Chapter 30: Love
Philliad Sarvon Bahamut, the previous emperor of Bahamut, is dead!
Wiffheimer, the imperial archmage of Bahamut, is dead!
The entire continent stirred at the news that two of the greatest figures that had turned the earth into a waking nightmare had perished. Both the battle in eastern Roanne and the battle inside Theodore had ended with Bahamut’s defeat.
Bahamut did not respond to these defeats and maintained her silence. There were only small movements inside her borders, as if she meant to end the year quietly while bracing for the battles to come. It was thanks to this that Roanne and other countries were able to breathe a sigh of relief.
But the peace was already broken, and it was clear that the storms of war were brewing all throughout the continent.
‘Taylon Helkan Bahamut,’ the newly crowned Bahamut emperor, had quietly concluded his coronation ceremony in Bahamut, and Roanne was soon to welcome her new king, ‘Schneider Austin Roanne’ early next year.
The new generation would finish replacing the old by next year. The people predicted that Bahamut and Roanne would be evenly matched in battle.
Taylon had been a notorious crown prince. The rest of the world found it rather peculiar that the empire was biding its sweet time even after he had ascended the imperial throne. Most people assumed that he would begin the war in earnest as soon as the new year came along.
Schneider was similarly renowned, though in a good sense. Many people claimed that only Schneider, who in some ways was the perfect ideal ruler, could be a match for Taylon.
But there were still many more individuals whom the people were certain would have a large effect on the outcome of the war other than the two rulers who symbolized their respective nations.
Many heroes had been born this year during the monster Gates incident, the Black Fox incident, and the battles against Bahamut. Naturally, the person at the heart of this legion of heroes was none other than Ianna.
The leader of Camastros who had annihilated the Black Fox. The very person who had kept Wiffheimer in check so that he could not run rampant and had ultimately killed him for good.
She was a young noblewoman of Roanne, but it was rumored that she planned to leave the kingdom soon. The people of Roanne hoped that she would change her mind and decide not to leave, and the people of foreign nations hoped that she would decide to come to their own lands.
Thus, there were countless people who were interested in seeing what path she would choose to take. But no one could guess where it was that she was going.
~~*~~
Karnitz contacted Ianna two days later.
[My lady.]
Ianna was deeply relieved as soon as she heard his voice.
Karnitz had been hospitalized because Ianna had wounded him gravely, but he was recovering nicely.
[I will see you again once I’ve fully recovered. I hope we’ll be able to discuss things as leisure then. Isphee also misses you greatly, my lady.]
“What about your child?”
[The baby’s condition is improving by the day. It looks like I’ve made you worry. Everything is truly all right, so please don’t worry.]
“…….”
Ianna buried her cheek into the palm of her hand as she tried to imagine what the child looked like. Isphee’s and Karnitz’s child. Surely, the child must be so lovable. The child was special to Ianna solely on account of the fact that Isphee and Karnitz both were so precious to her.
[Someone’s coming. I’ll hang up now.]
Before Karnitz could end their call, Ianna blurted out,
“Do the two of you……still plan on being with me?”
[Yes. Do you still plan on leaving us behind, my lady?]
“Don’t be ridiculous. I just wanted to confirm your intentions.”
Ianna clenched her hand into a tight fist. She continued,
“Steel yourselves. I’ll be grilling you for all you’re worth.”
She heard him chuckle quietly from the other side of the artefact.
[I will look forward to it.]
“Very well. We’ll sort out the details later. Get some rest.”
Ianna quietly organized her schedule inside her dorm room once her call with Karnitz had ended.
The people of Roanne would hold a memorial service for the dead until the end of the year and would also work to restore Theodore in the meanwhile. This was only possible because Arhad had chased all the monsters away. Ianna didn’t have a reason to help out, so she was taking the opportunity to get some rest and to clean up after her life in Roanne.
There was to be a public execution on the last day of the year. Originally, the criminals were supposed to be executed on January 1st, the same day that Schneider was to ascend the throne, but the nobles had opposed the idea and had pushed up the execution. They insisted that all the bad things should be eliminated by the end of the old year so they could begin the new year with a fresh start.
The Institution’s and Academy’s joint party was to be hosted after the execution. Originally, the Institution had been in charge of this years’ preparations, but the two schools had decided to prepare together this year. The two schools would also hold their respective graduation ceremonies on the same day.
January 1st, the first day of the new year, was both Founding Day and the day of Schneider’s coronation.
And it was also a very special day for Ianna.
It was Founding Day of the year that she would turn nineteen. It was the day that she had first met Arhad during the Youths’ Swordsmanship Tournament hosted by the royal family in her past life. And it was also the day that she would depart from Roanne in this one.
Ianna gazed out the window once she was done.
‘It’s four days until the party.’
She had initially planned to receive her diploma early and leave quietly without attending the graduation ceremony. But she had ultimately decided to attend, as a way to wrap everything up nicely, since it was being held together with the end-of-year party.
Slam!
“Little Ianna!”
The door swung open and a bubbly voice filled the room. It continued,
“I missed you so much, my darling!”
Priscilla had come back to Theodore to attend the party.
“You’ve said that several dozen times in the past few days.”
The past few days indeed.
“What can I do? —I want to see you again and again no matter how many times I see you.”
Priscilla tottered up to Ianna, who was still sitting in her chair, and hugged her tight. She rubbed her cheek against Ianna’s crimson hair. Ianna sighed. Priscilla continued,
“How is it that you always keep getting prettier? You used to be like hard and cold bread that’s been left out for too long, but now you’re like warm and fluffy bread.”
“I don’t think my appearance has changed all that much, though?”
“I’m talking about air about you! The air people give off is really important too, you know? It’s the power of love, isn’t it? Love really is almighty!”
Ianna would have yelled at the older girl for being ridiculous before, but she kept her silence now. It wasn’t as much as Priscilla was saying, but Ianna too had been feeling herself change as of late. Priscilla continued,
“Besides, what are you talking about, saying that your appearance hasn’t changed? You’re cuter and prettier and lovelier than ever! Gosh, you’re so adorable!”
Priscilla peppered Ianna’s hair with kisses. Her addiction to Ianna had only grown worse after Ianna and Saiwè had rescued her.
Priscilla didn’t know what else to do with herself because she liked Ianna so much, so Ianna simply let her be. She had grown accustomed to Priscilla acting like this by now.
Priscilla was the only person in the world who could treat Ianna this way. Even Arhad couldn’t be this aggressive with her.
But it was fine to have at least one person like this in her life, wasn’t it?
“Oh, I don’t have the time to be doing this, but I always lose my mind as soon as I see you, Little Ianna. I’m here to pick something up. I have to work on your dress, so I’ll be off now!”
Priscilla was gone like the wind after she had packed the things she had dropped by to pick up and had blown a few air kisses in Ianna’s direction. Ianna stared at the door where Priscilla had disappeared to before she surveyed the room. There was only Priscilla’s travel bag and Ianna’s belongings here —it was rather desolate.
Ianna decided that now was her chance to pack her things and stood up from her seat.
A few swords and some tools meant for maintaining them. A few books that she treasured and some clothes. And the things that Arhad had bought her. Ianna didn’t have many belongings. There was only one box left in the room once she had stuffed everything else inside her subspace.
‘I should clean this up too.’
Click.
Inside the box was the contract she had brought with her when she had left the Roberstein lands. The paper had barely aged at all because Ianna had never taken it out of the box after it had been written and she had read through it once to confirm its contents. Ianna slowly read over it again.
First, Ianna Roberstein will not gain her independence until she turns nineteen.
Second, Ianna Roberstein will debut in society when she turns seventeen. During the two years after Ianna Roberstein turns seventeen and before she gains her independence at nineteen, she will accompany Sarachè Roberstein and attend three royal parties every year: the king’s birthday party, the Thanksgiving of Laos, and Foundation Day.
Third, Ianna Roberstein will develop at least one skill by which she can support herself with after gaining her independence.
Fourth, Ianna Roberstein will provide Sarachè Roberstein with a detailed plan for her future before she gains her independence. However, she will not entertain any questions regarding those plans.
Fifth, Ianna Roberstein will maintain an average grade of B or higher during her time at the Valgenta Institution.
Ianna Roberstein will be disowned from House Roberstein once all five conditions above are met.
1512.12.3
Ianna Roberstein
Sarachè Roberstein
It hit her anew as she read the contract again. It was now 1515. It would be 1516 soon. So many things had happened that it felt strange to think that it had only been three years. It felt like it had been both a long and short stretch of time —it was a queer feeling.
She would satisfy the first condition soon1,as well as the second condition, she didn’t even need to prove herself to meet the third condition, and the fifth problem wouldn’t pose a problem either because she had been the top student of her year every year.
‘The problem is the fourth condition.’
Ianna had been rather twisted back when this contract had been written because she had still been psychologically driven to a corner back then.
She had been sick and tired of the Roberstein name, and she had wanted to cast it off at once. She had wanted to leave the manor because she hated herself for the guilt and unfairness she had felt every time she saw Sarachè, whom she had poisoned to death in her past life.
The fourth condition. At the time, Ianna had planned to tell Sarachè that she would go to the Bahamut Empire and trample Roanne underfoot. But it truly was impossible to predict anything when it came to people. So many things had changed since then.
Ianna placed the sheet of paper on her desk and fell into thought.
‘What should I tell her?’
She could simply make something up if she wanted to, but Ianna wasn’t so inclined. A promise was a promise. But it was also too early to say anything about founding a brand-new country.
‘……Should I say that I plan to be the captain of the royal guard in another country and that I can’t say what country that will be?’
Ianna tried scribbling down several ideas before she finally realized a certain truth. She had been so focused on founding her new country that she hadn’t given any thought into what she would actually be doing there.
Obviously, she would be Arhad’s closest advisor and personal knight. Not only that, but if the political system was similar to Roanne’s, then Ianna would be made a duchess in her own right and would stand at the center of power. She had no greed for power or authority, but both had no choice but to exist in places where many people lived. She would need to wield power if she was to govern a country effectively.
‘But is that all?’
She was tapping at her pen because something was tugging at her heart when she suddenly recalled what Sarachè had asked her previously.
“Will you be marrying him?”
Ianna had no idea why she was remembering this out of the blue.
She vigorously shook her head no, and then she recalled how she had once wondered if she should marry Arhad if only out of pity.
She decided that this was something that she had to take into serious consideration.
‘Marriage……. Will I be marrying Arhad?’
Won’t I end up getting married to him at this rate?
Marriage was merely an institution that formally made bound two people together as a couple, but the thought was still very awkward for Ianna.
‘Will I be queen if Arhad is king, and empress if Arhad is emperor?’
Not only did the terms feel incredibly unfamiliar to her, but her arms also broke out in goosebumps when she thought about what kind of work the wife of a king normally did.
Ianna wanted to create a country where people could live while working toward the things they wanted. Thus, it would be strange if she, the person at the very top of her country, was being made to do things that she loathed doing. She would do anything so long as it was necessary……. But was there truly no way around it?
Ianna imagined all sorts of things before she finally smirked at herself. Arhad had never brought up the topic of marriage, and here she was letting her thoughts run wild.
‘Then, is there a possibility that we won’t get married?’
But a king was duty-bound to get married and bear an heir. Ianna imagined Arhad fulfilling those duties with another woman and nearly lost her temper.
She would never allow it.
After all, he belonged to her.
‘He’s mine.’
Ianna grew embarrassed for flaring up like that and slapped her face gently. She picked up her pen once more after she had pulled herself together.
The next day, Ianna met with Cherno and Sarachè, who had come to Theodore to attend the coronation. It hit Ianna anew as she realized that this would be her last time meeting them in Roanne like this.
Ianna pushed two sheets of paper toward Sarachè.
The first was the contract they had drawn up three years ago, and the second was her plans for the future. Her plans were rather long, but they could be divided into three broad categories.
Becoming the greatest swordswoman in the world.
Becoming Arhad’s respectable knight.
…….
The first two categories were written boldly with no hesitation in her penmanship, which suited Ianna well, but the last category was written with a shaky hand and it was clear that Ianna had broken out in a cold sweat as she was writing it. It was proof that she had been extraordinarily conflicted.
Sarachè didn’t ask for any changes and simply read Ianna’s plans because the contract stipulated that Ianna wouldn’t entertain any questions, but Sarachè smiled to herself because she found Ianna adorable.
Once she had finished carefully reading Ianna’s plans, Sarachè said,
“I’ve finished reading. Thank you for being honest with me. I pray that you’ll find fortune in your future.”
“……Thank you.”
Ianna retrieved her plans from Sarachè and crammed it inside her pocket. Sarachè looked to Ianna with curiosity in her eyes.
“I knew that you were an amazing swordswoman ever since I saw you at the school festival, but I’ve also heard that you’re actually amazing beyond human understanding. How on earth did you get so strong?”
“Through talent and effort.”
“Goodness.”
Ianna’s accomplishments couldn’t actually be fully explained by talent and effort alone, but Sarachè simply nodded along because she knew that she wouldn’t be able to completely understand no matter what Ianna told her.
‘And now, you’re really leaving us.’
Sarachè was wistful, but she still pulled out the book she had brought with her.
It was House Roberstein’s family registry.
Cherno, who had been listening wordlessly to their conversation from beside her, quietly said,
“We can erase your name from the family registry right now. And I’ll submit a request to formally disown you to His Royal Highness Prince Schneider.”
Ianna stared back at Cherno. They had never been able to grow close even though he was her biological father —he was nothing more, and nothing less. Cherno should have been the person closest to her, if only their personal issues could be nicely resolved.
But they had made so little progress in their relationship that it was actually rather strange. Ianna couldn’t help but wonder if the fact that she carried Roberstein’s soul was also a factor in why Cherno was so awkward around her and could not bring himself to love her. After all, the Roberstein Clan had been born because they had rejected the crimson……not that it really mattered, at this point.
Ianna shook her head in response to Cherno’s question.
“No thank you. I have yet to meet the first condition.”
“Hm?”
Sarachè fell into a momentary daze, unable to comprehend what Ianna was talking about, before she realized a certain something and smiled as if there was no helping it.
Ianna hadn’t turned nineteen yet.
“It may be a bit cumbersome, but please wait until the morning of January 1st to erase my name from the family registry. You may submit your request to Prince Schneider afterward. I have already finished discussing things with the prince.”
Ianna had agreed to meet with Cherno and Sarachè today to complete her contract. She did not have the time to meet them on January 1st because that was her day of departure, so she wanted to speak with them beforehand and confirm that she had satisfied all five of the contract’s conditions.
She was planning to meet with Schneider during the afternoon of January 1st to receive documentation that her disownment had been officially sanctioned.
“I see……. Very well.”
Sarachè, who had been listening quietly to what Ianna had to say, then said,
“You’ve changed so much, Ianna, but you’re also very consistent.”
Ianna had grown a little more flexible and had loosened up a bit as of late, but she was still just as stubborn and principled as ever. Sarachè continued,
“Don’t you ever get tired of living like that?”
She wasn’t trying to pick faults —Sarachè was genuinely curious.
“Why should I be tired when all I’m doing is simply keeping the promises I myself made? I find it efficient and refreshing.”
There was a strange look in Ianna’s eyes, as if she was the one who couldn’t comprehend what Sarachè was talking about. Ianna continued,
“Rather, I cannot understand why some people claim that those who keep their promises are tiresome and advocate for over-flexibility instead. Promises are made to be kept, so it is only natural that people carry them out unless the circumstances make it truly impossible.”
She had a point.
“Why is it that people always say such strange things and ask me if I’m tired? I find such people difficult to trust. After all, they are people who will readily change their minds just because they got a little tired.”
There were thorns in her words.
Sarachè flushed and quickly tried to explain herself in her bewilderment when her question, which she had posed without much thought, was met with a stinging reply.
“No, that’s not what I meant. I misspoke. Of course promises should be kept, but isn’t it fine to reach a compromise for convenience’s sake if both sides agree to one? There isn’t a problem in completing our contract now instead of waiting all the way until January 1st. That’s what I was trying to say.”
“There’s nothing wrong with compromising, but I believe that it’s better to keep a promise as it was originally made if there aren’t any problems. It is worth putting up with some inconvenience in order to fulfil a promise.”
This was also true.
Regardless of the pros and cons, the fact that Ianna always made sure to keep her promises was part of what made her so trustworthy.
“Moreover, my promise with you, my Lady, will mark a large turning point in my life, and it is also a kind of promise that I made to myself.”
Ianna’s bright and clear eyes looked directly back at Sarachè. She continued,
“And so, it is something that I wish to keep no matter what.”
This was the simple truth with no hint of a lie.
Sarachè felt bashful yet again. Ianna had taken their contract so seriously since the day it had been written, but she had made so light of it because she had considered Ianna to be a child since the very beginning and even after she had acknowledged Ianna’s skill.
Ianna had already grown up.
She might even be more mature than Sarachè herself.
“I’ll be sure to keep our promise.”
Sarachè saw Ianna not as a child but as an adult who was her equal as she said this. Ianna smiled.
~~*~~
It was already the last day of the year.
It was early at dawn.
The dim blue light was cold and bleak.
“…….”
Saiwè was visiting the prisons with Schneider’s permission. The prison guards shot a glance at Saiwè with a strange look in their eyes before they let him pass.
The bars surrounding each cell were so dense that you had to get up close to be able to peer inside them. There was only one window in the cell, and a few flakes of white snow —it had started snowing last night— were falling inside one after another.
The sole owner of the cell, Luria, was staring at the snow in a daze.
“Luria Roanne.”
Luria startled and turned her head when Saiwè called her name.
“Saiwè!”
Clang!
Luria ran up to the bars and clutched them tightly. She continued,
“You damned bastard. Are you happy now, after doing this to your own mother?”
Saiwè looked Luria up and down as she stood before him. Her hair still retained its luster, and there wasn’t a wrinkle to be seen on her hands —perhaps she had been taking care of herself even after being put behind bars. Her lips were moistened, and there was still a hint of coquetry in her voice.
