章節 17: If You Love Someone, Let Them Go
Rukelion truly didn't want to leave Daisy but he had to. He knew she would still be waiting for him when he did eventually come back since she didn't even want to get married but he couldn't help but be worried. What if something else happened to her while he was gone?
He wanted to believe the Krinzels would watch out for her but they also weren't at the farm all the time. They had their own lives and responsibilities, especially Callum since he had one small child to contend with and another on the way. Braedon had managed to find himself a sweetheart as well and was planning to marry her in the spring so he wasn't likely to be of much help either.
Another potential worry was that whatever farmhands Daisy hired with the money he sent back might not be trustworthy. Hopefully the Krinzels would keep them in line since they seemed to care about her in some capacity.
When he made it back, she was doing the washing. She looked up at him and smiled when she saw him approach.
"Hey, Leo. How did it go?"
"Pretty well," Rukelion said without elaborating further.
She knew he had been training with the mercenaries but didn't know why or what he was planning on doing with his sword skills aside from joining the army. He hadn't told her the mercenaries were leaving because he still needed to sneak away to work on his fire magic.
Daisy might be aware of his powers but she couldn't know what he intended to do with them so he couldn't let her see him train either. It was better she believed he only wanted to use his sword skills to advance in the world.
"Did you learn anything new today?" she asked.
"Sort of," Rukelion replied with a small smile on his face. He had learned that he could get away with using his powers minimally in a fight.
"That's good. I don't know much if anything about sword fighting but you seem pretty talented from what I've seen. And you did say you could beat all but four people you train with so that's something."
"I've beaten all of them now."
Stupid! He wasn't going to say anything about that but he blurted it anyway because she had been praising him and he couldn't resist the urge to brag in order to be praised further.
As expected, Daisy didn't let him down. Her eyes crinkled as she beamed at him. "Seriously? That's awesome! Way to go, Leo! You must be super strong. Aren't they all a lot older than you?"
"They are. It's not that big a deal though."
"Yes it is! You must be some sort of genius. You pick up on things faster than anyone else I've ever met," Daisy said with an indulgent shake of her head.
Rukelion smiled widely at her. She thought he was smart! A bubble of happiness filled his chest. There was no better feeling than being complimented by someone you loved. All of his worries had momentarily melted away.
"Thank you!"
"No need to thank me for telling the truth. You've worked hard so you should take it easy for a while."
He shook his head. "No, I can help you. What do you need me to do?"
Considering their time together was limited, Rukelion had to take advantage of every minute. And he would feel bad sitting there watching her work without doing anything even though he was tired.
He was rewarded with a warm smile as she told him what she needed help with and they worked together side by side, laughing and talking as usual. He was really going to miss this.
Knowing he had something to live for after his revenge was complete would help him do whatever needed to be done. He hadn't had that before getting close to Daisy. All he had cared about then was destroying those who dared to attack his kingdom without thinking about what would happen afterward.
Having something to look forward to after it was done was nice. He wanted to experience more peaceful days together with the most wonderful person in the world. He could worry about the logistics of making that happen without her being disgusted with him later.
===
Daisy became a bit less worried about Leo going off on his own after finding out how talented a swordsman he was. She didn't want anything to happen to him because he was like her much-younger brother.
Since her mother went off the deep end when she was so young and she bounced around so much in foster care, she never had a proper family. She liked some people she had lived with more than others but knew it wasn't permanent so she never claimed anyone as her family.
It was different with Leo. They were both all the other had.
The Krinzels were great, don't get her wrong, but they expected her to be Veronica May. They only cared what happened to her because she was supposedly the younger sister of their dead friends. They didn't care about Daisy Miller.
Leo did. He didn't know about her world or her past—he seemed to be under the impression she had run away and she hadn't corrected him—but he did know more about her than anyone else in Mirea.
Most importantly, he knew her real name. He might not be the smiliest person in the world but even if he wasn't smiling, he always said her name so warmly. That was more than she ever got back home. It was nice having someone who cared about her.
While Leo had his goofy moments, he was still a pretty serious kid. His worry for her was obvious at times and it was bittersweet. On one hand, she wasn't used to being worried about so it made her a little happy. On the other, she knew it was only because she was all he had and he couldn't handle losing her.
Daisy intended to stay in touch once he left and he had promised to come back when he accomplished what he set out to do. But she also didn't want him to go in the first place.
He might need her but she needed him too. She needed companionship from someone she could (mostly) be herself around. Who didn't? Human beings inherently craved connections with others.
For years, she had tried convincing herself she didn't need any after being rejected by people so many times but she hadn't realized what she was missing out on until she actually had one. Having someone to talk to about more than work or school made her happier than she would have anticipated.
She was going to be rather lonely with Leo gone; she could already tell. Asking him to stay was out of the question though. He deserved to be able to go live his dreams even if they did take him away from her.
What was that old saying? If you love someone, let them go. If they love you, they'll find a way back to you.
Daisy couldn't be selfish. Leo was the closest thing she ever had to real family so she wanted him to be happy. He wouldn't be if she trapped him here.
She needed to focus on enjoying the time they had left together. Worrying about what she was going to do when he was gone could happen later. Why let doing it now spoil her enjoyment? She had long been a proponent of living in the moment because you never knew when good things were going to end.
So that was what she did. They played the sort of games they always did that helped harvesting go faster. Once it got cold, he followed her around when she did her animal chores, lighting a fire with his hands to keep her warm since no one else was around to see.
Leo still went off on his own to train for a good chunk of the day with the mercenaries as usual but when he wasn't doing that they sat around in the warm, toasty house and baked, talked, or played games she taught him from back home since they did have playing cards here. She had gotten a pack in town to help keep them busy last winter.
Daisy was enjoying herself but knew their time was slowly but surely ticking away. She didn't want to be alone in this fantasyland again with people she had to pretend around constantly but at least there was his brilliant idea of pretending to get engaged to keep any would-be suitors away.
She didn't want to deal with that. The last thing she wanted was to end up taking care of some sexist man and way too many kids since they didn't seem to have birth control in this world. All of the people in town she had met had big families.
As much as she didn't want to be alone again, having gotten used to some degree of companionship, she was used to it after a lifetime of being isolated even in large groups. Some of her foster homes had as many kids as the families here did so she hardly got any one-on-one attention.
Daisy would get letters from Leo and would still be able to minimally interact with the Krinzels. She would be fine. Probably.
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