Bido's fingertips touched the necklace.
It was cold.
But, strangely,
it felt as though one side of the chest was growing warm.
It wasn't unfamiliar.
Even though it was the first time touching it,
it felt like a weight known for a very long time.
“Bido!”
Raen, still having her hair combed by Mendel, whipped her head around.
Her eyes sparkled.
“That’s pretty!”
“Shall I put it on for you?”
Bido smiled faintly.
“It’s alright, Raen.”
Raen pouted, but quickly smiled again.
Bido lifted the necklace in both hands.
It was a thin silver chain.
Slender,
but when tugged with a fingertip, stronger than expected.
Bido slowly wrapped the chain behind the nape of the neck.
The cold of the metal brushed past the nape.
Click.
A very small sound.
The crescent moon settled lightly below the collarbone.
Bido unconsciously covered it with a palm.
It felt as though a heart lay beneath it.
Bido exhaled.
The necklace slipped between the folds of clothing,
pressing once against the thin bone of the collarbone.
A faint tremor spread from where the cold metal touched toward the heart.
‘Why… is it familiar?’
Without realizing,
Bido traced the edge of the crescent moon with a fingertip.
Mireong was watching that sight as well.
She soon narrowed her eyes and smiled very faintly.
Before that smile disappeared,
Bido spoke with difficulty.
“…Mother.”
The words caught in the throat.
Bido paused briefly to catch a breath.
“…No, Mom was.
What kind of person was she?”
Mireong spoke first.
“She was different from you.”
Mireong set down the glass she was holding,
her face briefly taking on an expression of searching through memories.
“She was bright.”
“Needlessly energetic.”
“Strangely, she was someone who drew people in.”
Raen, being combed, pricked her ears.
Yun carefully continued.
“She always put others before herself.”
Yun’s voice was soft.
That softness was, rather, somehow careful.
“Even during operations.
Tending to the wounded first, sharing remaining food…
Even when she herself was tired, she would check if others had fallen asleep first.”
Mireong let out a short sigh.
“That’s right.”
“So she was always a handful.”
Though she called her a handful, the corners of Mireong’s lips were turned up.
Yun stopped speaking for a moment.
Bido did not rush her.
Even as the crescent moon grew cold against the chest,
the palm remained placed over it.
Yun opened her mouth again.
“Yureuna… was someone who could not put off
the things she had to do until the end.”
As those words came out,
the bright air that had filled the room until moments ago settled into a slightly different shape.
Yun looked at Bido’s necklace once more.
And in a slightly lower voice, she spoke.
“So that day, too.
She just ran out.”
Bido looked at Yun.
Then Yun lowered her gaze for a moment,
and slowly continued.
“That day’s operation… was a long journey.
It was a small city near the Imperial Capital.”
“There,
there was a family that had been aiding the Eunwoldan.”
Yun paused to choose her words, then spoke low.
“The Robellin family.”
The air in the room changed slightly.
Bido repeated that name inwardly once.
Robellin.
It felt as though it had been heard somewhere before,
but the memory never quite came to hand.
Mireong’s expression hardened for a very brief moment.
A face from which only the traces of laughter had faded.
Without stopping the comb, Mendel
clenched her fingers slightly tighter.
Yun continued.
“Information came in that they had been discovered,
and Yureuna moved immediately.”
Mireong added briefly.
“There wasn’t even time to stop her.”
Yun nodded.
“We could not save everyone.”
Those words were short,
and therefore heavier.
Yun immediately continued.
“But.
One person was pulled out.”
“He was a young man about your age.”
“Areusel Robellin.”
Bido’s eyes widened slightly.
Seeing Bido’s reaction,
Yun spoke in an even lower voice.
“Now… he is called by a different name.”
“Aseullo.”
Raen, who was being combed, flinched.
Mendel’s hand also slowed for a moment.
Bido gripped the hand covering the necklace tighter.
Yun slowly exhaled.
“Yureuna.
entrusted that necklace to Areusel.”
Yun paused very briefly,
and added.
“At that time, Areusel conveyed it to me… just like that.”
Yun spoke carefully, as if tracing the words.
“‘I had wanted to put it on her myself someday.’
Like that.”
“…Mother said that?”
The room fell silent for a moment.
Yun continued.
“Areusel ran.
Rangnan secured him.”
“Areusel handed the necklace to Rangnan,
and Rangnan entrusted it to me.”
