Chapter 107. Pain
2023.12.16.
The garden landscape beyond the balcony was painted in vibrant hues of autumn foliage.
It had already been two months since Blair left.
By now, her stomach would be heavily swollen. It would be visibly obvious that she was a pregnant woman. Sleeping at night would have become uncomfortable, and the baby would likely have started moving.
And beside her, there would be another man. Not himself.
Imagining Blair smiling happily in another man's arms, his blood ran cold. At the same time, the mana within his body began to rage.
Feeling the mana writhe uncontrollably, Herdin clenched his left fist. His nails dug into his palm, and fresh red blood dripped down.
However, Herdin's gaze was entirely cold. As if the pain was familiar.
Mana is greatly influenced by emotions. This was especially true for destructive emotions like anger or murderous intent.
This was even more so for the descendants of Delmark, who were born with a larger amount of mana than others and had more occasions to use that power.
As the price for possessing greater power than ordinary people, they had to live with the constant risk of their mana going on a rampage.
Therefore, the successors who inherited the power of Delmark learned to control their emotions and mana from a young age.
Thanks to learning to control his emotions and mana from a young age, Herdin had never lost control of his mana by being swept away by his emotions over ordinary matters.
However, ever since Blair disappeared, it became difficult to control the mana that boiled up alongside his emotions.
Every time that happened, he injured himself to convert his uncontrollable emotions into pain, thereby controlling his mana.
As if to prove this, beside the freshly bitten palm, barely healed bite marks remained like scars.
As the surging mana gradually subsided, a question that had gone unanswered for the past two months surfaced in his cold, cooled mind.
It was a one-sided love from the start.
Even so, it was fine. I was confident I could cherish you more, make you happier, and love you more.
So I thought that if we lived together, you would eventually come to love me too. I thought you would... but...
Why on earth.
Why did you choose that bastard.
I could make you happier than that bastard with nothing. I could cherish you more.
I could love you even more.
I couldn't accept it.
That you left me. That you don't love me.
If I stopped searching for you, it felt as though I would have to acknowledge and accept your feelings toward me, which was why I couldn't stop.
No, I didn't want to stop.
"……."
Herdin stared blankly at the fresh red blood flowing down his hand.
Strangely, as the pain intensified and the blood flowed, he felt as though his raging emotions were being quenched.
Feeling the metallic, bloody taste lingering on his lips, he watched the sight apathetically. As darkness crept over his feet, he rose from his seat. He then roughly staunched the bleeding with a handkerchief and left the room.
Beside the drops of blood fallen on the floor, there remained bloodstains that seemed to have dried quite a long time ago.
* * *
In the season of harvest, the number of people looking to donate to the temple increased. Consequently, the number of noblewomen visiting the temple for a breath of fresh air also grew.
Today as well, a gathering place for noblewomen was held in the backyard of the temple's grand cathedral.
As they gossiped about high society as usual, they ran out of topics and brought up the regular subject that had been the talk of the town for the past two months.
"By the way, they still haven't found the Duchess of Delmark, right?"
"How could she be found just because they're looking? She ran away pregnant with another man's child, so if she's caught, she'll obviously become the laughingstock of the entire nation. She absolutely won't be caught easily."
"Only the Duke is to be pitied."
"Not at all. The Duke just needs to wait three months since the Duchess's disappearance, and then he can divorce her and take another woman as his wife."
Under the law of the Ardel Empire, if the whereabouts of a spouse remained unknown for three months, a unilateral divorce was possible.
"It's only His Majesty the Emperor who wanted harmony with the Delmark Duchy that it didn't work out for. Because of his immoral sister, the royal family's reputation was also tarnished."
"Come to think of it, that's true. Even His Majesty must not have known that the prim Princess was having an affair with another man behind closed doors."
"Be that as it may, I wonder who the next Duchess of Delmark will be?"
"Well... I'm not sure who it will be, but she'll have quite a hard time. Since they were burned by the demure Princess, the Delmark family will thoroughly scrutinize the prospective bride in every possible way."
"At this point, I feel sorry for Lady Rachel."
Just as the noblewomen were covering their mouths with their fans and laughing, the presence of someone approaching was felt.
Seeing him, the noblewomen hastily shut their mouths.
"What could you all be talking about so enjoyably?"
It was Pope Gerard.
The noblewomen couldn't readily answer and let out awkward smiles.
It was because they felt it somewhat uncomfortable to reveal that they had been gossiping about someone else's misfortune in front of the benevolent Pope.
