3. The unfinished story
“You have to take responsibility for everything you said.”
“Yes.”
The Count said what he wanted to say, but he thought that if he chased Lehan away for no reason, then Edelis might get upset on him.
“Understood. Then, Edelis and Lehan will each have one permanent knight accompanying them. If both of you agree on it, then I will allow it.”
“Okay! Thank you! I appreciate it! Dad, you’re the best!”
Edelis took a step back and greeted the Count.
“I’m sure you know more about the knights than I do, so please choose wisely! Thank you!”
Edelis bowed formally to the Count, then grabbed Lehan’s wrist and turned her back. Lehan looked back and forth between the Count and Edelis, wondering if he could follow her. When the Count reluctantly shook his chin, Lehan followed her out of the office.
* * *
“Lehan, that’s great! Now you can stay in this mansion!”
The moment Edelis looked at him with joy, he was momentarily taken aback and closed his lips tightly.
It was also partly because Edelis’s father’s words weighed on his mind but Edelis was too happy to be thinking about other things.
“Ah, that… … My father didn’t say that out of spite.”
“I know. It’s not that different from what people usually think of gladiators.”
“… … Sorry. I apologize to you on his behalf.”
“No.”
In the end, Lehan had to listen to her father’s threats. If it were her, she would have felt very hurt.
‘I couldn’t object because I had to ask my father’s permission… … .’
“From now on, I’ll treat you better!”
I understand how my father feels, but my situation is more critical now. So I need to treat Lehan better so that he can forget the bad memories quickly.
“Miss, this is enough already.”
“What are you talking about! I still have a lot to do!”
Since Lehan was staying here, and he said he wanted to stay here himself, and he also said that he would protect her, everything was becoming easy for her now.
“Really, Miss… … .”
Lehan smiled as if he was embarrassed, then knelt down, took Edelis’s hand, and placed his forehead on the back of her hand. The sparkling sunlight streaming through the window illuminated him. It was a piety reminiscent of the inauguration ceremony of a knight of the Holy Empire.
“I will protect you with all I have. Forever.”
I was dumbfounded by his sudden oath. Lehan had already said it in front of her father that he would protect her.
However, he was saying it back then because he had no choice but to stay here. But now he was swearing to me with all his heart. He would protect me no matter what, no matter when.
“Forever?”
“Provided if you don’t kick me out, young lady.”
“There’s no way I would abandon you.”
When Lehan raised his head, his eyes, which was shining as brightly as the sunlight, were smiling beautifully. Looking at him, Edelis felt like she was about to cry, but she smiled brightly.
* * *
After that, Lehan was assigned to the Knights and had to receive training to build up his physical strength with the knights. At first, the knights who were wary of Lehan began to feel relieved after a day or two as they watched him work silently.
Then, by chance, the knights who started sparring with Lehan made a fuss about sparring with him every day to learn the unique skills of a gladiator.
“… … I can’t help it. As promised, I will acknowledge Lehan as your escort.”
Eventually, the Count accepted Lehan as Edelis’s escort.
“Thank you, Father!”
When Edelis greeted him with a bright smile, the Count reluctantly smiled back.
She wanted to tell Lehan the news quickly, but it was not yet time for him to finish his training.
“Lehan’s training will be over soon. Then, shall we go out to the downtown area together and buy him a present?”
These days, Lehan, who has become accustomed to Edelis coming to him, has strangely changed his behavior towards her. He has been following Edelis more actively than before, and his expressions have become more diverse. Whenever she sees him like that, Edelis strangely feels proud.
‘How happy I would be if I heard that I was recognized as an escort this time!’
Previously, when Lehan moved around the mansion, there had to be a knight to watch over him. And when he moved with Edelis, two knights had to accompany them to subdue Lehan, making a total of four people. But now, Lehan and she could move around together!
Edelis giggled, imagining what Lehan would like. Edelis changed into clothes she would wear when going out lightly and went to the study to wait for him while reading a book. … … Up until this point, her behavior was not much different from usual, but something different caught her eye. The spine of the book was shining again.
“Why on earth, again… … Wasn’t it going to end when I knew the future?”
After that, nothing happened for a while, so she tried to forget. She remembered that the book was real every time she saw Lehan in front of her.