Luria tried to reach out, as if she meant to grab Saiwè on the other side, but she could not because the space between the bars was too narrow for her to fit her arm through. Saiwè glanced at her hand, which dangled aimlessly in the air because it could not take hold of him.
Luria was just as gorgeous ever, excluding the fact that she had lost weight. Even though she was to die this very day.
‘Good grief.’
Saiwè was glad that Luria hadn’t changed.
“You did this to yourself.”
“What……?!”
“You were the one who took the Black Fox’s hand, who lost yourself in luxury, who raised Fernando as a piece of trash, and who gave birth to me. And it was also you who neglected me when I didn’t know what I should do with my indignation and hatred.”
The expression on Saiwè face, shown to Luria through the thick steel bars, was frigid. The chill that was shot at her from the other side of the bars froze even the rage inside her heart.
Luria’s hands dropped away from the bars. She slumped down to the ground despondently and rested her head against the bars.
“Scary bastard……. So this is your real face.”
Luria had always felt like Saiwè was putting some distance between them. He was her son, but she could never figure out what he was thinking. She had thought that she was simply mistaken, but it was rather everything else that she had seen in him that had been the lie.
Luria had realized this during Saiwè’s last ball, when he had half lost his mind and had raged at her like fire. And she realized it anew in his wintry contempt today. This was the face he had always been hiding behind the mask of his elegant smiles.
“I have always been like this. The only reason you never realized is because you never bothered to actually look at me.”
Luria could not deny what Saiwè had said. He continued,
“You’re not going to grow angry?”
“No,”
she replied feebly. She continued,
“I was already done preparing myself, and my emotions just surged before I could stop them when I saw you.”
Saiwè stared at her.
He had thought that she would be vicious until the bitter end. But she looked so unexpectedly lethargic now. This was his first time ever seeing her act like this, and it soured his mood. His heart, which he had thought he had coldly steeled, was shaking. Luria asked,
“Why did you come?”
“To wrap things up and to speak with you one final time.”
“I have nothing to say to you.”
“Have you read the diary?”
Saiwè ignored what Luria had said and asked. Luria did not reply.
Clatter.
The cell door opened.
“Today is your last day anyway, so why not let everything out before you go?”
Saiwè walked into the cell and stood next to Luria.
“……Fine. Very well.”
Luria giggled. She continued,
“The diary? Sure, I read it. The first half was filled with his earnest love for me. And every sentence of the second half was written in his love for you as he raised you. Did you want to hear my impressions?”
Luria smirked when Saiwè didn’t reply.
“I felt like he betrayed me once again when I learned that he’d kept the fact that you weren’t the king’s son a secret. And that secret ruined my life! Love? It’s abominable how he wrecked my life so badly and decided to call it love.”
Ruined her life…….
“What would you have done if you had known?”
“What would I have done? I obviously…….”
“You would have had me killed.”
Saiwè finished Luria’s sentence for her. He continued,
“Were those your only impressions?”
“……They were!”
Luria stared vacantly back at Saiwè for a moment before she began glowering at him. She continued,
“Did you think I’d feel remorse after I read that diary? I would have made exactly the same choices and led exactly the same life even if I had the chance to do it all over again. I would enjoy squandering money, and I wouldn’t regret throwing your father away.”
Luria was screaming.
“Do you want to know why? Even if I had the chance to go back in time, I would still be a young and beautiful princess, and I’d just be sold to the old king against my will all over again! You’re right —I brought this upon myself, but the bastards who sold me to Roanne and the bastards who bought me here were also to blame!”
“I concur. They were the ones originally to blame in this matter,”
Saiwè said quietly. He continued,
“You were just an innocent and timid little girl when you were younger. It was circumstance that made a monster out of you.”
Luria’s eyes shook when Saiwè was so unexpectedly understanding of her.
“Why didn’t you run away? With your knight who only had eyes for you.”
“Why didn’t I run away?”
Luria replied limply. She continued,
“The Kingdom of Begoisha would have been destroyed if I had. Besides, I was never brave enough to run away from a marriage to the king of a nation as powerful as Roanne.”
“If you couldn’t run like a coward, then why didn’t you stay and seize Roanne through lawful means?”
“That was beyond my abilities. And……the luxury, which I had never been able to enjoy before, was ever so sweet.”
“And that is your sin.”
Their conversation paused for a moment. Luria was silent for a bit before she sarcastically remarked,
“You say that, but why didn’t you run from your station as prince if you hated it so much? Wasn’t it because you also enjoyed the luxuries you had as a prince too much?”
“I was simply making preparations so I could run away safely. There was no way I could escape the Black Fox’s eyes when I was young, now was there? But anyway…”
Saiwè pulled out a heavy pouch from his subspace. He dropped it in front of Luria. He continued,
“This is all the money I’ve ever received from you until now. It’s in the form of jewels, and I’ve also included interest, so please take it.”
“……I see. You’re awfully clean, aren’t you?”
Luria quivered because she thought Saiwè was mocking her.
“Actually, I could have simply left without ever disclosing the truth. I was quite conflicted, until Fernando decided to kidnap Priscilla, that is. I was caught between publicly casting aside everything I so hated and simply leaving quietly and become a missing person.”
“And why was that? Did you give it some thought because we’re still related by blood?”
Luria quipped again, and Saiwè looked to her in contempt.
“I threw away any love I had for my blood long ago. But my father loved you until the day he died, and he asked me to let you be and to focus on living my own life. The excuse you gave me, the first thing that went wrong in a long chain of events. He always felt so guilty because he couldn’t rescue you, a young princess, from being sold to an aging king.”
Luria’s eyes wavered. Saiwè continued,
“I chose to simply watch over you because that was my father’s last will, but you only continued to grow crazier in your obsession for luxury. But even then, I was still conflicted. Recently, however, a certain powerful thought pervaded my mind.”
Will I be able to endure having the stench linger on me forever if I don’t wash away all this filth? I want to go somewhere new and be happy in a new love —but will I be able to?
And it was then that Fernando had tried to ruin the new love that Saiwè had only just found.
“And that is why I made my decision.”
Saiwè clenched his hands into tight fists. He continued,
“I lived my life thinking I was truly a prince for about a decade. I learned the truth and lived as a fake prince for another decade. I am not a prince, but I’ve enjoyed the privileges of a prince of Roanne for over twenty years. To drag you down and unveil the truth. That is my final duty as a prince of Roanne. I’ll have to apologize to my father for this one day, but this is what I’ve decided to do.”
The sorrow in his heart surged forth and raged like a storm now that he understood that this was truly the end.
“I will never live the way you did.”
“……I see. Do as you wish,”
Luria muttered. She continued,
“I don’t think that I was wrong to live my life the way I did. Maybe it’s true that I was too greedy, but I still worked hard and was able to enjoy many things as a result of my efforts. Point your fingers at me if you must. But…!”
She bit down hard at her lip, and her voice was quivering when she spoke up next.
“I have to say at least this much to you if only because it’s so unfair. I wasn’t able to answer properly before, but if your father had told me the truth about you, then I would have raised you even as I trembled in constant fear.”
A ripple stirred in Saiwè’s eyes.
“I……I’m not someone who can be cruel to my own blood. Even now, I can’t bring myself to resent you —isn’t that hilarious?! How dare you run your mouth when you don’t know anything about me?”
Saiwè clenched his fists even tighter.
“Besides, I……I am a woman who is easily swayed by greed. I might have been able to run away if my knight had told me about you, because I truly did love him at the time. No, I would have run away, and you would have been the excuse I needed to convince myself to go through with it. Because at the time, I was so afraid of the luxuries that Roanne and the Black Fox gave me even as I loved them.”
Her violent emotions made her gasp for breath.
“But my knight, who claimed to have loved me, neither rescued me nor trusted me. And then, I changed. That thing called love that you put on such a lofty pedestal? It’s nothing to write home about. You and that wench of yours both can still end up like me!”
Luria continued to fume stubbornly in her exhaustion without ever knowing what kinds of ripples she was stirring in Saiwè’s heart.
“You said you hated me……so do work hard not to live like me.”
Luria stopped speaking after that. Saiwè looked down at her quietly before, on impulse, he asked,
“……Do you want to live?”
“What are you asking me that? Is it because you truly intend to spare me so you can watch as I live the rest of my life in misery? Or are you simply asking because you want to see me beg even though you don’t intend on sparing me anyway? Enough. I’m the kind of woman who would rather die than live in disgrace. I don’t want to be ashamed of myself even as I die!”
Then, she leaned against the wall and closed her eyes as if she was tied. She said,
“Get out.”
She avoided Saiwè’s gaze. He gave her one last distant look before he left her cell.
Clang.
The cell door closed. Saiwè said,
“Farewell.”
“Whatever.”
Saiwè left.
Luria opened her eyes and opened up the pouch he had given her.
It was filled with beautiful jewels. They were only the best of the best.
She had thought she would still indulge in luxury even if she was ever born again, but the beautiful lights refracting off the jewels were so detestable to her now that death was right before her eyes that she threw the jewels on the cold, hard floor and turned her back to them.
“…….”
Saiwè had mixed feelings as he exited the prison.
He was cold on the outside, but burning on the inside. He had thought that he would only feel refreshed after this, so why did his insides feel like they were boiling?
Luria was supposed to be vicious until the bitter end. She was supposed to have hated him for doing this to her. He could not fathom why she had said that she couldn’t bring herself to resent him. It didn’t seem like she had done any self-reflecting either, so it was strange that she was accepting her death so readily.
Which was why he had asked her if she wanted to live before he realized what he was saying.
If she had asked him to save her……then it was possible that he really would have.
Saiwè loathed himself so much for thinking this way that he could not stand it. He hated himself so much for feeling sorrow right now instead of joy.
This was the right path. He was certain of this.
But it felt like this path, which had been so certain was the correct one, was wrong.
Just when on earth had things gone so wrong?
But, so what of it? What was he supposed to do about it at this point?
He felt like he had lost his way.
He mindlessly made his way to somewhere. He knew it was rude to visit so early in the morning, but there was nowhere else he could go. He went to Priscilla’s studio.
He knocked on the door. Priscilla looked rough —had she been up all night?— as she stepped outside.
“Lord Saiwè?”
Saiwè pulled Priscilla into his arms.
He told her everything that had happened today.
Priscilla, who stayed quietly in Saiwè’s embrace as she listened to what he had to say, stood on her tiptoes to wrap her arms around his neck.
“Cry as much as you need to, my love.”
He hadn’t even realized he was crying. Priscilla continued,
“It sounds like every path before you were all tangled up before you even learned how to walk. You got lost as soon as you took your very first step, but you did your best and you found your way to the exit. I think you’re amazing for growing up so well despite everything, and I’m so proud of you.”
Saiwè hugged her tight and sobbed quietly, and Priscilla comforted him in the silence. Saiwè felt his melancholy subside somewhat as Priscilla consoled him.
“Besides, your mother was making way too light of me,”
Priscilla said suddenly just as Saiwè’s tears were about to dry.
“……What do you…?”
Saiwè asked, unable to understand, and Priscilla smiled.
“You know how people call me a Mad Dog, right? I’m the kind of person who runs straight ahead without looking around me when I fall in love. And what can we do? —I’ve already fallen in love with you. We have no choice but to keep loving each other until the day we die. After all, I’m never going let you go.”
Priscilla’s arms wrapped tightly around Saiwè. She continued,
“And you’ll never be able to escape me either, because you’re so captivated by my charms. I’m sure you love me more than I love you. That’s what my intuition tells me. And I have a very good intuition, you know that? So it’s true, right? I’m going to kiss you until you agree with me, my love!”
Saiwè could not help but forget his grief and laugh when he heard her terrifying yet adorable words.
~~*~~
It was bright at noon.
The public execution began amidst the yelling from the angry masses.
“Death!”
The traitors were limp as they were dragged out one by one and put to death.
It was House Owen’s turn after the small fry had been dealt with. The retainers of House Owen were executed first. Then, the members of the household were dragged outside like a string of rotten fish that were tied together. Wels Owen was included in their number.
“Hehe. Hehe.”
Rikijen and Ianna had released him from his imprisonment to the plaza a few days prior. The second son of House Owen had been high out of his mind on drugs, and he had been snickering as he peed himself everywhere —he had been an utter disgrace.
He was generally known as a piece of trash, and the people had recognized him at once. They had reported him, and the knights had dragged him away.
“Wels Owen!”
The executioner read down the long list of Wels Owen’s crimes. The people jeered at him for how truly atrocious his villainy was.
“Death!”
Swish!
He died a clean death as soon as the executioner had shouted his sentence. After Wels Owen was Martin Owen, the head of House Owen and a key figure of Fernando’s faction.
“Martin Owen!”
Martin Owen had committed so many crimes. The executioner spat as he read the list of Martin Owen’s crimes for quite some time. The people threw rocks at him. Martin looked like he had simply given up on everything as he allowed himself to get hit.
“Death!”
Swish!
Martin Owen was dead. Schneider, who had watched Martin’s death with a cold light in his eyes, declared,
“House Owen shall be exterminated!”
House Owen, which had a millennium of history behind it, would be erased from the genealogy of Roanne’s nobility as of today.
The once-powerful and great house had seemed like it would stand forever, but it had vanished in but a moment like a flower withering away in late spring.
Next, were the two traitors from the royal family. Schneider personally stepped forward with the documents outlining their crimes.
“Luria Roanne!”
“My word!”
Luria had decorated herself lavishly with the jewels that Saiwè had given her. She was stubbornly refusing to let go of luxury until the very moment of her death. The people quivered in their fury.
Schneider read through her crimes in a frigid tone. Luria huffed even as she was made to listen to the many crimes she had committed. Once he had finished reading down the list, Schneider was unhesitant as he shouted,
“Death!”
Swish!
Luria was dead.
And finally, it was Fernando’s turn.
“Fernando Karat Roanne!”
Fernando would go down in the books as a despot with the shortest reign in history. He was touched in the head, and he simply continued snickering without any other reaction in particular.
Schneider folded up his documents and cried,
“Death!”
Swish!
A flash of light fell upon Fernando. It signified the end of his long struggle against Schneider. The people felt refreshed as they spectated his swift and clean execution sentenced under the rule of law.
The public execution was over. It had been a rather brief ceremony, but many people had been put to death. They had been doing some basic cleaning after every execution, but the execution grounds were still a gruesome mess.
“Clean this up!”
The soldiers who had been on standby quickly began cleaning up once the mighty order had been given.
The people felt their hairs stand on end as they witnessed Schneider’s, their soon-to-be new king, blade-like figure.
Those who had been executed today had been Schneider’s greatest rivals, and they had also been criminals who had tried to sell Roanne to Bahamut. The people’s hearts were palpitating, even though they were innocent, at how little hesitation Schneider had shown as he ordered the criminals’ deaths.
‘So that’s what happens if you commit a crime.’
The people grew wary. Simultaneously, their trust in Schneider skyrocketed. The criminals had been punished so harshly that they figured that there were surely be less injustice in the future.
“Let’s go.”
People began leaving one after another as things wrapped up. Those who had been undermining Roanne had disappeared, so now they had to set their hearts in order and prepare to welcome the new year.
Tomorrow was Founding Day, and it was a special day. Schneider was to ascend the royal throne on the morrow. The people were preparing for the festivities with all their heart and soul. The festivities couldn’t be too grand because they were still at war, but everyone believed that it was important to chase away the gloom when things got tough.
Moreover, today was the day of the party jointly hosted by the Valgenta Institution and the Theodore Academy. The party was to be hosted at the Institution, which was currently something of a sacred grounds amidst all the fighting, but only ‘related persons’ would be allowed inside because only so many people could fit inside at once.
The people were wistful, but they still thought it was only reasonable. There weren’t many complaints either, as food and goods from the party would be offered to those who couldn’t participate in the spirit of celebrating altogether.
“It’s over.”
Rikijen was standing in the crowd of people who were slowly returning to their own lives. Ianna and Arhad were standing beside him. Rikijen continued,
“And my revenge is over now too. But, I wonder why? I thought I’d be satisfied, but I only feel empty. I’ve been burning in my desire for vengeance for so many years, and now it’s over.”
Ianna replied to Rikijen’s mumblings.
“That’s how it’s supposed to feel. When you add a positive to a negative, the net result is simply zero.”
“I see. Still, the aftermath is heavier than what I thought it would be. I thought I’d feel refreshed after my revenge was finally over, but now I can see why people struggle to return to their ordinary lives once they’ve achieved their revenge.”
“You can’t live without getting revenge if you harbor too much resentment. But you’re right when you say that it’s difficult to return to your ordinary life once your revenge is over if revenge was your everything. If revenge was your only goal in life, then it’s only natural that you’d be lost. But, what can you do? You need to devote your whole heart and soul to your revenge if you want to avenge yourself properly.”
Rikijen, who had been nodding along to Ianna’s words, suddenly said,
“I’ve been thinking this for quite some time now. I like the way you never say that revenge is bad and that people should be more forgiving, Lady Ianna.”
“Forgiving? How can anyone just forgive so easily unless they’re some kind of saint? Even revenge might not be enough to quell your rage. Forgiveness is something that you need to think hard about even if the target of your grudge has already paid for their sins.”
Rikijen smirked, and Ianna soberly continued,
“But Rikijen. You need to forgive, even if only for your own sake. My idea of forgiveness is to be able to declare that the target of your grudge no longer holds any more influence over you and to wash away all the emotions that were eating away at you from inside. It’s something you need in order to keep living.”
Isn’t that right?
You taught me this.
Ianna looked up at Arhad. Arhad, who had been listening quietly, smiled gently in commendation.
Ianna turned back to look directly at Rikijen again and calmly continued,
“Live your life, and become someone so amazing that the people who tormented you regret it even in death. Besides, I thought you were already planning to do this, no?”
“I am.”
A powerful will was etched into Rikijen’s visage. He continued,
“I feel both relieved and dispirited now that my revenge is over, but more importantly, I feel responsible.”
“Responsible?”
Rikijen fixed his glasses.
“The pen is to me what the sword is to you. It’s my weapon.”
