Episode 2
“At least brood over it before you answer. You’re not thinking of throwing your life away under the pretext of the expedition, are you?”
“…….”
Carlisle averted his eyes, lowering his gaze. The metallic stench of blood, which had briefly faded after her death, seemed to waft thickly once more. That smell, which would not disappear no matter how many times he washed, soon gave rise to thoughts of wanting to die.
Because he had lost his reason to live.
If the fact that he had taken his own life became known, it would bring no small harm to the ducal house, not to mention all manner of disgrace. But if he died unexpectedly while participating in a monster subjugation, it would remain as immense honor for the family.
As Carlisle revealed his answer by not denying it, Lukas shook his head.
“I won’t stop you, but think it through. Violet’s last words as well.”
Last words? Ah.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to crumble away in your arms like this… But you’ll still live happily, won’t you? Promise me.”
It was an absurd dying wish. If she had asked him to forget her, he would have tried his utmost.
But even as she coughed up blood and paled, continuing to smile, the words she had dredged up with all her strength were merely to live happily. If that was the case, she shouldn’t have left behind such terrible memories.
Because that day she grew cold in his arms would never be forgotten until his heart stopped beating.
The very thought was so horrific that he felt the urge to flip the table, and at that moment Lukas spoke. Not as the Emperor, but as a long-time friend—as the elder brother of a beloved younger sister.
“Live happily. Because it is the last wish my sister left us.”
Carlisle slowly closed his eyes. The world, once bright, turned pitch black.
A wish? Such a trifling wish—a wish that even God could not grant!
“I shall take my leave.”
Carlisle clenched his fist until the back of his hand turned white, pushing his chair back.
He didn’t know. Whether the Emperor had summoned him today to order him to participate in the monster subjugation, or to tell him to stop dwelling on his beloved younger sister. With a mind gone rigid, he could not fathom which purpose took priority.
Lukas added one last word to Carlisle, who gave a brief bow and turned his back. This, too, was as a long-time friend.
“When you return, I shall throw a party for you.”
“I must decline.”
Carlisle paused for a moment and answered in a low, flat voice. Then he moved again and quickly exited through the door.
At the sharp slam of the door, which seemed to bare his emotions, Lukas smirked and lifted his teacup filled with black tea. Blue eyes flickered in the opaque liquid.
“How heartless. I don’t know why Violet liked such an icy man.”
The black tea he lightly sipped flowed down his throat. As expected, it was too sweet.
Carlisle headed toward where the carriage was waiting to return to Everett Mansion.
Small breaths spread white into the air and vanished, and the thin snow upon the ground repeated its accumulation no matter how much it was swept away. There was no law saying the gently falling snow would fall gently tomorrow as well. It could bring fierce winds and turn the world completely white.
Though unusual, it was something that happened often in the northern region during winter. The fierce wind and blinding snow instilled fear even when one was inside a safe house. Therefore, monster subjugation was avoided whenever possible in winter. Because incidents of being buried in snow before even encountering the monsters had occurred.
That an expedition was being dispatched despite such precedents meant the damage caused by monsters in the northern region was severe.
“Those damnable creatures.”
Carlisle muttered lowly as he boarded the carriage.
What was the point of subjugating them? They were creatures that would reappear when the next winter came.
The only thing gained from a successful monster subjugation was peace for the three seasons to come. If they left cold-resistant monsters to rampage through the winter, those creatures would reduce the northern region to scorched earth.
Therefore, the Emperor chose to protect the north, if only during the three consecutive seasons. Carlisle respected his choice as well.
Carlisle leaned his head against the wall.
Winter was deepening. If he successfully completed the monster subjugation and returned to the capital, this season would almost be over. Perhaps spring flowers would be blooming splendidly.
“You said you liked winter.”
That there was a thrill in spring’s arrival—pink, yellow, purple. She said she liked seeing a world filled with pretty colors, and that the anticipation approaching as excitement was even better.
“Winter has come. The winter you wished for.”
He spoke with considerable tenderness, yet there was no one to hear him.
And even more absent was you, who used to smile so brightly that dimples formed at the mere mention of spring.
“Violet.”
Violet.
My Violet.
My beloved lover and wife.
You were loved by everyone, yet those who loved you are gradually forgetting you. Days continue no different from usual, as if you had never existed in this world from the beginning. Even though everything is different, everything feels so natural that it is unbearably sad.
Carlisle Everett truly intended to put an end to things. Whether it was the passage of time that flowed as if nothing had happened, or the monsters that appeared tediously every winter.
He would do anything if it meant he could forget her even slightly. And he intended to pray earnestly to God.
He had taken her, beloved by all, on her happiest day in the cruelest manner—but who knew? If he prayed desperately with all his heart, perhaps God would take pity on him and erase a handful of memories of her.
His eyes gradually closed. Fatigue washed over him from not sleeping properly. Since he had to push through the harsh winter all the way to the northern region, he needed to replenish his stamina sufficiently before the expedition began.
He planned to catch up on at least a little of the restless sleep on the way back to the mansion tonight. If only she didn’t appear in that dream, even a brief slumber would be peaceful.
* Sibel
With weather colder than last week, monsters that had been hiding deep in the forest began circling the territory.
The territory residents, who had been tremendously worried just three years ago, continued their farming at ease. Because a great magician dwelled in Hexilov. Thus, they did not worry much.
Two years ago, after a man white from head to toe except for his black robe appeared, not even the tip of a monster’s nose was seen. Whether the monsters had gone extinct or the magician had intervened, there was nothing bad from the territory residents’ perspective.
