ALL NOVEL chapter 29
29 – Winter (7)
-Happy birthday.
The words lingered in my ears, and I couldn’t bear to raise my head.
Now it was just a few minutes ago, but what is the reason why my heart is pounding so much?
“I must disinfect first. This one won, I don’t think it would be easy to lift the shoulder because the hole was properly drilled.”
“I heard this gritted. Actually, it doesn’t hurt much when I fight.”
It hurts quite a bit right now, but when it comes to fighting, I was able to move. What is the reason why only the shoulder hurts?
When I said that with a light smile, Sir Chris frowned and smiled bitterly.
Well, it’s a relief that everything ended well in the end.
Of course, I didn’t mean that once the warlock appeared like this, there would be no problems in the future.
Still, it should be fine for a while.
5 Years from now, the black magicians will appear in full-scale groups.
Even if I was worried right now, I couldn’t do anything right away.
Blood was still seeping from the bandaged shoulder.
I’m sure it’s because of black magic. Sir Chris frowned.
“You can’t avoid one of these things, and you shouldn’t.”
“Then how do you avoid all of them while floating in the air? You just have to think of getting hit and fight.”
“…Tsk. Anyway, I’ll have to see the Duke tomorrow.”
“You mean the duke.”
It was expected, but what should I say to meet you like this?
It was true that I was a little nervous. Wasn’t he the head of Julis and the father of Irene?
In the novel, only a few sentences appeared, so there was a remarkably little knowledge about him.
All we know is that he will die in a few years?
Now that I’ve been through this, maybe it has something to do with the warlock,
I had the idea, but it seemed a little too early to make a hasty decision.
Isn’t there still quite a bit left before he dies? Maybe around the time I had my coming-of-age ceremony.
It was a little while before the black magician was active in earnest, and the evidence was not enough to judge something.
“Well, don’t be too nervous. It’s probably because I’m calling you to compliment you. Well, I think the ceremony will be delayed a bit.”
“The ceremony?”
“Sometimes you got hurt like this, and a warlock appeared. It will probably require investigations from generation to generation, so it would be unreasonable to hold an event right away. Before the hunting festival, all events will be canceled.”
Hey, the appearance of the black magician would be an event not only for Julis, but also for the Empire to watch.
I nodded quietly, and Sir Chris patted me on the back, grinning as if the bandage had been wrapped.
“Now, the bandages are all wrapped up. It looks like she has a lot to say.”
“…Well, that’s right.”
As I recalled Irene’s face, I felt a bitter taste in her mouth for some reason.
Her expression as she looked at me kept fading before her eyes, so she frowned and sighed lightly.
She even seemed upset when she was hurt.
Am I angry that I was hurt? I was grateful for that feeling, but I was also really sorry.
I’m just a possessor, I might disappear from this world someday.
What will happen to her if she disappears like this?
It was true that I wanted her to find some peace in this duke’s mansion, but
Even so, I didn’t want to get too close.
She’s just been like this, and she’s thinking she’ll have to leave when she sees her future has changed.
Perhaps she has already dug too deep into herself.
“I think I need to go to my room.”
Her head was dizzy. She also had a fight with a warlock, and she also wanted to clear some of the thoughts cluttering her head.
Because of her tired body, her entire body felt as heavy as wet cotton.
I smiled lightly, squinting her eyes. Sir Chris, who understood my fatigue, raised her body and opened her mouth.
“Okay, let’s talk about it later. Go to your room and rest. You are probably the most tired.”
“…Thank you for your consideration.”
I lowered my head once and left the room. When I opened the door, what I saw was a dark hallway.
A hallway that is not different from usual, always dimly illuminated by candlelight.
After stepping on the slippery floor made of marble, I raise my head at the presence in front of me.
“Evan.”
When that voice reached me, I involuntarily let out a sigh.
The face I didn’t want to see the most, but the face I still wanted to see the most.
“…Lady.”
When I met those blue eyes that shone brighter than these candles, I just smiled bitterly.
I felt that the words she uttered filled this hallway and wrapped around my body.
#
What is the reason that her heart is shaken so much at the word of congratulations she said?
Coincidentally, is it because Evan’s birthday is the same as mine, or is it just because the word “Congratulations” Is awkward?
Perhaps the existence of Irene looking at me was the reason.
Tak-
The lotus-patterned teacup was filled with Darjeeling.
I stared blankly at the finely brewed crimson tea, then slowly opened my mouth.
“I am fine.”
Irene’s eyes were on the bandages around my shoulders from the beginning.
The wound still hasn’t healed, and the bandage that oozes her blood. Maybe that’s the reason.
The reason her eyes shimmer like that. Even though I insisted that I was fine, Irene couldn’t take her eyes off her easily.
I just blankly stared at the spreading red stain.
“My lady.”
“…I’m listening.”
“You don’t have to worry too much. You’ll get well soon Didn’t you see that he got better in a day or two the other day?”
She finally took her eyes off her and looked at her for a while.
The corners of her quivering eyes narrowed for a moment, then closed, and her shallow breath escaped from those lips.
“Just because a wound heals quickly doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt. She’s unless you don’t feel pain. Isn’t that right?”
“……”
“It would have been okay if you hadn’t been hurt. If I had paid a little more, a little more attention-“
“My lady.”
After interrupting her Irene, I looked at her again.
The shimmering eyes wandered, losing their way. It wasn’t her fault this time.
It was just that the warlock was aiming for this Julis.
How can I blame others? If this turned out to be a tragedy, it was only the black magician’s fault, and I couldn’t blame her.
