“I was on a rescue ship, but it was too slow.” Carl brushed back his drenched platinum hair, muttering. “So, in my urgency, I came ahead first.”
Dana was flabbergasted. Did he really swim to here?
“Look, the rescue ship is coming.”
That’s when Rumie said. Only then did Dana spot the ship, tiny as a fingernail, on the horizon. It was on its way.
“It looks like it will arrive in a few hours. Couldn’t you just come comfortably, Father?” Rumie asked with a smiling face as if worried. “You’re not young anymore.”
“…”
Silence fell. After a while, Carl grumbled in response. “Anyone listening would think I’m very old. There’s only a seven-year difference between you and me, Rumie.”
“But the recovery ability of someone in their 20s and 30s is different.”
“…”
“I’m in my 20s, and you’re in your 30s.”
“…”
“You should take care of your body, considering your age,” Rumie asked, smiling brightly as if the sun was dazzling. “Right, Dana?”
What were they talking about? What’s going on? No, more importantly,
“Uncle, what were you thinking to do that?” Dana was angry with Carl. “It’s dangerous.”
Why doesn’t this man take care of himself?
“What if something goes wrong?”
What if something happened to her relic because of that? No matter how monster-like Carl’s recovery ability is, Ignis’s corpse becomes proof. That they weren’t immortal.
“Don’t ever do something so dangerous again. Understand?”
Then, a slow smile spread across Carl’s face. “Okay.”
“…”
“I’ll do as Dana says.”
Even after being scolded, he seemed to have regained his spirits, smiling again.
“Anyway, I’m glad both of you are safe. Can you explain what happened?”
At Carl’s question, Rumie began to explain. Meanwhile, Dana, who turned her head unconsciously, frowned.
What is that? On that distant horizon, the ship was getting closer…
It isn’t just one?
Two ships were approaching.
* * *
Several hours later, the two ships finally arrived. One was a rescue ship, and the other was a warship…
“You’re deploying immediately?”
Rumie was ordered to deploy. It was an order from the crown prince to repel the barbarian forces that invaded the territorial waters.
Raios, you’re cold as a blade. Dana shivered at the thought of his cold eyes. What a bad person. He acted like that despite being close to Rumie.
The news of the accident on the island must have reached Raios, but to send him straight to the battlefield without a break?
It’s not like Rumie is the only soldier! He needed rest. Though he had fully recovered now, until just yesterday morning, his body was full of wounds.
“It’s okay, Dana. This is my duty.”
“But…” Hesitating, Dana grabbed Rumie’s fingers and pulled on his lapel. “Bend down a bit, Brother.”
Rumie raised an eyebrow. With a look that said, ‘What trick is this?’ he soon compliantly bent down.
Dana whispered in his ear as if sharing a secret. “You have to come back safely… Rumie.”
Last night, the magical moment in the cave had passed. But now Dana proved to him that it wasn’t just a dream.
“Understand? Promise me.”
“…”
Rumie looked down at her silently, then sighed deeply, resting his forehead on her shoulder as if resigning. “Alright, alright.” He murmured, smiling. Then he slightly tilted his head to look at her. “I’ll do as you wish.”
Dana was startled by the gaze that met hers up close. There was a strange kind of exhilaration reflected in his eyes. It felt more like liberation than surrender…
“So, how do you feel? Happy?”
At his question, Dana steadied her voice. “I’ll be happier if you return safely.”
More than that, looking him up close, he’s even more handsome. Rumie’s silver hair and smooth face shone as if crafted from glass. She nearly let out an involuntary sigh of admiration but instead, let out a voice of regret.
“Don’t get hurt, and come back as soon as possible.”
He must return before the holy trial begins. She needed him in case there would be a problem with annulling her engagement with Raios.
Swallowing those words, Dana smiled sadly, as if she was seeing off a man she loved. She knew it would look that way to Rumie and to Carl, who was watching from afar. That’s why she made such an expression deliberately.
“I’ll be back.” Rumie stroked her hair and suddenly pecked her cheek. Then he grinned mischievously. “I deserve at least this much, right?”
“…”
Dana blushed and nodded after stroking her cheek. He was right. It was only natural, even modest.