It suited him. Ianna applauded Rikijen in her heart for having found his own path. Rikijen continued,
“Would I have been able to enact a lawful revenge against House Owen if I was just an ordinary person? The answer is no. I wouldn’t have been able to.”
It didn’t matter who was actually in the wrong. The truly strong were capable of avoiding the arm of the law. And the people tacitly accepted their tyranny and coerced the weak into simply putting up with it.
The strong would destroy evidence, as simply as if they were merely brushing off an irritating flea, if the victims raised their voices to report their crimes. And others would look away from the injustice even if the victims were killed in the process. That was how Rikijen’s father had lost his life.
“People have no choice but to take matters into their own hands if the law fails to judge criminals. But even that’s out of reach for most. After all, it’s usually the weak who end up as victims.”
“That’s true,”
Ianna agreed.
“I want for innocent people to distance themselves from revenge so they don’t need to become criminals themselves. But I don’t want them to suffer from the unfairness of not even being able to dream of revenge either.”
Rikijen clenched his hands into tight fists as he continued,
“My dream country is one where justice lives and breathes through the rule of law. I want to see a world where everyone is punished appropriately for what crimes they commit. And I want to devote my life to building that world. Do you think I’ll be able to do it?”
Rikijen’s eyes gleamed with his powerful will even as he gathered his breath after finishing his long speech. Ianna assertively expressed her support.
“Of course you will. I like it. Let’s do our best.”
Rikijen smiled a little, as if he had always known she would say that, but he grew worried next.
“What happens if I mess up?”
“I’ll be working right by your side, so if you mess us, then I mess us too. But it’ll be all right. If we know where we messed up, then we can always work to correct our mistakes. Isn’t that right?”
“Naturally. The two of you will always have my support. So do whatever it is that you wish.”
Arhad, who had looked content as he listened in on Ianna and Rikijen’s conversation, verbalized the trust he held for the both of them. The discussion was over now that the man who was to be their liege had given them his absolute support.
Rikijen, who had been staring quietly back at Ianna and Arhad, slowly bowed his head.
“Thank you for trusting me and supporting me even though I came from nothing. Thank you so, so much……for taking my hand.”
Rikijen, who had finally completed his revenge today, resolved to devote the rest of his life to the world the two people before him would build. There was nothing he couldn’t do if it was for the people who trusted him so much. He continued,
“Will the two of you be leaving tomorrow?”
“Yes. What do you want to do?”
“I’ll stay for another six months so I can graduate from the Institution before I join you,”
Rikijen replied immediately. He continued,
“I want to go with you and start working immediately……. But I’m still young, so I might get ignored if I don’t have at least a decent academic background. I can graduate at the top of my class in just another six months, so please wait for me. I would have forgone any electives and thrown myself into my major like Lady Ianna did if I had known this would happen.”
“There’s no need to worry. We’ll still need about a year before the preparations are complete anyway.”
Arhad had been working furiously in the East, but the preparations were still far from complete.
He could have finished up quickly if only humans would be living in their country. But he had to overhaul the entire social system in preparation for the beastmen and dwarves who would also be living there, and even someone as skilled as Arhad had found himself short on time.
Moreover, it was Ianna, not Arhad, who had made connections to the mythical races. Which meant that her collaboration was absolutely necessary to make things work.
Arhad pat Rikijen on the shoulder.
“I’ll send you materials ahead of time, so be sure to study them. I’ll take you quite a bit to time just to familiarize yourself with everything.”
“I’ll study until I cough up blood.”
“Of course you will.”
Truly, they were liege and retainer.
“In any event, that means the two of you should enjoy your last party in Roanne today. I’ll finish organizing my thoughts today too, and I’ll start studying like my life depends on it tomorrow.”
Ianna was about to lose herself in sentiment as she observed the two of them, but then Rikijen suddenly said goodbye.
“I don’t want to intrude any longer, so I’ll be off now,”
he said with a bow. He continued,
“I’ll see you both at the party.”
“Wait, we can just go toget…….”
But Rikijen had already quickly made himself scarce before Ianna could even finish her sentence. Ianna put down the hand she had raised.
“He really is quick on the uptake.”
Ianna glanced over at Arhad, who looked rather pleased with Rikijen. Arhad felt her gaze and looked down at her. He asked,
“What?”
Ianna swiftly turned away.
“No. It’s nothing. Let’s go.”
The plaza had grown empty while they were conversing with Rikijen.
Ianna and Arhad leisurely walked along the road.
But there was a storm raging inside Ianna’s heart right now.
Marriage.
The issue had been tormenting her without end after she had starting pondering it a few days prior. Ianna was quick to make decisions, and she came to the conclusion that it was only natural that they should get married after a few days of contemplation.
‘Getting married just means that we’ll be officially together on paper. I’m sure that Arhad plans to marry me too.’
Ianna was rather confident as she thought this. But her confidence wasn’t baseless. After all, Arhad was the man who had once claimed that Ianna should prepare for a funeral before a wedding if she ever intended to marry another man.
‘But thinking something by myself and sharing my thoughts are two entirely separate matters.’
Ianna liked to be certain about everything, and she wanted to ask Arhad for his thoughts.
‘Will you ask for my hand in marriage?’
But she could not. There was a part of Ianna that regarded marriage as simply official documentation, but was also another part of her that viewed marriage as ultimate relationship status that could be achieved by love.
She would have to settle things with Arhad as soon as she brought up the topic of marriage. The ridiculous excuse of being fake lovers would no longer hold water once they were married. Nor did she even want to keep up the pretense at that point.
‘But whoever asks first will be at the disadvantage…….’
Ianna was no longer bewildered about marriage but frustrated at herself for not even being able to ask about it.
She was seething inside.
She was growing sick and tired of their match now.
Arhad’s perseverance was so tenacious that he refused to confess first no matter how close he came to doing it. But then again, he was indeed the very same man who had chased her for over a decade without giving up in the past. It was obvious to Ianna that he could probably easily endure for yet another decade.
Ianna fell intensely into thought.
‘Having to think about this is starting to get tedious —should I just shout it out and get it over with?’
“…….”
It was almost like steam was coming out of her head. She was so engrossed in her thoughts that her head was heating up. Arhad watched quietly for a while as Ianna radiated with heat before he finally asked,
“Has something been bothering you as of late, Ianna?”
Ianna had been acting strange these days. At first, she had run away from him like she was embarrassed about something, and now she was stopping in the middle of the road because she was so lost in thought and was staring back at him in open resentment.
“…….”
Ianna didn’t reply.
Arhad tucked Ianna’s disheveled hair behind her ear. Ianna flinched as his fingers brushed against her. Her exposed ear turned scarlet. Arhad hesitated when he saw how red her ear had turned.
“……No. It’s nothing.”
“Are you sure?”
He didn’t know what this was about, but he took it as a good omen.
He decided to simply look the other way because it seemed like Ianna was reluctant to talk about it.
“Well, shall we be off to enjoy our last party in Roanne?”
Arhad offered his hand to Ianna, and Ianna groaned silently to herself as she obediently took it. Arhad was quietly content in this little happiness, unbeknownst to what kind of bombs were going off in Ianna’s head right now.
~~*~~
The Institution’s and Academy’s end-of-year party.
The theme of the party was, ‘Let’s Eat, Drink, and Live.’ They would stuff themselves full with good food and drink as they bade farewell to the old year and prepared to do their best in the new year with full stomachs and revitalized hearts.
The party would provide an endless supply of delicious food until midnight, when the new year started. You could always simply stop eating if you were full. The entire event was centered around eating. There were eating contests and drinking contests scheduled for the party. The party was already being called the ‘Pigging-Out Party.’
Attendees were free to dance if they wanted to dance, sing if they wanted to sing, and hug each other if they wanted to hug someone as they bid farewell to the difficult year.
A lot of fireworks had been prepared for the end of the party to blast away all the bad things that had happened.
In other words, people were free to do anything so long as they didn’t cause any accidents.
Food and goods from the party would also be provided to the citizens outside the Institution. The party had originally only been planned to be small enough to provide for the Academy’s and Institution’s students, but the scale of the party had been expanded so the citizens, who had also suffered much, could also celebrate.
Perhaps some might criticize them for being too lavish in the middle of a war, but the people would grow emotionally exhausted if they had to be tense all the time. Their exhaustion would then invite torpor, which wasn’t good for anyone in the long run.
The people were ill composed because the latter half of the year had been so chaotic. It wasn’t a bad idea to let them take a break from running to sit down and enjoy a sumptuous party.
The party had been prepared by the non-battle-oriented students and by ordinary civilians.
The role of noncombatants was to support combatants so they had a place to rest when they needed it and to help them quickly readjust to normal life once they returned from battle. They could not fight in the frontlines, but they made sure that life continued even during times of war.
Many battle-oriented students had been wounded or killed, but no one protested this division of roles.
Those students had chosen to go to battle. Battle was their way of life, and it was the work they would do in the future. They could not continue doing battle if no one was left to support them and create a place for them to rest. They would only fall into despair if they had nowhere to return after the fighting was over.
People were stronger when they had something to protect, and they lost their way and grew weak when they did not. Combatants were grateful for the noncombatants who supported them from the rear, and the always strove to protect them.
And so, the noncombatants had worked their hardest to prepare for the party, as if they were repaying their counterparts for safeguarding them, now that the war had come to a lull. Wealthy commoners and nobles freely shared their wealth and the precious wines they had stored in their manors. The party today was impressive, even if only in terms of scale.
Hustle bustle.
“Argh, why are there so many people here?”
“Seriously. They should’ve waited for the party to start.”
“Then why are you here?”
The Institution’s end-of-year and graduation ceremonies were scheduled to be held before the party began in earnest. The same was true for the Theodore Academy. The party was supposed to begin only after the ceremonies had concluded.
But the Institution square was teeming with spectators. And a good number of them were students from the Theodore Academy.
The Theodore Academy’s ceremonies had not only begun earlier than the Institution’s had, but they had also concluded quickly because the Academy had fewer students. The Academy professors had also been urged to finish things faster so the noble students could decorate themselves ahead of the party.
The Institution was still in the middle of its end-of-year ceremony because it had more students and it had not altered the ceremony’s procedures. And the Academy nobles had come to the Institution instead of returning to their manors. They had ample time to dress themselves even after watching the Institution’s graduation ceremony. Besides, their curiosity was stronger than their desire to dress up.
“Next, are the third-years.”
The people perked their ears.
Awards were presented to students with the best grades of the year during the end-of-year ceremony. Grades this year had been determined only by a few classes in the students’ respective majors because most classes had been conducted by practical experience, which was difficult to evaluate. And there was no reason why she wouldn’t be one of the top students of her year again.
“The top student of the Swordsmanship Department, third-year —Ianna!”
Everyone’s eyes focused on her as she climbed up the platform in her simple school uniform. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that most of the spectators today had come for the chance to see her in person.
Clap clap clap!
Applause showered upon Ianna like hail as she accepted her award.
Envy and jealousy.
Wistfulness and lingering regrets.
Curiosity and interest.
Awe and respect.
And goodwill……. All sorts of emotions were mixed into the clapping that fell upon her like a deluge. There were hardly any negative emotions now. Even the envy and jealousy had come from the people’s powerful mystery at how on earth Ianna could do the things she did —it was almost as if she wasn’t human.
Ianna bowed to the people looking up at her before she climbed down the stairs. The applause grew louder. No one was displeased about the fact that she was the top of her year. She could have been award by the kingdom itself for her accomplishments, and it still wouldn’t have been enough.
Everyone acknowledged her in the end.
They had no choice but to acknowledge her.
The end-of-year ceremony concluded once all the upperclassmen top of year students had been awarded. Next, was the graduation ceremony. Those students who were not graduating this year mixed into the crowd of spectators. They wanted to watch the ceremony.
The graduates were wearing clean and tidy uniforms. Today was the last day they would be wearing them.
They could have skipped the ceremony and simply received their diplomas from their departmental office had they so wished, but most graduates were participating in the ceremony.
The graduation ceremony was an event where they would be congratulated for finishing their tenure in school and where they would receive blessings for their future endeavors. Everyone wanted to nicely wrap up all the hard work they had poured into graduating.
Traditionally, the dean would congratulate the graduates, call their names, and hand out their diplomas one by one. This was also planned to happen today, but the process would be sped up to account for the party later.
The number of spectators watching the ceremony had increased hundred-fold, as if to make up for the lost time. Generally, only the graduates’ close friends and family attended the graduation ceremony, but there was an unusually large crowd watching today.
[Hello, this is Heinrich speaking. We will now begin the graduation ceremony.]
The graduates looked up at Heinrich, who was standing on the platform.
Heinrich beamed as his voice boomed from the sound amplification spell he had cast.
[You have all worked so hard for so very long. And I, too, will be graduating from the Institution alongside you today.]
Heinrich had decided to pass over his position as dean to another mage. The people had tried to dissuade him, but he was the greatest archmage in the world now that Wiffheimer had been defeated, and he had no reason to change his mind.
But he had not finished transferring over his duties, and Herrace hadn’t graduated yet either. Thus, Heinrich had agreed to stay in Roanne to research magic until Herrace graduated from the Institution. Still, he had asked to be excused to go to the East if the situation grew too dangerous because of Bahamut.
Ianna and Arhad respected his wishes.
[This year has been an extraordinarily difficult year. And I am proud of you, from the bottom of my heart, for still managing to excel and graduate nevertheless.]
The upperclassmen were called up to the platform first. The first Swordsmanship Department student to be called up was Kierik, the department head. Graduates were called up to the platform one after another to receive their diplomas.
Clap clap clap…….
Applause was showered upon the graduates and blessed their futures. The clapping never stopped.
“From the Swordsmanship Department —Arhad.”
Arhad was lined up neither at the beginning nor the end but in the middle, where he would draw less attention. But people still stared at his face because his exceptional appearance was always the target of heavy attention.
This was why Arhad hadn’t wanted to participate in the ceremony. But he had had no choice but to attend because Ianna had expressed her desire to see him graduate.
“You’ve worked hard.”
“Thank you.”
Arhad looked toward Ianna as he accepted his diploma. Ianna was smiling a little as she clapped for him. Arhad smiled back faintly because she looked so pleased before he climbed down from the platform.
Many more names were called, and it was finally Ianna’s turn —she was the last to be called because she was the youngest student graduating.
“Ianna Roberstein.”
Every graduate was the star of the show today, and Ianna was the star among the stars. But none of the other graduates complained. After all, they, too, were rather interested in her.
‘Where will she go now?’
‘Ugh, I would totally go there before her and pretend that we met again by sheer coincidence if only she would tell us…….’
‘Please just tell us, Lady Ianna!’
Many students were going crazy in their desire to follow her because they had been inspired by her on the battlefields. There were many foreign students in the Institution —not every student was from Roanne—, and they wanted to live in a stable country that was guaranteed by someone strong. But Ianna had disclosed nothing about her future plans. All they could do was carefully watch her each and every move.
Heinrich shook Ianna’s hand as he handed over her diploma.
“I’m always grateful to you. Please continue to look after me.”
“But of course.”
Ianna accepted her diploma, shook Heinrich’s hand, and climbed down from the platform.
She had finally graduated.
So many things had happened during these last few years, which had neither been short nor long.
She grasped her diploma tightly. The diploma was wrapped in velvet, and it was pleasant to the touch.
[There is something I always say during commencement ceremonies. Do you remember what it is?]
Heinrich repeated himself word for word.
The Institution is a repository of knowledge that exists for your learning.
Learn whatever you wish to learn while you are here.
Challenge yourselves to your heart’s desire, if that is what you wish to do.
The day you graduate from the Institution is the day you will step forth into the world as people who will make their marks on the history of this era.
So long as you don’t give up on yourselves, the Institution will become your steadfast ally.
The numerous people you see around you may be your rivals, but more importantly, you should never forget that they are your brothers and sisters who will motivate you to do better. I am certain that what bonds you forge with them during the course of your time here at the Institution, whether long or short, will become invaluable to you in your future.
“Have you gained a lot from the Institution?”
The graduates choked up. It had been several years ago since they had last heard Heinrich’s words, but they still recalled them vividly. Some people were even weeping.
“Now, it is time for you to step outside the small world of the Institution and into the world at large. Every footprint you leave behind will change the world for the better and be passed down to future generations as history.”
The corners of Heinrich’s eyes were also reddening. He was bidding farewell to the long time he had spent as the Institution’s dean.
“I pray that your futures may be filled with light. And thus, I now conclude the graduation ceremony.”
Whoaaa!
Everyone applauded as they cheered.
Boom! Boom!
Fireworks exploded and magical flowers of lights floated down just as they had during the commencement ceremony.
Ianna looked up at the sky.
She could feel the passage of time.
Pink flower petals and petals of light dyed in the colors of spring had floated down back then, but today, it was white winter snow, not flower petals, that accompanied the magic. Ianna tapped at one of the falling snowflakes. It moistened her heart and body as it melted from her warmth.
~~*~~
“Wow, they really prepared a lot for this.”
The party venue, which comprised of several large buildings and a square outside, was overflowing with food no matter where you looked. You could walk into more food after a single step in any direction. Occasionally, there were some dishes that were too experiential and were like ticking bombs, but those, too, were just another thing to be enjoyed.
More warm food was brought out, as if a ghost had brought it there, as soon as any dish became empty, and there were so many barrels of alcoholic beverages that draining them all seemed like an impossible feat. The people had decided to put aside their worries and focus solely on eating today.
There were three lofty individuals standing in the corner of the party venue surrounded by people who were so overjoyed to see them that they didn’t know what to do with themselves.
“Your Highness! Your Royal Highness Prince Schneider!”
“Your Royal Highness Princess Angelina!”
“Don’t mind us and just enjoy the party.”
Schneider, who had seemed so cold at the public execution earlier during the day, seemed easygoing as he was accompanied by his betrothed, Lilith, to whom he would soon be wed, and Angelina, who had distinguished herself in the last battle. Schneider was incredibly busy, but he looked relaxed at the party —he was determined to rest for today.
The people’s eyes were drawn to the entrance just then.
“They’re here!”
