Chapter 108

Chapter 108

It had already been more than a month, but Hizen did not show any signs of waking up. His condition did not improve no matter how much she tried to use the Guardian’s pendant and how much she healed him.

Hizen’s whole body was bandaged on the bed. The burn marks were gone, but the signs of the shock remained the same.

Leasis gazed at him and bit her lips. Was he such a weak person? Hizen’s usual appearance and the man lying on the bed looked completely different.

No, that was how much Hizen had tried. To the point where he hid his naive and weak self from the rest of the world.

Leasis lowered her head, sitting in a wooden chair next to the bed. She had nothing in her hands.

‘Hizen…’

It stung like a sword in her chest. The work of her father and the people in the mansion, and the memories of the fire. Among them, the most unbearable thing was Hizen, who had suffered alone.

She had gotten angry and had screamed. She had blamed Hizen, who had been struggling the most. She did not know what else to do.

Leasis looked at the palm of the hand where the scab had fallen and breathed a painful sigh. She could not forgive him, but she could not let him die.

Was it because it was the first time a man who had been so run over by work had a break? She could see Hizen’s peaceful face. Looking at him like that, she was caught up in an indescribable wave of emotions.

She knew best how much he hated swords and was afraid of blood and murder.

Everyone took his abilities for granted, but it was foolish. He had forced himself to endure everything in atonement.

Perhaps Hizen had tried to stop all of it with his own death. The painful tragedy of two families.

Leasis shivered while looking at him. Her anger and love mixed together were driving her to the edge of a cliff. It was hard to pick up her broken heart.

After watching Hizen for a while, Leasis left the cabin. Then she suddenly saw the rising sun.

Children playing around found her and rushed to her.

“Noona, is Hyung up?”

“Not yet.”

“Tsk. I was curious.”

Leasis smiled brightly and kissed the children on the cheeks. It was unusual for her to hear the soft accent unique to the Cromus Empire.

Blix had taken them to a town in the Cromus Empire. He had moved them here with his own power.

The reason why he had to go so far was to get out of Elnos’ sight. Leasis thanked Blix with all her heart.

“Noona, tell me how to do swordsmanship!”

“Me too, me too!”

“Should I?”

Leasis had recently made wooden swords and taught children around here how to use them. The children loved to play with her and followed her.

While spending time like that, a huge eagle flew to Leasis. Among his green feathers was Lyon, working for Blix.

Lyon looked around and told her the news. Even today, the person sitting on the eagle’s back only said a few words.

[There’s a big gilatan coming. Nothing else unusual to report.]

Leasis ran to the location Lyon had told her after teaching some things with the wooden swords to the children.

When she arrived at the highest hill of the town, she saw someone. It was a middle-aged man with gray hair, Ramashter. He stood there, patting the gilatan’s beak.

He was the teacher who waited for her with a gilatan.

Leasis’ eyes were reddened by some unknown feelings. He was one of the people she loved the most when he called her a little rascal.

As time went by, Ramashter became very old and worn out, but he was still her teacher.

Leasis opened and closed her lips several times, and smiled sadly. She strode up to him.

“Teacher.”

At the trembling voice, Ramashter reached out and grabbed her shoulder. He felt a strong spirit for a woman and at the same time, he was overwhelmed.

She was Leasis, his first disciple that he had longed for. How in the world could this happen? Ramashter embraced her, thanking God.

“This foolish girl!”

Leasis shed tears in the arms of his teacher. More than a decade had passed, but Ramashter’s arms were still warm and cozy.

Ramashter touched Leasis’ face with his rough hands. Round forehead, straight nose, warm cheeks.

But he could only feel the flesh. He had heard from Max some of her stories about growing up in an orphanage, and he felt as if his heart was stuffed up.

Leasis was a child who had always liked to eat since childhood. It was a pity to think that this child had grown up with such difficulties.

“Why are you so skinny?”

“Sorry.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t recognize you… I should have found you.”

Leasis held Ramashter’s trembling hand. Now the blind teacher had become very weak, and his beautiful wife, who was always smiling beside him, had closed her eyes.

It was a strange feeling to find the long lost years little by little. Leasis returned to the cabin with Ramashter.

Ramashter paused when he heard the familiar breath that sounded fine over the door. Come to think of it, Max had said that Hizen had also been caught in the fire.

Leasis whispered low, sitting him in a chair.

“Don’t worry about the Count-nim… No, Hizen.”

“I know.”

The two sat face to face at the table. Leasis looked fondly at Ramashter with his eyes closed.

Ramashter loved Leasis like a daughter. Whenever she was scolded for her mistake, she always hid behind his wide back and laughed cheerfully.

He was called the Wolf Knight and traveled around the battlefields, but he was always warm to her. She said playfully, swallowing the tears that were coming up.

“Teacher, your wrinkles have increased.”

“This girl…”

“How did you get here?”

“Max helped me.”

The word ‘Max’ stopped Leasis. Come to think of it, she had run away here as if she had thrown everything away after the fire.

She had not even been able to say goodbye to Max, let alone apologize properly. He used to care for her like a younger sister, but it ended like this. Her heart was throbbing as she remembered his hurt face that she saw the last time they met.

During her stay here, Leasis occasionally recalled Max and the Imperial Knights. But she had buried them in her heart. She no longer had the courage to hold a sword, nor the confidence to return to them.