Even though the cold had struck fiercely this year as well, no one in Hexilov had seen even a monster’s footprint.
The magician had now become an indispensable existence, and the white man had thus naturally become a fixture in people’s lives.
When snow piles up softly and the sun rises in the sky, sometimes the day feels less cold than expected. Today was such a day.
It was the hour when the sun had long passed noon and was gradually tilting.
The “White Magician” stayed in the dark basement of his villa, entirely ill-suited to his nickname. Specifically, it was an underground research laboratory. Though a bedroom was prepared on the second floor, he slept here almost every day.
Helen picked up the black robe sprawled on the laboratory floor and tilted her head.
“Right. This robe is black too.”
She neatly folded the magician’s robe, another thing unbefitting of his nickname. Though she had worried about where to place it, there was only one suitable spot. Helen set it in the corner of a long sofa that could seat about five adults. That sofa was used when Liandor, engrossed in research, could no longer endure his drowsiness and needed to rest his eyes for a moment. But since even that had gone unused lately, the dust piled upon the sofa was plainly visible.
It was just as she thought to ask the villa staff to clean the basement soon—
“Why. Are you dissatisfied with my robe this time?”
Liandor, who had been studying a clump of monster fur, took off his glasses and retorted playfully.
“When did I ever say I was dissatisfied?”
“Don’t you remember yesterday? You told me to stay more than five steps away, saying I might give a perfectly healthy person a cold.”
“That was—!”
Yesterday, she had really thought he had caught a cold.
When starving monsters from the northern forest appeared without fail this year as well, Liandor had gone out to search the borders of Hexilov for three full days to drive them away. When he finally returned yesterday morning, the first thing he did was cover his mouth and sneeze. And four times in a row, at that!
Winter colds were highly contagious, and once caught, took a long time to recover. She had asked him to keep his distance for prevention. Threats disguised as coercion—saying she’d kick him out of the villa if he approached—were not Helen’s personality. That was Liandor’s specialty.
“I’m glad you didn’t catch a cold.”
“It’s not like you’re giving me the disease and the cure. My heart is already hurt. Look even now—you’re driving me away to another village!”
“Driving you away? Surely not me?”
“Yes, you!”
Liandor pouted his lips this way and that as he stuffed items into a large bag. After fastening the bag’s clasps, he finally snatched the black robe Helen was holding.
“There seems to be a fruit thief in the village. Even though no monsters have entered Hexilov, the fruit disappears without a trace, right? Sigh…”
Helen let out a long sigh and shot Liandor a sharp look. The culprit of the rumors was Liandor. Only a magician could steal fruit without leaving a single footprint.
If it weren’t his crime, he could simply deny it. Yet he merely pouted his lips. Well, winter fruit usually tasted exceptional.
The horizontally long desk was messy with traces of devoted research. Helen gathered and neatly arranged the papers scattered about.
“As I said yesterday, it seems the territories around Hexilov have suffered no small damage from the monsters. If you go and help them, no one would investigate who stole Hexilov’s fruit.”
“Did you promise?”
Helen nodded and stared intently at the white magician with deep green eyes. He looked like someone easy to handle, but he was undoubtedly a magician.
What reason would such a person have to watch over an empty body whose soul had vanished for about a year? There would be nothing to gain from spending such a long time exerting effort so idly.
“Um, Liandor.”
“What?”
“We first saw each other a year ago, but from your perspective, you’ve been by my side for two years. Now that my body has recovered as well…”
She trailed off and looked at the floor. She had thought she could say it casually, but she was wrong. Even though she had already experienced it, having someone leave her side was always difficult.
Helen breathed calmly and raised her head again, facing Liandor with a kind smile.
“You don’t have to stay by my side.”
She had tried to predict Liandor’s reaction before speaking these words, but she had not at all considered the fierce expression he now showed.
Narrowing his brow, Liandor let out a hollow laugh.
“So now you’re really trying to kick me out?”
“I’m not kicking you out! As you know, the funds the Count sends every year could be cut off at any time.”
Until now, the Count had sent a year’s worth of funds at the beginning of each year. But there was no guarantee that next year would be the same as this. She had been driven out of the Count’s estate at the age of seven and had not seen him once since.
How long would he help a daughter he had cast out with his own hands?
“I know this isn’t something to say to the person who saved me, but in my current situation, I have nothing to give Liandor.”
She had only spoken of the near future drawn from reality. But as she spoke, she was forced to confront her bleak situation. Suppressing welling tears, she awaited Liandor’s decision. She expected to hear that he would leave within two or three months, if not immediately.
Through her wavering, tear-blurred vision, she saw Liandor briefly contemplating.
“I didn’t do it hoping for reward. I just… liked being by your side, that’s all.”
He liked being by my side?
Helen found him difficult to understand. Who would want a half-noble young lady who had lost her mother at birth and been abandoned even by her father?
But Liandor’s words felt so much like comfort that she wanted to hear them again.
If only she could hear “that person” say that he liked being by Helen Platini’s side, not some unfortunate noble young lady’s.
Helen erased from her mind the person whose very thought made her heart ache.
“This place is too small for you. I wish you would go to the side of people who need Liandor.”
“This place needs me right now. Think about it carefully. If I weren’t here, this land would be completely trampled at any moment. Would that be alright?”
He was right. If the magician left, the territory residents would have to worry about fields becoming wastelands starting next winter—no, starting this very winter. A mere powerless human had no ability to protect their livelihood from monsters.
Helen fastened the front of the black robe and patted Liandor’s arm.
“For my sake, since I’m vulnerable to colds, return safely.”