Ianna and Arhad were the target of everyone’s interest as they finally entered the party.
While it wasn’t anything too fancy, Ianna was wearing a pretty dress that had been cut from high-quality fabric. She was so amazing on the battlefield that it made it difficult for others to approach her, and she still looked more amazing than any other now as she walked around in a comfortable dress.
Arhad was also wearing a comfortable suit that emphasized the sleek lines of his tempered figure, and it suited his handsome appearance, which was reminiscent of a black panther. There was a dangerous air about him that made people gulp.
Ianna and Arhad could be called both commoners and nobles —their stations were rather ambiguous. But they had earned everyone’s respect nevertheless.
Nobles and commoners —they’re both still people. The people realized this anew.
Meanwhile, many people envied Arhad.
‘Ugh, I’m so jealous.’
Many heroes had been born during the war. Arhad, however, had been wearing black robes when he had destroyed Wiffheimer’s magic and chased away the monsters, so his identity hadn’t been disclosed.
Not much was publicly known about Arhad. He hadn’t revealed himself during the war either, and the Swordsmanship Department was filled with rumors that claimed he had either been in hiding or away for a secret mission.
Arhad was significantly lacking when compared to Ianna from a superficial glance. It was to the point that people couldn’t help but wonder if he had a secret trump card up his sleeve that he had used to become Ianna’s lover.
Most people assumed that his trump card was his appearance.
He was so exceptionally good-looking that he looked good with Ianna even though he purportedly couldn’t handle mana and his station was lacking in comparison to her. Arhad was the moon if Ianna was the sun, and he was the night if she was the day. He was handsome enough to look the part of Ianna’s lover.
‘He lives up to his looks.’
Arhad had already been aware about the rumors surrounding him, and he was rather amused by them. He whispered to Ianna,
“Have you heard the rumors? I’m apparently a guy who has nothing going for him besides his looks, and I apparently used my looks to win you over.”
Rather, he seemed to be enjoying the rumors instead of being merely amused. He continued,
“You care about my looks, allegedly.”
Arhad grabbed a piece of chocolate as he informed Ianna about the rumors. Once he was done explaining, he sounded like he was having great fun as he asked,
“So? What are your thoughts about my looks?”
“It’s true that you’re attractive.”
Arhad smiled, as if he had known her reply all along, when Ianna answered refreshingly. Ianna looked Arhad out of the corner of her eye as she studied his face.
She realized anew just how handsome he was as she scrutinized his face.
‘He’s certainly handsome.’
There was nothing unattractive about Arhad. Even Ianna, who normally did not care much about appearances, thought he was attractive.
She had always been rather indifferent to appearances, but she had grown even more indifferent because of Arhad. She kissed this man and sparred with him whenever she pleased, so it was only natural that her standards had broken past the skies and had flown all the way up to space. The rest of the world’s population looked plain to her because of Arhad.
But putting the matter of his handsomeness aside…
“Does it not hurt your feelings?”
Arhad was a remarkable person, and he was soon to be her king. And yet, he was being treated so poorly. Ianna hated it when people ran their mouths after seeing just one aspect of another without actually knowing them well.
How would they react once Arhad was crowned king? Perhaps they would at least scratch their heads in embarrassment.
“Not at all. I’ve been masquerading as a talentless swordsman who only has his face going for him, so I’m only reaping what I sowed.”
“I suppose that’s true too.”
This misunderstanding would never have happened if Arhad hadn’t concealed his skills to begin with. Whether the fault lay with those who misunderstood or those who had caused the misunderstanding depended on the situation, but Arhad had played a large role in creating this particular misunderstanding. Ianna continued,
“But if we like each other, then that’s that —it’s ridiculous for a third party to compare us as if they have the right to say whether we suit each other or not.”
“You’re right. They’ve being meddlesome. But I’m still quite fond of these rumors nonetheless.”
“Because they say you’re handsome?”
Ianna didn’t think she was right despite having suggested it herself. Arhad had probably heard people say that he was handsome more times than he could count. It wasn’t like him to suddenly start enjoying the praise out of nowhere. Not that he had ever been the kind of man who cared about being praised by others to begin with.
“I don’t really care about what they say about my looks because it’s true that I’m handsome.”
Ianna laughed —she knew he would say this—, and Arhad continued,
“But when two well-to-do people are together, people tend to envy the lesser of the two.”
Ianna tilted her head to the side, confused by his sudden statement.
“I said that the rumors painted me as a talentless man with only his face going for him earlier, but the rumors aren’t actually quite that bad. After all, I’m pretending to be a pitiful student who’s handsome and decently skilled but unable to handle mana. I’ve never been slandered about anything other than my inability to control mana in all the years I’ve attended the Institution. And the people around me were always the target of others’ envy. Do you recall the rumors from back when we first started getting involved?”
He had a point. The first rumors Ianna had ever heard about Arhad inside the Institution was that he was handsome, smart, and had a decent personality. People had been excited to get to know him better.
And so, the rumors had naturally assumed that Ianna had fallen for him at first sight when she had started chasing him around. And when the rumors claimed that Arhad had a crush on Ianna, people had wondered what on earth he saw in her that had made him fall head over heels for her and had been envious of her.
People had only started saying that Ianna was suitable for him only after she had shed the malicious rumors surrounding her and had put her skills on full display.
“But now the rumors have flipped, and I’m the one who’s lacking now. That just goes to show how remarkable you seem and how much the people acknowledge you. I like it.”
Ianna began toying with a red cherry from the table beside her when her fingers stopped moving. Her face was flushed faintly in its color. She couldn’t help but wonder if Arhad was only ever delighted about things that pertained to her. Arhad continued,
“When people like someone special but can’t approach them readily, they start growing jealous about those standing beside them and try to bring those people down. And that’s the situation I find myself in now.”
Arhad picked up the cherry that Ianna had been about to pick up in her stead.
“There are so many people who want to get closer to you, but you’re stuck to me like glue and don’t pay much attention to them. And they envy me because of that. But, even in their envy, they acknowledge and accept the fact that you’re mine.”
He pressed the small cherry against Ianna’s lips.
“And I like it. I wish more people would act that way. Am I showing off?”
Arhad whispered in a quiet and low tone that only Ianna could hear —it was almost as if he was trying to seduce her.
“…….”
Ianna’s heart was in turmoil. She felt like she could finally understand what it meant to fall for someone’s looks or to have your heart stolen.
It wasn’t because Arhad was attractive.
He was as handsome as a sculpture —or so she had heard. It was true that he had handsome features, but the reason why people said this about him was because he didn’t express his emotions very often.
But emotion always filled his face whenever anything pertained to Ianna. Ianna rather liked the way his perfect features contorted. Her heart skipped a beat whenever she saw how his overwhelming emotions made it impossible for him to control his expression. She felt like she understood what it meant to be bewitched.
“…….”
Ianna stared into Arhad’s face as she parted her lips ever so slightly and gently bit down at the cherry. His finger touched her lips.
Twisted emotions clumped together in Ianna’s heart as the expression on Arhad’s face broke even though he had been the one who had initiated this contact.
Why was it?
She hadn’t thought much about them until now, but she was beginning to grow fond of his attractive features. She wanted to see his perfect features crumble even more. She was very cognizant of the finger pressing against her lips.
What would he do if she licked or bit his finger?
……The cherry was offensive to her.
Ianna brought the cherry inside her mouth. Arhad quickly settled his unrest, as if he had snapped back to his senses as soon as the cherry disappeared from view, and brought his hand away from Ianna’s lips. He poked at her protruding cheek as if she was so adorable that he couldn’t help himself.
“At the end of the day, I like how people acknowledge the fact that I suit you even if only because of my appearance. No one will be able to say a word about us not suiting each other once I reveal my true skills and become king.”
Ianna was only wistful about missing her chance to bite Arhad’s finger for a moment, and her attention focused on Arhad’s words before long.
‘That means he intends to marry me, right?’
Ianna had found newfound leisure after finishing up her work in Roanne, and her head was filled only with thoughts about marriage and her rivalry with Arhad as of late. The thoughts at the back of her mind made Arhad’s each and every word sound meaningful. Ianna almost asked him if he was going to marry her before she could stop herself. But Arhad put some space between them before she could.
“……As liege and retainer, of course.”
She had been had. Ianna closed her mouth, and Arhad’s hand fell away from her cheek. Ianna felt oddly empty once the sensation of his hand withdrew from her.
Ianna’s temper flared.
Her insides, which she had only barely managed to subdue before coming here, began seething once more. Was this the ‘push and pull’ that Priscilla had once told her about? She truly did feel like she had just been pulled in only to be pushed away.
She wanted to pull back before she was pushed any farther. Surely, this was what Arhad had wanted.
Arhad read Ianna’s mood when her expression grew stormy and carefully said,
“I was actually worried that the rumors might sour your mood. They’re treating you like a girl who’s fallen for a guy just because of his looks. Even though you don’t actually care that much about my looks at all.”
“I don’t mind. The fact that you’re more remarkable than you let on will be revealed in due time, and it’s true that I’m rather interested in your looks.”
Though the latter was only a recent development. Ianna continued,
“I quite like your handsome face. To be precise, I like seeing the face you make when you’re shaken because of me. It makes my heart race.”
“……What?”
Arhad asked, somewhat bewildered, and the corners of Ianna’s lips tugged up into a smile as she replied,
“Besides, I was just about to lick or bite your finger just earlier. Do you know why?”
“…….”
Arhad flushed slightly and dithered when Ianna threw one incredible fast ball at him. Ianna picked up a fistful of cherries.
“It’s because I was hungry.”
And so, Ianna avenged herself.
“…….”
Ianna and Arhad, who had landed a hit on the other each, looked to each other in discontent.
A man and a woman entered the party together just then. It was Eiji and Dorcianni.
“Hey, Eiji!”
The Swordsmanship Department students who had been lingering near the entrance had sparkles in their eyes as they called his name. They looked rather interested in the beautiful older woman standing beside him, but she simply made her way over to Ianna and Arhad —Ianna and Arhad had thought they would come over together— and left Eiji behind.
The students thought that was a shame, but they still welcomed Eiji warmly nevertheless. They weren’t very close, but they were still fond of him because he was responsible for setting the mood in their department.
“Wow, it’s been so long!”
“Where were you?”
“I was on a secret mission.”
But Eiji was being serious today, unlike how he usually was. Eiji shrugged when his peers grew suspicious. He continued,
“I’m dropping out of the Institution after today.”
“Wait, you’re dropping out?”
“Yeah. Today’s the last time you’ll be seeing me around. So make sure to look your fill.”
“Why would we? —we’ve already seen you around so often we were growing sick of seeing you. Screw off.”
His peers, who were joking around frivolously with him, sounded a little melancholy as they asked,
“Where are you going?”
“It’s a secret. But maybe we’ll see each other again someday?”
“I see. Well, I’m sure you’ll do fine no matter where you go.”
The students readily accepted Eiji’s light reply. Eiji had a lot of secrets even though he acted so frivolously, and they knew that he wouldn’t say a word. But they would meet again someday if their fates were still connected.
‘Maybe……?’
But a few of them wondered if Eiji, who was good friends with Ianna, was following her to wherever it was that she was going.
Would they be able to learn more if they prodded him enough?
But just as they were about to fearlessly prod the former boss of the Black Fox’s intelligence operations for more information, other students, who had been captivated by Dorcianni, said,
“And where on earth did you find that gorgeous lady?”
“Talented, aren’t you, you rascal? Tell us more about her.”
The students nudged Eiji with their elbows. Eiji clicked his tongue.
“Stop being so curious about her.”
“Damn…….look at you —didn’t think you were the type to be so protective about your girlfriend.”
“You’ll die if you try to make passes at her. She’s Dorcianni, the archmage.”
“……?”
The students tilted their heads to the side, unable to comprehend what Eiji had just said for a moment, before they suddenly froze stiff. Dorcianni. The youngest archmage in history. She was said to be both apathetic and extremely willful. She would roast people with her lightning if she didn’t like them. This information about her wasn’t difficult to obtain.
“And she’s not my girlfriend, so watch your mouth.”
Dorcianni was exchanging an important conversation with Ianna and Arhad while the Swordsmanship Department students were nodding back at Eiji.
“The leader of the Tower of Truth gave me permission to invite you over. She hopes you’ll visit soon.”
Dorcianni had grown interested in the fight between Wiffheimer and Heinrich a few days ago and had abandoned the barrier to get a better view.
She had been broadening her horizons as she observed the splendor of their spells when Wiffheimer had suddenly begun casting a rather dangerous spell.
But Ianna had come out of nowhere and stabbed him in the heart just then, and Dorcianni had watched as the two of them vanished in the blink of an eye. She could swear upon her name as an archmage that they had not teleported. But then, why had they disappeared?
And then, she had witnessed what Arhad had done while wearing black robes. The black divine power that had been sucking in Wiffheimer’s magic had been terrified of Arhad and had settled inside his hand as he reached up to the sky. And every monster present had submitted themselves to him.
Dorcianni had fared no better. She possessed a small fragment of the Demon, and the aura that Arhad had emitted had brought her to her knees and had almost made her rip out her own heart to offer her fragment to him. Would it feel similar if the Bahamut emperor brandished his own Demon’s fragment to its fullest extent? She didn’t think it would.
“Where did you go?”
Dorcianni had asked Ianna after the latter had returned. Ianna had explained everything that had happened to Dorcianni in great detail because she thought that Dorcianni, who was affiliated with the Tower of Truth, might know something, and Dorcianni had grown uncharacteristically excited.
She already had to bring Ianna to the Tower of Truth to show her the ‘flower’ of the North anyway. And so, Dorcianni had immediately contact the leader of the Tower of Truth, briefly explained the situation, and had obtained permission to invite Ianna over. The leader of the Tower of Truth had been more than willing to comply.
“Thanks.”
Dorcianni shook her head when Ianna thanked her.
Ianna and Arhad. They were likely the two people closest to the ‘Truth.’ Dorcianni resolved to stick by them anew.
“I’ll keep working hard, so do keep me in your favor,”
she whispered sweetly before she made her way back to Eiji. The students surrounding him were alarmed. Eiji exchanged looks with Ianna in greeting as Dorcianni kept the students occupied.
Eiji had already long since been expanding his influence in the East. He had been following Arhad ever since he had first taken Arhad’s hand, and he had been establishing and raising a new intelligence organization in the East. He had initially prepared it beforehand because he had predicted that their fight against Bahamut would begin in the East, but now it looked like it would have its uses in founding a new country too. The organization had already been large to begin with, but its growth had only accelerated rapidly once Eiji had joined forces with it.
Eiji and his organization already had a role to play in Ianna and Arhad’s new country. They were in charge of spying, managing information, and cleaning up.
“It’s something I’ve always been doing, so I know I can do it well,”
Eiji had said confidently. Ianna knew that Eiji was the best man for the job, but she questioned if he was truly all right doing this kind of work again after suffering because of the Black Fox for so long.
But Eiji had responded to Ianna’s concern by saying that it had only been the Black Fox that had made his past so horrible —he actually found working with intelligence rather fun. Ianna had determined that he hadn’t been lying and that he had been completely sincere.
“Little Ianna!”
Lalatua, Taro, and Herrace also made their way over to Ianna and Arhad. Lalatua was Heinrich’s disciple, and Herrace was Heinrich’s grandson. Taro was Absilot’s son.
More importantly, they were all Ianna’s dear friends. Which was why they knew that Ianna was planning to go to the East to help create a new country.
They didn’t know whom exactly she would be assisting or how she would even achieve this feat, of course. They had been so astonished just to hear the news that they hadn’t thought to ask her for more information.
The three of them had already decided their own future paths.
Lalatua would act together with Heinrich, and Taro would accompany Absilot to the East.
Taro was both happy and had mixed feelings about this. He had been planning to give up on Lalatua if he couldn’t woo her by the time he graduated from the Institution and had to return to the West, but now he would be spending even more time together with her.
He felt like Lalatua had been opening up to him more, but that she still didn’t see him as a man. He was worried that he might find himself living like this forever. But he gave up on his concerns because he still liked her so much that he didn’t know what to do with himself.
He would never be able to give up on Lalatua.
And so, he had been glued to Lalatua’s side, just as he always had been, as he figured that things would fall where they fell. And as always, Lalatua never rejected him when he came to her.
In any event, Taro had already learned about what Ianna had been up to from Absilot. He barred his white teeth as he grinned at her.
“Yer so cool, Lil’ Ianna.”
He gave her a thumbs-up too. Ianna smirked back and pushed his thumb down as if to say that that was enough.
Herrace looked somewhat excited as he said,
“My father gave me his permission.”
Viscount Torque Bendham had given Herrace permission to be independent. Herrace’s adamant resolution had been one fact that had swayed Torque’s heart, but more persuasive had been the fact that Herrace had answered that he wanted to follow Ianna when his father had asked him what he would do after becoming independent.
Torque was a knight who revered the martial arts, and he was one of the many people who had been inspired by Ianna’s skills on the battlefield. He believed that Herrace would one day become a great knight if he followed Ianna, continued to be taught by her, and worked hard to better his own martial skills.
Herrace’s curse of mana put a limit on his growth. But he had changed and grown a lot after meeting Ianna. Torque understood that chaining his son down to the household was no different from ruining his son’s future.
And so, the viscount had decided. He would pass down House Bendham to Travis, and Herrace would be made independent.
It was the best result for everyone involved.
Though Travis had been oddly unhappy about it…….
“I’ll work hard and graduate quickly.”
It was possible for Herrace to graduate early because he had been diligent about taking classes for his major, just like Ianna had.
It was supposed to have been halted by the curse of mana, but his innate talent, which had been sleeping inside him, was shining blindingly. And more impressive than even his talent was his kind and righteous personality. Ianna had a premonition that he would provide great assistance to her country in the future.
“Come quickly.”
Herrace brightened up when he heard what Ianna had said. He nodded vigorously.
And just then.
“Little Ianna!”
Angelina, who had been stealing glances at Ianna and Arhad ever since they had entered the party, finally made a decision and called Ianna’s name as she quickly made her way over.