"We were just talking about the ways of the world. For women who hardly leave the house, talk of the world is our only amusement. By the way, will Your Holiness be officiating today's service?"
"Since so many precious guests have visited today, I intend to join you in offering the service."
Having smoothly changed the subject, the noblewomen murmured, "Then we will be waiting in the chapel," and quietly dispersed from the gathering.
Gerard's expression, as he watched the retreating figures of the noblewomen, turned cold as if he had never worn a benevolent smile.
Two months had passed since Blair caused a huge scandal and disappeared.
'What a useless wench.'
Immediately after hearing the news, Gerard, enraged, first checked whether the imprint that bound Herdin and Blair had been broken.
Although he couldn't know if the scandal was true, fortunately, the imprint remained. And it remained valid up to the present, two months later.
But that alone could not put him at ease.
To complete the tragedy of the Delmark Duchy that he envisioned, the two had to be together again. Before their imprint disappeared.
Gerard spread his men across the entire continent to find Blair. However, contrary to his expectation that she would be found quickly, the pursuit was facing difficulties.
She evaded him as if she had anticipated that he would chase her.
Even though Blair, who firmly believed him to be her savior, had no way of knowing that.
Still, by now it was about time to find her.
He was growing anxious, worrying that their imprint might disappear in the meantime.
"Your Holiness."
A priest who carried out all tasks close to him approached with urgent steps and delivered the news.
"We have found the Duchess."
* * *
Nerha, a port city located in the east of the Clania Kingdom.
A small house was nestled in a spot with a clear view of the sea. It was a small school where village children came to learn foreign languages.
The port city of Nerha, which had sea routes connecting it to other continents, inevitably saw many foreigners and outsiders coming and going. To communicate with them, foreign languages were essential.
For that reason, the villagers established a small school to teach children foreign languages and invited teachers.
However, despite the parents' meaningful investment, to the children, it was merely unwanted study.
"Ah, I don't want to go to school. Wanna skip and go play instead?"
One of the three boys heading to school along the beach asked while yawning widely. Then, the boy wearing glasses recoiled in disapproval.
"My mom would come chase me down at school right away! I'm not doing it."
"Tsk tsk, for a guy, you sure lack guts."
The boy, clicking his tongue at his friend's timidity, asked the black-haired boy next to him.
"Chris, what about you?"
The boy thought Chris would naturally join his deviation. Although he had strangely become well-behaved recently, originally it was always Chris who initiated the misbehavior first.
But the answer that came back was completely off the mark from his expectation.
"Not me."
"Really?"
"Yeah. If you want to go, go by yourself, Peter."
Chris replied nonchalantly and went to school first, leaving his friends behind. Carrying a book written in the common language of the Ardel Empire in his arms.
Peter, looking at his back with bewildered eyes, asked the boy wearing glasses.
"Hey, Robin. Is something going on with Chris lately? Why did he suddenly become a different person?"
"Today is the day we have Imperial language class."
"So what?"
"Don't you know? He likes the new Imperial language teacher. So he's been studying Imperial language hard lately too."
"Whaat?"
Peter blinked in shock.
'But... the teacher is an adult who is ten years older than us!'
How could he like an adult? As expected, he couldn't understand Chris.
Peter shook his head and headed to school with Robin.
Arriving at the small school first, Chris was greeting the Imperial language teacher with an extremely polite demeanor, unfamiliar to Peter and Robin.
As Peter and Robin approached the two, the Imperial language teacher who was talking to Chris turned her head as if sensing their presence.
"Welcome, Peter. Robin."
"Hello, teacher."
Facing Blair, who offered a bright smile and a greeting, Peter suddenly felt shy and greeted her a beat slower than Robin.
"H-hello."
Only then did he understand Chris's feelings a little.
The new Imperial language teacher was indeed kinder and gentler than any adult they had ever met. She was also the prettiest person they had met in their short eleven years of life.
"Teacher!"
Right on time, the children started arriving one by one.
While Blair was exchanging greetings with the children, the sound of a bell ringing the hour echoed from a bell tower in the distance.
Blair opened the door and guided the children into the classroom.
"Kids, shall we go in for class now?"
"Yeah!"
The children vied to enter the school, and Blair stepped in last, looking back outside.
The blue sea was rippling as always.
Gazing at the scenery for a moment, Blair smiled softly and closed the door.
It was the beginning of another peaceful day, just like any other.