthur didn’t do anything to Amelia. Amelia also didn’t have any intention of dying on that day.”

In an emotionless voice, Lewis just stated the fact. But in contrast, the clueless William’s shoulders trembled.

“…But, Arthur didn’t say anything to me…”

That was the reason why William took Lewis’ word for it. Because Arthur didn’t say anything. Because usually, if it was a misunderstanding, Arthur would say it was a misunderstanding.

—so he was mistaken this entire time? He misunderstood Arthur’s behavior?

—William recalled; the Arthur of that day…

“W, why, why would you do such a thing?”

William’s gaze swam. Lewis had always been a liar.

However, William had no problems with that before.

Because Lewis always lied for William’s sake. Because Lewis’ lies were intended to help William advance.

But… what about this time? Was Amelia aware of this, too? But, that was outrageous…

William’s mind spun like crazy. Lewis spoke again after letting a second pass.

“William-sama, please remember about the contract I signed with you in the past. That contract requires you to get closer to Amelia-sama. However, we didn’t have that much time. Arthur is in the way, and I knew he really did bad things, but in the end, the fact doesn’t change that he’s a threat to me and Amelia. As such, he must be keep away.”

Lewis uttered all those in a single breath. All at once—William was blown away. Then, with a confused look, William raised his right hand to stop Lewis’ words.

“…stop. Wait for a moment. But, I did hear you say you’re the ‘same’ as Amelia and Arthur?”

Certainly, William had a foreboding concerning Amelia. After all, he didn’t know why she was so special to Lewis. But, even Arthur…? How was he supposed to think about that?

Lewis stood up and walked to the round table near him, understanding that William was upset.

Then, with his back turned to William, he poured wine into an empty glass and downed it all at once. Lewis poured yet another glass of wine, but stopped.

“…William-sama.”

It was as if his voice had faded into the radiance of the setting sun coming through the window. It was only two months ago when he had said he only had a little time left—indeed…

Lewis continued to speak with his back facing William.

“…I’ll soon leave this place. But, as long as Amelia is here, everything will be okay. Because she’s the same as me, she’ll accept all of you. But, she’s much more normal than me. She hasn’t lost her heart, yet. That person is your destiny. I’ve found the right person for you, just like what I’ve promised that day—that’s why…”

Lewis slowly turned around. His dark eyes were dyed in the color of the dusk.

“What you’ve entrusted to me, now is the time… to give it back to you…”

“—!”

Lewis’ expression was frighteningly calm. William couldn’t say anything more, he could only lower his face in silence. Lewis just kept smiling at William.

“It’ll be fine. You don’t have to be afraid. I intend to see it all the way through. That’s why I love Amelia-sama—and, if anything, it’s hard for me to control your power—this is frustrating to admit but, I can’t be your Rook anymore.”

“W, what are you saying? I’ve never thought of you that way…”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. But this is already decided. I can’t go against time, either. This is the end of the story. But, it’s okay, you see, Amelia-sama really doesn’t know anything. I only lied to her. In truth, she doesn’t know anything. I want you to meet with Amelia-sama even more than before, to properly get close to her—that’s all my wish entails.”

Sadness swayed in Lewis’ eyes. It melted William’s cold heart. No, it may be more correct to say that Lewis supplemented his missing heart.

“William-sama…”

Muttering so, Lewis graciously grabbed William’s right hand.

At the same time, something hot flowed inside William.

“—!”

William’s face distorted in discomfort. However, Lewis never let go. William also didn’t pry off Lewis’ hand. Was it because of the nostalgic feelings flowing from Lewis? Or was it because of his sincerity towards Lewis? William didn’t truly understand.

Lewis grabbed William’s right hand for a while and didn’t release it, but, after confirming that all of his inside had flowed into William, he finally released him and smiled again.

“…now, you’ve returned. I can no longer read your heart. I’ve returned your heart. William, the contract you and I have signed has now ended—you’re free now, live, please.”

Being told so in upfront, William’s eyes wavered. It was as if Lewis would disappear. It wasn’t an impossible outcome. After all, their contract had finished—Lewis himself said so.

But, as if William could accept hat—!

He bore his own gaze into Lewis.

“Lewis, I’m not going to let you go, yet. You must absolutely stay here until the end. You must witness it with your own eyes—Amelia’s happiness. This is my command as your Master.”

Lewis narrowed his eyes to those words.

“Yes, I shall bare witness to it until the end. The smiling figure of you and that person—shall be burned into the back of my mind.”

The sunset coming through the window shone brightly on them, extending two long dark shadows into the lifeless room. Meanwhile, the two quietly stared at each other for a while. Each looking forward to the other’s past and future.

---

***T/N: Hmm….

…Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

…yeah, no can do Author. I absolutely can’t catch feelings towards something that is supposed to be sad, but lacked the most important thing to actually make it so–

–yeah, the proper backstory.

And the f Lewis. Now your god complex is making you treat Amelia like an item you can just hand to William.

When you barely know anything about William but the story revolves around him and all characters worship him.

William isn’t the hero we wished for, or deserve, or want… But he is here I guess.

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