“Oh my,”
Lalatua exclaimed when she saw Angelina.
“Oh…….”
Angelina had been so determined as she walked over, but she flinched as soon as she spotted Lalatua.
“Why, hello there.”
“Hello……Princess Lalatua.”
Ianna looked between Angelina and Lalatua in turns. Lalatua was a princess of the Kingdom of Mardial, making her similar in station to Angelina. Angelina seemed rather uncomfortable around Lalatua.
“You’ve been avoiding me as of late, haven’t you?”
“No, I haven’t.”
Angelina looked a little pale as she shook her head no.
Lalatua smiled like a cat.
“But you have. I’ve been hearing so many excuses every time I visited you, like that you were asleep or that you’d just went out…….”
Ianna looked puzzled.
“Are the two of you close?”
“I’m trying to get closer to her. I’ve grown interested in Princess Angelina, you see. But the princess seems to dislike me.”
“Why would you suddenly grow interested in Princess Angelina?”
If Lalatua had wanted to grow closer to Angelina, then she should have shown more interest during the student exchange program. After all, they had met during the program too. Lalatua hadn’t seemed very interested in Angelina back then, so why was she suddenly interested now?
“Oh, maybe you don’t know because it’s been covered up so well, Little Ianna? Princess Angelina used an incredible spell to save Theodore. And I was right next to her when I saw her cast it.”
“An incredible spell? Oh.”
Ianna didn’t know what had happened after she had stabbed Wiffheimer in the heart and had been flung to the Bahamut imperial castle. Arhad didn’t know either, since he hadn’t been in his right mind because of Ianna at the time.
But Ianna had heard that Angelina had used an incredible spell to save Theodore. She had simply forgotten because not many people had been talking about it and she hadn’t really had a reason to meet Angelina again until now. But even Ianna was growing curious now that she had learned that Angelina’s spell had been so incredible that even Lalatua had grown interested in the princess.
Lalatua placed her hand on her cheek as she leaned her head to the side.
“It was a powerful spell that felt extraordinarily pure. It almost felt like everything was being purified……. How much longer are you going to keep it a secret, Princess? How on earth did you manage to cast that spell?”
“I-I already told you that I didn’t know, didn’t I? I’ve already told you everything. It was a spell that only a woman who had inherited the royal blood of Roanne can cast while using the Valgenta Institution’s barrier’s core.”
Lalatua huffed when Angelina waved her hands.
“I’m not getting through to you at all. I’m very good at discerning lies, you see. You’re hiding something from me, Princess. Aren’t you?”
“Ack.”
The naïve Angelina hid behind Ianna because she didn’t know what else to do when Lalatua suggested that she had already seen right through her.
“That’s enough.”
Lalatua shrugged when Ianna spoke up.
“You’re even using Little Ianna as your shield……. Well, we have plenty of time. I’m off to enjoy the party for today.”
Angelina looked like she was about to cry when Lalatua grinned impishly and winked. Ianna was planning to ask Angelina about the spell once the others had left and she was alone with Angelina and Arhad.
But this time……unexpectedly, it was Lilith Tarwitt, who had accompanied Schneider here, who came up to her unaccompanied.
“Hello.”
“……Hello.”
Ianna was awkward around Lilith. She wondered what the woman had to say to her this time. She shot a glance over at Schneider, who was conversing comfortably with some commoners from afar.
Schneider had stopped trying to contact her for personal reasons. He was stiff and business-like even when they discussed work matters too. The day he had returned from his expedition in the East had been the last day he had ever treated Ianna emotionally.
And…
“Thank you, truly……and good work. I will send you off from Roanne as promised. Let’s meet again in the afternoon of January 1st, after my coronation.”
That had been their last conversation.
Schneider was a man of his word. But Ianna placed her hand on Arhad’s arm without even realizing what she was doing because she was afraid that Lilith would run her mouth without knowing anything yet again.
“…….”
Arhad had been quietly drinking wine at Ianna’s side as she continuously greeted her friends.
He looked down at Ianna’s hand when she grabbed the hem of his sleeve, and then he turned to Lilith before turning to Schneider last. Then, as if he had suddenly grasped the situation, he took Ianna’s hand and cross their arms together.
Lilith beamed as she looked back at the two of them.
“You look good together.”
“Thank you. But what brings you here?”
“I heard that you will be leaving Roanne tomorrow. There was something I wanted to say to you before you left.”
“And what would that be?”
Ianna asked astringently, and Lilith took off the mask she had been wearing over her true expressions. Her true face was dyed not with jealousy or indignation, but shame.
“I am sorry.”
“Pardon?”
Lilith brought her hand over her eyes when Ianna sounded perplexed by her sudden apology, and her apology flooded from her eyes when she sighed and brought her hand back down.
“I truly thought that His Royal Highness Prince Schneider only saw you as a woman back then. I knew that you were exceptionally skilled, but I did not think that you were so skilled that it warranted how much he was clinging to you. But you were more than worth his efforts to try to keep you close. I was blinded in my jealousy. And I apologize for acting so foolishly around you and for being so jealous of you that it drove me crazy inside.”
Her apology was sincere.
“Oh, I see…”
“Does that mean you’ll accept my apology?”
“I understand where you were coming from. There’s no reason why I wouldn’t accept it.”
It looked like even Lilith had come to her senses now that Ianna had put her true skills on full display. It was a good thing.
But there was something about Lilith’s apology that bothered Ianna a little.
“I’m sure you meant to say that Prince Schneider saw me as a woman ‘too,’ not ‘only’ as a woman. After all, he has never looked at me in that way.”
Lilith giggled from the absurdity of it all.
“Are you, perhaps, a fool? Or are you simply choosing to look the other way?”
Ianna looked to Arhad for a moment before she could stop herself. But Arhad simply raised an eyebrow and didn’t say a word. Lilith continued,
“Well, I’m fine either way. Please continue to be as cold to His Highness as you have always been.”
Ianna had butterflies in her stomach because she was worried that a storm was about to brew, but Lilith donned her aristocratic smile once more and continued,
“Farewell. I wish you the best no matter where you go. And I truly meant it when I said you look good together.”
Ianna awkwardly returned Lilith’s greeting.
“I wish you the best as well.”
Lilith nodded gently before she smiled leisurely at the people coming up to her and returned to Schneider’s side.
“I was so scared. I thought my nightmares were about to come true.”
Angelina, who had been watching over the situation while clutching at her racing heart, let out a sigh of relief. Ianna felt a sense of déjà vu. It was the nightmares again. Just what on earth was the princess so afraid of?
“Princess.”
“Y-yes, Little Ianna?! It’s been so long!”
“Not quite that long…”
Ianna scanned over Angelina as the latter greeted her cheerfully. Angelina had grown more dignified since the last time Ianna had seen her. Vitality was overflowing from her visage.
But Angelina’s eyes met Arhad’s just then.
“Um, hello…….”
Angelina was about to step back despite herself, but her resolve shone through on her face as she forced herself to still. She no longer looked nervous as she looked to Arhad.
“Yes. Hello.”
Arhad greeted her back normally. Angelina clenched her fists in her sense of accomplishment before she looked him directly in the eyes.
“Um, I’m really sorry, but there was something I wanted to say to Little Ianna alone.”
She was asking him to leave.
“Are you going to talk with her?”
“Yes.”
Ianna figured she should let the princess have her privacy. Arhad assented as if he couldn’t really care any less.
“Then I’ll go and take a short walk.”
A walk…….
Ianna recalled the day of her debut.
Is he actually in a really bad mood?
Smooch.
Arhad planted a kiss on Ianna’s round forehead.
“Let me know when you’re done.”
Ianna stared quietly as Arhad walked away after pointing to her ring. She turned to Angelina once he had disappeared from view.
“What did you want to discuss?”
“Mm. I heard that you were leaving tomorrow, Little Ianna. But I want our relationship to continue even after that.”
Angelina wriggled her fingers. She continued,
“You said this to me before. That you don’t intend on having any lasting relationship with someone who approaches you with a motive that they find difficult to talk about……. S-so that’s why…”
She squeezed her eyes shut and shouted,
“I want to tell you about my nightmares!”
Finally. Ianna had actually forgotten about Angelina’s nightmares because she had been so busy, but her curiosity blazed anew now that Angelina had so arduously brought up the topic.
“Will you please take a walk with me?”
Ianna didn’t refuse and accompanied Angelina outside.
“This way, please.”
Ianna brought Angelina to a secluded forest. The trees looked strange because all their leaves had fallen, but the bare branches were covered in snowflakes today. The chilly light particular to winter refracted off the snow and glimmered in the air.
Ianna turned around to look at Angelina. Her rich silvery hair and glistening sapphire eyes made her look like winter personified. She was like a white rabbit standing in a backdrop of falling snow.
“Please tell me.”
Angelina clenched her hands into fists as she resolved herself.
“I’ll start from the beginning. From the day of our debutante.”
The debutante. It was already two years ago. Angelina explained,
“I fell for Sir Arhad at first sight that day. And I fell for him even harder as we danced. He was so beautiful, especially his golden eyes, that I couldn’t look away.”
Angelina studied Ianna’s expression. She was relieved when Ianna remained calm and seemed to be saying, ‘So what?’ as she continued,
“His eyes were always looking at you even while he was dancing with me. I tried to make him look at me by asking him pointless questions. I was raptured when his magnificent eyes turned to me. But when I asked him if he wanted to become a royal knight…”
The blood drained from Angelina’s face and she began to tremble.
“I wonder why? I suddenly felt terrified just then. Everything went dark, like the darkness itself had descended around me, and his golden eyes, which I thought were beautiful, looked as dreadful as a monster’s.”
It sounded like Arhad had shot his bloodlust at her. And surprisingly, it also sounded like Angelina had caught a glimpse of his soul.
“I thought I was simply being delusional. That’s why I kept crushing on Sir Arhad, and then I was incredibly rude to you on the king’s birthday later that year. And then I started having these horrible nightmares after the Witch cast her curse on the royal palace.”
Angelina began recounting her nightmares with her bluish lips like how songs flowed out from the lips of bards.
Angelina had been the flower-like queen of a country.
Ianna had been the great knight serving Schneider, who had been the king of Roanne.
That was all Ianna had heard, and her face had already frozen stiff.
Angelina had been childish, and she had clung to Schneider in tears as she begged him to save her.
Schneider had been so cold as he cut down her request while sitting on his throne. Ianna had been so terrifying as she held Angelina in contempt.
“……!”
The blood drained from Ianna’s face and her cheeks began twitching as Angelina’s tales continued.
Ianna and Arhad had hated each other and had faced each other on the battlefield.
And Angelina had been beheaded at Arhad’s command.
“Gasp.”
Angelina found herself out of breath as she recalled the nightmares that she never wanted to remember and let it fall out from her lips piece by piece. Ianna clenched her hands into tight fists. Her bluish veins popped out from the back of her hands.
Angelina was talking about the past. She was doing her best not to let it show, but Ianna was rather alarmed.
‘But how?’
Margarita’s curse scraped even into the victim’s subconscious to bring forth that which they feared the most. But Angelina’s nightmares were different from the hallucinations that Ianna had experienced. Her nightmares contained the past, which only Ianna should had been carrying with her.
“I see this dream every day. And it always ends with me losing my head. I find myself touching my neck every time I wake up. I’ve even hurt myself while I was making sure I was still safe.”
Angelina groped at her neck as she candidly confessed how she had been when the nightmares had first begun.
She had become insomniac because she was too afraid to fall asleep, she had always been on edge, she had vomited constantly whenever she ate, she had hidden herself under the covers just to shudder in her terror, she had sobbed all day long……. She even confessed that she had wondered if she should ask her father to have Arhad killed at once point.
“I couldn’t stop thinking about the way his eyes looked at our debut. His eyes were as beautiful as the moon, and yet as cruel as a monster’s. They looked exactly like how his eyes looked when he ordered for my beheading in my nightmares…….”
Angelina closed her eyes, sighed, and opened them again. The light in her eyes, which had been jolting in her terror, was gradually settling down.
“But as I continued to repeat my nightmares, I suddenly found myself so pathetic for not being able to do anything but beg others for help. And I eventually made a breakthrough because the nightmares never stopped. I wanted to rely on you, who was my Lord Brother Schneider’s knight in my dreams. After all, you were a knight whom even I respected greatly.”
Angelina’s tale continued. She explained the things she had thought during her stay at the Institution and why she had acted the way she had.
It was only now that Ianna fully understood. The reason why Angelina had flown into her arms like a terrified little bird when they had first met again at the Institution, and the reason she had fled from Arhad in terror even though she had claimed to like him…….
Ianna found it a tad absurd when Angelina confessed that she thought her nightmares were prophetic dreams that showed her how the world would end if Ianna and Arhad broke up because of her and that she was determined to help their relationship in any way she could. It was so absurd that Ianna, who had been so deep in thought she thought her head might explode, forgot how to think for a moment.
Angelina sighed in relief once she was done speaking and wiped away at her forehead.
“But I suppose dreams are truly just dreams. I mean, you’re leaving instead of becoming my Lord Brother Schneider’s knight, aren’t you? Or, maybe the future changed? Because I certainly did!”
Angelina clenched her hand into a prideful fist. Ianna looked back at her for a bit before she said,
“Do you truly believe they’re merely dreams?”
“What else could they be?”
Angelina asked, perplexed, before the blood quickly drained from her face again.
“A-are they really the future? Oh no…”
“No, they’re the pa……. Never mind.”
Ianna was about to tell Angelina that she was dreaming about the past when she decided that it was better for the princess to simply regard her nightmares as dreams. Ianna continued,
“Your dreams are very interesting.”
“Interesting……. Yes, aren’t they? But goodness. I really need to stop getting so caught up in my fantasies.”
Angelina began making light of her nightmares when Ianna, the most important character from her dreams, made light of them too.
“I’ve told you before. If you tell me what I did in your nightmares, then I will endeavor not to do the same in the waking world.”
Ianna raised her hands. She continued,
“I will no longer hold you in contempt. I will not break up with Arhad, and we will not fight each other to the death. Arhad has no reason to order for your death either. I will promise you this.”
“Oh.”
Ianna’s promise brushed past Angelina’s soul like a clean winter breeze. She felt refreshed, as if all the suffocating dust had swept away. Angelina continued,
“I like you so much!”
Angelina was glowing as she beamed. She was practically jumping up and down because she didn’t know what to do with herself.
Ianna stared quietly back at her.
‘And now I’m certain thanks to you.’
The time of my past life really did exist.
Ianna had thought that time had turned back. That her entire past life had simply vanished completely. That only she remembered any of it.
But traces of the past had remained in Angelina’s soul as well. They had been awakened in the form of nightmares after the Witch’s curse had scraped all the way down to the bottommost reaches of her soul.
‘But why? Does everyone’s past life exist at the very bottom of their soul?’
But no one had ever claimed to have been born again. Ianna had never heard even a whisper of such rumors. As far as Ianna was aware, Angelina was the only other person who remembered the time that had been erased.
‘How come only Angelina and I remember the past?’
Ianna theorized that she had been born again either because of Roberstein’s soul or because Laos had done something.
‘Is it the latter?’
Angelina was a part of Laos’ spartois’ bloodline.
‘Ugh, I don’t know anything anymore.’
There was no point in interrogating Angelina for answers when even she didn’t know what was going on. But Ianna had grown significantly more interested in Angelina. And now, she found herself growing curious about other things.
“What was the spell that you used during the battle against Wiffheimer?”
“Oh.”
Angelina hesitated for a moment before she decided to stop caring and vigorously shouted,
“I think I met God Laos.”
Ianna’s brain stopped working. Angelina continued,
“I was focusing desperately on the barrier’s core to block Wiffheimer’s magic when the people around me were suddenly dyed in different colors. And then, a boy who was glowing pure-white came up to me. He took my hand and said that he would help me manifest my will.”
Laos…….
Laos!
Angelina told Ianna everything that Laos had said to her.
“No one else could see him. I wasn’t able to tell anybody because it was all so surreal, but I feel so much better now that I’ve told you, Little Ianna. It was so frustrating.”
According to the circumstances, it was certain that Angelina had seen Laos in the astral plane.
‘What on earth is Laos up to?’
Angelina glanced at Ianna while Ianna was deep in thought and gently took Ianna’s hand.
“I’ve really told you everything. You’ll be friends with me now, right?”
Ianna squeezed Angelina’s hand back.
“Yes.”
“Ack, really?”
Angelina’s cheeks flushed as she smiled like a bashful lily. She was so happy that Ianna’s conscience pricked and she felt like her insides were turning black. Angelina continued,
“Then……can you please just call me Angelina instead of addressing me as a princess?”
Ianna nodded back in reply to Angelina’s ginger request.
She had once thought that she could never be friends with Angelina, but she had been wrong. She rather liked Angelina now. She had thought that people didn’t change very easily, but looking at Angelina made her revise her opinion.
“Very well, Angelina. Please feel free to simply call me Ianna too.”
Angelina beamed.
“I will, Ianna!”
They discussed their future plans as they made their way back to the party hall.
“My Lord Brother has promised me freedom. He told me to do what I want to do.”
“Is that so? Then, what do you plan on doing?”
“Hmm. We’re still in the middle of war right now, so I think I’ll focus on our rear support. But later, I just want to do everything that I can. Like reading novels, helping people, playing with children, falling in love……. And I want to be happy. Oh, but I’ll still make sure to look after the people as a princess, of course. Um, Ianna? Do you think I’m being childish?”
“Not at all.”
“But you once slapped me and told me to be responsible because I’m a princess. Is it still all right for me to pursue my own personal happiness?”
“I meant that you shouldn’t turn away from your responsibilities, not that you should devote your entire life to them. Your station aside, you have every right to enjoy your life too. After all, you’re also only human.”
“Oh……. Thank goodness. I was worried that you might scold me.”
Today, Ianna had used the sword called words to cut away all of Angelina’s anguish. Angelina’s eyes grew moist.
“You’re like the protagonist of a novel.”
“The protagonist?”