But since the present timeline was so peaceful, she wanted to ignore the dark future. Her efforts were in vain, and the book spine was shining again, just like it had before Lehan came. Edelis took out the book with trembling hands. No matter how dark the future was, she had to see it with her own eyes.
‘Just like I brought in Lehan before and made plans, I also have to prepare for his future.’
No matter how inadequate it may be, it is only a stopgap measure.
‘Yes. This book is not bad at all. Thanks to it, I was able to meet Lehan.’
Thinking about it in that way, somehow it seemed okay. I had been doing well since I rescued Lehan from the arena, and he had also completely adapted to his life here, so it should be okay.
“Okay, it’s okay now. It’s okay. Everything will be okay.”
Edelis prepared herself mentally and bravely opened the book. She looked through it carefully, but there was no additional content. She turned the pages one by one, until she reached the part where she died. She paused for a moment, but quickly turned the page without reading. And after turning a few pages, she saw a newly added text. Judging from the location, it was probably a story about after her death.
‘Then there’s nothing special about it, right? I’m already dead at this point anyway.’
As before, a bright light spread from the page. And once again, the contents of the book began to appear as images. What the book eventually revealed was, contrary to Edelis’s expectations, a more desperate content than before, something she could not handle.
* * *
“Eliminate the traitors!”
A deep bass voice shouted. Numerous knights who had been surrounding the castle in a line followed his words and rushed towards the castle, while shouting.
They shot arrows at the knights surrounding the castle walls from the castle, but there were too many knights surrounding them on all sides, so it was not enough. Catapults hurled large rocks and destroyed the castle walls. It was as if they were waging war against a single castle. Finally, when the gate was broken open by the knights, the knights who had regrouped rushed inside.
There were knights who stood against them with tense expressions. Edelis recognized these faces. They were the ones she had seen at the training grounds just a moment ago. Then she realized. The traitors were none other than her own family.
‘Treason? That’s ridiculous! Why on earth did you commit treason?’
Those who had just greeted her with a smile were struck by arrows and swords.
“No, no!”
No matter how much she shook her head and shouted, it was of no use. Even though she wanted to pull the man wearing the Count’s emblem and help him, her hands were unable to reach them and it just wandered in the air.
The Count’s family members were losing their lives in vain. It was close to a one-sided massacre. The Count’s family could do nothing more in the face of the overwhelming numbers and the skills of the Imperial Knights who were rushing in as if they were invading from the very front.
The Imperial Army quickly infiltrated the castle and ransacked everything. The castle was a complete mess. They swept through the dining room where Edelis spent her time together, the dance hall where she practiced dancing, and even the study where she was now. In the video, the study was empty, so the knights came in, took a quick look, and left right away, but when they passed by her place, Edelis unconsciously sat down, held her breath, and trembled.
『Gyaaaah! Sa, save me… … .』
People’s screams were heard incessantly. Before they could even finish asking for help, the knights passed by with their swords as if they were nothing to be heard.
“Anne! Noel! … … Lisa!”
Everyone who cared for her were brutally murdered. Unable to watch any longer, Edelis closed her eyes and covered her ears. The screams of the people struck her eardrums as if the hand covering her ears was shouting in vain.
Amongst them, there must have been those who had been with her since childhood, like Anne, and those who would spend the rest of their life with her. Thinking of that, she couldn’t bear to open her eyes and look. When she first opened the book, she had thought that she would not miss even the smallest clue, thinking that it might provide clues to her future life. However, that determination was meaningless, and now she wanted to throw everything away and run out of the study right away.
However, her legs gave out, so she had no choice but to sit down and close her eyes tightly. Finally, when the screams had died down, Edelis took her hands off her ears. And when she opened her eyes with difficulty, the emperor was leisurely walking in through the wide-open door. His face was blurry and hard to see, but she knew he was the Emperor by the splendid insignia attached to his clothes.
With each step he took, the screams died down. There was no one left to scream anymore. When the screams finally stopped and completely disappeared, a bloody man was dragged out in front of the Emperor. The man who was dragged out was forced to bow his head to the ground, his shoulders were trampled by the knights. He gritted his teeth and raised his head.
