Yulina slowly opened her eyes, the sunlight piercing her eyelids. The familiar patterns and decorations of the wallpaper she always saw were visible. It was her own room. Yulina, who had been staring blankly at her ceiling, sat up with difficulty.
“Oh my, Lady!”
Then, someone’s voice was heard from a short distance away. She was a maid who was changing the water in the basin by the bed. And next to her…
“Are you awake?”
It was the silver-haired knight from that time. Memories of last night naturally come to mind. She shielded her, and the sight of such a strong monster falling to the swords of two people so easily and efficiently.
“Excuse me, I’ll…… get a doctor!”
Even as the maid hurried out of the room, Yulina just stared blankly at Elaine. Yulina blinked at the sound of the door closing and opened her trembling lips.
“The monster… What happened?”
She couldn’t believe it, even after seeing it herself. Maybe it was a dream. She felt like she needed to confirm that what had occurred was reality. Elaine, who had been staring at her for a while, answered clearly.
“They’re all dead.”
“Are you sure……?”
“Yes.”
“They’re dead…….”
They’re really dead.
‘… That easily?’
When Yulina learned of the fate of the monster she despised so much summarized in just one sentence, she felt somewhat empty. Is it because it hardly feels like reality? Even though she confirmed that she had achieved her revenge, the empty feeling did not go away.
Elain looked at Yulina’s expression as she lowered her head in silence and spoke carefully.
“The Margrave took care of you all night and just left for a while. I… I came to give you this.”
Elaine walked to the side of the bed and held something out in front of her. Yulina’s eyes shook when she saw the item.
“This…”
It was a locket necklace. The thin chain was hanging down with its clasp broken. When she opened the lid, she saw her own initials engraved on the bottom.
“I picked it up in the woods last night. I feel like it might be yours.”
Yulina accepted the necklace with trembling hands.
“… That’s right, it’s mine.”
This wasn’t hers. It was the necklace she’d given to Cesar. She clutched the necklace and lowered her head. She couldn’t breathe well. As her vision kept getting blurry, she asked in a subdued voice.
“… Can I ask one question?”
When Elaine nodded, she hesitated for a moment and then slowly opened her mouth.
“What you said to me back then… In the forest. Were you talking about yourself?”
“…”
Elaine gently closed her eyes. She lowered her head for a moment, then raised her gaze and looked at her Yulina.
“There was someone who was more like a mother to me than the one who gave birth to me.”
“…”
“She was the person I relied on and loved more than anyone else. I thought we would be together forever. But, that person saved my life and left this world.”
She really thought they would be together forever, because Bella was someone who never changed. Appearance, heart, and even eternal life. She could live forever, but Bella gave Elaine her life and left just like that.
Elaine smiled faintly.
“But she…… wanted me to live, so I have to.”
And also because now there was someone she couldn’t abandon. Yulina looked at her for a long moment. The words left out so much, but they were enough.
‘Please… Please don’t come near me!’
‘… Please.’
‘Please live.’
The voice she’d been ignoring was heard again. It was a voice she’d always ignored, engulfed in her own sadness.
‘I’ve lost so much, but still, you want me to live? Will I be able to endure the times without you?’
“You know…”
“Yes.”
“Do you think I’ll ….. be able to live well?”
Elaine’s eyes widened slightly. She stared at Yulina, then laughed softly.
“Of course.”
Yes, even if she felt like she couldn’t endure it, she had to live. Because that was the reason Cesar protected her, and… She had one more reason to live.
“Yulina.”
At that time, Yulina’s eyes shook when she saw the man who appeared in the doorway.
“… Father.”
He approached quickly.
“How are you feeling, is there any discomfort, any pain?”
His voice was still blunt, but there was a hint of urgency in his tone. There were dark circles of fatigue under his eyes from nursing her through the night. In addition to that, his skin was rough, his lips were chapped, and his hair, which was always neat, was disheveled. These were things she had never seen before.
‘You still have one person.’
Why hadn’t she noticed it before?
‘Don’t let your sadness become that person’s despair.’
‘I was becoming your despair.’