Ianna asked, and Angelina confidently replied,
“Do you find me pathetic too? Fantasy, science fiction, romance —I’m hopelessly in love with novels. I still live in my fantasies even today. Others find me pathetic for not focusing on reality. But what can they do about it? I still like them.”
“I don’t find you pathetic, and I don’t think there’s anyone in this world who isn’t a protagonist……. Everyone is the protagonist of their own story. And, so are you.”
Angelina flushed red.
“I see. But you’re still special. I think any novel with someone like you as the protagonist would be really fun to read. I really want to read one. And if no such novel exists, I might write one myself.”
“And now you’re spouting nonsense…….”
Ianna and Angelina talked about all sorts of things as they returned to the party venue. Just before they reentered the party, Angelina squeezed Ianna’s hands tight and said,
“I want to talk with you so much more going forward, Ianna. Please get in contact with me once you’ve settled down. I’m sure you’ll be busy, so I’ll make sure to visit you often.”
Ianna asked,
“May I tell Arhad about your nightmares? I don’t think he’ll mind in particular.”
Angelina contemplated for a moment before she gave her consent.
“Sure. They’re just dreams, and you reacted all right too. Even I have to agree that I’ve been acting strange. I’m sure he thought I was being ridiculous. Please explain everything to him.”
They parted ways as they reentered the party venue.
“Take care, Angelina.”
“I will! And you too.”
Angelina looked obviously wistful as she waved.
Ianna looked around. She spotted the people she was searching for quickly enough because there weren’t many other children present.
Elly was dancing hand-in-hand with Finn. She looked like she was having so much fun as she laughed innocently. Even the haughty Nissi was prancing around by Elly’s feet as though she meant to fully enjoy the day too.
Ianna watched over them from afar.
‘Elly and Nissi would have been at Lord Heinrich’s magic tower back then too.’
They had some connection to Laos.
And Nissi, the white cat, especially felt like she was related to Laos in some manner.
‘Who are you? And what is Laos thinking?’
The white boy had been reaching out to Roberstein so desperately in Roberstein’s final memory. He had been sobbing as he begged her not to go, not to die. According to the dragons, he had been so loath to let go of Roberstein that he had even brought about the clan that carried her soul.
Despite that, he still had yet to approach Ianna, who was Roberstein’s reincarnation. Even though it was evident now that Laos was keeping an eye on the situation. But why?
‘I should keep an eye on them for now.’
Elly and Nissi had agreed to come East, to where Ianna would be, alongside Heinrich. Laos would also come with them if they were truly related somehow. Ianna decided that Laos would probably show himself when the time was right.
‘I should be able to solve the mystery of my rebirth by then as well.’
She decided to push back the questions she couldn’t resolve immediately.
Ianna surveyed the party venue once more. She had spent quite some time talking to Angelina, but Arhad had yet to return to the venue.
Arhad…….
Ianna leaned against a wall.
‘What on earth am I even doing?’
She found herself pathetic as she clutched at her head. That incident with the cherries earlier had been so childish. What? I was hungry? Ianna wanted to slap herself for saying something so silly.
She had simply returned Arhad’s favor in kind, but now she found her actions difficult to endure. Ianna had always been one to be blunt with her words. It was not in her disposition to slowly lead others into saying things she wanted to hear or to keep herself from saying what she wanted to say even though she had no reason to keep it a secret.
She had been waiting arduously until now because she wanted Arhad to say it to her first and because she didn’t want to simply hand him a victory, but now she was reaching her limits. Ianna had always said whatever it was that she wanted to say, so she had little patience for things like this.
‘Should I really just say it?’
People began quietly walking up to her as Ianna stood there in her thoughts. They weren’t only students from the Swordsmanship Department but students from other School of Martial Arts departments as well.
“Congratulations for graduating, Little Ianna.”
“Congratulations. You graduated in just three years. That’s amazing.”
She looked back at the people who looked a little excited to be talking to her. They were surging with curiosity and envy. People had showered such emotions upon in the past as well even though they were also afraid of her. But now, there were no hints of negative emotions to be found, and they were filled only with positive ones. It didn’t feel bad, so Ianna simply accepted their words.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that this was her last chance to speak with them like this. She met up with Arhad again soon, and then they would leave after a little while.
Everyone was chatting when someone suddenly loudly asked,
“Can’t you tell us where you’re going?”
Ianna had already known, by the sparkles in their eyes, that people wanted to follow her. Warriors from the Institution generally worked hard on top of already being talented. And they had gained plenty of experience from recent battles. Not only were their skills already first-rate, but they had a lot of potential too. They would be of great assistance if she brought them over to the new country she was about to build.
But she could not speak carelessly yet because her plans to establish her country were still messy.
More importantly, she would not be the one to try to coax them first. She wanted them to make the choice to come with her entirely on their own.
“Do you wish to follow me?”
They hesitated when Ianna asked them straightforwardly. But a few seemed to grow completely blind to anything else as they shouted, “Yes!”
“I can’t tell you where I’m going yet, but if you should hear my name again someday, then please come find me after careful consideration. But please know that I will not give you any preferential treatment just because we’re both from the Institution. I will be true to whatever regulations that exist there, and I will treat you in accordance to your skills.”
This should be enough.
Just then, Ianna looked to the entrance as if her gaze had been drawn there by a magnet.
Arhad was looking only at her as he stood there.
~~*~~
Arhad pondered about a lot of things while he was out on his walk.
‘Taylon is definitely aware of my existence even though he’s letting me be. Is it because he has some other plot in mind that he’s simply allowing Roanne to throw a party like this, or is it simply because he doesn’t care about Roanne?’
Arhad had been pouring his full attention into analyzing Taylon’s intentions as of late. But it was difficult for him to decipher because he didn’t know how much the bastard knew or what the bastard even wanted.
‘But if I assume that Taylon is aware not only of my existence but also of the fact that he lost to me in the past, then I can be certain of at least this much.’
Taylon would do his absolute best not to be defeated again this time around. And Taylon was surely preparing something to catch him off guard……. Arhad needed to uncover what that something was.
‘In any event, he doesn’t intend to touch me at all for the time being. I guess I should be grateful for that. The fool.’
Arhad decided not to stay in hiding because he was certain that Taylon was already aware of his existence but was choosing not to do anything about it. He wanted to see how much Taylon would tolerate. He had accompanied Ianna to the party today to see how Taylon would react.
‘I don’t know what he’s planning…’
Arhad’s pupils narrowed like a snake’s, and his golden eyes glistened in the darkness like those of a savage beast’s. A wintry chill took hold of the emotionless expression on his face.
‘But I’ll be the one to devour you.’
Taylon was a savage beast, but so too was Arhad. If Taylon was a venomous snake, then Arhad carried an even more potent venom.
Arhad was kind and friendly to Ianna, like an obedient dog. But, while he didn’t show it to her very often, there was still a cruel and heartless aspect of his personality that was breathing in a corner of his heart.
‘I’ll have to grow stronger quickly in order to do that.’
Arhad didn’t know when Taylon had chanced upon a rift into Pandemonium, but Taylon was likely much stronger now than he had been in the past because he had seen Arhad’s memories and had quickly gathered the Demon’s fragments. Taylon was so strong right now that Ianna, who had met him personally, had even declared that he was likely a cut stronger than Arhad.
‘I need to grow stronger.’
Taylon would definitely go after Ianna. He possessed a piece of Arhad, and he would surely reach out for Ianna because Arhad loved, loathed, and obsessed over her.
Arhad would not tolerate it.
‘I need to grow stronger fast if I want to keep Ianna safely by my side.’
Arhad’s heart blazed as the unknown danger called Taylon approached him. He wanted to grow stronger, even if it meant having to burn up his own soul, so long as it meant that no one could take Ianna from him. He thirsted in his want for absolute strength.
‘If I want to be able to focus solely on Ianna…….’
Then he would need to grow stronger.
Arhad walked through a forest before he returned to the party venue. He stared inside at the party with his animalistic instincts. Ianna had returned to the party.
Arhad leaned against a tree and crossed his arms. He stared quietly at Ianna through the window as she received everyone’s attention on her being.
Of course.
That woman is so radiant.
Arhad was happier than Ianna was about the fact that people had recognized how amazing she was and was singing her praises. And what he liked best about the whole ordeal was the fact that the light whom everyone so yearned for stayed by his side as she sparkled.
His heart skipped a beat every time he looked to her.
He had no way of knowing if the last three years had been a dream or not. He would suddenly recall the past before he had erased time whenever he was about to grow accustomed to things, and his heart would tremble as he marveled at what a miracle this was.
‘I truly did well to erase time.’
Erasing time had been no ordinary feat.
In truth, Arhad had actually been to the ‘place of stillness where time was jumbled together and souls existed’ that Ianna had spoken about previously. His power, Time Removal, was the ability to erase time from the present to a given point of time in the past. He could only use it when the target of his Time Removal was before his eyes and he was in direct contact with them.
This was why Arhad had needed to borrow Laos’ help and visit that place when he had erased the world’s time.
The infinite space where all the time and history of the world was recorded and the center of the world where the Balance existed. The Truth itself.
It was called the ‘Akashic Records.’
Arhad did not know much about the Akashic Records. He only knew the name because Laos had told him.
To be honest, there was much about his own power, Time Removal, that he didn’t know about too. Erasing the world’s time had been the first time he had ever used it, and his heart was in such a mess afterward that he hadn’t been able to research his power.
But of this he was certain.
He had thrown away everything as the price of erasing time. His heart, his divine power, his station, his retainers, his gold……. He had truly abandoned everything.
But he was still glad that he had erased time. Truly.
The fact that Ianna was by his side alone was worth everything he had lost. No, she was worth so much more. Which was why he needed to grow stronger —so that he could focus solely on her, solely on the time he was to spend with her.
“…….”
Arhad watched quietly as Ianna confronted the people at her leisure.
There was one thing he regretted whenever he saw her acting like that. He wished he had been able to visit her when she was younger.
She was so lovely and awesome now, so she had surely been adorable and upright as a child too.
But she had still been hurt and had cried because of others.
Arhad had known that Ianna had been ostracized as a child and that she had been wounded gravely. He had predicted that she would be hurt all over again in this life too.
And yet, he had never gone to her.
He had become incredibly unstable from the side effects of erasing time back to before Ianna had been born and because of the surplus of his emotions.
He had not been able to go and find her at that time or even after that.
It was because he had been cruel monster who had only known Ianna and who would have murdered anyone and everyone who slandered and harassed her. He had been a selfish coward who was too afraid that he would mess things up from the very beginning all over again.
He had wanted to slaughter all the bastards who had hurt her, but he could not due to various reasons.
‘I’m so proud of her for growing up so well all on her own all things despite.’
Ianna had been timid and full of sorrow when he had first met her when she was seventeen before he had erased time. But she had not been that way when he had first met her again at the Great Temple of Laos.
Was that because of the butterfly effect from his own changed actions, or was it because of Laos……?
Laos was a god who could enter the Akashic Records freely. Arhad did not know what the Akashic Records were capable of. It was entirely possible that Laos had used one of the Akashic Records’ functions to avoid his Time Removal powers.
Had Laos affected Ianna in some way? But Laos had said that he would not lay a hand on the world.
But in any event, this was all in the past now.
Arhad erased his curiosity regarding Ianna’s childhood. There was no point in being curious because it had already passed. All he needed was the current Ianna.
‘Ianna.’
Even just thinking her name made him happy.
His patient love gushed down like melting wax.
Ianna surely loved him. She was being stubborn about it, but his instincts told him that he wouldn’t need to wait for much longer now. There was no way that he wouldn’t have noticed that Ianna’s patience was running out.
He had known that Ianna was shaken when he had fed her the cherry, and he had taken a step back on purpose. He wanted her to grow so frustrated that she could not hold back any longer.
Arhad could wait. He had already been waiting for so long.
But the thirst he had felt when her crimson lips swallowed the crimson fruit had been ever so hot. Ianna’s adorable act of revenge had been both disagreeable and dizzyingly endearing. It had been fatal, to the point where he had almost wanted to shatter his remaining patience.
The girl, who had still looked childish at sixteen, was maturing into a woman. Their kisses, which had begun when she was seventeen, had grown denser, and so too had the emotions that Ianna was letting show.
And now, during the final days of her eighteenth year, Ianna was slowly fishing out the fever that Arhad had nailed down to the bottom of his heart.
I want to desire you and drown in you more, just a little more.
I want to go insanely crazy for you.
This unsightly, pure, and raw greed of mine.
‘Can’t you just let me win already?’
Then, I could pour all of this love boiling in my heart upon you without reserve. And I wouldn’t have to wait in agony any longer.
More and more people gathered around Ianna.
Arhad was teeming with his desire to show off.
He wanted to show the world that she was his. It was nothing compared to the desire to show off a jewel in one’s possession. He wanted to tell the whole world that Ianna, the amazing woman that she was, had personally chosen him and him alone.
Ianna looked to him immediately, as if no one else was around, as soon as he walked up to the venue entrance. Their gazes met and knotted into each other.
He liked the way she looked to him so directly. So much so that his heart huffed with delight.
Arhad walked over to her with large strides and took her hand, and Ianna grabbed him back without rejecting him as if it was only natural. This made him beyond ecstatic.
The people looked to Arhad with envy. It was more than enough to satisfy his desire to show off.
And they asked him,
“What will you do now, Little Arhad?”
But Ianna replied in his stead.
“He’ll be coming with me.”
Their eyes grew misty with envy when they heard Ianna’s straightforward answer. Arhad was delighted as he swam in the resulting wave of emotion.
The only person whom Ianna has permitted to stand by her side is me.
The rest of you will only be following behind her.
“The events will begin soon.”
People had been chatting for quite some time now and were about to begin slipping away, but then an announcement about an event echoed throughout the party venue through the use of artefacts.
“Oh, I wanted to participate.”
Those who had been talking a lot had withered away somewhat. They had only been returned ambiguous answers no matter how many times they had asked. They were lingering because wanted to get to know Ianna better, but the wall that they themselves had erected was much too sturdy for them to knock down. And so, those who finally surrendered turned their attention to the event instead.
There were many events taking place. Many of them were designed to grab the attention. The crowd around Ianna and Arhad gradually scattered away.
“…….”
Ianna’s gaze was fixed on one location. Arhad confirmed what she was looking at and asked her,
“Do you want to participate?”
“Perhaps. Not quite, but…….”
“Then, do you want to drink?”
Ianna had been staring distantly at the drinking contest that was to begin soon. She didn’t exactly want to participate in the contest itself, but she did feel like drinking a lot without any worries. She had been agonizing over Arhad all day long, and her head hurt.
‘Should I just say it?’
How many times had she thought this to herself now?
‘No. I don’t want to lose.’
And just how many times had she given up on the idea because of her competitiveness?!
Ianna couldn’t figure out what it was that she wanted to do.
Her feelings, or her victory?
Ianna’s insides were burning like lava as she was swayed this way and that.
I’m tired of this.
I’m sick and tired of this!
I said I’m tired of this!
She felt like something had exploded in her head.
She had made a decision.
Right. Alcohol.
It’s alcohol.
It’s always alcohol.
‘I think I’m agonizing even more because I’m in my right mind.’
Her pointless worries would wipe clean away and only the conclusion would remain if she drank like crazy. Alcohol made people both honest and bold. And so, the drinking contest was perfect. It would let her drink like crazy without having to worry about what others thought.
“Yes. Today’s my last day here, after all. I’d like to drink. A lot,”
Ianna said willfully with a serious look on her face, and Arhad nodded without objection.
“Drink, if that’s what you want to do.”
“Will you be participating with me?”
Arhad crossed his arms.
“I’m good. I won’t stop you if you feel like getting drunk, but I still have to look after you.”
Ianna’s heart squeezed. His consideration for her, which had become as natural for her as was breathing air, was pushing her one way as she stood indecisively on the line between her feelings and her victory.
Ianna grit her teeth.
“Wow!”
People cheered when she stepped forward.
“I wanna compete too!”
Several people wanted to try beating Ianna at the drinking contest.
Ianna was the strongest contender. This was one way for people to be able to claim that they had defeated her in any manner. Ianna may be strong, but she was still a woman who wasn’t even twenty yet, and many people thought they could at least beat her at a drinking contest.
“…….”
Ianna spotted Schneider, who had been standing awkwardly nearby. He had been about to participate in the drinking contest but had stopped in his tracks after seeing Ianna.
“Please sit next to Little Ianna, Your Highness.”
Schneider had asked everyone to be comfortable with him just for today, but no one dared to address the soon-to-be king so carelessly. The emcee carefully directed Schneider to sit down next to Ianna.
“……It’s been a while.”
Schneider greeted her first.
“Yes. This is our first meeting since then,”
Ianna mumbled as she watched an incredible amount of alcohol being brought to the table with a distant look in her eyes. She continued,
“Thank you for keeping your promise.”
“I haven’t kept it yet, you know?”
Schneider quipped back, but Ianna shook her head.
“But you will soon, will you not? I will see you again tomorrow.”
Schneider did his best to ignore her. He grew depressed as he wondered if that was truly all she had to say to him. But Ianna was someone who headed straight down only one path, so what could she possibly have to say to him when he was standing on the path of defeat?
Ianna looked Schneider directly in the eyes.
Schneider.
He had been her liege in the past…….
Schneider had probably also been pricked countless times back when she had still been like a hedgehog. And yet, he truly cared about her even still.
“I’m sorry for everything, and thank you,”
Ianna said sincerely.
But to Schneider, it only sounded like she was drawing a distinct line between them.
“I will, at the very least, win this drinking contest of ours.”
He would win. He would look down at Ianna as she was unable to keep herself upright in her drunkenness, and he would turn his back on her. He would wash everything away with this small victory. This was the last shred of his foolish pride.
“Begin!”
Glasses of wine were quickly emptied from the table.
But contestants dropped their glasses and passed out one after another as time passed, and glasses still filled with wine spilled over the table.
Ianna and Schneider were the last contestants standing. Schneider was keeping up with Ianna’s pace out of sheer obstinacy, but he found it so difficult he thought he might actually die. He couldn’t help but wonder what on earth the woman was. Was her stomach and liver outer space itself?