“Ah, father… … .”
Edelis recognized the bloodied figure at a glance. It was her father, Count Brill.
“If you had just stayed still, you could have saved your life.”
Her father scoffed at the emperor’s words.
“What would be the point of survival for a father who lost his only daughter, or for me who lost my only family?”
Tears flowed from his eyes, mixed with blood. The tears that had been in Edelis’s eyes also flowed down her cheeks. Now she could finally understand why her father had committed such a reckless act of treason.
‘Because of me… … .’
My father had loved me since I was young, but he had a difficult time. After my mother passed away, we were the only family. When I was stabbed to death by the emperor’s sword, my father drew his sword to avenge his daughter.
‘Father, I’m sorry… … .’
Edelis felt as if a rock had been placed on her chest, even though it hadn’t happened yet. If she hadn’t read this book, she probably wouldn’t have known about it until she died, she was unaware about how much her father cared for her. Now that she knew her father’s heart, Edelis felt even more choked up.
“What’s the point of committing a failed rebellion?”
But the Emperor mocked the Count, repeating his words as if they were nothing. The Count shouted in anger.
“History will remember you as a bloodthirsty tyrant who murdered his own wife!”
But her father’s anger couldn’t continue any longer with the emperor’s subsequent words.
“Dig up Agnes Brill’s grave.”
『Ah, no… … .』
『All members of the Brill family will be killed, and Joern Brill will be dethroned from his title at this moment and will be imprisoned in the dungeon of the Imperial Castle. In a week, all the other nobles who supported them will be gathered and hanged. All those involved will also be arrested. And along with Joern Brill’s body, the body of the former Countess Agnes Brill will also be thrown into the field.』
Her father’s angry screams deafened her ears.
* * *
The book burst into light once more, and it seemed as if nothing had happened in the study. However, nothing had happened to Edellis. She had thought that it would be nothing special since it was a story that happened after she had already died. However, it was as shocking as her own death. Edelis felt suffocated as if something had clumped up in her heart.
‘I can’t believe this is my… … my family’s future… … .’
I clenched my fists and pounded my chest with a frustrated heart, but my hardened mind showed no sign of loosening. It felt like the stories I had read in books had settled in a corner of my chest and were squeezing my heart.
‘Father, father… … .’
A warm body temperature was felt on Edelis’ face, who had been crying without being able to cry out loud. Lehan, who had come in without even her knowing, was wiping her tears with his handkerchief. Lehan looked at Edelis with a worried face.
“What’s wrong?”
She was dead. And she will be killed in the future. But who would believe it? I saw a future where I was stabbed to death. And in that future, my father rebelled for me. There was no evidence. It was obvious that anyone would think it was a vain delusion. So Edelis shook her head. When she saw Lehan wiping away her tears with a worried expression on his face, her emotions welled up.
“Why are you crying like this when nothing happened?”
I was at a loss for words as Lehan spoke to her, while looking frustrated. Then I caught sight of the book and it occurred to me that perhaps because he was the main character, he might see the book differently from others.
‘Wouldn’t it be okay to consult with Lehan?’
I saw this book and found out you were in the arena and brought you here. You are the evidence. So can you help me not to get stabbed to death right?
“Lehan, by any chance… … have you seen that book… … here?”
“A book?”
Lehan’s hand touched the book that was at the end of Edelis’s gaze. However, the words that came out of Lehan were far beyond her expectations.
“Isn’t this a book with no content?”
As if his words were the trigger point, Edellis began to cry out loud. Because she was sad that she had such a terrible future awaiting for her. Because she was ashamed of herself for not knowing her father’s heart. Because she hated the emperor so much, but she felt powerless because she couldn’t do anything about it. Because she felt frustrated as thought no one would believe her.
“It’ll be okay, miss.”
Lehan was flustered when he saw Edelis suddenly bursting into tears, but he first tried to comfort her. While thinking about how to comfort her, he remembered that when he was struggling in the arena, wondering whether he should continue living like this or whether he should die, he needed someone’s body heat.
So Lehan carefully placed a hand on her shoulder and pulled her into his arms. Then, as he patted her back to comfort her, Edelis’s thin arms hugged Lehan’s back.