“…It must have been hard. Thank you.”

“With Kurha, I reached the magic circle easily. Nothing for you to worry about.”

Kurha was the name of the captain of the gilatans. Leasis raised herself and nodded. She wanted to give even just a cup of tea to her teacher who had come a long way.

At that time, Ramashter called her.

“Lea.”

The friendly call like in the past stopped Leasis’ movement.

“You are my student. Whatever choice you make, you are my first proud student.”

Leasis’ head slowly went down. She looked at the blurry floor and stopped breathing.

She still could not believe this situation. If it were not for all her dreams, if she had not dreamed of becoming a knight, if she had not met Hizen, if she had not loved him…

The desperate thoughts dominated her mind. With a tingling sensation in her throat, Leasis took a deep breath.

“Teacher. What should I do now?”

“Teacher, please tell me.”

Leasis felt sick every time she breathed. Looking at Hizen, the pain got worse and she struggled, but she could not leave him.

No matter how hard she thought about it, she could not figure out which choice was right. Everything seemed to be already over. Her love, which had made her so happy, was tangled with thorns of despair, scratching her.

Revenge and love. It was an impossible path. Leasis asked desperately.

“Please let me know what choice I have to make. I don’t know what the correct answer is… Please tell me.”

“You don’t have to find the answer to the world. Sometimes there are moments when you need to make a choice, and the stupid things you did can turn into a correct answer.”

At the words, Leasis turned and looked at Ramashter. Ramashter faced her with lost eyes.

“Get rid of everything else and do whatever you want. That’s the answer to your life.”

Why? Leasis felt like Ramashter was looking straight at her. Even though it was a silly idea.

“Whatever I want?…”

“Yes.”

She felt a little stuffy. No matter how much he was her teacher, she could not understand such a vague answer.

“That’s ridiculous. How can that be the answer?”

“When you were a maid, when you dreamed of becoming a knight, did people say it was a wise choice?”

“No.”

Leasis shook her head silently. The maids and servants of the Duke of Armada had openly insulted Leasis. Even in the Imperial Palace, there had been a lot of people talking behind her back.

Everyone had complained that the maid was full of herself and had a stupid dream. Even herself had wondered if it was an absurd dream.

“And now?”

“You acknowledged me. My efforts and my time…”

“Well, what do you think?”

Ramashter did not give Leasis a chance to escape. He asked again with a strong voice.

“At that time, everyone pointed fingers at you and said it was the wrong choice, but you moved on.”

“You saved many people with your own hands, and gave peace and hope to those in need. Do you regret it? Tell me what you think.”

The teacher’s question struck her hears strongly, like a whip. Leasis’ eyes shook greatly.

The inhabitants of the Island of Death, who had thanked her for saving them, Onjet, who had thanked her for allowing him to remember his forgotten dream, and the children she had saved on a battlefield passed by in her mind.

They all had happy faces. And she had been happy to see them.

“Speak with your own words.”

“I’m…” Things were passing in front of her like a panorama. There were hard and difficult situations that had made her want to give up, but she had been able to stay strong thanks to them.

Protecting someone’s peace. It was the purpose that had made Leasis feel alive intensely.

Leasis gave strength to her dry throat.

“It was hard… but I think I’m grateful.”

“Leasis, don’t look for answers that meet the standards that humans have created. You can just live the way you want. I don’t know which choice will be the right answer. That’s the happiness your father was talking about.”

She understood with her heart, but her head could not accept it. All the stereotypes that she had read in her books had been transferred to her. Why do I love my father’s enemy?

Leasis’ agony could be felt through her irregular breathing sounds. Ramashter clicked his tongue and asked her.

“What do you think Hizen thought?”

Hizen.

Her blood cooled when she heard the name of the man she loved. When she could not answer, Ramashter spoke in a low voice.

“Hizen has always been forced to choose.”

“He was going to put everything back in place. He sent me a letter.”

Ramashter slowly took a letter out. It was a letter engraved with Braille signs to allow the blind man to read it.

In the meantime, Hizen had lived for people without resentment or anger toward his father, just silently making atonement.

However, the letter contained Hizen’s greed for the first time. He had tried to step down from the position that everyone dreamed of for a woman.

Leasis’ fingertips reading the letter trembled slightly. Each letter contained his heart. It was unspoiled love.

“When… when did you receive it?”

“It must have been over three months.”

Maybe he was already getting ready. The letter had been sent long before Leasis learned the truth.

Leasis carefully rolled up the letter and handed it to Ramashter. Then he lifted himself up from the chair.

“No need to escort me back.”

“But…”

“I’ve confirmed that you two are fine, so it’s okay. Now I’m going back to the mansion to take care of the flowers.”

The white roses that his late wife loved. For Ramashter, his first treasure was his students, and the second was white roses.

Leasis knew his heart better than anyone else. Nevertheless, there was something she wanted to confirm with him.

She unknowingly asked a question that could be rude.

“Are you still in love with her?”

A long time had already passed. His beloved wife was buried, and their memories were only one of countless days.

“It would be better to ask this question to Hizen rather than to me. He’s been rolling in the mud longer than I have. He didn’t want to forget you so much that he wouldn’t even heal his wounds.”

“That’s how much he loved you.”

Ramashter’s words lingered in her ears for a long time. It was something she wanted to deny so much.

The fact that Hizen, during all those hellish years, only loved one woman who had died.