“Hmm.”
I pondered the vague time. I’d stopped by Hans and Jane’s club to hang out, and it was already well past shift time.
Not enough time to do anything else, and a little too early for a shift change with Fjord.
“There’s nothing else to do, I should just get going.”
They might both be hungry from work, so I should get something to eat.
I walked to the clubroom and looked for a decent food option.
Then a sign caught my eye.
Oh, I don’t know about anything else, but I couldn’t resist a nice sandwich. I was mesmerized and pushed my way through the crowd to purchase the sandwich.
It was a very appetizing-looking… no, I mean a nice-looking sandwich. I was happily stuffing it into my bag.
I was pushed through the crowd and looked up for a moment.
And that’s when I saw it.
A Rex Begonia with Erhan in the distance as a servant.
Whatever I was thinking, I had no idea.
Or perhaps it’s more accurate to say I didn’t think. I instinctively turned and ran.
Just running like crazy.
I twisted and turned and ran away from the building, wondering if they’d seen me and were chasing me.
Once I was out of the building, I could barely think. All the while, my feet didn’t stop.
It was my mistake. I hadn’t realized that the Academy’s academic festival was open to the public.
It was the only day they allowed outsiders to enter.
Maybe I subconsciously thought that since nothing happened last year, it would be fine this year.
But it wasn’t.
It was horrible.
I’ve been worried about graduating, but I didn’t think I’d run into as many people as I did at the Academy.
Running out of stamina slowed me down. But I didn’t stop.
I knew I was already a good distance away from where I first spotted the Rex Begonia, but I didn’t want to stop.
“Wait!”
Suddenly, someone grabbed my wrist forcefully.
With a snap, my heart drops. At the same time, my legs give out and I slump to the ground.
It’s over.
No tears came to my eyes from the exhaustion. I shuddered and cowered.
My fingertips were already numb. They tingled with pain.
“Oh my goodness! Are you okay? Oh my, I must have frightened you.”
Ahh…
It wasn’t Rex Begonia’s voice. It was a woman’s voice, very thin and slender.
I slowly lifted my head and turned to meet the voice. It was a young woman, fairly petite.
Fearfully, I scanned my surroundings, but there was not a shadow of Erhan, let alone Rex Begonia.
The place was deserted, so it was just the woman and me.
I let out the breath I’d been holding.
My heart was beating fast, and I could feel the aftermath of my sudden jump.
The woman raised an eyebrow at me and said, “I’m sorry, student. I must have startled you.”
“No, no, it’s not. It’s okay, I’m fine, everything’s fine.”
At my not-quite-right answer, she turned to look me in the eye and placed her hand on my cheek.
“Calm down, take a deep breath.”
I did as she said, breathing in and out. Her voice had the power to calm me down, like breathing in the woods.
Once my breathing was somewhat back to normal, she apologized again.
“I’m sorry, I’m not a slow runner by any means, but you were running so hard, I thought I was going to lose you, so I had to catch up.”
Blinking slowly, I stared at her.
“I was running too fast in a crowded place, I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t grab you to scold you, but here…”
The woman handed me the bag she was holding in her hand. It was my bag, the one I hadn’t even realized was missing.
“You dropped it and didn’t seem to realize it, so I came after you.”
I bowed my head in gratitude.
“Thank you, I almost lost everything, including the sandwich I just bought.”
The woman smiled. It was a warm laugh, like spring sunshine.
“You’re welcome, but more than that… Student, I was wondering if we’ve met somewhere before?”
“…What?”
I felt a little embarrassed and wondered if there was a girl like her in my past interactions.
My social circle hasn’t always been extensive, so I quickly concluded.
Never have I ever met this woman. She must have mistaken me for someone who looked like another.
I opened my mouth to say that we had never met, but she held out her hand and said.
“No, I’m sorry, I must be getting old.”
She doesn’t look old to me, not even a few years older than me.
Her gaze lingers on my name tag as she smirks. Her expression stiffens.
For a moment, she opens her lips, then looks back and forth between the name tag and my face.
“…Leen? Are you really Leen?”
“Yes… well, my name is Leen, for starters.”
I’ve never met you sister before.
The look on her face was enough to give away the answer. But she didn’t seem to mind and grabbed my hand excitedly.
“Oh my gosh, it seems like just yesterday you were walking around as a baby, and now you’re this big?”
I blinked rapidly and tilted my head.
“Do you know me?”
“Of course, I know. How are Lisa and Rud getting along? Somehow, I thought you looked just like Lisa, except for the black hair and dark eyes!”
My head spun with confusion at the words I never thought would come from her lips.
Lisa was my late mom’s name.
I stammered, trying to infer in my head how she was related to my mom.
“Li…sa is my mother, yes, but I don’t know who Rudd is.”