Surprisingly, he’s playing along well. It didn’t seem like Rumie was being completely deceived. Yet, he was going along with it. He had never indulged her before, but now he was willingly playing along. Is he giving in because he loves me…?
Love. That word had surprisingly left her unmoved. At least in the cave, caught up in the moment, her heart had throbbed, and her breath had heated. But once that moment passed, the feeling astonishingly faded. And then Dana sensed. That the day she would fall in love would never come again.
* * *
The warship set off, carrying only Rumie. After some tidying up, Dana boarded the rescue ship straight away.
“Kyaa!”
However, witnessing something on the deck, she couldn’t help but scream.
“U-Uncle! Why on earth!”
Why are they taking Ignis’s corpse with them! Was it dug out from the debris?
Servants were lifting the brutally damaged corpse of Ignis onto a stretcher.
“Can’t we just leave him here? He’s dead anyway.”
“Yes. You really did a great job killing him.”
Carl couldn’t take his eyes off Ignis’s corpse as if the fact he was dead was incredibly fascinating.
“What could Ignis have been possessed by to end up like this?”
“…”
“I’m curious.”
Since it was a question she couldn’t answer, Dana changed the subject. “Are you collecting his corpse for a funeral?”
Ignis was once a man of the Windsor family. Above all, he was once brothers with Carl. She had heard their relationship used to be very close.
“A funeral, huh… Well…” Carl trailed off, then smiled faintly. “I don’t really know about that.”
“What?”
“Actually, it was a request from Viego. If such a day came, he wanted me to definitely collect Ignis’s corpse.”
Brother Viego? Then, it can’t be for a funeral. Viego wouldn’t hold a funeral for that terrorist. Because it would be tarnishing the Windsor family.
Then what for? Because of sentiment for a former uncle? For a clean finish? Or…
At that moment, the voice of Danael flashed through her mind.
“Is this why they expelled you from the sanctuary?”
…Enough. Dana shook her head.
Ignis, who had tried to kidnap her several times, was dead by her hand. It was over. And that was enough. Whatever happened next, since she would be leaving this world behind, she decided not to delve too deeply. About whatever the Windsor family was doing in the sanctuary.
Right. It’s none of my business.
Dana chose not to look beyond the veils in front of her, suspecting that something very strange lurked behind them. She did not want to know.
* * *
How much time had passed? Ignis de Windsor had been tormented by a long, enduring nightmare.
“Impressive.”
It was the first time he caught the eye of Duke Windsor in his childhood.
“Superior to any genius I’ve seen before.”
When he inevitably became that man’s adopted child.
“Go to the sanctuary, Son. There, you’ll become even stronger.”
In that forced sanctuary, he became a monster.
“You wanted to be disowned? Who said you could?”
No, he became a weapon.
“You’re the finest weapon ever crafted by Windsor. And now you dare try to leave Windsor?”
F*ck. Swearing was the first response that came from him. His head hurt as if it was about to split open—No. Not quite. It did split open, shattered by a bullet…
“Are you awake?”
Ignis barely opened his eyes.
Or maybe now. Was it just a dream?
Ignis couldn’t tell. All he knew was that his head felt like it was going to explode.
“Don’t worry, Lord Ignis. All pain will soon disappear.”
Someone was looking down at him… It was a familiar face. A face that someone who occasionally appeared in his nightmares. A face he had seen in his childhood at the sanctuary.
“Still hating the Windsor family, I see. Personally, I think you should be disposed of—but there were many opposing views.”
One of those who made him a monster.
“It was concluded you are too valuable to be disposed of like this.”
This must be a nightmare.
“But to get rid of that long-standing hatred, it seems we will have to erase your memories, Lord Ignis.”
For sure, this must be a nightmare. To be brought back to this hellish place again.
“Please forget all your memories and become a member of the Windsor family again, Lord Ignis.”
No. He’d rather be killed.
“Then the late Duke Windsor would be pleased as well.”
Kill me, kill me. I’d rather you just kill me!
“Welcome back to being Ignis Windsor.”
But that was the end. Surgical gloves reached towards him, and—darkness. Everything was buried in darkness. Everything, absolutely everything.
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Fr ….
Oh no, how horrible…