Intoxication blurred his vision.
Ianna was growing blurry too.
It was truly time to let her go now.
‘Damn it.’
Bang!
Schneider slammed his glass down on the table.
“Fine. I lose! You can go! Just go! I’m letting go of you! So go……!”
Schneider shouted as his tongue got tied. He then promptly planted his forehead into the table.
Wow…….
The contest had concluded.
It was Ianna’s overwhelming victory.
“Phew.”
She sighed as she placed down her glass.
Ianna’s body broke down alcohol rather quickly. But her vision was a little dizzy because she had drunk at a pace faster than what her body could keep up with.
Ianna accepted a top-grade bottle of wine as her prize and slipped away between the unconscious corpses the other contestants had become. Arhad, who had been waiting for her, held her steady as she staggered. Ianna clung tightly to his arm.
“I’m not drunk. I’m really not drunk, you know that?”
“Yeah, yeah. Let’s take a walk so you can sober up.”
Arhad led Ianna outside the party venue. Ianna said in her tipsiness that she wanted to tour the Institution one last time because today was her last day here, and Arhad naturally complied.
They slowly made their way around the Institution. The crossed the snow-covered paths they had taken constantly over the past three years, they looked at the buildings where they had taken their lectures, and they visited the cafeterias where they had enjoyed delicious meals.
They circled the dormitories, which felt like home to Ianna now, before they eventually made their way to the forest behind the dormitories. Most of their memories were found within the forest and the Swordsmanship Department’s training grounds.
The chilly air and snow were carried over on the breeze and froze on their faces as they strolled around the forest.
“…….”
Ianna’s head was like a blank page now that she had washed everything away with alcohol. She looked to Arhad in a daze. She couldn’t think of anything to say. There was something she needed to say, but she had emptied her head far too much.
Ianna furrowed her brows before she finally exclaimed, “Oh.”
“Angelina…….”
Ianna was somewhat disoriented in an even mixture of tipsiness and rationality as she told Arhad about Angelina’s dreams. Was it due to the alcohol? Arhad looked strangely cold and emotionless.
“What truly ludicrous dreams.”
“Right?”
Dreams. Dreams that Angelina regarded merely as dreams. Dreams that even Arhad said were ludicrous.
That time had vanished…….
But it had definitely existed once.
Crunch.
Ianna stopped walking. She looked to Arhad like she was bewitched when he stopped too and looked at her.
‘Wouldn’t Arhad have memories of his past life too?’
Even if he doesn’t remember them?
That time had most certainly existed. Which meant that Arhad was the very same man who had experienced it once. The current Arhad and the past Arhad were overlapping together.
They were the same man —he had simply forgotten about it as if he had amnesia.
The man who had accepted all of her negative emotions.
The man who had witnessed all of her foolishness.
Her heart clenched.
Ianna hoped that Arhad would never remember the past, even if only in his dreams. Angelina’s affection for Arhad in this life had vanished because of her nightmares —what if the same thing happened to Arhad?
‘I’d hate that.’
There was no way that Arhad wouldn’t love Ianna. But it was still possible for love and hatred to overlap and coexist, was it not? Arhad had eventually resigned himself in the past, and he had killed her.
Arhad might suddenly remember how foolish she had been in the past. And she would still have to tell him about her past foolishness one day even if he didn’t.
‘So I want him to love me even more than he does now.’
So much so that her past foolishness was buried beneath his current love. So much that his love was more than enough to handle how heartless she had been —so, so much more…….
Ianna laced her fingers into Arhad’s like she was weaving them together. Then, she pulled at him and planted her lips on the back of his hand. She was delighted when he squeezed back.
Ianna snuck a glance up at Arhad. He looked shaken and he peered back at her.
Smooch.
Her lips, which had left a mark on the back on his hand, travelled lower. She deeply kissed the palpitating artery in his wrist. The violent thumping she could feel from her lips was ever so endearing to her.
Arhad pulled hard at Ianna’s hand. But Ianna had jumped into his arms first. He walked backward with Ianna in his embrace before his back finally hit against a tree. Ianna blocked off Arhad’s escape routes, and she wrapped her arms around his neck as she kissed him with lips that were moistened like gently melted candy.
It was a deep kiss. It was also different from usual.
But the slipperiness between their lips and the flush on her cheeks were the same as always —was it because she was tipsy, or was it because her heart had changed? She had kissed him not to browbeat him into confessing first already but as a way to complain about how she wanted him to love her more, and something about it felt mysterious to her and sent a shiver down her spine.
“……Haah.”
A feverish sigh escaped from between Arhad’s lips. His features were about to distort, but then he pulled Ianna in by the back of her neck and kissed her deeper. Their kiss was both rough and seductive, as though he meant to indulge in her all the way down to her very soul.
Ianna cracked her eyes open as she felt herself break out in goosebumps. Two pupils, filled with rabid emotions, were staring fiercely into the flush on her face.
Arhad used his other arm to squeeze Ianna tightly at the waist and crushed her insides until she was gasping for breath. Their mixed breaths and the heat from their embracing bodies was so hot that they felt feverish even as they stood in the winter snow.
Ianna looked down as she finally made herself some time to breathe.
But Arhad only pulled her in even closer against himself, as if he was loath to be apart from her for even just an instant, and rubbed his nose against her because he liked her so much that he didn’t know what else to do with himself. His actions were brimming with an affection that he himself could not bear.
Ianna was feeling thrilled and satisfied by his actions when Arhad suddenly pressed against her lips with his thumb and whispered,
“The cherry.”
“……That came out of nowhere.”
“In that moment when I saw you biting at the crimson cherry with your crimson lips…”
He was unwittingly assaulted by a strange desire. Arhad continued,
“Would you hold me in contempt if I said that I desired you?”
After all, he was a man.
This the first time in Ianna’s life that she had ever seen the gleaming eyes of a man who openly thirsted for her from up so close. After all, Arhad was always enduring and enduring.
“Am I strange for wanting more every time we kiss?”
The lust that she had always scorned so much had always been vulgar and promiscuous. But, why was it? —she was glad to know he wanted her. She felt like she wouldn’t mind even if she was sullied by that vulgarity so long as it was Arhad.
Ianna’s face flushed scarlet.
“Hmm?”
His eyes were gentle and yet dangerous, filled with greed and yet ascetic. He was contradictory, as if even he couldn’t make heads or tails of himself. Ianna could feel that Arhad, too, had reached a limit.
She clutched at his clothes.
“……No, you’re not,”
she squeezed out an answer as she labored to breathe. She tried to bury his crimson face against Arhad’s nape.
“Why not?”
Arhad took her face and raised it up. He continued,
“Why am I not strange? It’s shameless of me.”
He was coercing her for an answer. No, he was craving for one.
“Tell me. You……already know the answer.”
But Ianna didn’t answer, and Arhad pleaded with her in a bubbling voice.
“Can’t you just say it, Ianna?”
His pleading was so ardent.
“Just this once. I mean it —just this once. Say it first.”
The inside of Ianna’s head went white as she watched Arhad beg.
And she realized just how cowardly and crude she was being.
Her competitive desire. It was so trivial. She could simply best him at the sword, so why was she working so desperately to win? Her pride. Why was she being so stubborn about it, to the point that it was frustrating her? —it wasn’t as if pride could feed her.
Her damned competitiveness and pride where the things that made it so that she could work hard to live, but they were also the greatest obstacles to her happiness.
After all, hadn’t she already vowed it to herself?
In this next life, she wanted to live in mutual victory.
Arhad loved her again in this life. He had attacked her by pouring out his endless love upon her. It had already been long since that Ianna had crumbled before the onslaught.
Oh, I have no choice but to be defeated by you.
The depth of your affections has brought me down in the end.
Her heart was racing.
What was she to do?
Her hatred and her inferiority complex, her competitiveness and her pride.
Only her naked affections would remain once everything else was washed away.
She had never before felt only pure affection for another. That was why the tear-inducing affection, filling up her insides, felt so endlessly unfamiliar to her.
The fever swallowed up her soul.
Her face grew so red she thought she might explode. She was dizzy. She didn’t know what to do. She was even afraid. She had always thought that she was bold and daring, but apparently, she had been mistaken. The was no way that she could possibly endure this surge of her emotions.
Which was why Ianna pushed Arhad away and fled.
“…….”
Arhad stared penetratingly, with his eyes filled with the moon shining down from the night sky, at Ianna’s retreating figure as she whisked away like a flying arrow.
He was not one to miss an opening his prey had made —especially not when that prey was Ianna.
He began chasing after her. Darkness would swallow the light, just like how the moon chased after the sun and brought the darkness along with it.
The cold wind beat against Ianna’s feverish face.
‘I’m running away again.’
She already knew that there was no point in fleeing. She would have to say it eventually, so she knew that she was only delaying the inevitable.
She had fled because it had been so sudden. But she needed to learn how to face it now.
She ended up fleeing on roads that were familiar to her, and she found herself inside the Swordsmanship Department building. She passed by the training grounds where she and Arhad sparred as she sped by.
Clang!
She felt like she could hear their swords clashing against each other as she ran. The hallucination brought about by the fierce clashing of sword against sword continued to slice her fears away.
Very well.
Let’s stop running away now.
Ianna stopped.
She had stopped inside the Swordsmanship Department’s plaza arena. This was the very place where she had seen Arhad’s face for the first time in this life.
She saw the image of a slightly younger Arhad standing atop the arena. He was ruminating over her in the dark of night, kneeling under the luminous moon with his sword struck into the traces left behind in the arena.
“Are you done running?”
she heard his voice from behind.
The hallucination vanished, and Ianna turned around.
The moon was beautiful in the sky tonight, just like it had been back then. And standing before her was a man who was more reminiscent of the night than the night itself. He wanted her like crazy.
Ianna roughly collected her breath.
“…….”
Arhad stared quietly at how unstable Ianna looked and forced himself to swallow down his emotions. He was retreating from her silence like he always did.
His voice was quiet, as if in resignation, as he said,
“I’m sorry. I seem to have troubled you.”
But Ianna didn’t want to hear his apology.
She did not want to repeat this, and she did not want to push this any further back either.
Poow!
Fireworks exploded in the distance to signal midnight and the new year.
The fireworks shot up from the earth and into the sky without end. They blossomed into flowers and embroidered the sky beautifully.
Arhad took Ianna’s hand as she kept her silence and pulled her toward the arena. He sat down in the stands first, and then he pat at the seat next to him.
“Let’s enjoy the fireworks.”
He was smiling gently.
Don’t smile.
I said, don’t smile.
The fireworks were exploding in the sky.
Was it the magic of night? Or was it the fireworks’ spell?
Pow!
Eventually, Ianna felt her heart exploding too.
Ianna walked up to Arhad instead of sitting beside him. His gaze, which had been looking up at the sky, came down to her.
Her rationality was paralyzed and her emotions surged.
“I like you.”
All of her logic disappeared. Why was she saying this? But she no longer needed any more excuses. She was saying this simply because she wanted to.
“I like you.”
I’ll say it because my heart is overflowing and because I might actually die because my heart will explode if I don’t say it. I’ll express my feelings to you.
“I like you so much.”
Your love has managed to make the flower blossom.
“I truly like you.”
She had lost.
“I like you.”
It was her complete defeat.
She had been defeated.
But so what?
Everything that had been suffocating her inside was immediately cleared away.
“I like you.”
It was so easy now that she had already said it once. Ianna continued repeating herself like a child who had newly learned how to speak.
“I like you. I truly like you.”
Ianna’s cheeks were shadowed by the fireworks illuminating the sky. But the redness of her cheeks was plainly apparent even in the darkness.
“I like you so much.”
I like you, I like you.
Pow! Pow!
The fireworks were noisy as they exploded. Arhad watched quietly as Ianna confessed before he finally asked,
“Is this a dream?”
“No, it’s not. I truly, truly like you. I like you so much it’s driving me insane. You’re driving me crazy because I like you so much. Shall I say it again? I like you. I like you so much I might actually die.”
Ianna’s mouth wouldn’t seem to close now that she had started saying it. The bomb, which had started crackling at some point inside her heart, was exploding without reserve now. All the emotions she had crammed inside were bursting as they surged forth. Her emotions were cascading out like a broken dam.
“Are you drunk?”
“Should I take it back?”
“……No.”
Arhad slowly lowered his head and put his hands over his face. Ianna stared at him like she was about to devour him whole.
His large hands were trembling, and the flesh hidden behind them were as red as cherries. Watching him made Ianna feel peculiar.
“……Can you say it one more time?”
Arhad requested.
“I like you.”
“I’m sorry —once more.”
“I like you.”
Just as he wanted, Ianna said the words, dribbling in the honey of her sincerity, over and over again like the ever-exploding fireworks. She was in very high spirits. She felt better and more refreshed every time she repeated herself, and she felt like she would have soared into the sky had she had wings growing from her back.
But it wasn’t enough.
Simply saying that she liked him wasn’t nearly enough.
Love.
Love, love, love.
Her head was jam-packed with only that single word.
Love.
Love!
Love was like a calamity. There was no need for logic.
That was simply what love was.
And Ianna loved Arhad.
She loved him —he whose affections for her were deeper than the night itself.
The flower she had been cultivating so carefully inside her garden was already in full bloom and was waiting for its owner. Arhad’s love had melted away the wall of ice that had been as transparent as glass. And Ianna had already long since invited him inside her garden.
Her hesitation vanished now that she had gathered up her courage and said it aloud.
Ianna plucked her flower and handed it to him.
“I love you.”
And the words became real as soon as they left her mouth. Her feelings, which had been like hazy fog, became corporeal. Ianna’s heart poured out like rays of light and became as a single sword.
And that sword pierced Arhad.
“Oh…….”
Ianna looked down quietly at Arhad because he had paled from how surreal the words coming from her mouth felt to him. She took hold of his stiff visage, raised it up, and whispered,
“I see now. I love you. I’m in love with you.”
Arhad’s throat moistened and his lips pressed tightly against Ianna’s. Ianna’s hair flowed down and scattered across his frame. Their agitated breaths mixed into each other and became as a burning heat. The fever on his lips made his eyes grow distant and stayed his breath.
Ianna gently lowered her eyes once their lips had broken away. Feverish affection was lingering in her eyes, as crimson as the fireworks themselves.
“I love you.”
Arhad felt like he had been thrown inside a fiery pit.
“I love you.”
His lips quivered.
The stubborn woman was holding a sword.
And her unyielding heart had pierced right through his own.
Arhad suddenly grabbed Ianna by the wrist and pulled. Ianna staggered and fell into his lap before he embraced her tightly.
Squeeze…….
It hurt because he was so strong, but Ianna stayed still. She stayed quietly in his arms for quite some time.
But as the silence continued, Ianna asked,
“Do you truly like me that much?”
“……I do.”
It was a strange question, considering that it had been Ianna who had been confessing her feelings until now. But Arhad had answered with an overflowing voice as if it was only natural.
Ianna stared at the fireworks erupting in the distance beyond his shoulder as she said,
“I am stubborn.”
“…….”
“I’m inflexible, and I never do as I’m told. I’m neither gentle nor charming. My way of speaking is stiff and unfriendly. I’m a fool who is easily blinded by competitive desire.”
“But I still like you. I like you no matter what you do. So, do as you wish. I’ll like you even if you don’t. I simply like you. No matter what.”
Ianna rested her cheek against Arhad’s shoulder and listened quietly to the words he whispered.
And then, she replied,
“I know.”
“You knew everything and you still waited so……. You really are wicked.”
You’re wicked, but I like your wickedness too.
Arhad whispered, and Ianna sat up a little and griped,
“You could have simply said it first.”
“I was waiting until you were ready to say it yourself.”
His eyes, so like the moon, were dyed in his feverish feelings. His fingers were filled with his affection as he touched Ianna’s cheek.
Can I say it now?
Every lock that had been placed over his heart fell to the ground. That feeble emotion, more passionate, greedy, reckless, and yet more unchanging than any other, was barely managing to fit as it crawled up his throat. He was finally able place it on his lips.
“I love you.”
It was love.
“I truly love you.”
Are you ready to accept my insane love for you now?
“I love you.”
Ianna recoiled when she heard the words he had whispered by her ear. His words, mixed into his heated breath, were ever so dense. The love conveyed in his words was so heavy that she felt like she was sinking down inside a black swamp and unable to breath because she had already sunken down to her nose.
“I love you.
“I love you.
“I love you.
“I love you so much it’s driving me insane.”
His love crashed over her again and again like a tidal wave.
Ianna felt embarrassed for some reason. Her gaze moved from the tip of his nose, to his lips, to his chin, and finally down to his chest. She had already known, but it shook her to actually hear the words.
“I love you.”
Ianna squeezed, and the part of Arhad’s shirt she was clutching on to crinkled. Arhad placed his hand over hers. Ianna flinched, but she did not avoid his touch.
“……What should I do now? I’m new to this, and I don’t know what I should do.”
Arhad laughed ecstatically and desperately, almost like he was crying.
“You don’t need to do anything special. But…”
He hugged her tight. Arhad continued,
“……Just keep loving me.”
He squeezed with the arm he had wrapped around Ianna’s back. His knuckles trembled and he clung to her desperately.
“Love me,”
he pleaded gloomily like a child begging in rags.
“Just love me……”
Ianna slowly brought her gaze back up and looked Arhad in the eyes. His pleading eyes drew closer to hers.
“You don’t need to do anything special. You just need to keep doing what you’ve been doing. After all…”
Arhad kissed Ianna before he could bring himself to finish. The words he had been about to say echoed inside Ianna’s ears even though they had never left his mouth.
‘…You already love me.’
Their lips parted, but Ianna still couldn’t answer. Her face simply flushed feverishly upon hearing him confess his crazed love for her.
Arhad’s visage took on the crazy color of ecstasy as he looked to her. His entire being was drenched in a pleasure so poignant that it sent shivers down his spine.
“I love you.”
I’ll love you even after days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, and millennia have passed, even if we’re born again. I love you for all eternity.