Her brow twisted in disbelief.
“What? What are you talking about, isn’t your father’s name Yveruanhard?”
In my daze, I didn’t hear the first part of her name correctly. But the last name was so familiar that I managed to recognize it with ease.
“Well, if it’s Hard, it must be my father…,” I said.
And she suddenly realized something, “Alas, that man…”
“What? Can you say that again?”
This time, even though I was concentrating, she mumbled so low that I didn’t hear her.
She made an awkward frown, then quickly wiped it away and smiled.
“Rud is a nickname I used to call your father. Don’t worry about it.”
A nickname?
What business would this older sister, who couldn’t be more than a few years older than me, have called my dad by a nickname?
That wasn’t the only thing that confused me.
All my life, I had been led to believe that my father’s name was Hard.
I knew he was from the Abascanthus Empire. But I assumed that having a short name was the same reason he didn’t have a last name.
But then I realized that Hard wasn’t his full name, just a nickname.
I tried to remember what she’d said earlier, but the long name made it hard to remember.
It sounded like a damned Abascanthus Imperial name.
A faint feeling of betrayal and regret washed over me.
Arcanthus, and Dad. There was a time when those three, along with my mom, were all I had.
How could he hide his name?
I glared at her resentfully, looking ahead. Sister, how could you not care about this?
She pretended not to see my glare and asked, “So, Leen. How are Lisa and Hard doing?”
I sighed, she had no intention of telling me anything.
And whatever relationship she had with my parents, it was clear she hadn’t gotten the news of their deaths yet.
I decided to put aside my misgivings and start with what I knew she would answer.
“But first, I want to ask you how you knew my parents.”
She scrunched up her nose and gave me a cheerful laugh.
“Don’t be surprised. I was the one who got your parents to meet. They were both friends of mine!”
“What?”
It didn’t make sense, and I was wondering if I’d gotten the wrong person.
She chuckled and pulled off the hood of her robe to show me her ears.
‘Pointed ears.’
“Elf?”
Her face lit up in affirmation.
“Does that answer your question? Although I look young, I’ve probably lived longer than your grandfather’s grandfather.”
Then it all made sense.
Elves lived to be around 1,000 years old, well over ten times as long as humans.
Their aging almost stopped after they reached adulthood, so she wasn’t exaggerating.
I stared at her in wonder.
How did I happen to meet a friend of my parents? I suddenly wondered if the empire was small.
But the pleasure of meeting my parents’ old acquaintance was short-lived. I felt a pang in the pit of my stomach at the thought of delivering the news.
I soon composed myself and told her the truth.
“Unfortunately, my parents died six years ago, and forgive me for not giving you good news.”
“…What?”
Surprise flashed across her face, then quickly morphed into shock.
Her eyes shot up sharply, as if she’d remembered something. Her eyes reddened as if she were about to cry, and then she asked with malice.
“Was he murdered by someone, someone skilled with a sword?”
She sounded strangely certain. I shook my head no.
“No. Were my parents the kind of people to bear such a grudge?”
At my words, she relaxed, as if the tension in her body had been released. She looked relieved.
“No, no. Your parents are not the kind of people to do that… Then may I ask how they passed back to the land?”
“They died as soldiers.”
“I see…”
She dry-cleansed her face several times as if to control her emotions, then spoke worriedly. Her tone became more cautious.
“Are you okay? How are you doing financially, do you need any help?”
The question made me laugh, even though it was out of context.
It seemed like a good friend of my mom and dad’s, and it seemed like they had a really sweet friend.
I blurted out, “It was hard for a while after they died, but I’m fine now.”
“So you live alone now?”
I shrugged, “No. I live with my aunt, who loves me.”
Her face returns a bit of its familiar color.
“Well, I suppose I can believe you, if she’s the sister that Lisa was so fond of praising.”
After a moment of silence, she ruffles my hair and says wistfully.
“Then it’s okay. As long as you’re happy, I’m fine with it.”
“You don’t want to ask me anything else?”
After all these years of not seeing your friend, how could you possibly be so detached?
She replied bitterly, “Elves, when we take on a human as a friend, we always do so with the expectation of parting, for in the blink of an eye, it will be over.”
The sentiment was deeply felt.
I ask her what it’s like to be the only young person in a group of aging friends.
“It’s not that I never mind, it’s just that my heart breaks every time someone leaves my side.”
She laughs painfully, but then her face becomes resolute.
“But this is our fate, Leen.”
“Living long isn’t always a good thing.”
“It is.”
She laughed lightly and pulled her hood back up.
“Did you know that when an elf has a child with a human, the child dies younger than the elven parent?”
She helped me to my feet and gently brushed the dirt from my face.
“But I suppose as long as I was happy with my child, that’s all that matters.”
She was smiling happily, as if telling her own story.