Yun looked at the necklace.
And looked at Bido.
“Bido.”
There was a slight change in Yun’s tone.
Something like conviction mixed in.
“After meeting you,
I had wanted to give you this necklace when the time came.”
Yun glanced briefly at Bido’s ear.
That gaze was not long,
but it held meaning.
“Now… I feel the time has come.”
Bido gripped the necklace once more.
The cold silver pressed lightly into the palm.
And Bido
carefully asked.
“Then…
why did you, Master, end up bringing this necklace?”
Before Yun could answer, Bido continued.
“Why… only Master.
did you alone make it out?”
A brief silence fell heavily.
Mireong turned her gaze,
and Mendel slowed the hand combing Raen’s hair slightly.
Yun spoke in a low voice.
“Yureuna… appears to have already been severely injured by then.”
Bido’s eyes fixed on Yun.
Yun continued slowly, as if picking her words.
“After sending Areusel away.
She remained behind alone and blocked them.”
Bido swallowed.
“Blocked them…?”
Yun nodded.
“It was a pursuit squad.
They were Imperial knights.”
Yun’s tone grew more cautious.
“Areusel ran.
Yureuna… could not return.”
Strength entered the hand gripping the necklace.
“Then.
Master…”
Yun received the words Bido could not ask to the end.
“I had to survive.”
After the words “I had to survive,”
Yun immediately bowed her head.
“At that time… it was not a choice, but a role.”
“Someone had to run,
and someone had to protect their back.”
Bido bit their lip.
‘Why….’
All the words Bido wanted to ask surged up at once,
but the coldness of the chain that had brushed past the nape of the neck pressed them back down.
Yun looked straight at Bido and spoke.
“Yureuna chose to save that child and send him away.
And… this necklace as well.”
Yun exhaled very slightly.
“Someday.
The thing she had wanted to put around your neck herself…
She placed it in that child’s hand.”
When Yun finished speaking, the room was silent for a moment.
Bido clutched the necklace.
The crescent moon pressed cold into the palm.
‘She remained alone and blocked them.’
That sentence would not leave Bido’s head.
And the words that followed it.
‘Imperial knights.’
Bido swallowed once.
The Empire.
That word kept following Bido.
The silhouette of red armor that had stood before Bido’s eyes came to mind.
The sound of solid plate clashing.
The sensation of air pressing down each time the sword shook.
Adel.
Bido did not speak that name aloud.
But in Bido’s mind, it was clear.
‘That time, too…’
‘It was the Empire that time, too.’
Feeling strength enter the hand gripping the necklace,
Bido slowly relaxed it.
Then Mireong spoke in a low voice.
“…I didn’t know, you see.”
Mireong looked at Bido’s ear once more,
then looked back at Yun.
“That Yureuna had a child.”
Mireong paused briefly to choose her words,
then raised her hand with a flick.
She mimed gripping a sword hilt,
and sliced through the air once with a swish—
cutting it.
And twisting her wrist,
she made another strange gesture, as if ‘passing through’ a wall.
“Yun.
Then Bido, too… can do that?”
As if unable to explain with words,
she waved her hand through the air once more and added.
“Like… passing through.
And cutting.
That sort of thing.”
Bido only watched Mireong’s hand for a moment.
Then looked down at the crescent moon of the necklace again.
It was swaying slightly beneath the chest.
Yun opened her mouth.
“Ah… that’s….”
For a moment,
no one could continue speaking first.
Only the faint sound of the crescent moon ornament swaying beneath the chest was heard.
Then, the sound of regular footsteps approached from the hallway.
It was Rangnan.
Rangnan swept her gaze across the room the moment she entered.
“Have you finished eating?”
Raen was the first to wave her hand.
“Ah, Rangnan! Good morning!”
Rangnan only nodded her head lightly.
And immediately got to the point.
“If you have finished,
shall we talk for a moment?”
Mireong narrowed her eyes slightly.
“…What. Is this a meeting?”
Instead of answering, Rangnan swept her gaze over the members once more.
And,
her gaze lingered briefly on Bido’s exposed ear.
“It’s about Bido.”
Raen’s eyes widened as she spoke.
“About Bido?
I want to listen too!”
Rangnan did not bother to answer.
She simply looked at Raen for a brief moment,
then simply turned her back.
“Clean up after eating,
and see you in the conference room.”