#101
It was on a completely different level from the competition that Iria and Persis had shown just earlier. The two who had clashed neck and neck were so evenly matched that it was impossible to tell who had the upper hand. Is that what an equal relationship is like? It was a different dimension from me.
Though I clashed wooden swords forcefully with Persis, there wasn’t the same tension as in the previous match. I lowered my wooden sword to the ground.
“I concede.”
“…Huh?”
I stepped back and smiled casually.
“I think I’m feeling a bit unwell.”
“Oh, then I should…”
“Andelion, are you okay?”
As soon as I spoke, Iria and Persis approached me. I raised one hand to stop them and shook my head. This was the moment I needed to step away.
“I’m fine. I think I just need to rest a bit. I’ll just sit and watch for a while.”
I smiled with a nonchalant face and moved to the side. Then I sat on the bench where I had watched the two of them compete earlier and looked at them. Though Persis and Iria were initially concerned about me, after some time passed, they resumed their practice.
With her eyes burning with determination to win this time, Iria brought her sword down toward Persis. Persis also blocked Iria’s sword while raising his real sword again. Looking at the two who appeared so evenly matched, I felt increasingly uncomfortable in my position.
I shouldn’t be between these two. Iria’s happy ending is being with Persis. And Persis’s happiness is also…
Suddenly, it became difficult to watch them. It was the picture of the two people I had dreamed of being together, but I didn’t understand why I suddenly felt this way.
In the original story, Persis felt stifled by his surroundings that didn’t allow him to properly utilize his abilities. Then he met the free-spirited Iria and learned another way of life.
The Persis of that time truly, truly…
Looked happy.
* * *
“Isn’t the girls’ dormitory quite a detour from here?”
“Just think of it as a light stroll. Why do you need to worry about it?”
“No, I’m just saying you must be tired after losing repeatedly.”
Walking along the darkened path, Iria and Persis had been bickering since earlier. I walked silently in the middle of the two, with my head down, moving my feet steadily. Walking this path with these two made my legs feel heavy. The thought that something was wrong wouldn’t leave my mind. I almost wanted to say I would go ahead first.
That’s when Iria and Persis stopped walking. I looked at them alternately with puzzled eyes.
“Damn it.”
Iria, who spat out a short curse, quickly moved forward. At the same time, Persis turned toward me and shielded me as if embracing me. At that moment, arrows flew rapidly toward us. Iria deflected the arrows with magic she created in her hand.
I couldn’t help but be bewildered by the situation that happened in the blink of an eye. Persis quickly pulled me away and hid me behind a tree beside the path.
“Stay here.”
Meanwhile, Iria deflected several more incoming arrows with her magic before quickly running forward. I had no idea what was happening.
Who could be behind this? Could it be the imperial family? Had the First Prince finally learned about my existence? He might have sent someone to confirm what abilities I had. Or maybe Ramtel, he could be acting independently. The obsession in his eyes was vivid in my memory.
I tried somehow to calm my complicated emotions and to understand this suddenly unfolding situation. The feathers of the arrows that had fallen to the ground in two pieces were a different color from those used by the imperial guard. Judging by the feathers mixed with brown and black, they were the feathers of a hawk commonly seen in highland areas. Suddenly, I recalled which country these hawks inhabited and where these feathers were used.
It was Iria’s homeland.
The moment that thought occurred to me, I quickly looked around. Unlike Persis, who remained vigilant by my side, Iria, who had run off alone, showed no sign of returning. I was worried something terrible might happen to Iria alone. No matter how capable Iria was, it would be difficult for her to face trained warriors by herself.
“Persis!”
“It’s okay. Don’t worry too much.”
As if he had already sensed my concern, Persis calmed me down and then pointed ahead with his chin. I could see Iria slowly walking out of the bushes. Red blood was dripping from the sword Iria was holding, and her clothes were stained with someone’s blood.
“Your Highness, may I ask a favor?”
“You don’t need to ask, I’ll take care of the aftermath.”
“Thank you.”
Iria made her request to him in formal speech, which she didn’t usually use, and shook off the sword she was holding to the side. The blood on the sword splattered onto the ground. Without any explanation, I could tell exactly what had happened to Iria.
An assassin.
In the original story, was there such content? I quickly searched through my memory to check. No matter how much I searched, there was no content about Iria being threatened by assassins from her home country.
“Sorry. I think I need to go first…”
“I’ll escort you to the dormitory.”
This wasn’t the path to the girls’ dormitory. Yet their appearance here could mean they were hiding throughout the school. Iria might be attacked by a larger group if she returned alone.
“No, it’s fine. This seems like a ‘warning’ more than anything. They won’t escalate things further. After all, this is a foreign country, and I was invited here as a guest.”
Even in her precarious position as a guest—read hostage—Iria smiled proudly. That demeanor, which would have seemed reliable at other times, now felt extremely fragile.
“Don’t worry.”
* * *
Flinging open the door and entering my room, I quickly sat at my desk and began to organize what I knew.
The only major event that would happen to Iria during this period was her confrontation with Karn. Assassins from her home country? I couldn’t have forgotten such a significant event. I desperately searched through my memories over and over. Why had this happened?
[Andelion, what’s wrong?]
I turned to Mujin with a dazed expression.
I recalled what had happened to me recently. Rikin suddenly distancing himself, Tus who had asked me for help, mana that wouldn’t move as I wished, the uncertainty of when Mujin might become dangerous. And now the sudden appearance of an assassin. Just listing them all made me feel suffocated.
I thought I had been acting in hopes that Persis and Iria would be together, but what if all of this had been interfering with them? I kept thinking that I had put them in danger.
Then I recalled Persis and Iria exchanging blows with real swords. Unlike me, who was nothing but a burden, the two of them were equals in anyone’s eyes. I was just an uninvited guest ruining the atmosphere.
Suddenly, the discomfort I had been feeling since this afternoon returned. I partially covered my mouth with my hand and staggered to sit on the bed.
“Nothing happened. It’s just that something I ate keeps bothering me…”
[What!? If it’s too severe, shouldn’t you take some medicine? If things don’t improve, should I call Zahar?]
“No, it’s fine. I’ll feel better after sleeping.”
I wanted to tell Mujin about what had happened to Iria today. Or perhaps my father might be able to help Iria. But what if my actions put Iria in danger? My actions could end up interfering with the two of them. I swallowed the words that had come to the tip of my tongue.
Mujin, concerned for me, couldn’t say anything for a long time. Even without seeing his expression, it wasn’t difficult to read Mujin’s emotions. Though we had never discussed it, both my father and Mujin felt indebted to me. I tried to alleviate that feeling, but not much was resolved.
If I had been the Andelion from the original story, would things have been different?
The moment I had that thought, my body turned cold. It was a fact I had never considered since becoming Andelion. Why had I never thought about this before? I had speculated about Andelion’s upbringing or why he behaved the way he did in the original story, but I had never thought that I was not ‘Andelion.’
From the moment I first woke up as Andelion and was confused, Kara was by my side helping me and helping me establish my identity as Andelion. That was a fact that had never wavered. But at this moment, that firmly held perception slowly began to crumble.
Since recognizing this world, I had always been Andelion. No, who was ‘I’ in the first place? No matter how much I searched through my memories, the only name for ‘me’ was Andelion. I couldn’t understand why I was realizing this now. A fact I had never thought about before was tormenting me.
I couldn’t believe that I had casually accepted the fact that I was Andelion without remembering ‘myself.’
Perhaps, just perhaps, I was a ‘foreign object’ that had suddenly been inserted into a world where everything had been running properly.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
