Chapter 139
The border between the Phytal South and Albrecht.
Halbern’s forces have been mobilizing for weeks, and the tension has only increased.
Jaren, the Deputy Knight Commander of the Knights of Saren, is left speechless by the overview of the operation he’s just heard.
“Uh, My Lord, did I mishear the plan?”
“No.”
“So, you’re saying you’re actually going to take a small group of knights and attempt to infiltrate? To Castle Locke?”
“Yes.”
Valar’s expression didn’t change, and Jaren grew grim.
Was this man really going to charge bareback into the middle of enemy territory?
“I think we have a better chance than the mages.”
“What are the mages doing here all of a sudden, and do we have to fight them too?”
Jaren asked, but Valar didn’t reply.
He simply recalled the mages’ infiltration and kidnapping of Castle Locke that he had overheard when he had gone to the Sky Tower to meet with the Archmage.
‘The whole point is to get Arellin back.’
If it’s faster than starting a war to bring her back, it’s worth a try, right?
If Mehen could hear him, he would have lamented something along the lines of, “This is My Lord,” but alas, Mehen was not present.
“I’m going undercover… I’m going undercover…”
“We don’t take people by force. Only those who are willing to participate.”
Jaren didn’t think anyone would be interested in such an operation.
“Oh, a girl kidnapping operation!”
“Me, me, me! I’m in!”
“Me too! I’ve dreamed of this! It’s been my life’s dream!”
He despaired as they watched the Saren knights volunteer.
Jaren raised his eyebrows.
“I’m the only sane one in this order, after all.”
***
Castle Locke.
Poof.
“Ether, shut up.”
She was in the middle of a hasty infiltration operation when she was interrupted by a status window that whined about needing a medium when she asked it to tell her about Shione.
‘But isn’t this the way to the Duchess’s room?’
The road looked familiar, and it was.
What if the target is in the Duchess’s chambers and she runs into Duke Regent again?
She was worried, but then she thought better of it.
If she is scared and does nothing, nothing will change. Even if she can’t eat, so be it!
She boldly entered the Duchess’s chamber, but she couldn’t recognize the medium among all the objects.
“Where the hell is the medium?”
‘Can’t you just tell me?’
She glared at the status window that had given her such a hard time, and cringed at the warmth she felt inside.
“Are you done cleaning up?”
“Yes, it’s a quick job.”
“Let’s get out of here.”
“I get a bad feeling every time I come in here.”
“Watch your language.”
The footsteps fade away. When they disappeared, she felt an involuntary sweep across her chest.
“I thought we were going to get caught.”
It would be a shame to get caught after coming all this way.
It was a good thing she was small enough to hide right through the dress.
She slipped inside, extra cautious, just in case.
“Huh? This is…”
An ominous black dagger.
The dagger that she had almost grabbed in mesmerization the last time she came here had a different glow to it.
[Confirms contact with medium].
[Retrieving information from Sione Sigria Halbern…]
The status window responded.
[Do you wish to read the past memories of Sione Sigria Halbern?]
[Yes / No]
***
Sione Sigria Halbern’s first misfortune was that she was born into the Halbern family.
Her second misfortune was that she was overly bright and intelligent.
The third misfortune was that this overly clever child did not have the strength to overcome her fate.
‘A beautiful and wise lady.’
If she had been just ‘that’, it would have been good for everyone.
It would have been better for Sione herself.
‘Something is wrong.’
Sione was too bright to see the absurdity of the world around her at such a young age, and too smart to realize the logic of how the world worked so quickly.
To be a child and not be a child.
It was a different kind of misfortune.
‘It’s a shame, daughter, because if you were a son, you would have made a pretty good successor.’
She didn’t even have to want to know the ‘truth’ implicit in the passing remarks of adults.
Like, for example, that Morden, the dictator of Halbern and her father, considers his only daughter to be so bright that she’s little more than a remnant of her cat.