The person who was thought to be unbreakable was actually not at all. He was just holding on with all of his strength to keep her from falling. There was no way he wasn’t affected as well. He was also a person who deeply cared for Cesar.
Cesar was her lover, but also a fellow knight. For her sake, her father became a heartless villain and stained his hands with blood. She wasn’t the only one grieving.
“… I’m sorry.”
Yulina lowered her head and spoke quietly. After pausing for a moment, the Margrave lifted his hand and wiped her wet cheek. His big hands were rough and crude. It was his rough hands that had taken on her burdens.
“… I’m sorry too.”
Elaine looked at them for a moment and then walked away. As the door closed quietly, the last thing she saw was the two people quietly embracing each other through the crack.
The father’s back, which was always straight, was bent as he hugged his daughter.
* * *
“Thank you.”
It was the first thing the Margrave said to Ash and Elaine after Yulina woke up.
He was deeply grateful to the two guests for saving his daughter’s life, and in return, he promised to supply them with much more than they’d bargained for, free of charge.
Not only that, but the Lakers would pay for all transportation costs, and he promised to give Killiard priority in future deals. Ash tried to decline, saying he didn’t think it was necessary, but the Margrave’s response was the same.
“The Lakers never forget a favor.”
Of course, it was a small price to pay for his daughter’s life. He owed them far more than he could ever give.
Meanwhile, the mansion was buzzing with stories about Ash and Elaine. The nameless monster was an opponent that even the famous Lakers knights had to attack in large numbers to defeat. However, the two of them wiped out all three of the monsters in an instant. The strongest man on the continent and his knight.
For a while, people couldn’t hide their passionate gaze when they saw the two. And that afternoon, after speaking with the Margrave about their plans to depart for Killiard, they were walking down the hallway.
“…”
There was no conversation between them. An awkward silence fell. It was an awkward atmosphere that had persisted ever since that time in the forest. Elaine glanced over at Ash secretly.
In the end, that day, she never showed him her wound until the end. She said she would go back to the mansion and see the doctor, but of course she couldn’t see a doctor either. She had to pretend to receive treatment, so she put together a bandage on her own uninjured arm. She then told Ash that she‘d been treated by the doctor.
But after that day he wouldn’t speak to her. His face, usually cold, looked even colder. Elaine thought he was angry with her.
‘… He has every reason to be.’
He must have been worried and tried to help, but she so blatantly rejected him. Anyone would be offended. Moreover, the action of striking away her master’s hand was extremely rude. Since he would not open his mouth, it was very difficult for her to speak first.
She averted her gaze and fiddled with the end of her sleeve. Then, she was startled by the sudden sound of his voice and looked up again.
“The bracelet.”
“… Huh?”
“Where did the bracelet go?”
She blinked in confusion. Not only was it something she hadn’t thought of, but it also came out of nowhere. Before she knew it, his gaze had landed on her sleeve, which she had been fiddling with. Since when had he been looking at her, perhaps did he even see her glance at him? More than anything, she was embarrassed because she’d not expected him to blurt out something like this.
Anyway, when she lowered her gaze, as he said, the bracelet had indeed disappeared. She answered awkwardly.
“Oh……. I must have broken it during the fight.”
“I see.”
“Well, that’s okay, it’s superstitious anyway and…….”
Elaine trailed off, glancing over at him. She asked cautiously.
“… Aren’t you angry because of me?”
“… Angry?”
“I’m really sorry about what happened back then. I was rude.”
Then Ash raised an eyebrow, sighed lightly and rubbed his eyes.
“I’m not angry.”
“But…”
He hasn’t said a word since then. Easily reading between the lines, he sighed once more.
“It’s not like that… I just had some things to think about.”
The expression on her face that day remained stuck in his mind. Even after thinking about it, he still couldn’t understand. From the beginning everything about her had been a mystery. Still, it didn’t matter to him because he knew she was sincere.
She seemed to be closer to him than anyone else, and yet there was this unbridgeable gap. He hated the distance he felt that day, that moment.
He couldn’t understand why he felt this way.
