Chapter 15
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
Chapter 15
"...I know far less about him than I do about you, Senior."
"Haha, I suppose that's true."
He shrugged and turned his steps toward the Dormitory. I remained standing alone in the empty Training Grounds for a while. The Demonic Sword, growing bored, began to whine.
[Hey, what are you doing just standing there?]
"I had this nagging feeling I'd seen that face somewhere before. Seeing him smile like that brought it back."
[What? Who?]
"Ian Peletro."
[Huh? I don't remember. Was that during the time I was being controlled? Before I awakened?]
"Yes, back then."
I twisted my lips. That man had been there when I annihilated Agenka. So many had died by my hand that I couldn't possibly remember them all. What I retained were only those precious to me—like family or Nicole—and those who left indelible marks, like Yurien de Harden Kirie.
Ian Peletro fell into the latter category. In the worst possible way.
"From what I saw, he wasn't a cadet but a Knight. Since I destroyed Agenka three years from now, he must have become a Master within those three years."
[Did something memorable happen with him?]
"He gave fleeing civilians directions in the wrong way."
[Wrong direction to where?]
"Toward me."
[...Wait, so you're saying he deliberately sent people fleeing in your direction? On purpose?]
"Yes. And while I slaughtered those helpless people—children and elderly alike—he tried to escape."
[Wow, pragmatic bastard. I kind of like him.]
The Demonic Sword, which delighted in human malice, laughed wickedly. I said nothing more and moved on.
Ian Peletro had smiled so kindly at a small child clinging to him, begging for mercy, while directing them toward the wrong escape route. That smile was identical to the one he'd just given me. Even amid the maddening slaughter that nearly shattered my sanity, that scene remained vivid. I'd found it strange how civilians kept converging toward me, but the moment I saw that, I realized it was his doing.
Ian Peletro's gentle smile twisted hideously the instant he noticed me approaching faster than he'd anticipated. He shoved the child before him toward me and fled.
Humans reveal their true nature when death approaches. Ian Peletro was such a man.
I killed him. Of course, before I killed him, I also killed the innocent child he'd shoved toward me. Even now, after all this time, that memory surfaced with crystalline clarity.
"Damn it."
I spat out the curse and splashed water on my face. If I fell asleep like this, nightmares would come. Instead of heading to the Dormitory, I turned my steps elsewhere—toward the exit of the Military Academy.
[Where are you going?]
"To confirm something."
[What?]
That Agenka where no one died.
I murmured the answer only to myself.
Agenka after sunset was not quiet. People leaving work, those taking evening strolls, children heading home. Beneath the twilight and streetlamp glow, crowds moved back and forth.
Since Agenka belonged to no nation, it paid taxes not to a lord or king but to the Changtian Knights. And the current Master of the Changtian Knights who governed Agenka was a rational ruler. The tax rate was not excessive, and citizens were neither conscripted nor oppressed. With the continent's mightiest order of knights established here, monsters rarely invaded, and crime was virtually nonexistent.
A city worth living in. Most of the faces passing by wore smiles.
I walked quietly among them, observing those who laughed, chattered, walked, and ran. All of them were alive. Blood flowed nowhere. Agenka was not a ruin. The deeds I had committed would never come to pass.
My heart grew lighter by degrees. I walked slowly, passing through alleys, crossing through markets, and traversing the bridge over the canal.
'I should see that place one last time before returning.'
In the center of the Central Plaza stood a rather large Fountain. At its heart was carved the figure of an angel wielding the Divine Blade Kairos of Giosha. In the erased past, I had met Yurien de Harden Kirie before this Fountain, its waters running red with corpses.
I pushed through the crowd in the plaza and approached the Fountain. I saw clean water flowing through an undamaged structure. Witnessing the present, unblemished and whole, filled my chest with an ache so profound it was almost pleasant. For a long while, I simply gazed at that Fountain, lost in thought.
At some point, I felt a gaze upon me. With my senses, I should have noticed it far sooner, but I had been too absorbed by the fountain to perceive it late. I turned to look behind me.
A man in a hood stood there. The shadow cast by his pulled-down hood obscured his face. People brushed past between him and me. He moved slowly, approaching me. A streetlamp's light briefly illuminated the interior of his hood.
Silver hair gleaming in the light, eyes of crystalline sky blue. It had been an eternity since I last saw that face, yet it was seared into my memory so indelibly that I recognized him at a glance.
Yurien de Harden Kirie stood there.
I became rigid, unable to move. I forgot to breathe. Thoughts scattered from my mind, and my vision turned white. Only the image of Yurien in his hood remained vivid.
Autumn of 1632—it was in this very place that I last saw him. Before this fountain, I killed him. After that, over two years to overcome the Demonic Sword, and nine more years to gather Giosha. It had been nearly twelve years, by my reckoning.
