That did not mean I was satisfied with just that fake name. I wanted to know the wizard’s real name. Even if my sister or Leon did not know, I thought I alone had to find out. Because I love him.
So after finishing lunch, I sent my sister ahead to return to the general store and stayed behind to speak to the wizard.
“Wizard Selene.”
He gave no answer, as though he had not heard me. He just sat there blankly, gazing into the distance like someone desperately waiting for something. Meanwhile, I raised my voice bit by bit and called out, ‘Selene!’ Selene, Selene, Selene, Selene.
Only on the fourth time I called did he seem to realize that was his name, and he said “Ah!” as he raised his head.
Convinced that the name was fake, I cautiously asked.
“Excuse me, Wizard Selene. I was curious about something.”
“Yeees, whaaat are you curious abouuut. How should I answer so that the village will say I answered weell?”
Hearing him draw out his words like our great-grandmother did, I bowed my head and laughed. Then, worried someone might overhear, I gestured for him to lean in.
He bent down to my height and offered his ear. I whispered earnestly.
“Wizard, Selene. That’s a fake name, isn’t it?”
He answered, holding back a smile.
“How did you knooow.”
“It was too easy. When Leon asked your name, he had a tapestry with a depiction of Selene, the moon goddess.”
“Hyacinth, you truly are a clever child.”
Feeling proud at his praise, I quickly said I had been clever before, but that I had become even more so since turning thirteen. Then I tried to show off my reasoning skills one more time.
“Then your real name is a secret, right? If people found out, it would be dangerous for you, wouldn’t it?”
“Yeees. I would be grateful if you kept it a secret.”
“All right. I will. But could you please share it just with me?”
The wizard adored me greatly. So I thought if I said that, he would say, “All right,” and tell me right away. But unexpectedly, he hesitated quite a lot.
Aunt Marilyn, I was not someone who enjoyed seeing the person I loved in trouble. So I quickly said:
“It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me. The name Selene goes so well with you anyway.”
I spoke calmly, but perhaps the slight regret slipped out, because he said this:
“Hyacinth, then let’s do it this way. You name me, hmm?”
“A fake name?”
“Yes, about that new name.”
“That… we already had Celine, you know.”
“That was something Primrose and Leon already knew, toooo. You and I shared a secret now, so I decided to have one more special name you gave me.”
I understood that, Aunt.
Truly, the clever one was not me but the Wizard. He recognized it right away. My desire to be treated specially, my hope that something would happen that only he and I secretly knew.
I was so happy that I nodded until my neck nearly broke. He took a sip of the tea he had been holding and quenched his throat, then asked:
“Yes, what name did you like the most?”
“Uuuhm, Reiner?”
I naturally thought of that name first. As you know, Aunt, when I was young, I happened to see the portrait of the frail second prince of Reutlingen, and I fell head over heels, admiring that prince from another country whom I had never even met.
But as soon as he heard my answer, he spat out the tea he had been holding in his mouth onto the grass and started choking.
“Wizard? Are you all right?”
I asked because I was worried, but he could not even answer, coughing and sweating for quite a while.
“That… how did you come to like that name?”
“When I was young, I liked the second prince of Reutlingen.”
Then, clang, the teacup fell to the floor and shattered into pieces. It seemed he had not been feeling well that day.
After we struggled for quite some time to clean up the broken pieces, he asked:
“No, how? How did you come to like me—well, the second prince of Reutlingen?”
“On the holy festival day, I went out to the market street and happened to buy his portrait. He was so handsome that I fell for him completely.”
“…So that was it. Yes. That could happen, hmm.”
“Yes, Wizard. Then, are you going to use Reiner as your new name now?”
He answered with a still pale face, maybe because the cup had broken or because he was worn out from coughing.
“That… perhaps using the prince’s name exactly might be a bit much?”
“Oh, right. I hadn’t thought of that. Then I’ll pick another name.”
“Yes, let’s hear another name my Hyacinth liked. What else could there beee. Go ahead, give me a name. Give me a last name, too. I’ll do just as you say.”
He finally gave a big smile again. I decided then to leave out any imperial or royal names, whether Reutlingen or Winzerton, and racked my brains with all my might.
But in fact, the answer had already been decided.
He was not royalty, merely a man from legends—a knight whom I liked most and took as my ideal type after Prince Reiner.
“Um, Wizard.”
“Yes, Hyacinth.”
“Um, about the new name. How about Arthur Gillen?”