“Why are you blaming yourself?”
I frowned as I watched her hands tremble slightly.
She didn’t have to blame herself, but maybe she had this mindset because I was hurt?
I opened my mouth as I wiped my face with my hand, feeling guilty.
“It’s not your fault. The world does not attribute natural disasters to anyone. This Warlock, too, just no one could have predicted. Didn’t everything end well in the end? The warlock has been captured, and you should be prepared for what lies ahead.”
“…You are hurt.”
I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut at Irene’s answer.
What on earth does my injury mean, why does it make such a face at me?
It was as if my breath was choked by the distorted eyes.
It was so awkward to face someone who genuinely cares about me.
I stared blankly at Irene at that gaze that I had never met in my life.
“Others, on their birthday, just lie down in the mansion and spend a leisurely time. He spends time unwrapping the presents that came to him and imagining what will be in the next box to open. But, all I gave you was this wound.”
“…It’s okay not to be congratulated. I had never been congratulated, and I had never even expected it in the first place.”
This had nothing to do with Evan. It’s just a story related to ‘me’ before becoming Evan.
However, when I heard her words, for some reason those words came out on my own.
Maybe it was because she thought there was no need to be sorry.
I was momentarily taken aback by her words that jumped out of my head, but when I saw Irene staring at me, she smiled lightly.
Birthday,
I thought it would be better not to come.
There was nothing special about my birthday, and the only phone call I always received was a cold phone call from my parents asking if I was still alive.
When I hear that phone call that doesn’t show even a hint of affection even though I gave birth with my own belly, sometimes I have the urge to end this life.
But I didn’t let go. Someday, if you live like that, someday it will change.
Even though I lived thinking that way, in the end it didn’t change.
-Happy birthday.
However, I met the person who celebrated her birthday in a place like this.
There was a person in this world who reminded her of her birthday, which she had forgotten even though she hadn’t said it, and congratulated her.
Even though I thought it was a place I would leave someday, I couldn’t let go of it when I heard these words.
Irene, after thinking about her name, I met the blue eyes looking at me again.
Sometimes when I look at the sky, it resembles the moon shining alone.
It captured the light of the blue night as it was, and resembled the moon looking at me sitting in a lonely room.
Will it be different this time? Will it be different now from the time when we waited for hope without a promise forever?
However, her doubt soon dissipates. With that calm voice flowing into my ears.
I breathed out again at the voice that always knocked on my chest.
“Don’t say that.”
“……”
“You are a person who deserves congratulations.”
You deserve congratulations.
Suddenly, laughter leaked out.
It was something I had hoped for so much, but the first person to tell me that was not my parents, but the princess she escorts.
While sympathizing with her situation, she found it funny to hear her say that. The corners of her twisted lips quivered slightly.
I didn’t want to hold back any more.
I didn’t want to get closer to her anymore.
It was as if those two eyes that were moving towards me were starting to settle so firmly in her heart.
At first, I just thought maybe. Because it’s in the novel.
I thought maybe I could change her fate.
It was really light, I just thought that if I failed, there was nothing I could do about it.
However, her heart started to feel heavy. When her expression gradually changes,
When the mask on her face shatters, the swirling emotions are reflected in it.
I realized that I was approaching her unknowingly.
She asked me to stay.
How can I forget the words I heard on that starry balcony?
There was no more coldness in her gaze as she looked at herself.
A warmth so warm that it made her forget the winter for an instant enveloped her body, and soon she felt as if her face was heating up.
What do you think of Irene? Is she just an escort knight and princess?
Even if it’s only at that level now,
I couldn’t even predict how it would spread if this feeling grew bigger and bigger.
She gently closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them and looked at Irene.
Her tightly closed red lips always drew a horizontal line. Now, that resolution was different from her first heart.
I really wanted to prevent her tragedy.
This woman who smiles at me like this and tells me that she deserves congratulations.
She did not want to see her perish in the tragedy.
The sword at my waist felt heavier than ever.
Perhaps it was because of her recommitment, her own sword, which was once again aware of her position as an escort knight, was only so heavy.
However, the corners of her mouth draw an arc.
It wasn’t because of her further collapse, or because her chest was tight, that she laughed.
The stuffiness in her determined mind disappeared, and she smiled more brightly than ever at her princess, who was looking at her.
It was such a willingness to be an existence that acknowledged oneself.
So that she would never be drowned in her sadness again, she slowly opened her mouth with such a wish.
“There is one gift I wished for.”
“…A gift?”
When she was little, her older brother always got a present on his birthday.
Of course I didn’t get it, but this time I thought I wanted to get one of her gifts from her.
Although the gift was more like a wish.
“I just want you to smile.”
“……”
“I hope that her face will not be shaded from now on. I would like her to put down the responsibility that always rests on her shoulders for a moment and smile broadly, even just once.”
I hoped that all the darkness in her eyes would be lifted and one day she would smile brightly.
Could that day ever come when Irene Uris, the name of Iron Blood and the name of Yuris, smiles with peace of mind?
Maybe she wouldn’t see that smile.
However, if this one word I said to her could change her even a little, that was enough.
Irene’s eyes turned to me.
Looking at her face covered in bewilderment and surprise, he smiled lightly again.
The moonlight leaking out of the window and illuminating the darkness seemed much brighter than usual.
On her birthday, she always looked out the window wrapped in a blanket alone.
It was no different even now.
The weather was still cold on her birthday, and the cold that wrapped around my cheeks was no different from then.
However, I laugh at the fact that a single person’s existence changed everything.
Then, and now.
It was winter.