Meanwhile, Noel and Anna were staring at each other in a tent as if planning to use their orders right away.
"How about you say it first? What do you want me to do?" Anna asked.
"I'm a gentleman, so ladies first." Noel extended his hand to Anna, throwing the chance at her.
"Mhm… if I say mine first, you can easily change what you want after that." Anna harrumphed, glaring at him.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I wouldn't change my decision." Noel shook his head.
"Yeah, you wouldn't because you haven't made the decision. There's nothing to change if you haven't even made one in the first place." Anna rolled her eyes, knowing how Noel's brain worked.
"…" Noel looked away before saying, "How about this, we write down our order on the ground and show it to each other at the same time?"
"That's a good idea. Though, why the ground? If we want to write, we write on paper."
"Don't waste ink and paper." Noel shrugged and stood up. "Anyway, let's write it outside."
Anna didn't think much about the ink and the paper, but she forgot the fact they were camping with the Demon Relief Squad. The supply was limited.
They hadn't learned anything about their supply route, so it was better not to touch their supply if possible. This was Noel's thought.
Anna and Noel ended up walking outside and used their swords to write on the ground. They made sure their bodies covered the writing until they finished.
"Are you done?" Noel asked.
"Yeah. I'm done." Anna nodded.
"Then, let's turn our back at the same time and show it."
Noel and Anna turned around and stepped to the side, showing their order.
"Massage me before midnight."
"Cook me something before midnight."
"Huh?" Both of them widened their eyes because they were asking for something before midnight.
"Why do you want me to cook before midnight?" Anna asked, confused.
"You too, why do you want me to massage you before midnight?" Noel furrowed his eyebrows, suspicious.
"That's because my birthday is tomorrow. Tomorrow is when I become an adult. Normally, there would be a ceremony for this and the party will be big, but because I'm here, can I at least ask for something nice?" Anna explained her decision.
Surprisingly, the explanation was the exact same as Noel's.
"Eh? Yours is tomorrow too?" Noel blinked his eyes a few times, shocked.
"Eh? You too?" Anna covered her mouth while sucking a cold breath.
"My father used to celebrate it because he wanted to feel joy before the harsh winter," Noel explained before making a weird expression. "What's wrong with this situation… Are you sure your father hasn't told you anything?"
"No, no. Shouldn't I be the one asking it? Your father was the one manipulating things in the shadow, so I can't see any reason for not suspecting your father."
"My father is gone now. Only your father is around, so you should ask your father about this!"
"That's true…" Anna looked down, contemplating. "There are simply too many coincidences. The plan to make me murder your parents, our birth…"
"…" Noel couldn't say he wasn't suspicious either.
"Well, I would be going back to my family after this, so I would be asking my father about it. You surely don't mind if I use your name to check my father's reaction, right?"
"Yeah." Noel nodded. He also felt strange about this coincidence. He didn't know how much his father was involved, but the marquis, his best friend, shouldn't be that oblivious to his plan too.
"Still…" Anna glanced at the order and used her feet to remove the writing on the ground. With this, there was no order given to each other since she erased Noel's as well. After that, she said, "How about this… I'll cook us something for us to celebrate, and you're going to help me. We can't really celebrate it any other time since we can't disturb the others."
Noel nodded in agreement. "Sounds good to me."
Noel and Anna finally reached an agreement. After that, they were simply following the group to finish whatever they were planning to do today.
And it seemed they had a good work balance because they stopped the moment dusk came. Each of them went somewhere as if retiring for the day. However, Noel and Anna knew that they were using this time to practice.
Noel and Anna obviously would do the same if they didn't plan to celebrate their birthday tonight.
They let go of their swords just for today as Noel and Anna searched for some vegetables to cook.
Anna made a simple but delicious meal. She also made sure the others didn't notice since it was better not to disturb them.
That night, Noel and Anna met each other in the back of their temporary house in this village with a bowl in their hand. The soup gave them warmth on this cold night.
While leaning their backs against the wall, they were looking at the sky together.
"Still, I have never thought that I would be sitting together with you ." Anna smiled.
"That's true. I have always thought about killing you. But after reading that letter, I don't know how to feel about you." Noel sighed. "Even right now, I still hate you, but that hate gives me complex feelings. It feels like I hate you, but I can't hate you at the same time."
"I have realized everything I've done wrong in the past. I have no excuse for that because I truly thought about killing your parents for the sake of stability in the past. But when I realized it, I immediately rode my horse to you, wanting to fix my mistakes.
"You were the one teaching me a lesson that I would never forget. You were the one who changed me." Anna smiled, reminiscing about her past. It was tough, but she truly grew up.
Noel misunderstood her words. Since he didn't know about his past life, he thought the execution was a lesson for a lifetime. Or that might be what his father's plan was to change the daughter of his best friend.
Noel remained silent and just sipped the soup.
"Congratulations to both of us for becoming an adult."