This time, the Wizard suddenly hiccupped. He really must have been in terrible shape.
“Uh, are you all right? Should I get you some water, oh, but the cup is broken.”
“Yes, the cup got broken. I… I did that. So, Hyacinth. Did you just say Arthur Gillen?”
“Yes, I really liked that name. Did you know? It was something that happened recently in Winzerton. A knight, in front of Princess Edwina….”
I excitedly told him the story of the knight Arthur Gillen, who waited ninety-nine days, then left the princess’s castle with only one night remaining.
Everyone who should have known the story knew it, but our Wizard, who was ignorant of worldly affairs, probably would not have heard such rumors.
He tried taking deep breaths, desperate to stop his hiccups, while I kept chattering in front of him.
One night, Knight Arthur Gillen removed his helmet in front of the princess and revealed his shimmering blond hair. Kneeling and swaying as he professed his love, he looked so pitiful that even the handmaidens watching from afar teared up.
People passed along his appearance and face and attire and patience by word of mouth, honoring him after he had left for no apparent reason with a day remaining, and in the end, many troubadours composed dozens of songs about Princess Edwina and Knight Arthur Gillen. Someone even wrote down the songs, painted pictures, and made a book out of it all.
Up to that point, I remembered the colored illustration in the book that arrived at Uncle Shawn’s general store.
“Oh, come to think of it, it looked just like what you wore when you first came here….”
The story had gotten that far when the Wizard cut me off and cried out urgently.
“Yes, good. Arthur Gillen. Let’s go with that.”
“What?”
“Would you call me Arthur Gillen? It’s decided now, so let’s stop this story, hmm?”
He pleaded cutely, like he was trying to be winsome. Maybe he worried someone might overhear our conversation.
Since I am a smart thirteen-year-old, I immediately understood his feelings and lowered my voice.
“All right. Then I’ll call you Arthur Celine Gillen the Wizard now.”
He—Sir Arthur Gillen, that is—laughed with a cheerful sound.
“Could you leave out ‘Wizard’? I couldn’t even lift a log into the air, you know?”
“Why? I had never seen anyone as cool as you, Wizard.”
“Stiill. Arthur Gillen was a knight’s name, wasn’t it. Wouldn’t it be straange to add ‘Wizard’ after that?”
I nodded.
“All right. I will call you Sir Arthur Gillen.”
“Sir Arthur Gillen?”
“Yes, that is how they addressed knights in Winzerton.”
“Could you arbitrarily bestow a knighthood on me like that?”
“When we are alone, I will call you that by myself. Sir Arthur Celine Gillen.”
I said so, bowing my head like I would before a dignified royal knight, though I did it clumsily. Sir Arthur Gillen smiled brightly.
“Yes, thanks to you, Hyacinth, I am able to be a knight again, without wearing any heavy armor or helmet.”
“Yes, even without armor, you are now Sir Arthur Celine Gillen, Wizard.”
“All right, from now on I am Arthur Celine Gillen.”
“That is a nice name.”
“So it is.”
He nodded repeatedly, as though the name I had come up with—and the rank I had arbitrarily given—pleased him very much.
He mumbled, ‘If I ever meet someone precious who can keep a secret for me later, I will surely introduce myself that way. As Arthur Celine Gillen.’
I also hummed happily all the way back to the general store that day, not even noticing my aching legs.
Sir Arthur Gillen.
Sir Arthur Celine Gillen.
I even whispered to myself like Sister Primrose would, saying how cool the name sounded.
Had those days just kept on, I would never have written you a letter about this as though it were something interesting, Aunt. Because I knew these trivial stories, especially about me in love, would only be special to me.
After that, truly tedious and peaceful days continued in the western forest for quite a while. We were only busy building the cabin in the afternoon for a short time. Once Leon quickly put together a cozy house as nimbly as you please, there was suddenly nothing left to do.
Perhaps the memorable event was how Sister Primrose acted like a thug, asking if we had money to buy a blanket to sleep under and a tapestry to block the wind.
Or maybe the story was how Sir Arthur Gillen, who we all thought was just a penniless Wizard posing as a knight, suddenly produced a bundle stuffed with gold coins, which left us all in total shock.
Anyway, once we found out that he had enough money for a genuine title to be no surprise, everything got easier.
So it seemed like Sir Arthur Gillen would settle smoothly into the western forest, but who could have known that incident would happen?
As always, Sister Primrose was the cause of the problem. No, saying it like that might be unfair to her. This time, Leon was the root of it all.
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