As a Master, aging slowed to an extreme degree, so he looked much the same now as he had then. Yurien stopped at a distance from me—far enough that I couldn't reach him even if I extended my arm, yet too close for someone to pass between us comfortably.
He did not remove his hood. The Knight Instructor's silver hair was far too famous; in a crowded plaza like this, removing it would have made him instantly recognizable.
He gazed down at me in silence.
My height barely reached his chin. It wasn't that I was small—he was simply enormous. From my perspective, his face beneath the hood was fully visible. It was still a face too delicate for a knight, a poet's face.
His eyes were not calm. They roiled like blue waves in a tempest. Yet with each blink, that turbulence vanished as if it had never been. I saw it but could not comprehend it. I had no capacity to do so. Only one fact burned clearly in my mind.
'He's alive....'
That was enough. Everything I had wanted to say to him, everything I had wanted to ask—it all felt like a luxury. The worry about what would happen if he recognized me couldn't even surface in this moment. I simply stared at his living, breathing eyes as though enchanted. The eyes of a living person were so beautiful.
It was Yurien who broke the long silence first.
"...Echinacea Loaz."
His low voice pronounced my name. It felt less like a greeting than a confirmation—as though he were speaking to himself, identifying who this woman standing before him was.
"Cadet."
He added the title belatedly. I blinked rapidly. I had no idea how to respond. Yurien opened his mouth as if choosing his words, then closed it. Finally, he asked slowly.
"Do you know me?"
It was not an accusation. Not even a probe. Simply a dry question seeking confirmation of fact. At those words, I finally came to my senses. My first action was to lower my eyes and cover my lips with my hand.
He might have memories, and here I was, staring up at him openly—I was not in my right mind. No matter how different I was from that time, no matter the makeup and the mesh veil of my hat, facing him directly terrified me. I wanted only to avoid the moment he recognized me as the woman who had killed him. I averted my gaze as I replied.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not sure who you are. Do you know me?"
Whether he had memories or not, I could not let it show that I knew him. There was no connection between the Changtian Knights and an ordinary count's daughter.
At my answer, Yurien fell silent for a moment, then smiled faintly. His lips curved slightly, the corners of his mouth rose subtly, his eyes softened with a gentle crease.
'He smiled?'
I had never seen him smile before. There had been no occasion to. It was only the faintest smile, yet the world around us seemed to brighten. Heat rose to my face, and I was deeply flustered. Then he said something even more disconcerting.
"You should know who I am. You've seen me before, haven't you?"
"Pardon?"
My voice cracked as I asked him to repeat himself. My soaring heart plummeted, tumbling at my feet.
Does he remember? Does he have memories? Of that moment before this fountain when I betrayed him and killed him? Then what do I do? What do I say to him?
Just as I was on the verge of losing my mind, he continued calmly.
"Last summer, at the Emperor's birthday celebration."
"...Ah."
What came after was so intense that I had half-forgotten, but it was true that I first saw Yurien at the Emperor's birthday celebration. I had only watched from a distance, and we had never danced together.
Since it was last year, it would naturally have happened even with time reversed to now. I had been dressed up then just as I was now, so it was not strange that he would remember. What I couldn't understand was that he remembered a mere count's daughter—someone he had never even exchanged words with, let alone made eye contact with.
I fumbled with my lips. It was difficult to speak with my mouth so dry. I barely managed to ask.
"At the birthday celebration, you... saw me?"
"I didn't know who you were, but I do remember seeing you. Didn't you see me?"
No one who attended that celebration would have failed to recognize Yurien. He drew far more attention than even the Crown Prince, despite being the Third Prince. The title of Knight Instructor of the Changtian Knights was the primary reason, but even without it, he was a man whose beauty alone commanded attention. I feigned exaggerated surprise, as though only now recalling it.
"Oh! You were the Knight Instructor! I apologize for not recognizing you sooner."
"Commander..."
Yurien de Harden Kirie's brow furrowed slightly. He seemed to contemplate something before shaking his head gently.
"Call me by my given name. I am Yurien."
He did not mention his surname. Echinacea, who had privately called him by his given name all along, was startled and hastily refused.
"I'm a Military Academy cadet, Commander. How could I possibly presume to do such a thing."
"A cadet, I see."
At her refusal, Yurien de Harden Kirie regarded Echinacea with an ambiguous gaze. She averted her eyes from his. Her attire was hardly befitting a cadet, after all. She assumed he found her dress peculiar.
Yet Yurien de Harden Kirie was not looking at her dress at all. His gaze remained fixed upon her pale face. He asked softly.
"Why did you apply to the Military Academy?"
"Because I wish to become a Knight Instructor."
"Why do you wish to become a Knight Instructor?"
"...Because I love swords."
A banal question and an equally banal answer—the sort one might hear during an interview. Given the relationship between a cadet and a Knights Commander, it was an unremarkable exchange. Just as Echinacea began to relax her guard, Yurien de Harden Kirie suddenly drew closer to her.
Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org