“I love you…….”
Even he thought he was being repulsive. But what could he do? —he was in love. He loved her so dreadfully. His reckless and crazy heart beat only for Ianna.
“I love you.”
He would hold back no longer. He repeated the words he had only ever been able to pile up inside him until now over and over again.
“I love you.”
He could hardly believe that the fact that he was reciting his love for her was actually real. But Ianna was so endearing as he held her in his arms that he couldn’t withstand it any longer.
“I love you.”
And so, he continued to repeat his love for her. That way, he would not wake even if this was truly a dream.
~~*~~
“Mmm…….”
Ianna clutched at her forehead and scowled as she woke up.
“Are you awake?”
Ianna snapped her eyes wide open when she heard someone speaking right beside her.
She was in Arhad’s room inside the magic tower.
Ianna was lying in bed, and Arhad was sitting on a chair beside her as he stared back at her quietly. He grumbled,
“How could you just fall asleep like that?”
“…….”
“I was thinking as I watched over you all night long. I still can’t believe it. Is this a dream or is this real? —or is it just alcohol? But whatever the case, I won’t ever let you take it back,”
Arhad said flatly, prompting Ianna to blankly reply,
“Did something happen yesterday? I can’t really recall.”
“…….”
Arhad’s face froze stiff. He became so pallid that he couldn’t even speak. He was bewildered at first, then miserable, and now he was about to fall into a panic.
Ianna smirked when she saw how he wasn’t budging a muscle, as if even his heart had stopped.
“I jest.”
“……Sigh.”
It was only then that his blood seemed to circulate again, and Arhad buried his face into his hands.
“That was one terrifying jest right now.”
Ianna looked down at her clothes as she sat up and stretched. She studied her state of dress in a moment of shock before she realized that she was wearing exactly the same things she had been wearing last night —she had assumed incorrectly.
Arhad read her thoughts and rested his chin his hand as he said,
“I haven’t laid a finger on you. I love you like crazy, but I don’t want to do anything to you when you’re passed out drunk. Though I’d be singing a different tune if you’d been in your right mind last night.”
This man —he’s saying lewd things like it’s nothing to him now. Ianna’s ears flushed slightly red as she looked out the window. It was bright.
“What time is it?”
“It’s morning. But it’s not much longer until Schneider’s coronation.”
“Then I’ll need to hurry back to the dorms and pack my things. I would have packed everything inside my subspace beforehand had I known this would happen.”
Ianna tidied up her clothes and brushed her hair as she got ready to leave. Arhad was watching her when he posed a question in a somewhat anxious tone, as if he was still in disbelief.
“So, you do remember what you said last night, right? I mean —it wasn’t just a dream, right? I wanted to wake you up at once and ask.”
But you looked so lovely as you were sleeping, so…….
Arhad’s voice subsided, and Ianna boldly replied,
“That I love you?”
Arhad flushed red when he heard Ianna’s precise answer.
His lips twitched as if in disbelief, as if he was ecstatic, as if he was embarrassed. He burrowed his face into the bed, unable to withstand the surge of his emotions. Then, he sat up again and looked back at Ianna as he grinned in satisfaction.
Ianna paused just as she was about to leave. She had seen Arhad be happy many times now, but this was the first time she had seen him be so happy he was acting like a young child. He was all smiles and joy, and Ianna did her best to feign nonchalance as her cheeks glowed crimson.
It was getting a little hot.
Ianna packed everything from the dorm room and came back outside.
She would be saying goodbye to this place now. Arhad, who had been waiting for her, reached out to her, and Ianna took his hand without a moment’s hesitation.
They had only just confessed to each other, but nothing had changed much on the outside.
What had changed was that something that had once been fake was now real starting today, that Arhad’s visage was bright because he was so happy he thought he could fly, and that Ianna’s expression was gentle because she was feeling so refreshed.
“I really love you, Ianna.”
And that all the hesitation had left Arhad’s words and actions.
“I know.”
Ianna had no choice but to grow accustomed to hearing those words now because Arhad had been repeating them constantly all morning long whenever he thought she might forget them.
“I truly love you.”
“I am aware.”
“I love you so much.”
From the outside, it only looked like they had grown a little closer as lovers. But yesterday and today were two starkly different things for Ianna and Arhad.
They walked out of the Institution entrance together.
And thus, they bid farewell to the Institution.
~~*~~
In Schneider’s chambers right before the coronation.
The attendants were helping Schneider get dressed. Lilith, who had already finished her own preparations, was giving out orders here and there as they prepared thoroughly for the ceremony today.
The attendants stepped back and bowed before Schneider when they were done. Lilith drew him into an embrace.
“Congratulations, Your Highness.”
“Thank you.”
Schneider hugged Lilith back. They looked rather close. They had been bickering until Schneider had left for his military expedition in the East, and they had been somewhat awkward around each other even yesterday, but that was not the case today.
Schneider had confessed everything to Lilith last night in his drunkenness.
Lilith recalled what had happened.
Lilith had helped him go outside for some fresh air. His head was bowed in shame.
“There is something I must confess to you, Lilith.”
“Yes?”
“I always denied it and I was angry with you for being jealous, but I know for certain now that I……did have feelings for Lady Ianna. I’m sorry. I’ve put you through so much heartbreak. I denied it over and over again, but these are my honest feelings.”
Lilith stared quietly back at Schneider. Schneider continued,
“It must have been horrible to watch your betrothed act like that. I’ve practically betrayed you. Truly, I’m a wicked man. Isn’t that so? I’ve been truly wicked.”
He was being candid with her just like he always had been so long ago, back when she had been his best friend and not his fiancé.
“I’m saying this to you now because I feel like it’ll be easier to put an end to everything once I acknowledge it. But Lilith… I’m sure you hate me for this. If it’s what you want, then I won’t mind…….”
“Enough. So, will you continue to harbor feelings for the lady?”
“No, never. I will put an end to everything today.”
His simple words elicited trust. Lilith smiled gorgeously.
“Then that’s enough for me. Thank you for acknowledging it and for telling me.”
“Are you all right?”
“Of course not. But I love you. You’re all that I have, and I will never let you go. Besides, nothing happened between you and Lady Ianna, no? I actually feel better now that I’ve realized that Lady Ianna Roberstein is truly someone remarkable enough to pull at your heart. You weren’t being wicked —she was simply too incredible. You’re not the only man who’s fallen for her charms.”
Lilith entwinned her arm with Schneider’s. She continued,
“And so, I will be all right. And I will do my best to make you fall for me. I will show you that I can be even more incredible than she ever was.”
Schneider fell silent for a moment before he pulled Lilith into his arms.
“You’re already incredible enough as you are. I’m sorry. And thank you. I promise you that this will never happen again.”
Lilith looked bewitched as she turned to Schneider, who was to be crowned king today.
She was a woman, and she loved Schneider. The depths of her heart were filled with her desire to win his passionate love. But Schneider was always busy, and Lilith was content just to be his betrothed.
She had always been interested in politics to begin with, but she had begun studying even more in her want to be helpful to him. She had seized high society in her grasp so that she could assist Schneider with matters that were difficult for him to get involved in.
She had always stayed a step behind and acted lofty because she hadn’t wanted to burden him. But she had decided to stop being so meek now that she had experienced the risk that Ianna had posed to her.
Lilith narrowed her eyes.
‘Prepare yourself.’
Schneider extended his hand to her.
“Let us go.”
They exited the room.
Schneider held her hand as they walked atop the crimson carpet that had been laid out for them. There was light streaming in from the end of the corridor.
He stepped into the light.
Long live His Royal Majesty Schneider Austin Roanne!
It was Schneider’s reign now.
~~*~~
The Founding Day festival began after Schneider’s coronation. Ianna and Arhad enjoyed the festival and made their way to a certain place once it was time.
“Whoaaa!”
“Whistle!”
“Win! Win!”
It was the arena where the Youths’ Swordsmanship Tournament was taking place to commemorate the founding of the kingdom.
Ianna and Arhad were observing the tournament from the stands as the cheering and whistles resounded around them.
‘It’s today.’
Ianna was deeply moved anew. This was where she had first met Arhad. They had been in the arena itself and not the stands, and Ianna had lost horribly to Arhad in a battle of skill as they faced each other during the finals.
“I want a woman like you. All the more so now that we’ve fought each other. So, go ahead and try —try to break my sword the next time we meet.”
“I will do my best to break this glare of yours.”
How had she looked at Arhad again back then? She had glared at him in her sense of inferiority and the rage and envy she had experienced after tasting her first ever defeat. She had thought that he would never manage to break her glare.
But he had —truly, you could never know where life would take you.
Ianna felt peculiar about how time seemed to be overlapping on itself as she looked to Arhad. He was looking down at the arena with an unreadable expression on his face.
‘Just you wait.’
They were still tying at the moment, but she would best him at the sword someday. Ianna’s fighting spirit was blazing. She was almost sick and tired of her own competitiveness by now, but the sword was the one thing that she could never back down on. It was her life’s goal to defeat Arhad at the sword.
But she had found yet another life goal today.
She would defeat Arhad in love too.
It was only natural to want to give the person you loved anything they desired. It was only natural to want to give them more than they gave you. This was why the person who loved more was always destined to lose before that love came true. But after that love came true, the person who loved more would find themselves the victor.
After all, you would still find yourself drowning in the other person’s bottomless love for you no matter how much love you gave and gave in your overflowing love for them.
That was love.
And so……Ianna had been defeated yet again. It would be difficult for her to emerge victorious even in the future.
You’ve defeated me.
And I’m sure you’ll only continue to defeat me.
But I want to try my best to defeat you.
I want to love you so much more than I do now…….
“I was drunk and out of my mind yesterday, so I want to say it again properly.”
Arhad turned to look at Ianna. The arena had left his mind completely as soon as Ianna had said her weighted words. He was expectant —what lovely words would she say to make him elated this time?
Would she tell him that she loved him? Hearing her say that she loved him made him ecstatic no matter how many times she said it.
Calmly, Ianna said,
“I love you. Will you marry me?”
She had ignited the last bomb that she hadn’t been able to set off yesterday.
Arhad froze stiff. He was frozen stiff, and he was staring back at Ianna in utter disbelief. Ianna was quite amused and entertained by how bewildered he was.
“Sorry. I think I misheard you —can you repeat that?”
“Let’s get married. Will you please read this?”
Ianna pushed a crumpled piece of paper toward him. Arhad accepted it in a daze —he still couldn’t believe that any of this was real— and he hesitated for a moment before his curiosity won out and he unfolded it. Ianna continued,
“This is my plan for the future.”
Arhad was still stupefied as he read her plans carefully from the very top.
Becoming the greatest swordswoman in the world.
Becoming Arhad’s respectable knight.
But then, at the very end. Arhad’s eyes stopped moving as he read the crooked letters.
Becoming Arhad’s……wife!
There was even an exclamation point of determination at the very end.
The determination snapped Arhad out from his haze. His face was dyed in delight.
Arhad looked like he was so love that his own love might kill him. Ianna smiled rosily because she rather liked that.
Ultimately, Ianna had been defeated.
Just as how Arhad had defeated her at the sword on the very day in her past life.
~~*~~
Ianna and Arhad were standing at Roanne’s border.
“Good work. I’ll figure out the rest on my own.”
He had been deathly busy after his coronation, but Schneider had carved time out of his schedule to see Ianna and Arhad off. A black panther and a silver falcon were squaring off against each other.
‘That bastard.’
Schneider had grown much stronger than he had been before, and he finally understood just how extremely strong Arhad truly was. He was stealthily hiding his skills, but the presence he exuded was still tremendous.
“…….”
“…….”
Schneider, who had been locked in a glaring contest with Arhad, closed his eyes. His rummaged around his pockets and pulled out two sheets of paper, which he handed to Ianna.
“Here.”
Crinkle.
Ianna looked at the contents of the documents. The first disowned her from House Roberstein, and the second withdrew her citizenship from the Kingdom of Roanne. The royal seal was stamped on both to signify the king’s consent.
It was over. Ianna Roberstein was no longer a noble or a citizen of Roanne.
Schneider then stormily pulled out his contract with Ianna.
Ianna Roberstein will assist Schneider Lezè Roanne in ascending the throne.
In return, Schneider Lezè Roanne will compensate her with the following:
First, he will not attempt to recruit Ianna Roberstein under his banner in any way, shape, or form once the contract is executed.
Second, he will accept three of Ianna Roberstein’s requests:
– To tell her everything he knows about the relic without skipping over a single detail
– To let her accompany him to the Temple of Laos and see the relic in person
–
Any party who speaks of this contract will be killed by the contract.
Any party who breaches this contract will be killed by the contract.
1515.06.30
Ianna Roberstein.
Schneider Lezè Roanne.
“You still have one more request —will you leave it blank?”
“No.”
Ianna pulled her own copy of the contract out from her subspace. She began writing on it without any hesitation whatsoever. Then, she pushed it toward Schneider.
The last request simply contained one word —‘Happiness.’
“I wish for you to be happy. That is my final request.”
Schneider stared at her contract for a moment before he scribbled down ‘Happiness’ on his own copy.
“I wish for your happiness as well.”
Swoosh!
The contract was complete.
The two copies of the contract caught afire. They became as ashes and flew into the sky. Schneider stared distantly at the ashes scattering in the air before he turned back to Ianna.
“This is farewell.”
It was time for him to let her go.
He had found something that he wanted but could not have. He continued,
“I wanted you. Perhaps even as a woman.”
Schneider closed his eyes.
“But it was merely a foolish desire on my part. I have so much in my possession already, and I’m not crazy enough to cast everything aside just to have you. Nor would you want that of me. So that’s why I’ll let go of you now. You may trust me on this, since I always keep my promises.”
Arhad had been displeased this entire time after meeting Schneider again, and his insides boiled when he heard that Schneider had wanted Ianna as a woman too. Each and every word out of Schneider’s mouth —no, each and every breath Schneider took— was offensive to Arhad, and he eventually huffed and sarcastically said,
“You never had her in your grasp to begin with, so what do you mean by letting go of her?”
Schneider slowly turned around.
“It’s difficult to tell who’s the liege and who’s the retainer here. Some might even think that you’re subordinate to her.”
Schneider was glaring sharply at Arhad. He continued,
“Are you the ‘previous leader’ of Camastros?”
“I am,”
Arhad acknowledged. There was nothing he couldn’t disclose now.
Schneider grit his teeth. His insides were seething.
“I’ve never liked you from the very beginning. Ever since the 500,000 gold. I was meaning to have you killed as soon as I laid my eyes on you, but it’s true when they say that it’s darkest beneath the lamp……. I’ve raised a tiger, I see.”
“Such impertinence —do you wish to die already when you’ve only just been coronated?”
Arhad no longer had anything to hide, and nothing was holding him back now. Schneider glowered at him.
“You dare threaten me when you don’t even own a peerage?”
“Do you still believe that I’m the mere son of a viscount? I’ll have to have your eyes replaced if that’s what you truly think.”
“That’s not all there is to you, I’m sure. But what concern is that of mine?”
The two savage beasts were waging a battle of pride. The two men’s childish standoff didn’t seem like it would end anytime soon. It would never end at this rate.
Ianna was happy about how Arhad refused to bow down to Schneider, but she also tilted her head to the side in bafflement.
Arhad was normally composed, but he always lost his composure when things had to do with her. He was still barring his sharpened fangs even though she had surely done more than enough assure him.
And he was especially like this with Schneider. But why was that?
In any event, enough was enough.
Ianna took Arhad’s hand. Arhad turned around and met Ianna’s eyes with such docility that it was difficult to believe that he had ever been growling at Schneider to begin with.
Ianna could see his overflowing faith in her and the bashful affection that had only just begun to sprout in his eyes.
Arhad raised up and stared at his hand that Ianna was holding for a moment before he squeezed back and grabbed her hand in his.
“…….”
Schneider experienced the feeling of loss for the first time in his life as he watched over them. But he acknowledged his feelings candidly without looking away from them. He had learned that the emotions would only shake him more if he tried to suppress them.
Arhad regained his composure and said to Schneider,
“It will only be after I am crowned king if we should ever meet again. Do make sure to keep your life until the day I make you stomp on the ground in envy.”
‘I see. He intends to be a king.’
Schneider sensed the emergence of a powerful nation and grew wary as the king of Roanne.
“……As you wish. I will be sure to see just how well you manage to do for yourself,”
Schneider quipped sarcastically before he turned back to Ianna. Then, he bid farewell to her. He continued,
“You’ve worked hard. Be on your way now. Lady Ianna —no, you aren’t a lady any more. Ianna…….”
Schneider let the word fumble around inside his mouth for a moment.
“Take care, Ianna.”
Then, he turned around. He had ended things of his own accord like he was cutting a taut string. He moved around the mana and vanished as if to declare that teleporting was an easy feat for him now. Only the wind whirled in the place where he had once been standing.
Arhad laughed silently, carried away in his triumph.
“Let’s go.”
He was relieved and in high spirits as he took the lead.
Ianna followed behind him.
But then she stopped and looked back at her homeland.
She had spent eighteen years, and thirty-four years in her past life that felt like nothing more than a dream to her now, in that land.
Then, she turned her eyes to somewhere far away.
To the stump of the world tree, Phaemdra, that had been her refuge once and was waiting somewhere to the north…….
The wind was blowing.
It was a cold but refreshing wind blowing from a new land.
Ianna put Roanne, enveloped in the cheers of her people, behind her and turned forward. Arhad had stopped walking at some point and was looking back at her. He was waiting for her.
Slowly, he reached out to her. It was like he was urging her to hurry and take his hand. His eyes were no longer shaking. He was simply waiting for her.
Her heart was racing.
The sight of him made Ianna cast aside even the smallest of her lingering sentiments. Her feet carried her forward and forward. She gradually, gradually sped up and eventually broke out into a run.
To the side of the man who always yearned for her.
To the side of the man who always waited for her.
And now, she was going to him because that was what she herself wanted to do…….
—“Love” End
—To be continued in Volume 10
ToC Chapter 31