‘I hate my father.’
She hated the way he looked at her like an object, and she hated the way he treated the people around him like subhuman tools.
The dictator had no warmth for his daughter, who didn’t hide her hostile gaze from her.
But it didn’t matter.
Sione was a child who could take full advantage of the Halbern name attached to her.
‘We have to escape.’
She’ll go mad one day if she stays here, Sione was sure.
She couldn’t breathe properly in her father’s place. Anything he gave her was disgusting. Even his obsession with her mother, the most intense of all.
Sione knew full well that Morden’s tolerance for her, no matter how cocky he was, was rooted in the same vile sense of exclusivity and possessiveness that he had for the woman he loved and his own blood.
‘I pity your mother.’
Sione genuinely pitied her mother.
‘How did she end up with a man like that?’
‘I know. Your mother just happened to catch my eye.’
‘Did you ever love her?’
‘Of course.’
A dry, unassuming confession that from the moment they fell in love at first sight, to this moment, and probably even after death, their souls would be bound to the same person.
Sione knew their love story.
Even the ugly side behind the well-packaged story.
For all secrets were locked away in the secret libraries of Halbern, accessible only to those of the Gifted line.
Morden’s words were half-truths.
It was true that Morden had proposed to her mother, who had lost everything at first sight, and brought her home to marry him, but it was Morden who had made her lose everything…
‘How could you do such a thing?’
‘How could you do that?’ he asked, like a father imparting a great life lesson to his accusatory young daughter.
‘Do you think your mother would have married me if I hadn’t done that?’
Her fiancé, who was talking about getting married. Her parents. Friends, even the neighborhood, all for the sole purpose of destroying them.
To have nothing to lean on.
To make her see only herself.
‘If I hadn’t done it, you wouldn’t have been born, so you’re an accomplice, daughter.’
‘I’m an accomplice?’
‘Why are you doing this, when it’s so easy to just pretend you don’t know. Huh?’
At the time, Morden was quite fond of his daughter, who looked just like her.
‘Your mother is happy, that’s all that matters.’
‘That’s what you call love?’
‘Daughter, do you know what love is?’
She doesn’t know.
But Sione was sure.
‘That’s not love.’
It was selfishness masquerading as love, cruel monopoly and possessiveness.
‘Such a dirty, ugly thing, it can’t be love.’
Young Sione felt that she shouldn’t keep this truth to herself, so she told her mother, the poor victim, who was devastated.
‘You’ve had a miscarriage!’
Sione had no regrets, even though her baby brother died.
Morden’s anger was directed at her, but she didn’t care.
‘That’s not love.’
She had a right to know the truth.
But if there was one regret…
‘Mom, brother, huhu…’
Her mother was filled with guilt, realizing that all the misfortune she thought had come out of nowhere was actually her fault.
Sione realized in the most unfortunate way that ‘some truths’ kill people.
‘Mom, I’m sorry.’
‘No, my darling.’
Her mother hugged her tightly and reassured her that it wasn’t your fault.
‘It’s not your fault, my dear.’
Even though she was the daughter of a man she resented, her mother ‘loved’ her.
‘Doesn’t mom hate me?’
‘No.’
For a moment, she wondered if it would have been better for her to live in peace, in a comfortable lie, as Morden had said, but she shook her head. No secret lasts forever, she said, and if she were to find out one day, she would hate herself even more.
‘Don’t worry about me. I’m worried about you, Sione.’
In the end, after giving birth to Valar, her mother collapsed and never got up again.
And Sione never saw her mother’s face for years afterward.
But…
Sione was not lonely.
‘Valar.’
She had a brother.
With a dead mom and a dad who only cared about her. And herself and her newborn brother neglected in the meantime.
‘My sweet little brother.’
When her eyes locked with the baby smiling at her, Sione had a premonition.
She knew she would do anything for this little one.
Even if it meant going against her father.
